interview

» Tommy Dahlström - Aeon

Interview conducted July 08 2010
Interview published July 19 2010

In the beginning of June, Aeon released Path Of Fire. A, to put it mildly, brutal death metal record, that could very well be the record of the year in that department. Metal Covenant got the chance to get singer Tommy Dahlström to answer our questions about the recording, touring and sideprojects.

Martin: Your latest release, Path Of Fire, is the kind of record that I get dizzy from listening to - what can you tell me about the recording?

Tommy: Haha, thanks! There really isn't that much to tell about the actual recording of the album. We went into the studio knowing we had a job to do. Once we got started we worked our asses off to make the recording as good as possible in the little time we had.

Martin: How does the songwriting work in the band?

Tommy: Zeb (Nilsson, guitar) and Daniel (Dlimi, guitar) write the songs at home. Once they have gotten some music done they send the stuff over to the rest of the band so that we can get the ideas flowing, and so that I can start writing down some lyrics and Nils (Fjällström) can start doing the drum arrangements. Once we've gotten some songs together we dart off to the rehearsal room and see if the stuff is working.

Martin: Path Of Fire is among the group of records that I've listened to this year that stands out as one of the most aggressive. One wonders if the band aspired to make the album this brutal from the start of the writing.

Tommy: Path Of Fire is the hardest, most aggressive record we've put out, and it was meant to be this brutal. We wanted it to have the aggression that Rise To Dominate lacked. Don't misunderstand me, Rise To Dominate isn't a soft record, but to us it lacks the one song that makes people go "woah". Path Of Fire doesn't fail in this aspect. We knew that we had a very strong record in the pipeline and when Erik Rutan sent us the final mix you really felt that this was our strongest record so far.

That the musicians in Aeon doesn't like idling around is pretty obvious - most members have other bands and side projects, and I wonder if not Tommy himself is feeling the urge to have a similar project.

Tommy: I'm the only one in the band that doesn't have a side project or another band. With Aeon I get to play the music I love, so I don't really feel that I have to have something else. Zeb and Daniel are two-timing a bit (in Sanctification, Diabolicum and Defaced Creation to name a few), but their main band is Aeon. Nils is playing in Dark Funeral and Marcus (Edvardsson, bass) in Souldrainer but with some planning ahead I don't see a problem with this.

Martin: The fact that Aeon are capable of combining blistering technique with the old school attitude quickly becomes evident when listening to Path Of Fire - what bands do you get inspired by?

Tommy: Hard one…you get inspired by so much, but I can say that without bands such as Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Suffocation, Aeon wouldn't be around, seeing as we grew up listening to those groups.

Aeon was formed in 1999 and has, so far, released two full-length albums (Bleeding The False 2005, Rise To Dominate 2007) before Path Of Fire, and much has changed since the start, especially when it comes to getting gigs.

Tommy: Of course it's easier now when people know that we exist. With every tour and record doors have been opened. For example our two weeks long tour with Cannibal Corpse in 2006 that led to us being signed to Metal Blade.

But the fact that the band is touring more quite naturally leads to things going wrong on the road.

Tommy: The worst was when we landed in Germany and it was cold as hell! We just wanted to get into our warm nightliner. When the bus arrived we found out that the heating had broken down and that it was as cold inside the bus as it was outside. All the water and drinkable stuff froze! We travelled this way for two days. It fucking sucked! As long as I get to be warm I love to tour though.

Inactivity obviously isn't something for Aeon.

Tommy: We have some stuff in the making, but it's too early to talk about this as anything isn't 100 per cent set. We will of course try to tour as much as possible.