IN VAIN – interview

Foto: Jørn Veberg

Norwegian progressive extreme metal act IN VAIN has recently released a masterpiece of an album, “SOLEMN” – see its review here https://eternal-terror.com/2024/08/20/in-vain-solemn/ – and we have conducted an interview with the band, or more precisely Johnar, to find out some more about such a spectacular release and some more details regarding their recent lineup changes. Sadly, health status prevented us from attending any of their recent shows in Norway, so we cannot tell you much about their performances, but we hope that most of you who read these lines have had a chance to go to at least one of the shows and headbang double, to compensate for our absence.

It has been somewhat quiet for In Vain since “Currents” in 2018. But your music is not something that can easily be put together overnight and have an album out every year. How long was the process of putting “Solemn” together? When did you actually start writing with the thought of a new album versus just some jams here and there?
Hi and thanks for this interview. You are right that it takes quite a lot of time to make an In Vain album. All our albums have been 1 hour so far, while I guess for many bands a 40 min album would be considered long. In addition to that, the music is quite complex and diverse, and we are not a full-time band either. We all have jobs and families that take up most of our time. So these albums are certainly not put together in a short lapse of time. We also focus on quality instead of quantify.

But, just to be clear, the composition process has not been 6 years. Typically, after the release of a new album, as the sole composer I take a break from composing music, as it is quite intensive and hard work. The album was actually finished and mastered in Sept 2022. It was delayed intentionally because we did not want to release an album in the middle of Covid, and not being able to support it live. In addition, there was quite big delays and queues on the printing of vinyl.

What has happened with the band between 2018 and now?
Up until Covid we did another European tour and played shows. After that we worked on Solemn. So, while Corona delayed the album, it also allowed more time to spend on preproduction. Post Covid we have been promoting Solemn with Norwegian shows and some festivals. We are also trying to set up European gigs and a tour, but the touring market is more difficult than pre Covid, unfortunately.

Lately we just announced that Andreas is stepping down from the band. He simply does not have enough motivation to continue. And our other singer, Sindre, has unfortunately been re-diagnosed with cancer. As we have announced, because of that he will not be involved with the band for the unforeseeable future. We have a replacement singer, Kjetil Alver Lund, who has already played three gigs with us. He is doing a fantastic job and we could not be more happy with his contributions!

Regarding the new band members, how did the rehearsals go with them? Was it easy to find replacements for the live shows which I guess you didn’t want to cancel?
It was our drummer Tobias, who suggest Kjetil, as he knew him from other bands. I also knew him from his other band, Våde, and knew he had a great death metal growl vocal. But I did not know he could handle clean singing and black metal vocals as well. We have very little time to rehearse with him, but he was really well prepared.

Will you try to aim for bigger live events next year or where is the band at right now in regards to future plans?
We had a small Norwegian tour lined up in Norway after the summer. We’re also working on organizing a European tour, but it’s challenging since we’re not a full-time band. With families and full-time jobs among our responsibilities, embarking on a month-long tour is difficult. We’ve had to decline several attractive proposals simply because they were too lengthy. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to arrange something feasible!

In Vain has never been full time band. We have focused on studies, and now we all have full time jobs and families. Obviously, if we had spent some years touring non-stop, the band would have been a LOT bigger. That is how you build a band big. But to make a living of music is very hard. That said, we would love to grow the band and tour and play more festivals.

Back to Solemn, what’s the highlight of the album for you? or the song or part of the song that you are most proud of?
The album as a whole is a highlight for me. I do not really have any songs that sticks out as a highlight. I have some I like more than others, but that also varies over time. The songs and the tracklist is like a puzzle where every song plays its part.

What is new on this album compared to your whole discography? Or everything was done in the old fashioned way?
In my view, “Solemn” encapsulates In Vain’s essence to date while also introducing fresh components. The similarities are that the music cover a lot of different musical styles and sub genres of metal. There is a lot of variety and contrasts in the music. We for instance utilize many different vocal techniques. This is something we have done since day one. When it comes to differences, we’ve incorporated electronic segments, analog synthesizers, and a variety of unique touches that distinguish it from our previous work. Additionally, I believe this album boasts the finest production quality we’ve achieved thus far.

I don’t know the story of the album’s cover. May I ask what it represents?
Lara at Subterranean Prints designed the cover. We gave her our album title, ‘Solemn’, and told her what we associated with that. And then she came up with a sketch that we gave comments on and then she re-worked it and so forth. To me the title represents something that is sincere, ceremonial and also somewhat grand and rare. It also have a melancholic aura to it.

You seem to be good friends with rather long songs, way beyond 5 minutes in duration. How do you work together to actually know when to ‘stop’ a song? How do you find the balance between keeping it exciting and knowing when to stop it? Is it the whole band, someone who has a ‘big picture’ kind of ear or does it happen on the mastering sessions?
So far I have been the sole songwriter and I have always written music in my head, by that I mean that I am not using the guitar and jam in order to create riffs. What I find more important than riffs, is how you arrange the song. I believe you can have a great track, that might have some subpar riffs, as long as it is arranged in a smart way. In fact, putting in some subpar riffs in there, might make the good riffs stand out more. Another key for us, that mix a lot of styles in our music, is to have good transition riffs. If you want to create songs with many different elements and genres you have to make sure that the transitions between the various parts are smooth and good. If not you will end up with a sonic chaos. In songwriting I have always trusted my gut feeling. If I do not have the right gut feeling I know there is something I have to change.