Sweden’s Sonic Ritual have been toeing the line between heavy metal and punk for the better part of six years now. Their up coming EP, Last Exodus from the Land of the Dead, due out this summer via Electric Assault Records, promises to be the band’s best yet. For those unfamiliar with Sonic Ritual, now’s the time to familiarize yourself. Up beat punk surges, heyday heavy metal riffing and arena sized vocals kiss off Sonic Ritual’s catchy brand of heavy metal punk.
I spoke recently with singer and guitarist Henke Palm about Last Exodus… and what’s going on with Sonic Ritual, follow the jump to see what he had to say…check out Sonic Ritual’s version of THE OBSESSED classic “Iron & Stone below!…Pre-order SONIC RITUAL — The Last Exodus From the Land of the Dead HERE!
Full interview after the jump!
So, let’s hear a brief history of Sonic Ritual… All the important and good stuff.
hahaha… well. The most important detail is that the band basically have been dead for two years. I’ve been kinda busy with my other band In Solitude and Linnea [guitarist and backing vocals for Sonic Ritual] has moved to Berlin. But we formed in 2007, changed some members, fought quite a bit and then almost imploded. This last piece of vinyl that we are giving out is more or less our testimony of how good and fun this band once was.
The band was dead for two years? What got you guys back together to record the EP?
The EP was actually recorded in November 2009. So we basically haven’t really played at all since 2011 except one gig in Gothenburg. We’ll see if we manage to score some gigs now. Our “resurrection” is mainly because Henry [ of Electric Assault Records] and Tim [of Trust No One Recordings] are finally getting this thing out. Without them I think this recording would be lying on a shelf somewhere forever.
Last Exodus from the Land of the Dead has a much brighter, clearer, and robust production than previous releases…Do you guys envision this EP as your high water-mark?
It’s by far our high water-mark. Nothing comes close if you compare to our “early” stuff which is – when I listen to out now – quite confused in a way. Really no direction. But “Last Exodus…” has it all what I more or less intended from the start.
“Final Halt (Retain Control)” is probably my favorite song you guys have done, was it a conscious choice to start the EP with a really pulsing punk kind of tune and follow it “Early Graves,” the most traditional sounding metal song there and a cover of a classic doom band (The Obsessed) right after?
Thanks! One of my favourites too. Well the track order is pretty conscious but the whole piece isn’t really. It all makes sense to me really. The punk and metal music I like has tons of similarities to me and the way Sonic Ritual wrote songs was very natural for me. We were all on the same page as far as the punk/metal-thing goes but in the end, its all about how good songs you can write and these three is the absolute best we could have come up with.
And now that the cat’s out of the bag, why The Obsessed? I mean it suits you guys well, but it must’ve been a hard choice to just narrow down your choices to just one song.
Well not really. The Obsessed has been a favourite of mine for years and it suited us really well. The Obsessed had a strong connection with the whole DC-hardcore scene so there is always the connection with punk in our metal.
Speaking of scenes, what’s your local scene like? Do you guys typically get billed with punk or metal acts? Or does no one give a shit there?
Our local scene is pretty alive and well but really “scenes” has never been something for me. I like some bands but I never felt we connected with anyone really. Some bands I really feel a comradery with is No Future, Degial, Invidious, Paper, Nitad and a few more. But that has really nothing to do with music. Its more about the attitude. Music is serious business and these bands think the same way I do. “Scenes” has nothing to do with me.
The stuff you guys do in studio sounds like such a good time live, are live shows an important part of Sonic Ritual?
Yeah. My best memories of the band are on stage. All my worst memories are off stage hahaha. Our gig in London 2010 was the perfect show for us. Intense, melancholic and fun. You can find pieces of it on youtube!
Getting back to what you said earlier…Sounds a bit like you guys are calling a quits for now? Please tell me I’m wrong!
We’ll see. Lots of things has happened in these years. Not only musically but also – and more so – on a personal level. In Solitude eats most of my creative time, so does my other band Pig Eyes. And Linnea lives in Berlin and has her own band The Oath. But you never now. I would like the band to continue but as you see I have other obligations at the moment.
Well that about sums it up for me. Any last words?
Be yourself and fuck the world. And check out these great records if you haven’t heard them: The Sound “Jeopardy”, Linda Perhacs “Parallolgrams”, Björn Olsson “Lite nya melodier”, Captain Beefheart “Clear spot”, The Yardbirds “Roger the engineer”, Psychic TV “Trip reset”, Swans “White light from the mouth of infinity” and Love “Forever changes.”
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