Interview with Jan "Örkki" Yrlund about "Queen of light" promo, their shows in Metal Female Voices, the last Magic Circle Festival...... their future plans and much more.....

M.S: Hi guys! It's a enormous pleasure to have an interview with you after all! What's going on?

J.Y: Hi David - the pleasure is all ours. Lately we have played a few summer festivals in Finland in Germany, so it's a lot of fun playing live again!
  
M.S: Continuing with the new LP, talk us about the new sound. What changes will find the fans between "Queen of Light" and the other album? Talk us about the work, your ideas...

J.Y: I think that the main difference is that the new album sounds more as a whole. Though it's not a concept album, the songs fit better together. Also they are perhaps more thought through. Also I think that the production is a step forward. We put a lot of time and effort for the recordings and I think it all payed off too.

 

M.S: About the lyrical aspect, what are the theme of the lyrics? Tell us please.

J.Y: The general theme is about life and death. Or rather the birth and the death. Helena writes the lyrics and they are very personal to her. She mainly sings about issues which have been happening to her personally. Only a few times she sings about fantasy themes or other things like that.
  
M.S: Who it´s this "Queen of Light"?

J.Y: It's rather a symbolic title, though Helena gave birth to her daughter during the production. So I think she likes to think that the newborn is the Queen Of Light.

  
M.S: In what land does Imperia had better acceptation and a massive support by the metalheads?

J.Y: We are quite known in the Benelux, mainly because the first album was only released there.Also we have toured quite a lot there, especially in Holland. Now that we are on a bigger international label, also other countries get more interested in the band. That is also our goal, since Holland is a very small country and you can' t tour there all the time. Also you can' t keep on playing in the same clubs many times a year. But luckily we already now get the chance to visit other countries.
  
M.S: For those who haven't heard Imperia yet, which song would you tell them to listen to for them to have an idea of how the band sounds like?

J.Y: Well I'd like to think we are original and we try to keep our style too. For the most people the main focus will be Helena's singing, which is quite remarkable. Compared to many other female singers, she is quite metal in fact - especially live. She is of course known for her huge range and the opera stuff.
If you wanna hear the complete range of Imperia's style I'd recommend the song "Braveheart". It has a bit of everything in it: slow passages, metal riffs, fast parts, opera,guitarmelodies etc. I think it's also one of the most progressive on the album.
  
M.S: What do you think about Metale Female Voices Fest? This is your first   year. How do you feel about being one of the most important bands that are going to play?

J.Y: Of course it is great to be part of the festival. I think that they have some really cool bands down there this year...

M.S: What do you think about the line-up of the festival? Is there any band you want to see live?

J.Y: Personally I'm looking forward to Battlelore since I haven' t seen them and I know the singer Tomi from his old band Evemaster. In fact I designed their album cover in the past but I've never met him in person. Also I like their style quite a lot.
Also I like to see Delain - a project on which I played guitars in the studio. The leader of the band, Martijn, has put up a live band now, so I'm curious to see how they play live. I know the songs from the album and the studio of course, but I have also not seen them playing the material live yet...
  
M.S: Are you included in the Magic Circle festival, I suppose that you are proud, isn´t it? will it be a special set list?How are you going to face this show?

J.Y: Yes we played at the Magic Circle Festival in Bad Aroulsen. Of course it was a great honour to be invited. Everything was really professionally organized and we had a lot of fun. All the bands were by the way filmed with 12 cameras and the result will be released later this year on a DVD. I'm curious about that too...
  
M.S: Would you explain us why we should buy your new record?

J.Y: If you are into powerfull yet atmospheric gothic metal with an extraordinary voice, you should give it a spin.
  
M.S: What do you think of the actual women/rock relation? Do you think it is still linked too much to the gothic world?

J.Y: I think that the so called gothic metal genre has made the female vocalists more acceptable in metal. But if you think of real metal bands, girls are still in a minority of course. But I like it personally. I love a female voice and I have women singing in all of my projects. Can' t really help that, I just like it.
  

M.S: Besides the tour, What are your future plans?

J.Y: I think we are starting the new songwriting process pretty soon. We don' t want to wait so long for the album to be released as this time...  
  
M.S: Is there something that you want us to ask you and we didn't? And how do you answer it?

J.Y: Well, I really hope that we could visit Spain one day. It's been a long while since I played there the last time. And with Imperia we never have been there, though we get nice responses from Spain. So bookers, if you read this .. =)
  
M.S: Well, this is the end of the interview, it's have been a pleasure, is there something that you want to say our readers before finish?  Congratulations for this new album and good luck in the future.

J.Y: Hey thanks for you! Greetings from Finland this time!

 

David A.
Live pics: www-bright-eyes.de