Before we jump in, it’s worth noting that between the questions being sent out and receiving the reply, In Vain have experienced two sudden and unfortunate line-up changes. Founding member and vocalist Andreas Frigstad announced that he would be leaving the band, while founding member, vocalist and keyboardist Sindre Nedland announced that he’s taking a break from the band whilst he undergoes treatment for cancer. We at The Progressive Subway wish Sindre all the best in his treatment as well as a speedy recovery, and all the best to Andreas in his future endeavours.

Hey Johnar, how’s it going? How are things in the fjords of Norway? 

Hey there! All is well here. Summer seems to be coming to an end though, would have liked it to continue a bit longer. And the weather has not exactly been great. Hope all is well on your side.

I’m doing well, thanks! Solemn, your fifth album, released a couple of months ago now. How has the response been and how does it feel to see another album come to completion and finally reach listeners?

It has been a very long process and we are happy to finally come to the end. To create an album of one hour takes a shitload of time, to be honest. That said, we are very pleased with the final results. As a bonus, fans and the public seem to enjoy it as well, and the reviews have been absolutely amazing. We did not necessarily make it easier for ourselves with the long wait, and we certainly feel that the expectations get raised for every album, which obviously makes it a lot harder to surpass them. 

The word “Solemn” sets certain expectations about an album’s tone, but Solemn actually has a range of emotional flavours, from warmer tracks like “Where the Winds Meet” to defiant anthems like “Blood Makes the Grass Grow”. Can you tell us a bit about the overarching lyrical themes of the album and the ideas that underlie these tonal shifts?

When you have music as diverse as ours, it is hard to find an album title that encompasses everything. On previous albums, Andreas and I had written the lyrics, whilst on Solemn, Sindre contributed the lyrics for four songs and I wrote the rest. We have no general theme for the lyrics, but we touch upon topics such as personal experiences, life’s ups and downs, nature, the mystery of the human mind and soul, etc. We try to write lyrics with meaning, but that also fit the music. Our lyrics can have a dark or melancholic aura to them, but I also think many would find them uplifting.

On Solemn, you also utilise a lot of brass and woodwind accompaniment, from the more relaxed sax solo on “Season of Unrest” (before the explosion into raucousness) to the enormous brass section on “Eternal Waves”. In lesser hands, those sections could come off as gimmicky and might not integrate with the overall style but you make them work superbly. How do you go about incorporating these instruments in a way that fits so naturally into the intensity of melodic death metal, and what makes you feel a particular track could use the addition of such non-standard instruments?

Thanks for those kind words. We are very careful to not add instruments from outside the band for gimmicky reasons, as you say. It needs to add value to the music and not turn it into sonic chaos. Since our very first releases, we have utilized horns and brass. In my personal opinion, a horn section adds a very nice flavour and contrast, without going completely overboard with a full blown orchestra, which I find a bit too much. When it comes to saxophone, that’s also something we have used on several songs in the past, for the first time on our second EP [Wounds] from 2005; you can check out the song “In Remembrance”, I actually think it has one of the best saxophone sections we have ever had. I have to admit, having a sax part on every album has kind of become a tradition for us. When it comes to incorporating these instruments, we typically find parts where they would add value to the music during the composition or pre-production phase. A lot of this has to do with experience and it always comes naturally, it is not like a “we need to create a riff where we can have horns” type of approach. 

Yourself, Sindre and Andreas have been with the band since the start. When you look back, how has the band experience changed over the last 21 years, from recording and releasing to touring and reaching fans? 

Well, we just announced that Andreas is stepping down from the band. He simply does not have enough motivation to continue. I guess we have become more professional and experienced, especially on the live front. We have invested in both sound and light gear to make the live shows better, and our drummer Tobias in particular has a very good grasp on those things. When it comes to being in a band for over twenty years, I think the most fun we had was during the recording of our first EPs and albums; I find it harder to compose music these days to be honest. Also, it was a great experience to have Jens Bogren mix our music for the first time, which happened on Ænigma (2013). I have always enjoyed touring and meeting fans and seeing new places. That is a great bonus from being in a band.

You take your time crafting your albums, and it’s been six years since Currents released. How does the writing process work for you guys, and did you face any challenges while recording Solemn? 

It is important for me to note that the composition process has not been six years. Typically, after the release of a new album, as the sole composer I take a break from composing music, as it’s quite intensive and hard work. The album was finished and mastered in September 2022. It was delayed intentionally because we did not want to release an album in the middle of Covid and not be able to support it live. In addition, there were quite big delays and queues on the printing of vinyl. Covid impacted the album in the way that we had more time to tweak the songs during the pre-production.

In Vain are probably best categorised as “melodic death metal”. Who are the groups that have inspired your sound?

I can only speak for myself here, but I enjoy music from all genres. That said, I prefer artists that have a unique sound or some form of identity in their music. I try to learn from those artists and incorporate what I view as their strengths into my own music, while still creating something new and not simply copying others. If we stick to metal here, for me there is no doubt that Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth is the best songwriter of all time in metal. He is in a league of his own. Then you have other bands like Emperor, Extol and In the Woods. I also think Gorguts and Ulcerate are bands with unique identities. 

Solemn sounds absolutely fantastic and, as with your two previous albums, it was mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios, by Jens Bogren and Tony Lindgren, who have become one of the biggest studios for progressive metal in particular. As musicians, what is it about Fascination Street Studios that keeps you coming back and what’s the production process like on your end?

Thanks a lot for those kind words. To be honest, we are not really up to date on what studios are out there. That said, we really like working with Jens and we know he understands what we are after. I think he is able to mix the best of the vintage and the modern world when it comes to recording and mixing. This time around we wanted a big grandiose sound and Jens delivered the best production we have ever had.

A more technical question from one of our writers, Cooper, who asks: “how do you achieve such a rich and warm guitar tone without using much gain? I’m thinking particularly of moments such as 3:56 in “Shadows Flap Their Black Wings” and 2:37 in “At the Going Down of the Sun”.

As we have gotten older, and hopefully wiser, we have dialled down the gain more and more. Less gain makes it more heavy in our opinion, rather than the opposite. More gain typically takes away a lot of detail, something that does not work with our music. You can have a high gain guitar tone if you play one string or simple chord riffs, but that is not what we do. When you record an album, the guitars are dubbed and there are obviously other mixing tricks that can be done to make stuff sound bigger. It is not possible to recreate all of this live and you might want a slightly different guitar sound live than in a studio. 

And another question on the writing process from another of our reviewers, Zach, who asks: “Once you’ve written a riff or progression that you’re happy with, how do you go about developing it and structuring it within a song, connecting it to other riffs and growing that initial idea into a full track?”

I have always written music in my head, and by that I mean that I am not using the guitar to jam in order to create riffs. What I find more important than riffs is how you arrange the song. I believe you can have a great track, that might have some subpar riffs, as long as it is arranged in a smart way. In fact, putting in some subpar riffs in there might make the good riffs stand out more. Another key point for us, as a band who mix a lot of different styles in our music, is to have good transition riffs. If you want to create songs with many different elements and genres you have to make sure that the transitions between the various parts are smooth; if not you will end up with chaos. In songwriting, I have always trusted my gut feeling, if I do not have the right gut feeling I know there is something I have to change.

We’re big fans of Subterranean Masquerade here, so it was a pleasure to hear Davidavi “Vidi” Dolev provide vocals on the epic closer “Watch For Me On the Mountain”. What attracted you to Vidi as a vocalist and how did the idea for collaborating with him on this huge, emotional choral finale come about? 

We had the pleasure of touring with Subterranean Masquerade in 2018 and they are a great band and a lovely bunch of people! Vidi is a fantastic singer who masters a lot of different vocals. We already had the vocal lines ready for this song, but somehow Sindre singing did not feel right. We reached out to Vidi and we think he elevated this song to the next level! 

Which bands/albums have you been enjoying lately? And are there any underground bands you’re enjoying and think deserve more attention?

I have been digging into the Ulcerate albums lately. When it comes to underground bands, I think Mare Cognitum deserves more attention.

John, Paul, George and Ringo of The Beatles were known as the smart one, the cute one, the quiet one and the funny one. What are you guys known as?

Kjetil – The quiet one
Alexander – The vigorous one
Tobias – The handy one
Sindre – The happy one
Johnar – The smart one

Solemn is a fantastic record which we’ve all really enjoyed here at The Progressive Subway. Thanks for taking part in this interview, Johnar, and thanks to everyone in In Vain for all the amazing music you’ve put out over the years. We wish you every success for the future!

Thanks a lot for your support!

Solemn was released on April 12th, 2024, on Indie Recordings.

Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Metal-Archives Page

The post Interview: In Vain’s Johnar Håland appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Black Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Insomnium, In Mourning, Disillusion, Countless Skies
Country: Norway
Release date: 12 April 2024

My knowledge of progressive melodeath bands is by no means comprehensive, but I thought I knew all the best ones until my colleague Zach screamed at me in his typically hyperenthusiastic way, “DUDE, YOU HAVEN’T HEARD ÆNIGMA?!”. So, I went and sought out this mysterious In Vain he spoke of and found them to be the sort of band who are very impressive, but hadn’t quite made their masterpiece yet; Ænigma came close, and Currents was an undeniably strong entry in their growing discography, but they weren’t truly blowing me away. Sometimes, though, you know that a band has that innate potential to make a true masterpiece, and when fifth album Solemn was announced, I had truly high hopes.   

In Vain are masters of melody and grandeur, and every track on Solemn sounds like it was written overlooking a fjord during a cataclysmic hurricane coinciding with a volcanic eruption. Where melodeath is often a melancholic genre (“sadboi” as a certain site, let’s call them “Enraged Heavy Music Person”, would call it), In Vain possess a certain fortitude, throwing in some major chords for a sense of defiant hope in the face of life’s attritional qualities. When they sing “What do we fear with all our hearts? Why do our burdens tear us apart? Why do we search within our soul? What are the things we are yearning for?” on the chorus of “Shadows Flap Their Black Wings” it’s thoughtful but stoic. That vein runs throughout, perhaps best showcased by the rhapsodic use of horns, and the occasional swerves into an almost stadium rock sensibility, as in the lead guitar motif on “Where the Winds Meet” which makes you want to sway your lighter in the air as Nedland belts out a refrain about a leaf soaring through the air, or the unexpectedly major key mid-section of “To the Gallows”. And then, naturally, riffs return and things turn gloomy and heavy in the Opethian fashion, the contrast bringing out the best of both styles.

Solemn continues the trend of vocal versatility. With two lead vocalists and three backing singers, In Vain have sometimes been vocally saturated in the past lending a sense of discontinuity to their sound—too many voices jostling around to present a unified sound. Here, `they’ve restricted themselves to one backing vocalist, guitarist Johnar Håland, who bolsters Sindre Nedland’s stronger-than-ever mellifluous cleans in the absolutely addictive choruses, and we’ve still got the mix of deathly growls and Frigstad’s blackened screams on the harsh side. This tighter focus means that the unexpected vocal swings, such as the rapidly rhythmic, hardcore style barks on “Beyond the Pale”, stand out all the more. Subterranean Masquerade’s Davidavi “Vidi” Dolev—a favourite here at the Subway—guests on final track “Watch For Me On the Mountain” and when I heard Dolev’s sombre, almost Bowie-esque timbre opening the finale “Watch For Me on the Mountain” I nearly stood up and clapped, like an American on a plane that’s successfully landed (which was meant to be a dig at Americans but they’re kind of justified in a world of Boeing 787 MAX’s). It’s a colossal closer with an enormous, emotive choral chorus that truly sounds like it’s emanating out of the empyrean. It’s an incredible finale to an already amazing album, and it takes a lot of confidence to close your album with a guest vocalist, but the gamble pays off dividends, and Dolev is sublime.

Different instrumental and textural flavours successfully augment the blackened death across Solemn. Melodic sax hits in the outrageously heavy “Season of Unrest” lamenting gently in an atmospheric break until the band explode back into action and the sax turns vicious, leading into another sublime guitar solo. The brass accompaniment, meanwhile, is thick as treacle; on “Shadows Flap Their Black Wings” and “Eternal Waves” it’s almost like a refrain of vuvuzelas—a powerful wall of textural sound like a battering ram at the heart of the mix. Strings also get some use, such as in the ominous pulses accenting “At the Going Down of the Sun”, as well as in “Eternal Waves” where it supports a noodling bass solo with a metronomic electronica pulse beneath. These subtle inflections of both horns and strings tip the compositions on Solemn over the edge into true grandiosity; some bands rely on such accompaniment as a crutch, but In Vain are incredibly discerning and by no means reliant on such tricks. 

It took until late in the review to realise I’d barely mentioned the individual performances of the musicianship, and I think that’s because In Vain are working at such incredible levels of synchrony here that Solemn sounds less like an album and more like some self-generated sonic gift out of the divine. Pedersen’s lead guitar parts are outstanding, with some truly insane solos (“Shadows Flap Their Black Wings”, “Season of Unrest”, “Beyond the Pale”) and sublime lead licks that often have an almost power metal sense of epic beauty. Solbakk’s drumming is brilliant intense and intricate but again, perfectly leads and complements the tonal shifts. Bøe’s bass pops when it needs to and bolsters the rhythm section when it’s holding back, and Håland’s riffs are frequently awesome (and take an Akerfeldtian tone on “At the Going Down of the Sun”). But it’s that overall sense of composition that reigns supreme, just as an orchestra is greater than the sum of its parts, so is Solemn.

Mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren and Tony Lindgre, Solemn sounds basically perfect. There’s a reason Fascination Street is one of the most sought out production studios in metal and it’s all there in the crisp, crystalline sound. If there’s any criticism to level at Solemn it’s that it might be a track too long. In Vain put a fresh spin on every track, doing all they can to not fall into homogeneity; there’s always a hook or a stand-out “moment” to define every track, and while some riffs and ideas teeter on the brink of outstaying their welcome, for the most part In Vain avoid falling into this trap. 

A masterful refinement of their sound to its ultimate form, Solemn is undeniably In Vain’s masterpiece, cementing their place among prog death’s leading lights, effortlessly juxtaposing intensity with beauty, complexity with catchiness, and energy with doomyness. There’s no doubt this is one of the strongest releases of 2024, a must-listen that’ll likely be seen again when those best of the year lists come along; watch for it on the mountain.

Recommended tracks: Shadows Flap Their Black Wings, Beyond the Pale, Eternal Waves, Watch For Me on the Mountain
You may also like: Wills Dissolve, Eternal Storm, Grey Skies Fallen, Barren Earth
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Indie Recordings – Bandcamp | Facebook

In Vain is:
– Johnar Håland (guitars, backing vocals)
– Sindre Nedland (lead vocals and clean vocals)
– Kjetil D. Pedersen (solo guitar)
– Andreas Frigstad (vocals)
– Tobias Øymo Solbakk (drums)
– Alexander Bøe (bass)

The post Review: In Vain – Solemn appeared first on The Progressive Subway.