Kalle - Thanks, it feels great to see the first Moonlight release finally hit the market.

Well, the story of Moonlight Agony goes like this. I and Robert decided to start a metal band in the summer 1999, and in the autumn we teamed up with some musicians from Robert's hometown Kungsbacka. Everyone except our bassplayer Christofer has been replaced since then though. We recorded two demos that actually weren't that great, allthough we were quite happy with them at the time.

Then Robert began his military service and I went off to study music in Oskarshamn while Martin and Christofer stayed in Kungsbacka. A year passed, and not much happened with the band. We were just able to rehearse a few times that year and I don't think we did one single gig. What we did do, however, was to build up a hunger of composing and a far greater individual skill on our instruments.

When all came back to Kungsbacka, we worked hard with new material and soon we entered the studio for the third time. The result was our first recording to posess the real Moonlight Agony sound. We sent out the demo to some labels and signed a Management deal with Intromental. After this our singer quit the band and Intromental helped us get in touch with “Chity” Somapala (Avalon, Firewind). We listened to some of his work and were amazed. Then we recorded "Echoes Of A Nightmare" last summer and Chity came up for some vocal recording sessions that fall. After the album was completed Intromental started fishing for labels. We got some interesting offers and finally decided to settle for Massacre. And that's about where we are now.

2. How has your new album been received by the media?

Kalle - About all of the reviews have been very positive and your's were not an exception. (Thanks for that) =) Now we just hope that the metal fans around the world will welcome us just as warmly.

3. I know artists are not happy to categorize their music, but how would you describe your music to an outsider?

Kalle - Basically we play power metal, but our aim is to be a bit more heavy, aggressive and dark than the average band in the genre. To that we add cinematic, symphonic elements with keyboards and computer programmed orchestras. Finally a very important ingredient is humour. We like to toss some stuff in just for amusment and have all laughed to tears at times in the Studio.

4. Where does your inspiration come from, both musically and lyrically?

Kalle - It's hard to answer that question, as we in band listen to very different music individually. But some bands that we all like is Dimmu Borgir (the two latest albums), Dream Theater, Symphony X and Devil Doll. Common for us all is also that we like bombastic movie scores like by Hans Zimmer, John Williams and Danny Elfman. Lyrically I can't really come up with a single band, all though we tend to like the lyrics of english-speaking bands better, which is only natural as they write in their native language.

5. What topics do you deal with in your lyrics and why?

Kalle - The lyrics in “Echoes Of A Nightmare” contain a hidden story, but are still very vague and poetic, so the story is very hard to read out. It will be interesting to see if anyone manages. =)

6. Who has produced and mixed the album, and are you pleased with the end result?

Kalle - Arnold Lindberg (has earlier worked with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames etc) and Tom Englund (singer/guitarist Evergrey) helped us with the production and we were by far satisfied with the result. I was very impressed both by Arnolds skills both as producer and engineer. He could deliver the sound we wanted.

7. Who has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have a great cover?

Kalle - The artwork is made by Mattias Norén, who has contributed quite a few covers to the metal scene lately. Myself, I think it is of great importance to get a cool cover. Whenever I think of a album, it's cover picture pops up in my mind, and I also associate the musical content of the CD with it. So a nice cover actually makes me think more positive of the album in general.  We ourselves think Mattias did a great work with the “Echoes”-cover, and many have in fact commented it posititively.

8. Do you have any touring plans?

Kalle - At the moment we're not planing any tour. It all depends on how well the album sell. But we're in fact looking into the posibility of making gigs in Denmark in a not to far future. It would be really cool to meet the danish metal audience.

9. How do you feel about the co-operation with your label, and are you satisfied?

Kalle - That is yet very hard to say, as so little time has passed since the release, but it seems that the promotion have worked quite well in Germany and Greece for example, from where we have received many good reviews.

10. The internet is a very important source for many metal fans - how do you use the internet and how important is it for you and other bands?

Kalle - I definitely agree. Nowadays you have a chance to spread your music all over the world you couldn't dream of for ten years ago, being a small band like us.

Well, we try to keep a good homepage, which I think we have and you can download mp3s from there to get at taste of what “Echoes Of A Nightmare” sounds like. We try to answer all Interviews we receive, but to be honest the ones that really does the great promotion work on the net is the fans. And I'm positive that the rumour about Moonlight Agony will spread.

11. How do you see the metal scene at the moment?

Kalle - Personally, I think it's interesting to see these new giant productions with full symphonic orchestras (Nightwish, Dimmu Borgir etc). I'm really amazed by the huge sound of those CDs and it's definitely a dream to one day hear such an orchestra play one of our compositions. But the way there is long. =)

12. To finish things off - could you pls. make a all-time Top 5 or sort of the 5 most important albums in your opinion?

Kalle - 

1. Dream Theater - Images And Words
2. Rhapsody - Symphony Of Enchanted Lands
3. Children Of Bodom - Hatebreeder
4. Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part 2
5. Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory

I can honestly say that these albums have influenced me a lot, partly as guitarist but mostly in the aspect of composing.

Thanks for the interview and hail to all the danish metal fans out there. If you like the CDs I listed for my top 5 you're going to dig “Echoes Of A Nightmare”

Take care / Kalle Landin (Moonlight Agony)

All the best to Kalle and Moonlight Agony, and do check out their debut out now! Claus you know the drill .... THANX.

Album on Massacre Records.

Click on the album cover to see more info on Moonlight Agony.