Interviews

Hello! Congratulations on Primal Exhale, and thanks very much for participating in this interview.
Hello and thanx.

Jappe Myllyvirta will be answering to the interview. Tero Vaaja will answer to one question.

Excalion is being billed as symphonic power metal, but you have resisted this label, preferring a less constrictive term like heavy/melodic metal. In what ways does your music depart from typical power metal? What are the more unique aspects of your sound, and how has it developed?
I personally don´t like the term "Power Metal", because in my ears it sounds too naive and in my opinion it does not describe our sound that well. I think that melodic metal is the best one to describe Primal Exhale. Our own sound comes from song´s arrangements, melodies and our vocalist´s voice and it has matured alot during the years.

Excalion comes across to me as a band that is evolving and improving at an unusually accelerated rate. Do you feel that this is the case, and can you speculate as to why this might be?
It is hard to say why, but one reason might be that we all are quite young and we are constantly improving our skill as musicians and nowdays we practice alot as a band. Hopefully the improvement continues.

You started with a one-guitar line-up, then added another guitarist because, as was stated in an older version of your bio, "making music with more variety and personality" would require two guitarists. But with the departure of Kimmo Hänninen and former guitarist Tero Vaaja's swithing to bass after Timo Sahlberg relinquished that role, you've returned to a one-guitar line-up, and have indicated that you're quite satisfied with this arrangement. Why does it work better now than it did earlier? Is this a reflection of your growth individually as musicians, the way your music has changed, or both?
First we started as a one-guitar band, because there was no other guitarist that we could consider for the band. But soon Kimmo arrived and that was a natural choice to take him into the group. It worked fine when we did not practice so seriously, but after the record deal things got more serious and band was improving alot and it was difficult get the two guitars to work properly together. Now we are quite different band compared to what we were a few years ago. Now the line-up works perfectly.

A few of the songs on Primal Exhale also appeared on your demos. Besides being re-recorded for the album, what other changes have they undergone?
All songs, except Dire Waters are recorded in some demo. But few songs are in old demos. Some songs have gone thru changes when some parts were changed or erased and arrangements were improved. Some lyrical improvements were also made.

To what degree is the band as a whole involved in the arrangements for songs?
Quite much. Now the song arrangements are made faster and everyone has a clearer vision how it must be done. Now the whole band works together for the arrangements.

How was it decided to have Primal Exhale mastered at The Digital Audio in the U. K.?
Our record company decided that. We are very satisfied with the result. They did a good job.

What are the similarities and differences between the lyrics by the band's two main writers--themes, inspirations, writing habits? How is it decided which of you will handle lyrics for a particular song? Are you continuing to divide lyrical duties for the songs written since the album was recorded?
I think that Tero writes more complex lyrics and mine are more down to earth. I can only speak for myself now, but I try to find some theme that fits in the atmosphere of the song. After that it is rather easy to write the story. My inspiration comes from real world and feelings that I get from some melodies or songs. If I don´t have an idea for lyrics I handle it forward.