Scar Symmetry – ממדים אפלים של מטאל

It's hardly been a year and a half since we spoke with Scar Symmetry about their third album, and since, the band has been through quite a stir. After the departure of talented vocalist Christian Alvestram, not only one, but two vocalists were brought in to fill both the clear, and growl vocal parts – Roberth Karlsson and Lars Palmqvist respectively. The band has recently released a fourth album, "Dark Matter Dimensions", which brings back some of the brutality lacking in their last release, yet continues the band's tradition of adding plenty of melody as well – from heavy metal to electronica-tinged prog metal. With the new album out, and a successful tour with such giants as DevilDriver and Behemoth, it was the right time for speaking with the band's drummer again, to keep us updated on the current activities.

Greetings! In the past year Scar Symmetry has launched its new line-up and released a new album, now that people had to chance to see and hear it, how is the response on the latest changes you had and the new album?

The response has been positive regarding the new album and we just completed a European tour where the response was amazing. It seems like people embrace the new line-up and that's really cool. We know that some fans were suspicious when the line-up change was announced but now that people have heard the new album and seen us live all-over Europe I think they realize that we're better than ever.

How did you find your 2 new vocalist after you parted ways with Christian? What can you tell us about them?

Jonas [guitar] has known Roberth for years and years. When we started to look for a new singer Jonas called Roberth to see if he knew any vocalists in the south of Sweden. After that call Jonas realized that he had just been talking to one of the best death metal vocalists in the world so he immediately called back and asked Roberth if he would be interested in doing an audition for the vocal spot. Roberth suggested that Lars, an old friend of his, would be perfect for the clean vocals and they both came to the audition and blew us away. We had been thinking about using two singers ever since the last time we toured the States in 2007 so the whole thing came together nicely. We clicked with Roberth and Lars on both a personal and a musical level and that was that.

Have you felt the need to quickly release another album in order to have some original material for your 2 vocalists to work with as well as your fans getting used to the changes, or was it planned anyway?

We wanted to release something with the new lineup as soon as possible because we had good material and a vital and inspiring vibe in the band that we wanted to document. We've done quick releases like this before, "Pitch Black Progress" came out one year after "Symmetric In Design" was released, so it wasn't a big deal to us. We didn't really tour in support of "Holographic Universe" either so we had all the time in the world to write songs for "Dark Matter Dimensions".

Speaking of the new release, "Dark Matter Dimensions", what can you tell us about the work process in this album? Was it different than previous efforts? Have the 2 new members contributed to its writing?

We worked in pretty much the same manner as always, Per and Jonas created the songs and vocal lines while I wrote the lyrics. This album is more in-your-face and organic sounding than our previous album. We felt that "Holographic Universe" came out a bit too soft, especially concerning the vocals, so we took back some aggression and edge on "Dark Matter Dimensions" which was an intentional move. Lars and Roberth had suggestions and ideas regarding the vocal lines but Jonas and Per wrote the original ideas for them.

What is the concept behind the new album? Is it a continuation to your last album in a way?

Nah, I wouldn't say it's a continuation. "Holographic Universe" was about quantum physics and dealt a lot with inner space and thought patterns. This album is more concerned with outer space, dark matter and external otherworldly dimensions. More than 90% of the universe consists of stuff we can't see, that's a scientific fact, so I was amazed by the general attitude in humans who think we know all there is to know, and bla bla bla… We tend to dismiss things just because they don't fit into our current model of the universe, we deny things because it doesn't fit into our cynical and limited sense of logic. So this album is a tribute to the unseen worlds out there, without those unseen worlds and forces we wouldn't be able to exist in the first place!

It seems you went with a much more melodic and heavy metal influence on this album, was it a natural progression for you or have you decided on this move while writing?

Well, we wanted to create a somewhat more brutal release and I think we succeeded with that. But we also wanted to stay true to our past because we honor everything that we've done as a band. So we made sure to keep all the key ingredients of our sound while making sure that we tried some new things. The main goal was to create an album that kicked major ass and that mission was accomplished in my opinion.

You've just toured alongside Behemoth, DevilDriver and Arsis, how was it for you? What was it like to be on road with such bands and people? What did you think of this whole "Neckbreakers Ball Tour" package?

Yeah, we recently completed that tour and it was awesome. All the bands were cool and we're honored by the opportunity to share the stage with all of them. We shared our bus with Arsis and they were really mellow, easy-going guys. We got along well with them and took them on sight-seeing when we played in Stockholm and everything. Behemoth and Devildriver are also extremely cool, both musically and personally. There were no assholes on that tour and we're more than thankful for that. The package was cool because all the bands were pretty different from each other, I think that that is more interesting than having four bands that sound similar to each other. And the audiences seemed to appreciate all the bands on the bill so I guess they agree with me [Laughs]…

Is it easier performing songs, old and new, with 2 vocalists rather than one? Do you include songs that you were not able to do in the past? Will you continue using old material once you release another 2 or 3 albums with the current and hopefully stable lineup?

Yes, it's easier to perform songs in general with two vocalists because they don't have to put as much strain on their voices as one vocalist would have to do. We don't have to cut out songs from the set now and that is cool. We choose songs that we like to play and that the fans enjoy and that decides what the setlist is going to be like. We've done songs with this lineup that we haven't played in the past and it has worked out in an excellent manner. I think we will always play some songs from "Pitch Black Progress" and "Holographic Universe" because people want to hear them. I guess we'll do a song or two from the first album too in the future, depending on the length of the setlist.

Do you think you'll ever settle on a certain genre or at least something more specific than what you play these days? What do you prefer, being more melodic or brutal and heavy? What bands you like from each type of direction?

Being both melodic and brutal is something that is important for us, it's a vital part of our sound. We like both of those musical aspects. Melodies are perhaps a little bit more important to us than being brutal, but we will always combine those two elements in one way or another. I think our sound is specific, you recognize our sound when you hear it, but it is a sound with a huge spectrum and that's the way we like it. Everyone in the band likes different bands but we're all into 80's Heavy Metal, Death Metal and Progressive stuff. So we take all of those genres, add some own flavors, and create our own thing with it.

What are your plans for the near future? More touring? More albums? More money? Spill the beans!

We were supposed to go to South America in a week or so with Darkane but the promoter screwed things up. We'll probably go in the beginning of next year instead. We also have a tour with Hypocrisy booked in March next year. So I guess the future holds more tours. We might record a new album next year if you can handle it [Laughs]… More money? Hopefully… but you never know in this business…

Any last message you want us to pass to our Israeli readers or even the world? We have some contacts…

A new video will be released in the beginning of December, look out for that one- it's gonna be awesome! Thanks to all the Israeli Scar Symmetry fans out there, without you we are nothing! Hail to you all!