AMORAL (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. What are you guys currently up to?
B: We just played the last few shows for this year, so right now we’re decorating christmas trees and watching movies like Home Alone and Jingle All The Way at home. Our next move is to practice the rest of the new album so we can play more new song in January, when the gigging continues. Also, we’re already dabbling with some new song ideas…
– You have recently released your latest «Beneath»; how’s everything going with its acceptance? I read the album entered Finnish charts at #30.
B: The input so far has been great. Tons of 4/5 reviews, and the fans seem to think it’s a much stronger album than the previous one, so that’s nice to hear. Yeah, «Beneath» entered the Finnish charts at #30, and has been in the top3 of all the Finnish digistores for a month, so we’re pretty happy.
– Since your previous effort press reviews seem to be polarized; did you expect that again for «Beneath»?
B: If by polarized you mean versatile, then yes 🙂 I’m actually really surprised of all the great reviews: I did not expect so many critics to «get» the album, as it is too long and too versatile by todays standards. It’s not the most commercial thing to follow a 9-minute epic opener with a 3-minute punkrock song. But I’m very happy to see that you don’t need to write 35-minute albums stuck in just one strict genre to get acceptance.
– In fact with «Show your Colors» you took a new musical direction; was there any concrete reason behind that?
B: A need for a change. When our old singer decided to leave, we saw it as an opportunity to find a melodic singer and expand our musical vocabulary. Hard rock is where we all started from, and we were flirting with it already on our previous albums, so I think this was just natural progression.
– And could you say you have now found your own path? Your actual sound?
B: I hope so! I don’t think it’s for me to say. Many have told me that they definitely hear an «Amoral sound» in our music, and I hope that is the case. But I definitely think that with these last two albums we’re on the path to our own sound.
– Tunes as «(won’t go) Home» have some nunaces to your past, having certain Death Metal elements we weren’t almost able to found on your previous effort. Will you keep on developing this?
B: I have no idea, to be honest. It all depends of what kind of songs we happen to write, and where our head is at at any specific time. While writing «Show Your Colors», we definitely wanted to do something totally different, and were so excited about using clean vocals that we didn’t include any growling on it at all. Whereas while writing «Beneath», Some of the songs and parts I wrote were «asking» for growling, and we didn’t anything against the idea.
So if the next album will have growling or death metal elements, I truly don’t know yet. But it’s certainly an option, we don’t rule out anything beforehand.
– On the other hand, you have featured your longest track ever, «Beneath». How has been composing this song like?
B: It was challenging but very rewarding. I had just gotten a 7-string guitar, and was playing around with it, coming up with different kinds of parts. It just kept growing and growing. At one point I realised that the melody I had for the chorus might work really well orchestrated, and that’s how I came up with the intro. I love film music, so it was really cool to finally incorporate some of that into our music. The band liked the song, as do the fans and press, which feels really good, as I also concider i one of our brightest moments.
– On the album you are mixing different music styles as Power Metal, Hard Rock, some progressive stuff… Do you have any limits?
B: I hope not! All of us in Amoral love versatility in music, and we’re happy to let it show. It keeps this exciting for us and hopefully for the fans also.
– This has been your first album with your new guitar player, Masi Hukari; how’s everything going with him so far? What has he brought to AMORAL?
B: lots of talent, good spirits and much sexiness! Things have been going fantastic. He’s such a great guy, great player and a good friend, so honestly we could not be happier. He’s a monster of a player, so he keeps me motivated and on my toes, I don’t wanna look bad next to him. I can’t wait to get started on writing the next album with him, I’m sure we’ll come up with some beautiful stuff together.
– How was the songwriting for «Beneath»? As I read Masi even helped with a couple of songs.
B: Yeah, Masi joined at the very last minute of the writing period, but still managed to bring ideas for two killer rock songs that we used. Other than that I wrote this pretty much on my own. At first I was kinda scared of the workload, as I had bever written an album’s worth of material by myself. But I quickly got into the writing zone, and the songs just kept on coming. By the time we entered the studio we had 14 songs and over 70 minutes of music ready.
– In fact I could say this is your most versatile album so far; could you say the new blood in the band has had somethig to do with that?
B: Not to take anything away from Masi, but I don’t think so. The material was already really versatile by the time we found him.
– Anyway you still are the main composer. Which is your main source of inspiration?
B: I don’t think I have one main source of inspiration. I get inspired by everything and anything: a great live show, an episode in my life that is significant, a good movie, something I hear someone say, things I see happening in our world… The guitar itself is a big inspiration: I pick it up, start noodling around and sometimes come up with something great. Many times not.
– You are also the responsible for lyrics; what do they deal with this time around?
B: I tend to keep it pretty personal, as those are the kind of lyrics I like the most myself, not so much the fictional, fantasy stuff. I think the most powerful songs in the world come from real life experiences and feelings. Same thing this time around. A lot has happened in these last two years since the last album, lots to write about. I don’t like to break down the lyrics too much, but there’s songs of loss, of the way the world seems to operate these days, the music business, of past mistakes and recurring dreams.
– I read the band itself took recording and production duties. Are you pleased with the final outcome? As I gues no one like you may know what are you looking for.
B: No, we had the same engineer and producer as on our last few albums, Janne Saksa. Me and Janne produced this album together. Janne is a brilliant guy, he has tons of killer ideas for the songs, especially harmonies, little changes for the vocal melodies etc. I’m very happy with the results, I think the album sounds huge.
– Ben, you are the only founding member left with Juhana, and the band has been through different changes; how do you now see has been the AMORAL’s evolution since its beginnings?
B: LIneup changes are almost inevitable. We started playing together when we were 14, so naturally people grow in different directions, want different things from life, want to play different kind of music etc. Band chemistry is so important, and if one member doesn’t really want to be there, sitting in a van with the rest of you for seven hours straight, he shouldn’t be there. The band morale has gained with every member change.
– You have announced some Finnish dates for next 2012, are there any touring plans or possibilities?
B: Yes, all kinds of plans are now in the making. Hopefully we’ll get to announce some of them soon.
– And beside that, what are your near-future plans?
B: Playing more shows, promoting «Beneath» and writing new material. The plan is to get bigger and better!
– That has been all from my side, thanks once more for taking the time. If you now want to add some final thoughts; take the last lines.
B: Thank you for the support! We truly hope to play in Spain again soon, the few times we’ve been there have been a pleasure. And it doesn’t hurt that the country and it’s women are beautiful, and that it’s usually a lot warmer there than in Finland. Please check out «Beneath», we hope you dig it!
