{"id":28142,"date":"2015-03-30T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T00:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=28142"},"modified":"2015-04-22T13:29:47","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T13:29:47","slug":"feature-barren-earth-03-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-barren-earth-03-15\/","title":{"rendered":"BARREN EARTH – Setting Metal Alight (March 2015) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BARREN EARTH – Setting Metal Alight<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nMarch 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n

Barren Earth (l-r): Marko Tarvonen, Janne Perttil\u00e4, J\u00f3n Aldar\u00e1, Kasper M\u00e5rtenson, Olli-Pekka \u201cOppu\u201d Laine and Sami Yli-Sirni\u00f6<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n


\nHelsinki, Finland-based progressive death metal outfit Barren Earth was originally the brainchild of former Amorphis bassist Olli-Pekka \u2013 \u201cOppu\u201d \u2013 Laine during late 2006, the four-stringer requesting that Moonsorrow drummer Marko Tarvonen form a progressive death metal ensemble with him. In roughly 2005, Olli, Marko and keyboardist Kasper M\u00e5rtenson had performed as part of a progressive rock entity dubbed The Camel Gang, and so Marko, Kasper and guitarist Janne Perttil\u00e4 ultimately joined. Completing the line-up was Swallow The Sun vocalist Mikko Kotam\u00e4ki, and Kreator guitarist Sami Yli-Sirni\u00f6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had to do with Oppu, the bass player,\u201d Sami credits. \u201cHe had this work space \u2013 a rehearsal room \u2013 on this island I live at called Valkosaari, which is almost next to the centre of Helsinki. I knew him from before, back in the 90s. He just asked if we should go and have a session, to jam around just for fun. When I went there, I noticed \u2018Oh, there\u2019s Kasper Mortensen as well.\u2019 I actually used to go to school with him when I was a kid. We were in the same class at school, but I hadn\u2019t seen him for a long time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought \u2018This is cool\u2019 and Marko was there too, but I usually go to a jam session just to fool around and improvise or something. All of a sudden though, these guys had songs written already, and notes with them, and all that. Immediately, I thought \u2018Hey, why not record this stuff and see if it takes us anywhere?\u2019 Before we knew it, we had a recording contract. From my point of view, it was kind of an accident combined with a jam session with old friends. That\u2019s how it came about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inaugural EP Our Twilight arrived in November 2009 through Peaceville Records. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a singer then, so Mikko came only at that point \u2013 our previous singer,\u201d the axeman remembers. \u201cYeah, it was a pretty magical session because there were these four songs and nobody had any kind of preconception or general idea about the sound, and what direction it should go musically. It allowed us to let everything happen naturally and take its own course, and to play exactly what the song required. It was a very refreshing recording session for all of us who play in other bands. To do that every once in a while can be… It\u2019s very important for you in terms of creativity, and to be exactly what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barren Earth is often referred to as progressive death metal in nature. \u201cIt would be wrong to call it a death metal band,\u201d Sami reckons. \u201cIt would be wrong to call it a progressive metal band. I don\u2019t know what it is. It\u2019s some kind of metal, for sure. Kind of complicated, and kind of progressive but with a death metal twist. We always feel free to go further than any boundaries that might be set for a band, so we don\u2019t think there are really any. I don\u2019t know. I guess it\u2019s Barren Earth (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

As is the case for each and every respective assortment, various acts inform Barren Earth\u2019s musical style. \u201cEverybody has their favourite music, and favourite influences,\u201d the performer shares. \u201cThey also come from the past, and which kinds of bands you\u2019ve played in yourself. There are 70s prog bands that we all like; the legendary ones and also the ones that were in Finland back then that nobody knows so much about, like Tasavallan Presidentti and Wigwam. Everybody has favourites, like Opeth is a cool band from Sweden and Paradise Lost is a cool band from the UK. Nobody wants to sound exactly like anything else, though. We want to make sure that it always has an original touch to it, so being careful to not take too many influences from any particular band is always important, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barren Earth takes its moniker from a composition by Manchester, England-based progressive rock group Van Der Graaf Generator. The composition in question is \u2018A Place To Survive\u2019, taken from October 1976 outing World Record<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s just a cool band name,\u201d Sami observes. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in your 40s and form a new band, you don\u2019t even have a name for the band at first, and then you start thinking \u2018Oh, shit. Should we call this something?\u2019 and it\u2019s like \u2018Oh fuck.\u2019 Kasper came up with this idea from a Van Der Graaf Generator song, and it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debut full-length Curse Of The Red River<\/em> surfaced in March 2010. \u201cJukka Varmo ended up producing,\u201d the axe-slinger recalls. \u201cHe used to own a studio back in the day in Helsinki, so it was really cool. We had not limitless time in the studio, but we usually went there at like ten in the morning. The clock wasn\u2019t really running because it was our friend\u2019s studio, so there was plenty of time to let the ideas grow in the studio. It was an amazing time. It was also during the summer that it was made. Unfortunately, that studio doesn\u2019t exist any more. It was mixed by Dan Swan\u00f6, the first one. We were very happy with the sound that he did, because we all like his music and what he\u2019s done, and the kinds of albums he\u2019s produced. Good memories, only.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Sami Yli-Sirni\u00f6<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Pic: Andrada Mihailescu<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Sophomore affair The Devil\u2019s Resolve<\/em> emerged in March 2012, meanwhile. \u201cThe second one, we went on a tour of the States,\u201d Sami notes. \u201cThe band was in really good condition then because we had played 40 shows, one after another, but when I think of that album retrospectively, we could\u2019ve given ourselves a little more time to write for The Devil\u2019s Resolve<\/em>. It has great songs and it\u2019s well made, but we didn\u2019t wanna make that mistake with the new album. That\u2019s why it took a little bit longer to get it finished, because we wanted to give ourselves enough time for the songwriting and arranging. Good memories of both, but we should\u2019ve given ourselves more time for The Devil\u2019s Resolve<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frontman Mikko Kotam\u00e4ki departed as a result of conflicting schedules following a tenure which had spawned one EP and two studio efforts, this development being revealed on July 8th, 2013. Hamfer\u00f0 vocalist J\u00f3n Aldar\u00e1 was confirmed as his replacement on January 7th, 2014. \u201cIt was a couple of years ago now, but Mikko decided to kind of step aside because of time problems,\u201d the composer reflects. \u201cIt was actually Mikko himself who had recommended J\u00f3n for this job, because they had met before in the past. It was cool in that respect, but we were also looking for a singer. We had some candidates, like through the internet we had several offers. In the end though, we decided to check out J\u00f3n, and he seemed to be the best guy for the job. Our drummer Marko and other guitarist Janne, they had been on tour with him in the past with other bands, so they knew that he was a cool guy and a down to earth guy. We just thought that this was the man for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally J\u00f3n\u2019s inclusion has been warmly received within Barren Earth\u2019s ranks. \u201cI like both of course, but now that we have a new voice for the band, of course it sounds completely different,\u201d Sami recognises. \u201cJ\u00f3n is not just a great, versatile singer, but he also wrote the lyrics for the album and is like a completely new, fresh energy that we have now within the band, and it\u2019s a very cool feeling. The fact that he lives in the Faroe Islands, he lives kind of far away, but he\u2019s coming around next week. He\u2019s flying from Copenhagen to Helsinki \u2013 we\u2019re gonna shoot a video for one of the songs \u2013 and then he\u2019s coming over in April. We\u2019re doing a record release party over here in Helsinki at a club called Nosturi, so he\u2019s going back and forth all the time. I\u2019m actually trying to persuade him to at least move to Copenhagen, so that it would be a little bit cheaper and easier to fly him over (laughs). We\u2019ll see what happens. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s like one flight every day from the Faroe Islands to Copenhagen. From Copenhagen, there are four or five flights every day to Helsinki, so it\u2019s all pretty easy. We\u2019re actually going to also play a festival there at the Faroe Islands with Barren Earth next July, which is going to be interesting. I\u2019ve never been there. It\u2019s a small group of islands as you might know, but there\u2019s one festival there called the G! Festival. That\u2019s the only one, but next July we\u2019re playing there, so I guess we\u2019ll see how it is over there as well. It\u2019s kind of isolated, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing sessions for March 2015 full-length On Lonely Towers<\/em> \u2013 the first Barren Earth outing to feature J\u00f3n behind the microphone \u2013 began prior to the Faroese native\u2019s arrival. \u201cMaking this album was a very long process, like two years,\u201d the musician informs. \u201cWe started writing the songs immediately after we put out the last album, so songwriting had been going on for a really long time. We even threw away some ideas, which was also when we were looking for a new singer \u2013 where we had people record their own versions, like home demo versions of songs. First, we asked these candidates to sing one of the older songs and send it over, and then if we thought it was good enough. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent them some of the newer stuff, and saw if they could come up with something for a new song. J\u00f3n\u2019s version of the song \u2018The Vault\u2019 \u2013 which is on the new album \u2013 was very promising. We thought \u2018Hey, this is obviously the best guy for the job.\u2019 Most of the raw versions of the songs were somehow written before J\u00f3n came onboard, but he wrote most of the vocal melodies by himself and almost all of the lyrics. He had a lot of input in the songwriting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each of Barren Earth\u2019s respective members pen tracks, but two happen to be the most productive. \u201cI guess the most productive guys would be Oppu the bass player and then Kasper M\u00e5rtenson the keyboard player,\u201d Sami names. \u201cThey come up with the most ideas, ready songs with everything already figured out. The rest of the stuff that we do has to do with jamming in the rehearsal room, doing it the old school way. It\u2019s mostly Oppu and Kasper though, and J\u00f3n writing lyrics. Of course, they sound different. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Kasper writes songs, he actually comes up with sheet music. He writes down notes for everyone, and so he usually doesn\u2019t even bother to record a demo. There\u2019s a slightly more traditional feel to it, but the more complicated stuff actually comes from Kasper, though \u2013 there\u2019s no real rules to it. Oppu our bass player, he records home demos before we start working on them all together. Kasper is like a real musician, though; he actually writes notes (laughs). Oppu doesn\u2019t write what Kasper does; Oppu writes more death metal-type riffs at times, even sounding shit (laughs). They both have their certain style of writing songs though, for sure. It\u2019s good to have different people working on songs, so then the songs sound different from one another and not too similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Barren Earth (l-r): Marko Tarvonen, Olli-Pekka \u201cOppu\u201d Laine, Kasper M\u00e5rtenson,
J\u00f3n Aldar\u00e1, Sami Yli-Sirni\u00f6 and Janne Perttil\u00e4<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Of Barren Earth\u2019s approach towards the songwriting process for On Lonely Towers<\/em>, Oppu stated: \u2018If there ever was a certain pattern in a basic Barren Earth song, this time we consciously tried to think things differently.\u2019 \u201cIt was more like letting go of the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus thing,\u201d the guitarist elaborates. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have so much of that before either, but now we really gave ourselves the freedom. For example, the title track \u2018On Lonely Towers\u2019 is basically three songs put into one, like progressive music often is. It was done in the 70s like that. Yeah, we tried to think outside of the box in terms of arrangements and in terms of song structures. That\u2019s probably what he meant by that. Of course, doing things that way creates a little bit more work, but we gave ourselves time to do this album. It was a very long process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critiqued against past efforts, On Lonely Towers<\/em>\u2019 most prominent trait is the fact that the opus sports a different vocalist. \u201cIt\u2019s a big part of the sound of the band, but we gave ourselves a little bit more time with this one to arrange and to write,\u201d Sami discerns. \u201cIt\u2019s still got certain Barren Earth trademarks, if there are any. Yeah though, it\u2019s always hard for a musician to describe it because you\u2019re so close to it, but I\u2019m very happy with the new one. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to go out and play those new songs live. We\u2019ll play at least six, I would say. I mean, they\u2019re very long songs, but we\u2019re excited about the new songs, and they\u2019re the most fun to play. Also, when you have a new vocalist, he\u2019s the most comfortable with the stuff that he wrote himself. There\u2019s gonna be an emphasis on the new stuff for sure, because we\u2019re all very excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performing pre-existing material, J\u00f3n adopts a faithful stance. \u201cThe stuff that Mikko did, he wants to keep similar,\u201d the axeman explains. \u201cHe wants to pay respect to the original versions. We\u2019ve already played some of those songs live \u2013 we did some club shows here in Finland, and one festival last summer. We played the old songs of course, so he wants to do them pretty much the same way as Mikko did them. Of course, there\u2019s a twist to it because the tone of his voice is different, but the basic idea he wants to keep the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyrically speaking, On Lonely Towers<\/em> \u201ccan almost be considered kind of a concept album. Of course, you would have to ask J\u00f3n more about that, but I know about it pretty much. It starts with a song called \u2018Howl\u2019, and that introduces kind of a wild man (laughs), who feels strongly connected with nature and who has trouble living in the modern day world, and doesn\u2019t always seem to fit in, and do what is expected of him. That comes up in the song \u2018Frozen Processions\u2019, and of course there\u2019s a boy meets girl theme in the story as well. I\u2019d suggest checking out the lyrics; everybody can interpret them the way they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recording sessions for On Lonely Towers<\/em> were a \u201cpretty long\u201d affair. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you know, but here in Helsinki, there\u2019s a studio called Finnvox Studio,\u201d Sami divulges. \u201cA lot of Finnish bands have recorded there, and foreign bands too. It\u2019s not just Finnish bands who record there, but bands from all around the world. It started in the 60s, so they\u2019ve got loads of this vintage equipment over there; equipment like SSL analogue mixing desks, and Hammond B-3 organs \u2013 the ancient one with the original Leslie amplifier, with the propeller and pretty old compressors. Vintage stuff that sounds really good. It\u2019s all there. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to record there through this guy who engineered the album, whose name is Petri Majuri. He\u2019s mostly known for other kinds of music; if you think of Hanoi Rocks and Michael Monroe, that\u2019s the kind of stuff he has engineered and produced. We like the organic, kind of lively sounds that he managed to get on those albums, though. That combined with a death metal approach, but also having the possibility to use the vintage equipment they have there. It was a really good idea to go there, so that\u2019s where we recorded all the drums and bass, and the guitars, and all that. Four of the songs, J\u00f3n ended up recording in the Faroe Islands. We were sending stuff back and forth until everybody was happy, so the last four songs, we did them all together over there in the same studio. That was last August. It was two sessions, basically; first five songs, and then another four songs after that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were already finished with On Lonely Towers<\/em> in September, but then we didn\u2019t have a label for sure yet. We had interest from a few labels, but then it took a while to get the whole release planned and settled out, and so that\u2019s why it took a little time. We had already planned to put it out at the end of 2014, but it just took a little while due to stuff that wasn\u2019t necessarily to do with us \u2013 stuff to do with management and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barren Earth\u2019s agreement with Peaceville Records was a two-album commitment overall. \u201cThey said that they would like to release the third one as well, but as the record contract was over \u2013 we had delivered two albums \u2013 we just thought \u2018Well, why not ask around and see if anybody else is interested?,\u2019\u201d the performer reasons. \u201cWe got some offers, and even slightly better offers. Although we enjoyed working with Peaceville very much because it\u2019s a legendary label and absolutely cool guys who are into the music, we just thought \u2018Maybe it\u2019s time to see if another recording contract would open any new possibilities for the band, just to try it out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Century Media\u2019s feelings towards Barren Earth\u2019s overall output was a determining factor in the group inking a contract with the German label. \u201cThey seemed to be into the music,\u201d Sami judges. \u201cThey were already thinking about signing us back in 2008, but for some reason they didn\u2019t \u2013 I don\u2019t really know why. Century Media have a slightly bigger reach, though. You have to remember that Barren Earth is a fairly unknown band. It\u2019s like a hidden secret in metal (laughs). We thought a release on Century Media would be noticed by people a little bit more. They\u2019re cool guys also and into the music, and that\u2019s the most important part; that there\u2019s excitement in the air when it comes to a new release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Production for On Lonely Towers<\/em> fell to the band themselves, to an extent. \u201cWhen we went to record with Petri (Majuri) though, we always told him \u2018If you hear some mistake or something bothers you, please say something,\u2019 but he didn\u2019t,\u201d the axe-slinger chuckles. \u201cA couple of times, maybe, but he didn\u2019t say too much about it. It\u2019s fair to say that the band produced the album, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

As referenced earlier, Barren Earth\u2019s initial two records were produced by Jukka Varmo. \u201cHe had ideas about song structures and so on, but we wanted to try something different this time,\u201d Sami discloses. \u201cWe had rehearsed the songs so much, and so we didn\u2019t wanna change them around any more after that. Maybe that was the biggest difference, that we were more prepared for studio sessions. That\u2019s also why we did it in two separate sessions; to be able to concentrate on roughly four songs at a time. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow member Janne Perttil\u00e4 played the majority of the rhythm guitar tracks. \u201cHe played most of the rhythm guitar tracks as he was playing together with the drums and the bass,\u201d the songwriter clarifies. \u201cMine though, I wanted to work on a little bit more, because I do a lot of harmonies and stuff on top of each other. There\u2019s a 12-string acoustic guitar there too and a six-string acoustic, so I wanted to double it up more just to make it sound bigger. It didn\u2019t take too much time, because I had already kind of written the solos already \u2013 most of them I had written in advance. <\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of them are improvised too, like the one at the end of this song called \u2018On Lonely Towers\u2019. It\u2019s more improvised at the end, but 90% of the stuff was written before we went to record. I did it at the studio, though. I didn\u2019t wanna do it at home or some demo studio. It\u2019s much cooler to do it in a real studio, just for the feeling of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In authoring a guitar solo, Sami generally employs a specific approach. \u201cIf I think about solos, they usually start from a main improvisation point, but I always take something from the actual song, or from the chorus melody, or the chords in question,\u201d he outlines. \u201cI usually record something, and then I pick out the best parts that I think are working the best for it, and then play a guitar solo. Often for me, I think of it as a song within a song. It has to have a strong beginning, and a middle part, and an explosive ending (laughs). If it\u2019s a longer solo, it\u2019s important to build it up, like take it more easy in the beginning. It depends on the song, but it\u2019s usually a song within a song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mixing duties fell to Petri Majuri. \u201cWhen it comes to the drum sound, we\u2019re lucky to have Marko, who\u2019s an amazing drummer,\u201d the musician comments. \u201cThere\u2019s really no need to correct or edit any of the drums to have a lively feeling with them. Therefore, we didn\u2019t use triggers on the bass drums or anything actually either. That was all possible this time, because we got to record in this Finnvox Studios, which has a really big room there. You can mike it up from several different places, so we wanted to kind of keep it real and not correct it too much. Since we were playing all of the basics in one room together, we wanted to make it sound like that this was the real case \u2013 that it was noticeable that there\u2019s a human factor in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover artwork responsibilities for On Lonely Towers<\/em> fell to Travis Smith. \u201cHe did the album cover for our debut album Curse Of The Red River<\/em>, and we were very happy with that,\u201d Sami muses. \u201cThen on the second album, we had this guy called Paul Romano, who did covers for some Mastodon albums and so on. To be honest though, I think the album cover for The Devil\u2019s Resolve<\/em> is quite terrible. He did a better job for Mastodon than for us (laughs). It was kind of strange; it didn\u2019t have so much to do with the album idea itself. Everybody was kind of disappointed with it, but there was no time to get a new one because the CDs had to be pressed already \u2013 there was like a timetable. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, we thought that with Travis Smith, we could be certain that something good would come out of it. J\u00f3n, he sent Travis the lyrics to give him some inspiration for the album cover artwork. Of course, the song \u2018On Lonely Towers\u2019 gives a lot of visual ideas for something from an artist like that, and that\u2019s one of the reasons why it ended up being the title of the album. I think it looks beautiful. This time, we had more time to consider stuff like that and more time to plan. That\u2019s why it worked out better this time. Everybody\u2019s happy with the new album cover.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performing Japanese bonus track duties is \u2018In Flight\u2019. \u201cThe funny thing is this is mainly for Japanese releases, because they sometimes want to have an extra song that is nowhere else,\u201d the guitarist augments. \u201cWe weren\u2019t prepared for that at all, but a couple of weeks ago we heard that they were gonna release it in Japan and that they want an extra track there, so what we did is we just recorded one (laughs). It\u2019s just a piano track that Kasper had in mind. We couldn\u2019t have drums on it because our drummer (Marko), he broke his knee a month ago doing aikido training. He had to take six weeks off on sick leave and have crutches on for a while, but now everything seems to be fine. They operated on it. He\u2019s done a show with his other band, Moonsorrow. It went fine, so he\u2019s back in business for sure. Aikido is a dangerous sport; no musician should ever choose that. It\u2019s the wrong thing to do (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s a track without drums (laughs). It\u2019s an instrumental piece with some guitars and some percussion. It\u2019s a bonus that we recorded extra because they wanted us to, so we just did it quickly by ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Barren Earth (l-r): Janne Perttil\u00e4, Sami Yli-Sirni\u00f6, Marko Tarvonen, J\u00f3n Aldar\u00e1,
Kasper M\u00e5rtenson and Olli-Pekka \u201cOppu\u201d Laine<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Elsewhere, \u2018Sirens Of Oblivion\u2019 acts as a deluxe edition bonus track. \u201cIt\u2019s a death metal tune,\u201d Sami describes. \u201cIt has a guest musician for that one, like this saxophone guitar riff there in the middle that has kind of a King Crimson feel to it, but with a death metal twist of course. And yeah, it\u2019s the only song that Janne our guitarist wrote the lyrics for. Other than that, it\u2019s the bass player\u2019s tune; he came up with the song, and then Janne wrote the lyrics, and there\u2019s this saxophone guy featuring on it (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of interviewing the axeman for this feature, Barren Earth were in the midst of preparing to film a music video for \u2018Set Alight\u2019, which has since been recorded. \u201cThere\u2019s this Swedish guy called Owe Lingvall, who has made many metal music videos in the past,\u201d the axeman tells. \u201cHe sent some kind of draft, like a script, but we\u2019re still working on it. He\u2019s coming here on the 25th of this month (February), so we still have time to work on it, but I hope it\u2019s gonna be good. Music videos, sometimes I\u2019m a little bit sceptical about them. The one we did for \u2018The Rains Begin\u2019… \u2018The Rains Begin\u2019 is a great song, but I wasn\u2019t 100% happy with the video. It\u2019s just old dudes performing the song, and posing in front of a camera (laughs). It\u2019s a kind of video where you have probably seen other ones that are similar, that are too similar. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s not easy, but we\u2019re gonna make this one work better. It\u2019d be better for a band like us to do an animated video, or something (laughs). Hopefully this time though, things will work out better. It\u2019s not easy making a music video, especially if you have a smaller budget for it, but I\u2019m looking forward to doing it. We\u2019ll see how it goes. There\u2019s also a lyrical video \u2013 which is kind of a teaser for the album \u2013 for a song called \u2018A Shapeless Derelict\u2019. It turned out great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Various visual media has been published in conjunction with On Lonely Towers<\/em>\u2019 release. \u201cThe title track is on YouTube, but that\u2019s not a real video \u2013 it just has a picture of the band,\u201d Sami lists. \u201cNow, there\u2019s a lyric video, which is coming out for \u2018A Shapeless Derelict\u2019. Then we\u2019re gonna do \u2018Set Alight\u2019, which is the song for the video. Century Media were asking us what would be the right covermount song, if people wanna release a song on these CDs that come along with magazines. That song would probably be \u2018Frozen Processions\u2019, because it\u2019s the only song which is under five minutes (laughs). It all depends on the record company with that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether a second music video to accompany On Lonely Towers<\/em>\u2019 issue will transpire is uncertain. \u201cI hope so, but record companies tend to think of how to raise awareness of the songs, so they have different songs that fulfil a different kind of purpose,\u201d the performer considers. \u201cFor a covermount track, you need a shorter one. To introduce the album, we picked out the title track. It\u2019s a kind of weird one to pick for that because it\u2019s 12 minutes long, but we just thought that it gave a good idea of what the album was gonna be like. That\u2019s why we put it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to occupying the guitar position for Barren Earth, Sami undertakes the same duties for German thrash veterans Kreator. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a songwriting break and doing some festivals in the summer, but with the next album, we\u2019ve given ourselves a deadline that it should come out May 2016 at the latest,\u201d he reveals. \u201cThat\u2019s the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, little has been penned. \u201cJust a couple of raw skeletons of songs,\u201d the axe-slinger imparts. \u201cIt\u2019ll take awhile. With Kreator, music isn\u2019t written in the traditional sense of writing. It\u2019s more like testing out riffs and trying them out, and then sending them back and forth. Also, I\u2019m also going to Germany to work on them with the guys. It\u2019s started, but basically we are on a songwriting break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balancing commitments to both Kreator and Barren Earth isn\u2019t a problem for Sami. \u201cThe good thing about Kreator shows is they are booked way, way in advance,\u201d he cites. \u201cFor example, there are shows that are booked for Kreator in September, so I know the plans well beforehand. It\u2019s not a problem at all \u2013 it\u2019s basically pretty easy. These things tend to go in cycles, like one band becomes active when they bring out an album and the other band is usually more quiet when there is no new album out. It\u2019s just a question of getting the calendars straight, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Lonely Towers<\/em> was released on March 24th, 2015 in North America and subsequently on the 30th in Europe, all via Century Media Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in March 2015. All promotional photographs by Edo Landwehr.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BARREN EARTH – Setting Metal Alight Anthony Morgan March 2015 Barren Earth (l-r): Marko Tarvonen, Janne Perttil\u00e4, J\u00f3n Aldar\u00e1, Kasper M\u00e5rtenson, Olli-Pekka \u201cOppu\u201d Laine and Sami Yli-Sirni\u00f6 Helsinki, Finland-based progressive death metal outfit Barren Earth was originally the brainchild of former Amorphis bassist Olli-Pekka \u2013 \u201cOppu\u201d \u2013 Laine during late 2006, the four-stringer requesting that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1999,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barren-earth","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28142","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=28142"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28165,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28142\/revisions\/28165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}