Metal titans Aspherium have set their hearts, minds, and souls upon this metal community doing whatever it takes to get themselves known. They went ahead and have played shows and released material including some all new music coming out soon. Drummer Bjørn Tore Erlandsen talks about the new music and upcoming shows and plans.
1. What type of band are you?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: Aspherium is a Modern Metal band.
2. Tell us the brief history of your band.
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: Aspherium started out in 2007, when Marius (guitar/vox) and Torgeir (bass) wanted to start up a new meta lband, Bjørn Tore (drums) was enlisted quite fast, and we started recording a 3 track demo. Morten (Lead Guitar) joined the band in 2009. Now the lineup was finally complete, and we started playing a good amount of live gigs, got 2 place in the Norwegian Wacken Metal Battle 2010, and we recorded our debut album the same year which was released 11.11.11, on The National Metal Day!
3. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: "The Veil Of Serenity" is a concept album based on mankind's struggle to survive in a world filled with war and destruction, with the realization that the human race has contributed to create a wasteland of ruin. The story takes a look inside the thoughts of one man as he peers through the veil and sees the world for what it is. On his path, he comes to recognize that change is needed to avoid our own annihilation.
4. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: Yeah, we write our own songs, mainly Marius and me are doing all the songwriting, but the other two members have had something to do in the process as well. The songwriting process are normally executed with Marius putting some guitar riffs together and I applying drums on these riffs, or I send drum tracks to Marius and he put guitar riffs to the drum tracks. Sometimes we also just jam on rehearsals, then record them directly in the rehearsal room, for so to record them in our home studios.
5. Who are your musical influences?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: METAL!!! But also classical music is a big inspiration source to us. Bands that are important to Aspherium: Machine Head, Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Metallica, Slayer, Testament,
Dimmu Borgir, Devin Townsend (both The Devin Townsend Project and Strapping Young Lad) Nile, Revocation, Opeth and the list continues.
6. Tell me about your new album.
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: This is also a concept album, this time it is about a galaxy far far away, where there have been no death, war or illness in 100 years. The world is attacked by an alien life form that will destroy this world with all the force they have. A World shaper team is sent out on a journey to secure the future of this world. It is a very science fiction related story.
7. How would you describe the overall sound of this album?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: It is an organic and natural sound on the new album, in difference to the debut album that had some triggered drums, and sounded a bit more "typical metal" then we are used to.
8. What would you say is your favorite track off it?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: The second track "The Revenant" is a pure heavy song that has all of the aspects that we want in a metal song.
9. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: Well, as all bands we want to do this for a living, we are certain that it was the right choice to use Jens Bogren from Fascination Street Studios in Sweden to mix, master and co produce this album. But the main thing we are aiming for with this album, is to show to every metal loving person out there, that we are a band to consider in the future, and not to be forgotten!
10. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: We used nylon stringed guitars on some of the parts of a few songs, choirs, keyboards, percussion instruments and samples.
11. When did you start writing for this album? How was the songwriting process different/similar to Aspheriums debut album?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: We started the writing process early 2012. The difference to the songwriting on "The Veil of Serenity" is mainly that we did not have any riffs or parts ready before we started to write the new songs, all was done from scratch, and that is a very good thing if you ask me! Love the creative process when you have to go out of your "comfort zone" and try to push your songwriting to the next level.
12. Can you go into one or two tracks on the new album? If so, can you give us the track title and brief description of how the track sounds and how it came about?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: Well, this is not a record that is not released yet and will not be released for a little while, but as I said about my favorite track "The Revenant" it is a blast of a metal tune, it has all that you want in a metal song, blast beats, double bass drum parts, heavy guitar riffs and a fierce growl vocals. Another song I can try to describe is "City of Stone", which is the first song we have written for 8 string guitars, it opens with a groovy riff, and continues into a more "prog metalish" form, before it again has some catchy guitar riffs and drums and then over to pure black metal! So hope you will enjoy this when it comes out!
13. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: You can listen to "The Veil of Serenity" on our Facebook page, Spotify, MySpace, our homepage and a couple of more streaming sites on the internet. You can also listen to it on our Facebook: www.facebook.com/aspherium - go to the bandpage app and the whole album will be there in good quality! And please like us on Facebook as well!
14. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Bjørn-Tore Erlandsen: The remaining work with the new album is of course a priority, but we are going on a European Tour with Blood Red Throne now in May and June (26 of May to 9 of June). So if you are in one of these cities and attending one of the concerts, PLEASE don`t hesitate to come over and chat! Would be my honor! We will visit these cities and venues:
26.05 - Weißenfels (Ger) – Schlosskeller
http://www.facebook.com/SchlosskellerDarmstadt?fref=ts
27.05 - Berlin (Ger) – Blackland
http://www.facebook.com/events/523360297715627/?notif_t=plan_user_invited
28.05 - Prague (CZ) - Nova Chmelnice
http://www.facebook.com/NovaChmelnice?fref=ts
29.05 - Aalen (Ger) – Rock it
http://www.facebook.com/rockitaalen?fref=ts
30.05 - Chemnitz (Ger) – Sanitätsstelle
http://www.facebook.com/Sanistelle?fref=ts
31.05 - Wien (A) – Escape
http://www.facebook.com/escape.metalcorner
01.06 - Graz (A) – Explosiv
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jugendkulturzentrum-Explosiv/122971634471197?fref=ts
02.06 - Milano (I) – Blue Rose Saloon
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BLUE-ROSE-SALOON/16985584977?ref=ts&fref=ts
03.06 - Bologna (I) – Freakout
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freakout-Club/162409987235269?fref=ts
04.06 - Renchen (Ger) – Come Inn
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Come-Inn-Renchen/164158600308889?fref=ts
05.06 - Paris (FR) - Le Klub
http://www.facebook.com/leklubparis?fref=ts
06.06 - Essen (Ger) – Turock
http://www.facebook.com/turock.essen?fref=ts
07.06 - Mechelen (B) – Klub Kamikaze
http://www.facebook.com/clubkamikaze
08.06 - Hilversum (Nl) – De Vorstin
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Podium-de-Vorstin/176095902462955?fref=ts
09.06 - Roermond (Nl) – ECI Cultuurfabriek
http://www.facebook.com/ecicultuurfabriek?fref=ts
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