Since their last CD, 2008’s Holographic Universe, Scar Symmetry vocalist Christian Älvestam left the band. His remaining bandmates decided to hire two vocalists to replace him. Roberth Karlsson does the growling vocals and Lars Palmqvist does the melodic vocals. The Swedish melodic death metal band’s latest CD is Dark Matter Dimensions. Drummer Henrik Ohlsson gives us the lowdown on the lineup change, the new CD, the band’s touring plans, his musical inspirations and even his favorite drummer joke.
Chad Bowar: What led to your former singer’s departure, and how did you decide on Roberth and Lars as replacements?
Henrik Ohlsson: Christian had different ideas of how to work with the band compared to the rest of us, and this led to a number of complications. He became more and more reluctant to touring and generally didn’t seem happy with his role in the band. When you get vibes like that, it automatically affects everyone in the band and we had to do something in order to secure the band’s existence. We were losing that important spark of inspiration that we depend on, and the solution was to let Christian go.
When we auditioned Lars and Roberth, we had that magic moment when everything feels right. They had fantastic voices and personalities and we clicked with them on every level. We wanted two vocalists because, especially on tour, it is too demanding for one guy to sing everything. We know that from experience. When we wrote the material for the new album, we had regained all the important inspiration that we needed, thanks to the good vibes that are now present in the band.
How did their addition change your songwriting/recording process for Dark Matter Dimensions?
We felt free to go with any ideas that we had, thanks to the fact that Lars and Roberth share the vocal duties and that’s been very liberating for a band like Scar Symmetry. Other than that, we pretty much followed the same formula as always, the intention wasn’t to do any radical changes in our sound because of the change in the lineup.
Did the fact that they toured with you before recording the album make things a little smoother in the studio?
Things went smooth in the studio, that`s for sure. We`ve never experienced such a relaxed and pleasant recording before! The tours we did with Roberth and Lars made us tighter as a unit and yeah, it was helpful to get to know each other properly before entering the studio. It was awesome that they had the time to get to know the band’s sound and attitude during the rehearsals and live shows before the recording of Dark Matter Dimensions.
How would you describe the new album’s sound compared to Holographic Universe?
This album is rawer, more in-your-face and organic-sounding compared to the previous album. We kind of lost some of the edge and aggression on Holographic Universe. There was too much clean vocals for example, and we wanted to bring back that lost brutality with Dark Matter Dimensions. I think we succeeded. This album has a better balance between melody and brutality, and that balance is important since it is to a large extent what this band is about: balancing extremes and getting the best of both worlds, so to speak.
What inspired the album title Dark Matter Dimensions?
The basic album theme came from the scientific fact that we can’t see 95 percent or more of the universe. The unseen part of the universe is called dark matter and dark energy, which is just a term for something we don’t know anything about. But we can see some of the effects that are caused by these unseen elements. So thoughts started coming into my head, like: How can we act like we know everything there is to know when we can’t even perceive 95 percent or more of the universe? How can we dismiss things when our sense of logic is so limited and cynical?
We should consider anything possible considering how limited our understanding is! So the theme for Dark Matter Dimensions deals with this and it is a celebration of the unseen forces out there, because without the mechanics of the unseen worlds and dimensions, this physical reality wouldn’t even be able to exist. Dark Matter Dimensions stands for everything unknown and unseen, but present neverless. So that’s kind of the thread on the album lyrically, everything is drawn from that state of mind. So with that in mind it was only logical to name the album Dark Matter Dimensions.
What are your expectations for the CD?
We hope that our fans will like it and that our fanbase will grow even more with this album. We`re extremely happy with Dark Matter Dimensions, and it should increase the band`s status. Basically I’m hoping that we’ll be able to make a living out of music during the touring cycle for this album.
What are your upcoming tour plans?
We`ll do a couple of more festivals and then we`ll go on an extensive European tour called Neckbreakers Ball 2009 with Arsis, Devildriver and Behemoth. After that we’ll play another show in Sweden and then do a shorter tour in South America and in the beginning of next year we’ll do shorter tours in Sweden and Spain. That’s the current plans but new things keep emerging.
Any plans for coming to North America?
Yes, we did two tours over there in 2007 and we're definitely coming back. I can basically promise you that we will do a U.S. tour in 2010, but I don’t know exactly when it`ll happen at this point. Since we really enjoy touring in North America and we have a strong fanbase there, we simply have to come over at one point or another during this touring cycle.
What were the highlights of your summer festival season this year?
Graspop was the biggest highlight, without a doubt. That festival was so huge and we had a blast being there. It was also cool to play at the Rockweend festival here in Sweden. We`ve never done a big festival-show like that in our home country before.