Extol (VO)

interview Extol

Formed in 1994, this Oslo based five-piece always got a strong taste for creativity. Even at the time of their debut release (Burial / 98), you could hear some bizarre death & black-metal mixture. Years have passed & Extol’s talent naturally exploded. After the sublime thrash & progressive "Sinergy", here’s another piece of metallic art called "The Blueprint Dives". Forget everything you’ve heard before (not easy) & prepare to dive in one of today’s more avantgardist metal. I had the privilege to interview guitarist Tor Glidje in january 2005. Here’s the result.

 

>Hi ! Extol has known some line-up changes these last months. What did happen exactly & who are your new allies ?
There were certain priority-differences within the band that resulted in members leaving. This was not as dramatic as it may seem at first. The problem was that we felt Extol was ready to head one step forward now and invest more time and energy on the band than we\'ve done so far, so basically Ole and Christer felt they couldn\'t commit themselves under those conditions. They left out of their own will in order to let the band move on, and we all understood and respected their decision. Fortunately ex-Extol member Tor and Ole H from the rock band Ganglión willingly joined the band. We all have played together in other bands before, so one can say that this was not an entirely new setting for us, and it wasn\'t as drastic as it may seem.

 

>Your fourth & brand new album "The Blueprint Dives" will soon be out on Century Media. How would you describe it ?
It sounds fresh I think. The sound on the new album has a feel to it that hasn\'t been on the previous Extol-recordings. It\'s been said that the new album is Extol\'s heaviest. I don\'t think all the songs are heavier, it\'s just the overall sound. "The Blueprint Dives" is an album that will grow on you, because there are a lot of different elements to it.

 

>Where did you record it ? Was it a good experience in the studios ?
We recorded the album in Toproom Studio in Norway. The studio is located 2 hours north from Oslo. This helped us to keep the right focus all the time. Sometimes you get easily distracted when you\'re in the recording-process, but our choice to live in country-side for a month. It was a very good experience to be in the studio. Of course it can be a bit stressy sometimes, but most of the time we we\'re just having a good time and tried to constructive.

 

>Each of your new record sounds very different. "Undeceived"

interview Extol was rather death/black/doom orientated while "Sinergy" was sounding more in a technical-thrash way. "The Blueprint Dives" sounds even more innovative to me with a huge hardcore vibe in a Snapcase way. Are you agree ?
There\'s a hardcore influence on the album, but the progressive elements have always been in Extol\'s music, but I guess you could say our display of the progressive has changed. The record is very energetic and straightforward. We tried to make it more catchy in rhythm and melody, and perhaps that is when you hear the progressiveness more easily, when we do something out of the ordinary. But yeah, I know what you mean. All the Extol-albums differ in a way, but the new album is probably even more different. It had to be this way because Extol\'s got two new song-writers. It would be just naturally if one can hear a hardcore vibe on the new album, but I would say that there\'s so much more to it. We influenced by a lot of different music, and hardcore is just a small part of it.

 

>Aren\'t you afraid to disappoint your fans with a such huge sense of (r)evolution ?
No, not at all ! I think our fans will embrace this album. We are not a band that releases the same album again and again,- it\'s kind of become our trademark. We don\'t want to record an album only to please the listener. It\'s very important that we feel comfortable with what we do. There might be some that\'s going to be disappointed, but then again there will new ones that likes it. That\'s just how it is I guess.

 

>Clear vocals are once again very important on your new album. Some of them, like in "Gloriana" & "Another Adam\'s Escape", even sound in a Bjorkish way. Do you think metalheads are open-minded enough to dig them ?
I would believe so. We tried to make interesting clean-vocals on "The Blueprint Dives", and think we have succeeded. My experience is that many metalheads likes to be challenged when it comes to music.

 

>This new disk is technical but in a different way than "Sinergy". Did you try to distance yourself from a band like Meshuggah ?
No. That\'s never been an issue. Personally I\'ve never seen reason to compare Extol with Meshuggah. Meshuggah sure does their own thing, and it would be silly to try to compete with them. I agree that this album is technical in a different way than "Synergy". That album is more guitar-orientated, while "The Blueprint Dives" isn\'t.

 

>What do your new texts deal with ? Who does write them ?
All of us write lyrics, but it\'s Peter, John an

interview Extold Ole who have written most of them. "The Blueprint Dives" is a title that refers to the songs on the album, so each individual song has its own meaning. They are in themselves "dives" that lead their own life sort of to speak, you might even call them experiments. I would say there\'s a lyrical concept on the album. It\'s not a theme if you only read the lyrics on two or three songs and compare them, but the record as a whole. I think the lyrics for the album are individually different like the songs, but there is a red line there of course. We deal with personal issues among others, they are reflections of our emotion and experience, such as loneliness and addictions but also themes like love, grace and freedom.

 

>I didn\'t see your new album\'s cover artwork yet. How will it look like ?
The artwork is done by Asterik Studios in the US. It\'s awesome ! The front is symbolising the album title. I will not say more because that would be no fun for those who wants to buy it !

 

>You also filmed a video for "Pearl". What\'s the story behind ? Where will we able to see it ?
We recently recorded our first video for the track "Pearl" off the new album. The song in itself is pretty easy-listening, so we wanted a contrast in images to the song, and what we ended up with was something looking like a zombie-movie ! The film-crew we hired is called Helmet Productions from Norway, and they designed the idea for us. They rented a huge, dark, closed-down industrial site, which gave the association to the film-set for either Terminator or Alien or something sci-fi in between, and they had us play zombies walking around with torn open clothes, dirt all over us and some nasty hair-dos ! It was an extremely funny experience, but freezing cold, with snow blowing in on us all the time. I won\'t spoil the plot of the story or tell you anything more. Hopefully it will be possible to see the video on TV all over Europe pretty soon. The video will be included on the album as well.

 

>Which bands would you like to tour with ?
Soon we\'re going on tour with Mastodon, and that means a lot to us. We\'re going to play in Paris, so if you\'re nearby you should come and see us ! I don\'t think we have any favourite that we want to tour with, we have so much fun with all the bands we\'re touring with anyway!

 

>Thanx for your answers, last words are yours.
Thanks to everyone who has been supporting in some ways ! We wouldn\'t have been here without your help ! Check out our website and see if there\'s any chance that you can see us on tour ! Thanx.

p>
Interview done by Dj In Extremis

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