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Given the
chance to interview Nicolas van Dyk once more I jump the gun. After all their
brand new album ‘Snowfall on Judgement Day’ is in my humble opinion the best
progressive metal has to offer in 2009.
‘Snowfall on
Judgement Day’ was released on the InsideOut Music label on September 25th, what
kind of expectations do you have for it?
Nicolas -
Creatively, I think we have achieved what we wanted to achieve – or at least
we’re getting closer to it with each CD, which is a good sign. The initial
reviews and fan response has been very encouraging, so I think we’ve got a very
good CD. Commercially, I hope that we are able to grow and get to a point where
we’re not losing money every time we release a CD!
J
It’s very hard in this climate when people no longer pay for music,
unfortunately.
If you had to
chose one song you feel represents Redemption today, which song would you choose
and why? Personally I would pick “Black and White World”, not my personal
favourite song off the album, which are “Unformed” and “Keep Breathing” , but a
song I feel captures the essence of the band pretty well.
Nicolas -
It’s always difficult to pin us down to one song, because part of what we do
is to combine heaviness and melody, and we have both technical parts and more
simple parts, and also this CD has a lot of variety on it. But I would probably
pick Black and White World as well, because I think it covers a lot of territory
for one song.
Where do you
see the main difference between this album and your latest album ‘The Origins of
Ruin‘ from 2007’? I think everything has taken a step up, from the excellent
production thru the song writing and least but not least Ray’s brilliant
performance.
Nicolas -
First, thank you very much!
I don’t know
that there are revolutionary changes, but we do keep trying to make a better CD
each time out and that’s something we focus on – we’re perfectionists and I’m
never 100% happy but I do feel that we’re making good music. I think I’m
becoming a better songwriter with more practice, and I think we’re continuing
here to push the envelope in terms of heavy, riff-oriented metal with strong
melody. I also think we’re a bit more varied on this record in terms of
tempos. Lastly, the production is the crispest and heaviest that we’ve yet
achieved.
How did you
come up with the title for the album – is there a religious or spiritual meaning
behind the title?
Nicolas -
For the previous two CDs, I had a definite connection between the cover, the
title and the lyrics. For this CD, there’s no connection between the title or
the artwork and the lyrics. The title was something that I liked the cadence of
– just the sound of the words and how they flowed together, and it has a kind of
mysterious connotation.
You have
produced and mixed the album together with Tommy Hansen (practically in my
backyard) - how does the final result compare to the idea you had going into the
studio?
Nicolas -
Production is always a big challenge. I’m still searching for the perfect
sounding record, although I think we are getting closer with each release. We
have a beefy guitar tone – which I think could still be beefier – and we have
great sounding drums on this CD. So we are getting there! It’s particularly
challenging for us because we have so much going on in the music. I can think
of some bands with terrific sounding records but they don’t have a busy bass,
for example – the bass just plays along with the guitar and that makes it so
much easier to have a full sounding tone. With us, the bass is often
independent of the guitar and that makes it much more difficult for our producer
to balance all the frequencies, and maintain a thick guitar sound while still
letting the bass pop out. Still, we’re getting there, I think!
Tell us a bit
about artwork, you have once more chosen to work with Travis Smith. Has he been
a bit inspired by Hugh Syme for this piece of art?
Nicolas -
I think that’s perceptive on your part. The whole cover concept does have a
Hugh Syme feel to it – it’s realistic and simple, but otherworldly at the same
time – the things don’t fit together (fire and snow) and that creates curiosity
and tension. At one point, I remember describing to Travis that I wanted the
cover to have a “Hugh Syme on crack in a horror film” aspect to it. I’d say
it’s one part Hugh Syme and one part John Carpenter’s The Thing, I
guess.
J
Redemption –
any special story behind your name?
Nicolas -
I’m sure a lot of people read into it, but honestly it came about because
The Shawshank Redemption is my favourite movie. Of course as it happens I
don’t mind the other meanings associated with it, but it wasn’t a decision of
any particular significance when I came up with it.
How important
was it for you to get on a label that knew how to promote progressive metal when
your last deal (with Massacre) was up?
Nicolas -
Very important. Just being with Inside Out provided us with legitimacy
which was important. Plus they are very good at this type of music. It makes
perfect sense for us to be with them and although they’ve been through some
pretty scary reorganizations, they are still standing and we are happy with them
and with Century Media as our newest partner. They’ve been great.
You had the
chance to tour with Dreamt Theater and Into Eternity in 2007 – what experience(s)
stand the clearest for you from that tour?
Nicolas -
The two moments that are clearest to me are the insertion of 16 bars of YYZ
into our song Bleed Me Dry in Toronto, which was met with deafening applause,
and the prank we played on DT when we dressed up as ants and a can of raid
(their cover art and stage art involved ants) and came out on stage during the
last night of the tour. It was hilarious and is briefly catalogued on our live
DVD, for those that are interested in checking it out.
What tasks lay
immediately ahead of Redemption – any touring plans, single shows or…?
Nicolas -
Fates Warning is working on another CD right now, so we are going to lay low
for the next few months but we hope that in 2010 we will play out a bit in the
US and in Europe. After that, we’ll get cracking on our next CD.
Thank you very
much for answering my questions. Do you have any last rants for our readers?
Nicolas -
Thanks to all of you for reading, and especially to our fans for your
interest and support!
Interviwed by Kenn Jensen | 
