Chad Bowar: How has the band’s sound evolved from Stuck Here On Snake’s Way to The Redshift?
Markus Vanhala: A lot, even there’s only about one year between the albums. We’ve been getting to know each other in the band better as we’ve been touring and rehearsing more, and so the unit is much more coherent now. And as this is the second album featuring Jukka on vocals, it was easier to do this second one as we already know in advance what is in the mind of the Jukka-guy and what we want from each other and what we can do together. The Redshift was much easier and more relaxed to compose and record than Stuck Here On Snake’s Way, and I’m sure it can be seen as a positive energy and freshness on the album. We’ve having a good time and we hope that you are too when you listen to this new album.
What does the album title signify?
The Redshift title stands for many things indeed. ‘Redshift’ is an astronomical term which means the drifting apart of galaxies in the universe. But first of all it is about confidence and tranquillity in fast peaceful forward motion. So the album says: “be at peace and don’t let them (screw) with you!” It is not a concept album in the way one could imagine it would be. There are links between the songs, both composition-wise and lyrically, but there is no visible continuum, or maybe there is. Study the album and figure it out for yourself.
What has the early response been?
Really, really good. The reviews and feedback of fans have been highly positive and we’ve heard a lot of comments like “Omnium Gatherum is now back in business and on the right track!” The album even charted in the official Finnish album chart at position #24, so we’re definitely on the right track. This album is again in the right direction where we want to be stylewisel– more melodic stuff with aggressive edge. What matters the most is that we like the album to be the best OG release and nothing else matters. Everything else is just a bonus on top.
Do fans like the addition of some clean vocals?
Some like it and some don’t. But, it’a a good spice though there’s not so many clean vocals after all. We won’t be doing any clean vocals invasion, at least in the near future, so people shouldn’t be afraid of that at the moment. But versatility on the vocal side is not a bad thing...
How did you decide on Dan Swano to produce the CD?
I’ve been a fan of everything Dan does since the beginning of the ‘90s and Edge Of Sanity were one of the main inspirations when we formed this group. He has produced legendary albums of Opeth, Katatonia, Dissection etc. over the years so it was quite a natural decision to ask him if he would be willing to mix and master our album when I noticed that he had re-opened his cult-status Unisound Studio. Hopefully he was into the project, clutched at straws on this one and even liked the album! It was a pleasant reward for a fan-boy like me.
How was he to work with?
He was an amazingly similar thinking guy to me, so it was really easy to work with him and he did a great job on The Redshift mixing and mastering. It was strange indeed to hear his never ending praises of our album. He really dived in to this project and mixed the whole album in a row without sleep or something. I hope we can work with him also on our future projects.
What are your upcoming tour plans?
We just finished the big European tour in support of Nile and Grave, and now we´re in the middle of a Finnish tour at the moment. There are some plans to tour Europe more next year but we’ll see what confirms.
Any chance of a U.S. tour any time soon?
We really hope that now would be the time for U.S. tour. We receive lots of fan mail from the U.S. and the album feedback has been good there, so why the hell not? But it’s all about other people than the band with U.S. touring…
What are the largest and smallest crowds you've played in front of?
I guess the largest audience we’ve played so far has been Party.san Open Air in Germany. It was like 10 000 metalheads rocking there, and we played on the same stage with Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, Entombed, Amon Amarth and others. The smallest crowd was the unforgettable gig in Tampere, Finland years ago. We were playing with Amoral and Before The Dawn there and the whole audience of the evening was 10 people. At the same time there was a legendary world championship hockey match of Finland vs. good old neighbour enemy Sweden, where Finland started the game 5-0, but Sweden won it after all 6 to 5.. So, we blame that all of Finland were watching the game then and didn’t come the gig!
What was the first concert you attended as a fan?
It should have been Finnish rock sensation called Dingo, back in the days of 1986 when I was 5 years old. They had leopard skin clothes and strange colorful hairstyles which I then thought was cool. Basic 80’s perversions!
Any tour horror stories?
My guitar equipment is blowing and (messed) up all the time on stage and in rehearsals because I’m the damned dude when it comes to the guitar rigs, more expensive you buy – more often they are broken! Our previous vocalist fell from the stage a few times as he was almost a blind man when he took his glasses off and headed to rock on stage. From the example of the bus breaking down in the middle of nowhere, we were going to northern Finland and were driving in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the coldest winter (-25 celsius) and our bus broke down amidst the huge snow piles. The only thing that I could do in that situation was to put another pair of trousers on to not freeze to death and continued sleeping on my bunk. When I woke up something had saved us and we were driving on the road again.
