Inside Mathias Lillmåns’ Dark New Solo Journey Beyond Finntroll And Folk Metal.
- Rock Metal Machine
- 28 minutes ago
- 2 min read
MATHIAS LILLMÅNS
Last year, Mathias Lillmåns – recognized by most as vocalist” Vreth” in Finnish folk metal institution Finntroll – dug through his personal vaults and released Remains, a 17-track collection spanning three decades of his work with different bands.
Warmly embraced by his fanbase, the retrospective also opened a door the metal musician hadn't planned to walk through. "I never meant to start a solo project," he says, "but going through all my old material for Remains, it became clearer that I could actually do something with unfinished work I had laying around."
Conversations with the record company Stormbound Records gradually shaped what came next. At first, Lillmåns was sceptical: “The proposal of working with an outside producer ran counter to how I had operated before.”
After being assured that he could move at his own pace and stay in full control of the process, he decided to give it a shot. ”In Glorious Black and White” is the first track to emerge from the studio sessions.
”Our working method marks a departure from metal-album orthodoxy”, Lillmåns explains. ”Rather than recording each separate instrument in sequence, we’re building the project one track at a time, even using different session musicians chosen to fit each song.”
On ”In Glorious Black and White” Tommi Tuhkala plays drums. Production is handled by Daniel Strang and Marco Luponero, while Grammy-awarded Henkka Niemistö takes care of the mixing and mastering. "I'm a rather introspective lyricist”, Mathias explains. ”’In Glorious Black and White’ is a very existential track. The whole piece was written in a state of fracture between my perception and something else I could not name – moments that turned out to become true sources of inspiration.”
"In Glorious Black and White” is available now on all streaming services via Stormbound Records. It also comes with an official music video.
For collectors, Stormbound Records offers a strictly limited signed Beatjaxx™ audio card, available via the label's official webshop.
Listen to "In Glorious Black and White":
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