Trial - Biography
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2010-
Biography
Trial are the newest metal sensation from Sweden. They originally formed in 2007 but only when singer Linus Johansson joined in 2010, they were beginning to make headway as guitarist Andreas Johnsson explains: "Before Trial we all played in different bands and whatnot with each other, but since we were so young, I view those years as the period where we all learned how to play our instruments. Alexander Ellström was more or less the one who got me in to playing guitar, so we often sat together as kids with KISS posters on the wall and played covers until our parents bled from their ears?"
In 2011 Trial issued their debut album The Primordial Temple via the Coffins Slave label, followed by the Malicious Arts 7" single on Nuclear Winter Records in 2013.
Vessel is the band's first album for High Roller Records containing seven songs reminiscent of early Iron Maiden, mid-period Mercyful Fate with a bit of Omen thrown in for good measure. "Well, it is of course a great honour to be mentioned among such powerful names," says Andreas Johnsson. "It's flattering. But we don't want to be seen as a copy of these bands or write songs similar to theirs. If we've managed to capture the same feelings or energies as these bands on certain records it's great, but like I said, our intention was never to try to sound like them."
Which ever way you look at it, Vessel is a clear improvement in comparison to Trial's debut album. Guitarist Andreas Johnsson explains: "We've had the opportunity to work with driven people who put the music first, and High Roller Records is no exception. This is what we feel is the most important part, and High Roller Records will probably be able to get our music out to more people which of course is a great thing. We are very satisfied with how the album turned out. We surrounded ourselves with talented people throughout the whole process and it turned out exactly how we wanted it to, or even better. The studio with Andy & Olof, Costin who did all the layout and High Roller Records for making it all come together has our complete admiration. It's hard to pinpoint why Vessel is so much better than The Primordial Temple, but we've all grown into our roles in a weird kind of way. We've learned what tools to use and how to use them, and on Vessel I think that we have perfected it all. We've never been so close to our vision before, so it feels great. We wanted to create something that was entirely our own, so we looked as much inwards as possible and wrote whatever we felt 'hit the spot' inside."
"Introspection", the B-side of the band's latest 7" single, is not to be found on the album. Certainly to give the punters more value for money? Not a lot of young bands do this any more these days... "We thought about having it on the album to be honest," states Andreas "but in the end, we had too much material. "Introspection" is a special song that sticks out from the rest of the album, so we and High Roller Records decided that we could instead put that special track on a single instead of a cover or whatever. It just felt like a natural thing to do so we did it."
Bands like Portrait or In Solitude are very dark and have occult leanings. Is that a concept Trial sympathizes with? Andreas Johnsson elaborates on Trial's lyrical concept: "Our lyrics are about life and death, what once was, what is to come and what is beyond. That is the complete definition of it all. For me personally, I use music as a tool to explore and express parts of me. Nothing is off the limits, everything can be said and done. It's a powerful medium in that sense. The term 'occult heavy metal' and/or 'occult rock' gets thrown around far too much these days."
In the past Trial have not done a lot of touring, just a handful of gigs. They just take it as it comes: "Who knows, maybe we'll get on a proper tour in the not so distant future? We have set ourselves no goals whatsoever to be honest, we will continue doing our thing for as long as it's interesting and serves a purpose. I have no idea of what will happen after Vessel, but I like it that way. Music should never be predictable!"
In 2011 Trial issued their debut album The Primordial Temple via the Coffins Slave label, followed by the Malicious Arts 7" single on Nuclear Winter Records in 2013.
Vessel is the band's first album for High Roller Records containing seven songs reminiscent of early Iron Maiden, mid-period Mercyful Fate with a bit of Omen thrown in for good measure. "Well, it is of course a great honour to be mentioned among such powerful names," says Andreas Johnsson. "It's flattering. But we don't want to be seen as a copy of these bands or write songs similar to theirs. If we've managed to capture the same feelings or energies as these bands on certain records it's great, but like I said, our intention was never to try to sound like them."
Which ever way you look at it, Vessel is a clear improvement in comparison to Trial's debut album. Guitarist Andreas Johnsson explains: "We've had the opportunity to work with driven people who put the music first, and High Roller Records is no exception. This is what we feel is the most important part, and High Roller Records will probably be able to get our music out to more people which of course is a great thing. We are very satisfied with how the album turned out. We surrounded ourselves with talented people throughout the whole process and it turned out exactly how we wanted it to, or even better. The studio with Andy & Olof, Costin who did all the layout and High Roller Records for making it all come together has our complete admiration. It's hard to pinpoint why Vessel is so much better than The Primordial Temple, but we've all grown into our roles in a weird kind of way. We've learned what tools to use and how to use them, and on Vessel I think that we have perfected it all. We've never been so close to our vision before, so it feels great. We wanted to create something that was entirely our own, so we looked as much inwards as possible and wrote whatever we felt 'hit the spot' inside."
"Introspection", the B-side of the band's latest 7" single, is not to be found on the album. Certainly to give the punters more value for money? Not a lot of young bands do this any more these days... "We thought about having it on the album to be honest," states Andreas "but in the end, we had too much material. "Introspection" is a special song that sticks out from the rest of the album, so we and High Roller Records decided that we could instead put that special track on a single instead of a cover or whatever. It just felt like a natural thing to do so we did it."
Bands like Portrait or In Solitude are very dark and have occult leanings. Is that a concept Trial sympathizes with? Andreas Johnsson elaborates on Trial's lyrical concept: "Our lyrics are about life and death, what once was, what is to come and what is beyond. That is the complete definition of it all. For me personally, I use music as a tool to explore and express parts of me. Nothing is off the limits, everything can be said and done. It's a powerful medium in that sense. The term 'occult heavy metal' and/or 'occult rock' gets thrown around far too much these days."
In the past Trial have not done a lot of touring, just a handful of gigs. They just take it as it comes: "Who knows, maybe we'll get on a proper tour in the not so distant future? We have set ourselves no goals whatsoever to be honest, we will continue doing our thing for as long as it's interesting and serves a purpose. I have no idea of what will happen after Vessel, but I like it that way. Music should never be predictable!"