Hi, first, thanks answering this interview. And could you start it with a little biography of your group ?
Hi! I am more than happy to answer your questions, Thanks for your support!
The band was formed in 97 in a small place on the Swedish Westcoast by our two guitarists Christoffer Hermansson and Johannes Losbäck. Before long the line up was completed by Jonny Edvardsson (Drums), Jörgen Olsson (Bass) and myself (Vocals). We wrote a couple songs and entered the biggest battle of the bands contest on the swedish west coast "Rock Of Bohuslän" We ended up winning 3 out of 4 awards at the final-best instrumentalist (Jonny), best vocalist and best band! First prize was an all expenses paid for trip to the studio and the pressing of a demo cd. 4 tunes were recorded and the self titled demo was out on the market around summer 99 I believe. We received positive feedback and Rock Hard featured us on one of their unerhört cds of the best unsigned bands. Many contacts were made, but no deal was closed. We changed drummer and got in Mats Karlsson. Together with him we released our "The Celestial Prophecy " demo in 2000. This time we got even better feedback and Heavy Oder Was featured us on one of their Metal Crusade cds of unsigned bands. Several record labels wanted to sign us and we decided to sign with Lars Ratz of Armageddon Products.We changed drummer for the third time and Tobias Kellgren (Disscetion, Soul reaper) stepped into the band in early 2002. In feb 2002 we recorded our debut cd in Hamburg and it was released in Oct the same year. In 2003 we played at 2000 Decibel festival in Sweden and Wacken Open Air in Germany. Both festivals were great! It was really nice to meet the fans and perform songs from "Sacrifice " live. In 2003 we just kept writing songs and doing pre production demos. In jan 2004 the recordings of our sophomore album started. Again it was rec in Hamburg at Tornado Studios. and produced by Lars Ratz. It was recorded over 3 sessions and the final vocal lines were done in July. Mastering and pressing took place directly after that and it was realesd on 27 Sep this year.

 

Your new album “what should not be” is just out, how was it received by the fans & medias ?
So far, we have received mostly very good reviews from Metal media! And the fans seems to like it very much too. We are quite oft

en told that the band has progressed and taken a leap from our first cd.

 

And are you personnaly satisfied with your album ?
As an artist when I listen to a final product I am always very picky and a bit of a perfectionist. There are always stuff that I feel could be changed or slightly modified. On a whole though, I am very pleased with the final result. The rest of the bands performance totally rocks and my own performance on "What Should Not Be" I am pretty happy with. I only hope that next time around we can have a bit more time in the studio. This would ensure an even better final result.

 

What\'s the meaning of the album name “what should not be”, what does it talk about ?
It sounds cool, a bit dark and mysterious and it is also one of my fave tracks on the cd. The lyrics that I wrote on that particular song deals with how pagans were forced into christianity. I have always felt that people should follow their own paths instead of just walking in other footsteps. This does not exclusively include religion but also every day life.

 

How would you describe your music and what were your main influences?
Melodic but still heavy metal played with 100 % conviction and dedication. On the new cd we have ventured into slightly more progressive areas in some songs, but this has not taken anything away from our main focus-the melodies.

 

Do you have a favourite track on the cd ?
Really tough one to answer since In my opinion 3 maybe 4 songs are faves of mine and they change from day to day. Ancient Oath would be my pick. It\'s a song that has cool arrangements, good melodies and killer harmonies!
Like with Sacrifice, the album was produced by Lars Ratz, how was it to work with him ? Are you satisfied with his work ?
Lars is a very nice and cool person to work with. In studio when we are doing vocals we work together really well. He is very relaxed yet demanding and on this new cd I feel we truly clicked. The only bad thing concerning Lars is that he is such a busy person ;)

The cover album is quiet disapointing for a heavy metal group, don’t you think ? Does it mean/represent something ?
Well on our debut "Sacrifice" the front artwork was made b

y Markus Mayer. The artwork on "Sacrifice" however was not planned to be the warrior but due to budget limitatuoins it came out that way. This time we were decisive about having something else, something darker and more modern in its approach as artwork. The band as well as the label is very pleased with the whole artwork and layout of "What Should Not B"e and so far we have received very good feedback about it. We wanted to make sure that it did not look too typical and avoid the most obvious cliches.

What\'s the meaning of the name SEVENTH ONE ?
The number Seven stands for the seeker of truth and the thinker among other things. This is something that suits both our music and lyrical content.

Will french metalheads have the chance to see you on stage soon ?
We would love to play France, just give us an invitation;) France seems to have really noticed Seventh One with our 2nd cd. Our distributor Underclass seems to have done a really good job so far! At this time we have no concerts confirmed for 2005, but it would be very cool to come to France and meet our fans perhaps as support act for a more well known band!

Do you know or apreciate french groups ?
I know Manigance, Heavenly, Adagio, Alkemyst, Nightmare, Fairlyland and Invictus to name a few bands. All bands are very cool. My favorite band from France are probably Invictus and Manigance at the moment.

What are your future plans ?
In the rest of 2004 it is to keep promoting the new album. In 2005, we will hopefully play some live dates as I have mentioned earlier. We will definately continue writng and rehearsing new songs. I always look forward to that creative process.

And, to finish, could you explain to us, your vision about the “spirit of metal” ?
The spirit of metal to me is to follow your own path, listen to your heart and to stay true to yourself!

Thanx for your precious time, last words are yours.
Big thanx for your support and thanx for Your great review! To our friends and fans in France, we hope we get the chance to see you soon, in the meantime crank up "What Should Not Be", be well and stay true.

cheeeeeerz
Rino Fredh
Seventh One 30 nov 2004