The interview below is with a very young Swedish blackened thrash metal band whose second LP is coming out in the next few days and is sure to make a big splash with it. So I asked Adrian (vocals/guitar) about the new record and, of course, about their upcoming plans.
"The Gates Beyond Mortality" is Eternal Evil's second full-length album, which will be released worldwide by Listenable Records in a few days. What can the fans of the band expect this time?
- Our fans can expect nothing but a total lawless black thrash mayhem! With this record we have finally set ourselves free from any boundaries that have been in the band before. Now we have crafted a unique sound to the band and we do not intend to back down.
Apropos, how did you get involved with Listenable Records? What kind of contract did you ink with them?
- Its quite a story actually. This was when we were opening for Deathhammer at a show in Sandviken here in Sweden. The journalist Janne Mattson from Sweden Rock Magazine was at the concert and absolutely loved it and he was the one to put us in contact with Laurent from Listenable Records. We've been in contact with them since late 2022, so it took a while before anything started going somewhere. But now that the album is gonna be released next week we are super excited to show the world this new album.
The spirit of 80s thrash metal and 90s black metal is mixed in your music. What bands inspired you to choose this alloy for your musical approach?
- With this record as I said before, we have freed ourselves from any boundaries from any party. So I wouldn't say that any specific "bands" have influenced us since bands are the last thing that comes to our minds when we are writing music, we have our own sound and we are going to keep pushing it forward with no turning back. But to give the answer to your question, I would say that this record is more "Dissection" than "Kreator" if that's good enough.
Where did you record the new album? Who mixed and mastered it? Please also introduce the current lineup of Eternal Evil to the readers.
- Our new lineup is: Adrian Tobar – lead guitars and vocals, Tobias Lindström – lead guitars, Niklas Saari – bass and backing vocals, Adam Schmidt – drums.
With this album we recorded it at Studio Humbucker, which is a studio located in Hagsätra, which is in the southern outskirts of Stockholm city. The studio is run by Robert Pehrsson who is a well-known musician from bands like Death Breath, Runemagick and Imperial State Electric. Our first album was recorded at the same studio 2 years before and we loved to work with Robert so we naturally decided to work with him a second time. The mixing and mastering was also done by Robert who did a fantastic job to get the right sound for this album, all of us were involved and we managed to make the best out of this fantastic album.
What are the lyrics of "The Gates Beyond Mortality" about? Where did you get your inspiration from?
- The lyrics of this album are darker and more complex than the first one. With the first album the lyrics were mainly just random things altogether, there was no story or a straight line to follow, only words. When writing the lyrics for this album I myself studied and practiced a lot of black magic and witchcraft, which can be noticed if you read the lyrics, it's part of my belief and part of my philosophy, so a lot of that shines through the record and making it more personal, which I think is perfect, because every bands record should be unique and has to have their own touch. But I myself am stronger when it comes to writing a song than writing lyrics, so I think the personal aspect shines better in the riffs of this album.
Who is responsible for the cover image? What does it represent to you?
- Our artwork was done by the Australian illustrator James Campbell. He runs an art design group called Spectral Vision Art. It all started around February when we needed an album cover, so the designing of the album could begin. We checked a couple of people that could do the artwork, but most of them couldn't start on our artwork until May, which we obviously didn't have the time for. And that's until I stumbled across James Campbell who was recommended to me by my good friend Gustav Ryderfelt from the band Xorsist. I got in contact with James and I explained to him how I wanted the artwork to be. The main idea was that the painting had to represent the album lyrically and musically, so I sent him the demos of the album including the lyrics and he did an absolutely fantastic job with it. The artwork for our first album is more different though, the artwork was done by Velio Josto and he also did a fantastic job, but the idea was more of a rip off than something original, if you look at it, it's only "Endless Pain" mixed with "Stronger Than Evil". Which actually fits that album perfectly considering how fast it is, haha!
Let's talk a little about your live activity. You recently played a show with Necrophobic, General Surgery and Kvaen in Stockholm at Nocturnal Massacre. What was it like? Where will you conquer next?
- The concert went really well! But it started quite badly I would say, when we got to the place and started the soundcheck almost everything didn't work, I think we and the crew spent about an hour just repairing things. The sound technician was a total fucking douchebag and we should have beaten him up after the show considering he treated us like fucking children. But after, everything went perfect, that is definitely one of my proudest moments to date when it comes to Eternal Evil. That night when I saw the crowd I felt like we had made an impact and we are actually something now rather than just a garage band that we used to be. There were tons of young people in the crowd all headbanging for us and knowing the songs! It feels like we will be heroes of our generation.
Speaking of Stockholm. How do you see the metal life there? What is your favorite place to buy records and go to concerts?
- The metal life here is actually quite good I would say! It's just getting better now that more and more young people are growing out their hair and starting to wear leather jackets. Me and my friends frequently visit a club here in Stockholm called Fredagsmangel, which is the most important metal club here in Sweden I would say. It's the place where we started and had our first gigs. The crowd and fanbase we built there have been extremely important and supportive to us. Bands are playing every weekend there now, so there's always something to do when it comes to metal. I myself don't really buy anymore records nowadays, but it's always cool to hang around at Sound Pollution.
From what I can see, almost all members are involved in other bands and projects. Please keep us informed of any recent and upcoming activities.
- We all have had side projects. I have a band called Overture, which is a heavy metal band, but we're not that active now and we don't rehearse and you could say that we are split up. But Eternal Evil is all of our number 1 life priority right now. So now there's very little room for any side projects.
Please end the interview by revealing Eternal Evil's plans for the near future. The last mortal words are yours.
- Right now we are booking our Scandinavian tour to promote this new album that will be released on the 27th of October. We are also planning a European tour that we can do for this album, but we do not have an agent in Europe, only in Scandinavia. So if you're a European agent reading this, contact us!
