In Vain’s fifth album Solemn dropped back in April (you can check out our review here), and it’s become a firm favourite among our writers, a towering work of progressive melodic death metal that undoubtedly stands as one of the best releases of 2024 so far, the band having truly reached their zenith as composers and performers. Chris recently caught up with founding member, guitarist, lyricist, backing vocalist, and main songwriter Johnar Håland for a chat about Solemn, the band’s long career, and the intricacies of songwriting.
Before we jump in, it’s worth noting that between the questions being sent out and receiving the reply, In Vain have experienced two sudden and unfortunate line-up changes. Founding member and vocalist Andreas Frigstad announced that he would be leaving the band, while founding member, vocalist and keyboardist Sindre Nedland announced that he’s taking a break from the band whilst he undergoes treatment for cancer. We at The Progressive Subway wish Sindre all the best in his treatment as well as a speedy recovery, and all the best to Andreas in his future endeavours.
Hey Johnar, how’s it going? How are things in the fjords of Norway?
Hey there! All is well here. Summer seems to be coming to an end though, would have liked it to continue a bit longer. And the weather has not exactly been great. Hope all is well on your side.
I’m doing well, thanks! Solemn, your fifth album, released a couple of months ago now. How has the response been and how does it feel to see another album come to completion and finally reach listeners?
It has been a very long process and we are happy to finally come to the end. To create an album of one hour takes a shitload of time, to be honest. That said, we are very pleased with the final results. As a bonus, fans and the public seem to enjoy it as well, and the reviews have been absolutely amazing. We did not necessarily make it easier for ourselves with the long wait, and we certainly feel that the expectations get raised for every album, which obviously makes it a lot harder to surpass them.
The word “Solemn” sets certain expectations about an album’s tone, but Solemn actually has a range of emotional flavours, from warmer tracks like “Where the Winds Meet” to defiant anthems like “Blood Makes the Grass Grow”. Can you tell us a bit about the overarching lyrical themes of the album and the ideas that underlie these tonal shifts?
When you have music as diverse as ours, it is hard to find an album title that encompasses everything. On previous albums, Andreas and I had written the lyrics, whilst on Solemn, Sindre contributed the lyrics for four songs and I wrote the rest. We have no general theme for the lyrics, but we touch upon topics such as personal experiences, life’s ups and downs, nature, the mystery of the human mind and soul, etc. We try to write lyrics with meaning, but that also fit the music. Our lyrics can have a dark or melancholic aura to them, but I also think many would find them uplifting.
On Solemn, you also utilise a lot of brass and woodwind accompaniment, from the more relaxed sax solo on “Season of Unrest” (before the explosion into raucousness) to the enormous brass section on “Eternal Waves”. In lesser hands, those sections could come off as gimmicky and might not integrate with the overall style but you make them work superbly. How do you go about incorporating these instruments in a way that fits so naturally into the intensity of melodic death metal, and what makes you feel a particular track could use the addition of such non-standard instruments?
Thanks for those kind words. We are very careful to not add instruments from outside the band for gimmicky reasons, as you say. It needs to add value to the music and not turn it into sonic chaos. Since our very first releases, we have utilized horns and brass. In my personal opinion, a horn section adds a very nice flavour and contrast, without going completely overboard with a full blown orchestra, which I find a bit too much. When it comes to saxophone, that’s also something we have used on several songs in the past, for the first time on our second EP [Wounds] from 2005; you can check out the song “In Remembrance”, I actually think it has one of the best saxophone sections we have ever had. I have to admit, having a sax part on every album has kind of become a tradition for us. When it comes to incorporating these instruments, we typically find parts where they would add value to the music during the composition or pre-production phase. A lot of this has to do with experience and it always comes naturally, it is not like a “we need to create a riff where we can have horns” type of approach.
Yourself, Sindre and Andreas have been with the band since the start. When you look back, how has the band experience changed over the last 21 years, from recording and releasing to touring and reaching fans?
Well, we just announced that Andreas is stepping down from the band. He simply does not have enough motivation to continue. I guess we have become more professional and experienced, especially on the live front. We have invested in both sound and light gear to make the live shows better, and our drummer Tobias in particular has a very good grasp on those things. When it comes to being in a band for over twenty years, I think the most fun we had was during the recording of our first EPs and albums; I find it harder to compose music these days to be honest. Also, it was a great experience to have Jens Bogren mix our music for the first time, which happened on Ænigma (2013). I have always enjoyed touring and meeting fans and seeing new places. That is a great bonus from being in a band.
You take your time crafting your albums, and it’s been six years since Currents released. How does the writing process work for you guys, and did you face any challenges while recording Solemn?
It is important for me to note that the composition process has not been six years. Typically, after the release of a new album, as the sole composer I take a break from composing music, as it’s quite intensive and hard work. The album was finished and mastered in September 2022. It was delayed intentionally because we did not want to release an album in the middle of Covid and not be able to support it live. In addition, there were quite big delays and queues on the printing of vinyl. Covid impacted the album in the way that we had more time to tweak the songs during the pre-production.
In Vain are probably best categorised as “melodic death metal”. Who are the groups that have inspired your sound?
I can only speak for myself here, but I enjoy music from all genres. That said, I prefer artists that have a unique sound or some form of identity in their music. I try to learn from those artists and incorporate what I view as their strengths into my own music, while still creating something new and not simply copying others. If we stick to metal here, for me there is no doubt that Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth is the best songwriter of all time in metal. He is in a league of his own. Then you have other bands like Emperor, Extol and In the Woods. I also think Gorguts and Ulcerate are bands with unique identities.
Solemn sounds absolutely fantastic and, as with your two previous albums, it was mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios, by Jens Bogren and Tony Lindgren, who have become one of the biggest studios for progressive metal in particular. As musicians, what is it about Fascination Street Studios that keeps you coming back and what’s the production process like on your end?
Thanks a lot for those kind words. To be honest, we are not really up to date on what studios are out there. That said, we really like working with Jens and we know he understands what we are after. I think he is able to mix the best of the vintage and the modern world when it comes to recording and mixing. This time around we wanted a big grandiose sound and Jens delivered the best production we have ever had.
A more technical question from one of our writers, Cooper, who asks: “how do you achieve such a rich and warm guitar tone without using much gain? I’m thinking particularly of moments such as 3:56 in “Shadows Flap Their Black Wings” and 2:37 in “At the Going Down of the Sun”.
As we have gotten older, and hopefully wiser, we have dialled down the gain more and more. Less gain makes it more heavy in our opinion, rather than the opposite. More gain typically takes away a lot of detail, something that does not work with our music. You can have a high gain guitar tone if you play one string or simple chord riffs, but that is not what we do. When you record an album, the guitars are dubbed and there are obviously other mixing tricks that can be done to make stuff sound bigger. It is not possible to recreate all of this live and you might want a slightly different guitar sound live than in a studio.
And another question on the writing process from another of our reviewers, Zach, who asks: “Once you’ve written a riff or progression that you’re happy with, how do you go about developing it and structuring it within a song, connecting it to other riffs and growing that initial idea into a full track?”
I have always written music in my head, and by that I mean that I am not using the guitar to 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 point for us, as a band who mix a lot of different 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; if not you will end up with 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.
We’re big fans of Subterranean Masquerade here, so it was a pleasure to hear Davidavi “Vidi” Dolev provide vocals on the epic closer “Watch For Me On the Mountain”. What attracted you to Vidi as a vocalist and how did the idea for collaborating with him on this huge, emotional choral finale come about?
We had the pleasure of touring with Subterranean Masquerade in 2018 and they are a great band and a lovely bunch of people! Vidi is a fantastic singer who masters a lot of different vocals. We already had the vocal lines ready for this song, but somehow Sindre singing did not feel right. We reached out to Vidi and we think he elevated this song to the next level!
Which bands/albums have you been enjoying lately? And are there any underground bands you’re enjoying and think deserve more attention?
I have been digging into the Ulcerate albums lately. When it comes to underground bands, I think Mare Cognitum deserves more attention.
John, Paul, George and Ringo of The Beatles were known as the smart one, the cute one, the quiet one and the funny one. What are you guys known as?
Kjetil – The quiet one
Alexander – The vigorous one
Tobias – The handy one
Sindre – The happy one
Johnar – The smart one
Solemn is a fantastic record which we’ve all really enjoyed here at The Progressive Subway. Thanks for taking part in this interview, Johnar, and thanks to everyone in In Vain for all the amazing music you’ve put out over the years. We wish you every success for the future!
Thanks a lot for your support!
Solemn was released on April 12th, 2024, on Indie Recordings.
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