1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Nightderanger: The recordings ended in october and the album was mixed in november. At the moment when I write this, the release date is two days forward. Due to Corona, our recent activity has been mainly online.
2.Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Apostate: Compared to Obsidian, Uncreation is a more cohesive and polished release to me. The riffs are tighter and more intricate, the orchestrations more massive than before, and lots of new vocal sounds as well, with some spoken parts, my backing vocals and some choir parts as well. I think we’ve made a huge leap from Obsidian in overall quality as well, not that Obsidian would have had bad production per se, but on Uncreation I honestly feel we made a great record.
3.This is also your first album to be released in 8 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Nightderanger: The main reason for the big gap is all that annoying mandatory stuff like work and school and families. Me and Azul Corax have had kids during this time and all of us are in full-time jobs. We have played some gigs and everything has advanced slowly but surely. The drums of Uncreation were recorded in 2015 so I guess it is fair to say that everything didn’t go according to schedule..
Apostate: Much like Nightderanger said, life happened. In a way it was the most infuriating process for taking so long, but on the other hand it did allow us to really polish the material to the point it is on the record.
4.A lot of your lyrics cover occult themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
Nightderanger: I’m the main lyricist and yes, I’m interested in occult. Once upon a time, when I was young and stupid I was more or less christian. Even then I was not (completely) a lamb, I had my own thoughts and I was interested in christian gnosticism. I’ve read also lots about hinduism, mainly because my relative was harekrishna. I came to my senses and I left chstianity but my interest in occult I didn’t lost. I only changed my view on it. I’m interested in math and physics and I guess that can be observed in my lyrics.
5.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with the music?
Nightderanger: The first album, Obsidian, was more personal. That album was more or less a coherent story about the growth of one person. In Uncreation, well, I’d say every song is more or less occult. Some songs are more abstract (pun intended) like From Chaos to Creation and Inferno is maybe the best example about more traditional black metal lyric.
6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Abstrakt'/
Nightderanger: From the very beginning we had some ideas about music and lyrics. Our music was metal but the music during and before the first album was such a mess of genres, it was less black metal than new Dimmu Borgir but it didn’t fit under any other label too. I’ve always been a huge friend of everything surreal and absurd (Absurd was a name that was unfortunately out of question) and then after some reflective thinking, the name Abstrakt came to my mind. If I remember correctly, that was the only name ever that was even considered for the band.
7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
Nightderanger: Firstly, all hail to our graphic designer Marjo-Elisa Vaaraniemi who also created our logo ~10 years ago. The name of the album probably tells more than I could ever tell. It is the process of Uncreation going on. Even the stars that would summon Cthulhu can’t escape the ultimate annihilation after which absolutely no trace of this universe would remain.
8.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Nightderanger: The collective answer for the best two gigs were probably our latest show in Puska Metal Festival 2019 and in Mökäfest III.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of symphonic black and death metal?
Apostate: Due to our long unsigned status, there hasn’t historically been that much publicity for Obsidian and demos we have released for Uncreation, but lately we have experienced quite a jump up in search hits and have received some pre-release reviews already for Uncreation. The tone of the reviews has been very positive, and overall the reactions we’ve gotten have been quite favorable.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Apostate: The future is wide open for us, there’s no real barriers for our sound at the moment, but in all likelihood the major building blocks of our sound are here to stay.
<In fact, we’re currently working on a new song which is in the demo stage already. It has a bit of a different feel than the songs on Uncreation, but I have no fear it wouldn’t be recognizable as Abstrakt once we’re done with it.>
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Apostate: To be fair, the process was so long that this list could go on quite a while, but for me some of the bands I listened to the most during the writing, recording and production processes were Opeth, Mgla, Cattle Decapitation, Between the Buried and Me and SikTh. Nowadays I’ve been listening to a lot of Chick Corea, Harakiri For The Sky, post-rock stuff and some jazz, really looking forward to the new Cannibal Corpse album.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Nightderanger: AD MAIOREM ABSTRAKTI GLORIAM Äiti lähetä rahaa!!
Thanks for taking the time to read this and check out our Spotify and Facebook for further reference, rock out with your cock out
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