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BACK
IN
AETERNUM
War Ensemble
By Nathan T. Birk
"Only the strong survive when the test is upon us."
So comes the good word from David Larsson, founding vocalist/guitarist
of Sweden’s long-running In Aeternum. It’s the man’s
estimation of war—a theme that’s as old as time itself,
and one the band have been dwelling on for the better part of a
decade—but it’s also a fitting metaphor for In Aeternum,
as the trio have endured an otherwise unhealthy slew of lineup shuffles,
shifting public tastes, and multiple label deals. Hell, they’ve
even had to suffer my indifference, both on record and off. To brandish
a crude cliché, In Aeternum never did anything for me in
the past...
...And they didn’t, either, with their latest, Nuclear Armageddon—initially,
at least. But as the weeks wore on, I inexplicably found myself
reaching for the album again and again and again. Then, before I
knew it, I was actually enjoying the record...a lot. To this day,
dunno whether I can exactly articulate why I dig Nuclear Armageddon
nor, more so, why I’m now rooting for these eternal underdogs.
Somewhere along the way, in the back of my (fucked) head, I imagined
the album as analogous to Kreator’s Coma of Souls on some really
good/bad coke; likewise, I think the rad cover/layout art had something
to do with it, too (more on this later). Or perhaps it’s due
to the looser, more organic production here, wholly suiting the
band’s rustbucket black/death attack, yet it’s once again
recorded at Abyss Studios. It’s violent all right, and I can
certainly remember nearly every note of it, but I’m still puzzled—any
help, David?
"Maybe our influences from the ’80s black/death/thrash
metal scene has put its mark on us," Larsson quite rightly
surmises. "That music is really timeless, so to speak. I think
working at Abyss Studios [with Tommy Tägtgren] is going better
and better, so we’ve developed our sound from recording to
recording. We’ve been there around 10 times doing different
recordings. After a while you find something that sounds good, and
this (new album) has a fuller sound—I’m sure next time
will be a bit different, but still a fat production. I honestly
don’t think the lineup changes have affected anything of importance,
just new blood into the band."
Speaking of which, why all the lineup shifts? Not to demean any
past or present members, but is In Aeternum essentially Larsson’s
vision and as long as the man’s around and feeling creative,
the band will continue to exist? Or, to a point, does he have a
sergeant-like position insomuch as finding the "right"
people to help flesh out his vision?
"I've been doing this for 11 years now," comes the songwriter’s
reply, "so my vision is pretty clear of what kind of goals
I want to take the band to. A lot of the music’s been written
by me in the past, but things are changing. The others are contributing
a lot more than the old members did, which is of course fantastic.
If I choose to end the band, so be it. We all decide who’s
going to be in the band because we all have to put up with each
other in very demanding situations. If one fails to adapt to our
way of life, he’s out of the band.
"War is always interesting to study, as well as death, which
goes hand in hand with war," Larsson says, redirecting the
thread back toward the new album and its epitomizing themes. "All
the lyrics are linked to the dark side of man, which includes the
forbidden. They all deal with death in one way or the other. Satan
is also present in various forms."
Crikey, how ’bout that middle spread to Nuclear Armageddon?!
Surely that must be an optical illusion—whoever the interior
decorator is, I need his number!
"The middle picture is from the bone church in Kutna Hora,
in the Czech Republic," reveals Larsson, "so it’s
real stuff and no fake bones you see there—only death is real!
The artwork for the cover was made by Jose M from California. He
used to work for Necropolis before, a real nice fellow. The whole
concept has a haunting feeling over it—simple, but so effective."
One thing I noticed about Nuclear Armageddon is that co-guitarist
Daniel Sahlin plays a 7-string guitar, which is rather unusual for
BM/DM. As I’m sure most of you will concur, the 7-string guitar
usually gets a bad reputation for being the tool of choice (no pun
intended) of rap-metal bands—nu-metal, sports-metal, mall-metal,
take your pick. Not like I'm complaining at all—for all I know,
maybe it’s why this new album (eventually) lit a fire under
my ass—but why does he use it? Perhaps to bring together tradition
and modernity?
"First of all," Larsson measures his reply, but only barely,
"to me, there’s nothing like rap-metal—rap music
and metal music don’t mix together, at all. Anyway, we used
it to get a fuller sound on some of the songs—a bit inspired
by Gene Palubicki from Angelcorpse, I guess. He’s probably
the only American I know of who uses a 7-string to play death metal,
and Trey [Azagthoth, Morbid Angel] of course. It’s very demanding
playing a 7-stringer, but you tend to come up with very interesting
music on one. Most people don’t know how to handle a thing
like that.
"We’ve had our share [of acclaim], and we wish for more,"
the man concludes, pondering the hardships his band’s been
dealt. "Little by little, we come closer to our goals—it
just takes time. Things are looking really good at the moment, as
we’re getting some good offers when it comes to gigs and cool
tours. After all, it’s all about timing to succeed in this
world. We’ll always do our thing, and we don’t let anything
come in our way."
www.inaeternum.net
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