GRIMNER tell about De Kom Från Norr EP to Sword Chant
you probably know that soon, the Swedish band GRIMNER will release one EP entirely acoustic, entitled "De Kom Från Norr".
The vikings unveiled in this new interview with Marcus, the tracklist and more related with their forthcoming record. Enjoy !
01. Welcome back, Marcus! He he. Last year, I interviewed you once and now is your second interview for Sword Chant. Are you ok ?
Hi, and thank you! I am very well and really hyped for the band and our current progress. I am happy to do another interview since the last time was great!
02. How things happened for the band since “Blodshymner” released ?
We have been working with a lot of things related to the band since the release. We toured northern Europe a month or so after the release, and since then we have played some shows in Sweden and Denmark. During that time we have been networking, gotten our website up and developed our musical skills and strengthened our bonds as a band. The album has been selling in satisfactory amounts, and we have gained a ton of new fans from all over the world. It is really something.
03. Back in 2012, you shared some videos (available here) on the web which were well received by the listeners, GRIMNER covering MÅNEGARM “live unplugged in the Streets of Sweden” : ) and this year will be released a special record by GRIMNER since it will be one EP 100% acoustic. Was “Urminnes Hävd”, the acoustic EP by MÅNEGARM, part of the inspiration for this new record ?
We get a lot of comments on the videos by people we met at our shows or talked with thru various social media, and they basically say that they loved it. It was great for us when we met MÅNEGARM at Hörnerfest in 2013 and the drummer said that he liked it as well. We did not plan for this to become a big thing, but apparently that happened.
I cannot say that that particular album played a great role in influencing “De Kom Från Norr”, but I am sure that it did to some extent. Our acoustic material is partly influenced by MÅNEGARM, but also by many other bands. It is a great album though.
04. How have you got the idea to release this kind of release right after your debut album ?
Well, since it was two years since we released anything, we decided that it was time to release something. We enjoy playing acoustic music, and since people really enjoyed our acoustic covers, we decided to write some songs and just record them. We want to make another album for sure, and maybe that is happening sooner than you think!
05. Above is the artwork for your forthcoming EP entitled “De Kom Från Norr” (They Came From The North). What this title means for you ?
The title is inspired by a story we made up for two of the tracks on the EP. The lyrics tells a story about a village somewhere in current Germany that gets invaded by Danish vikings. In all simplicity, the invading vikings came from the north.
06. Is it a concept CD ?
It is partly a concept album. I would say that it is not a “true” concept album. Two of the tracks tells the same story from two different perspectives, while the two other new tracks are instrumental and pertains more to norse mythology.
07. Will some covers be part of the EP ?
Yes! But we will not cover any songs made by other bands. We have one cover on the EP, but that is a cover of one of our own songs that we wrote in the past. We basically turned it into a swing-version.
08. So, we know the artwork for “De Kom Från Norr” EP which will be released this September 18th but we don’t know the tracklist. Can you unveil the tracklist here ?
I can indeed! The tracklist will be as follows:
1. De Kom Från Norr (They Came From the North”)
2. Sorgesaga (Tale of Sorrow)
3. Etterpolska (Venom Reel)
4. Gungner (Gungnir)
5. Forna Dagar (Swing version).
09. What are the tracks about ?
As always, we try to sing about scenarios that seem plausible in connection to the Icelandic Sagas and norse mythology.
“De Kom Från Norr” tells a story about the despair felt by the inhabitants of a small village that is being invaded by vikings from the north. It tells how the people of the village see their friends and families getting killed by the viscious people whom they know almost nothing about. They do not have a chance for defending themselves and are therefore slaughtered.
“Sorgesaga” is a tale about two brothers who have fought innumerable battles together and have always seen themselves as worthy candidates for Odins army of enherjers. However, during one battle, one of the brothers die while the other do not. The surviving brother knows that the other one has made his way to Valhalla while he is still stuck in the world of men. He does not die in any battles during his life, and he sings his story as an old man who is destined to end up in Hel when he dies.
“Etterpolska” contains a poem telling the story of Loki's punishment. He has been fettered in a cave by the Aesirs due to his betrayal and is therefore punished. A snake has been placed above his face that constantly drips venom in his face. His wife Sigrid tries to collect the venom in a bowl to spare him some pain, but when she has to empty the bowl, the pain Loki experiences makes him writhe and shake the foundations of Midgard.
“Gungner” is an acoustic track that was inspired by the spear of Odin. It is not specifically about anything, but more of a homage to Odin's most treasured weapon.
“Forna Dagar” is an older track telling about a viking in a Medieval Christian society who still holds the old gods in his heart. He sings homage to the viking society and feelings were superior than for the current society ruled by Christian despots. He fights to bring back the worshipping of the Aesir.
10. Can we find some guests on the record ?
We do not have any guests on the record. We do have members of Grimner utilizing musical skills that we usually don't. We would have loved to have some guests, but maybe that could happen sometime in the future.
11. Will you release one official video for this time ?
No, sadly we will not. We would love to do it, but it is costly to produce a video. We want to make something of high quality, and not something that we feel would be sub-standard. Our fans deserve the best, so that is what we want to deliver.
12. Do you plan a tour, soon ?
We have some upcoming shows this fall and winter, but a tour is not yet in sight. We will however support Korpiklaani during all of their shows in Sweden on the 25th, 26th, and the 27th of September. We will also play two shows in November with King of Asgard and Apocalypse Orchestra which are two awesome bands. We are planning some shows for 2016 as well, but it is still too early to share anything.
13. Are you always at Stygian Crypt Productions ?
No, we only recorded Blodshymner with them. “De Kom Från Norr” was produced, recorded and distributed entirely by Grimner. As it looks now, we will not record a new album with Stygian Crypt, even though Andrew is wonderful to work with.
14. Do you plan the next Folk Metal album for 2016 ?
We may be doing just that. Keep yourself up to date on any of our profiles on social media or on our website!
15. Do you have some songs ready for the next record ?
We have a lot of material that is just waiting. Ted who mainly writes the music has a great deal of songs that we have not played yet.
16. What are your next plans ?
We are preparing for our shows with Korpiklaani at the moment which takes up a lot of our time. We want to give you an awesome show, so we are working during all days of the week with taking orders on the new EP and practice. We are always doing something with Grimner, and we try to do as much as we can!
Thanks for the interview, Marcus! “De Kom Från Norr” EP is available for pre-orders on Bandcamp.
GRIMNER would really like to thank everyone that took some of their time to read this interview. We would also like to thank everyone who has pre-ordered the EP, given us great feedback on the track we released on Youtube, and we would like to welcome all of our new fans!
01. Welcome back, Marcus! He he. Last year, I interviewed you once and now is your second interview for Sword Chant. Are you ok ?
Hi, and thank you! I am very well and really hyped for the band and our current progress. I am happy to do another interview since the last time was great!
02. How things happened for the band since “Blodshymner” released ?
We have been working with a lot of things related to the band since the release. We toured northern Europe a month or so after the release, and since then we have played some shows in Sweden and Denmark. During that time we have been networking, gotten our website up and developed our musical skills and strengthened our bonds as a band. The album has been selling in satisfactory amounts, and we have gained a ton of new fans from all over the world. It is really something.
03. Back in 2012, you shared some videos (
We get a lot of comments on the videos by people we met at our shows or talked with thru various social media, and they basically say that they loved it. It was great for us when we met MÅNEGARM at Hörnerfest in 2013 and the drummer said that he liked it as well. We did not plan for this to become a big thing, but apparently that happened.
I cannot say that that particular album played a great role in influencing “De Kom Från Norr”, but I am sure that it did to some extent. Our acoustic material is partly influenced by MÅNEGARM, but also by many other bands. It is a great album though.
04. How have you got the idea to release this kind of release right after your debut album ?
Well, since it was two years since we released anything, we decided that it was time to release something. We enjoy playing acoustic music, and since people really enjoyed our acoustic covers, we decided to write some songs and just record them. We want to make another album for sure, and maybe that is happening sooner than you think!
05. Above is the artwork for your forthcoming EP entitled “De Kom Från Norr” (They Came From The North). What this title means for you ?
The title is inspired by a story we made up for two of the tracks on the EP. The lyrics tells a story about a village somewhere in current Germany that gets invaded by Danish vikings. In all simplicity, the invading vikings came from the north.
06. Is it a concept CD ?
It is partly a concept album. I would say that it is not a “true” concept album. Two of the tracks tells the same story from two different perspectives, while the two other new tracks are instrumental and pertains more to norse mythology.
07. Will some covers be part of the EP ?
Yes! But we will not cover any songs made by other bands. We have one cover on the EP, but that is a cover of one of our own songs that we wrote in the past. We basically turned it into a swing-version.
08. So, we know the artwork for “De Kom Från Norr” EP which will be released this September 18th but we don’t know the tracklist. Can you unveil the tracklist here ?
I can indeed! The tracklist will be as follows:
1. De Kom Från Norr (They Came From the North”)
2. Sorgesaga (Tale of Sorrow)
3. Etterpolska (Venom Reel)
4. Gungner (Gungnir)
5. Forna Dagar (Swing version).
09. What are the tracks about ?
As always, we try to sing about scenarios that seem plausible in connection to the Icelandic Sagas and norse mythology.
“De Kom Från Norr” tells a story about the despair felt by the inhabitants of a small village that is being invaded by vikings from the north. It tells how the people of the village see their friends and families getting killed by the viscious people whom they know almost nothing about. They do not have a chance for defending themselves and are therefore slaughtered.
“Sorgesaga” is a tale about two brothers who have fought innumerable battles together and have always seen themselves as worthy candidates for Odins army of enherjers. However, during one battle, one of the brothers die while the other do not. The surviving brother knows that the other one has made his way to Valhalla while he is still stuck in the world of men. He does not die in any battles during his life, and he sings his story as an old man who is destined to end up in Hel when he dies.
“Etterpolska” contains a poem telling the story of Loki's punishment. He has been fettered in a cave by the Aesirs due to his betrayal and is therefore punished. A snake has been placed above his face that constantly drips venom in his face. His wife Sigrid tries to collect the venom in a bowl to spare him some pain, but when she has to empty the bowl, the pain Loki experiences makes him writhe and shake the foundations of Midgard.
“Gungner” is an acoustic track that was inspired by the spear of Odin. It is not specifically about anything, but more of a homage to Odin's most treasured weapon.
“Forna Dagar” is an older track telling about a viking in a Medieval Christian society who still holds the old gods in his heart. He sings homage to the viking society and feelings were superior than for the current society ruled by Christian despots. He fights to bring back the worshipping of the Aesir.
10. Can we find some guests on the record ?
We do not have any guests on the record. We do have members of Grimner utilizing musical skills that we usually don't. We would have loved to have some guests, but maybe that could happen sometime in the future.
11. Will you release one official video for this time ?
No, sadly we will not. We would love to do it, but it is costly to produce a video. We want to make something of high quality, and not something that we feel would be sub-standard. Our fans deserve the best, so that is what we want to deliver.
12. Do you plan a tour, soon ?
We have some upcoming shows this fall and winter, but a tour is not yet in sight. We will however support Korpiklaani during all of their shows in Sweden on the 25th, 26th, and the 27th of September. We will also play two shows in November with King of Asgard and Apocalypse Orchestra which are two awesome bands. We are planning some shows for 2016 as well, but it is still too early to share anything.
13. Are you always at Stygian Crypt Productions ?
No, we only recorded Blodshymner with them. “De Kom Från Norr” was produced, recorded and distributed entirely by Grimner. As it looks now, we will not record a new album with Stygian Crypt, even though Andrew is wonderful to work with.
14. Do you plan the next Folk Metal album for 2016 ?
We may be doing just that. Keep yourself up to date on any of our profiles on social media or on our website!
15. Do you have some songs ready for the next record ?
We have a lot of material that is just waiting. Ted who mainly writes the music has a great deal of songs that we have not played yet.
16. What are your next plans ?
We are preparing for our shows with Korpiklaani at the moment which takes up a lot of our time. We want to give you an awesome show, so we are working during all days of the week with taking orders on the new EP and practice. We are always doing something with Grimner, and we try to do as much as we can!
Thanks for the interview, Marcus! “De Kom Från Norr” EP is available for pre-orders on Bandcamp.
GRIMNER would really like to thank everyone that took some of their time to read this interview. We would also like to thank everyone who has pre-ordered the EP, given us great feedback on the track we released on Youtube, and we would like to welcome all of our new fans!
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