ATROX

More than ever in this last album there are strong contrasts between the very technical and rhythmic side of your music and the evocative one...actually is  still constructive but can't be sometimes a bit difficult to reach other stages of evolution?
Hmmmm, I'm not sure I really understand the question... I may interpret it as if you ask whether it is difficult to develop in other ways than in those two sides. Hmmm what other sides are there? The commercial aspect maybe... Well, we could of course have some hooks and repeat them to make it easier to remember the songs, but that has never seemed all that important to us. We could do it anyway, to check out if we like it... Or I may interpret it as if you ask whether it's possible  to keep a coherent feeling in the music if we continue to increase that contrast. Well, that depends on the listener, I guess... If the listener is willing to accept that there is such a contrast and still listen on the music's own terms, it's possible. Errr... I don't know if I really know what I'm talking about myself now... hehehe

Calm feeling and nervous are more melted together in your previous release...but now they seem to be more melted together...do you agree? And if yes is something planned or how it comes out?
Mmmm, yes I agree. And it's something that comes naturally. I always sing in a style that I think illustrate the lyrics in one way or the other and this time the lyrics have been more about coming to terms with feelings and finding solutions while the previous albums had lyrics that were more descriptive about how the feelings actually are. So on "Contentum" and "Terrestrials" you could say that it's a more direct feeling while "Orgasm" is a bit more reflective.

Do you appreciate technical death metal and psychedelic music? 

I have lost pretty much all my interest in metal generally, but I still like for instance Cynic, a couple of Death albums and some more. The other guys listens to that kind of stuff... well, I guess our new bass player don't... He's more into prog rock and so am I. Psychedelic music... well, if you mean stuff like Jefferson Airplane and Greatful Dead... no, we don't really get off on stuff you can appreciate only of you're on a trip hehehe. I guess Gong is also called psychedelic music and they are cool - you don't need to get high to hear that their music rocks...

What kind of music do you usually listen to and is this an influence for Atrox?
Everything we listen to and mentally consume is an influence for Atrox, at least subconsciously, I'm sure. All of us listen to some kind of 70s rock, but that's the only thing everyone has in common, I think... Eivind and Ole Marius, the guitarists are the ones that listens the most to metal, mostly technical stuff, but also bands like Anathema or Katatonia. And also some electronica and movie soundtracks. Hmmmm, at least Eivind does. Tor Arne, the drummer listens to everything with Sean Reinert on drums, Anthrax and pop music hehehe... Our new bass player, Erik is a prog guy and I listen to prog, rock, folk, world music, avant garde singers, some metal, medieval and renaissance music, movie soundtracks, some triphop and singer/songwriters... And some country, Johnny Cash mostly.

What's the meaning of your name?
It's Latin for atrocious, disgusting, cruel etc. The name fitted better in the old death metal days of Atrox I guess... hehehe

The artwork is very original, made with a strong imagination and a bit self-ironic, I'm referring to the weird paints of your bands what has been
the origins of this inspiration...what's the goal of your art?
My goal is to express genuine emotions and to paint something that really represents and illustrates the music and that can touch the receivers in some way. The paintings are like the music and lyrics, both sombre and more funny elements. Those Flatrox, Afrox etc pictures came from some drawings I made on a party where we all suggested stupid new names and how they should look. The lizard thing is a continuation from the two previous albums. ON "Contentum" there was a song called "Lizard Dance" and therefore I painted a lizard. On "Terrestrials" the lizard was mad at us because we hadn't made a new song about it, so it has painted glasses and moustaches on us and this time it's still mad at us and have made these Fatrox, Batrox etc pictures of us as revenge. Maybe I should write a song about it someday, but it's OK that it makes fun of us. We don't mind.

I've heard about some artistic problems with your previous label Season of Mist, something related to your singing and vocal style...is there something true?
Yes. Before we signed on SoM, their boss told us we should change our style and especially the vocals, but I said I wouldn't and he said "OK, but then it's your fault if the album doesn't sell well". That was OK with us and the album didn't do so bad for being non commercial. But when we had recorded "Terrestrials" we got mails from him where he was pissed off because I hadn't changed my style. He said I had completely ruined an otherwise excellent album and much more in the same vein. He also wanted to sell the recording to some other label, code666 wanted to buy us out but they couldn't afford it. SoM refused to have the album mastered and they did a bad job with the cover - maybe as a revenge. Well, they usually screw up something in every cover anyway so who knows...? But when they returned my paintings, 4 of them were missing and one was curled up into a little ball in the package. I asked them about this twice but they never answered, so I don't know if it was them or some crazy post office worker who did it. Total lack of respect from someone at least. We're just happy to have gotten away
from them.

What's changed passing to Code666?
We have gone from a label where the boss doesn't respect artists at all to a label where the boss is actually a fan of the band! That's really different, believe me! It's great to have respect, positive feedback, genuine interest from the label as well as good communication. It's great to have someone who actually works with us, not against us. Also, they did an excellent job with the cover and listened to me all the time and did everything I asked them to. It's great to see that it's possible to make a cover 100% as planned! I think code666 does much more to promote us as well and we are all very happy with how things are going...

A feeling that I can hear from your side is like a rebellion to the dying conservationism...what's your idea of the rest of the metal scene?
I'm not very interested in metal anymore, except a few bands that don't take themselves so goddamn seriously and that aren't so filled up with clichés, for instance Anti-Depressive Delivery, Maudlin of the Well, Voivod, Virus and The Mars Volta. I wouldn't say Atrox is rebellious towards the conservatism however - we just make the music we want to hear. Nobody else makes it for us, so we have to do it ourselves hehehe. It's not natural for at least me to use clichés cause they aren't interesting, as simple as that. The other guys... or at least the guitarists are mostly into metal and just a little bit of other music styles but they also prefer more avant garde kinds of metal.

How do you think you'll be when you'll become older?
I think I'll be creative always. It seems I cannot live without it. I was ill for 10 days recently and i couldn't do anything creative during those days and I became really depressed and felt like life was over until I got better and started to make things again. When that is said, I must also admit that it's extremely hard for me to get started working with music, paintings and lyrics as well... I'm scared to death of it as well completely dependant on it... It's easier to start making freaks - check out my homepage http://mmmonika.g2gm.com to see what I mean. I think I'll make lots of stuff like that, sculptures, paintings and stuff when I'm old. And of course I'll make music. I think most of the other guys in the band will continue as musicians as long as they breathe too.

The future...the increasing technology...will Atrox follow this dominating trend or you're not so interested in such matter?
No, I think we'll just keep it at the present level with just a few samplings, cool guitar effects and a bit more. It's great to have some kind of organic feeling in the music and machines will always ruin that. And the music would sound less alive with lots of machinery. We don't want that.

Is there any sign of how your future songs could be different from those one of "Orgasm"?
We're working on a few new songs now and we have discussed a bit about our direction. We agreed on using less Meshuggah-ish riffing and focus more on the chords and melodies. Still we disagree pretty much about the arrangements these days. I'm more interested in details and contrasts on many levels while the others try to keep it on a bit more straight edge. But if the songs in themselves seem less interesting to me, I'll have to compensate with more experimental vocals to keep my interest actually. We'll see how it turns out.

Have you got a phrase to describe what you want to communicate with Atrox?
No, not a phrase, but I wish that Atrox can be a puff of fresh air and that we can inspire people and offer a source of imagination and some food for thought. I also hope that people can feel at home with the strong emotions that shine through... that it can be some kind of comfort to see that they're not alone about having confusing patterns of thought, imagination and emotions.. It would also be cool to open people's eyes to that vocals doesn't have to be trapped either in grunts, no balls screaming or maiden in distress clichés.

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