The Norwegians from Cor Scorpii are back in forces with a new album after 10 years! Had the pleasure to have a chat again with the band vocalist, Thomas Øvstedal, where he has talked about the new album, Ruin, and other stuffs.
Greetings Thomas, nice talking with you again, after 3 years I guess, how is everything going?
Time flies! Nice to be catching up again though! Things are going OK I guess. Super happy with having finished the album and getting that much positive feedback!
Cor Scorpii are back with a new album called Ruin, after 10 years! First, tell me why it took so long to release something new? You have announced a new album years ago, but here you are!
Our plan was never for this album to take so long. But it just happened. Other things came in the way and took priority. Most of the songs were written and we thought we would be able to finish it around 2015. But then we hit a few more hurdles and that opening came and went. Since the release of Monument , we have started families and pursued other careers outside of the music business. We never dropped the ball though and talked frequently and made plans during this time.
Getting into the album, what is the theme behind it? Can you say Ruin is a concept album?
It is not a concept album in the traditional sense. However there are some underlying ideas and emotions that are important to the sound and lyrical themes of both Monument and Ruin. I have been approached with requests for translations, but I feel this is a difficult thing as one would lose a lot of the elements that are important with the lyrics, such as the rhythm and phrasings. I may however try to do something to explain the songs at some point. I just haven’t figured out quite how yet.
I like the cover, indeed it transposes to the album theme…
I have noticed that the cover has received mixed feedback. I quite like it though, and think it looks especially good on the vinyl edition. I was never a big fan of digital art, but things have really changed. Without any comparison with regards to our own artwork, one can now create art similar in style to the photographies of Storm Thorgerson with a fraction of the budget. We wanted something that would stick out in the genre and something powerful to reflect the epicness of the music and the weight of the lyrics.
I noticed that Ruin is more melodic than the previous release, do you agree?
I can agree to that, at least in part. Some of the songs are perhaps a little more straightforward and less complicated structurally as well. This could influence how the melodies are perceived. I think Monument is immensely melodic, but there are some weirder things going on there, such as disharmonic stuff and perhaps a bit more avantgarde style melodies to be heard.
Very interesting using instruments such as mandolin and accordion, I heard rare bands usining a mandolin in their music, guess it was also interesting for you to experiment such instruments in the new album.
That is what happens when you spend so long on an album. After a while you feel that the songs need a little something extra, but in truth I think it was only the mandolin part that happened like that. The accordion was more of a sure thing. Inge Jonny plays the accordion and I think he based a lot of his writing on that. It is a very traditional instrument in our part of Norway, and he in particular grew up with those kinds of instruments around him. I think it sounds awesome!
Like on the previous release, Monument, you had Mats Lerberg again as a guest vocals. How was to work with him again?
Mats is always a pleasure to work with. He sings great, can improvise melodies and is generally a very creative person. His clean vocals are great, but his growls are from another world! That guy rips the death metal vocals. We had him as a guest vocalist at our Inferno show a few years back. That was very cool as well.
What are the next Cor Scorpii plans, are you planning to tour soon aswell?There are no concrete plans as of now unfortunately. We’d love to play more, so interested promoters and festivals should feel free to contact us. I think those who have witnessed our live shows would agree when I say we do quite well on stage.
Maybe will see you on stage soon one day. Thank you again for the interview. Cheers!
Let’s hope so! Thank you so much for the interview! Appreciate the work you do!
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