"I'm excited about trying out some Icelandic in my lyrics soon"
Extreme metallers (death / black / thrash respectively) Atrum quickly proved that they are a force to be reckoned with. Yet, in spite of critical acclaim and roaring approval from metal fans wide and far, they've remind relatively silent were no life dwells as opposed to flogging their bits at the market square. But the beast is alive, preparing shots to be heard around the world.
After watching a video of the band's performance at last year's Wacken (find it at the end of this post), I felt inclined to get in touch with songwriter/choir member conductor Sigurður and ask him about the Wacken show and more importantly about what Atrum has been up to musically since our last chat.
It's been some time since your appearance at Wacken. Looking back at it, what was the experience like and in which ways has it benefited the band after the fact?
Well, of course it was an amazing experience. We had a big crowd and we kept their attention. After the fact, this is obviously something we'd love to do again and again. I think the greatest benefit of the trip was that we got a taste of "touring", how different the scene is outside of Iceland and how professional big festivals like Wacken actually are. It's not that we are a careless bunch, but it was surprising and refreshing to see how many people, the audience, stage hands etc. cared so much about an unknown Icelandic band, even if it was only for a few hours.
Without a label or PR company to push you online, you still managed to stir up a lot of favorable interest in the band by putting professionally executed recordings online for public consumption. Many now know that Atrum is a force to be reckoned with and of the highest caliber but then you quickly withdrew into the shadows from which you seemingly just appeared out of not that long ago. The giant sleeps some say but what is brewing as of late, what's new and what is there to expect from Atrum?
It's no secret that our activities are sometimes quite scarce, but when we do something we pride our selves in doing it the right way. I don't think that's a bad thing, even though it might not sound ideal. Perhaps we also approach the subject differently, while many bands see their type of music, or their respective scenes, as a lifestyle where you're either all in or you're out, we see Atrum more as a state we get into. We might not see each other for weeks but when it's time to hit the stage everybody knows what it's all about. 2011 was the busiest year for us yet, we finally got some music out, played many great gigs with, and for, a lot of great people. What is there to expect? We have two exciting gigs coming up, first with superstars Skálmöld february 4th, and then we'll entertain at club NASA while the judges decide which band will represent Iceland at Wacken 2012. Other than that I'm getting very excited about writing new metal music, I'm constantly writing all sorts of music, but I want to just take a month or two and focus solely on Atrum and finish an album in record time. That should be fun or disastrous... We'll see.
Can you give the readers some insight into the band's sonic development since we last spoke and an idea about the lyrical topics and themes that will accompany your next attack.
Our new songs are definitely a little more to the point. We want to make a full-length soon, so the approx 10 songs will likely be more character based, while the album in a whole is a bigger totality. We plan to continue our integration of classical elements without going overboard, still structurally built on the principal quartet. Lyrically I'm leaning toward some motifs I find hard to explain, so I won't try to at the moment, but the ones that are finished are somewhat picturesque but chaotic, whatever that may tell you. I'm also excited about trying out some Icelandic in my lyrics soon.
- Birkir Fjalar
*Photo credit: Gunnar, Season Of Mist
Atrum @ Wacken Open Air 2011 from AtrumIceland on Vimeo.
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