IN MOURNING (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for taking your time. What’s currently IN MOURNING up to?
Hi there! Well we´re obviously waiting for the record to be released, we are all really satisfied with the Weight of Oceans, so its exciting times. Other than that we are rehearsing material for some upcoming live shows, the new tunes are gonna be killers live!
– If I’m not mistaken you were formed back in 2000 but didn’t release your first album until 2008. Why did it take you that time?
Yeah thats correct, eight years can seem like a long time, but that was the time it took for us to finally get the right people in the band and to find a sound that we could really believe in. We recorded five demos before Shrouded divine and it wasn’t until demo number five that we started to find our direction. The demos prior to that one was all very searching musically and we had quite a lot of member changes. So it took some time for us to get the right formula going and also to get skilled enough on our instruments and as song writers.
– In fact your debut album, “Shrouded Divine” was almost perfect and was highly-acclaimed both by the fans and press. Could you say releasing such a great debut album can make your next ones be less valued?
As an artist you always try to get as close to perfection as you can, the problem is that perfection can be totally different in the hands of the listener or the critics. Its all a matter of taste What is perfect to us might not be perfect to other people or if you are lucky it will end up being perfect for both parts. In my opinion Shrouded Divine is not close to perfect looking back on it, What is perfect to you also evolves and changes with your musical and personal changes in life. And I think its always that struggle to get better and to make new exciting music.
– You are now about to release your third opus, “The Weights of Oceans”. What are your expectations with it?
We are all very satisfied with the album so the expectations are pushed up quite high, but we also have to be realistic looking at the music business and the market for this kind of music that we make, it´s not that this album likely will make us superstars. but we are for sure hoping for it to take us quite a big step forward, and that it comes across to more listeners this time than the previous albums. With a bigger label backing us up we also feel more confident with this release.
– When we reviewed the album we associated the album’s name and the figure of sea to the unexpected changes and twists in your music but, what does the album’s title refer to?
This is where it gets blown up into pretentious territory, haha. The Weight of Oceans is a concept album that tells a story of a man that sets out on a journey to conquer his biggest fear, «the ocean». Its a story inspired by ancient mythology and it contains everything you can possibly wish for in a progressive rock/metal concept story. It contains battles between the ocean and the sky and of course we have thrown in some giant sea monsters as well, haha.. So the title really sums up what the concept is about, a man that really have the weight of oceans upon his shoulders. And the creepy fellow on the cover is a character from the story that you will now more about when reading the album lyrics.
– After giving “The Weights of Oceans” some listening I must admit it seems like is your most mature and complete effort so far, I think it shows a band feeling more confident with what is doing. What are your thoughts on this and on the final output?
I think its the natural follow up to «Monolith». Only this time we could really express more exactly what we wanted it to sound like. For each album everyone have been more and more involved in the writing process. On «Shrouded Divine» it was pretty much Tobias who wrote it all, and the band arranging the music together. This time Björn and Tim have contributed with a lot of stuff and Christian and I have been giving a lot in the arrangements. And this time I teamed up with Björn for the lyrics and concept, so that was also a new and exciting thing! Everything felt really right this time and we are really confident as a band, and I hope that will show in the music on the album.
– Your music has always been really melancholic, quite atmospheric as well. Could you say this is something that differences you from the rest of bands playing progressive Death Metal?
Maybe, I haven’t really thought of that. I think what sets us apart from a lot of other bands in the genre is that we don’t come across like a tech-metal showing off kind of band. A lot of bands throw in the progressive aspects just for the sake of it and to be complicated. For us its always a matter of good songs and to always have a great melody to hold on to. We are not trying to be in a certain way or sound like something else, our sound is simply what comes out when the five guys of In Mourning play together.
– Anyway “The Weights of Oceans” is a quite diverse record, with many different elements and, as I said before, with many twists. Due to this I would like to know how was (or how uses to be) the songwriting process this time around
Tobias, Björn and Tim have made the riffs and the overall music and recorded ideas at home. Then we start the arranging process with the whole band involved, that’s where it starts to get nasty, haha. Ideas and changes are flying in the rehearsal room, structures and songs are ripped apart, re-arranged and built back together again, and after a lot of arguments and bitterness we are hopefully all satisfied with the tunes and off to the studio.
– This being said; how could you describe this new CD in just 3 words?
Rock And Roll! Haha.. No I guess something like: Epic, Dynamic and Heavy.
– The cover artwork is, once more, just great. Would you mind to shed some light on this (the artists, its meaning, etc.)?
The cover is just fantastic.. The cover is just like a picture from the album concept. It’s painted by a Swedish guy called Kristian Wåhlin. He made the artwork for so many classic albums in the metal scene (At the gates, Dissection, Amorphis, Emperor, Tiamat and many others). When Björn and I wrote the concept for the album we went through a lot of artists that could be suitable for the cover work, we felt that the concept needed a painted artwork not something made on a computer. We felt that Kristian Wåhlin would be the perfect man for the job, so we contacted him and he certainly made a fantastic job!
– Once again you have teamed up with Jonas Kjellgren for production duties. What makes this team so good for your albums?
Jonas is a super talented professional and so easy to work with, plus he is a lot of fun and that also contributes to make you relax and feel at home in the studio.
– “The Weight of Oceans” has been your first release with Finnish label Spinefarm after releasing your two previous albums with two different labels. Do you think this will be a more steady cooperation?
We really hope it will, not that we are disappointed at our former labels, but this time we have found a more suitable partner in Spinefarm. So far it feels super!
– And finally, what are your plans to support your new album?
We gonna try what we can to get out and play as much as we possibly can, and to get to places we haven’t been to before.
– That has been everything from my side, thank you once more for your time. If you now want to add some final words; the last lines are all yours.
Check out the album folks and we will see you at the shows!
