answered 2005 by Henrik (drums) and Kjell (vocals)

Hello Guys! How are you nowadays? What did you do before you started answering my questions? I hope, everything all right.

Henrik: I just came home from a little trip downtown and looked through Altered Aeon`s mailbox and found this interview to work on. Everything`s allright, I look forward to answering these questions. Goddamn, there`s a bunch of them!

Because this is the first interview for an Hungarian fanzine I would propose starting our chat from the very beginning. Tell us please first, how, when and by whom was the band established? Did you know each other earlier?

Henrik: I worked at the same place as Kjell back in 2001 and we eventually started discussing music and playing together and all that. I actually joined Azotic Reign as a bassplayer for a show in mid 2001 and it was around that time we formed what was later to become Altered Aeon. I had some songs and when Kjell listened to it he liked what he heard, they were however very death metal-sounding and the first songs doesn`t represent what Altered Aeon sounds like today.

Henrik Ohlsson has played both in THEORY IN PRACTICE and in MUTANT, Kjell Andersson was the member of AZOTIC REIGN. I know, that MUTANT and AZOTIC REIGN have released albums. What must we know about them? In what kind of reception were they participated by the fans and by the underground metal press? Kjell: AZOTIC REIGN WAS A THRASH METAL BAND (BAY-AREA STYLE) WHO TRIED AND STRUGGLED HARD WHEN THE THRASH METAL SCENE STARTED TO GO DOWN AND ALMOST

DIED OUT. TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT, THE BEST MOMENTS OF AZOTIC REIGN WAS WHEN THE "BEYOND THE BLOOD" MINI CD (PRODUCED BY THE FAMOUS DANIEL BERGSTRAND) CAME OUT AND A RECORD DEAL WITH IRON GLORY WAS IN OUR HANDS. AND THEN WHEN WE HIT THE STAGE IN GÄVLE, SWEDEN, TO DO THE RELEASE PARTY OF THE "ABSTRACT MALEDICTIONS" CD (600 THRASHERS CAME AND BANGED THEIR FUCKING HEADS BLOODY).

Henrik: Yeah, my musical past includes bands like T.I.P and Mutant. T.I.P released three albums and one demo between 1995-2002 ("Submissive" (demo), "Third Eye Function", Pulverised recs, "The Armageddon Theories", Listenable recs and "Colonizing the sun", Listenable) and then we lost the inspiration to continue, we reached some sort of cult status because of the technicality of the music and that band has helped me a lot in my present musical life because a lot of musicians look up to T.I.P. Mutant was more like a project we did just for the hell of it, we played fast black metal and just had fun but a lot of the labels that heard our demo "Eden Burnt to Ashes" thought it was the best black metal music they had heard for years so that made us record an album back in 1999 ("The Aeonic Majesty", Listenable recs.) The fans and the press was always kind to these bands, I must say.

Did these bands split up or did you simply leave these groups? Couldn't you co-operate with the other members?

Kjell: AZOTIC REIGN HAD TO SPLIT UP IN 2002 BECAUSE OF LACK OF INTEREST IN THE MUSIC. KJELL ANDERSSON AND TORD ERIKSSON WAS THE ONLY MEMBERS WHO DIDN`T LEAVE THE BAND AND SO AFTER 11 YEARS AND SEVERAL GIGS, DEMOS AND CD`S ETC. WE DECIDED TO BURY THE THRASH HATCHET ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Henrik: As I said we lost inspiration with T.I.P and decided to lay it to rest and Mutant was just something we did for fun and in the long run we couldn`t really stand behind it. There was never really a "co-operation problem".

How often did you rehearse? Did ALTERED AEON play an more important role in your life than your other bands?

Kjell: I AM TOTALLY DEDICATED TO THIS BAND AND IT`S GREAT TO BE IN ALTERED AEON, IT RULES SO THEREFORE IT`S VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME IN MY LIFE.

Henrik: We try to rehearse once a week but we only keep it up when there`s a show or recording coming up, that`s when we really make an effort to rehearse our material. I think it`s the same with most bands that has been playing for some time. Altered Aeon plays an important role in my life but I would never keep it going unless I feel that the band is functionable, in that case I would rather start up a new band or something like that. I would never keep going just because we`ve established the bandname a little with the "Dispritism"-album. I also play in a band called Scar Symmetry who recently signed to Nuclear Blast (we released our debut album "Symmetric in Design" earlier this year through Cold/Metal Blade) and I can`t really compare one of my bands to another because my role and the musical way of doing things is so different from eachother. I`m a man of many musical faces and I need to express more than one side of my musical diversity, or show more than one face if you will. It makes it easier to keep a clear musical path with the bands aswell and not try to do all sorts of things just to try to express every musical face of your being within one band. I`ve tried that and it gives a shattered impression. It`s better to spread it out on several constellations and keep each band`s musical approach distinct.

Niklas Rehn joined the band in 2002. In which groups did he play earlier? Henrik: He has played on and off with me through the years in death metal bands/projects. At one point we had a death metal cover band together where we played songs by Obituary, Death etc exclusively! He has also been playing classical guitar for some years but that was in his teens. In February 2003 you have recorded a four tracks

demo "Light Creates Shadows". Tell us please about this demo! Did the demo draw the fans attention to the band?

Kjell: YES, IT WAS GREAT TO HEAR THE FANS OF METAL ROAR IN THUNDER.

You have recorded the demo by thirth. When did the other members join the band? Was it hard to find the suitable people?

Henrik: Altered Aeon, or Thrawn as we called ourselves back then, wasn`t really a band until after the recording of the demo. Before that it was just basically me, Kjell and Niklas fooling around a little bit, ha ha! But when we had managed to put together the songs for the demo we felt like we had found something in terms of sound and musical approach so that`s when we really wanted to make Altered Aeon a real band so to speak. And when we decided to recruit a full line-up we didn`t have any problem at all finding quality musicians, Per and Anders were more than ready to join. For the record, Per played the solos on the demo so he was half-way into the band already.

The demo was recorded in Jonas Kjellgrens Black Lounge studio. Were you satisfied with the sound of the demo? Did Jonas help you much during the recordings?

Henrik: We were pretty satisfied with the guitar sound on the demo but otherwise he did a much better job with the production of the album, which we also recorded at the Black Lounge studio. Jonas was also more involved on the recording of the album so therefore I`d rather remember that recording session. But the demo got us where we wanted to be so we`re happy with it, we just take it for what it is- an important step in our history.

Did you send some copies from the demo to several fanzines and record labels?

Henrik: We sent out demos to selected zines and labels, but we didn`t print the demo at a factory or anything. It was more a case of burning the CD`s we needed at home and then send it to the appropriate people.

How did you get in touch with the Greek label Black Lotus Records? Why did you choose them? Didn't you get any offers from other, for example from Swedish labels?

Henrik: We had other labels to choose from but Black Lotus gave us the best deal on paper. We had the biggest recording budget of our careers for "Dispiritism" and that, plus the first impressions of Black Lotus, made us sign for them. I had been in contact with Black Lotus before concerning a Celtic Frost-tribute that me and my band (T.I.P) was supposed to feature on. In the end it didn`t happen but I remembered Black Lotus later on and sent our demo to them, the rest is history.

The owner of the label is Magus Wampy Daoloth from NECROMANTIA. Do you know him? Do you like his band? In your opinion, is Magus a nice guy?

Henrik: Oh, I don't know anyone who calls himself Magus... Wampy? It sounds like a pesudonym, an artist-name of some sort. I didn't know that one of the owners of BLR plays in NECROMANTIA and I can't tell which one at the BLR office we're talking about. I'm in contact with a bunch of guys at the Black Lotus headquarters. But at the end of the day I'm sure they're all nice guys. Somewhere deep inside... he he. When did you enter the studio to record your first full length album? In which studio and by whom was the

material recorded? Were you in good mood during the recordings?

Henrik: We entered the Black Lounge studio once again with Jonas Kjellgren at the producing spot. The album was recorded in February 2004 and we finished recording it in April 2004. I was personally in a very good mood when I recorded the drums because everything ran smoothly.

The bands was formed originally THRAWN. Why did you change your name into ALTERED AEON? What does mean the name of the band?

Henrik: During the recording of the "Dispiritism" album I realized that the name Thrawn could bring us trouble because we didn't own the rights to that name. George Lucas has the rights and that's not a guy you want to mess with, he could nail our asses for using his stuff. And Thrawn was a name that fitted the early days of the band but once we got more serious, with a recording contract and everything, it was better to have a name that was more aligned with the lyrical themes of the band. Altered Aeon basically stands for finding an alternative to the "everyday mentality" which is useful but pretty narrow-minded and boring. When you listen to music that you really like, for example, you kind of enter another type of reality. A more energized and inspiring form of consciousness. It`s the same with anything that opens your mind and inspires you, it makes you enter an altered aeon of awareness. Everything is really the same but you look things differently, you know. It`s pretty awesome.

By whom were the lyrics and the music of the debutalbum written? How were the songs composed? What are all about the lyrics?

Henrik: I basically wrote all the music and lyrics with small additions from the other members. When I compose a song for Altered Aeon I first create the riffs, those are the foundation of our music. No riffs, no song- ha ha. I figure out the drum parts when the core structure of the song is finished and then I record drums, bass and guitars on my porta studio just to give the other members a hint of what the song will sound like. The lyrics deal with different occult themes, themes of hidden knowledge, and it connects strongly with the bandname which meaning I described earlier.

The album was titled "Dispiritism". Would you speak detailed about each songs?

Yeah, first of all the title "Dispiritism" is a declaration of war with dispiritism. Because we apply meaning to everything we do and it's important to keep that feeling of uselessness at bay. Otherwise you enter a domain where you can't be creative and you lose the spark of inspiration.

"Dispirited Chambers" is about feeling like you're caged or locked into a dark room with no possibility of getting out. But the person who experiences that physically in the lyrics decides to run for the exit into the unknown, rather than to stay in that dark place and wither. And he succeeds. With his sanity intact or not is hard to tell, he he, because at the moment of his escape he feels like he's lost it.

"Resonance of Form in Transition" is about the war with dispiritism, it's about the same thing as the album title. It's like a title track only it has a different name.

"Desensitizer" is a story that Kjell came up with that I developed a little bit and wrote the words for. It's about some sort of genetic project that goes horribly wrong and the project itself craves retribution for the crimes done to it.

"Behind the Lodge Door" is about a freemasonic cult or sect. I'm sure you've heard of freemasons and there's a lot of stories about what happens in their rites of initiation, the grotesque acts done to the initiate. The lyrics for the song describes that and also the promises that the sect gives you if you live through their initiation. It's really a conspiracy theorist-song if you go to the bottom of it where the freemasonic cult is tied to a web of leaders that rules the world in a great scheme. Interesting stuff.
Kjell had this title "Patriots of Sin" and I pondered on it for a while and came up with an idea of ancient day witches and modern day outcasts. I added the words "Aeturnum Essentia" to increase the mystical feel of it. It means "Eternal Essence" and hints that the blood of the ancient day witches lives on to this day through their offspring and through those who practice ancient occult wisdom. The moral of the story is that society used to burn "witches" at the stake and now they burn people that are different on a mental stake, because people that goes against the norm are being ostracized and cast out by society in a way.

"Carpe Noctem" is sort of a nocturnal poem, I've never written anything like it before. I was in an odd state of consciousness one night and just wrote it from beginning to end right away. It`s like a hymn to the presence of the night, I suppose.

"Dreamscape Domain" is about astral travelling and you get to follow an individual on such a voyage. This person enters a dimension where he can physically see emotions and thoughts. If a person on the physical plane thinks hateful thoughts for example, they are embodied in this dreamscape domain. And the character in the lyrics gets assaulted by these emanations of hatred and has to return to his physical body. It ends with a voice saying "Heed, recall nothing" which secures that he will not remember anything of what happened during this voyage. Who is the owner of the voice? Why will he recall nothing? Go figure! Maybe because of universal laws of astral travelling.

"Oath to Endure" is about a realization that you are a spirit having a human experience rather than a human having a spiritual experience. But as life proceeds you tend to forget that and you drug yurself with all kinds of substances to fill that empty void inside you. And I don`t just mean illegal drugs, it could be eating, smoking- whatever. The lyrics basically deals with the struggle of being a spirit having a human experience.

"Light Creates Shadows" is a nail in the head to anyone who claims to sit on the ultimate truth. Truth is relative, you can't force your truth on anyone else. So whether you are religious, anti-religious, believe in nothing at all or believing it all, it's fine as long as you don't hurt anyone else or try to force it down someone else's throat. Your right to swing your fists ends with my right to not having my jaw broken, simple as that. Some people likes the light, some people enjoy the darkness better and you can't judge either of them as long as they keep their passions to themselves.

"Transcendence Duology" deals with the concepts of suicide and ponders upon the fate of a suicidal being.

Did you put also the demosongs on the album? Did you re-record them?

Kjell: YES, ALL THE DEMO-SONGS ARE ON THE ALBUM AND YES- WE RE-RECORDED THEM ALL.

Are you satisfied with the end-result or could it have been better? On what would you change as far as the album?

Henrik: It's impossible to make the perfect album and if you succeed then it`s all over. How would you follow up on the perfect album? So, of course there are things we`d change in retrospect, but overall we`re proud of the album because it sounds well-played and the songs are good. The guitar sound could have been rawer so that`s definetly something we would change if we had the chance.

"Dispiritism" was one of the greatest metal albums in 2004, it was really intense, fresh and brutal. Do you agree with me?

Kjell: THANKS MAN, WE APPRECIATE THAT. WE BOW OUR HEADS AND SALUTE YOU AND WE THINK IT`S GREAT TOO. BUT WE CAN DO IT EVEN BETTER, I THINK. MORE INTENSE AND BRUTAL.

Which bands were you influenced by? How would you charakterize the music of ALTERED AEON?

Kjell: I CAN SAY THAT I`M INFLUENCED AND A HUGE FAN OF THE MIGHTY SLAYER AND THEN IT'S THE THRASH METAL BANDS OF THE EIGHTIES (DARK ANGEL, VIO-LENCE, FORBIDDEN, EXODUS ETC.). BUT NOWADAYS I MUST SAY I LISTEN MORE AND MORE TO NEVERMORE, IT`S SO FUCKING UNBELIEVABLY GREAT! YEAH, THEY RULE!

Henrik: I can't say I'm influenced by any particular band when I write music for Altered Aeon, I`m more influenced by the metal genre as a whole. The death metal and the thrash metal scene inspires me a lot, those styles of music is the foundation for the musical approach of Altered Aeon. I can`t name specific inspirations because sometimes I hear a little piece here and there on some album that inspires me to write a song and it could be just about any good band out there. It`s those brilliant short moments when you experience something magical in the music that influences me personally.

At the end of your biography I have read "face the arrival of occult thrash metal". How would you comment this statement?

Henrik: Yeah, well, as I said earlier the lyrics deal occult themes. With occult knowledge I mean "hidden knowledge", ideas that are not promoted by the mainstream line of ideas but has been around for centuries. And since we are sort of a thrash metal band we figured that "occult thrash metal" was a good description for those who had not heard us.

What does mean for you occultism or to be occult? Are there differences and similarities between satanism and occultism? Do you consider yourself occult?

Henrik: There are certainly occult ideas that could be labelled satanic but we don´t really promote that kind of occultism, first and foremost our lyrical form of occultism is about liberating the mind, thinking for yourself and finding your path in life according to will of the spirit. There`s nothing satanic about that. I don`t really consider myself occult, I`m just heavily interested in these themes.

Does God exist? Are there heaven, hell and purgatory? What comes after our death?

Henrik: I'm not here to tell you what exists and what doesn`t, first and foremost I`m a musician and I only present theories and things like that in the lyrics. My concept of god is very different compared to a strict christian`s view of god. I think that there is an organizing mind in the universe, one that we are all a spark from and that we are all deeply connected to eachother even though the material world fools our eyes into thinking we`re separated. The greatest illusion is our feeling of separation. But using the word God is impossible these days because the word has been so tainted with foolishness and stupidity, I would never claim to be a servant of god in the christian sense. I think that hell and purgatory is something we experience here on earth, in the flesh. And we`re very responsible for creating that sort of place, in many ways we create our own hell and blame it on others. Death, to me, is a transition into another level of existence. But these are all just theories and I`m not saying it`s the ultimate truth.

Do you believe in reincarnation?

Henrik: I think it's likely. Remember that your cells die as wespeak in your present body, your entire body is changing all the time and you don`t have the same body now that you had a couple of years ago because all those cells are dead. So with that in mind you are reincarnating even now. And I don`t think that showing up in another body in another life is any stranger than showing up in this body in this life, life is such an enigma in itself that you can`t really exclude any possibility.

Do you agree with me if I compare your music to SLAYER and FORBIDDEN? As far as the voice of Kjell Andersson, it very similar to Russ Anderssons (ex-FORBIDDEN) one.

Kjell: THANKS MAN, I'M FLATTERED! I AM AN ANDERSSON TOO YOU KNOW, SO ANDERSSONS CAN OBVIOUSLY SING LIKE HELL, HE HE. BUT TO COMPARE ME TO THIS GIANT THRASH METAL SINGER IS NOT FAIR CAUSE THEY ARE GODS TO ME.

Henrik: It`s an honour to be compared to both Slayer and Forbidden, but in the end I think we have our own style.

I would also mention also NEVERMORE and Warrel Dane, if I'm searching the roots of your music.

Kjell: WARREL DANE, OH YES, THAT GUY CAN SING. HE HAS A GREAT STYLE AND A GREAT VIBE IN HIS VOICE AND THE MUSIC IS AWESOME.

Henrik: I'm definetly a fan of NEVERMORE, and with their latest album I think they are actually coming closer musically to what we do than before. At least on some of the songs. So they`re following us, ha ha!

I mean so, you prefer both the brutality and the technicality, the solos of Niklas Rehn and Per Nilsson are awesome.

Henrik: Let me point out that Per plays all the solos, Niklas is strictly a rhythm guitarist. And yeah, we like to have both brutality, melodic passages and technicality because it opens up more possibilities in the music and you can do a lot more with it if you don`t stare yourself blind at one musical approach.

At the same time I have to tell you, that the music is complex, the record has to listen to more, it is very hard to receive, if you understand what I think of.

Kjell: YES, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. BUT GIVE IT A TRY AND BE OPEN-MINDED CAUSE THEN YOU WILL SEE DOORS OPEN FOR YOU AND YOU`LL EXPERIENCE A THRASH METAL MONSTER THAT WILL GIVE YOU PLEASURE FOR YEARS.

As far as the swedish thrash scene, nowadays are very much thrash bands in Sweden, like CARNAL FORGE, THE HAUNTED, CORPORATION 187, WITCHERY, DARKANE, THE FORSAKEN etc. Do you like them? Are you good friends with these bands?

Kjell: YES, WE KNOW SOME OF THEM. AZOTIC REIGN WAS THE OPENING ACT FOR WITCHERY IN GÄVLE, SWEDEN.

Henrik: Jonas Kjellgren used to be the vocalist in Carnal Forge and we know him of course, I even play with him in Scar Symmetry.

In your opinion, to what can be thank this movement? These bands are very similar to SLAYER in my opinion, do you consider them SLAYER copies? Would you name ALTERED AEON as a modern thrash band?

Henrik: I don't think that any of them are Slayer-clones even though the influence of Slayer is apparent in The Haunted`s and Dew-Scented`s music for example. I think we`re a modern thrash band, definetly. But with less apparent Slayer-influences. We`re trying to include both new ideas and traditional thrash and death metal elements in our music.

Do you know or did you listen to already the German band DEW-SCENTED? They are playing also this modern, brutal thrash metal.

Kjell: I LISTEN TO THEM NOW AND I THINK THEY CAN THRASH REALLY HARD AND BRUTAL. YEAH, I LIKE THE MUSIC THEY DELIVER. DEW-SCENTED "IMPACT", BUY OR DIE!

Thrash was very popular during the 80ies. How do you remember about this period? How old were you at that time?

Kjell: I REMEBER IT WELL AND I SAW LOTS OF BANDS LIKE ANTHRAX, FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, PANTERA, DEATH ANGEL AND SLAYER SEVERAL TIMES BACK THEN. I SAW METALLICA 2 TIMES WITH CLIFF BURTON (R.I.P.). THE LAST TIME I SAW CLIFF WAS BEFORE HE TRAGICALLY DIED, AND HE DELIVERED A BASS-SOLO THAT WAS SO FUCKING GREAT AND UNBELIEVABLE. YOU COULDN`T BELIEVE YOUR EARS AND EYES! THEN THE DAY AFTER THE SHOW WE READ THE NEWSPAPER AND HEARD THAT HE DIED IN A CRASH. IT WAS A SAD DAY FOR THE FANS OF THRASH. I`M AN OLD BASTARD, BORN IN 1964. YEAH, STILL BANGING AND THRASHING MY BRAIN.

Henrik: I was born in 1975 and I started playing in bands in 1990. Thrash metal came to me through Metallica`s "Master of Puppets" and from then on I listened to pretty much anything that thrashed. Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, you name it. Around 1990 I started getting heavily into death metal.

Do you prefer the wild, energic, aggressive European thrash or a little bit melodic, technical Bay Area one? Which bands are the gods of thrash metal?

Kjell: I HAVE ONE LEG IN EUROPE AND THE OTHER LEG IN THE BAY AREA, HE HE. I LOVE SLAYER AND I THINK THAT THEY ARE THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD. THEY HAVE IT ALL- SPEED, AGGRESSION AND VIOLENCE. AND THEY ARE A KILLER BAND ON STAGE.

Henrik: I have to agree with Kjell that both the european bands and the bay area bands are of great significance. I enjoy both Kreator and Forbidden, for example. There are a lot of gods in thrash metal! The first four Metallica-albums were important, Testament, Overkill, Anthrax, Kreator and Forbidden etc are definetly gods. There`s a lot of good old thrash bands.

Why did thrash go out of fashion later? Is there nowadays a thrash scene?

Henrik: I think that The Haunted, Carnal Forge, Defleshed, Dew-Scented and the likes has formed a new active scene. In my opinion thrash went out of fashion because of death metal, because death metal was more brutal, fresh and had an even more rebellious attitude. Later on black metal made death metal go out of fashion for the same reasons. But I think that people started looking back around the end of the 90`s and realized that it was really cool to take influences from the early thrash bands and mix it with death and black-elements. And that made thrash metal valuable again.

Recently (I mean in the last 5 years) have reformed a lot of thrash bands from the 80ies, like EXODUS, DEATH ANGEL, AGENT STEEL, NASTY SAVAGE, HOLY MOSES, DESTRUCTION, NECRODEATH, NUCLEAR ASSAULT etc. In your opinion, it is worth to reunion after 15-16 years? Did you listen to their comeback albums? Which records of these bands did you like?

Kjell: I DON`T LIKE BANDS WHO DECIDE TO REFORM AND CANNOT DELIVER AT THE SAME LEVEL AS THEY DID IN THE EIGHTIES. WHEN EXODUS CAME OUT I BOUGHT THE CD AND I MUST SAY THEY HAVE DONE A GREAT WORK WITH THAT ALBUM, SOME OF THE SONGS ARE EVEN BETTER THAN THE OLD ONES. I HAVE THE NASTY SAVAGE AND AGENT STEELE ALBUMS AND THEY ARE GOOD BUT NOT AS GOOD AS THEY USED TO BE. I HAVE ONLY HEARD ONE SONG EACH FROM THE NEW HOLY MOSES AND DESTRUCTION ALBUMS AND I DON`T LIKE IT. THEY WERE MONSTER BANDS BEFORE (HOLY MOSES "REBORN DOGS", BUY THAT ONE CAUSE IT`S FUCKING GREAT THRASH).

Henrik: I can understand why they do it, they long for the fun days in their careers and getting praise and all that, but as a listener I have never really heard a comeback-thrash album that could stand up to the earlier material. But I tend to check out the comeback-albums because hope is the last thing that dies...

Did you go on tour after the releasing of the album? Which bands did you play with? Could you tell us about your shows, gigs? What kind of exeperiences did you gain?

Henrik: We got no tour support from Black Lotus so therefore tours has been out of the question, I don`t think Black Lotus has the finances to put their bands on tour to be honest. If we want to play live we have to make it happen ourselves, that`s our reality. We did our debut gig as headliners in July this year and it was cool, we sold a fair amount of merchandise and people seemed impressed by what we did live.

Does the label do a lot of promotion for the band? Do they help, support your career?

Henrik: I'm not gonna lie and say that they've supported us in every way we wanted, there's a lot more to wish for in terms of support and stuff like that. But then again, they're not a big label and you can`t really expect them to do that much because they don´t have the financial means and shit like that. But they do support us by releasing our albums, of course.

Did you already write new songs? What can you say about them? Can you already betray some songtitles?

Henrik: Yeah, there's a lot of new songs. I've been writing on and off since we finished recording "Dispiritism" in mid 2004 so there's a lot of new stuff to explore. If we used it all we could probably record a double-album, he he. But seriously, I won't give away titles because it's too early for that. The musical approach is pretty much the same as before, but we've added new components and ways of playing stuff. We're never going to make the same album twice, there will always be surprises and yet you will always be able to tell that it is Altered Aeon playing.

Did you develope compared to the first album? When do you plan to record the next album?

Henrik: We have definetly evolved since the first album because I`ve learnt a lot musically and I`ve picked up a lot of new ways to riff my fingers to pieces. We will keep the experimental side of the band intact and we will also showcase fast and straightforward stuff aswell. We are allowed by Black Lotus to begin recording in April next year and that`s all we know right now.

OK guys, thank you for being at my disposal, I wish you all the best and good luck! What are your future plans? Please close the interview!

Kjell: THANKS FOR THE INTEREST IN ALTERED AEON! I HOPE WE CAN DO A TOUR IN EUROPE AND COME TO HUNGARY SO WE ALL CAN BANG OUR HEADS TOGETHER IN A THRASH PIT. STAY HEAVY.

Henrik: Thank you, it was a pleasure doing the interview! The most immediate plans for me is to finish recording the second Scar Symmetry-album, it will be released by Nuclear Blast next Spring I think. Then we'll explore some new Altered Aeon songs and hopefully do some shows before the end of the year.

Interview: David Laszlo