Epiclore 5

Well, the album is finally finished and released. Music-wise, I would say, this is the most heterogeneous album we've come up with so far: I think each song has different attributes and rocks in a different way than the others. Something for everyone, I'd like to think. I believe we succeeded in creating a quality-wise-consistent entirety, nevertheless maintaining that crucial variety in the songs to keep you interested until the very end. There's some of the old-school high-speed stuff we're accustomed to, but on the other hand you can hear a newer, I would say more softer and tender approach on many songs. This is partly because of the atmosphere of the song lyrics. I wanted to try to convey the thematics of this album, the more meditative mood, and the emotions that try to flavor the compositions: frustration, regret, sadness, wonder, and hope as well. I know what you think, we're selling out. :) But the result is the sum of many things, and in the end you can't control how it'll end up. It just happens and all we can do is hope people enjoy it.

As for the lyrics themselves, I don't want to go too deep into them. Most of them are really self-explanatory, after all. I want to point out though, that not all of the lyrics are written in my own personal perspective, and most of them have nothing to do with my own feelings or beliefs. Admittedly, some lyrics have inspiration in reality and in real people, but some others are completely works of fiction. Either way, I hope they touch at least some people somehow. I've accomplished my goal if they do, hehe...

There are two songs I of course must mention here. First of all, "Riverball" is written for the local soccer team SC Riverball, to be their theme song. I set out to come up with the catchiest chorus in history, and you'll be the judge of how well I succeeded, hehe... While writing this statement, the song has already been in heavy use at Riverball home games in Joensuu. The feedback has been very positive and I hope we will be able to widen our audience to that direction and through that channel as well. I know many Riverball related people have been waiting for the record for over a year, ever since I promised to write and record the song, hehe... sorry it took so long. But the work is now done, and I hope you enjoy the song and the rest of the album as well. :)

Secondly, the song "Vox Dei" has to be mentioned since it features our first ever guest appearance: Tuula Tolvanen sang a duet with me for the song. We discussed this possibility already years back, and now that this record provided a fitting atmosphere for this kind of experiment, we carried out this thought. And to think that I almost buried the idea just before the recordings, because I hadn't written an additional 9th song for it... I just didn't have any ideas left for another song, and the record was going to be long enough as it was anyway. Luckily I had already promised her she would appear on the album and so I had no choice but to re-arrange one of the songs for this purpose, hehe... and I'm glad I did, it became my personal favourite on the record after all. It was clear that I would want to place this song to be the last one on the record, to end the entirety in a not-so-happy note, so to speak.

In retrospect, I would say the fact I'm most unhappy with is that this record brings an end to our practice to finish the album with an instrumental song (though I seriously considered adding »this to the end, hehe)... but the thing is I really got fed up with instrumentals after working with the "wankery" sections of "Expedition", hehe... and besides, I wanted to have some meaning in every one of the songs this time. Now that I think of it, the "real-life" thematics of this album may be the result of me simply needing some counterweight to the "unreal" fantasy concept of the Myth theme on the previous record. Don't get me wrong, that story is still amazing in my opinion, and it was perfect for the long epic song I really wanted and needed to write at that time. But back to this record, well, I guess I just needed to vent a little bit this time.

I'm not going to rant about the production here, there's quite enough of that in the studio diary (I'm sure you're interested in it as well, since you've read this far :D) but I have to say I'm glad we've had the opportunity to record and produce the album ourselves once again. The result is not perfect, but very satisfactory in my opinion. And after all, we have to have something to improve from for the next record! Meanwhile, download and enjoy this one, support the free independent artist, and I for one will be grateful. And thank you if you already have. Let's keep rocking!

Cheers,

Olli Hurskainen