VULKAN - The Nature of Unreality
Pictured: Olle Edberg, Johan Norback, Jimmy Lindblad, Oscar Pettersson + Christian Fredriksson - VULKAN
Photo by: Erik Hansen
Technatura Album Review and Interview with Drummer Johan Norback
Written by Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media
Not many Australians would have heard of the Swedish heavy progressive rock band VULKAN, so let me introduce you. From Karlstad, Sweden, the band started working together in 2006 with an un-named, unestablished configuration. It later became obvious they were much heavier than they first imagined, which is what inspired the name VULKAN; meaning ‘Volcano’ in Swedish. From there, they released their first 10 track album Mask Of Air in 2011 followed by Observants in 2016. Following a lineup change and another four years, they have finally released their long awaited album Technatura, which dropped in May 2020. As you’ll notice when you listen, their music continues to grow in complexity and existential relevance while maintaining that VULKANIK groove. We had a chat to their drummer Johan Norback in English to get a little more insight into the album…
Pictured: Johan Norback, Olle Edberg, Jimmy Lindblad, Oscar Pettersson + Christian Fredriksson
Photo by: Erik Hansen
The Interview
There has been a 4-year gap between Observants and Technatura and 5 years between the previous two as well. Is this all due to your creative process or does life just get in the way?
I think both. It takes a long time to write these long epics but we’ve also changed a lot of band members in the ten-year period since we started. On this album we have our 3rd bass player, second guitarist and second keyboardist. It’s basically me and Jimmy that have been around since the beginning, so that is a key part of why it takes so long between albums.
I suppose you and Jimmy being such key aspects of the band’s unique sound is what keeps you so consistent.
Changing band members has changed the guitar and bass sound on this album but I guess me and Jimmy are what have kept that VULKANIK sound throughout the years.
Are the guys still as close in real life as when you first started the band or are you closer? Maybe even further apart?
We don’t just hang out in the band to play music but outside the band also. I didn’t really know Oscar and Christian before they joined the band but it was really easy to get to know them because they’re really humble guys.
On the first VULKAN album, we all knew each other as friends from years before. On the Observants record when we gained Vincent (the second bass player), we got to know him both through the music and outside of the band. I guess that’s what’s important; we’ve always kept in touch outside of the music.
How do world events changing in the gap between albums affect the creative process/message?
I think it all comes down to the lyrics really but we change our approach all the time. With Observants; Jimmy had written all the titles of the songs and we wrote the music based around what we thought the titles would sound like. Maybe that’s why it took so long following the Mask of Air album because we were trying to write music out of titles (laughs).
I think there’s a thread throughout the lyrics of the albums which comes from Jimmy’s world view I guess; being angry with society and how things are, not so much how we can change it but just an observation of how he sees it. I guess the albums are like 3 different books from 3 different times.
Where does VULKAN draw its intertextuality from? Other mediums? Sci-Fi? Film? Academia?
I think it probably mostly comes from Jimmy. He likes film, I don’t think he reads that much (laughs). He’s into a lot of strange films. He likes Kubrick and Ingmar Bergman. He’s always looking for something that’s outside of the box. I’m there to help him get the [English] words together so that it fits and makes sense.
There are themes that are shared between a lot of prog acts (dystopia, futurism, geopolitics, philosophy, epistemology etc). What do you think draws these specific types of creatives to these types of themes?
I guess you take everything you see and hear and make it your own using the words you know and the hands you have. You take inspiration from everywhere, from relationships, personal life, whatever. It’s not just one thing, it’s all interconnected.
Is there any particular theme that runs throughout Technatura?
Yeah, as the title suggests, it’s about the clash between nature and technology and how we as human beings cope with it. How far are we willing to go at our own expense? Are we just becoming more lazy? We depend on technology now. Is that good or bad? Not every song on the album is about that specifically, it’s just an observation of these times we live in.
If you had to guess what the themes of your next album might be, what do they think would be covered?
It’s hard to say. We come up with the titles through the lyrics. Jimmy’s writing a few lyrics now – both in Swedish and in English – and we’re starting to write new material but I don’t know what it might be about. It could be anything… Maybe Corona?
Half the album is in Swedish. I see a lot of positive reception, have you received any complaints or criticism?
Not really to be honest, we’re amazed. The Swedish was a new touch – and we knew we liked it but we didn’t know other people would. We were amazed with the way other people heard it. We all listen to music differently and if the lyrics aren’t an obstruction then I guess that’s ok. If you want to go deep on the lyrics, they’re on Bandcamp if you want to look them up on Google translate or something.
Is this something that you’ll do again?
Of course. Like I said it’s a new touch. I don’t know what it is when you sing in your Mother tongue; it gets on a new level. It’s not just that the melodies sound good, for us Swedish people it’s closer to our heart. Sometimes it’s hard to write English lyrics and make sense of them but I think we got it OK this time.
Is there any new gear that you’ve come across since the last album that really make an impact on Technatura’s sound?
There were heaps of things that we put on this record. Acoustic instruments like cello, violin, trumpet, trombone, banjo, mandolin, hurdy-gurdy… it felt like we went crazy with it. We were very lucky to have friends that played all these instruments so we had the chance to put them on the record. Some ideas came from us – and some ideas came from the producer, so it was a joint decision to use those instruments. He’d say… ‘Can you hear like… a banjo playing in there?’ and we’d say… ‘No, not really… but let’s put it on and see what it sounds like.’ Then of course we had synthesizers and organs and all the usual prog stuff.
I hear a lot of cultural exploration in the music, ideas from a lot of different places in the world. Are there any Swedish musical traditions that were implemented in the album?
I guess there has to Swedish music in our veins somewhat. It’s hard to explain. We listen to a lot of music and take what we like from everywhere. Not that I can think of any song, lyric or melody that sounds like another song but I guess if you listen closely you might hear all the influences coming together.
How would you describe your creative process?
Before we had Christian and Oscar we’d just jam in the rehearsal space and play for hours jamming together and coming up with stuff by gluing pieces together. On this album we actually found a song writer in Christian. Some of the tracks he wrote himself and Jimmy wrote lyrics to those songs. Maybe Jimmy had some lyrics already but I think he wrote the lyrics to the music for 80-85% of the album. Christian even has drums to write music with; so that gives me a platform to play my own drums around and give it my own flavour, to paint a picture, or add a cool rhythm or something different to make it sing. Sometimes we still jam and just create a song but thanks to Christian we have a really lovely album.
What is your recording process?
It’s basically bass, drums and guitar played live in the same room. There’s a connection between us to make it feel ‘live’. We kind of bounce off each other to get that feeling when we record. Some things just happen in the studio where you’ll play something and then listen back and be like ‘Wow! What did you do there?’ and that’s the beauty of it. I always say that I’ll come [to the studio] about 90% prepared and the other 10%... (shrugs) whatever happens, happens. I’m not a drummer that plays exactly what I’ve played before. I always make changes all the time depending on the day and where I am. So if there’s a good take where we do something crazy or play it well, we’ll take that. We don’t have a fact-check book next to us like ‘Er, you didn’t play that right.’
What is your favourite song from Technatura to play live?
We’ve played on a livestream once but I think that’s the only time we’ve played any of the songs live. We did a little live recording session in the studio about a month ago which might come out to the public. I guess I’d have to say I like playing This Visual Hex, our first song on the album. It’s a great opener. We don’t really have to think about it that much, we just play.
Is that song different from your favourite song to play in the jam room or in private?
No, I still like This Visual Hex because it’s the song that we know the most and we have played the most. It always sounds good when we play it, other songs we haven’t played in a while. I guess I could say we like playing This Visual Hex, Redemption Simulations and Bewildering Conception of Truth because they’re the three we’ve played the most.
Do any of the band members have any side creative projects? (other bands or other mediums)
Christian plays in a few metal bands. One’s called CUTUP and another one’s called REINCARNAGE which is very ‘Rahhh’ (gives comical demonstration). Jimmy’s been playing with some friends doing… I don’t know what he’s doing… some crazy stuff. I think he sings in Swedish though. I don’t think Oscar plays with anyone else. I play in another band called DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA since 2012 and we’ve been out touring for a while now. So we’ve definitely got things to do outside of VULKAN.
Do you have an future tours planned?
I guess we had a Europe tour in mind but to be honest we haven’t really toured anything with Vulkan. We’ve done some gigs here and there in Sweden but we’ve never really been abroad. We were hoping to come out and play for other people but we’ll have to see. Maybe next year when this virus is over… if it’s ever going to be over. I don’t know. It would be fun to come out and actually play for people.
Finally, will it be 4 years until the next album?
I don’t think so. We’ve been discussing whether we’re going to do a whole album or if it’s going to be an EP just to keep the wheels moving. We have a few demos ready to go which could turn into an album, only time will tell. In the meantime DIABLO SWING will release an album in October, if you’re into crazy Balkan music or swing.
Pictured: Technatura Album Cover
Album art by: Jonas Asman
Album Review - Technatura
Technatura opens with This Visual Hex, VULKAN’s first officially released single from the album. The song is a journey into the human nature of reality in our technological era. This is emphasised with the opening technological glitch samples that explode into a powerful riff that is played in multiple incarnations throughout the song; giving the track a momentum that is characteristic of VULKAN. Accompanied by an extra-terrestrial sample bringing an eeriness to the music, the stage is set for the impressive vocals of Jimmy to begin an exploration of the melodic soundscape. With addictive hooks in the music and vocals that shift between dispondent observation and desperate urgency, this song is a banging opener to a purposeful masterpiece.
After a short musical interlude, there comes Redemption Simulations, which brings a depth of sound that gives the listener a chance to appreciate the complexity of the textured composition. It’s here that you begin to notice the musical flavours creeping in that Johan was talking about. Among those sounds I’m reminded of PINK FLOYD, THE MARS VOLTA and MUSE.
The progressive roller coaster continues through Bewildering Conception Of Truth and seamlessly rolls into the Swedish tracks that were mentioned in the interview. The transition is so seamless in fact, that it wasn’t until the second track with Swedish vocals that I even realised that I wasn’t listening to English words anymore. Spokskepp is among the Swedish tracks that stand out with popping bass and rolling rhythms that lock in and build upon themselves to allow the soaring vocals to stand out over the top. The language fits.
So much could be said about every track and their complexity but we’ll move onto The Royal Fallacy, the second-last track on the album which clocks in at just over 10 minutes. What can I say? This track is an experience. Stamping its presence with a very purposeful bass rhythm and built upon with drums, guitar and the use of and almost tribal sounding flute that lay the foundation for vocals that switch between synthetic, robotic tones and the evocative soaring vocals of Jimmy that you would have fallen in love with by now. This track goes everywhere that post-rock explorations should go with the added magic of vocals in multiple incarnations.
Finally, I can’t go past the magic of the final track The Madness Sees No End. A kind of recreation of the opening track This Visual Hex, it is a beautiful way to round out the album. This track has some serious grit, massive distortion, and even horns (brass horns that is). The vocals emphasise the unsettling despondency that the title suggests. Listen to it and see what you think. Listen to it LOUD… I guarantee that brass won’t be the only horns that make an appearance.
The Verdict
This album has so many elements to it, from instruments and languages to effects and groove, while maintaining the characteristic sound of VULKAN. The more I listen to it the higher I want to rate it so I figure 8.5 can be rounded up to 9… and I’m only leaving space until I can hear what they come up with next!
8.5
Download
You can get your very own copy of Technatura on Bandcamp
