interview_elven2

» Aydan - Elvenking

Italian folkmetallers Elvenking are soon to release their long awaited second album"Wyrd", a followup of the highly acclaimed debut "Heathenreel" that was released in July 2001. We decided to ask guitarist Aydan a few question regarding the new album. The following is what he reveals....

Tommy: Could you please share the thoughts and happenings during the recording of the new and upcoming album "Wyrd" with us: has the work been without too much friction, or has there been obstacles to override along the way, and in that case what kind of troubles? What is your spontanous opinion about the new material?

Aydan: Well, from the release of Heathenreel we had a lot of problems in the band…We began to work on the new album directly after the recordings of our debut, in 2001. Think about we were there with more or less 5 or 6 songs ready, but we felt they hadn't the right spirit for Elvenking, we weren't satisfied at all. So we threw them all and restarted all the songwriting process. This burned completely 5 or 6 months. Then we had the split with our former singer and this delayed all the process for some other months. Finally we found the right mood to complete the album and the recordings process was great.

The fact is that we recorded all the basic tracks (drums, guitars, bass, vocals, violin,…) in Germany between March and April. Then we have lost some time to complete the work with the recordings of additional voices, choirs, keys, because of some technical problems, and now the album is yet to be mixed. We will enter soon House of Music studio with producer Achim Kolher to finally complete "Wyrd"! We are really satisfied of the new material and in our ears sounds great! It is an evolution of Elvenking's style, keeping all our characteristics but bringing them to a new level.

Tommy: Has it been hard to keep the main influences and style of songwriting since Damnagoras left to form his new project Leprechaun? Do you feel that the classical Elvenking sound and style is still brought forth, or has it taken a slightly different turn? Is it in fact the same Elvenking sound we will get to hear on the new album, only a bit straighter as we have been able to read in your updates?

Aydan: No, because me and Jarpen have "created" and developed Elvenking's sound before Damnagoras joined the band. The fact is that we didn't want to create a copy of Heathenreel, so there will be some new elements in Wyrd. As you said the songs will be more straight to the point, but for example there is a 12 minutes long song so this doesn't mean that we are easier, or whatever…Wyrd is not a copy of Heathenreel but it's clearly an Elvenking album!

Tommy: Former Sabbat and Skyclad vocalist Martin Walkyier wrote the lyrics for one song on the upcoming album, and the collaboration is told to "surely not stop there". Could you for eager readers please shed some light over that statement? What can we expect to see/hear in the future when it comes to cooperating with Martin? I believe a lot of metallers along with me sure find this an extremely exiting combination.....

Aydan: I'm really sorry to tell you that Martin won't contribute in Wyrd as we and himself wanted. Unfortunately his father is very ill at the moment and he has to be at his side so he couldn't come here to do the things we have planned together. He also wrote a lyric for the album but it would be a non sense using it without his participation, so we decided to delay all the collaboration to the next album.

We are really sorry for this, but for sure being with his father is surely more important! But be sure you will hear more of Elvenking and Martin Walkyier together in the near future!

Tommy: If we assume that this next album receive at least as much good critics, or even more, as the debut - where do you take Elvenking from there? Do those kind of thoughts even exist in your minds at the moment, or do you just concentrate on the present times and see where that brings you? Have you ever had any longterm plans concerning Elvenking, and if you look back on those - have they turned out to full satisfaction?

Aydan: The only thing that didn't worked has been all the time lost form our debut till now. This is the bad thing, we could have been out with our new album one year ago, if everything was as was planned. But, you know, never make long time plans if you play in a heavy metal band! With Heathenreel we received so much incredibly good critics from all over the world. If we're going to receive the same response also for Wyrd, I think that a lot of people that don't know us will finally have the chance to remember our name and maybe give a spin to our albums. I think that there a lot of guys that don't know us that will surly could appreciate our music.

Tommy: In the regions of Scandinavia you are sadly not (yet) so much recognized when your name is being mentioned, but what is the status in your home regions - Italy, South Europe in general, and Germany? What is the amount of media attention you get nowadays after you have been working for some years now and released good, competent material?

Aydan: Well, as I told you we had a debut album out more than 2 years ago, and not much news from that time, because we didn't have the possibility to tour…only did some good festival in Europe. So we are in silence for some time now. I think we will understand better the situation after the release of Wyrd…

Tommy: We thank you for sharing this information with us, and to put a finish to it - any final words you would like to round off with - a tip, a recommendation or a thought for the future?

Aydan: Thank you so much for the interview. I hope Wyrd will be ready soon and that people who likes melodies, aggressiveness, and magic and romantic atmospheres will give a chance to Wyrd!

May the winds blow fair at your back…

That was all I had for now, Aydan - the staff at metalcovenant.com wish you all the very best for the future, and we sincerely want to thank you for keeping the spirit of Metal alive!