Sweden Melodic Metal pioneers Eyes Wide Open will be releasing their fourth album Through Life and Death on November 12th. The band’s guitarist Kristofer Strandberg took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about the band’s new album, the strong meaning behind the band’s lyrics, hopes for the band’s future, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: The band’s new album Through Life and Death is set to be released on November 12th, what can you tell fans about the upcoming release?
Strandberg: Through Life and Death is a journey that takes you through all the struggles we have between life and death. Everything from the stuff that happens in the world right now to inner struggles, like fighting your demons. This is our most diverse album so far and it really shows what Eyes Wide Open is about.
MER: How was the writing and recording process having this being the band’s fourth album?
Strandberg: We started to record this album at the same time as corona emerged. I think that made us feel less stressed with getting the album done and we didn’t feel that we had to rush anything. Since our last album The Upside Down we also produced, mix and master our music by ourselves, in our studio ES Music. I’m glad that we have this opportunity, because now we can work on the songs until we are 100% satisfied with them. This without having to think about the money situation. The album was written pretty much in the same way as we always do. It starts with either me or Erik that comes up with a riff or melody and then we build this together to a song. We always start with the music before the lyrics, even though vocal ideas usually appear at the same time. I think the lyrics were written in a bit of a special way this time though. Me and Erik sat together and just talked about stuff that happened in our lives at the time or events that happened in the world. Sometimes those subjects made it to a lyric idea and sometimes they didn’t. I remember when we did the song “Wildfire.” We spent 3 hours talking about misinformation and how fast stuff like that spreads. After those 3 hours we were sure that this was the subject we were going to write about. We later spent the whole night writing and recording the vocals. I think especially the chorus of this song is one of the best ones on the album.
MER: The band has released four songs from the new album, what kind of feedback have you received and do you feel like these songs will give fans a good idea on what to expect on the full length?
Strandberg: The feedback has been incredible! Even better than I hoped for. I think those songs give a pretty good picture of how Through Life and Death sounds like but also a good picture of what Eyes Wide Open sounds like. There will be both faster, heavier and softer songs on the album though. We try to write really diverse songs because that’s what we love ourselves.
MER: How would you compare Through Life and Death to the band’s other three albums?
Strandberg: If you listen back to our older album you can hear us evolve a lot from album to album. Even though we have evolved a lot since our last album The Upside Down, I think this new album is more of an extension to that album. We really felt that we found our sound on The Upside Down and now we just wanted to evolve that.
MER: What do you see as plans for the band after the album release?
Strandberg: The plan is to go and play live as much as possible, if corona lets us to. We have some stuff booked for 2022 that we will drop soon!
MER: How is it playing in Europe versus the rest of the world?
Strandberg: Our biggest audience is the US, so the plan is definitely to go there as soon as we get the opportunity to. Playing in Europe is great though. I must say that eastern Europe is really special. We played in Kiev a couple of years ago with Hatebreed and that crowd was totally crazy! 5 mosh pits going on at the same time.
MER: Ideally who would you want to tour with and why?
Strandberg: There are alot of great bands out there that I think we would make a great fit with. One of those are Trivium. Great band and they also seem to be really great guys. Hope this will happen in the future!
MER: With 2021 almost over, what have been some of your favorite albums this year?
Strandberg: Our label mates in Venues dropped an awesome album not too long ago that really rocks! The new Trivium one is sick too.
MER: Out of the band’s four albums, which one would you suggest to a new fan and why?
Strandberg: Definitely the new one or The Upside Down. I think those albums show what we are all about!
MER: Thanks for your time and stay safe and healthy!
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