Arion dives into powerful themes with their latest single, From an Empire to a Fall. We discuss its inspiration, the band’s evolution, and what fans can expect from their upcoming album!
1. "From
an Empire to a Fall" has just been released! Could you share the story or
inspiration behind this track, and what it means for the band?
From An Empire To
A Fall has a ”revenge” or ”karma strikes back” kind of theme.
The song basically says that someone abusing their position of power will
eventually lose everything they have. Therefore it does gain quite a bit of its
inspiration from the music industry as well.
2. Iivo,
this track was one of the first written for the upcoming album. How did it feel
to start the writing process with such a powerful piece, and did it set the
tone for the rest of the album?
This song was the
second song written for the new album after Wildfire already back in 2021.
These first two
songs I intentionally wrote to be very guitar driven and that was my initial
goal with the whole album as well. Throughout the writing process of the whole
album this changed a bit and while I wouldn’t say that these two songs are a
prime example of the music from the new album I did end up with a very guitar
driven approach overall. So the answer is yes and no!
3. Arion
is known for its catchy riffs, intense solos, and powerful choruses. How did
you approach the songwriting and production to make sure this track embodied
all of those signature elements?
Well, that kind
of comes naturally. At this point of the band’s career it is quite clear how to
cook this stuff and I see no reason to change that. All of my writing
techniques revolve around these key elements; for example choruses I write
melody first and take a lot of time to honing them to ”perfection”, I usually
need to find that ”signature riff” for each song for it to ”make sense” for me,
to sort of glue it all together. The
solos will be always be there; I really do remember the time when we were
younger and wanted do that stuff even better than our favorite virtuoso
musicians at the time and here we are. :) We’re also perfectly aware that a lot
of our listeners have come to expect this solo stuff and for a lot of them the
solos are the sweetest treat.
4. Your
last few singles, like "Wildfire" and "Wings of Twilight,"
have been well-received in Finland and beyond. How does "From an Empire to
a Fall" build on the momentum of those releases?
It’s always
important to avoid releasing similar songs one after another and I think the
choices for singles is pretty much spot on. It’s always the most fun to
surprise people a little bit(if that’s even possible, hah!).
5. You've
collaborated with some incredible vocalists over the years, like Elize Ryd and
Noora Louhimo. How did those experiences shape your approach to songwriting and
recording this time around?
I love writing
this duet stuff and having such incredible singers perform them still feels
kind of surreal. Especially looking a couple of years back after their release
it’s crazy.
I came up with a duet this time as well and we got lucky enough with Melissa
Bonny liking the song(Wings Of Twilight) and wanting to sing with us. From our
whole catalogue many of the duets stand out for me as some of the best from the
band and this is especially true for Wings Of Twilight.
Recording is
always a challenge in these occasions due to great singers understandably
having very intense schedules, but in case of Mel her own trusted producer
Jacob Hansen stepped in to help and recorded her performance. So it kind of
went easy even tho she is very busy!
6. With
the band’s
lineup now solid, how has each member’s unique style contributed to the evolving
sound of Arion, especially on this track?
Our sound has
definitely been going towards a heavier direction from the early more
traditional days of ”Last Of Us” to this mashup of technical riffs and modern
even metal core kind of influences mixed with the symphonic/melodic stuff that
you find especially on Vultures Die Alone and this new album.
Lassi(vocalist)
joining the band since the second album was obviously a turning point as I felt
he needed to sing different kind of songs compared to what we had on ”Last Of
Us”. He had previously been singing with a very old school kind of approach
which we semi-intentionally changed via a need to stand out from the many
melodic metal bands out there. When looking beneath the surface he actually has
a lot more to offer than one might think(as in he is pretty versatile) and when
these various singing styles get mixed with these modern, heavy riffs, epic
symphonic arrangements and instrumental virtuosity we have a sound that can
only be described as Arion.
Topias is also another case where his drumming has a changed a lot more towards
a very modern, technical type of direction. His style is something that has,
once again, ”semi-intentionally” evolved through us recording and favoring a
more ”communicative” style of drumming instead of these old school steady beats
you find on a lot of melodic/power metal bands. This is something that we’ve
just kind of ”adopted” from more modern influences and kind of automatically
agreed on. The 3 new singles are a prime example of his style as a drummer; he
can keep it simple when needed or add a lot of excitement into the track with
monstrous fills and tiny variations on otherwise similar parts of the songs.
Arttu has been
playing more ”superimposed” stuff on his synth solos lately and he’s gotten
more expressive over the years which is also present on the new single.
Gege has great
technique and he’s capable of playing even the most complex guitar riffs in
unison without any challenge. Always helpful when writing stuff when you know
everybody can handle it!
Personally I’ve
changed my writing to be more guitar oriented over the years while still
keeping the melody centered approach to choruses. I think this can be heard on
the 3 new singles with From An Empire and Wildfire being a very guitar-driven
tracks while Wings Of Twilight has this very carefully crafted beautiful vocal
melody. Each track features a guitar solo(or two, haha!) and I put a LOT of
effort in each one emphasizing qualities like expressive phrasing and just like
in songwriting: carefully crafted melodic lines.
7. You’ve toured with some metal
heavyweights, including Dream Theater and Sonata Arctica. How have those
experiences influenced your live performances and your approach to creating new
music?
It’s always
inspiring to tour with the giants. Touring with Dream Theater was especially
interesting ’cause their way of doing things live very much supports our idea
of how it should be done: going the extra mile with rehearsing, gear choices
and shaping your tone will make you stand out from the rest. With that
mentality we started this band and that’s how we’re gonna keep it.
8. "From
an Empire to a Fall" features an intense solo battle that you mentioned is
quite challenging. Can you give us some insight into what went into composing
and recording that section?
Haha, not
challenging for us but maybe for others. ;)
When it comes to composing and recording these solos both me and Arttu really
take that extra mile and work really hard to come up with something meaningful.
On ”From An Empire To A Fall” we actually kept it a little bit simpler than
most of this album due this one being a very straight forward track. But
anyway: my kind of idea of solos is that if it’s not really great why would you
include it then? For example: Just like in a great song, the melody is the key
to a great solo.
After locking
down to a certain melody I play dozens and dozens of variations for each phrase
looking for the best possible phrasing for that part. I also emphasize that the
faster stuff has to be melodically as clever as in the phrases played slower.
Arttu executes his synth solo stuff in a similar manner.
The world is full
of shredders who’ve got a little bit of technique and they think what they’re
doing is amazing but in fact they don’t have much to say musically speaking.
And we don’t
wanna be those guys.
Work hard, work
smart and it’ll pay off. :)
9. Looking
back at your journey since "Last of Us" in 2014, what do you think
has been the biggest evolution in Arion’s music?
The way I think
about it is that we started with ”Last Of Us”, a more traditional symphonic
metal kind of sound. Then Life Is Not Beautiful was kind of a transitional
album introducing a bit of these heavier elements along with the new singer.
And on ”Vultures Die Alone” we kind completed the transition to the sound that
is really unique to us and continue on this path on the new upcoming album.
10. Finally,
what can fans expect from the upcoming album? Any hints on the themes or style
they should look forward to?
The new album
continues from where Vultures Die Alone landed and goes beyond that.
The album is full of very fast-paced songs. All of our trademark traits are
there with technical, powerful riffs and symphonic depth being even more
prominent than on our previous albums.
This time a big portion of my lyrics find their inspiration from movies; to be
specific from those that I’ve felt a lot of personal connection to and reflect
my own personal life experiences. While many lyrics on ”Vultures” sort of came
to life directly from inside of my own head, this time I mixed in these ”external
sources and ideas” from movies which I felt like resonated with me in my own
life.
Guitar and synth solos claim a huge role as well and I think many of our old
and new listeners will find plenty of ear candy from those. I’m really looking
forward to seeing how people will digest this album!
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