Updates - interviews

Considering the wave of praise that Fires In The Distance's first two albums received here, it's no surprise that anticipation for a third offering are quite high. Circadian Promise's release is on the horizon, so we took that opportunity to ask guitarist/keyboardist/songwriter Yegor Savonin some questions.

RP: The artworks of your three albums seem to be visually tied. Are they narratively tied as well? How much of the lyrical side of Fires In The Distance tells an overarching story? Is there any significance to Circadian Promise being the first to have two characters on the cover art?

YS: We've stuck with the same artist (Caelan Stokkermans) since the beginning. Even before Fires In The Distance he did a cover for the last Archaic Decapitator EP, a band Craig and I were in. We love his work and it has always fit very well with the themes and atmosphere of our records. With every record we work closely together to capture the album concept as closely as possible.

RP: Is there anything that feels different when writing songs with a different vocalist in mind?

YS: The writing process was the same as the previous two albums. The only difference was that Brendan would take initiative on his end to come up with ideas for clean vocals. He wrote lyrics for his clean parts and did an amazing job analyzing the concepts and lyrics for the songs that were already there and seamlessly complementing everything with his own ideas in those sections.

RP: One of the most interesting parts of Fires In The Distance's sound has been the way the synths have been used, similar to but distinct enough from many of the bands mentioned as influences like Amorphis and Sentenced. How did you come up with a specific Fires In The Distance synth sound?

YS: There's a lot of different sounds that I use all over, and sometimes it does feel a bit like dialing in the perfect guitar tone. Once I find the right piano or string sounds for a particular song I spend a decent amount of time dialing in the right amount of delay/reverb/etc. to create the right level of atmosphere. That's typically the process for each song. I love both electronic and classical instruments, so it's usually a mix of the two.

RP: I find the synth sound occasionally cinematic. Do you have a favorite soundtrack album?

YS: I love the Gladiator soundtrack. Anything Hans Zimmer does is usually a solid go-to for really captivating and emotionally-charged music. At least for me.

RP: On Circadian Promise you once again work with Randy Slaugh for the orchestrations. Is there anything that you did differently the second time around after the experience of using orchestration on Air Not Meant For Us?

YS: Randy has become an essential component of these albums at this point. I love working with him. The guy has an incredible ability to take a song or a section and add layers to it that make it sound absolutely gigantic. The process was very similar to the last record. After all the song demos were complete, I'd send him everything I had and he would add his own thoughts and flavor to everything, and we'd throw ideas back and forth on each track to find the perfect medium.

RP: Do you think it's a missed opportunity that Echoes From Deep November was released in September instead of November?

YS: November is a month with which I have a lot of personal history, which is intertwined with the themes in that album. I wasn't really thinking of matching the release with the correlating month.

RP: If you could have any living director direct a music video for a Fires In The Distance song, who would it be?

YS: Patric Ullaeus is a legend, that'd be cool.

RP: Anything else you'd like to add for our readers?

YS: A very deep and heartfelt thank you to everyone that's taken the time to listen to our music! It means the world to us, and we hope you enjoy the new record, 'Circadian Promise'. Cheers!

Circadian Promise will be out on the 12th of June through Prosthetic Records.

I was really enjoying the irony of a band called Even If We Lose winning the Clandestine Cut category in the latest Metal Storm Awards. I also enjoyed their EP, a post-metal monolith technically hefty enough to be a full length but finding a band still in its incipient phase. Obviously I was curious to know more, and a whooping four members joined the call.