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čtvrtek 19. března 2020

Home » » Interview - SOLOTHUS - All the music of the band are from dark mind.

Interview - SOLOTHUS - All the music of the band are from dark mind.



Interview with doom death metal band from Finland - SOLOTHUS.

Answered Kari, thank you!
Translated and questions prepared  Petra, thank you!


Recenze/review - SOLOTHUS - Realm Of Ash & Blood (2020):
https://deadly-storm.blogspot.com/2020/03/recenzereview-solothus-realm-of-ash.html

Hi SOLOTHUS! Greetings to Finland! I think your band can be unknown to many metal fans here in the Czech Republic, so first could you please introduce SOLOTHUS, a brief history of the band etc.? 

Kari: Cheers mate! Solothus is a Death/Doom Metal band from Turku/Helsinki areas of Finland. We have been around since 2007 and we are now just about to release our third album “Realm of Ash and Blood” through 20 Buck Spin 27.3.2020. 


Has your band name some specific meaning? Please, explain to our readers, how the name SOLOTHUS was born. Did you have more options for the band name and finally you chose this one? 

Kari: The name Solothus was chose or more like given to us from the very beginning. The name originates from the dark woods of Parainen, where the band was formed. I cannot explain the name more than this. 

Your third full-length album entitled “Realm of Ash and Blood” is going to be released in a few weeks. Are you satisfied with everything relating to recording, production, the final sound or would you change something? 

Kari: We are completely satisfied with everything on the record. Juha and Tami worked a lot in getting the correct guitar tone and the recording, mixing and mastering of the collective work of Lauri, Tommi and Dan really makes it sound majestic and heavy, the thing we were looking for! Basically everything from the album cover to the last note of the album is now the way we wanted it to be. 


I am very excited from your new material. I love such mid-tempo death metal, and the manner how you build everything on epic doom metal basics is incredible. As if individual tracks tell their own story. I think this is very important and not every band succeeds in it. How does the writing process look? Do you have a main composer or everyone is involved in the writing process? 

Kari: Veli, our lead guitarist, is the composer and soul of Solothus. All the music of the band is from his dark mind. We may do some arrangements together, but he writes it all. I write majority of the lyrics (Tami wrote lyrics for Chasm of Shattered Bones). 

Every track is reasonably placed on the record, as for example instrumental song “Last Breath”. Does it represent some dividing line in the middle of the album to separate it? Do you consider this album as a conceptual? 

Kari: There are vague lyrical concepts like self-empowerment and bitterness, but overall, there is no bigger picture. The only concept that ties it all together is our imaginary and themes. 

How would you compare the actual record with previous album “No King Reigns Eternal”? In what do you see progress or development? 

Kari: Upon our third album we really crystallized the idea what Solothus is, musically, lyrically and production-wise. The songs are more well though in a sense and flow even better. Natural evolution of the bands sound I would say. 

Concerning the cover art, for a previous record, you collaborated with famous artist Juanjo Castellano. Now you picked another great artist for upcoming album cover art – Adam Burke. I have to admit I love his style. Which his work impressed you so much you decided for him? How was going this collaboration? 

Kari: It was without a doubt the cover art of Loss’ “Horizonless”. That is such a breathtaking artwork! We wanted to have a huge and epic cover art for this album and we had a pretty specific idea, so we checked out different artists and I proposed we use Adam Burke and the rest is history. Everything worked really well with Adam and even now I have the original cover painting on my wall! 

I am sure that lyrics are very dark and gloomy, but could you reveal the main inspiration for lyrics, main topics behind and the approach of their writing? Is the first music or lyrics, or both them you write independently of each other? 

Kari: It is always first the music and then lyrics and vocal arrangements. That is always the order, though sometimes I already have an idea for a song and it is just a matter of time when the correct song comes where they fit. I am inspired by a lot of fantasy writes for example Moorcock, Margaret/Weis, Salvatore, Howard etc. Inspiration for a song often comes from real life and then it gets cloaked in the imaginary I so love. 

I guess a lot of old school bands from Finland played gloomy death with doomy parts. I mean bands like Rippikoulu, Demigod or Putrenance. Had these bands somehow influenced the development of your musical style? Or which bands influence you the most to play such somber death doom metal? 

Kari: Our inspirations come mainly from traditional Doom Metal like Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Reverend Bizarre and Death Metal like Bolt Thrower, Autopsy etc. Pretty much these are the bands that were the inspiration for Solothus. 

I had a chance to see Rippikoulu and Purtenance along with the Undergang last year in Stockholm. Scandinavia deathfest was one of the best concert experiences in my life. Did you visit this event? 

Kari: Actually I did! It was a nice festival indeed! I was most waiting for Dismember, since I never saw them live before this! 

But also nowadays, there are a lot of bands such as Hooded Menace, Krypts, as well as Corpsessed to mention a few playing a similar style. Aren’t you afraid that you could be lost in the huge amount of similar bands? What added value do you offer to death/doom metal fans? 

Kari: I really can’t hear a lot of similarities between Solothus and Krypts/Corpsessed. The latter bands draw their inspiration from Death Metal, where we draw a lot more from Doom Metal. I think there is huge difference between Death/Doom Metal bands, some have more Death Metal sound and others more Doom. With Hooded Menace we have more similarities. What comes to the original sound of Solothus, I think our music speaks for itself, we have a lot of that Epic Doom Metal touch in our music, which not many have alongside with the ripping solos of Veli! 

What about concerts? Where did you perform live until now, in which countries? Do you have ambitions to go further from Finland maybe to organize some European tour? Which bands would you like to take with you on tour? 

Kari: We are pretty active band when it comes to playing live. So far we have played in the UK, Russia and Italy. We have our eyes set on playing a tour later this year, lets see how that turns out. I would love to tour with Temple of Void! That is easily one of my favorite bands at the moment! 

Before the end of the interview, could you tell me about the scene in Helsinki or in Finland, in general? Do you have a famous musical clubs for concerts, some special pubs, where musicians go for a beer? Some annual metal festivals important to mention? 

Kari: Metal music in general, there are some pubs in some cities that have been populated with metal heads like Whisky Bar in Turku which are really nice and you should visit if you ever come over to Finland. Many bars, pubs and venues though have called it quits now and there is fewer and fewer venues to play for bands… It is really bad situation in Finland at the moment. When you talk about Death Metal and Finland there is of course Helsinki Death Fest in August which is superb! We are playing there this year too, so more reason to visit Finland, eh? 

Alright, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions and congratulations on your new record. I hope this interview wasn’t boring and exhausting. I hope, I will see your show somewhere near soon! Any closing words? 

Kari: Thanks for the interview! Stay doomed mate!

Recenze/review - SOLOTHUS - Realm Of Ash & Blood (2020):

Recenze/review - SOLOTHUS - No King Reigns Eternal (2016)

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