After returning with the what many people deem slightly lack lustre Back To The Front, Entombed A.D. perhaps began on a slight misfire. Now releasing their second effort under the A.D. monicker the band have well and truly delivered the goods. Speaking to legendary Death Metal vocalist and all around nice guy L.G. Petrov we went in to see just exactly makes not only a Death Metal vocalist tick but release a truly fantastic new record.
Listen to the full unedited recording or read the full transcript of our chat below!
Hello L.G. and thank you ever so much for speaking to The Metalist! How are you?
I’m fine! I’ve had two litres of coffee and five cigarettes and I am ready to go!
That sounds like the perfect way to start your morning.
It’s 2016 now, have you made any resolutions at all?
Not at all they always end up being little anyway, just happy to be here actually talking to you, you know? With all that is happening this year and all that will happen, I’m feeling really good, really really good. New years resolutions, nah! Hahaha
Excellent! So lets go on to talk about Dead Dawn, what was the writing process like behind the record?
We had more time to concentrate on this time, everyone is saying oh you’re putting out an album this soon after the other one, you know, haha! Before it was, what was it six or seven years between the albums. This time we made a plan, when Back To The Front was release we actually started having new ideas and new riffs just a couple of weeks after the last album. so we were constantly working on this album for like fifteen months, up until now or when we recorded and we felt that it was needed otherwise it would be five or six years again between the albums. So it was good that we started early and we found out that we have a lot of time on tour, that you could use time in a different way which we have learned now after more than twenty five years haha! Just use soundcheck to jam new parts or new riffs and it led up to having the songs finished pretty fast in the end.
So you tried to maximise as much time that you had on the road writing new material?
Exactly then the moment we got home we just put all the ideas into the computer and we could see what we had, we rehearsed it a little bit then songs started to evolve and they were ready to be recorded. We just went into the studio and working in the studio is just the same as always you just go in press rec record and record the drums, bass, guitars and then the vocals.
If only everything was so simple!
Yes, sometimes it is you just have to work it out and see what works and what way it’s the most comfortable way to work. Having been going for twenty five years you still learn about yourself.
You mentioned that you still learnt so have you learnt various different things from recording Back To The Front?
We prectically lived in the studio, we were in Stockholm and the studio was like ten minutes on the subway so we could go there whenever we wanted. Plus we had the Eagles studio which is a five minute walk from my house so we could go down there and work on details before we went into the real studio. Miko spent a lot of time in both places! It’s always good to have somebody to have the overall look, myself I tend to slip away hah! I do the vocals and then I don’t listen to the songs before its mixed and mastered. That was a fun thing to do actually this time, it was like buying an album! I don’t know what to expect haha!
Oh really haha!
It sounded good and you know the guys we work with Jan Kander and Tomas Van Ech,the guys that produced and mixed the album, it was nice to have it all examined before it was finished recording. They always knew what we were about so and they did a great job that’s why I had confidence not to listen to the songs when they were recorded. I waited until I got them mixed and ready into my iPhone actually just a week ago! So that was really cool to just have a listen to the finished album pretty late! Too late to change anything haha! Luckily there wasn’t anything! Really really happy with it.
Do you feel that when you are in the studio constantly you weren’t able to escape and have a bit of a retrospective look at it?
Yeah but at that time with Back To The Front that felt good to be near, to be there all the time to concentrate. When we did the songs it was different but we really wanted to get it finished you know at the deadline we got back then. This time around, as I said, it was more relaxed we started to do the songs pretty early and it felt more relaxed when we were in the studio this time.
Besides not listening to the album until about a week ago did you try any new techniques at all whilst you were recording?
I mean, Jakob he worked with Rammstein for example so he had ears. He could hear some things that we didn’t hear, some parts that need to be changed and we thought alright, OK! A lot of new doors, it was nice to let him work with it you know our job was to record it and he could rearrange it. If something was really bad we could come in and re do it. It was pretty simple and it went pretty fast as well. I like when things get done fast but without rushing it, you can be into a song for three years and still go back to the original idea in the end haha!
I hear that the album’s artwork was created by Erik Danielsson?
Yes,
From Watain?
Yes, that Erik!
Could you tell us a little bit about it at all?
We had some ideas for a cover and he came up with an idea the next day. The human head and things going on in its head and for me I just looked at it from a distance and thought ok looks good from here! He re did it, he had done the old logo as well so he did another logo for this one to fit the album. That’s why if somebody is good at what they do then you should just let them do it! Now I have it in my hands, it’s a great cover and he wanted to work with us and it just went so fast that process as well. Things shouldn’t be that complicated!
What about themes on the album, lyrically what will it be dealing with?
Oh the same! Pessimistic, we are all going to hell then end of the world.
The usual!
Hahha exactly, all the things that are going on in the world today people tend to get really depressed you just have to pick up and go for it. As I said, maximise the time and use it to the maximum because you never know what’s goi to happen the next day. Some of the songs are pretty melancholic as well, doomy feeling and I like the vibe it gives you certain chills.
Personally I thought that it was a bit more aggressive than Back To The Front.
Excellent! That’s great that you say it. There’s some melodic parts on it but it’s not like happy melodic it’s more like a funeral attendance haha! I like that feel it’s a pretty diverse album but I like it when you say it’s more aggressive I think it is as well!
In terms of song writing, how does Entombed A.D. work is it a democratic thing or do you come with an idea and then Victor does something or?
Yeah it’s democratic process with one tyrant haha! If it’s a good idea then we use it you know? And Mikko was the one who was in the studio 24/7 trying to get things together and Ulle and Victor they did a couple of songs as well I did he least actually! I don’t have a guitar at home and I’m not a renowned song writer or lyricist at all but when we get together with an idea, a good song is a good song and it doesn’t matter who wrote it. Just happy to be on it haha!
You also created Firespawn last year, did it kind of change your outlook on Death Metal?
I go back to this all the time but if you maximise the time and use it right then you have loads of time to do different stuff. The recording went pretty fast I sang three songs the next day five songs the next day two songs.
Wow Jesus!
And it sounds great!
You’re a machine!
Haha and it sounds great we could have been there working on the vocals for months this time we said lets just go for it!
In a weekend…
Haha it sounds the same as though we would have been in there for two months I think. I think that Shadow Realms is a fucking great album.
Yeah it’s a good record! I was going to say was it refreshing to do something that wasn’t necessarily the classic Entombed sound?
Yeah, I mean it was ok we wanted to do a new Entombed album as well, Firespawn went so smooth as well and of course Firespawn is way faster. It was fun to try that out as well and just to sing with a different kind of vocals more simple so it was fun. We had some shows with Firespawn but the other guys are in bands as well, they’re all in bands Matte is in Raised Fist, Fredrik in Unleashed, Adam Necrophobic… It’s just a matter of timing and planning. We have had a lot of shows and tours coming up with Entombed.
Oh brilliant, you’ve got a European run with Behemoth and Abbath coming up soon?
And Inquisition! It’s going to be a lot of fun. Two weeks and then we have some one off shows and then we are going out to the states over in April with Amon Amarth.
Oh really!
So that is going to be excellent!
Is that a long tour?
It’s going to be six weeks but it’s going to be going to be great!
You could record your vocals for like thirty albums!
Haha we will see what we come back with and of course we have the summer festivals and all of that stuff and then maybe come back again and then South America and then America again. It’s going to be a fun year!
Is there going to be anything in the UK?
I hope so! I haven’t seen anything just yet but I hope so UK is always going to be included somehow and it’s always good to be there. There’s a lot of Metal fans over there!
Surprisingly haha!
When you returned as Entombed A.D. do you ever get sick of fans saying it’s different to the Entombed that we know?
No, I mean I understand that people get confused because there was a lot of unnecessary drama but by releasing this album people understand in the end what the fans want is new music.
So this is going to be more of a stake that this is a totally new band.
Well no, it’s not a new band its Entombed. It is Entombed, I mean the people who are still in this band have been within Entombed ages so it’s the same band it’s just we totally ignore it the other crap, we have been living in another dimension because we are occupied album but I understand there’s always going to be people complaining but as long as you are honest and say what you think then that’s OK by us you know but in the end we are going to be the ones on stage still playing live and continuing to make records. It’s the same band.
As a fan I have always wondered what did the Left Hand Path mean?
It’s just a walking your own way, do what you felt was most good for you. So you build your own path as you go along and that’s what we are doing now working forward and looking forward to this year and the next year and hopefully we have chosen the right path! Hahaha
Haha so finally what has been a record that you have been.really enjoying over the last six months to a year?
Oof! I’ve been listening to a lot of King Diamond! I’ve chosen to go back a little bit I’ve been listening to Them! by King Diamond. It never gets tiring. I haven’t heard a good enough record so that I can buy it in a long time! I remember I bought like eight months ago, I bought an album by Angel Corpse. I don’t actually go out and search for music but last Friday I was at this local bar in Stockholm where there was free entrance and there was two Black Metal bands playing and it was like fucking hell this is cool. Went upstairs, bought a beer and went to the front row. I never found out what they were called but they were excellent! It’s good when music comes to you spontaneously.
Do you prefer when it is more spontaneous?
Yes! When your head starts bang, it’s great!
Without knowing.
Exactly without people telling you! When it becomes straight away in your face.
Thank you ever so much for chatting with us today L.G.
Thank you sir, thank you!
Entombed AD’s brand new album Dead Dawn is out now via Century Media.
