- In Aphelion was formed in May 2020 when the pandemic first struck the world. I saw that I had an opportunity to do something special with all the time I had at hand as we could not hit the roads. So I started to work on ideas that would never fit within the concept of Necrophobic. At first I was not sure if it was going to be metal at all, but as the songs grew I twisted them into the black metal formula. The band consists of Marco Prij – drums, Johan Bergebäck – rhythm guitar, Dennis Holm – bass and myself on vocals and lead guitar. But at first the band started as a solo project and I had no intentions of forming a band. That came after most of the songs were written.

- It's close to Necrophobic, because it is my melodies and I write almost all music for both bands. Necrophobic would never do songs like "Draugr", "This Night Seems Endless" or "Luciferian Age". There are parts of "Sorrow, Fire & Hate" and "The Origin" that could have been Necrophobic riffs though. But if you analyze Necrophobic and In Aphelion side by side from looking at arrangements, tempos, technical level, lyrics and harmonies you will see that In Aphelion's songs could never be performed by Necrophobic. But from an outside perspective you might narrow down the analysis to "fast, evil songs with a lot of melody". Then I understand what you mean. It's a bit like non-metal heads not being able to separate Napalm Death from Cannibal Corpse. But the difference to those with insight is vast. In Necrophobic we have a foundation in death metal that In Aphelion doesn't. In Aphelion is not about doing "brutal" music. It is not my aim at all. I want to tell my stories with no bars held. That means incorporating much more elements than darkness and evil. That's why there are a lot of "heavy metal" elements in the music. It accepts a much wider range of atmospheres that would not fit within the concept of death or black metal. Necrophobic has an extremely limited concept and In Aphelion is the opposite. You will know exactly what the next Necrophobic album will sound like, but In Aphelion might take you in a direction you did not see coming.

- In Aphelion has so far sold all copies of everything within weeks. Our demos, shirts, EPs and albums sold out immediately. It's not a big number of records printed of course as we are still an underground act. But the interest in the band has been long beyond our expectations. Edged Circle was the perfect label for us as Stian who runs it is in this business for the right reasons. He is a true metalhead and a record collector with a long dedication to the scene. I think he did a fantastic job getting our album and EP just as we wanted it.

- Nothing really beats a black vinyl. But I guess times are changing and the collectors like to have options in format and colors to choose from. But I am very pleased with the gatefold cover and the printed inner sleeves that most labels don't do any more. Usually there are just generic bags and a lyric sheet. But we wanted this done right. So it is a great looking album in the end if you ask me.

- The lyrics are very important in this band. Sometimes it just starts with words or a line that comes to life in my mind. But the lyrics are always connected to me personally as a writer. I don't write about "cool" made up things. I want the lyrics to reflect me as a singer and a storyteller. It gives the music another level. It makes you believe in what you hear when there are not just horror stories about death and darkness. A song like "This Night Seems Endless" is extremely personal about the long nights fighting anxiety and depression. A song like "Requiem" is about accepting my near ones dying and "Sorrow, Fire & Hate" is about aging and going your own way no matter how much hate you get on the way. I think there are absolutely no old school "satanic" lyrics on the album at all.

- We have made one gig so far and will enter the stage again in a couple of weeks. We had a great time and the audience was fantastic. The response was fantastic, although it was a very small club. But these places get very intense and it was perfect to do the first gig here in Stockholm where most of the members live. We will play more next year, but this band is really more about releasing albums than being a live act. I started this, because I have a drive that cannot be stilled within my other projects/bands. I am already working on the next album.

- Yeah we got so many clips sent to us by our nearest friends in the scene. Looking through them I saw the opportunity to make a video that could give those who weren't there a taste of what In Aphelion is live. It became a quite cool and honest old school clip. There will probably not be more visuals this year, but I like doing those videos, so in the future and on the next album there will be more. But so far we made 2 lyric videos, 3 official videos and a bunch of guitar playthroughs, so we have been very busy.

- I worked with photos and art created by myself. My wife is in some parts of the cover, but it is put together from multiple photos and drawings. What you see is Urd who is one of the "norns" weaving our destiny beneath the well under the Yggdrasil tree. So it is really a concept taken from Norse mythology. It's a quite direct cover and not too mystical. I wanted heavy metal aesthetics rather than very magical and esoteric concepts. There are a lot of bands relying on Gnosticism, Kliffoth and concepts like that, but I wanted something else as I am not really practicing the dark arts anymore.

- I bought an album with the Swedish black metal band Serpesta the other day. Fantastic album! But normally I do not listen to black or death metal at all. I have my heart in the old hard rock and heavy metal from the 70's and 80's. It takes a really good black metal band to get my attention. Right now I am collecting heavy metal from the year of 1984 and I am also trying to get a complete KISS collection with all extras, like the paper gun in "Love Gun". I buy a lot of albums, but rarely any new ones. There is so much good music left from the old days that I have not had time to dissect yet.

- Thanks for the interview! Hopefully we will see you all on the roads soon!