NOUMENA (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with NOUMENA?
Hi! At the moment we are concentrating on the few shows we have coming up in May. And of course we have enjoyed everything that’s been going on in the Noumena camp right now. It’s good to be back in business.
– First off, what does «Noumena» mean?
It’s a philosophical concept used by Immanuel Kant. It means ‘things in themselves’, the universe of ideas beyond human perception. Back in the days some of Noumena members were quite interested in philosophy.
– You have just released your first album in 7 years, entitled «Death Walks with me». What are your expectations on it? And how are the first reactions being?
Well, it has been 7 years since Anatomy of Life came out and it’s a long time to be somewhat inactive in the music scene so of course it has been exciting as ever to finally be able to release a new album. We really believe that we have made our best album to date and we are extremely proud of it. I guess after 7 years of waiting for the new Noumena album the expectations have grown to such extend that it will be impossible to satisfy everybody. As a band we have always trusted our instincts and made the kind of music we love to play and hear ourselves. If someone else thinks our music is worth listening then that’s awesome. The first reactions have been great. People have been really happy that we are officially back with a new album.
– As I said, it has taken you none less than 7 years release this new opus so, will we have to wait that much until your next record?
I surely hope not. We didn’t think that it would take this long to make the next album after “Anatomy” and I’m sure the next album after DWWM will come out maybe in a few years time.
– That’s a pretty long time so, has NOUMENA changed its way of composing, recording, etc., throughout these last years? How do you think have you guys evolved as musicians?
It may seem for the public eye that we have been out off the spotlight for quite some time but for us we have never actually been away or anything. All these years we have been making music, rehearsed and made some shows so for us this has just been a bit quieter period. We compose our music the same way we have always composed and we rehearse just as much as always. Which is not that much I have to say, hah. But throughout the years I would say nothing has really changed in the way we make things happen in this band. We all know our strengths and weaknesses individually and as a band so it’s really quite simple to make things work in this band. The only thing which is a bit challenging nowadays is that we all live in different parts of Finland and making a rehearsal schedule for that reason alone is a bit difficult at times. Not to mention our private lives and the scheduling with all that. As musicians I’d say we all have evolved, or dare to say, matured through the years. For example as guitarist Ville and I haven’t evolved that much technically I’d say, but the years of playing together have made us more conscious of what each other is doing and that makes us better. As musicians we all have matured a lot and we do take influences from all kinds of music and also from all kinds of art forms.
– For instance I noticed this new effort features darker and heavier tunes. Maybe each record reflects a certain moment in your life? Or was this the sound you were looking for?
It’s true that all our albums are a bit different from each other but it’s not something we planned before hand or nothing like that. “Absence” was our first album through a bigger record label and “Anatomy of Life” was the follow up and there was only a year and a half between those two so there wasn’t that much time to evolve as a band. On “Anatomy” there we’re sings of pushing our sound and music towards the way we wanted to sound. Between “Anatomy” and DWWM we have made a lot of music some of which was not that good in our minds and I guess through trial and error we have been able to come up with the songs that can be heard on DWWM. There are darker and heavier songs on the new album that are somewhat new to the whole Noumena sound but I’d say that is the way we see ourselves as a band nowadays. We are not that young anymore so I guess the realities of life has left it’s mark on us and on the sound of Noumena. But as I said earlier this is the sound that we’ve been looking for and we are extremely happy with the outcome of DWWM.
– It’s also your lengthiest release so far. Was something planned or did it just come out like this?
We have always had some kind of plan for every album about how the album would sound as a whole. As new songs are made we start to think about the album in it’s entirety and maybe what kind of songs the album needs. For DWWM we had a good punch of songs made and some didn’t make it to the album because they weren’t in line with the other songs or not that good in comparison to the one’s that did make the album. In the past we have had a record label telling us how many songs the album should have and so we have had to drop some songs because of this. But now we could decide everything about the album on our own and DWWM is an album that looks and sounds like us more than anything we have made in the past. After such a long wait we did think that it would be appropriate to give some extra to the fans and put 11 songs on the album instead of 9 or 10. Of course we wouldn’t have put 11 songs on the album if we didn’t think that they were all good enough for the album. I think there is a nice atmosphere through the album and the songs keep you on your toes right to the very end.
– An in all I could say this is one of your most complet and mature albums so far. I guess taking your time and be able to perfect everything may have had something to do with that…
As I said 7 years is a long time to be out off the music scene but it’s also a long time in a person’s life so I guess we have matured as individuals also. The whole songwriting process for DWWM has been a long journey and we’ve certainly had the time to perfect the songs to the shape in which they are now. We’ve always thought that if the songs are good enough for us, then they are good enough for the fans. We don’t intend to please anybody or make music for the fame and fortune so I guess there is a certain amount of honesty in our music. With years of making music and the individual growth comes also a certain amount of maturity that can ultimately be heard in our music.
– Leaving the musical aspect aside; what’s the main concept hidden behind the lyrics on this CD?
On the lyrics there are many songs that reflect on the subject of death in different ways. It’s not intended to be a concept album about death but when Ville, Antti and Hannu made the lyrics on the album they all came up with these different lyrics that seemed to reflect death in one way or the other. Hannu has always been a master of making lyrics of historical nature from genocide to world wars and so on and those themes often whirl around death. Ville and Antti made some lyrics about death on a more personal note so as we worked with the album we noticed that there was a lot of death going on on this album. So when it was time to come up with a name for the album “Death Walks With Me” came on top. A suiting name for the album and the slight reference to Twin Peaks isn’t all that bad either.
– And would you mind to tell us what did you want to express with the cover artwork? It loks pretty straight-forward.
Ville had a vision of the album cover and we decided to give him a try. We wanted to have a photo on the front becaus on «Absence» we had digiart and on the cover of «Anatomy» there was this nice painting. The cover resembles the athmosphere of the album which is important. The torch is an important symbol in the lyrics of the title song and links the album to Promethean theme.
– All this about «Death Walks with me» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Powerful, epic, journey
– You have always had the same line-up, which is something not that many bands have managed to get so, what’s the secret recipe? Anyway you have now added a second vocalist; how did the idea arise? What’s the main purpose behind this?
The only secret is that we are friends first and bandmates second. For example Ilkka, Antti and myself have been friends since we were 7 years old in the first grade of school which is quite something when you think of it. I guess we have the same kind of look on life and we have grown on each other through the years so it would take a lot of wind to tip over this boat. We’ve always had female vocals on our songs and recordings so it was just a matter of time when we would officially add a second vocalist. When Suvi came along everything just came together nicely. And actually we should have three different vocalist on board to pull of all the vocal stuff on the older albums. But that would be going all Amaranthe so…yeah, no thanks. Some would say that we are doing this beauty and the beast stuff but that’s not the point. We use our vocalist to capture the moment needed to bring the songs to a certain level. If we need some brutal vocals to accommodate some blastbeat or other heavier parts then we unleash hell with Antti. If we need some softer vocals to bring delicasy to the songs then we use Suvi’s vocal range. Though Suvi can unleash all hell with her voice as well. For us it’s all about the songs and in the end of the day it’s the songs that determine what kind of vocals do we need to make the songs even better.
– As I said, you’ve been somehow inactive for 7 years, which is a lot for the music world (a lot of things can happen in the meanwhile) so, could you say the extreme Metal scene has changed that much? And what are your thoughts on the musical evolution in Finland?
Yeah, 7 years is a very long time to be out of the music scene when new bands emerge constantly and the different music sub-genres keeps on expanding. Of course the record business as a whole has changed dramatically since 2006. Album sales have gone down for everyone, Spotify and other music providers have gained new grounds in the way people listen to music nowadays and social media has had a major impact on how bands can promote their music. People can find new bands and new music much easier than before, but there is a sense of dispensability about so many bands and music in general. This is a problem for the music business as a whole. I can say that personally I haven’t found that many interesting bands in the last few years. For Finland it’s the same thing. Finland is a truly metal country and there are tons of bands trying to come out to the spotlight. There are at least few good bands in every genre and I think it’s great. But I have to say that there aren’t that many bands that have been around as long as we have though we haven’t had the success of the likes of Amorphis, Nightwish or Insomnium. But we surely have had our share of the music business and we still think that we are going strong after all these years.
– After several years of career; what have been both the best and worst moments with/for NOUMENA?
Well, after 15 years of playing together there have certainly been ups and downs. One of the best moments was when we signed our record deal with Spikefarm
Records and really were able to release our music to a larger audience. That was something we had been working towards for years so it was special. Of course one the best moments in recent years has been the release of DWWM after so many years of waiting through our on label Haunted Zoo Productions. Of course we’ve had many special moments on the road as well. We’ve done two mini-tours to central Europe and those tours are still very special in ours minds. Good times. For the worst moments I have to say that our first “record deal” was a bad moment on our career. We signed a deal with a label from Singapore and when we had finished our recordings in Astia-studio and it was time to pay for the studio the label went bankrupt or so they told us. So after that we had a hefty studio fee to pay for ourselves. We did an arrangement with the studio to pay for the studio in a few years time and so we did. It wasn’t that easy because we were all students at the time, but we managed to pull through.
– Finally; what are your near-future plans?
Now that DWWM is out we plan to do more gigs and possibly some tours this year and the next. In due time we will start thinking about new songs and the cycle starts again.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thanks to our fans for supporting us through the years and buying our albums. Hope to see you at the shows and keep spreading the good word for Noumena!
