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LH: Hails! How are things in the Crimson Falls camp? I’ve been reading some very positive reviews for your album, would you say the responses you have had are what you were expecting?
Kristof: Hey Luci! Well, I must say we were pretty confident about the album we made as we worked as hard as we could for it, but the reactions we got so far indeed exceeded our expectations. The reviews we got are awesome! We’ve also been getting great reactions from people who bought the CD or listened to the songs on our MySpace account. I think 90% of the reviews so far range from ‘merely good’ to ‘superb stuff!’ We’ve been getting a lot of interviews and show/package proposals as well lately, so things are going good so far!
LH: When you recorded “The true face of human nature” you did not have a permanent bass player. Who did you have filling in on bass for the album, and how would you say that your new permanent bassist Tom has changed things?
Kristof: When we started recording the album, our first bass player Maarten was still in the band. But of course we noticed in the months before the recording sessions that things were evolving in the wrong direction with his commitment and dedication to the band. Maarten lost his motivation due to a wrist injury he had been walking around with for quite some time and wanted more time to do other things in his life. Of course we respect his decision but the timing was inconvenient for us as we had just started recording the album. So for a while we had to go on with interim bass players. We had our friends Sven (Unleash The Fury) & Kristof (Spoil Engine) helping us out. Sven recorded the bass on our new album, while Kristof filled in the empty spot for the live shows. Of course we are still very grateful for what they did for us. Unleash The Fury and Spoil Engine are two awesome bands so make sure to check them out as well! Sven also recently joined Aborted on bass so you can be sure this guy is talented. He did a very smooth and awesome job for us. After some time we were very happy to find a permanent replacement in Tom Trancez (ex-I Witness), so now we are back at full force! At this point Tom hasn’t changed our music a lot I think, apart from the fact that he has his own playing style which differs from the way Maarten, Sven and Kristof play. Of course Tom’s influence is growing now as we started writing new material again. For these new songs Tom can bring in his ideas and co-write them. I can say now already that his influence in our music will be a lot bigger than Maarten’s contribution on ‘TTFOHN’. Tom’s entering also had good influence on the vibe in the band. It feels great to be a 5-piece again and to have an extra person in the band who can give Crimson Falls 100% dedication.
LH: The booklet that comes with “The true face of human nature” has comments about the meanings behind each of the songs. Clearly lyrics are a very important part of Crimson Falls. Are you hoping that maybe by alerting people more to the meanings behind your lyrics you can open up a few minds to try to understand some of the issues you write about, or that through purveying a positive message you can reach out to one or two people through your music?
Kristof: Yes those are indeed some of the reasons why we added the comments to each song in the booklet of our new CD. It would be cool if people can find something that interests them in our lyrics or that they get interested in a subject that is addressed in one of our songs. Adding these comments is a way to draw people’s attention and to put the focus on the meanings behind the songs. We also bring a positive message of freedom, self-confidence, following your dreams and dedication, so if these songs songs get people to take their live in their hands and make something out of it, than that would be great I think.
LH: Your album is called “The true face of human nature”, which is also the title of one of your songs on the album. What made you use this as the name for the album, rather than one of the other song titles?
Kristof: Actually we first came up with the CD-title and then wrote this lyric. ‘The True Face Of Human Nature’ is even the last lyric I wrote for the album. Right before we entered the studio, we started thinking about an appropriate title for our new CD. This proved to be not as easy as we first expected as it took us quite some time to find the title we were looking for. In the end we decided to look back at our lyrics and search for a red thread through the songs. Every lyric appeared to deal with humanity and the acts of human beings. Some songs deal with the dark side of man such as terrorism (‘Martyr vs. Terrorist’) & mobbing (‘Book Of Memories), while other songs like ‘Erase All Fear’ and ‘Four Slaves, Four Struggles’ focus on the “good” that can be found in every person like self-confidence, mankind’s struggle for freedom and so on. So we think there is good and bad in everyone. The title track of the new album also deals with this ambiguity; this contradiction between good and bad in mankind. This songs makes the connection between all the different songs on the album clear at the end of the cd.
LH: Would you say that it is important to you that you develop your own original sound rather than simply jumping on what other bands are doing and following the trends? Which bands have been your biggest influences and how much inspiration do you actually take from them?
Kristof: Musically there are a lot bands that influenced us. Most members in Crimson Falls have more or less the same, but broad musical taste, so we’re all into different styles of metal bands. To name a few bands we think kick major ass: All Shall Perish, At The Gates, Aborted, Heaven Shall Burn, Lamb Of God, Burning Skies, In-Quest, Nevermore, Meshuggah, Behemoth, Morbid Angel... The list is endless. With Crimson Falls we don’t want to copy these bands; we don’t want to be another band that plays the same riffs you’ve heard over and over again. If we come up with a new riff that sounds too much like something of another band, we won’t use it. We do try to make our own combination with these styles. Talking for myself, the biggest influence from these bands comes in listening to the playing techniques the guitar player’s use on these records. If I hear a playing technique that’s new to me, I’m set on learning to play that way myself and using it and make my own riffs with it. With Crimson Falls we don’t limit ourselves to one style only but we want to create our own thing by blending different styles of metal in our music. As far as the lyrics go there are so many things that can be inspiring. I personally like a lot of the lyrics of bands like Heaven Shall Burn, Shai Hulud, Reveal, etc… so these bands were an important influence for me as well.
LH: How would you describe your music to anyone who hasn’t heard Crimson Falls?
Kristof: Most of the time when people ask us to give a style description for our band, we call it deathMETALcore as we combine influences from different subgenres in our music like Melodic Swedish death/thrash, metalcore, brutal US styled death metal and also some modern metal influences. I think our music is headbang-able as well as a moshpit soundtrack. The vocals very from death grunts over screams to spoken word and whisper passages. Live we try to bring an energetic show and most of all have fun, so we hope it shows when you come and check us out live. We are also a band that still thinks the lyrics are important as well, it’s not just music for us.
LH: Perhaps a bit soon to be asking this question but have you begun working on the next album already? Can you tell us anything about what we should expect from the follow up to “True face…” or how it will differ from your current release?
Kristof: We have no concrete plans at this moment as it comes to studio booking or a concrete planning or something. But we are already working on new material and thinking about a next release. We’re considering things we can do better with the next recordings and about the way we want to go next. But at this moment it’s too early to make definite plans or announcements. Musically I hope and think we will keep evolving. With ‘TTFOHN’ we set the framework of what Crimson Falls is about within a wide range of styles and influences. With the next album we want to perfect our style and the Crimson-sound.
LH: You have quite a busy touring schedule set out ahead of you. Do you prefer playing in a live environment or do you prefer to focus your energies on working in the studio, writing songs, etc?
Kristof: Both aspects of playing in a band are cool. If I had to choose I’d say playing live. That’s when it all really happens, when it all comes to life. You feel the energy and adrenaline streaming through your veins and when you get the crowd going it all comes together. When people sing along to your songs, start moshing, diving, head banging… it gives you an awesome feeling! I wouldn’t say it’s like an orgasm, but it’s a close second ?. Music is also made to play and perform live, for other people, so that’s the real deal. Apart from that, working in the studio is a great experience as well. It’s a cool process to build the recordings up and getting to the final result through the mixing and mastering. In the studio you get the opportunity to record everything the way it was supposed to without any mistake. And to hear the final result at the end of the process; to hear your songs blast through the speakers in a great production…yes, that’s number three in the list!
LH: Well that’s all the questions I have for now. Thanks for your time doing this interview, is there anything you would like to add?
Kristof: First of all thanx a lot for giving us the opportunity to do an interview for Metal Team UK, we are honoured. And to the readers, if this interview made you curious about Crimson Falls then go on visit our myspace account: www.myspace.com/crimsonfalls. There you can listen to two songs of the new album; the title track and 'Controle Alt Delete'! If you like what you hear you can order our CD and merchandise by mailorder. Mosh it up & bang your head!
 | The True Face of Human Nature is out now on Shiver Records. Resources: |
Interviewed by Luci Herbert