Guardians Of Time
Reboot

17.05.2011

After a few years’ downtime Norwegian power metallers Guardians of Time are finally back in the game. Last year they played two shows in Russia, and this year they have released a new studio album called “A Bashful Atrocity”, which unveils another (final?) chapter in the sci-fi story of Marie Delacroix, started with the previous CD. Over the five years the band was out of business, only two original members – guitarist Paul Olsen and vocalist Bernt Fjellestad – remained loyal to the fold. They are here now to face our questions.

Hello everybody! Last year you visited Russia for first time. What are your best memories about Russia? Weren’t you disappointed that not too many people showed up for your shows?

Paul: Apart from the actual shows, my best memory from the trip is definitely the Red Square. It was a great experience to feel the power of the Russian empire! We also had a quite interesting train trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg, with the consumption of your most famous beverage, vodka... Not to mention our hosts from Meta Promo Group, Taras and Dimitri, and our guides in Moscow Anna and Kira. And yes, we were disappointed that the Russian metal audience did not come to support such a great festival as ProgPower. There were a lot of good bands playing that absolutely deserve their attention. To those of you who did come to the show, thank you! You rock!

During your performance at Moscow the band played a cover version of “Bang” of Gorky Park. Who came up with this idea? Do you happen to know any other Russian metal bands? 

Paul: I believe it was my idea. I think it is a great song and it was done with respect to the Russian metal scene. And of course, it is a good way to get the crowd in the right mood! I’m embarrassed to say that Gorky Park is the only Russian metal band I know.

Could you tell me what happened to the band between 2004 and 2009, when you were not very active?

Paul: After we played our last show at the Elements of Metal Festival in 2004, not much happened. We tried to find someone to replace Rune (Schellingerhout, guitar) and Vidar (Uleberg, drums), but somewhere on the way we lost the commitment we once had. The band split up completely, and that was it. Bernt and myself would occasionally talk about bringing the band back to life again, but nothing really happened until 2009.

Why did bass player Martin Eltvik leave the band?

Bernt: There were major differences in style and skills. I think Martin realized this, so he decided to leave. Luckily Jonkis, an old friend of mine from my days singing for Nobodies, stepped in and was absolutely perfect for the job.
 
Let’s talk about your brand new album “A Beautiful Atrocity”. How did you work on it? Why did it take you about two years to release it? Was it difficult to get along together once again?

Paul: During those two years we basically started from scratch. We had to find three new band members, write most of the album and record it without the support of a record label. When we finally signed with Mayhem Music, we still had to create the artwork including cover, photos and booklet design. It’s all a lengthy process. All considered, two years ain’t that long really.... We also played a handful of concerts during that period.

The music on the new album changed – the songs now sound darker and more aggressive. What inspires you to write such songs? Maybe it’s because of Paul’s experience with Trail Of Tears?

Paul: I don’t think my time in Trail of Tears changed my musical preferences at all. If this album had been released 5 years ago, I’m not sure if it would have sounded that much different. To us, this was a natural direction for the band to move in.

Paul, tell me about your collaboration with Trail Of Tears – how did you get to know this band and how did you decide to join them? They play a different kind of music… By the way, didn’t you feel any regret that you left Trail Of Tears as it’s a much popular band than Guardians of Time?

Paul: I have known the guys from Trail of Tears for many years, in fact Guardians of Time used to share a rehearsal room with them. I have always thought Trail of Tears is a great band with interesting music. At the time Guardians of Time was a closed book, so when Ronny (Thorsen, vocalist) asked me to join them I instantly said yes. I had a really good time playing in that band, and writing a different kind of metal was fun. It gave me the opportunity to orchestrate and approach the writing process a little different from what I had done in previous bands. And as much as I miss playing with my good friends in Trail of Tears I have never regretted that I quit. Sure Trail of Tears have a bigger fan base, but by the time Guardians of Time have released the same number of albums who knows where we might be as a band? The reason I quit is that Guardians of Time will always be the band that stays closest to my heart, and there simply isn’t enough room for a second band.

There are a lot of growling vocal parts on the new album. Why did you decide to incorporate them in the record?

Bernt: We simply wanted to evolve. I did experiment with growl vocals on the “Machines Of Mental Design” album (2004) but didn’t feel it suited our style. Sometime later I was asked by Susperia to do a tour with them in UK. I had to incorporate some growling techniques there and thought, “Hey! This ain’t so hard” and therefore I added it to some greater extent on “A Beautiful Atrocity”. Since “A Beautiful Atrocity” is a sort of “reboot” of Guardians Of Time, we thought why not use it.

Paul: As you said earlier, this album is a bit darker and more aggressive then its predecessors, so a little growl came with the territory so to speak.

The album’s concept continues the story of TriOpticon but now the lyrics are more personal, aren’t they?

Bernt: Well, it depends on your point of view. The lyrics on Machines were mainly written by Dag Ove (Johnsen, ex-bassist) and he took a third person perspective on things. On this album I wrote most of the lyrics and wanted more of a first person view on things. I wouldn’t say the lyrics are more personal, but they are perhaps closer and more direct.

Please tell me a couple of words about the bonus track “The Man”. It was so unexpected to hear this track after the entire album! Who came up with this idea?

Bernt: Paul came to me with the complete song and told me he made it just for fun. I did the vocals on it and we liked it so much that we decided to use it as a bonus track. It is a great song and we had a lot of fun recording it in the studio. Paul and Bent (Lindebo, guitar) even did a lot of the backing vocals on it.

Paul: When Bernt showed me the vocal parts he had written for the song I was really excited! He had captured the perfect feel of the song. It just had to be on the record. Though it’s not a typical Guardians of Time song, I believe our fans will appreciate it. 
 
What can you say about the metal scene of today? Don’t you think that power metal has lost its popularity? What are your expectations from the sales of the new album?

Paul: We know better than to expect anything regarding sales numbers. Almost every metal band on the planet has a hard time selling records these days. Sales numbers are not anything we think too much about. If you say power metal has lost its popularity then maybe it has. We don’t really give a f**k about trends, whether it is in the metal scene or anywhere else. We have always done what we believe in and that is what we will continue to do. As long as we feel our songs are killer, we will continue to release albums. That being said, I don’t think we are a typical power metal band anymore.

Let’s speak about your history a little bit. Please tell me about the lyrical concept on the “Machines of Mental Design” album. I believe you did a great job and wrote very detailed lyrics. Why did you choose France as the scene of this album?

Paul: The main character of the story, Marie Delacroix, is the human offspring of the Guardian of Future Time. Her unknown heritage has made her extremely intelligent and beautiful. But she craves more. She uses her skills in science to expand her firm TriOpticon into a multinational company, and to build the enormous TriOpticon tower. Under the slogan “Welcome to the Future where Everything is Gold”, she attracts the worlds attention. TriOpticon grows and builds a faithful allegiance within its workforce, who are promised prolonged life and a golden future. When TriOpticon employees, who are hooked up to the TriOpticon mainframe, finally realize that she is using their brains as supercomputers feeding her ever growing megalomania, they try to break free and insurrection follows. The riot is defeated by Delacroix, and the incident only causes her to become even more motivated to complete her true quest; to escape death and live forever. The Guardians of Time decide to intervene and bring this madness to an end. Their purpose is to terminate Delacroix and her technological developments. Delacroix escapes by downloading her consciousness, her soul, to the TriOpticon mainframe. The Guardians of Time destroy the tower and appear to have eliminated Delacroix. But Delacroix is able to transform into an abstract life form by escaping to another dimension and become more powerful than ever before. She has escaped the Guardians of Time for now...

The lyrics for “Machines of Mental Design” was mostly written by Dag Ove, our previous bass player. But it was all based on Bernt’s story, and it was Bernt who came up with Paris. Why? I have no clue, but it worked pretty damned good!

Bernt: There was no particular reason why I chose France other than that the story needed a rather wealthy country with known landmarks. I considered London and Big Ben, also the U.S. and Empire State Building, but I felt the Eiffel Tower is a more prominent landmark. The idea was that the TriOpticon tower should be more grand than any building in the world. Any building dwarfing it must be vast. Apart from that there was no particular reason.

What can you say about your own attitude towards modern technologies?

Paul: Technology is exciting and a bit scary at the same time. I embrace new gadgets and my iPhone has almost become an integrated part of myself. Most of us are sci-fi fans as you probably have guessed, but things as virtual intelligence and gene manipulation are as frightening as it is fascinating. There is a fine line between creating a perfect world without poverty and genetic diseases and completely destroying everything that evolution so meticulously has created.

Have you seen the movie “Surrogates” with Bruce Willis? Don’t you think that there are many similar ideas in the “Machines…” album and this movie?

Paul: I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it looks cool! And yes, it looks like there are many similarities, but you could say that about a ton of movies, “The Matrix”, “Terminator”, etc.

Bernt: I’ve seen it and, yes, there are similarities, but then again most sci-fi stories are somewhat similar. Take “Matrix” and “Terminator” - machines rules the earth and there is one special guy that can stop it all. There is of course more to it, but the basics are identical.

Let’s speak about your first release “Edge Of Tomorrow”. What can you say about this album now, and what did you feel about it when you were recording this album? Do you still like the cover art of this album? It looks like a self-made picture…

Paul: When we released it we were really satisfied with the album. In retrospect I find it to be a bit “typical power metal”, and the production is not the greatest out there. But I’m still really proud of the album and there are many strong songs on it. We still incorporate songs from this album in our live shows, and the crowd loves it! You may call the artwork crap, but I think it reflects the album really well. And it was created by the legendary Derek Riggs! If you don’t know him, you better do your homework! I’ll give you a hint: Iron Maiden...

Please comment on the lyrics of “Soul Reaper” – it portrays a very strange story!

Bernt: The lyrics of this song were written by Rune and me. We had this plan for a concept involving demons and several Arabian myths. The concept was never completed and the lyrics on “Soul Reaper” is a remnant of this. That’s why it sounds kinda strange. Most of the lyrics in that period were written while having had perhaps a bit too much to drink, hehe.

Let’s speak about your native town Kristiansand. This is the native city not only for Guardians of Time but for Trail Of Tears, Scariot and many other bands. Can you say a few words about this city?

Paul: With a little over 80,000 inhabitants it is not the biggest metropolis in the world. Even though it consists of only a few hundred people the metal scene blossomed in the mid-1990s, and it still does. There are a lot of metal bands here and most of us know each other pretty well. Many of the best bands even rehearse in the same building. If we are in need of a certain guitar amp for a recording or whatever, we help each other out and borrow equipment from one another.

There are a lot of festivals in Kristiansand and one of them is the biggest Norwegian festival Quart. What can you say about this festival?

Paul: Quart was a great annual happening in Kristiansand. All kinds of bands have played in this city thanks to Quart. It was the highlight of the summer with 4 glorious summer days with concerts and parties! All kinds of genres were represented, but in the metal genre names like Paradise Lost, Slayer, Rammstein, Rage Against The Machine, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Motorhead, Satyricon, Slipknot, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash and My Dying Bride all played the festival. We were lucky enough to play two times at the club scene and then the main stage in 2004. Sadly the Quart Festival exists no more.

Bernt, please tell me about your passion for World War II tanks!

Bernt: I think it was during my army service when I saw the Leopard 2A4 (German combat tank designed in the 1970s – ed.) for the first time. I was fascinated by the sheer power it housed and naturally wanted to know more about them. As I read I discovered that the WWII era tanks were much more different back then. Nowadays most tanks are relatively equal. Leopard 2, Abrams, Challenger 2 and so forth are very alike in firepower, mobility and armor. Back then you had everything from a BT-7 (Soviet light tank – ed.) to a KingTiger. The techniques, ideology and usage were so vastly different that I had to learn more, and then I got hooked. I’ve been to several tank museums in Britain and Germany and I have a hope that someday I’ll be able to visit Kubinka outside Moscow.

Paul: The rest of the band have learned NEVER to bring up this subject, as the rest of the day will turn into one long lecture about WWII-tanks trivia, haha!

To round up this interview please say a couple of words for Russian fans.

Thank you for having us over last October! We WILL come back and you guys better be in the front row headbanging! We long to come back and play in the mighty country of Russia! Stay true to metal and support Guardians of Time!

Guardians of Time on the Internet: http://www.guardiansoftime.no/ 

Special thanks to Monica Miland (Guardians Of Time management) for arranging this interview

Konstantin “Hirax” Chilikin
May 16, 2011
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