Koldborn pour l'album "The Uncanny Valley"

Hey there Henrik! Could you please first introduce Koldborn's history to our readers?

-Well, we started out in 1997 playing regulair dethmetal like so many other bands do. Released our debut album "First Enslavement" in 2001 through Diehard Music and played some shows. Then I joined Hatesphere in 2002 which took a lot of my time from Koldborn, but we still continued to write music and play shows when we had the time. In 2004 we released "The Devil Of All Deals" EP through Ancient Darkness Productions which featured our new singer Lars who joined the ranks. Straight after that we started to compose for a new fulllength cd which we then recorded in 2005 with Jacob Bredahl who has become sort of our house engineer - he also engineered the two other releases. We recorded and mixed the album over 9 months and in March 2006 it was ready for release. We then hooked up with the great French label Listenable records which was an absolute dream come true for us since we are all big fans of the profile they have. Lots of bigger labels could learn a lot from Listenable because they release quality instead of quantity.

-The album starts with a short introduction called "28:06:42:12". What's the meaning behind it?

If you listen to the intro which is taken from the movie "Donnie Darko" you can hear Frank the rabit tell Donnie when the world is going to end - in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. A simple as that haha.



Danemark had and still have a few remarquable death metal bands, like Konkhra, Illdisposed or Iniquity. Do you feel you share the same musical range with some of these bands, especially Iniquity? How is metal going in Danemark in 2006?

A main thing about Danish metal is a groove - you could hear it in Konkhra and Illdisposed, and we have it too. But I dont think we sound anywhere similair despite the groovy elements. Iniquity was a very unique band and I grew up listening to it myself. they split up a few years ago but I think Mads is playing in another band now. Musically Koldborn go more for a straight-in-you-face approach with faster parts and harder groove than the other Danish bands. Metal here is doing great these days, with bands such as Mnemic, Mercenary and Hatesphere to represent the Danish music outside the country. We have always had a very healthy scene with lots of bands, but in the last 5 years, a lot has happened and more and more bands are getting signed to international labels like Listenable, Roadrunner, Century Media and SPV/Steamhammer whic is great because it makes the rest of the world listen to our music. The level of musicciansship here is really high as well, I think we have proven over the years that we have some of the very best instrumentalists in the world with f.ex. a drummer like Reno Kiilerich (ex. Dimmu Borgir) and Per M. Jensen (The Haunted) and also Rasmus from Koldborn is no exception, he is so extreme and varied in his play that I just go "wauww" sometimes when we rehearse haha.

I've always had the impression Danish people had quite a fine sense of humor. How is yours exprimed in Koldborn's music?

-Well, if you listen to "The Uncanny Valley" you can hear a small sample from Aliens in the end of 2:18 whic is pretty funny hahaha. Also the end of the record you can hear Rasmus throw down his drumsticks in the end of a take for that song and shout that he is done with metal - just a little insider joke from the studio. I guess for us metal is all about having a good time and laughing with you friends - metal is energy and we get high from it!

Are there any guest on "The Uncanny Valley"? I'm almost sure i've heard Sven from Aborted, among others...

-Yes you are right there. Sven from Aborted sings on the song "Last Message" and Jason from As We Fight sings on "Disconnected" and "Below A Crushing earth". they are both good friends of mine and I talked to them about doing some guest vocals for Koldborn for a long time, and then when we had the oportunity to actually record something with them, we wrote some parts for them to sing on. I love their voices and they sing very different from Lars' style which is pretty shouting and aggressive. Both Sven and Jason have very deathmetal kind of voices - those of you who have heard them know what Im tlkikng about. They are growling fuckin' sick both of them!!



What are your main influences? Both musical and lyrical?

-The main thing for us is always to keep the intensity and musical aggression high in our music, so when we write we spend a long time listening to our music and evaluate how the elements works when you listen to them. We listen to a lot of differnet kinds of music and draw inspirations from bands raging from Bloodsimple to Sevendust to Krisiun, but mainly we actually dont get inspired from deathmetal bands. I think its very important for musicians to draw inspirations from other kinds of music into you own music so you dont get caught up in a bad circle of deathmetal bands getting inspired from deathmetal bands who inspire deathmetal band etc... its all about trying to see the music in another perspective and take it to a new level. Lyrically Lars is inspired from his stydies in philosophy and psychology at university so most of his lyrics are philosophical comments on an insane world through his (sane?) eyes.

Where does all this hatred come from? Is Danemark such a bad place to live in? :p

-well with this present world situation with violence and religion poluting our lives, its pretty easy to find things to hate! Religion should be forbidden by law. No other thing in the history has caused so much agony and suffering to innocent people, and even though we live in a very modern society with a high level of enlightment, more and more people tend to turn to religion for answers. Using faith as a guide can be good for people and helps a lot of people, but when you put religion over law and justice, yoy have reached a critical level where it causes anarchy. Just look at the middle east where religion and faith rule which causes intelligence and justice to wither and die. You cant set up rules to live by for an entire society thats based on faith - you cant discuss it or improve it, its simply braindead!

I saw a live video on your website for "218". it's a shame no one was really reacting to your performance...will we ever get the chance to see you here in France?

-We have been offered festival apperances all over Europe, but as things are right now, my time is very limited because I play a lot of gigs with my other band Hatesphere, so its hard to squeeze in more live dates with Koldborn. We are trying hard to make it work, but as things are right now, we only have time to play shows in Denmark. Hopefully we will get the chance to play france one day - I love the country with all the great food and super friendly people.

Do you know French Metal bands? I've noticed you may already have heard of a specific one, which share more or less the same name as a big lezard destroying Japanese cities... :p

-Hahaha I guess you mean Gojira. We are all very fond of that band and have been listening to it for ages, actually since I meet them thge first time in Colmar at a festival in january 2003 - great guys and great musicans! Also Scarve has been one of my favourite bands for a long time, Im amazed by the level of musicianship from all members in that band, they are truly pushing boundries of whats possible to do with this genre. the more I play in France, the more great bands I get to know, and Im convinced that France is becoming one of the leading metal countries in the world with all those killer bands.

What are you currently listening to? Metal and not? Is there a specific band (apart from Koldborn, since it's quite obvious :p) Thrashocore's readers should absolutely listen to?

-Scarve is definately something you should check out if you are not familiair with them already. But also Nine from Sweden - superb melancholic rock�n�roll. Sevendust is a band that I just discovered some time ago, and they are absolutely amazing as well. Off course you cant play deathmetal without loving Decapitated, Aeon and Deicide (new cd rocks sooo hard).

Which question would you have wanted to be asked? And what would have been your answer? (hard one!)

Q-Would you like a beer? A-make it a big one!

Well, last words are yours! Thanks for answering this interview!

Thanx for you support to Koldborn, it means a lot to us. check out www.myspace.com/koldborn for additional info on the band and free downloads of ourt songs. Keep rockin' France - merci!

/Heinz