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Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Niilo: Hi and thank you for having us! We are busy with all things related to album release.
So your new single “Shadowlife” feels like this thematic gateway into your new record Netherworlds, which to my understand deals with love, aging, loss, and the realization that beautiful things can’t remain untouched by time. How did those ideas shape the album as a whole?
N: It’s always hard to describe afterwards how the lyrics came to be. I had some ideas and concepts before I started and then things just drifted to a certain direction. My lyrics on the album revolve around these topics you mention and they could all be small stories about the life of the same main character, wandering through his life and contemplating the love that was lost. In the end he finds solace and a resting place in the inn at the end of the long winding road.
Markus, you described “Shadowlife” as an attempt to write an obvious “hit” or “banger.” What made this the right song to introduce the new INSOMNIUM era, and how conscious were you of making it immediately accessible?
N: I will answer on Markus behalf here. Shadowlife is closest to what can be described as an Insomnium radio song. It is rather short, it has clean vocals in the chorus and it is not very brutal. Still it sounds very much Insomnium and it is not a leap into a totally strange direction. Very fitting choice for a first video and single. All the 4 video songs we have are very different and show different sides of the album.
One of INSOMNIUM’s defining qualities has always been the balance between melancholy and hope. Did finding that balance become more difficult or more rewarding as you explored the darker emotional territory of Netherworlds?
N: I don’t know if it is more difficult than before. We just do what comes out naturally. But of course with the lyrics you need to find new ways to sing about love and death :). There is a certain Insomnium mood we want to stick with but we want to do new things inside that dark realm.
“Shadowlife” brings this great and crushing heaviness together with this delicate vulnerability. How do you approach creating those contrasts without allowing one side to overwhelm the other?
N: Again, we just do pretty much what flows out naturally. Some songs take a darker shape and others evolve to a more fragile form. And within the album you need to have the balance of all the elements. It is a process. And ultimately in the mastering phase we pick the songs that best form the kind of whole we want to achieve.
With “Gleam in the Black” also arriving ahead of the album, listeners are getting another glimpse into the record’s sonic world. What does that song reveal about Netherworlds that “Shadowlife” doesn’t?
N: It’s another song that felt like a “banger” and Insomnium hit. But it is faster and aggressive and more like traditional Insomnium so not really something for the radio waves. But I would say something for the long-time fans that appreciate this sort of action. I’m quite sure this will become a very good live song once the crowd gets to know it better.
Netherworlds marks a new production era for INSOMNIUM, with Miiro Varjus taking a pivotal creative role. What did Miiro bring to the process that helped you hear or approach the band differently?
N: Miiro is great. He was the first producer we have had who already took part in the pre-production phase and arrangements. And he did a lot of work and affected all the aspects and all the instruments, arrangements and lyrics. He also recorded everything and he is a super cool guy to work with in the studio. He is calm and funny and encouraging and he can keep the spirits high. He also had an important role when choosing which songs made it to the actual (standard) version of the album and which songs were left for the special versions.
You also worked with Jens Bogren on mixing and Tony Lindgren on mastering. How important was it to find the right production team to preserve the emotional weight and atmosphere of these songs while giving the album such a powerful final sound?
N: Very important of course. You can have amazing songs but then all can fall apart if the production is not as good as it should be. “Imagine how good this song would be if it would actually sound good.” 🙂 We surely had a winning team with this album and all these gentlemen did an amazing job!
After nearly three decades, INSOMNIUM have developed a sound that is instantly recognizable, yet you continue to push into new territory. How do you decide which familiar elements are essential to the band’s identity and which ones are ready to be challenged?
N: You just know it. Or then some in the band feel differently about some things and we have to discuss. So in the end the Insomnium sound and atmosphere is really something that comes when all of us bring our visions together. You can’t really explain or describe what creates the Insomnium sound, but you will feel it deep in the abyss of your soul:)
The album is described as being steeped in the spirit of Finnish melancholy while representing some of your most nuanced songwriting yet. What is it about the Finnish landscape, culture, or emotional sensibility that continues to influence the way INSOMNIUM writes about darkness and introspection?
N: We were born and raised here so Finland is inside us already. We don’t have to look for “Finnish melancholy” or try to reach it, we already have it. So it affects everything we do and it flows in the music that comes out of us. It’s all very natural for us. Finnish music is very sad and melancholic so we are just used to that sort of mood. Happy music makes me feel frustrated and angry. 🙂
This is the tenth INSOMNIUM album, which makes Netherworlds a significant milestone. When you look back at the journey from Joensuu in 1997 to this new chapter, what do you think has remained at the heart of INSOMNIUM — and what would surprise the band you were nearly 30 years ago about where you are today?
N: The only “secret behind the success” is that we still do exactly what we want. We do the sort of music we love and we pour our hearts and souls into it. People can sense what is real and genuine and what is false. We were really just high school kids when we started the band so we never thought we could get this far and we would play around the world and one day release our tenth album. So ALL of this would have surprised those little boys.
