Melodic death metal act, Frantic Amber has members from not one but four different countries; Sweden, Denmark, Japan, and Colombia. Their sound is intense mixed with riffs, melodies, aggressive vocals thrown together with melodic portions and heaviness that ends up being quite deranged overall. The band took sometime to discuss their debut full-length "Burning Insight" as well as some back story on themselves and the plans for the future.
1. Let us get started by filling in our readers as to what the band has been up to in the past year.
We have recorded and finished up our debut album Burning Insight and switched line up as well as playing gigs in Sweden, Finland and smaller tours to Italy, Netherlands and Belgium. Our music video for the title song of the new album is out and we are excited to announce that we are in the final stages of releasing the album worldwide.
2. Can you give those of us who aren't familiar with Frantic Amber a brief history of the band and can you please describe your sound for those who have yet to hear your music?
Frantic Amber is a melodic death metal band with members from 4 different countries: Sweden, Denmark, Japan and Colombia. We have a broad sound with a lot of different influences but always making sure to keep the melodies and heavy riffs of our genre intact. Maria started the band as a project in 2008 and in 2010 Elizabeth joined her and the search for members completed that same year and we were officially a band. We have actively played live in the Northern countries as well as Europe and are known for our explosive and energetic stage presence as our trademark.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
The band is based i Stockholm, Sweden which really has a huge and very talented metal scene where a lot of great bands emerge. Known bands such as Dark funeral, Watain, Crucified Barbara, Entombed, Hysterica and Amon Amarth to name a few are from here.
4. Frantic Amber was your band's name choice but where does the name come from and what does it represent? Like does the name "Amber" refer to an actual person named Amber? What's the whole story behind your name?
There’s really not a great story behind our name, Frantic Amber was really just two words put together but the name has grown into representing the brutal “frantic” together with the more feminine touch of the color “amber”.
5. Who would you say are your musical influences that you look upon the most?
Our musical influences are ever-changing and in a broad range of difference. We all have our individual inspiration which come together in our music. As long as we keep our key elements of the melodic death metal genre we can take in influences from everywhere.
6. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Our song have many themes and thought behind them. The lyrics describe everything from feeling a certain way, life experiences, observations, stories, issues of the world etc.
7. Do you write your own songs? Could you describe your song writing process? What comes first – the music or the lyrics?
Yes we write our own songs. We constantly give each other constructive feedback as to how we can evolve and make the song grow into its true form. Mio is the main songwriter and puts everything together but everyone pitches in with ideas and riffs. Mostly the music outline is completed first and then Elizabeth writes the lyrics and again we have a feedback round for improvements.
8. Your debut release was an EP "Wrath of Judgment" (2010) followed by some singles then your debut full-length album "Burning Insight"(2014). How do these releases differ, compare, and evolved from one another and why such a long gap between their releases?After we released “Wrath of Judgment” we played live a lot and we really got to spend a lot of time on stage which is what our band is really all about. We are first and foremost a live band so we belong on the stage. A full length album hasn’t been possible since we are a self-financed band and we were playing so many gigs constantly as well as balancing our private lives. We managed the flow of releases with some singles until we had the funds and time to focus on our debut album. Once all the songs were complete we started recording which also took a long time. After a lot of hard work and effort we are proud to present to you, our debut album “Burning Insight”.
9. How does the album art relate to the music on the album?
The album is very diverse as are the songs and the lyrics contain a lot of different subjects so the artwork had to apply to all of the above. We needed a mixture of hard and brutal but elegant and soaring which the artwork really does for us.
10. Is there any story or concept behind the "Burning Insight"?
The name of the album came from the name of the title song “Burning Insight” which is based upon the horrible rapes in India written for the victim against the violators and for the world to open its eyes to the horrible things that is going on. The name urges the offenders doing these crimes to come to a burning insight of what they are doing to other people and that they should stop and pay for what they have done. The name of the song then started to have a double meaning for the band, we ourselves had some burning insights and finally had to do something about them and at last we changed the lineup.
11. Who produced "Burning Insight" and what was it like working with them?
We produced the album ourselves together with Pelle Saether and it was really great working with him. He is calm and collected which helps on the nerves of nailing the tracks. He’s a talented musicians and sound engineer and we are so happy with the result of it all.
12. What can we expect on "Burning Insight" and what is the message behind it?
We hope to deliver our energy and presence of our live shows into the listener’s ears. Our fans can expect a grand mixture of songs with soaring melodies, heavy riffs, some speedy grinding sections and growling vocals with small touches of clean in two of the songs. The tracks differ quite a bit from each other and we cover a broad spectrum of musical tastes so we hope there will be something in here for everyone.
13. Do you think there is an element of the band’s sound that you would like to push out further on the next batch of songs? With so much going on in your sound, obviously there are elements that might get further explored?
We are constantly exploring different elements and inspirations so that will continue to evolve. With our two newest members we are excited to see where the new songs will take us. Surely we have a lot more to explore and play with in order to evolve even further into the music of Frantic Amber.
14. A video for the track “Burning Insight” has been released, how was the process behind making the video? Are there any plans to release any more promo videos from the album and will they be a continuation of this one?
The video of Burning Insight was the biggest production we have done so far and we consider it a huge success thankful to the crew and the awesome people involved. It took a lot of preparations to get the idea into reality. We started off with meetings between the band and the producer Kenneth Axx where we made all the plans.We worked pretty much nonstop through an entire weekend in order to nail all the recorded material we needed for the video. Of course it was a tough process but we also had a lot of fun being creative in another form than usual and we really think it turned out great!
15. Most of your releases have been released independently as opposed to being a part of a label, do you want to continue the the independent route or hope to get signed by another label? What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Finding a record company that has funds to put into bands is really hard these days, so we will remain independent until we find a deal that is worthwhile. Of course we hope to be signed with a major label that believe in us and are willing to push us forward. We offer a great live show and pour our hearts and souls into our music and we have fans around the world and with the funding of a label we would be able to travel farther distances to play live.
16. Has Frantic Amber ever played in the United States or plan to do so in the future? How have the shows you guys have done been going?
Hopefully in the future we will be able to go on tour to America to play shows for our fans there. As we are an independent band without a label so far and we need sufficient funds to go on a tour that far away but we hope that will be possible soon.
17. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
We are currently on Spotify, youtube and iTunes. Our album will be out internationally very soon.
18. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
We hope to connect with the listener on some level or another in order for them to feel something significant. Our energy and love for music is written in every line of our music and we hope to convey this on the tracks of “Burning Insight”.
19. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We will be working on new songs as well as going back to Russia for the Women’s metal fest and also planning to go back to the Netherlands and Italy. We were just announced to be playing at Sweden Rock Festival 2015 which is really exciting to go back to and it looks like we will be at other festivals in the coming summer.20. Do you have any last words for fans, or potential new fans?
We send all our fans a huge thank you for the support and hope to see them in the crowd soon, horns high!
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