First of all, congratulations on reaching 30 years as a band. Looking back from “Mansions Of Eternity” to “Disillusioned By The Illusion”, what do you feel has remained the core identity of Aurora Borealis through all these years?
Thank you, we greatly appreciate it. I would say we have never strayed from just being relentless. We have never really pulled back on the throttle and the goal is always to get faster and more aggressive. I know many people find that redundant or boring, but I enjoy pushing the boundaries and going to the extreme.
“Disillusioned By The Illusion” is described as a departure from the conceptual structure of your previous records. What pushed the band toward a more individual, track by track approach this time around?
I had a lot of personal things going on in my own life that I needed to get out of my system really. I got in to some trouble that I should have and then my mother died on the middle of all the stuff going on. Not to mention other things. And also had ideas for songs that wouldn’t necessarily take an entire album to explore, But I didn’t want to lose those. The next album we will be returning back to conceptual albums, however.
The album title itself is quite evocative. Could you elaborate on the philosophy behind it? Is it a commentary on our current global reality, or does it lean more toward the metaphysical themes often found in your music?
Everything we believe in is almost like an illusion, when people read the lyrics it will further explain my thoughts and more detail. Whether we are dealing with life, friendship, relationships, the universe, religion or family, and even death itself. We are all somewhat disillusioned by the things going on around us and the way we perceive them. They’re always grander greater and underlying elements and what we call life. We have to question is life even real. And even if it’s not real, if we believe it is real then does that make it real?
Songs like “Millisecond Pulsar,” “Phase Transition,” and “Your Penumbra” suggest strong cosmic and scientific imagery. Has astronomy or the unknown always been an important source of inspiration for the band?
Space and the cosmos in general are very important in a lot of what Aurora Borealis does those first two songs you mentioned definitely show that. The other however, is regarding the death of my mother. But even that as you suggested, shows the universe as a hole in the importance it plays in life. My father was a NASA scientist so even as a child I was able to go to NASA and view amazing telescopes and hear all the scientist talk about things that were proven and the theoretical. Some of those theoretical things have since came to life in the past 40 years. When your father works at NASA it’s almost impossible, not to be amazed by the universe, so it naturally comes through in my writing.
Musically, the new album seems to balance technical precision with raw aggression very naturally. Was there a conscious effort to make the material more intense and direct compared to previous releases?
We always try to push the boundaries and limits, the aggression is something that will always be a part of this band however, I think it’s very important to execute what you write in a very precise way as you mentioned. Believe it or not I’ve since then added a new drummer in his abilities are incredible so this will push the band even further to the extreme. We are already about halfway through writing a new record, it’s going to be super intense, but also very creative without ever losing the aggression enroll this you mentioned.
Aurora Borealis has worked with legendary drummers throughout its history, while still maintaining a recognizable sound. How important has chemistry and consistency become for the current lineup entering this new era with Non Serviam Records?
The current lineup is I and Eddie Rossi on bass. Mark Green has since departed the band and the new drummer that was added was Jack Blackburn. He has played for mini bands that have inspired me such as Inferi, enfold darkness and vital remains. You and I are on the same spiritual wavelength and it’s actually the first time that has ever happened with anyone that has been in the band. I tried to never move backwards, so I am very pleased with this current lineup, but yes, looking back. I have been very fortunate to play with some of the best drummers in the world.
This album breaks away from the conceptual frameworks of your previous works. What led to the decision to move away from a singular concept, and did this freedom change your songwriting process for these eleven tracks?
As I mentioned earlier, there were definitely significant reasons for moving to the single song structure of this record. I wouldn’t call a freedom that allowed, but it more so allowed more ideas to be put on a record. Rather than one idea stretched out. The actual songwriting process remained the same, however lyrically it was hard trying to say all that I needed to say in one song for each idea. I’m very pleased with the way it came out, however.
Over the decades, the US black/death metal scene has evolved dramatically. From your perspective, what has changed the most since the late 90s, both for better and worse?
That’s a hard question to address because yes, you are right is a very drastic dramatic change. I think they’re good and bad in both however, if I had to choose, I would say it has gotten worse. With the advent of HOME, recording, and the ease of “doing it on your own” everyone seems to be making records and to be honest most of them aren’t that good. It’s hard to read through the hundreds of records that are coming out every week and find the one good one back in the 90s. The record labels were sort of the control mechanism for putting things out into the world and generally if bands were spending a lot of money to record. There was a good chance. They were pretty decent bands. I also think with the advent of the digital audio recording workstations it has made musicians worse, most of the people who write things are not able to execute them. It’s all about copy paste and edit. I think it’s important that you’ll be able to play especially live what you write. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a little editing or punching in. However, when you build it from top to bottom and nothing is played it’s sort of ridiculous. Not to mention writing songs suffers when you are not able to write with actual other people.
"We are all somewhat disillusioned by the things going on around us and the way we perceive them. They’re always grander greater and underlying elements and what we call life."
Aurora Borealis has always combined brutality with atmosphere and melody instead of relying purely on speed or heaviness. Do you feel that balance is something missing from a lot of modern extreme metal today?
Yes, for sure, I’m influenced heavily by a lot of the European stuff which had actual melody in it. So we definitely try to add melody without putting keyboards on it. Keyboards have never really had a place in Aurora Borealis for adding atmosphere so we have to rely on melodies to do that for the second part of your question. Yes it is missing. Sometimes things are so technical. It’s just 50 riffs packed into a song with no direction. You still have to write actual songs in my opinion and not just a bunch of stuff thrown together to show how fast or how technical or how good you are. Some structure is crucial to me.
Recording once again at Nightsky Recording Studios gives the album a very organic and personal feel. How important is it for Aurora Borealis to keep full control over the recording and production process?
Thank you, I appreciate that. It is important to a point. I’ve never really opposed to someone else’s ears or someone else’s opinion. As long as they are reputable and have a catalogue of things they can say they’ve done. I generally can’t take opinions and direction from someone that’s inexperienced, but feels they know how to do things. That’s another issue with the modern world. Everyone calls themselves in engineer or producer because they own a pro tool system. That’s not even close to being an actual engineer. It’s like buying a set of tools. Never working on a car and calling yourself a mechanic. I do feel our albums, get better and better with the production and the continual evolution of my recording studio whether it be adding gear are more experience making records. If a label or to try and send us somewhere else or add a producer, I wouldn’t be totally opposed to it as long as they were fronting the bill. Haha.
After ten albums and thirty years of "Non Serviam" spirit, what is the most important thing you want listeners to take away from “Disillusioned By The Illusion”?
I really want them to understand we take this very serious and I would also encourage everyone to read the lyrics because I take great care in writing them and every single line has a meaning. You also can interpret these things your own way, but at the end of the day, there’s a message and something to take away from it.
After ten albums and three decades of existence, what still drives Aurora Borealis creatively? Is there still something the band feels it has not yet fully explored musically or lyrically?
Nothing really drives me other than the desire to create. I wake up and live and breathe this lifestyle. I am very fortunate in my life that I can live the way I do. I don’t really answer to anyone and I can make my own schedule which allows me to sit down and create quite a bit. I just go with, however, or whatever I’m feeling in the moment when I wrote. I’m not looking to actively explore any area. It will all be a natural process and nothing will be forced. If I have a feeling or desire to write about something that that’s when I start my exploration. Let me also thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us, we are not a super big band so we appreciate these opportunities to reach a further audience. We encourage all listeners to get in touch. We try to answer all messages.
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