Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Darkane

3/28/09

It may be a great unsolved mystery of the modern world, but Sweden has been a longtime breeding ground for heavy metal. During the last decade or more, some of the most influential and popular death, thrash, black and melodic death metal bands have been born in the country. Formed in 1998, Darkane was one of the bands in the beginning of the Swedish metal scene. With a fast and furious sound rooted in thrash metal, Darkane released four albums to popular and critical claim, culminating with the release of their most recent album, 2009's Demonic Art. The album combines elements and influences from all the subgenres listed above, but at heart, is a pure Darkane record. And one that fans might even expect. The biggest difference this time around is new vocalist Jens Broman, who replaces longtime frontman Andreas Sydow. But don't panic. Just because there's a new guy on board doesn't mean a thing. Demonic Art is evidence that nothing has really changed in Darkane's sound.

During their recent U.S. tour as openers for their good friends and countrymen Soilwork, Live-Metal.Net's Jeff Maki talked to Darkane drummer Peter Wildoer about their new album and vocalist. In addition to Darkane, we learn that Wildoer is also behind the kit as a member of the newly resurrected version of death metallers Pestilence. But more importantly, it turns out that Peter is just as big of a fan of Clive Barker's Hellraiser as Jeff is.

Live-Metal.net: First off, why don't you tell us about the new album, Demonic Art. How does it compare to previous albums and what can Darkane fans expect?

Peter Wildoer: I think this one is more of a natural follow-up to Layers of Lies, because we always had very different sounds on our records, from Rusted Angel to Insanity to Expanding Senses. And that was a very big step, and now into Layers of Lies. But I think for this time it's a little bit more of what you could actually expect. I'd say it's a bit faster than the previous ones. I think it's a bit more pure, more melodies. And of course Jens is doing vocals now. And that's very different with a new vocalist. But I think he's doing a great job and when we chose him we knew what to expect. It's a typical Darkane record, I will say that.

You mentioned your new vocalist, Jens. What happened with your previous vocalist, Andreas, and describe the situation in which you got your new guy into the band.

Andreas, our previous vocalist, he worked a lot. He works with audio-video installation--he works 24/7 all the time. He didn't feel like he could commit the effort and time that it takes to have a band like this. Even though we don't rehearse a lot and stuff like that, it takes a lot to write lyrics, write music and rehearse now and then. He kind of thought that we wanted to pass on the torch to someone else, someone that could put more time into it. Also, he's coming from a background with Led Zeppelin, KISS, Deep Purple and that kind of stuff, so he felt that he didn't contribute with the kind of music that we were playing.

And Jens, we already knew him from way before. He was an old friend of ours. And we knew he was a great vocalist and a super cool dude. So that was kind of easy. When Andreas made the decision, we knew that Jens is the perfect replacement.

How do the vocal styles differ between the two? I've heard Darkane's music before, but I didn't even realize [the change] until about four songs in. I was like, "Wait a minute, something's different."

And you know, that's what we were aiming to do. Jens fit the Darkane style very well, but I would say that Jens is maybe more of a higher-pitched vocal. Live is probably the biggest difference. In the studio, you can work a lot and try other stuff, and in the end it comes out the way you want. But especially live, Jens is very good and he's got more of a high-pitched kind of vocals. Live is the biggest difference. And Andreas was a lower, more raspier vocal. I think that both are awesome vocalists and they have so many different voices. They can bring it out of their throats and that's what we were looking for. Jens is, I wouldn't say hardcore, but he's a bit more aggressive. I like them both a lot, though.

Since they are similar in vocal styles, do you think it will have any affect on writing and direction of future albums?

When we do the writing normally, we always do the music first, and then we do vocals in the studio. It's always a bit stressful, doing the vocals there and producing it. But I would say that it hasn't really changed our style of writing. [Guitarist] Christofer [Malmström], [guitarist] Klas [Ideberg] and I write the songs, and we do that whenever. We don't have anything specific in our minds. We just write what we think are good songs, so I wouldn't say it's changed much actually.

You guys are on tour right now with Soilwork, Warbringer and Swallow the Sun. How are the crowds responding to you guys? And do you have your own fans there or is it mainly a Soilwork audience?

I'd say that our fans show up here in the U.S., and I'd say that the tour has been going very good for us. The main thing for us is to, of course, get new fans opening up for Soilwork. I'd say it's going very well, but it's up and down with the crowds. The turnouts vary, now and then there's less turnouts. But I think that's more of the local promotion for the gig and stuff like that. But we've been very happy with it. We've got a very good response, people coming out to the shows and giving us a thumbs up, enjoying the show and they really like it, so we're very happy.

It's a long tour, though. We're at the end and there's like a week left. We've been on the road for almost seven weeks now and [with] 14, 15 different people on the bus, but it's all good.

Looking back over the band's career, it seems like you guys have many close ties to Soilwork. Didn't Bjorn ["Speed" Strid] actually sing on one of your original albums?

Yeah, like you said, in the beginning Bjorn did the vocals on like two tracks for a compilation at the beginning of Darkane when we just started the band. We were offered to be on this compilation CD, so he did the vocals for the first two tracks. And that was very cool. And our guitar player's been doing live sound for Soilwork. And I have been filling in for Dirk [Verbeuren] when he couldn't play some gigs in 2006—some festivals in Europe, I did the drums for Soilwork. We're old friends and knew each other from way back. And that's what makes it easier for touring. Being on a bus with your friends makes it a lot easier.

Darkane was one of many Swedish metal bands that all came out around the same time of each other. Describe the Swedish metal scene back then to what it is now, and more specifically, how have bands like yourselves, Soilwork and In Flames evolved over the years?

I would say that when we started in '98, the scene was just starting. When I was recording with Arch Enemy—I did drums on their album, Stigmata—I heard these two tracks from The Haunted. And one was “Hate Song” from their first record, and I was so blown away, because I grew up with thrash normally; Dark Angel, Slayer, that kind of stuff—Bay area thrash metal ... Metallica ... So I was so blown away that the thrash was coming back. This was more than 10 years ago. And when we formed Darkane, we came from our background with kind of a Meshuggah influence, way more difficult than anything to do with Darkane. And I think we wanted to have something more straightforward. That was kind of at the opening for the Swedish scene for the moment, with Darkane coming, Soilwork and Carnal Forge, and all those bands that were more of a thrashier kind of band.

I think over the years, most of the bands have evolved more and more into melodic bands, like Soilwork, In Flames ... Arch Enemy. I would say that Darkane kind of kept with the faster pace, a faster and more furious band than many of the other bands. And we have stayed true to that. We are a thrash band and that's what we are, so I think we will stick with that.

How is the album doing? How are sales going and is the label pleased? Also, what are your expectations of the album?

Obviously, that was the big thing because we were starting and only did like 850 in sales the first week. And we were like, “850? Is that really good?” And Nuclear Blast came back to us and said this was very good, that we charted with this. And for such an extreme band and for not being that big, that's very very good, so I think the sales are doing very well in the U.S. And they're very happy with it at Nuclear Blast. And we have a new tour in September and October in the U.S. Their really pushing it. And we were surprised, but of course, it's because of the illegal downloads and the market is going down and down. Had this been three years ago, we were told that this would have been better sales than Layer of Lies. So yes, we are very happy with the sales.

Actually, the title track is a continuation of the track “Organic Canvas” from Layers of Lies. Most of our lyrics are very fictive. It's more like watching a horror movie or reading a horror book. My lyrics are always very fictive. I love Clive Barker and Hellraiser and doing stuff like that, so this track is about this guy, inspired by movies like Se7en. So he's doing all these murders because he wants to have their organic canvas. He's using art with their bodies. It's not some kind of Cannibal Corpse lyrics--I don't describe pulling out intestines or anything like that. I'm more interested in the mind, people being weird and sick or whatever.

And Christofer's lyrics are also very much inspired by horror movies, but Jens are more reality, like whatever you see in the news. It's very different styles of lyrics, but I think they fit together well.

I'm actually looking at my Hellraiser poster right now, hanging over my desk, signed by Doug Bradley. “To Jeff, See you in hell, Doug Bradley.”

[laughter] Ah man, you got it signed?

Yeah, I met him like three years ago at a convention called Horrorfind Weekend.

I also met him once. It's a cool thing, isn't it? And they're doing a remake this year! Hopefully Doug Bradley will be in it, but I know that Clive Barker is directing or producing it in some way. So they're doing a remake of the first Hellraiser movie! Fingers crossed! I'm all scared, nervous, you know?

Yeah, I actually met Ashley Laurence at that same convention too. You know ... Kirsty?

Oh yeah! Kirsty! You met her, too?

Yeah, she was there, too. And man, that was just a great weekend for me, you know.

Yeah, I can imagine man. That sounds like a killer weekend. [laughter]

Yeah, we're going to have some festivals in Europe with Darkane. I think there's like three or four booked and more in the works. Also, when I get home, I'm off for 10 days and I start rehearsing because I am going on tour with Pestilence, the old Dutch death metal band. I did the new record [Resurrection Macabre] with them and I think it will be out here in the States on the 13th or 14th of April. [Editors note: It has since been announced that Resurrection Macabre will be released April 28, 2009 in the United States via R.E.D. Distribution] The record's got to get out before we tour, so on April 9, we start touring in Europe. And that'll be like a three week tour with them, then I'll be back in the U.S. in late May for the Maryland Deathfest. It's the 22nd of May--I think we're headlining there. And then, preliminary, it's like 17 festivals with Pestilence and four with Darkane, so I think there'll be lots of weekends I'll be playing this summer. But I love it.

I actually live in Maryland and the Deathfest is at Sonar in Baltimore, which is only like an hour and 15 minutes from here, so I'm going to make it out to at least one of the three days.

Cool. Yeah, that would be sweet. And there's a lot of people that have said they are going there and think it's really cool that I'm playing with Pestilence.

So how did you get involved with the Pestilence reunion, and also, could you tell me about your time in Arch Enemy. Did you ever think they would explode with Angela to where they are now?

For the Pestilence thing, [guitarist/vocalist] Patrick Mameli called me and wanted to know if I was interested in doing the record and a tour after that. And [Pestilence albums] Consuming Impulse, Spheres and Testimony--I grew up with that. So that was all cool and I just hoped for the best, but I think it turned out very well. It's more brutal but also more technical, like it should be, a little more modern sounding.

And for Arch Enemy, I never expected the thing that happened. And with Angela, that was a very smart thing, bringing in a female death metal vocalist, for marketing and the whole thing. It's totally extreme having this girl doing death metal vocals. That was a good marketing way for [guitarist] Michael [Amott] to do that. I just played with them for like a year and a half so that was way before anything like that happened. And they've had huge success. They are great songwriters and great guitar players and that was very cool.

If you like what you hear, please go and buy it. That helps us to get back to the U.S. again to tour. So yeah, the more records we sell, the more obvious it will be that we'll be back in the U.S. for a new tour.