Machinae Supremacy pour l'album "Overworld"

1. Hi and thank you for sacrificing some of your time to answer these questions. For those who sleep, your new album "Overworld" is already out and it's the second one on Spinefarm Records. We all know now that at the beginning, you used the internet to promote your music and it worked well. So I wondered what has changed for the band to be signed on a big label such as Spinefarm?

The main difference we see is that we get a lot more reviews in “serious” media, as well as street cred. We used to contact festivals and arrangers hoping to get booked, but they told us to call the demo booking team, even though we far surpassed most demo bands out there in regards to fanbase etc. It seems that the music business still doesn't believe in someone who's not being promoted by someone else, no matter what their achievements are. Being on Spinefarm is a stamp of approval in many people's eyes, even though little has changed otherwise.


2. What happened to Machinae Supremacy during the 2 years between "Redeemer" and this new album? A lot of concerts? A lot of writing?

There was some concerts, probably not as many as we'd liked there to be, but still. The most worth mentioning, I believe, were the two concerts we did first with the Swedish Royal Philharmonic orchestra in Stockholm, followed by the one in Norway, with their KORK orchestra. It was a video games meet classical music event to which we were invited to guest star on some songs, including the climactic final number, in front of thousands of people. It was very massive, playing metal backed by 120 people symphony and choir.

We also worked on new material of course, changed bass players twice and made some video game music.


3. About your previous album "Redeemer", there were 2 versions of it, quite different in their sound and tracklist : "The Underground Edition" available first on your webshop and then the one released on Spinefarm Records (6 months later). Which one do you prefer finally and why?

I think we all prefer the newer one because of its superior production quality, but there are still some things about the Underground Edition that we love. It has 2 intro-tracks that were omitted on the Retail Edition, as well as the song Empire which we kind of miss on the Retail Edition. The Underground Edition has a more home-made sound while the Retail Edition has a more processed, “pro” sound from being mixed and mastered by Sweden's finest audio people. But consider the near-zero budget on both albums, I'd say the both sound pretty good.


4. With all these effects, I always wondered how the writing process spent : do you compose the music on guitar at first and then integrate the effects, or are the effects a part of the creation? Do you always create them from the SID processor?

Most songs begin with either me or Jonne making one single part of them, and then we build from there. Which part comes first varies a lot. Sometimes it's a short SID-burst of 3-4 seconds, at times it's a guitar riff or a melody in some simple chords. We have done complete songs in pure SID before we started turning them into “real” songs, like for instance the songs “Ronin” and “Violator” were created this way.


5. Let's talk about "Overworld" now. What can we expect from this new album? Do you have a favourite song?

It's all so new still, we just love the entire thing. We're very proud of it. I'm sure everyone's got their favourites, but it's not limited to one or two songs each, but rather like which half of the album you prefer, hehe. My favourites right now are the title track “Overworld”, “Dark City” and “Conveyer”. They all symbolize and represent Machinae Supremacy very well, I think, and they're great both lyric- and music-wise.


6. When I discovered "Overworld" for the first time, I was a bit surprised by the use of the special effects. On this one, I found that their integration was more discrete than on your previous works and that the association between your metal part and your synthetic part was more natural. Do you share this impression?

I do. We do love those effects and we wouldn't want to be without them, but we don't want them to get in the way of making great music either, so we always strive to first of all find new and cool things to do with them, but also to make them blend seamlessly into the music so that they are as natural a part of it as the vocals or the lead guitars.


7. When I first listened to the song "Gimme More (sid)", I didn't know that it was a Britney Spears cover of the song "Gimme More" (I didn't follow her carrier actually). So it was fun to compare the two versions which are not so different, except the fact that one is more headbanging and the other is hotter and sexier ;) What do you think about the original version and how went the idea to do such a cover?

The original versions is slooooooow, hehe. No, but seriously, have you tried listening to her version after having listened to ours? It's impossible.

Obviously, we heard something in the song that we really felt we could work with. We wanted to do a cover of a pop song since it was some 6-7 years ago since we last did that, and we felt that it was time. All we had to do was find the right one. Then, as we were working on the new album, Britney released her new album and the first single was released. We listened, we contemplated, and we realized what we could do with it. I think it turned out quite well, even though many of our fans have expressed it was the weakest song on the album, though readily explained by the fact that it's not our song, hehe. However, it's got a sing-along quality that's hard to argue with. ;)


8. Could you tell us more about the lyrics of the album and about its enigmatic title "Overworld"?

Sure. Most of the album circles a dystopian theme of Orwellian magnitude, already visible on our horizon. The lyrics speak about capitalism and how everything is for sale, even people. And the surveillance society, “big brother” and how we are slowly building our own prison under the guise of protection and safety.

Overworld is a word that's been used widely in video games to describe the world between or “above” the actual action hotspots (like temples, caves and whatnot). Often, the map on which you travel between adventures, for instance, would be referred to as Overworld. So the title caters somewhat to our video game niche, but if you dissect it with the tools you find inside, Overworld, in this case, means much more than that.


9. Is there a tour planed to promote this new album?

Not yet, but I plan to start riding Spinefarm's asses hard regarding that subject. We're definitely ready for some serious touring.


10. What are you listening to these days? Any good album to share?

Well, I really enjoy the new In Flames album, that's the latest nugget. They hit a rough patch after “Reroute...” I think, this new one is awesome. Beyond that, mostly albums that have been with my for a while, like the latest Within Temptation album, Bad Relgion's “New Maps of Hell”, and the album that I just can't get enough of, Otep's “Ascension”. Pure awesome, pure genius. I wish she would teach me all she knows.


11. We all know here that the French metal scene is not really well-known even if there is a lot of good things. Have you heard about a French metal band?

I believe Yyrkoon is French, right? I've got their album “Occult Medicine”. Not all songs are great on it, but I love their sound and style. Great solos, awesome technique and style. Beyond that, I don't really know any French bands I think, sorry.


12. With such a music, I suppose you were a video game player one day. Do you still play video games today? If yes, which ones?

Sure we play. Me and Jonne mostly play Wii. Dezo plays a lot of PS3, and when we tour we bring our Nintendo DSLite:s. We play all sorts of games, from Super Mario Galaxy to Half-Life2. Tomas is a Wowcrafter, real addict. :)


13. Thank you for the interview and I hope to see you one day in France. The last words are yours!

I hope so too! We'd love to see your beautiful country, so spread the word about us and you're wish will come true eventually. See you when we get there!