Interview Zorn

Hello, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for Aux Portes du Metal !r r “Descending Into Madness“ is the third full length album for Zornheym. How would you describe the path the band has undergone since its inception?r

Driving the Zornheym train has been one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences of my life! I think we’ve achieved far more than I ever anticipated, both production-wise and conceptually.r Since day one, I’ve told myself that nothing should be impossible for this band, and we’ve really managed to push ourselves beyond what we thought we were capable of.r Now the goal is to achieve the same thing with our live shows, and we’re well on our way! We’ve done two shows with actors on stage, and at our recent album release show, we took things even further with a dedicated lighting technician and lots of stage props.r I really feel like we’re on the brink of something extremely epic when it comes to our live performances!r

Have you intended this album to be musically different from its predecessors and if that’s the case, how so?

I think this album is more accessible and perhaps even more melodic than its predecessor. Early on, we also decided that we wanted the production to be very guitar, vocal and drum-heavy, with the orchestral arrangements complementing those elements rather than overpowering them.r I also worked much more closely with Bendler this time around, which gave the vocals more room in the arrangements. We actually started recording vocals during the early stages of songwriting, which allowed us to build the songs around them to a greater extent.r Bendler, Scucca and I also spent a lot of time developing the choir arrangements, giving the choirs a much more prominent role on this album. Scucca wrote all the sheet music for the choir and also conducted them during the studio recordings.r

The description in the title of your video for the track “Somewhere Far Beyond” says “Symphonic Heavy Metal”… it doesn’t say anything about extreme metal which is an important part of your identity (and it seems to me that tracks like “Deux Rex”, “Descending” or “Come Sweet Death” are fast, aggressive and contain death metal elements). With time, do you consider that Zornheym has become more melodic and less extreme?

I think Zornheym’s music is pretty hard to label because it’s so versatile. If we describe ourselves as extreme metal, a lot of people might expect something along the lines of Fleshgod Apocalypse. They’re a great band, but they’re also way more extreme than we are!r We draw influences from everything from Dissection to Blind Guardian, with a bit of Iron Maiden and some neoclassical stuff sprinkled on top. Melody has always been extremely important to Zornheym, and I’ve always considered us a very melodic band.r So I wouldn’t necessarily say that we’ve become less extreme over time. I think we’ve simply continued developing our own sound, where the aggressive elements and the melodies go hand in hand.r

Your lineup is similar to the one you had previously… except for the drummer. This position seems to have a new candidate with each new release. Is it bad luck ? (or maybe a reference to the movie Spinal Tap, whose drummers changed all the time… the difference being that they died ;))

Our previous drummer, Steve Joakim, actually recorded the drums on Descending into Madness, so it’s the same drummer on this album as on The Zornheim Sleep Experiment.r Haha! I don’t think it’s bad luck, though. Our first drummer, Angst, was more or less a session musician and made it clear when we recorded the debut album that he would only be doing the recordings and wouldn’t be available for touring.r By the time we played our first gig, we had found Steve Joakim, and he was the perfect fit for us at the time. Eventually, he became too busy with his other bands, so we decided to part ways and let him focus on those projects while we continued moving forward with Qual.r Steve Joakim did an amazing job recording the drums for this album, and I can’t wait to hear what Qual will bring to the table on the next one!

How did Qual become your new drummer ? And has his arrival changed things as far as the music is concerned ?

Lars Palmqvist from Scar Symmetry introduced Bendler to Qual one drunken night in Linköping. Qual was already a fan of Zornheym and owned our first album, so he showed interest right away. However, he thought it was just the alcohol talking!r Bendler even texted me that night, super excited: “I’ve found our new drummer!”r So far, Qual has performed live with us, recorded three acoustic songs and even sung in the choir on Descending into Madness! He’s done a fantastic job with everything. He’s a very reliable drummer, fully committed to Zornheym, and also a great guy to have around when it comes to all the work that needs to be done behind the scenes.r We couldn’t be happier with him, and it really feels like we’ve found the perfect drummer for Zornheym!r Musically, we’ll have to wait until the next album to see what he brings to the table! r

The information sheet sent by the label does not mention a bass player… have you taken this duty yourself again this time around?

Yes, I handled the bass duties once again! The bass is actually more prominent on this album than on our previous releases, and I’m really happy with how it turned out!

One more question about the musicians working with you : on “The Zornheim Sleep Experiment”, you had a string quartet and a choir. This time, we can definitely hear strings and a choir again but they’re not mentioned in the documents sent by the label. Have you worked with them again on the new album ? Have there been any changes on that matter?

We worked with the same leader of the string quartet, Karin Liljenberg, but this time she brought some new musicians along with her. They also recorded their parts live together in the studio, which was extremely impressive since they basically just received the sheet music and started playing! No rehearsals needed!r r The choir, however, is completely new! This time, we wanted to record the choir at Wing Studios to give it the same epic feeling we achieved with the strings. Previously, we had recorded the choir ourselves, but I think moving the recordings to the studio was an extremely wise decision!r r A friend of Scucca’s was given the task of putting together the choir, and she did a hell of a job! The singers were incredibly skilled! Scucca wrote all the sheet music and conducted the choir during the recordings. We spent four days recording the choir, two days with the male singers and two with the female singers. r

“Descending Into Madness” arrives 5 years after “The Zornheim Sleep Experiment” and your first album was released 9 years ago. Your fans must be patient. Is the time it takes to release a record due to your working process, other priorities/projects/engagements?

Haha, yeah, I guess they are! We don’t really make fast food music. We’d rather serve a delicious, fancy meal instead!r Since we arrange everything ourselves and the lyrics tell one cohesive story, the whole process takes quite a lot of time. This time around, it took even longer than expected, as we lost somewhere between six months and a year during the process of finding a new drummer.r I dedicate a huge amount of time to Zornheym, but I also have a day job and a family. So if people want us to release albums more frequently, they should definitely consider supporting us by joining our Patreon or picking up a physical copy of our albums directly from the band. Every bit of support helps us spend more time making music! r

Now about the name of the band and the whole concept… This might be a silly question but why are Zornheim (the place) and Zornheym (the band) spelt differently ?

Zornheim is the German spelling, while Zornheym is our more English-looking variation of the name. We wanted to distinguish the band from the actual place, and it just made more sense to us that way!

This new album, in terms of concept, is actually a prequel to the previous records. Was that always the plan, that the third album would be a prequel? I mean, have you always had a clear path/structure right from the start (a bit like George Lucas with his Star Wars franchise) or do you choose where you want to go one album at a time ?

No, it wasn’t planned from the beginning, at least not in detail. When I started working on the new album, it just felt natural to go back in time, because I was also curious about what made Dr. Bettelheim the man he is.r r We had already started exploring his past in the graphic novel The Zornheim Sleep Experiment, but I wanted to dig deeper into his story and understand what led him down this dark path.r r So now, just like Star Wars, our albums are in a different chronological order: 3, 1, 2!r

Do you already know what the next chapter will be?

Not 100% yet, but I definitely have a few ideas!

When you write a new chapter, do you usually like to start with the story/lyrics or with the music?

For Descending into Madness, I started by writing a whole page outlining the entire story. Then I divided it into different parts and worked them into the songs.r During that process, we also started putting together a character index, which eventually led me to write The Zornheim Archives, our upcoming lore book about the Zornheim universe.r Once I have the basic story in place, I start painting the picture with the music!r

What are your main influences in terms of storytelling, graphic universe… and music of course? Who are the artists you admire the most in these different fields?

King Diamond was the one who originally sparked the whole idea of creating a concept album like this. Blind Guardian’s Nightfall in Middle-Earth influenced me a lot when it came to how to present the story on an album, while fantasy writers like Robert Jordan have been a huge inspiration for the world-building.r r Certain video games, like Alan Wake and The Evil Within, have also been a great source of inspiration.r r Music-wise, I’m influenced by a lot of different bands and artists that I love, everything from Dissection and Blind Guardian to Yngwie Malmsteen and Iron Maiden!r

You used the theme of Frederic Chopin’s “Funeral March” for the track of the same name on your new album… are you fond of classical music yourself ? If you are, who are your favorite composers?

Yes, I really enjoy classical music and listen to it every now and then. I always find myself coming back to Bach and Beethoven. We actually used melodies from both of them in “Come Sweet Death” on the new album. Chopin is another fantastic composer!

You’ve released quite an impressive video for “Somewhere Far Beyond”, is there another one coming up next ? I suppose the budget must be quite high…

Yes, Somewhere Far Beyond was actually more expensive to produce than all our previous music videos combined! This is another reason why our albums take time. When we do something, we do it wholeheartedly!r We financed the music video ourselves, together with our amazing Patreon community. They absolutely rule!r At the moment, we don’t have any plans to make another music video, but the dream would be to make one for every track on the album!

Between your previous album and this one, you released a comic book that included an EP. And with the release of “Descending Into Madness”, there’s a new book coming up as well… what will we find inside it ?

It’s the book I mentioned earlier, The Zornheim Archives, a lore book that ties all three albums together. It’s basically a timeline that tells the story of the asylum, exploring its history and going deeper into certain events that took place there, such as The Zornheim Sleep Experiment.

Do you have other ideas or original projects such as this one that you’d like to create in relation to the Zornheym lore in the future ?

I’d definitely like to write more books, and we’d also love to create games, both card games and board games. If I could dream freely, I’d love to make a TV series where I could be involved as one of the writers and compose the music myself. The sky is the limit for this project!r

Do you intend to go back on the road ? Would it be a headlining tour or are you looking for a bigger band to open for ? Have you already got some dates planned?

We’ve just started working with a new team around Zornheym, including a new manager and a proper booking agency that really understands our vision for the band.r So yeah, we definitely want to tour! I think it would be smart to join a bigger band as an opening act. Our live productions keep getting bigger and bigger, so we need opportunities that match our ambitions!

If someone who has never listened to the band wanted to get to know Zornheym, what are the three songs that you would recommend… and why ?

Hmm, I’d probably go with “Somewhere Far Beyond”, “Corpus Vile” and “The Opposed”. I think these three songs give a pretty good idea of what Zornheym is all about! They showcase our mix of aggression, melodies, orchestration and storytelling.

Thank you very much for your time! The last word is yours :

First of all, I’d like to thank you for the interview, and also YOU (reader), who made it all the way down here!r I truly believe Zornheym is a one-of-a-kind band, and if you enjoy epic music with great melodies and strong storytelling, you should definitely check us out!r And if you’d like to become part of our community, come join us on Patreon and Discord! You can find all the links at www.zornheym.com⁠.r Thank you so much once again!r WE ARE THE INMATES! 🤘🏻r