SOURCE – The new album War Will Reign is generating a lot of buzz. After hearing that and a lot of early positive reviews, how does that affect your expectation for the album?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – Since the release of our album, we’ve been overwhelmed with great response. Obviously this means very, very much to us, and we’re very grateful that people like it.
We can never foresee the response of we’re gonna get with new music, so we don’t take it for granted – we just do what we do, and we’re very happy people seem to appreciate our efforts!
SOURCE – Can you tell something about the production of War Will Reign. Where there any complications or did it all go as planned?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – We went into Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark, with producer Jonas Haagensen of Aphyxion. This studio is amazing and has great vibes, and so many great artists recorded there; from Volbeat, to At The Gates, and so on.
It went smoothly, although we stayed at a really creepy house a long way from the studio at night – but we survived! And it was fun.
SOURCE – Nowadays in every album the person responsible for the sound production is strongly mentioned especially when he is a known one. How important do you think is the producer to the sound of a band?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – The producer can help with a lot of different things, since he is hearing the project with 100% fresh ears. When you work on the songs in the rehearsal room, you’ll maybe tweak and play the riffs 500 times before entering the studio, so your mind can become a bit tunnelvisioned when it comes to the sound. A good producer can come with totally new inputs, that can really tweak the songs the right way, that you as a band maybe didn’t consider. It’s even just small things like using a different cymbal here or there, or maybe screaming a little longer on a specific note. Simple things, that make a big difference.
SOURCE – You released a lyric video for Blood Eagle your take on the whole lyric video phenomenon?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – Yes, but we have a new one for Smiting Our Enemy that’s way cooler! We think lyric videos are great for bands, since they’re cheap to make & can be made to look really cool. It’s a great way to attribute visuals to your songs, and catch the eye of the listener, especially if you don’t have a huge budget for a more advanced video as a band.
SOURCE – Your debut EP Prevail came out in 2013 – how do you feel about the recordings at this point, and what are the highlights in your opinion as far as the songs and performances?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – Many of the songs on our old EP has been re-recorded on the new album. Here they sound a lot more mature, since we went into a better studio, but we also tweaked them a little bit to make them sound better. As far as highlights, my personal highlight of the album, is that it sounds consistent, with a red line from start to finish.
SOURCE – The music industry seems to be putting a lot of emphasis on a band’s Facebook status, with bands getting signed based on how many ‘friends’ they have, or how many plays they get per day. Do you see this as having a negative impact on the scene integrity, or as a way for bands to easily get attention?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – If bands are clever, they use social media to their advantages. Good music is good music, so in my opinion, a band wouldn’t last if the music isn’t good, no matter how many friends they have on social media.
SOURCE – What’s the situation for your type of music where you live right now?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – In Denmark (yes on the other side of the earth from Brazil!) the metal scene is doing awesome at the moment – lots of talented bands working extremely hard and gathering attention, in and outside Denmark. There is a great community vibe when it comes to playing metal in Denmark, so there’s almost zero rivalry. It’s a great feeling and the musicians in Denmark are usually openminded and willing to help each other out.
SOURCE – Given the actual saturation of the metal scene, what do you think makes you stand as an act people would want to listen to and see live?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – We bring a fresh new sound to the metal scene, in our opinion. We incooperate a lot of groove into our songs, which is one of the most important aspects of songwriting, we think. Live, we try to deliver 100% every single time we play – doesn’t matter how many people are there. We do this to get ourselves in to the zone, and to hopefully always meet people’s expectations.
SOURCE – Is there any new Prevail material on the horizon?
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – Right now, we’re still focusing on promoting our debut album War Will Reign, that hit the stores in October ’16. We will we playing throughout Denmark in the rest of 2017, and then we will probably enter the studio for a follow up in 2018. But, War Will Reign is still fresh, so we may not know where it will take us yet!
SOURCE – After all these questions I thanked the band for taking the time to participate in the interview and asked if they wanted to leave any final words.
Mikkel Christensen (Drums) – Thank you! The pleasure is on us. If you’re interested in giving a Danish death metal band a listen, definitely check us out on facebook.com/prevaildk where we have a link to the whole album. We will also publish a new music video very soon. Thanks a lot for reading!
Link:
Prevail Facebook
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