Interview

Carach Angren Talks New Album "This Is No Fairytale"

Forgoing the typical Satan worship or mystical allegory, Carach Angren prefers to tell straight foward and specific stories with a dark bent, from battalions lost at war to children stuck in horrifying home environments.

New album "This Is No Fairytale" (reviewed here) drops at the end of the month via Season Of Mist, with several advance tracks already available online to whet fan appetites (check out a few below).

Ardek - one third of the Carach Angren trio - also got in touch with us to explain the themes of this new release and discuss working with the likes of Peter Tägtgren while recording "This Is No Fairytale" as well as lining up new tour dates to support the release.

xFiruath: It seems like this is very much a “concept” style of album following a specific story. Can you explain to me what's happening in the story and how the concept came about?

Ardek: Yes indeed it is. Telling horror stories via music has been our trademark since the very beginning actually. We have never done anything else and tried to improve it with every release. On our first releases we (partially) adapted stories and transformed them into music albums. Our previous album was completely made up by us and the one we are releasing now too.

The album is titled "This Is No Fairytale" and I won't reveal the story completely but in the first lyric video we have released recently you can learn that the story starts by introducing a family in trouble, especially the children, who suffer from the horrors that happen in the house, specifically caused by their father. Maybe some people have already found a hint of a fairytale in that little part of the story but what I can tell you is that these children will have an adventure throughout the album and as you might suspect already... it won't be nice haha.

xFiruath: As you mentioned a lyric video just came out not too long ago for “There's No Place Like Home” created by Costin Chioreanu and it seemed like it really nailed the themes and atmosphere of the album.

Ardek: Yes we gave him the lyrics, the song and explained what the story was about, what we thought is important to emphasize and he did an amazing job, really. It was beyond our expectations and apart from this short briefing he did the whole video by himself. It was excellent! He is really talented and the video showed exactly the visuals as we had them in mind while writing the album.

xFiruath: How does the sound of this album differ from “Where The Concepts Sink Forever?” Are there any curveballs on this album in terms of sound or lyrics that fans of previous albums might not see coming?

Ardek: The sound is in one way a logical next step but in another way completely different. For this album we worked again with producer Patrick Damiani who did a great job but we decided to have the album mixed by Peter Tägtgren which resulted in a different sound and we are very enthusiastic about that combination. The sound is more in your face and the orchestral parts are more blended in with the rest this time. This feels very natural and fits the concept because it is very rough, not so nice things happen and both the music and sound should emphasize this. Fans can expect everything we have done before but as always we try to reinvent ourselves. We don't want to give the fans a "lammendam II" or "Death Came Through a Phantom Ship II" because we feel that wouldn't be fair. If we don't reinvent ourselves, we keep repeating and that's not inspiring. Our fans know that and they want us to create something fresh again. So yes there are some surprises!

xFiruath; Fill me in a bit more about the recording process for this album.

Ardek: We recorded again with Patrick Damiani at Tidal Wave Studio in Germany. We have got a very good working relationship with him which makes the recording process very smooth and creative. I worked on the orchestral parts from my own studio. The album was mixed this time by Peter Tägtgren in his studio in Sweden and he did an amazing job!

xFiruath: Do you have any guest spots on this album from other musicians?

Ardek: Yes we worked again with Nikos Mavridis who is a very good violinist from Greece. We have worked with him since “Lammendam” on all our albums and he has also done a couple of live shows with us. This album doesn't feature a lot of violin compared to the other albums but there still are some very haunting parts.

xFiruath: You guys just had your first North American tour back in October – how did that go and did you have any particularly memorable stops or any difficulties during the live shows?

Ardek: It was a very good tour for us because we finally got to meet all the great fans we have out there and it was overwhelming. There were so many people looking forward to finally seeing us live, really great! The tour went very smooth, it was a very strong package. There was one show where the driver woke up too late so we barely made it in time to the next city (Anaheim). I think we literary flew out of the bus on the stage, much later than planned but we made it. That was hectic haha.

xFiruath: Are there any Carach Angren tour dates or festival appearances lined up to support this new album?

Ardek: Yes we want to tour as much as possible to promote the new album but there are no confirmed tours yet. We are working hard on that. As for festivals, we have some confirmations like Summerbreeze (Germany). We are also playing an album release show in February in Holland (28.02.2014 P3, Purmerend).

xFiruath: On a similar note, have you caught many live shows lately?

Ardek: Not really to be honest. After the tour in the USA and the shows in Mexico and Costa Rica I was content with being home for a while haha.

xFiruath: Other than your own material, what's coming out in music this year that you are really looking forward to?

Ardek: To be honest I don't really follow that many bands. As a musician I'm very occupied with Carach Angren but also composing and producing music for other bands, commercials, short films and projects. I'm always checking out new soundtracks though so I will be closely watching movies that will be released in 2015.