Interviews

Congratulations on the fresh new album! Above the Weeping World seems to be continuing in the Insomnium vein, i.e. dense melodic death metal plus some characteristic touch of melancholy. Is that now defined as an “Insomnium sound”?
Thank you! I think your definition is quite right. We are a melodic death band but we are much more melancholic and progressive than your average melodeath act. Sorrowful tunes, acoustic passages, epic songs… That’s us. We are more versatile than In Flames but less kinky than Opeth:)

Melancholy in the music appears to be a Finnish trademark. If in my own simple mind I call the Swedes “the kings of harmony”, then the Finns must be “the kings of sorrow”. With Insomnium harmony, of course, goes hand in hand with that sweet touch of sadness, but why would you say every good Finnish band has this touch of gloom?
We get the melancholy from the mother’s milk already. Traditional Finnish tunes are more or less sorrowful and Finnish music in general tends to be gloomy. But I think Insomnium combines the Swedish harmonies and Finnish sadness in a way that no one else does. We have harmonies everywhere but that doesn’t make the music any happier. Well, in Drawn to Black we have some Abba-harmonies in chorus but they just sound cool:)

Speaking of the dense melodic sound, I have a little bit of a dilemma recommending Above the Weeping World to those friends of mine who are not that much into metal. There seems to be a lot going on with the music on the album, that it takes either an experienced ear or a lot of spins to digest it all up. The melodies jump out at you right away, but you need time to grasp it all. It is actually good as the album is not a one-time pony, but I do not expect this to be an MTV material, even though the video for Mortal Share is very professional. Would you care to comment on the sound on this latest album and how has Insomnium been developing along the lines of the improved production? Would the video enter the rotation on some music channel somewhere in the world?
We will never be MTV material because we like to make quite complex songs and as you said there is a lot going on all the time. When you first hear the songs you will only get some impression of the whole picture. We try to make stuff that would last [some] time and [also] would give you something when you hear the album for the 30th time. But actually many people who don’t like metal still like us because we are so melodic and we have also easier parts.

On the new album the overall sound is much better than ever before. For the first time we sound as heavy as we should. With the previous albums we had some difficulties in the studio but now everything went well. The sound is clear, dark and heavy. We used a new studio which partly explains this.

Mortal Share video was made with tiny budget but it looks very, very good. At least the Finnish national TV has shown it because we were 9th on the album charts! [That is one cool TV, I have to say]. In the internet many people have seen the video so it’s definitely a very good promotion for us.

What do you say to those who say Insomnium sounds too much like Dark Tranquillity? I have to tell you this is a wonderful and very flattering comparison in my book, but there are always people who pretend they need to have every metal album to be an “original”, whatever that means.
People who say we are just like DT have not really listened to our albums. They have maybe heard Mortal Share which has pretty Dark Tranquillity–kind of feeling. I like DT a lot, especially the older albums, but we are surely not imitating them. If you listen to our epic songs like At the Gates of Sleep or Last Statement you will hear that DT has never done anything like that. We like to play the same riff quite long and just add new layers and melodies around the same idea but DT nowadays sounds too hasty in my opinion – new riffs are starting before you could grip the previous one. [I do not completely agree, but I very much appreciate Niilo speaking his mind]. But, they are a great band and one of our early favorites. [That is for damn sure, and my all-time favorites].

How goes the European tour when you have to share the stage with some black metal acts, like Satyricon or Keep of Kalessin? Is their crowd into your stance on how metal should sound like?
I’m answering this from Budapest, Hungary, and we still have 9 shows left on this tour. We are all getting tired but this has been a great experience for us. We share the bus with Keep of Kalessin and they are the nicest guys in the world. We usually party every night and we have the same kind of stupid sense of humor. Satyricon then… we are actually not allowed to talk to them so it’s better that I don’t say anything:) But anyway, crowds have been mostly very good everywhere and there are always some people who have come to see just us. These are quite melodic black metal bands luckily and not any old school underground Satanists, because then we would not enjoy this…

Staying on the touring note, any plans to come to the States, or do you still have to continue building up sales for the label to be able to afford to bring you over? Once you do, you would have to drop me a line, so we can meet when you are going through my territory.
We will surely come to the States when we get the chance but I think it’s the label’s strategy to take Europe first and US and Japan later. Personally I would like to see us touring US in 2007 since maybe half of our fans are from North America. But it is much more expensive than touring Europe so label has to be sure that they get something back when they invest that much money. For example Katatonia is now doing their first US tour ever and in my books they are a big band – and they have been around for a long time. But when we come to the US then we surely have to meet and have a drink or twelve together:) [Hell yes!]

Speaking of the earlier albums, the title track from the debut In the Halls of Awaiting is still my favorite Insomnium song. It contains all of the Insomnium signature features, but also has an undeniable Viking feel to it, perhaps not in the sense of worshipping pagan Gods, but more in the way of worshipping Northern/Finnish nature pictured on the cover. Even my wife likes it (except for the growls, of course). Any plans to revisit that type of direction in the future?
It’s a great song and many people regard it as the best Insomnium song ever. Which of course is a great compliment to me as it’s my song:) In all the songs that I make there is more of this Viking/traditional Finnish feeling than in the songs that Ville Friman does; his style is closer to the Swedish style with some American influences as well. From the new album songs like At the Gates of Sleep and In the Groves of Death are pretty close to the atmosphere of In the Halls of Awaiting. We like to have these epic songs with different kind of parts, it’s challenging and rewarding for the listener and the musician.