The world is in a dark place these days. Democracy seems to be deteriorating across the West, and many people are yearning for strong leaders, which feels strange to me. Over the past century, mankind has found more and more ways to destroy itself, casting a shadow over our future. In times like these, music becomes essential. It has the power to wake people up and console them in their fears.
Given this backdrop, my music must reflect the melancholy and scariness of the current times. Metal, in particular, needs to evoke a sense of fear and unease. This is how Black Sabbath came up with the idea of heavy metal. According to Wikipedia, “A cinema across the street from the band’s rehearsal room was showing the 1963 Italian horror film Black Sabbath […]. While watching people line up to see the film, Butler noted that it was strange that people spend so much money to see scary movies.” So, scariness equals metal. Melancholy also equals metal, in my opinion. Therefore, my music must be heavy, dark, and melancholic, yet diverse and dynamic.
About my new band… My songwriting process has been slow, as my primary job consumes most of my weekdays. However, I’m excited to share that I’ve managed to write what I believe is the best song of my life. It’s a bit unusual, as I experimented with my 7-string guitar, tuning it to dropped G instead of my usual one-step down to A. Despite this, the song doesn’t sound overly heavy. At times it does, but it also has moments that sound almost happy.
In general, everything seems to be progressing according to the plan I made last winter. My goal is to write more songs and create demos. Once I have at least 40 to 50 minutes of music, I’ll start thinking about the lyrics. After that, I may write more music. Eventually, the band will need more members to take it to the next level.
A few weeks ago, I read something Kerry King said about his solo project. He mentioned that you get lazy in a long-established band because you only need to focus on your own role. In your own band, you have to take responsibility for everything, which makes things slower and harder. He’s absolutely right; this is not as easy as it is with an established band.
But it’s worth it. I’ve already got many ideas that I could never have executed before. A theme album or a concept album? We shall see. Ideas influenced by Porcupine Tree, Tool, or even Spock’s Beard? I have some of those too, although the backbone of these songs remains melodic death metal. As they say, a leopard cannot change its spots. In the ’90s, with the other EToS guys, I learned what’s important in metal music: heaviness, melodies, versatility, and dynamics. Those elements remain.
Even though I think Slayer‘s Reign in Blood is one of the best metal albums ever, I would never write an album like that. Shadows need light for contrast, and heaviness needs melodies. This is what melodic death metal is: a genre but also a philosophy. It’s almost as if melodic death metal requires bands to surprise their listeners; you should never know what’s coming next when listening to a brand-new album. That’s my perspective, anyway.
So, ideally, this album should have a loose theme, but each song should have its own character and story. Perhaps something like Black Mirror meets The Twilight Zone meets The Outer Limits meets Tales from the Crypt. However, this depends on how the songs turn out. My initial wish was for these songs to be heavier, darker, and more progressive than anything I’ve done before. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Instead, there are some new elements, but the melodies and melancholy are still there.
I know there will be less gothic metal and more progressive ideas. I always questioned EToS being labelled as gothic metal, even though it is partly true, as we were influenced by Paradise Lost when we started. I mentioned “melancholy” earlier, and that will remain. However, “melancholic” does not equal “gothic” to me, even though they do somewhat overlap. For me, melancholy is the opposite of happiness, so melancholic music is definitely not happy music. And I couldn’t write anything happy anyway.
Why melancholic? As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the world isn’t quite a happy place right now. Music is a perfect way to convey these fears.
So, heavy, dark, and melancholic it is, and always will be.
Jarmo Puolakanaho 