{"id":1379,"date":"2011-02-25T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1379"},"modified":"2012-02-25T19:20:59","modified_gmt":"2012-02-25T19:20:59","slug":"feature-one-man-army-02-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-one-man-army-02-11\/","title":{"rendered":"ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET – Dark, Epic Pleasures (February 2011) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ONE MAN ARMY – Dark, Epic Pleasures<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nFebruary 2011<\/span><\/p>\n

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One Man Army (l-r): Jonas Blom, Mattias Bolander, Johan Lindstrand,
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Lead guitarist Mikael Lagerblad departed from Swedish death metal outfit One Man Army And The Undead Quartet on April 1st, 2009, his four years of active service having seen the issue of three studio full-lengths (January 2006\u2019s 21st Century Killing Machine<\/em> and March 2007\u2019s Error In Evolution<\/em>, both released through Nuclear Blast Records, and October 2008\u2019s Grim Tales<\/em>, issued via Massacre Records), one demo (May 2005\u2019s When Hatred Comes To Life<\/em>), and one single (November 2006\u2019s \u2018Christmas For The Lobotimizer\u2019, also released by Nuclear Blast). A melodically inclined musician, Lagerblad\u2019s exit was publicly revealed six days later on the 6th. <\/p>\n

\u201cMikael basically quit because when I first started out in 2004 and I created the first demo When Hatred Comes To Life<\/em> all on my own with a little help from Valle (Adzic) from Impious, it was like only me being in the band and like I was trying to do a solo band,\u201d explains Johan Lindstrand, frontman and vocalist for One Man Army. \u201cWhen Valle knew about this lead guitarist that played a lot of Metallica stuff I immediately contacted him about it, and he was interested in doing solos on the demo. When everything turned out to be so very good I immediately asked him to join, and he was interested. All of a sudden, there was a lot of touring and stuff like that. Mikael is a great guy, probably the best guitar player we\u2019ve ever had in the band, but he was never 100% into death metal. He\u2019s more into softer metal and that showed up during the end here. When he told us he wasn\u2019t quite into it anymore, that was when it was just better for him to leave and us to get a new guy that\u2019s more focused on what we\u2019re doing. Michael also did the more melodic stuff, which was quite good combined with my type of music. It was a good combination, but the melodic stuff is something we wanted to go away from on this new album and just focus on the more dark stuff with a more in-your-face aggression. No bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Man Army\u2019s songwriting department mainly consisted of a partnership between Mikael and Johan, the axeman\u2019s departure leading to speculation the quintet\u2019s fourth outing would in actual fact be a Johan Lindstrand solo album masquerading under the guise of a band release. Democracy reigns supreme on The Dark Epic<\/em> however, new guitarist Jonas Blom having penned the majority of the album\u2019s tracks. \u201cThere are nine tracks on the album but unfortunately, I\u2019ve written only one of these nine new tracks,\u201d the frontman confesses. \u201cThe other eight songs were written by the new guy Jonas Blom, but of course they have all been developed in the rehearsal room as well between the five of us. It\u2019s better to tell you the whole story about the album instead I think, what we aimed for, and that\u2019s basically doing more longer songs with more riffing. We are all big fans of old Metallica stuff like the …And Justice For All<\/em><\/a> stuff as well as the Master Of Puppets<\/em> stuff when you have these seven-minute long songs. We wanted to go away from the typical four-minute tracks that we had on the previous albums and try to do something new, less melodic and more brutal, like right in-your-face with more aggression as well as me being more aggressive with the vocals as well. That\u2019s basically what our goals were.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an attempt to discover a replacement for Mikael, One Man Army auditioned a mere two guitarists. \u201cWe had a couple of guys in mind \u2013 five or six guys I think \u2013 and the first guy that we tried out was very good and was a big fan of One Man Army, but unfortunately he didn\u2019t have that songwriting skill that we were looking for,\u201d Johan notes. \u201cWhen Mikael left, 50% of the songwriting left as well. He was a good choice I think, but we decided to leave him out of this. The next guy we tried out was Jonas, and this was a guy that Robert our bass player knew about because they lived in the same hometown. He had played in a lot of bands, and everybody knew him from that town to be a very good and dedicated guitar player. He\u2019s a multi-instrumentalist as well; he plays drums in a band called Trident so he can play a lot of instruments, and that\u2019s a good thing when you\u2019re writing songs of course. We immediately knew after one or two tries with this guy though, saying \u2018You seem to be a very good guy and we really like you. If you wanna join us, you\u2019d be very welcome.\u2019 He didn\u2019t hesitate that much \u2013 it took a couple of beers and we talked it over. Now it\u2019s been a year and a half, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Inside The Head Of God\u2019 is Johan\u2019s sole songwriting contribution to The Dark Epic<\/em>. \u201cThis was a track that I had before Jonas joined\u201d the man himself divulges. \u201cI actually recorded the demo back in Mikael\u2019s house just one to two months before he left the band. I always went to Mikael\u2019s when I did the demos of my songs, so this song has been around for two years now. I changed it a lot on its way to the final version, but yeah, I\u2019m quite happy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you feel that Jonas becoming One Man Army\u2019s new guitarist and writing eight songs for The Dark Epic<\/em> shows more of a democracy within the band Johan? It\u2019s quite unusual for a new member of a band to be given such freedom on a songwriting level. \u201cI\u2019m quite shocked myself because the guy seems to come up with new music every day. When he joined everybody knew that he was writing a lot of songs, but he was spitting them out, and he spit out very, very good music \u2013 we had to cut five songs away from the process because everything went too fast. We chose nine of the best songs we had out of 14 or 15 songs, but I\u2019m no dictator. I don\u2019t have a big ego and say \u2018You can\u2019t come into this band and think you can run everything your way\u2019, because I don\u2019t have that ego. I wrote one song and he wrote eight of the other songs on the album. In the end, it\u2019s all about making the best possible One Man Army album. There\u2019s 100% democracy in the band; everybody has opinions when it comes to riffing, melodies and stuff, and everybody comes up with ideas of course. In the end though he came up with the best solution for the album, so it was a very fresh and welcomed situation for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will any of these leftover songs from The Dark Epic<\/em> sessions be recorded Johan? \u201cMaybe, yeah. I think so. We had a sequel to the instrumental song \u2018Dark Epic\u2019 which he wrote almost at the same time. It\u2019s a good song, about ten to 11 minutes long, but this time we\u2019ll probably use lyrics for the whole song. We have that song and we also have another song that we rehearsed a full version of, but in the end, we felt that it wasn\u2019t fitting the concept of this album. Yeah though, we might have two or three songs left we can use later on. Who knows? It might take two years for the next album to show up, so anything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

By comparison, Johan adopts a more aggressive vocal approach on The Dark Epic<\/em> than can be heard on either Grim Tales<\/em> or Error In Evolution<\/em> as he earlier admitted. \u201cAs I said, my voice is more aggressive than it has been on the last two albums or something,\u201d the singer proclaims. \u201cI brought back the old Johan that could be heard on The Crown stuff when I had the more screamier style, at least in my opinion anyway. On Grim Tales<\/em>, it was a deeper growling style compared to the more screaming style which I\u2019m using now. When everything comes together, you can really hear the progress. It has improved with my voice and has combined with the more epic music, so everything fits I think. It wouldn\u2019t have fitted with me doing the Grim Tales<\/em> growling, so everything makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether they be screaming type vocals or growling type vocals, the One Man Army mainman has no preference. \u201cFor me personally, I need to have a combination of both I think. The deeper growling is nicer for my throat compared to the screamier stuff because to keep screaming for an hour to 90 minutes or something wears out your throat, but I need to have a combination. I really like when a vocalist can take the voice to where the music is if you know what I mean, and not use one style during the whole song. It needs to be very flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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One Man Army (l-r): Marek Dobrowolski, Robert Axelsson, Johan
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Johan doesn\u2019t adopt certain techniques to maintain his voice for live performances, but that isn\u2019t to say live performances fail to take their toll. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for about 21 years now, and two to three weeks on the road or something wears out even the best vocalist,\u201d the veteran readily admits. \u201cDoing a tour in mid-winter or something is pretty hard for a vocalist, but I try to maintain it as good as I can. With being older and things like that, it gets harder all the time. We haven\u2019t been rehearsing since we recorded the album in October I think, so we\u2019ll start rehearsing for some May appearances. When you haven\u2019t done this for three to four months it feels very fucked up to start screaming again, but yeah, those things you need to be aware of (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

A darker atmosphere permeates the lyrical topics on The Dark Epic<\/em>. \u201cI try to use a lot of fantasy with the real stuff out in the world actually,\u201d the vocalist observes. \u201cThere\u2019s a couple of war stories on this album as well as some black magic stuff, and also I have my own version of the Jeffrey Dahmer incident, so it\u2019s a combination. When it comes to the cover art, it fits. \u2018Stitch\u2019 for example, the first song on the album, is a war song about being in the middle of a war and standing in your ditch in a bunker somewhere, and getting bullets from everywhere and getting really fucked up mentally. I haven\u2019t been in a war so I don\u2019t really know, but I can imagine people getting fucked up. That\u2019s what the irony of the word \u2018Stitch\u2019 is: you cannot stitch together the mental wounds that occur from being in battle. There\u2019s a lot of stuff like that, so it\u2019s a good mixture I think. My earlier work had a lot of black humour in the whole mess, but now there\u2019s a more serious approach. Definitely word-wise it\u2019s more aggressive than before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central composition \u2018Skeletons Of Rose Hall\u2019 refers to the the legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall, reported to have occurred at the Georgian mansion of the Rose Hall Plantation near Montego Bay, Jamaica. \u201cIt\u2019s about an incident that happened almost 200 years ago in Jamaica,\u201d Johan expounds. \u201c\u2018Skeletons Of Rose Hall\u2019 is about a girl called Annie who married a guy called John Palmer. He was the owner of a plantation, and he had 2,000 slaves there or something. She learned black magic from an old voodoo queen or something. Annie killed every husband she had and she performed torture on the slaves, and she used black magic on them as well. This is a story that\u2019s well-known when you\u2019re searching for such stories, but I wrote my own version of it. I altered the story a bit to fit my view on things but I think it\u2019s very cool both musically and lyrically, which I\u2019m very proud of. The video is a basic performance video combined with some storytelling, but it has some cool moments. You get the girl Annie Palmer as well as me, but the story of the lyrics doesn\u2019t quite show in this video. It\u2019s the director\u2019s own interpretation of what he thinks, so it\u2019s me running around being like a psycho with a chainsaw cutting people open. Annie Palmer rises from the dead and performs voodoo on me with a doll, so she\u2019s controlling me. It\u2019s pretty cool and it\u2019s pretty bloody (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall is why The Dark Epic<\/em>\u2019s artwork includes a slave\u2019s head on a stick, among other details? \u201cYou can say that, but it hasn\u2019t been obvious for us,\u201d the lyricist clarifies. \u201cThe viewer can always interpret the cover art in their own personal way. Of course, that\u2019s fitting with these types of covers. I mean, what is The Dark Epic<\/em>? It\u2019s up for you to decide. For me, it\u2019s all about death; death is epic, and death is everywhere. Everybody can make their own judgement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bj\u00f6rn Goosses of Killustrations, whose previous credits include commissioned work on behalf of Sodom, Zyklon, Norther, Aborted and Dew-Scented, designed the cover artwork for The Dark Epic<\/em>. \u201cWe have been in contact with him for a couple of years and he has been doing a lot of good merchandise for us,\u201d Johan affirms. \u201cFor the Grim Tales<\/em> album he was scheduled to do the cover art and everything, but for some strange reason we decided to use another guy to draw General Grim. Bj\u00f6rn from Killustration works on other stuff as well, but for this album we decided to ditch old things and just make a new, fresh start. Bj\u00f6rn is very dedicated towards making cool designs, so we thought \u2018Why not contact him and make the whole artwork with him?\u2019 He was very into it, so we will definitely use him in the future. Also, he has done a tremendous job for the booklet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of all the artwork illustrated for One Man Army\u2019s material, The Dark Epic<\/em> seems to have the greatest affinity with the outfit\u2019s mainman. \u201cI think the new one probably fits my own personal view much better than the previous stuff,\u201d concedes the singer. \u201cThe previous stuff were all my ideas but in the end, when I look back at them they don\u2019t fit me as a person. They\u2019re more Manowar-like, and more suitable for a power metal band. For this new album we needed something that was much more death metal and more in-your-face, and not a man with big muscles. It\u2019s pure death metal \u2013 it has the Grim Reaper, and that says it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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21st Century Killing Machine<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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The Dark Epic<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Grim Tales<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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One Man Army\u2019s initial trio of full-lengths sported the General Grim character on their respective covers, though the character\u2019s vacation shouldn\u2019t be viewed as an early retirement. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that we have seen the end of him, but he will definitely rest a couple of years I think,\u201d Johan speculates. \u201cFor maybe on the next album or the one after that, from now on it feels very good to have him put aside. Musically I think you can still hear the typical One Man Army sound on this album, but it\u2019s a fresh, new sound, and it feels like a new, fresh start for us as well, so that means we need to tread on new ground and write new chapters. We need to put something aside to take new steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crown have reformed have reformed with a new singer Johan… \u201cHave they (laughs)?\u201d What are your thoughts on their reformation? \u201cI\u2019m very happy for them. I\u2019m still friends with the guys, and I also met Jonas St\u00e5lhammar the new singer when they played in my hometown of Trollh\u00e4ttan. He\u2019s a really good, nice guy and he sings very good, and I\u2019m quite happy for them. Marko asked me to join the band in the beginning to make it a real reunion. I listened to the whole album \u2013 instrumental versions of the songs \u2013 and I had a day to make up my mind, but in the end it was all about me trying to promote Grim Tales<\/em> because it was three years ago when they first approached me. I\u2019m getting older, and I don\u2019t have time for two bands actually. You can combine of course and say \u2018For half a year I\u2019ll do this and for the other half I\u2019ll do that\u2019, but in the end I wanted to be honest with both myself and the band, so I decided to not do it. I had 13 very nice years with The Crown and they wanted to quit, so I started One Man Army from scratch. That\u2019s my baby, and that\u2019s what I want to do. Who knows for the future? If Jonas Stalhammer gets sick or something, maybe I can go up onstage and do some \u2018Deathexplosion\u2019 (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Some would argue that using the Crown moniker without the original singer\u2019s involvement isn\u2019t right, particularly since he was an original member who cut six full-lengths with the group. However, Johan himself doesn\u2019t share that view. \u201cYeah. Marko and the other guys tried to do the whole thing with a different band name; first they started out with Dobermann, and then they had ten other names they were deciding on. I said \u2018Marko, why use another name? Why not use The Crown? That\u2019s the name you should use because that\u2019s a name you\u2019ll gain more access within the business with.\u2019 It\u2019s all about business in the end, because you want to put out a record. That was the solution, to use the name The Crown. I have no bad feelings about it whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you wanted to or had the time Johan, could you make a good album with the members of The Crown? Or are you too far removed from them because of how long you\u2019ve been pursuing One Man Army? \u201cI would definitely be able to do an album with The Crown, but it\u2019s not a question of me wanting to do it now whatsoever because they\u2019re happy with their situation right now, and I had the chance to say yes but I didn\u2019t. In the future who knows though? If I can do some session stuff on a future album it would be cool because as I said, I\u2019m still friends with the guys. There are no hard feelings at all. I was very proud of The Crown and I still am \u2013 it\u2019s a really good band.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dark Epic<\/em> was released on February 25th, 2011 through Massacre Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in February 2011<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ONE MAN ARMY – Dark, Epic Pleasures Anthony Morgan February 2011 One Man Army (l-r): Jonas Blom, Mattias Bolander, Johan Lindstrand, Robert Axelsson and Marek Dobrowolski Lead guitarist Mikael Lagerblad departed from Swedish death metal outfit One Man Army And The Undead Quartet on April 1st, 2009, his four years of active service having seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-one-man-army-and-the-undead-quartet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1379"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4457,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions\/4457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}