– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to?

KES: Making a late dinner. Oh, you mean bandwise…we’re currently booking gigs and building a studio.

– First off, could you please make some history of the band?

KES:  I honestly don’t remember what year we started. I guess it was around 2004-2005. Released our first album 2009. The first album was re-released november last year, after we signed with napalm records. Our second album, ‘Nights Under the Round Table’, was released a couple of weeks ago.

 

– And what meaning does «Svölk» hold?

KES:  Svolk basically means to Get the shit kicked out of you.

 

– You have just released your new album, «Nights under the Round Table»; what are your expectations on it? And how has its feedback been so far?

KES:  The feedback’s been awesome! Seems like we’ve done something right. Hopefully the album will give us a bigger audience and the chance to play all over.

 

– I could say this is a more mature effort, which shows the band has been through a clear evolution both on an instrumental and songwriting level. Is progress a constant cicle for SVÖLK?

HR: If by progress you mean that our waistline keeps getting bigger, then yes. Definately progress.

 

– You’ve shown a better songwriting with really diverse tunes, creating nice contrasts between catchy and heavy. Are these contrasts an important element in your music?

MØ: Thanx. Yes, that’s very important. Groove and melody. Even though we’re from from Norway we’re not all about scaring our listeners as best we can, hehe.

 

– In fact the word that best describes this opus I’d dare say is «progress» so, how do you think will be your next record like? Can we expect the unexpected?

KES:  Who knows, maybe our next album will be like the one radiohead released after ‘ok computer’ I don’t even remember what it’s called. What I do remember is how dissappointed I was when I heared it. They really went too far in the/an experimental direction on that one. I don’t think we’ll go that far. I think we’ll stick to the winning recipe.

 

– And you also seem to be inspired by different music styles. Due to this I would like to know what are your main musical influences.

KES:  For me that’s everything from Bon Jovi, lynyrd skynyrd, narum,Roy lønhøiden and Neil young to the classic metal stuff like metallica, Black sabbath, deep purple, megadeth etc.

HR: I’m currently listening a lot to 3 Inches Of Blood. They kick ass. So does Valient Thorr. They sound like a new Alabama Thunderpussy. Early Metallica was a big influence when I started playing.

 

– As I said this new «Nights under the Round Table» is a step forward on your career so, how has been the songwriting process this time around?

HR: It’s mostly Martin and Jengt that write the songs, so they should answer that. I just play the bass. And according to our drummer I should practice a lot more.

MØ: Hahaha! He’s got that right. But seriously, the songwriting process has been much harder and more time is spent writing the music. I accually quit my day job to write songs. And to drink more beers.

 

– What are some of the lyrics you’ve covered on it?

KES:  I’m the one writing most of the lyrics. The writing process for me is basically terapy. I’m just hammering down my anger, hate and frustration.

 

– And what’s the concept behind the cover artwork?

HR: It was made by Haakon Hoseth. I have know idea what’s happening inside his head.

 

– You have improved in production terms, as the sound is quite better on this new record, we can easily catch every small detail laying in all the songs. How did you work on the production process?

We buildt our own studio this time, so we could use more time without thinking about the rent. The drums were recorded at Loco Studios as last time, but the guitars and vocals is done in our own studio. The bass was recorded in the Tone Factory in Las Vegas. And then the whole shit was mixed by Andreas Berczelly and mastered by Henning Bortne at Oslo Mastering.

 

– All this about «Nights under the Round Table» being siad; how could you describe it in just 3 words?

HR: It is a.

KES:  Fucking awesome album!

MØ: Masterpiece. Epic. Classic.

 

– On the other hand it catches my attention the fact all your albums feature nine tunes. Is something planned or just coincidence?

KES:  9, the number of the bear.

MØ: Hahaha! But seriously: it’s acually a secret sign for a secret cult that don’t exist.

 

– There aren’t too many Scandinavian bands playing your style so, are there any worth mentioning?

KES:  Well there are some, Malossi, Tombstones and Deathtrack just to mention a few. Check’ em out.

HR: You might have heard about them already, but check out Kvelertak. They will dominate the world.

MØ: And don’t forget Tantara. Young blood doing great thrash metal as thrash metal should be played.

 

– And do you think being from Norway it’s easier to play Black or Death Metal or maybe into those fields there’s a bigger competence?

HR: The music scene in Norway is actually quite varied and there’s a lot more than church burnings and black metal. But off course it’s easier to play black metal. It’s just noise, haha. No, just kidding.

MØ: I think it’s definitely easier to sell records if you’re a norwegian black metal band, than if you’re from some other country, but again other kinds of music is harder. In a few years norwegian bear metal be the new norwegian black metal, though.

 

– Finally, what are your near-future plans?

HR: We have to fix the flux capacitator for the DeLorean.

KES:  Finish building our studio, and Writing new material and of course playing some gigs.

 

– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.

KNULLE KNULLE KNULLE!

 

Sergio Fernández

sergio@queensofsteel.com

 

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