Moonlight Agony – על מים שקטים

Sweden's Moonlight Agony combine the best of two worlds, the melody and heaviness of power metal, with the sophistication and playing ability of a prog band. Having heard the band doubt, 2004's Echoes Of A Nightmare, which was produced by Evergrey's Tom Englund – I got interested in what is the band doing these days, to find out, I spoke with the band's guitarist and co-founder, Karl Landin.

Hey Kalle, I'd like to start with current news, what is the band doing these days?

The band is currently rehearsing intensively to be well prepared for upcoming gigs. We're planning for a mini-tour in the Nordic countries in the spring after "Silent Waters" has been released.

I understand you have a new bass player, what happened to the last one?

Christofer Starnefalk, our previous bass player, has been a part of the band since the beginning. It was Christofer's own decision to leave Moonlight Agony and he did it because he didn't feel the urge to put in the time and effort needed to be a member of the band. There's no hard feelings between us.

Some questions about the new album, "Silent Waters", how happy are you with how it turned out?

We're very thrilled with the outcome of the album. We got an amazing fat sound and the fact that we did a very detailed pre-production enabled us to make the adjustments required in the songs. That made all the difference.

How does it sound in comparison with "Echoes Of A Nightmare"?

It's better produced, tighter and harder. More guitar solos and heavier tracks. We've tried to distinguish our sound more towards the kind of dark, symphonic metal which is our ambition to sound like.

Through which label will it be released?

We're currently in negotiations and can't reveal anything at this point.

What are the lyrical ideas behind "Echoes Of A Nightmare"?

The lyrics on Echoes of a Nightmare are written in a conceptual, epic way. The underlying story is about a mentally ill man who is in a downward spiral into madness. In the end of the album, he wakes up from his insanity and realizes what he has done.

How would you describe your music? Power? Prog? Both?

Our aim is to bring the best from both the power and the prog world and blend it with dark symphonic elements.

I felt quite a few folk touches in the music, was that something you were going for?

We don't specifically aim to be a folk-metal band even though folk elements is something that we enjoy throwing into songs occasionally.

How did you land Tom Englund as a producer?

We got in touch with Tom S. Englund through Claus at our management agency Intromental.

Why did you include Carina's Englund's vocals in Icy Plains?

The song was written as a duet from the beginning and her voice suited the sound perfectly. She's extremely skilled and I doubt there is any woman on the planet that could have done a better job.

In what ways do you think he contributed to the music beyond producing?

Tom did, besides the producing, some backing vocals and a guest guitar solo in "Equilibrium". Tom also did a great job as producer and helped us think of songwriting in a whole new way.

Some history, I understand your background is in classical music, how did you end up in metal?

Some of us have studied classical music and that has definitely affected the way we write music. But we rather like elements of the classical music than the whole concept. In the end of the day, metal is what we enjoy playing and creating.

How does your background influence your writing of metal music?

Having a decent education in music theory allows one to write and arrange more intricate pieces. The classical background is an extra useful help when it comes to symphonic, but is also vocal arrangements.

Why did you stop doing the vocals for the band?

Basically, I was never intended for the vocalist position. All I did was singing on one demo in order to be able to show, and market, our music to the real potential singers.

The band has been through many line-up changes, what caused them?

We were pretty young when we started and both the band and the persons involved have changed since then. This obviously leads to fractions, different opinions of what way the music should sound like and so on. All bands go through these kinds of phases before a stable line-up can be presented.

How different does the music sound with David a vocalist in comparison with the stuff you did with your former vocalist, Chitral Somapla?

David has a more aggressive style of singing, and a wider voice range. He is also quite young and we hope that he will grow as a metal vocalist together with the development of the rest of the band.

What do you hope to achieve with "Silent Waters"?

We wish to establish the Moonlight Agony sound and for more people to discover our mix of prog/power with a dark atmosphere. Most important, we of course hope that the metal crowd out there will enjoy this kick-ass album.