Shape Of Despair
No Waltz On The New Record

21.01.2015

For far too long the Finnish masters of atmospheric funeral doom metal have been more in the news than in the CD players of their fans. It’s been 11 years since the release of their most recent full-length album, “Illusion’s Play”, which has so far been only followed by a two-track EP, “Written In My Scars”, and this one also saw the light of day a good five years ago. However, the band has been pretty active most of this time, parting ways with renown singer Pasi Koskinen (ex-Amorphis), hiring a new growler, Henri Koivula (also of Throes Of Dawn), getting a record deal with Season Of Mist and finally recording a new album, which, according to the latest news from Shape Of Despair, is complete but not yet released. This unfortunate situation is about to change this year, with the new album finally hitting the streets, but before that Russian fans will get the lucky chance of seeing what is often described as “an ideal funeral doom band” live in Moscow and St. Petersburg in late January. Shortly before these dates we got hold of lead guitarist Jarno Salomaa, fresh from celebrating New Year holidays, who has agreed to shed some light on the band’s nearest prospects and backstage life.

First of all, happy new year to you! How was the holiday time? Did you have some time off at work? Was it an opportunity to play or write some music?

Hello, happy new year as well. I was mostly sick through holidays so I got lots of rest. But actually on first days this year I also made a new song, so I hope we could catch up some of the lost time with Shape of Despair. Music is everything.

Did you mainly celebrate Christmas or was it New Year or some special Finnish holiday?

Yes, Christmas and New Year. The good thing is that on these holidays there are very few people outside and there's more holidays and not too much work.

What’s your favorite drink and food?

Well... mostly anything goes, there are no favorites.

What other hobbies do you have beside music? Do you like sports? Actively or passively?

Music is what matters the most. I've tried some other things but time is quite limited nowadays. Music after all takes a lot of my spare time so there's not much room for anything else.

What is the status of the new record as of now? I hear it’s already recorded, but no release date has been announced… What shall we expect from the new record?

We have delivered everything to our new label Season Of Mist, and they will confirm the release date later this year when they just have one, hopefully very soon.
The new album is by far the heaviest we've done. The overall atmosphere is quite heavy, and despair is present. We have there slower songs than before, and song structures are different from our previous ways,  so I guess it's safe to say that all these years we've been “out”, we've progressed a step further even we aren't talking about enormous leaps as it's not the intention. This is what we want to make.

How often do you meet to rehearse? Where? Are those sessions tight or are they more like a party?

We try to rehearse at certain dates to keep it simple. We have our own place where's good to rehearse or to enjoy some drinks… or both.

What has changed in the music of Shape of Despair with the arrival of Henri Koivula?

We all are now more involved in arrangements than before, especially Henri as he does the lyrical work now. He has an eye for music and seems to fit perfectly in Shape Of Despair. I'm not sure if people are concerned over these two facts now that we got a new vocalist and we had a 10-year pause in between full-lengths. I can assure you it's just the opposite, we have a better and stronger album than before, and I'm sure it will reach out to even more people via Season Of Mist.

To you what should be the ideal balance between gloom and beauty in music?

There are, of course, different situations, it's way too hard to point it out. I am, though, interested in having dark ambient mixed with doom in the way they are harmonized in their strongest elements. I think none has made it and I would be amazed if someone could really make it work.

Do you like waltz? How come there were so many waltz-oriented songs in the past Shape of Despair catalogue? Is there going to be some waltz on the new record?

Haha, no I don't like waltz. I wouldn't go for referring to our older ones as waltz-oriented, there's as much waltz as there is folk music. The tempo is similar but that's about it. And no, there will be no waltz on the newer one either.

What music have you been listening to lately? Do you actively search for new discoveries, or do you focus more on the classics?

There's too much to listen to nowadays, so I hardly look out for new bands. Sometimes I notice and hear new acts through the media but rarely come across good ones. Honestly, I still like the old ones which still give me shivers nowadays. Lately I’ve been playing Before The Rain, Dodheimsgard, Dimholt, Burzum, Oceanwake, Eye Of Solitude, Raison d'etre, to give you a few names.

What do you expect from the upcoming Russian shows? And what shall we expect?

I hope there will be people hoping to dwell into our music at those two shows. We try to arrange the right atmosphere to get everyone into the music itself, that's the most important thing.

What’s your feeling towards Russia, since its image in the mass media is far from nice nowadays?

Hard to say actually. It's hard to trust the media as you can't tell whether they give you the right image of things happening over there.

Any last words for the readers of this interview?

Doom on, see you at both shows!

Shape Of Despair on the Internet: http://www.shapeofdespair.com

Special thanks to Elena (Sepulture Union) for arranging this interview

Richter
January 20, 2014
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