I was recently treated to an email interview with Ville Hising of Run Level Zero, who was nice enough to take time out of his holiday weekend to answer my questions. Vocalist and other half of RLZ, Hans Åkerman, later joined to add his input. Arctic Noise, the band’s latest album, has made a splash on the German Alternative Charts and in the industrial scene worldwide.
Arctic Noise is very confident and pulled together. Would you say you were more confident here than with previous albums?
Absolutely. Cthulhu knows we've spent a lot more time on this album than the previous ones and a lot of work has been put into the flow and design of Arctic Noise. It's far from a concept album, per se, but we have been thinking a bit along those same lines.
Is there a chance we could see a concept album in the future?
Not sure. Some concept albums in other genres have been very interesting but we also feel that it somewhat limits what you can, and can't, do production wise. Maybe a concept mini album or digital release....who knows?
Most of the songs on the album are anthemic, both in music and lyrics. Did you approach Arctic Noise with a vision of creating something on such a large scale?
Good point. I agree that there are several tracks that are anthemic in their nature, it wasn't something we planned but rather it came out that way because of our current taste in music and production skills. Or lack thereof.
I'm in love with "Stroke" right now. Do you have any favorites on the album?
"Stroke" is my favorite, too! It's always been the one song, out of the 30 or so demos we had to choose from to put on the album, that I liked the most. Other than that I like "Black Cinder" and "Hitting Ground". "Shine" is actually an old (well, old-ish) unpublished track that I've learned to like because of it's clean and airy atmosphere.
How do you feel about all the comparisons to Front Line Assembly?
There's no denying FLA has influenced us but I was actually a bit surprised that people seem to compare us with them even more than before when the first reviews started to pour in. I think we rely more on refrains than before whereas FLA has always been a bit darker and noisy.
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