– Hello, thanks for taking the time. How’s everything going now with ISOLE? How does it feel your fifth album almost out?

J: No problem Tania! It feels good! We are really satisfied with the outcome and hope all our listeners will feel the same!

 

– You were previously known as FORLORN. What kind of activity did oyu have back then?

J: I was not a member back then, but i think they just had the band for fun to play the kind of music they liked, and to record some demos.

– Why did you change your name to ISOLE? Does it maybe fit your music better?

J: If you search for ”Forlorn” on ”the Metal Archives” you will see the main reason. There are about 5 bands with the same name. Isole is an adaption of the french word isolée, meaning isolated, lonely etc. Kind of the same meaning as Forlorn.

 

– As I said you will soon release your fifth album, «Born from Shadows». To all those who might be interested; what are they going to find on it?

J: They are going to find a much more dark and evil album than ever from Isole. The progressive feeling from ”Silent Ruins” is still there but in a little bit different way this time. This is doom metal with everything from progressive to death and black metal incorporated.

 

– I would like you to elaborate a bit on the album’s concept.

J: It´s not a concept album this time like ”Silent Ruins” was. All songs are independent of each other. The title track “Born from Shadows” is the third part of the Moonstone-Trilogy. “Moonstone” represents the light and “Shadowstone” the darkness. “Born from Shadows” is the end of the story were two great opposites finally meets and will become one. It’s kind of a classic good versus evil story. Musically the songs about the stones are a concept as well, all three songs contain a lot of different elements and paces and all of them are really long.

 

Photo by Martin Lundström

– And what does its artwork represent? As it seems to have certain symbolism.

J: The front cover represents the album in a large scale, the rings on the cover represents the Moonstone and the Shadowstone in the title track, as the two great opposites come together bringing death and destruction which the skull represents. The seven symbols symbolize the seven songs on the album. The 8th symbol in the forehead of the skull represents the album built by the seven surrounding symbols. The cover is made by Gustavo Sazes with a close co-operation with Isole.

 

– I personally think it follows the same pattern of your two previous albums, in fact I could say since «Bliss of Solitude» you have a more fragile and organic sound, with more melodies, but this also impacts with more blasting parts. Proof of this can be tune «Condemned». Does everything come naturally for you?

J: Both songwriting and sound has developed since ”Bliss of Solitude”. We are not affraid to try out new stuff, as you can hear on ”Born from Shadows”. The progressive ingredient is not completely new, but much more prominet on ”Silent Ruins” and on ”Born from Shadows”. It´s a natural development. All the different elements has its meaning. This is how the music sounds after going thru the Isole machinery.

 

– In fact is a really dynamic and diverse album, even more than «Silent Ruins». Was this something you were looking for?

J: This is how we sound right now, but yes, we want to have diversity in our music. This is very important also to make the music fun to play! I could never stand playing that kind of slow doom some bands playing, the one where nothing happens.

 

– I believe this time harsh vocals fit better with the overall sound, as slow and suffocating parts fit better themselves with more up-tempo parts. Have you approached this in a different way?

J: We wanted to use it more frequent than on earlier albums. Maybe thats the reason. On ”Throne of Void” for example, we only focused on the clean vocals of Daniel. Any ways, I think we put it on the right places and got the right atmosphere.

 

– Another example of both this improvement and the diversity on the album could be own «Born from Shadows», with many details on it, it depicts perfectly what this album is all about. Is this the reason why is the title track?

J: The reason that this song is the title track is because we wanted to shed some more light on the Trilogy about the two stones and we had a idea

Photo by Eki Kumpulainen

of a cover art we liked dealing with this story.

 

– It seems like you have mixed both the cold atmosphere from «Bliss of Solitude» with the warmer feeling on «Silent Ruins». Was this something intended?

J:Yes, we wanted to get the darker feeling like we had on ”BoS” but still keep the warmer and more acoustic sound we had on ”Silent Ruins”. That in combination with more experience (i mixed ”Ereb Altors” ”The End” and ”Planet Rains” latest recording between ”Silent” and ”BfS”) gave us a nice dark, cold atmosphere with a warm sound.

 

– And how important are these kind of contrasts for ISOLE?

J: Personaly i think its important. It makes the music more interesting and fun to play. It can also show different feelings and give the listener a better experience.

 

– The band itself mixed and recorded the album. How positive has this been for you as a band?

J: From the beginning we did it this way because of the financials . It´s expensive to pay for a decent recording, you know. But it´s also good to have ”unlimited” time to record. The sound has improved with each album, and with that our demands on a possible recording elsewhere. So i guess we will keep on doing it ourselves for a while. But you never know, next album might end up with a mix from someone else.

 

– Anyway Jens Bogren (OPETH, etc.) took mastering duties. Are you satisfied with his work?

J: I´m a huge fan of Jens and i love the work he has done with bands like Opeth, Bloodbath, Swallow the Sun etc. He has been a big influence for me when i have mixed both ”Silent Ruins” and ”Born from Shadows”. What he did with ”BfS” was fucking beautiful! We will surely hire him again! If

Photo by Eki Kumpulainen

not for mixing then at least for another mastering

 

– This year you are celebrating your 20th anniversary as a band. How could you sum up these 20 years of existence? How have you survived two decades into the music world?

J: Survived? Actually i think it was Ola from I Hate Records that gave the guys CPR and a kick in the ass when he offered them a record deal hahaha If he had´nt done that we don´t know if Isole would exist today.

 

– You will soon play the Madrid if the Dark Fest; what are your expectations?

J: High! The festival has grown alot since the time we played there and the line up looks awesome! I think we will have a great time! And we will play our asses off!

 

– And beside this festival, will be more show announcements? And tours in support of the new album?

J: We have contact with some promoters but nothing is set yet. There will probably be some weekend trips to different parts of europe early next year for a starter, but i can´t say more than that at this time.

 

– That has been all from my side, thanks once more for asnwering to our questions. If you now want to add some final words; is your time.

J: Thank you very much for showing interest in Isole! For all those who want to be kept updated on what happens in the Isole camp, check out our Facebook page www.facebook.com/isoleofficial and give us a ”Like”!

/Jonas

Tania Giménez

Tania@queensofsteel.com

 

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