Interview by Kris Peters
Experimenting within a musical genre is nothing new.
It has been done - to varying degrees of success - for countless years, spawning new genres and sub genres even where they are not wanted.
But to fully immerse yourself in that craft within a defined genre is a brave move in the modern era where often bands and their music can get lost in a convoluted mess.
Norwegian metalcore unit ATENA are one such band. A band who have pushed themselves musically with each release and shown an unflinching propensity to tread where others may fear.
Following their previous critically acclaimed album Drowning Regret & Lungs Filled with Water, ATENA could have quite easily rehashed that winning formula with their follow up Subway Anthem (released Friday, September 29) but instead the band have taken their minds even further down the rabbit hole in search of a defining sound.
Vocalist Jacob Skogli sat down with HEAVY to take us with them.
"I feel great," he smiled when asked how the band is feeling about the album release. "We spent a lot of time on it and people have been responding well so far, so it's a relief."
When asked to describe what ATENA was striving for musically Skogli opens up a bit more.
"I guess it depends on what you've heard of us before," he measured. "But in general, it's a modern metalcore sound - which sounds cliche - but there's maybe more cinematic elements. We tried to expand on what we've done before. I could give you all the band cliches of the heaviness being heavier and the melodies being more melodic (laughs). There's some of that, there's more electronics. We have been using them for years - we've always had electronics in our sound - but we have expanded on that as well so we feel like we've done a lot."
In the full interview, Jacob runs us through the singles released and which best represent the overall sound of Subway Anthem, the pressures of follow up Drowning Regret & Lungs Filled with Water and their desire to expand on the sound of that album, musical growth, painting a sonic landscape with music, where their sound originated, getting the balance of genres right in the writing and recording process, future plans and more.