Allschools: Hello guys, thanks very much for your time! You just created another new album that´s going to hit the stores soon. How do you feel yourself about this record?

I love the record a lot and it’s our favorite record we’ve done. I think every song on it is unique from the others and they all sound exactly like we wanted them to.


Allschools: What did you change in terms of approaching the album? Where did the inspiration, songwriting come from?

We chose to work with people we knew we were going to have a good experience with. Our last record was a nightmare to record and we were very unhappy with the turnout because of it. For the songwriting I just think that we got better at writing songs from the experience over the years and we knew how to approach each song better. It was all around a great time writing and recording.


Allschools: How difficult was it for you to find the final sound - how much did you change while you were in the studio?

It wasn’t too hard to accomplish. Everything seemed to just keep going right for us with this record. there were very few times that I felt I was stuck on anything. Dan Korneff did an amazing job with the production and I love how the record sounds overall.


Allschools: You have three features with different people on this album - Dani Filth, Maria Brink and Tim Sköld. How did this came along?

Well, Tim and Maria are very close personal friends and I wanted them on the songs they are on. I needed a female vocal on the song “Contemptress” and Maria has one of my favorite female voices, so I asked her and she was very into it. Tim Skold and I wrote the song that he sings on together. He had the song completed and then I came in and helped change some things around and of course I wanted him to be singing on a song that he had such a huge part in.

Allschools: Talking about the lyrics: Does this album have any lyrical concept or follows an overall topic or aim?

It’s all over the place. There are a lot of songs that are about really personal issues and things going on in my own head, and then there are songs that are just about fictional stories or lyrics that are written through the eyes of movie characters. I like to be well rounded with what I write about so it doesn’t become too monotonous.


Allschools: Your sound for me builds a bridge between modern metal or metalcore and more gothic like rock. This can also be seen in the bands you tour with like Chiodos on the one and Lacuna Coil on the other hand. Is there somewhere musicwise you consider yourself more in?

Thats a pretty accurate description of our sound. We really like to explore a lot of different sounds based on the type of music we love and are influenced by. I personally do not enjoy that we fit in with bands like Chiodos. It’s nothing against them at all, I just mean that I feel like we fit in a lot more with bands like Lacuna Coil. That’s the realm of music I want to be a part of full time, but I guess i’m just happy to be touring and playing regardless of what bands it’s with.


Allschools: You guys just played Warped Tour this summer. How was that experience for you?

It was really great this time. We played it 2 years ago and it was rough for us. This time we were on main stage and the shows were a lot bigger and better. I think it helped us a lot because we were able to play for a lot of fans that we would never have the chance to be in front of.



Allschools: How do you feel about the upcoming tour with LACUNA COIL? Do you feel any pressure concerning this kind of new crowd of Lacuna Coil?

I couldn’t be more excited for that tour. I am SO anxious for it to come. We feel like that’s where we belong and I want to see if the crowd is receptive towards us or if they aren’t a fan. It gives us a chance to play some songs that we normally don’t play on tours like Warped Tour. I hope the crowd enjoys us, because we really enjoy them.