Manes pour l'album "How The World Came To An End"

1. Hi! I'm Dead from the French metal webzine Thrashocore. Thank you for accord me some time! So your new album "How The World Came To An End" is going to be released early May. How do you feel at the moment?

Personally, I feel ok. Nothing out of the ordinary. I look forward to getting this new album out now, and it will be fun to see how it does. As a band we really have no expectations, since we more-or-less work in a counterproductive way regarding harvesting fans and acclaim. The release of one album is the start of another.


2. What was the signification of the name of the band at the beginning and do you think it still suits to the evolution of your music?

I think it's from ancient latin meaning "spirits of the dead", or something similar. As for a name suiting the music, I have no understanding of this. A name is a name, not a description. I would say I have changed quite a lot since I was a small child sucking my mothers tit, but I have not chosen to change my name as I have evolved. Coca Cola used cocaine in their beverage mixture in their formative years, thus the name, but stopped due to rather obvious legislative reasons. Still named the same, though. I could go on to prove my point, but I guess you get my drift. I know the essence of change and evolution is somewhat disapproved in metal, with regression being a mark of quality more often than not. But sure; I can see some occations where a namechange could be the best way to go, for example if deathmetallers Prostitute Disfigurement chose to go a bit more prog and "radio-friendly", I guess they might find it hard to get an audience…


3. Before talking about the present, I would like to come back 10 years in the past. I read that you began as a black metal band. Could you tell us more about this period of your carrier and what do you think today of your first album "Under ein blodraud maane"?

I was not a part of Manes at that time. I became a part of Manes a year or so after the debut "Under ein blodraud maane" was released. I do however think it's a great album, and maybe more so the demos preceding it. Bleak, depressing and highly atmospheric stuff. I also know that Cern, sole creator of the early material, has no problem with the past of Manes. It was a different era and we've moved on as a band, but there is no shame or anything like that linked to the early years. The three demos from '93, '94 and '95 has now also been re-released on cd by the Greek label Kyrck Productions with two bonustracks from the same period. This was not something we initiated, but was done by fans of that era for fans of that era.


4. In 2003, "Vilosophe" showed a new face of the band with a brand new style, unique and experimental. How is born the new Manes and how would you define your music today?

Well, this brand new style you mention had quite a long incubation period starting roughly back in 1995. The last demo was released that year, and the 1999 debut album was merely re-recorded songs from the three demos. There was a shift in focus from then on, although nothing was officially released before 'Vilosophe'. More and more experimentation with sequencers and other audio software side by side with a very strong resentment with what metal in general (and black metal in particular) had become, were some of the seeds that has grown into where we are today. But, to try to describe our music without using superlatives, I could say it's a mix of elements from rock and electronica with roots in metal.


5. The evolution of your music is often compared to Ulver's carrier. Is it a band that has influenced your way of creating music? And are there any other bands which gave you this inspiration?

I really don't think we can be compared to Ulver in any other way than our development away from traditional metal. They haven't influenced us in any way, not in content nor in process, but personally I like a lot of what they've done, and I still do. I don't really think it would be correct to name any bands in particular that has been very influential or exceedingly inspirational, since we listen to very different stuff within the band and try to free ourselves from direct musical inspiration. But unconsciously we're probably influenced by lots of the bands we like and listen to. Like anyone would be. But, without trying to be all Power Metal epic poetry & pathos here, I would actually say that we are easier inspired by many other things than music, like written or visual work. Like for instance, a documentary about clinic psychology in the 60ies could easily spawn a complete song, rather than the new/old album by this or that. However, if you want bandnames or albumtitles, I can mention that some of the albums I've listened to recently are General Patton vs. the X-ecutioners, Mogwai "Mr. Beast" and Death in Vegas "The contino sessions", but that has nothing to do with Manes or how we make music.


6. How has evolved the band during these last 4 years in a musical way?

Hm, I don't know really. We've probably lost even more inhibitions and grown to neglect expectations more drastically, but as musicians I can't really say. We've probably gotten a little bit better at our individual instruments, but not in such a degree that it's very audible, I think.


7. So let's talk about the present now! Your new album "How The World Came To An End" will be released in May 7th. What can we expect from it? Can it be compared to your previous album?

We're very fond of the phrase "expect the unexpected", and I think it's actually relevant for this release, but it's such a burdened term devoid of any real meaning now. I think it's a really good album, but it might end up with reviews like "you might like this if you're open-minded" with all of them using the first half of the review comparing the album with the past of the band. But that's ok, we can't (and would not want) any control of the album once it's released - it gets a life of its own, and that's just cool. But, back to your question; it's a very varied album with a dystopian fundament in its essence. It can be compared to our last album 'Vilosophe' in many ways, but it's miles away at the same time.


8. Can you tell us more about the concept of the album and the lyrics? Where does your inspiration come from?

The initial inspiration for the words on this album came as a self-referential guideline, I guess we could say. We came up with "Invention - or how the world came to an end and why we did it" as a 'title' for this albumproject, and it came from the notion of the conclusive goal of an album, for us in an artistic sense, to be an invention - to be something new. To be able to complete something like that one must stray from the path of the music business, where albums are easier sold in an context of familiarity, tradition and reference. So we needed to feel we ended the world that had been Manes in many ways. Not necessarily in a very drastic way, but in a way that made us feel a bit unsafe and venturing into unknown territory. Thus, the 'why we did it' were to be the end result - the product. That's why we did it; to make this album. It's very theoretical and maybe a bit megalomaniac and self-indulgent to claim to be ones own inspiration, but it's true. As for the lyrics themselves, they have no common ground apart from being dark and dispirited. It's actually a mish-mash of lyrical snippets, collaborative efforts and ad-libs, but still it comes together nicely.


9. That's rare enough to be mentioned: some of your lyrics are in French! Why did you make this choice and what does it bring to your music?

The French parts are done by a very talented guy called WT. He's multi-lingual and speaks Norwegian, English, Arabic and French. He is originally from Marocco so his mother-tounge is French, but he speaks Norwegian on a day-to-day basis. We liked his voice and asked him to collaborate with us on the album. After discussing the themes of the songs he participates on, he wrote his own lyrics and did so in French. It works very well, I think. I like the feeling and flow of the French language, and I think his parts add a lot to the songs in a positive way. Like negative positive, right..?


10. Finally, was it hard to lead this album to an end and to find a new label?

Well, no. It was a difficult process in the studio due to the way we chose to work this time around, but I wouldn't call the initial phase before we started the recording very difficult. We stood for a time without label, but that gave us more of a feeling of freedom than anything else. Candlelight Records seems like a well-oiled machine, and they've been very professional in all aspects yet, but that has both positive and negative sides. But I wouldn't call anything hard, not finding a label nor making the album.


11. Is there a tour to promote this new album? Do you envisage to come to France?

We have no tours planned, but we're open to let it happen on our terms. We won't buy ourselves in on any bargain package, but we hope we can do a few gigs here and there in the aftermath of this release. If possible, we really hope to be able to come to France for sure. I visited France last august, actually, in Montpellier and Avignon more precisely. I've been to Avignon earlier too, and I love the south of France, so I hope to come there again with Manes soon.


12. In your biography, I read something about a project called "Be all//End all" which is on pre-production. Can you tell us more about that?

When we started working on "How the world came to an end" we had nearly 70 songs, ideas, themes, parts etc. to flesh out. When we started throwing stuff away that wasn't good enough, we created two folders apart from the garbage-can. One became this album and the other one has become the startingpoint for our next album "Be all///End all". We had certain factors as to what song/idea to put where, so I guess our next album will differ quite a bit from this one.


13. What do you do for a living apart from the band?

I don't think this is very relevant.


14. What are you listening to these days? Any good metal (or not metal) albums to recommend?

I mentioned three albums I listen to these days in my answer about inspiration, but apart from them I can recommend Thom Yorke "The eraser". Great album! And metal ... hmmm .... I'll recommend Morbid Angel "Altars of Madness". Not new and not very obscure/cult/underground, but it's classic and groundbreaking!


15. Thank you for the interview and I wish you the best for the future. The last words are yours!

Thanks for your time and space Mr. Dead! For more info check out our website www.manes.no or www.myspace.com/manes