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Atrox interview (10/2003)


With: Eivind
Conducted by: Sephiroth
Published: 24.10.2003

Band profile:

Atrox


First of all, congratulation for your release, as I said in the review, something finally new and really original in the metal scenario.
How exactly are you arrived to this style and this musical coordinates?

Eivind: -It's difficult to describe? It just came form inside of us. I think that we've had our own way of sounding since the release of "Contentum". Then I'm referring to the way we're combining riffs/melody lines/the different elements we got etc... The music on "Orgasm" is ideas we had, music we've come up with due to personal development and line-up changes. Bands do develop with time. "Orgasm" is a total outburst of feelings and thoughts. It's an album that is more direct/heavy/aggressive and a less complex than the albums we've done before. I think we all had the same thought of how the album was going to sound. We all have different musical tastes in Atrox, we are inspired by pretty different bands and that's one of the things that makes us sound the way we do.-



Listening to your album one can think that you could be into other music genres such as jazz, is it right? Which are your influences?

Eivind: -As I said before we all have different musical tastes in Atrox so we are into different genres, but I wouldn't say jazz is a major one. When we make/write songs we just add whatever that comes to mind or whatever that feels good.
When it comes to influences I think that bands like Anathema, Arcturus, Cynic, Devil Doll, Höyry-Kone, Katatonia, King Crimson, Meshuggah, Opeth, Ved Buens Ende and Voivod can be mentioned. We are also inspired by movie soundtracks?-



When listening to your album I was wondering about the realization phase: the songs
structures are quite complex, how do you work?

Eivind: -There is no special way of how we're working; you just throw out an idea. Sometimes you just got a riff, others times you got a song or a few themes. Then everyone adds their own stuff to it. We discuss how we can use the "idea" we got in its best way and we always have a lot of different opinions of how it should be used/sound. I would say that we are very open-minded when it comes to song making.
I found a cool description on the Internet of what our musical recipe could be; "the recipe for the Atrox sound could be that: 250gr of Meshuggah, 200gr of The Gathering, 25gr of atmospheric electronic synths; mix with a teaspoon of jazz arrangements and rhythmic. At the end, add fantasy and madness as much as you want".- [my review of the album indeed:)...go read it at http://www.metalstorm.ee/bands/review.php?id=1751&band_id=atrox ]



About Monika, her style is quite elaborated: does she have a past in some musical schools or is she totally self-taught? (and my personal congratulations for the artwork: I'm a lover of Hieronymus Bosch, and you have a lovely style)

Eivind: -Monika is a self-taught singer. She taught herself a lot of singing techniques and how to use her voice by listening to lots of different music. I think she's a natural born vocalist, she's got it inside, an incredible voice and she knows how to use it. She's also a good drawer and painter with a great imagination. I guess you can see this by looking at drawings/painting and lyrics she's made.-



Your line-up is now stable?

Eivind: -Our line-up is quite stable, except for that we are without a bass player right now. We seem to have this Spinal Tap "drummer" phenomenon. Our bass players seem to just blow up and disappear, so we hope that our friend from Finland Hingst Hirbel will show up again and "do the bass". I thought we could use the question to announce that we are searching for a "killer" bass player. If someone think they could handle the bass and want to play in Atrox, contact us right away!-



Have you found a good partner in Code666?

Eivind: -Yes, indeed I think we have found a very good partner in Code666. So far it has been the best relationship we've ever had with a record label. Code666 are a very professional label, doing their work really good ("for the label and the band") if you understand what I mean. We're very happy and proud to be apart of the code666 "family".-



Are you interested in being more widely known or you think that that could be an obstacle for your artistic experimentation. Businnes kills creativity?

Eivind: -Of course we are interested in getting more known. I don't think that this would be bad for us, as long as we've got our freedom and opportunity to take our own dissensions. It will of course kill creativity if there is somebody that is in "control" of us. Like telling us what to do and what not to do etc? I think it's a lot of truth in the expression; "business kills creativity".-




Which are your plans for the future? Are you gonna evolve more your music or you have now found your own musical dimension to explore?

Eivind: -Our future plans are to continue making "Atrox music", release more albums, play gigs and hopefully do a tour. We will of course continue to explore "the musical universe" when we make new songs. I think to explore is a very big part of our dimension when it comes to song writing.-



To you the last word, thanx for your time and congratulations again, I'm looking forward for your future products.

Eivind: -Thank for your support, and be sure to check out our website www.atrox-web.com-





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