Sum Of R
From:
Switzerland
Last Known Status: Active
Sum Of R Interviews and Features
Below are our features and interviews with Sum Of R.
Interview
Sum Of R Talks New Album And Recruiting A Vocalist
Switzerland has a long history of experimenting when it comes to metal music. Be it the original avant-garde metal pioneers Celtic Frost, the mainland Celt inspired tunes of Eluveitie or more recent progressive bands such as Dreamshade, there's always been interesting music coming out of central European nation. Another example of Swiss musical ingenuity comes in the form of Sum Of R, a project originally conceived by Reto Mäder who released their self-titled debut album in 2009.
Only yesterday, Sum Of R released their fourth full lenfth opus, "Lahbryce," which brought in even more elements to the band's sound. Perhaps the most notable was the addition of vocalist Marko Neuman, in what had previously been a mostly instrumental affair. To find out more about the record, Metal Underground was fortunate enough to put some questions to Reto Mäder and Marko Neuman, who told us all about the album's meaning, soundscapes, visuals and more.
Diamond Oz: Congratulations on your new album, "Lahbryce." What can you tell us about the meaning behind the album's title?
Marko Neuman: Thank you. The title means ”breach of the law”. To find solutions we have to make mistakes. Sometimes ”a mistake” is committing a crime. For example, with murder, an individual can find a “better” self, meaning of life. Of course by bearing the consequences.
Oz: Why did you decide that now was the time to introduce vocals into what was previously an instrumental band?
Reto Mäder: Various factors played a role. After 10 years of working with Sum Of R as a solo project with different guest musicians it was time to transform the project into a band. This started in summer 2019 after a session in Switzerland with Jukka as drummer. In the same year, Marko, the singer of Dark Buddha Rising and me, revived Ural Umbo and recorded "Roomer" – dedicated to our common love for horror movie soundtracks. When Sum Of R was then booked for the Roadburn Festival 2020 as a two-piece instrumental band, Jukka and me thought about having a guest singer for that particular performance, Marko.More...When Roadburn was cancelled due to the pandemic, I did not want to give up on the project and booked the first possible flight after the first shutdown in Switzerland to travel to Finland for three weeks of studio recording with the trio line-up that never was. During the recordings it quickly became clear that Marko is more than just a guest singer. So it was not a decision against an instrumental band, but a natural development around different factors that guided us towards each other.