Swedish death metallers Bleeding Utopia have released their lastest album "Darkest Potency" and all of it's members got together to discuss it's favorite tunes, progress with it's creation, and plans for the future!
1.Can I get a backstory on the band/ band biography?
Andreas: The idea for the band started in 2003 when I had some ideas for songs that didn't fit in my other bands. I took 3 songs and recorded & released them under the name ”Operation SidEffect”. I played everything except the drums and 2 solos and I also did the vocals on that recording (not very good vocals).
Then in 2004 there was a music competition in our town so I called some friends of mine to make this a full band. David was hired as a lead vocalist that time and we changed our name to ”Delicious Deformed” and we did one gig and after that it was put on ice for some reason. I continued to write songs during the years and it wasn't until my band ASTRAL CARNEVAL called it quits in late 2009 that I did this ”project” to a full band. Lawrence (our formed drummer) and I created the band and asked David to join on bass and my old friend Henrik to join on vocals. Joakim joined in April 2010 and Bleeding Utopia was complete. We recorded a 4-song promo simply called ”Promo 2010” in June 2010. It got good reviews and we started to do more and more gigs. In December , around Christmas, we started to record drums for our debut album, Demons to Some Gods to Others, and in the spring/summer of 2011 the recording was done. Jocke Skog mixed and mastered it in september 2011 and we signed a deal with Wormhole death from Italy for the release of that album. We went on a Scandinavian tour in September 2012 and in December Lawrence left the job as the drummer due to lack of time. We then started to write ”Darkest Potency” and we started to look for a drummer, which was earlier said than done.
And in July/Aug 2013 Henrik left his job as the lead vocalist to be a dad and to study to be a teacher. We had a chat in the band and David wanted to take over the role as the lead vocalist and so he did, and left his job as a bass player. This decision I think was the best we ever did. We re-wrote a lot of songs to fit Davids vocals and the end result was better than we could imagine. We recorded ”Darkest Potency” Nov 2013, Jan-Feb 2014. We hired Kevin Talley to records the drums and it was awesome. Jocke Skog took care of the re-amping, mixing, mastering and co-producing.
It was released April 30-2014 world wide and in Aug we found our new drummer, Mauro. We are just waiting for our bass player to move from Finland to play with us. This line-up feels great and the future is upon us.
2. How did you guys come up with your band name?
Andreas: Well, back in late 2009 I had a couple of names in mind but none of them was perfect.
I sat down and took BLEEDING from one name and UTOPIA from another name and BLEEDING UTOPIA became the name of the band. Bleeding Utopia was the perfect name for the band (in my opinion) it represent that there is no perfect world out there and there never will. The dream of having an Utopia is in everyone's head and the meaning of Utopia is different to ALL people. So the idea for a Utopia is fading, the dream of it is bleeding away, therefor BLEEDING UTOPIA. So the story isn't so exiting but the name is easy to remember and its damn cool, haha.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Joakim: We're based out of Västerås, Sweden. The local music scene isn't what it used to be, especially with metal bands overall, have there's less concerts overall being performed by local acts than before.
David: A few years ago we had at least 4-5 clubs for local and other bands to play. Sadly most of them didn't survive or changed their concept. Maybe it´s the short distance to Stockholm (1 hour drive) that´s hard to compete with. I don´t know, this town has always been strange in that way. There´s a lot of great bands here but it´s hard to wake people´s interest.
Joakim: There are some awesome Metal bands in our region, for example Seventribe, Bombs of Hades, Tyranex to name a few.
4. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?
Joakim: Some bands that we all enjoy the sound and songwriting of are The Black Dahlia Murder, Amon Amarth, At The Gates etc. In the end, inspiration can come from anywhere and we kinda take what sounds good, regardless of how inspiration struck.
David: A lot! Mostly melodic death/black metal from the 90´s. Dissection, Amon Amarth, At the Gates, In Flames...but also old school bands like Entombed and Dismember. I think me and Andreas already knew how we wanted it to sound in the late 90´s. We've been playing in a lot of bands together over the years.
5. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?
Joakim: I don't feel that there's a message communicated through the lyrics, it's more of a story of a theme that the text revolves around.
David: We want to leave some parts so that the listeners can get their own view about the lyrics. Nothing is black and white. I don´t even think the lyrics has the same meaning to everyone in the band.
6. How did Bleeding Music Records and you come together?
Andreas: Bleeding Music Records is our own small label. We have our own studio as well, Bleeding Music Studio.
Joakim: We started this record company ourselves to have more control over our own music and to release any other bands that would fit with what we like.
7. Can you describe how ”Darkest Potency” is ”right to the point”?
Joakim: It's high intensity from the first second to the last.
David: Instead of overdo things we actually went the other way. We tried to keep it as simple as possible without getting boring.
Andreas: Yes, to really focus on what was important to us in the meaning of song writing, like big groovy choruses and epic solos and leads and we really took our time to write and arrange this album. More mature, more slap in the face and kick in your balls. More ”right to the point”.
8. What was the recording process like this time around? Was there anything different that happened or was it the same old studio thing?
Joakim: We recorded everything but the drums in our own studio and the overall process took about 2 weeks with the guitars and bass being done in the first week. We had a time-table set with somewhat limited time so you could say it was like the same old studio thing. The drums was recorded by Kevin Talley in the USA.
David: Everything went actually extremely smooth. But we were also well prepared since we did a lot of pre-prods during the year.
Andreas: Same old studio thing, haha, except that we didn't had to think so much about the money because we got our own studio and there was a very relaxed feeling throughout the entire process.
9. Can you tell us how this album differs from the previous ones? What can we expect and what is the message behind it?
Joakim: This album is much more defined towards the way we want to take our musical style. A bit of old school riffing meets modern sound and choruses that really sticks with you. You could say that this album is heavier, darker, faster, more melodic and more "Us".
Andreas: Joakim is right. Darkest Potency is more ”US” that the previous album, that was more or less written by me from like 2003-2009. We all just have to rehears it and then record it. But with Darkest Potency we wrote in over a year or so and tried all kind of arrangements with the music and vocals and re-wrote some riffs just to simplify things. I don’t think there is a message except for the message of death-metal ”our way”. A bit old-school but in a modern way.
10. How would you say that the title and album art relate to the music on the album?Joakim: We had a few album titles that we thought fitted well with the overall "Theme" of the album and we kinda chose the one that sounded the best. Darkest Potency kinda fits with all the murder and ”evliness” that revolves around the lyrics and... It's just evil sounding!
David: The album is a dark ride that contains a lot of thoughts about life, death and twisted minds. How people react in different situations.
Andreas: The album art…we just wanted something dark and something that fitted the lyrics and music. We hired a guy called Henrik an H.E.W Design to do it and we loved it.
11. What's your favorite song on the album right now?
Joakim: Hmm, this is a tough one as I like them all, but I really like "All Life Withers" because it's so fun to play!
David: It´s hard to pick one...but I have to say ”Your kingdom will fall”
Andreas: I don’t know, its a hard question. But I really like ”Until Death Collects Them All”. Its very fun to play. ”Nighttime Divine” and ”I will return” is also great fun to play. Well I think all 9 songs are my favorites, hahaha. But I want to know what the fans favorite songs on the album are.
12. What does ”Darkest Potency” mean to you?
Joakim: Not to get too deep, but it reminds me that there's always gonna be darkness around us and some are worse than others.
Andreas: If you just think about the lyrics and the music I concur to what Joakim says. Its all about destruction in different kind of ways. But if you think about it more as a piece of art, to me its a feeling a satisfaction. The entire process from writing to recording and playing them and of course performing them on stage it total satisfaction.
13. How about shows and touring, do you have anything planned?
We recently found a new drummer to fill our vacancy so we'll definitely get out on the road as soon as possible, but nothing is planned at the time this is written except for lots of rehearsal.
14. What other plans do you have for the rest of this year leading into the next year?
Joakim: Rehearsals and planning towards the next year!
David: Keep on writing new songs and hopefully do some shows
Andreas: Hopefully we will go on some tours and do some festivals next year. And we will start writing the next album…we have already started to write some music but we will begin the pre-prods in the spring/summer of 2015 and hopefully do some more touring after that and then records another killer album in late 2015 or early 2016.
15. Any last words for the friends and fans out there?
Joakim: Buy our album and enjoy! See you soon on the road!
Andreas: Buy our album, buy our t-shirts and come to our shows and listen and hang out with us.
David: We really hope to see you in the mosh pit real soon! In the meanwhile, buy Darkest potency and warm up your necks. Cheers!
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