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Mors Principium Est



Hang in there and keep supporting MPE!



Prologue
We haven't ever talked to Mors Principium Est and the band have never played in Russia as yet. So, we have tried to learn about the band as much as possible and we've talked with the singer of MPE Ville Viljanen and the guitarist Andy Gillion.
Mors Principium Est
1.
Mors Principium Est
The new album, Embers of a Dying World, is the sixth in your career. Sounds mysterious! What is it about?

Andy: The title of the album isn’t a big political statement, it just seemed to reflect a lot of the lyrics to the songs and the state of the world right now. It sounded cool and complimented the epicness of the music so we decided to go with it.


2. Judging by the official preview of the songs on YouTube, on the whole it seems that you slowed down considerably. Have you really started to play slower or it is just the video that contains more low tempo fragments than faster ones?

Andy: I don’t think we’ve slowed down considerably, the new album has lots of fast parts, I guess we just didn’t showcase them all on that preview. This album is a bit more “mid-tempo” than the others in places perhaps but that just gives the musical arrangements more room to breathe and become more interesting. You can do so much more musically and add in a hundred layers but at 300bpm how are you going to hear any of that? It’s not a change in style or even a conscious decision, this album just came out that way.


3. Many musicians say that they're always trying to move forward and discover something new. What's new in this new album compared to previous ones?

Andy: I’d have to say we’ve definitely pushed the orchestra stuff a lot more on this one. There are a ton of layers going on and it makes it really interesting to keep listening through hearing different things each time. I’m quite proud of how complex the arrangements became and was surprised it was possible with the style of music we were writing, but the orchestra stuff really compliments the music. I also think the album stands out as the songs are really varied – it’s not just one big pile of riffs. The songwriting I think got a lot cleverer on this album and the structures and themes of each song really stand out on their own. It’s a lot more musical I would say than albums before it.


4. When your band was just being born, when you were releasing your first demos, what were your aims back in those years?

Ville: Well, when we were doing our first demos, our goal was to get a recording deal with some record label. I think that was pretty much the only goal we were trying to achieve with our demos.


5. Who inspired your band style-wise? Who was your reference point? Many notice some similarity with Dark Tranquillity, do you agree with tha
Mors Principium Est
t?

Ville: It is pretty difficult to say, because we all had our favourite bands that we took influences from. Obviously the Swedish melodic death metal bands had a big role as our influences, because we also started to write melodic death metal, but also some other style bands have influenced our music. I think we all brought different influences into our music as we all listened to different kind of bands.
But yeah, Dark Tranquillity was one influence.


6. On the whole, in the first half of 2000s we learned about many good melodic death bands from Finland. Besides you, also Insomnium, Kalmah, Omnium Gatherum, Noumena. All of you made your presence known more or less at that time. What kind of era was it in your country? What were the young people like you doing, what were they listening to?

Ville: It was an era when In Flames still sounded like melodic death metal. :D hah hah
I can not say what kind of era it was in Finland as I do not pay that much attention to things like that. I can not remember what I was doing back then, other than hanging with friends and having a good time. I listened and still do listen to same music pretty much. Hypocrisy, Carcass and Old Man's Child. And off course In Flames and Soilwork, for example.
I have no idea what the other people used to listen to.


7. Was the style, melodic death, in fashion?

Ville: Maybe you could say so. Well, I don't know was it in fashion, but it was a pretty popular music style, I think. It was like 17 years ago! I don't remember that kind of stuff. I'm old. :D hah hah


8. Barrack Obama, Ex-President of USA, has recently said that Finland "has perhaps the most heavy metal bands in the world, per capita, and also ranks high on good governance. I don't know if there's any correlation there."
How do you think, is there correlation?

Andy: Hahaha did he really say that? Ville will have to answer more on this I think!

Ville: Well, if the president of the USA said so, it has to be true. :D


9. And why, in your opinion, are there so many musicians and kickass metal bands in Finland? I know a guy who lived in Finland and he says that the young people are bored, so teenagers sit at home and play their guitars and it's a kind of national hobby. Is it true?

Ville: I really do not know. I have no opinion on this. And I honestly do not even care. :D hah hah


10. O
Mors Principium Est
k, back to your band. Every MPE album's artwork is always done by a different artist. Even Aborted's vocalist Sven worked with you. Is it intentional or is it just that you haven't yet found someone you really like?

Ville: I just like to try new things. That is the reason. But this cover, that Eliran Kantor did for this new album, is so amazingly cool that there is a really big possibility that we will use Eliran on the next album also. I mean, we appreciate all the artist who have worked with us and we are happy what they have done, but what Eliran did, it is really difficult for someone to do better. And I also think that I would most likely like to use the same style on the next album cover.


11. The same thing with the band's logo, it changes often. But now it seems you have found the version that stays 5 years without change?

Ville: Well the logo is a different story. We did not find a logo that we were happy with, so that is why we tried different styles and different logos. But now we are happy with what we have, so I think we will keep using this one. Until we feel it is time to change.


12. The solid core of your band has been long formed but there is one problem that keeps chasing MPE: guitarists. Since Jarkko Kokko left, you changed a great number of these. Why was it so?

Ville: Couple of players wanted to quit and then couple guys just did not fit in. Sometimes things just don't work. I don't know how else to explain it.


13. Can you say that the guitarist problem is solved now?

Ville: No. :D hah hah At the moment we only have one official guitar player and we still need 2 players on live shows, so we still do need to find session players or a new official player. But at the moment we are not looking for an official player. We are happy with session players.


14. After the release of Liberation=Termination album you decided not to have any permanent keyboard players in the band anymore. What was the reason?

Ville: There was no reason to have one. Andy can do the same programming stuff and during live we can use mp3 tracks for those parts. There is no reason to pay for one extra guy to do something we can do for free. And also it is easier with less people.


15. Ville, recently you've been not just the frontman of the band but also its producer. What exactly are your responsibilities?

Ville: You are correct. I don't only do
Mors Principium Est
vocals in MPE. I am the producer of the new music with Andy and I am the contact person for our label, our bookers and for our merch store. I would say pretty much everything goes through me. I do all the manager stuff and I do all the vocalist stuff and I do some producer stuff too.


16. Let's talk about shows. MPE isn't touring the world that often. Also, you're infrequent guests on summer festivals. Why?

Andy: Well we have toured the world recently. Last summer we played China, Japan, Korea, Europe and this year we played on the 70000 Tons of Metal Cruise (between USA and The Caribbean!). But, we would like to tour more. People often ask me why we don’t as if it’s up to us. We want to tour as much as possible but the offers just don’t come as often as you might think. It’s hard to get on a good tour and we can’t afford to pay for things ourselves and lose money we don’t have. The summer festivals come up now and then and it’s great to do those and hopefully we can do a hell of a lot more of them!


17. 70000 Tons of Metal is a cruise fest, and probably a dream of every metalhead. This year you got in its line-up. What was your impression about that festival? Tell us what's so special about it, how does it work?

Andy: It was incredible. Mainly this was down to the crowds at the shows. There’s just an amazing atmosphere and everyone is just there to have a good time and enjoy metal together. It’s a special community and I would go back every year if I could. We were really fortunate to play to such great crowds, even though one of our time slots was 10:45 in the morning! People still turned up to see us and it was a great feeling.


18. A huge number of Finnish bands have toured in Russia, but you've never been here yet. How did that happen?

Ville: We are still waiting for the right tour offer. :) We would love to tour in Russia also, so as soon as we get a good enough offer, we will for sure come and play in Russia.


19. We wanted to come up with a few original questions based on your social network profiles, but you're not really active there. Probably only Andy's Instagram could be of interest to guitar lovers. You don't like all these modern trends, right?

Ville: I think there is too many different online stuff. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc etc. I do not have time to update all these things! :D hah hah I am happy with our official homepage and facebook. And why are we not that active? Well, I also feel that if there is really nothing important to update, you should not update. I mean, who gives a flying f..k if you are driving to see your grandmother, or how cute your dog looks like when it is drinking, or wow, you just made yourself a sandwich. I mean, COME ON! Too much is too much.


20. What do you think about the fact that any album of any band can be easily downloaded in the Internet? Does it make Metal more popular or is it disrespect to the musicians' hard work?

Andy: It’s a tough one. There are a ton of bands that I would never have heard if it were not for the internet, so it’s a great way to hear new bands etc. But then it is up to the listener whether or not they want to pay for anything after that point, go to shows, buy merch, buy albums… I think it can work both ways but either way the band is kinda screwed. If we didn’t have people posting our stuff on YouTube maybe we would have 75% less fans. But, maybe more people would buy our stuff. I’m just grateful that people out there are supporting us and still choosing to buy our albums and merch. It’s a strange time to be a musician…a strange and desperate time. Then why do so many music labels and bands themselves make their albums available for listening online, free of charge? This works as a kind of promotion as well, kind of salesmanship.


21. What do you listen to in your free time?

Andy: Honestly, I’m so exhausted writing metal all day that I tend to listen to a lot of non-metal stuff – classical, orchestral, jazz. I really think being in a constant mindset of writing metal is not healthy for me. In order to write this stuff I put myself in the music and it’s a very intense feeling, especially when doing it every day for long periods of time. It really affects my mood, so when I need to relax, the last thing I want to do is listen to more metal. I need to break away from that intensity. Of course I do love listening to metal still, it’s just not an everyday thing for me anymore because I write it all day.

Ville: I listen to all kinds of music. It all depends what I want to listen to. Sometimes I just want to listen to the radio and sometimes I want to listen to death metal, sometimes black metal etc etc.


22. Perhaps you can recommend to the melodic death metal fans a few bands that aren't yet known in the wide world?

Ville: Metallica.


23. And finally, Ville, can you say a few words to the Russian fans of Mors Principium Est? Believe us, we have quite a few of them.

Ville: I am really sorry we have not played in your country yet, but I hope the day will come soon! So, hang in there and keep supporting MPE, we really appreciate it. :)


Thank you!

Author: Alexander Lex Gonetsky


25 мар 2017
the End


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