HEATHEN FORAY interview online

I interviewed Robert from HEATHEN FORAY, also known as "Nikar" in the forum. The interview deals with their new album "Inner Force" for the main.

01. Hi Robert!

You are about to promote your new album "Inner Force" with a tour in somedays, Are you ready ?

Ready? No. Far more than that! Right now I am burning! I want to go on stage!

02. What do you expect from that tour ?

I really hope that we can give the audience a good time. And I want to see a little bit more of this world. It will be the first time for HEATHEN FORAY to perform in the Czech Republic and i'm very curious about the Czechs. And the Pivo!

03. And from the new album ?

That the folks out there think the same way about it like we do. It is our best album in our band history. I know that every new album from every band is everytime their best album in their opinion. But I do not mean just the music. The whole way of the production was a little bit different. I mean.. we had a lot of time to think about it. So this time, I had much more friends of us involved in the production. Dominic made very cool and smart lyrics for the Song "Weisheitskrieg". Fabrizio did an amazing job with the cover artwork and Sonja made a stunning layout! We worked much closer together and, most of the time, that was fun! So is at the Rock studio, where Heinz and Tom did an extraordinary great work, again. Everyone from the band gave so much time and love but also sweat and sometimes even tears into this album and I really hope that you can hear it when you are listening to the music.

04. Your second album "Armored Bards" was released three years ago and then, the band became silent more. What happened during all those years ?

Did you miss us? ;-) Of course, we had some gigs and we worked also on “Inner Force” but silence around us doesn’t mean that we were doing nothing^^ Alex performed in a "southern rock" band called “Austrian Hillbilly Hoedown”. I give my second band “Alphayn” my voice and Bernd made several cover songs and some compositions which are not in our style.

05. How did the listeners like the teaser for the new album ?

Hm.. I think they liked it.

06. How came the ideas for "Inner Force" album ?

I can't tell you how Alex and Bernd are working or finding their ideas. Everytime, I have some thoughts and I write ‘em down and sometimes are just some words fitting good together. So I have a Framework for the whole lyrics thing. There is something I always want to say for each song and I try to get these words fitting fine together to the song..

07. What's the inner force of the HEATHEN FORAY ? :-)

This exact question will be answered in the title track! The Inner Force of HEATHEN FORAY are the people listening to our music. It is the feeling on stage. The crazy things happening on gigs.

08. What are the songs about ?

Oh! That's not easy to tell. Each song is always about something giving you power, might, or just a good feeling. It is about the different aspects of your personal inner force ;-). There is one about the twilight of the gods, one about family and homeland, one about someone’s spiritual journey. The topics are various but I think the name “Inner Force” sums them up.

09. Are the lyrics inside the booklet ?

No. They are not. Not entirely. I took the most important parts out of the songs and tried to describe in some words what I liked to say with my lyrics. For sure, the whole lyrics will be available somewhere in the internet. Maybe on Sword Chant ?

This is possible, sure! You can share them since you are part of our Community. :)

10. Alright. Can you describe music on the new album ?

I think that the foundation of the style of HEATHEN FORAY will be forever somehow similar. Someone who likes us will love this album. Fast riffs and blasting beats. Once again, Bernd did, an enormous good job with the leads. Some of them were sticking in my head for days...

11. Tell me, how happened the recordings ?

We had fun at the Rock studio! There were no big problems. You know.. It is not the first album we recorded with them so they know us and know what we need. I had a really good time there. I slept in a farm with a nice dog, cows and everything. Some very relaxing days.

12. Any special guest on the new record ?

Yes. The wizard is back! Some of you may know The Wizard's Life from our demo Forest. We recorded him again. Now he is more powerful than ever! But except him, there are no other special guests.

13. Do you plan to make one official video soon ?

YES, INDEED! We discussed this topic for several times. We have found someone who will make with us together an outstanding video.

One thing for sure: It won’t be something with Viking warriors.

14. What are your next plans, after the tour ?

New songs! More gigs! The video! World-domination!

Thank you for your time!

Thank you for your support!!