Falchion: Yes, the response has been very positive so far and I'm very happy about those good reviews.

LH: It’s been a few years in the making, as you started writing for the album in 2005. What were the reasons for such a long gap between your first and second album? I imagine you’ve been very busy with Korpiklaani, so I’m guessing this was a factor.

Falchion: The songs are from 2004 and 2006-2008, but the making itself has not been taking for four years. We were looking for a good recording deal and we weren't in a hurry. I think it's also quite normal that bands are not releasing a new album every year. That is also true that I had a lot of work with Korpiklaani for we made three albums with Korpiklaani between those two Falchion albums.

LH: The album was recorded at Adamantium Studios with Jukka Ruostila. How was the experience? It seemed to get done fairly quickly in the space of a couple of weeks, was that what you originally intended to do or were you expecting the recording to take longer?

Falchion: The experience was very good and the crew at Adamantium Studios were very good persons and we had a lot of fun. The recording and mixing lasted for 22 days in total and I think the result was very good even though there are still lot of things to develop. I'm sure the next album will be still much better and we will record it at the same studio.

LH: I noticed there is quite a strong classical influence in your sound, mainly with the guitar playing. Do you listen to, and draw much inspiration from classical music, and are there any other influences which may surprise people?

Falchion: Yes, I listen to classical music like e.g. Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach and I have always liked classical music. When talking about who has affected the most to my playing he is Yngwie Malmsteen. In my opinion he really combined classical music and metal music and has done brilliant job with his career.

LH: I read somewhere that you see yourselves as a straight forward melodic death metal band, and yet you have been marketed as more of a folk metal band. Do you find this a bit annoying, and do you think the “folk metal” tag is a bit redundant or overused anyway?

Falchion: Folk metal is very overused term, because some people seem to use the term about every band that is from Finland. That is true that our first album was maybe slightly folk metal-oriented in a way, but in fact even that had nothing to do with folk metal.

LH: Could you tell us about the lyrics on Chronicles Of The Dead – are there any particular themes you write about in your songs?

Falchion: The theme of the album is the world after a great war. Lyrics are quite dark - there's no hope anymore, because whole the mankind is trown to a desert and they start life again from the emptiness.

LH: Your first album was released on the Japanese label, World Chaos Productions, and you were only signed up to so one album. I know there were some delays with the first album being released. Was this down to problems with the label?

Falchion: Because the label was so unknown and small they didn't have force to put the album out in time and we had to wait for one and a half year until the album was out. After all I'm still very satisfied that we had a chance to do the first album in some way.

LH: It sounded like the delay lead to some other problems with band members losing interest and motivation, and eventually the members left the band and you moved away anyway. How do you feel the new line up compares, do think it is a stronger line up now?

Falchion: It affected on the motivation a bit, but there was no idea of quitting a band or anything like that. After recording the debut album we just started to wait for the album to come out. Then in the summer of 2006 I started to thinking about to refresh the line-up consisting members from Tampere area. I have been feeling very good with the new line-up and we have had very good moments during these two years.

LH: Although you intend for Falchion to operate as a real band as opposed to a project, I imagine your time will be limited as of course you have a fairly busy schedule with Korpiklaani. Are the other band members cool with this, and do they have other bands or projects they are involved with when not active with Falchion?

Falchion: Even I'm all the time active with Korpiklaani I still have a lot of time for Falchion and we can work without any problems. Matson is involved in many different projects as in Psychopathic Terror which is old school metal.

LH: You were with Falchion before you joined Korpiklaani. How did you end up joining Korpiklaani anyway and was there any uncertainty about joining the band?

Falchion: I had just started playing accordion and was interested about Korpiklaani's music so I contacted Jonne and asked if they are interested to have a permanent accordion player as they had had a session accordion player on their albums. So Jonne was interested about to take me to the band and now I've been in Korpiklaani for four years and everything has gone so fast.

LH: You are playing in both bands on the Finnish Fire tour. Do you think this will be problematic in any sense with you having to keep up your energy twice as long, and how do you think the crowds will react to your band?

Falchion: We have been on tour now for nearly a week and there seems not to be any problems with it. We have two hours between Falchion and Korpiklaani shows for relaxing as well.

LH: I know it’s early yet, but do you have any plans to start work on another album with Falchion any time soon?

Falchion: It's not too early to ask because I have already started working with it and I have half of the album composed. New material is going to be more in neo-classical and progressive vein. It's also more technical and melodic stuff. We have also booked a studio for June 2009.

LH: That’s all the questions I’ve got for you. See you when you tour in December and feel free to leave any final message here for our readers.

Falchion: Thank you very much for the interview and see you!

For more on the band check out www.falchionband.com/
www.myspace.com/falchionofficial

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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