Scar
Symmetry
Scar Symmetry is a newcomer
band from Sweden that managed to amaze us with their debut release entitled
"Symmetric In Design". This is an album you'll love, an album that will
haunt you for a long time. Henrik proved to be a very pleasant guy and
this is what we said in the interview we did...
Hi, this is Costas from behind The Veil ezine.
I have some questions for Scar Symmetry and for your debut album…
Hi, this is Henrik from Scar Symmetry. OK,
bring it on!
1.Firstly, I would like to ask you why did
you choose Scar Symmetry as a name for the band?
I came up with the name when Jonas and I were
thinking about what we should use as a bandname. It sounded good and it
has a certain balance to it, one raw and one soft word combined. The meaning
of the name is that we all receive emotional scars from living a human
life, therefore everyone can relate to the name I think.
2.You are about to release your debut album
titled “Symmetric In Design”.
Yeah, it was recently released and we`re experiencing
a huge success with this album. None of us has ever seen anything like
it cause the response has been incredible, we`re almost hyped in a sense!
3.Can you tell me in short what is the musical
direction you ‘ve followed for this album? I can see some “trademark” Swedish
metal and progressive elements. Do you agree?
The idea was to play some kind of melodic
death metal but I think the musical concept of Scar Symmetry became wider
than we originally thought, as the writing process went on the sound of
the band really became more of a blend of genres rather than strictly melodic
death metal. We`ve incorporated pretty much every genre of metal on the
album and we even go beyond metal at times. Sure there`s Swedish metal
in there, we are Swedish after all, and the progressive elements is something
that was natural for us to have in the music.
4.Is “Symmetric In Design” is a concept album
or are there songs with common references? Can you tell me few words about
each song?
The songs all deal with mysticism in one way
or another but that`s the only connection between the lyrics of the songs.
“Chaosweaver” is about disconnecting from the negative thought patterns
of the collective subconsciousness of humanity and embrace a stronger view
of yourself and what you can do. “2012” presents all the theories
regarding that specific year, both scientific and mystical ones. “Dominion”
is about a person who has lost hope for humanity and decides to withdraw
into his inner world where he makes the rules. “Underneath the surface”
is really about the same thing as “Chaosweaver”, those two songs have similar
approaches lyrically. “Veil of Illusions” deals with quantum physics
and the fact that if you only believe in what the limited instruments called
the eyes allows you to see, you are fooling yourself bigtime! “Reborn”
is about the fact that we`re reborn every second of our lives, the lyric
is taking rebirth to its extreme. “Obscure Alliance” is about the
connection between the physical and the spiritual planes of existence.
“Hybrid Cult” is about a bloodline that has kept itself clean since
the dawn of man basically and supposedly rules all economy and media today!
“Orchestrate the Infinite” is about a force that doesn`t want to
be called God or Devil, it would rather just “be” without being labeled.
“Detach from the Outcome” is about experiencing the world when you`ve
taken hallucinogenic drugs. “Seeds Of Rebellion” is about embracing
the rebellious side of yourself and going to action and taking care of
things. “The Eleventh Sphere” deals with astral traveling, this
particular journey goes to the sphere that was created when the goblet
of god cracked and the liquid inside it ran over, thus creating a sphere
of nightmares, unwanted ideas etc. A place you just gotta love!
5.How much time did it take you for the songwriting
of this album, and how much time did you spent at the studios? Did you
face any problems?
We spent a couple of months on writing the
material but we continued writing in the studio and we recorded for about
three months. Things ran pretty smoothly for us recording-wise but it was
a hellish task for Jonas to mix the album because there were so many keyboards
and guitars everywhere which made it difficult to get everything in place
with levels and all that. I think that the mix was pretty much the worst
thing to complete and Jonas was the one who had to sweat the most overall
for those three months, I`m amazed he came out of it with his sanity intact…
Come to think of it, I`m not sure he did… Nah, just kidding- Jonas is fine!
6.What is your favorite song from “Symmetric
In Design” and Why?
I think “2012” is my fave-track even though
I like all the songs on the album. “2012” has a great groove to it and
it`s really flowing with a nice drive to it, I think both the lyrics and
the music are exceptionally brilliant on that song.
7.Can you tell me something about the cover?
Yeah, it reflects the title “Symmetric In
Design” and Pär (PJIllustrations) read the lyrics and pondered upon
the title before creating this piece of art. It connects to the ideas of
quantum physics and the re-occurring patterns you see everywhere in nature
in the form of spirals, circles etc.
8.What are your plans after the release of
“Symmetric In Design”? Are you going to start touring with other bands,
participate in summer festivals., etc
We will play our premiere gig in Stockholm
in April and that`s all we know at the moment. There will be more shows
but there are no dates booked at this point.
9.Do you know anything about the Greek metallers?
Are you planning to play in Greece?
Greece is definitely a metal country and we
would love to go there if we get the chance! I`ve heard that the metal
fans there are nuts and I would really like to witness that myself!
10.What do you do in your spare time? (If you
have one?)
Mostly ordinary stuff like spending time with
the family, drinking with friends, reading, creating music and lyrics.
11.Can you give a Top 10 of your favorite
records?
Allright! Notre Dame “Le theatre du vampire”,
Necrophagist “Epitaph”, Allan Holdsworth “Secrets”, King Diamond “Abigail”,
Dissection “Storm of the light`s bane, KISS “Alive2”, Enya “A day without
rain”, Fredrik Thordendal`s special defects “Sol Niger within”, Cynic “Focus”
and Morbid Angel “Altars of Madness”. I have many more but I had to restrict
myself to these ten because you said so, he he.
12.Thank you very much for answering the questions,
good luck with the new album (it had already burnt my cd player twice!!!)
and take care.
Thank YOU for doing this interview and best
wishes for you as well!
Costas “C.O.B” Meidanis
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