Siebenburgen Interview
Siebenburgen display an affinity for creating a dark atmosphere with hints of more extreme music on their latest Napalm Records release, "Darker Designs And Images." An album that will no doubt appeal to fans of traditional metal as well as black metal and melodic death metal, "Darker Designs" is a huge step forward for the group in terms of sonority, with its songs being more poignant than on any other album that the group has recorded to date. Vocalist Richard Bryngelsson talks about the new record and shares his thoughts on the current direction of Siebenburgen.
The Gauntlet: How do you see Darker Designs and Images as being different from Plagued Be Thy Angel? Do you feel that it's a further evolution of the things that
you touched upon on the last record?
Richard Bryngelsson: Yeah "Darker Designs and Images" is a step forward for us but at the same time we retain that which is our roots, the darker metal that you can find on our first releases. We wanted this album to have a touch of the old Siebenburgen as well as the new and we are very pleased with the result. At one point the material we had sounded more like it could have come from Arch Enemy or something like that and that's when we realized we had to put more of our roots into it.
The Gauntlet: What types of feelings were you experiencing when the new record was finally completed? Was it a relief to have finished such a great record?
Richard Bryngelsson: It was such a hard album to finish that when you we were done with the recordings we felt exhausted and relived and happy that we pulled it off. We had it recorded and finished already when we realized we had to fire our guitarist because he could not make certain sacrifices that was needed for band. So we had to take out all his parts and write some new songs even. Let's say we weren't that happy about doing it all over again but we did and it became even better than it originally was!
The Gauntlet: "Born Under A Black Sun" actually has a very traditional metal feel, but the way you incorporate the gothic elements into your music, it gives it a very different twist.
Richard Bryngelsson: Yeah, our foundation is in the metal of the 80's that we all grew up with. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Accept, Metallica, Slayer, and WASP all played a part in shaping who we are today and its only natural that what we create have some of the same characteristics.
The Gauntlet: What can you tell us about the concepts behind the individual songs on the record?
Richard Bryngelsson: Well there is a "soft" concept that runs through the album, it deals with the myth of a certain demon lord and his host of vampire queens and dark kings. I don't really want to describe every song per say, I will leave that up to the listener. I
can tell you this though that it starts with a summoning and it ends with legions forged in flames rising up to their master's call. We intend to deal more with this tale on our next release.
The Gauntlet: Siebenburgen is one of the few bands that can pull off a mixture of classic metal and black metal at the same time and still manage to maintain a wholly dark vibe. How do you achieve this balance?
Richard Bryngelsson: I honestly can't say. It just comes natural I guess. We all love the classical heavy metal music and as we mix all our other influences together the dark atmosphere that we achieve is simply there. It's not something we think about or try to go for really.
The Gauntlet: Did you do anything differently in the way that you approached the songwriting for this album?
Richard Bryngelsson: The only thing we said before we started to record "Darker Designs and Images" was that we wanted the music to connect with our older albums. When we fired our guitarist we realized that musically we had drifted too far away from what was Siebenburgen so when we re-wrote the album we knew we wanted more of the old Siebenburgen in the songs at the same time we also wanted to have a fresh and new sound and I think we managed both.
The Gauntlet: What type of overall vibe is the band going for in a live situation?
Richard Bryngelsson: We put out a lot of energy when we play live. Mostly we play the fast aggressive songs that we have because it just fit us well live. We also use a lot of the older material that are sung in the Swedish language. I guess the overall vibe we try to
attain is that of energy and release.
The Gauntlet: Which songs from the record can fans expect to hear this time around? Will you be focusing on the new record primarily or will it be a balance of songs from "Darker Designs" along with your prior material?
Richard Bryngelsson: We will most probably try to balance things unless this album sells a million copies he-he. No, we try to have something from all our albums.
The Gauntlet: Is the dramatic nature inherent in your sound something that you are consciously thinking about when writing a track?
Richard Bryngelsson: No, just as with the darkness in our music the drama also comes natural.
The Gauntlet: Who do you feel are your contemporaries in the Swedish metal scene?
Richard Bryngelsson: Actually I don't think we sound like any band in Sweden. I think we have our own identity and sound.
The Gauntlet: Although the band's folk influences seemed to be more prominent during your earlier works, some of the phrasing remains in your music. Where do these types of inspirations stem from?
Richard Bryngelsson: What is inspiration? Everything! Anything can inspire if you are in a mood where you are receptive for inspiration of course. The worst thing you can do is to try and force it, most times it will fail miserably. As with any creative work you have to be inspired. If you don't have inspiration then you will simply just create bad music. If you release uninspired music then you have failed and failure should not be tolerated and is not in this band. If its not there then you wait for it to come,
you don't hunt it down you just lie in wait until it shows up then you grab it and run with it for as long as it lasts be it folk/death/black/goth sounding.
The Gauntlet: What's next for the band?
Richard Bryngelsson: We are currently trying to get some kind of tour going but it's hard because all of us have other commitments that we have to consider as well. Hopefully we'd get something done in the beginning of the New Year even if it is only festival gigs. We are also writing new material for our next album, rest assured that it won't take four more years to make.