Shrapnel Storm Interview

Coming from Finland, Shrapnel Storm brings a mighty punch of old school sounding death metal. Check out their album, "Mother War," which is a bruising death metal release. Recently, the band took the time to answer some questions I had for them. Here is the interview below...

Q) Hello guys in Shrapnel Storm! Congratulations on the release of “Mother War.” It is a heavy grooving piece of death metal that is loud enough to knock a house down...okay maybe not that loud, but a pretty killer sounding release.

A) Hi! Thanks, we agree everything you say. This is the first time in our history we are 100% satisfied with the sound issues, to be honest. We cannot praise enough our sound engineer Daniel Rantanen who mixed and mastered the album sounding the way it is. He surely made shitloads of work, us concentrating mainly on criticism, but it is all worth it!

Q) First off, how pleased are you with the overall album? Are there any favorite songs or riffs?

A) Our goal was to make some sort of history with our debut, and we think we also succeeded in it. The mission was to create solid, under 40 minute strike of old school death metal with a heavy and battering sound, and the result is speaking itself. We've listened to the songs quite a lot as you can imagine, but the weirdest thing is that our favorite songs are changing all the time. Depending on the mood, the favorite can be our opener "Carpet bombing" or our closer "Rising Storm" or something between them. Some could say it is a sign of a good album, but we're incapable to judge. At some point you always get blind to the art you've created, so we only trust what people say, haha! The reviews have been quite nice, though so we trust them!

Q) How long did it take to record the album? Were there any songs that came across as challenging during the recording sessions, or did you guys have the songs down?

A) Basically we started to compose the songs in June 2014, and we entered the studio late December 2014. The recordings ended March 2015. Some songs were of course more difficult to get together, but overall the recordings went quite well and we kept our schedule. The problems we had were more technique-based and we had also some severe health issues, when our lead vocalist Ykä needed some hospital care. Even the doctors didn't get any diagnose to him, so maybe he was just stressing out, haha!

Q) Maybe you can give readers some background info, how long have all of you been playing together? Who came up with the name Shrapnel Storm?

A) We've formed the group approximately 2007, but nobody remembers what was the exact date. Four of us (Mikko, Tohtori, Aki, Pete) have been in the band since start, and Ykä joined 2011. Creating a name to our group was as difficult as you can imagine. We were ballooning a couple of months with different ideas (incl. Zombie Vomit etc. shitty cliches) when our guitarist Aki came with the name Shrapnel Storm.

Q) The album’s title is “Mother War,” and there a lot of songs about war and battle. Who writes the lyrics and where do they draw inspiration?

A) Basically Aki and Ykä write the lyrics together, and they are very devoted about the words and expressions. Basically we do not play with dates and locations, the songs just have a humane kind of aspect to war and its consequences overall.

Q) Shrapnel Storm’s sound is really unique and has a mix of groove and brutal death metal. What bands did you guys listen to growing up that might have influenced your style of music?

A) The musical taste in our group is quite diverse, but overall probably the biggest influence into our music has been the 90's Florida dm bands and Bolt Thrower or Benediction. Our love towards this kind of style was born already in our teenager years and we guess the flame never dies.

Q) So I see you guys are from Finland, how is the metal scene in your area? Do you play shows often and tour?

A) Yeah, we've done quite lots of gigs in Finland, but we're also eagerly waiting someone would invite us to play outside our borders. Booking agents, wink, wink, haha! The metal scene in Finland is quite big and overall there is more supply than demand.
For a starting band with no name, for instance, there can be some problems to get playing shows. When we are touring, typically we have a couple of shows in a month. That's quite seldom, but as we all have dayjobs and some of us have little children it suits us quite well. Next dates in calendar are:
14.8. Lahti, Finland
15.8. Tampere (Our hometown), Finland
22.8. Helsinki, Finland

Q) If you were to go on a tour, what bands would you like to play with? What is your dream tour package?

A) Tough question! There was some live footage coming from Hellfest, and it seemed Obituary was ripping the stage off, so it would be super fun to support them some time. Also Bolt Thrower can be named as one of our biggest influences, so that would be another killer act. We guess this kinda Obituary/Bolt Thrower/Shrapnel Storm tour is not gonna happen in near future but it is always nice to imagine! To be honest, we're a small band and a support slot for any of the big names would be close the dream come true.

Q) Last question, a fun question I do believe so myself. If you were to make a music video for a song on the album, would you like to have the band driving around in tanks, or maybe have you flying jet fighters?

A) Haha! No, definitely none of the options! We're too poor to execute either one, so the more likely option would be just running topsy-turvy in the forest with AK47's!

Q) Alright guys, thanks for doing this interview and can’t wait to hear more music from Shrapnel Storm in the future!

A) Thanks! We already have some strikes ready for the second album so you'll definitely hear from us later on!

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