Dark Descent Records Artist- Lantern Interview is up
1. Listening to Dimensions there is a strong Black Death vibe going on. What are the themes to the new record?
Judging some of the new reviews that have appeared online recently, many seem to think of Dimensions as a space album. This is not the case. Take the various meanings of the word and the plateaus above, below, beyond and within and we’re getting closer to what the album is about. It’s reaching out for a lot of concepts. Dimensions does start with Strange Nebula, yet only to plunge towards various other meanings and landscapes, eventually into the deepest depths imaginable.
Abstract, close to Lovecraftian death metal horror is very firmly entrenched in the themes of the album. Although many songs have layers behind the topmost façade of the lyrics, Dimensions is more about providing color and feeding the listener’s imagination rather than being having narrative, like II: Morphosis with its life – death – afterlife progression. So, it’s more a collection of short stories from a mythos that is likely to connect with deeper imagery, rather than praise or contemplation of deities, dogmas, epiphanies or the sorts. One of the biggest reasons I would like to call Lantern death metal instead of black metal is due to our more horror-related lyrical / thematic content anyway. Being black metal would more certain aspects we don’t serve with this output. Musically speaking, we’re in between both genres, for sure, which is a blessing and a curse. I’d just prefer to call it Lantern.
2. Finnish bands always have a very unique sound . Do you feel that this is being a more isolated nation and the mix of Slavic and European ways mixed together?
You summarized the main aspects well right there. The Slavic tones have infused to our nativity and have served as the backbone of older Finnish schlager et cetera… likely derived from Russian soil, later mixed with our somber and melancholic mentality. One must also remember we have had our distinct instruments (kantele) and a traditional poetic meter for long, so guess our deviant culture musicianship and storytelling has travelled its own stubborn paths for ages. Being a small, quite secluded country, we’ve had to learn many things on our own, and also from our own mistakes. Guess this has reflected on the Finnish tone - at least this applies in my case. I’ve had to learn the tricks of the trade from a relatively isolated point of view myself.
3. The art work of Dimensions has such an old school Death metal band was this done on purpose?
We have never tried or wanted to be old school on purpose: this is just the way I see, hear and experience things. Not old, not new – just Lantern, especially when speaking about the music. We’ve always had someone else do the cover and the layout, and I reckon old school has leaked in more into the graphics department every now and then. Z. Bielak did go for an old death metal look for the back cover of II: Morphosis, with the live photo and the simple font / layout. The artwork for Dimensions was designed to portray the atmosphere of the album exclusively, which it does perfectly. The layout, however, has influences not from old school, but from further back, with inspiration derived all the way from 70’s LPs. This goes for the labels / disc face especially - just wait and see!
4. What bands are influences to Lantern? I hear Entombed, Demigod, Incantation and Cianide am I close to any?
All of the aforementioned acts are excellent. Especially Demigod have always felt like someone who see this musical field in a similar way as I do. Incantation and Cianide both have certain patterns and “geometry” in their works that I’ve clicked with. Other than that, Possessed is my all-time favorite band from the genre, with Mercyful Fate, two first Samael albums, Mortuary Drape etc. standing right next to them metal-wise to me. I’ve never been that fond of Swedish death metal, to be frank, yet Grave and early Therion are the crown jewels to me from that scene. Progressive / psychedelic rock and various other weird artists I dig also have very likely affected my style. Nowadays I don’t really listen to a lot of music by others, except when I need to focus or when I’m jogging. I’m trying to be as free of musical influences as I can, working on a blank canvas, also needing this to rest my ears between music projects.
5. You have been working with Dark Descent for a few albums . Why do you feel they are a good fit and are you pleased with all so far?
He was the active party, which is something I usually react to positively. He supports quirky and obscure music and doesn’t restrict what we do musically, which is very important to us. So, no complaints in that sense. I’m pretty loyal with my co-operations, a long-haul person one could say, so I’ve seen no point in changing our record label relations over the years.
6. If you could make a proper video for any track on Dimensions. Which would it be any why?
I have a hard time imagining making a music video for Lantern, as most of them appear a bit corny in my eyes, but one can always imagine. Beings and Shrine of Revelation would be optimal because of their length, also thinking about the cinematic horror vibes in those songs. Whereas the hard-to-describe nature of Beings would be very hard to set up, executing a desolate plane of non-existence for the 2nd alternative would probably be my choice.
7. I hear alot of Doomy elements in Lantern too are you fans of that Doomy Death elements too?
I’m very fond of traditional doom, funeral doom and death doom. Of course, it has its specific time and its place, but especially now as I’m getting old and slow, I’d rather choose a dragging pace instead of 300 BPM blasting most of the time, haha. Slowing things down is also necessary for dynamics, at least when it comes to my way of composing.
8. How does Live and Studio differ for the band and which feels the most at home and do you prefer?
For the last few years of us being a quintet, we’ve become much more uniform in studio and on stage. When we transformed from a duo into a five-piece, we had to take some time to alter our sound and small nuances related to live and venue conditions. Preparing for various on-stage surprises has been a surprisingly long road, but we’ve reached that point now, if you ask me. We have also had to undergo gear changes and upgrades and decide which older songs work live and which do not. This has also reflected on our latest releases, as we’ve tried to unify our album and live sound.
Playing live felt like a bit like a chore at first, when breaking free from the studio band status. But now, it’s the salt of the whole “business”. Both can be enjoyable and painstaking at best, but right now, especially in the current corona situation, I’d choose playing live over hitting the studio, any day. Hard to say which works better for us, live or recordings, as some fans prefer us on stage and some prefer the albums. But like said, the last few releases translate more uniformly in both formats, so there’s less gap than considering the Subterranean Effulgence and Below era material that has varies on record and when played live. Songs like Those Long Perished work even better now, though, in my opinion.
9. Are you fans of the digital age or it's it watering down the underground scene too much?
I used to be very strict about which format I listen and even release music in, but I’ve become softer in this regard. Like said, I mostly listen to music for a few different reasons nowadays, mostly in digital form, but I still support fellow artists and buy the occasional vinyl when the opportunity strikes (given I have room in my shelves). So, I’m cool with digital, but wouldn’t want to release just that myself. The cover art and the feeling when you obtain a record and get to know the appearance, lyrics, details etc. is not there when talking about digital. Avoiding digi only, however, goes mostly for the metal, as I have experience on releases from other genres being far, far harder to distribute in tangible formats these days, especially if you’re not well known or just plain lucky.
The ease of recording and releasing music is something that’s watering down things for sure. To be frank, the inflation of bands, demos and records has made me a bit numb, making me want to focus on my own works even more instead of checking out other bands’ back catalogs. While young bands have a more democratic chance to get started regarding recording and releasing in 2020, unfortunately the pool of music the audience operates in is much wider than in the past and it’s very easy to get drowned.
10. How to the earlier recordings Below and Morphosis differ from Dimensions to the band and how has the sound grow for the members?
I believe things took a more drastic turn around II: Morphosis, our first quintet recording. When we formed our current line-up, we started to become much tighter, as we began to practice more regularly and had to know our score regarding a song before we could record it or play it live. In the olden days, I would play everything myself in studio and leave many loose ends for the recording session. Like said, we were a two-piece up until II: Morphosis and couldn’t play the songs live or even practice them beforehand, so we composed merely for studio purposes. This can be heard on the first releases that are more experimental than the latest few. As for Dimensions, I feel that this is the point where we’ve managed to combine the best aspects from along the way, also being able to hone our sound into what we’ve wanted it to be from the beginning. I also think the rest of the band has become more familiar with my mindset over the years, meaning the five-piece sounds much more Lantern now than it did in 2011, or even a few years after that.
11. Is there a visual aesthetics to the band you present in artwork and on stage?
Artwork aesthetics are essential, like you might have noticed looking at our covers / booklets etc. I’m very precise about these things. It has to speak out the aura of the music. This goes for live, too: we pretty much let the music speak for itself, so no props, decorations or blood or corpse paint. Me and our vocalist do have some appearance traditions with our leather vests, also with Necrophilos highlighting his eyes with black charcoal inspired by the actors of antiquity. The trick is, however, that it has to be from his own supply. I remember once on a foreign festival trip, he had forgotten to pack the charcoal and there was no way we could buy some from the store, haha. Details matter.
12. If you could have any artist cover a lantern song who would you like to try and why?
Hard to say, perhaps someone from outside the metal genre or at least someone not trying to replicate our part, but make it sound like something (almost) completely different. I have a hard time with covers nowadays anyway, as I feel especially the genres closer to the mainstream are flooded with them. Peter Gabriel era Genesis could do, perhaps? Just imagine Phil Collins blasting through the theme riff of From the Ruins or something like that. They were some of the ultimate visionaries and performers (and musicians) of all time, and for this, my heroes - enough said!
13. Do the members of Lantern have other projects they would like to talk about them?
Me and our vocalist are involved in Grip of Death, a grittier doom / heavy metal output led by Pimeä (Flame, ex-Urn etc.), with myself naturally on guitar and Necrophilos doing the vocals, writing the lyrics and also playing some keyboards. I’m also in Proscription, which is the natural continuity of Maveth, helping out on lead guitar there. Faster and more violent material, still dark and deviant, with a few bits and pieces from my pen, as well. We have our debut album coming very soon, too, so keep your eyes peeled. And oh, there’s DTK (Death Thrashers Kuopio): probably the ugliest band there is, the only band I’m still playing drums in. We’ve been around for almost 20 years, with a few demos and 5-6 gigs on our belt. A full length album has been I the making for a few years. It’s slow coming.
As for the other members: J. Noisehunter is busy playing bass for Cadaveric Incubator. I reckon he still plays guitar for Flame, too, although the latter have been on a (live) hiatus for some time. St. Belial has a lot of bands on the belt from the past: Coffin, Barathrum, Inhumane Deathcult etc., but his focus has been on Lantern as of late. Our drummer on the other hand is busy with many death / black bands, such as Funeral Home, Hellboozer Union to mention a few. Drummers are hard to come by, so lucky for local bands, J. Poussu has had a lot of stamina and enthusiasm lately.
14. Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here.
Many thanks for the interview! Be sure to check out Dimensions, as we honestly feel it’s our best effort to the date. High recommendations for getting a physical copy, as it’ll come with the artwork us, artist Timo Kokko and layout specialist Heresie Graphics spent a lot of time and vision on. Hope to catch up with all of you maniacs at live venues very soon, too.
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