Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"Brewing Up a Storm"

Dear diary,

approximately 9 months I have shared my life with you. And the three readers as well!
We finally pulled the shit together with loooong days at Trollhorn's office, not even mentioning the individual work all the people did at their homes. We did countless of hours planning, talking, and thinking. And when the songs were finally composed and arranged, they were taken to the final test lab- the rehearsal place. There we spent tens of hours rehearsing, planning, trying different tempos, arguing and tightening our performance.

But before all this, we wondered what is the purpose of these songs. Why are we doing this the way we do it? What is the essence of Finntroll that makes us sound like we do?
Is it the folklore-elements both in music and the imagery? Or perhaps the cartoon- esque way of presenting some of our works? The videogame- references mixed with the elements of black metal? Or the sheer aggression, rushing onwards like an orc on steroids?

We never got the answer but kept pushing boundaries instead. Combining our trademark sound with even more influences from non- traditional genres in metal music, we have created 11 songs which show you everything we want to offer. And boy, wasn't that one of the hardest task for some time. After all, how do you keep your sound fresh, yet familiar,  after 6 albums and 15 years?
At some point, we were afraid that the songs are not melodic enough. Then we started to fear they became too melodic. Then we let the songs rest for a while and molded them more in a way that the non- melodic stuff got something to hum with, and the cheesy pop- songs were arranged more stripped and aggressive. We were confident, yet sometimes scared what will people think of the stuff we've been doing so hard. What if they hate it? That would be fine, but if they would hate it because the material was uninspiring, boring and done-to-death, that would be a huge disappointment. So, we kept pushing and tried to keep it fresh all the time while still having the "this has to be Finntroll because no other band sounds this insane"- grinning going on.

In the end, we were left with eleven new songs, which we think represent Finntroll the best way ever, combining everything we've done with shitloads of something new to chew and gnaw on. We are entering the studio tomorrow knowing that we have done our best, and can only hope you feel the same when you hear the final product when it's out.
From now on, there's no turning back. No more new riffs to try out, no more countless hours of arranging. It's time to turn up the amps, grab the axes and shove a fork up this so called scene's ass.

Hope you brought your own lubricant.

5 comments:

  1. Grats with that!

    But don't some things and extra arrangement float up during the recording process?

    The blog was a real pleasure to follow up.
    -----------
    Your thankful and faithful 1 of 3 faithful readers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. First of all- yes, MANY things float and change. But like planning a car trip, you´ve gotta have a route and destination first before you can think of alternative approaches. We will definitely let the production "go with the flow" into some extent, but need also to have clear guidelines first which to break. :D

    Secondly, do not hesitate using the present instead of the imperfect, as this blog keeps on marching on- it just transforms itself into a studio diary as well. And maybe will continue after that as well, as a "band blog"...who knows? :D But I will definitely continue updating this at least for the studio time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes :) But (quite amazing xD) the composition process really differs MUCH from band to band, & that's what was extremely interesting to follow.

      Of course, recording process is appreciated for much more fun (a need for boss metal zone is quite a teaser huh :)), and I'll follow you up to new CD (and further).

      With best regards from Gnomeregan to Orgrimmar,
      Alexander "Giftsvamp" Ostanin
      Keyboards & songwriter for
      SVARTBY band, St:Petersburg, Russia

      *off now to play support gig for Korpiklaani

      Delete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, guys. What can I say... I hate Facebook so I didn't knew you had this blog, and holy shit, this is just amazing.
    I'm from Chile and I've been a Finntroll fan since I first heard Trollhammaren... that shit blew my mind for YEARS, like literally was the only song that I could listen because it was quite difficult to find your music here ._. Finally I got all your damn CD's and saw you when you came :D (which was like a fucking orgasm... and I'm a guy...). From all these years I can say that you are the first band which has always amazed me in every single album. They all sound different, yet, they all sound like Finntroll. Dunno how the fuck you manage to do that, but it's just amazing!! There are a shitload of band that try new stuff and well... they fucked up, sadly.
    Well, I'm waiting since Nifelvind for this next album, don't be afraid, you are doing great!!
    Grats for everything and making my day every day of the year, I'm in a debt with you, guys.

    Bye!

    ReplyDelete