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JOHNNY HEDLUND On UNLEASHED's Longevity: 'I Don't Know How To Stop'
"The thing is that when we started this band, I was a young guy," he continued. "We started it in 1989, and I had played in NIHILIST for two years, so I started playing death metal in '87. Now that's, like, 400 years ago [laughs] — at least it feels like it. So the thing is that everything that we spoke about way back then was mostly, 'Let's go out on fucking tour and bang heads together and drink some beers.' There was no plan to release 15 albums way back then, but as the years kept rolling, and we realized, 'Man, we might actually be good at this' [laughs], we just kept on going. And we still do. And Anders [Schultz, UNLEASHED drummer] used to tell me, 'Well, what the hell should I do if I didn't do this?'
"First of all, it's very inspiring to make music and lyrics, and we love it," Johnny added. "And, of course, going out to meet people and still bang heads and drink beer and meeting all the friends I've been seeing for all those years, that's the thing, man. There's nothing better. So, yeah, we just keep on rolling."
Regarding the lyrical inspiration for "Fire Upon Your Lands", Johnny said: "This is the sixth album now on the same storyline from the book that I wrote many years ago. And, well, we just keep on doing that too, because I keep translating the chapters into songs, and it seems that people like it and it seems that we kind of do it pretty well, so we just keep on going with that. And, obviously, the story isn't over yet, so, well, at least since everybody seems to like it, then we just keep doing that. So this one, of course, starts when the previous one left off, so to speak, so it's the exact same events that just keep on going to the next chapter, so to speak."
Earlier in the month, Schultz told RichardMetalFan about the songwriting and recording process for the follow-up to 2021's "No Sign Of Life": "We've been writing since the last [album] came out. It's an always-ongoing process. So it's just been — I don't know when ['No Sign Of Life'] came out; it's been a couple years, I guess, maybe three. But, yeah, as soon as we do something, we keep writing. So it's always kind of ongoing. So there's stuff that's at least three years old or whatever on the new one. And we played a lot of shows and stuff as well, so it's not like we have a certain period of time we're gonna write stuff and do stuff. We'll just keep doing it until, 'All right. The stuff is ready,' and then we start putting the last bits together and then we do the record. And sometimes it takes longer, 'cause you've got other stuff to do. Sometimes it comes quicker, whatever. So that's kind of how we're used to doing it. And it's good. And then, I guess after a couple years, it's always like, 'Oh, you know what? We should start [recording].' Cause if you don't plan for something, it's never gonna happen. So you just keep writing stuff and then, like, 'The stuff is ready.' It's, like, 'Okay, now we've gotta set a date and we wanna do this.' [Then we] talk to labels or whatever. And then they're, like, 'Okay, we wanna have it done by a certain date.' And then we start really doing like the last bits, [and that's] when it gets a bit intense, because the whole time before that, it's just been kind of mellow, writing, putting stuff together, and then towards the end, it's, like, 'Okay, now we've gotta get this shit in gear and make sure everything is perfectly put together and then set the studio times and then go for it.' It's how we do it [and] always have, I guess. It's comfortable."
Anders continued: "We actually went into the studio a while ago to start [recording the new album], 'cause I think actually it was supposed to have an earlier release date. So we were a bit pushed: 'Okay, it's gotta be done by a certain date.' So we had to get on it. And then, actually, the date got pushed back a bit. So it's, like, 'Oh, shit.' We didn't need to… We didn't rush it. It's always good to have a positive stress kind of thing. So it's good to have a date so you get it done. But we would've had more time, but it doesn't matter. So it's actually been done for a while. So it's just the release date that got pushed back until kind of the end of the summer instead of the beginning, I think. For whatever reasons, I don't know."
Asked if UNLEASHED went into the songwriting and recording process this time around with a desire to try something new or different that he and his bandmates hadn't done before, Anders said: "Well, the thing with this band is it's always kind of a constant.. But you've always gotta hear that it's UNLEASHED. If you put the record on, it's gotta be noticeable that it's an UNLEASHED record, so you can't really sway too much and go crazy on weird shit, which is something we don't [do anyway]. But it's still gotta be progress. So it's still in the same vein, but, of course, you try to progress a bit. But there's, of course, not major [stylistic] turns. This band from the start has been said to be what it is. So there's no going off and doing rock and roll stuff or whatever. But we try to make progress within what we are and what we do. It's a strong record. It's got good songs on it. But it's probably pretty similar to the last one. But then again, the last one is kind of similar to the one before, but you just kind of veer off a little bit and progress. So that's what we try to do."
Anders added: "We said that, actually, from day one when we started this band. It's, like, 'It's gonna be death metal.' Because there was a lot of bands that after a few records, they start veering off somewhere else, incorporate a bunch of… [it's] not necessarily bad, 'cause if that's stuff you wanna do, that's what you wanna do. But we always said it's gotta be UNLEASHED. And if you wanna do something different, then you've gotta be in another band. From the first [album] and the last one, there's a big difference, but you can still tell it's UNLEASHED. And that's kind of the point — there is progress. It's just that you kind of get progress within what you do. And that was always important to us. And we said it from when we started the band: 'This is what it's gonna be.' Of course we didn't think we were gonna do this like 36 years later, but there was never anybody that was, like, 'Shit, you know what? I wanna put some jazz in here. I wanna do some rock and roll stuff.' It's, like, it's gotta be death metal, it's gotta be UNLEASHED."
The official music video for the first single from "Fire Upon Your Lands", a song called "War Comes Again", can be seen below.
UNLEASHED previously stated about "War Comes Again": "When your enemies do their best to take everything away from you and things look as bad as they can get, you prepare for battle and face the enemy head on! This is fundamentally what being a warrior is all about. You know it's inevitable that war will come again… and again."
"Fire Upon Your Lands" track listing:
01. Left For Dead
02. A Toast To The Fallen
03. The Road To Haifa Pier
04. War Comes Again
05. Fire Upon Your Lands
06. Loyal To The End
07. Midjardarhaf
08. Hail The Varangians!
09. To My Only Son
10. Hold Your Hammers High!
11. Unknown Flag
In addition to Hedlund and Schultz, UNLEASHED's current lineup includes guitarists Tomas Måsgard and Fredrik Folkare.
Photo credit: Jens Rydén
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