Exclusive Interview: Mortyfear talk “My Dystopia”!
Last month we shared our top #5 albums of the year that was 2021 in the middle of our Listmainia awards season between Christmas and New Year and upon that list was none other than “My Dystopia” by Seinäjoki Finland based Metal act Mortyfear. Let out of the asylum to create something eclectic and heavy, psychological and simply downright unhinged in places, it’s the kind of madness that we all need in our lives. So here’s an interview with them, the first part of a trilogy…
How did you find the reception to last summer’s “My Dystopia” ? Did it feel like a weight off your shoulders to get an album out 14 years after your last in 2006’s “God’s Skin“? “Yeah, you could say that it was a huge weight off our shoulders, because from the release had been coming for a while. But still, we did not want to rush our release just because we “have” to make a release. We wanted to make it perfectly in the way that we are now as a band”
The first bite is with the eye and the artwork of the album by Roni Ärling is stunning, a real canvas piece! What was your first reaction when you saw the dramatic image?.“Roni did astonishing work with the painting. We were quite stunned and silent when we got it. The only thing we said to him as a guideline to not to seem like a black metal cover. Have to mention also that Tuomas Rytkönen did awesome job finishing the artwork, fitting our new logo made by him as a dying sun to the painting and making the booklet as a whole. It does seem like a diary of a madman, like we asked. Both of the guys made the package look perfect in the way our music needed it to be”
The eerie science fiction synths on “Black Noise” are pure evil! What are your favorite memories or moments from recording the album? “Well I think we have to take a tour from the beginning to the end, because the moments are vast. The production started from an old sawmill, which we rented for a weekend to give the first touches to the songs and recorded the first demos for the vocals. The vocal demos were recorded for “Circus Called Life” in a room with Ville holding the lyrics and me singing, both bare naked. This was the time also when I told the guys I had an idea for the high pitch sound called “wet daydream of a schitzophrenic”. And yeah, we had a blast.
During the recordings we used to put an altar of gluttony, every time we were at RMKsound studios. And magic happened. We just played with different sounds and styles to play and I think that we always loved the horror vibe os it came out naturally on those times. Also one memory was from Finnvox, when we were recording drums, vocals and synths, Nightwish was downstairs finalising their record. What makes it more interesting, in their album there is a song called “Noise” opposing to our “Black Noise”. Had a few laughters with that afterwards”
How important has your relationship been with Inverse Records? “We think that the most important thing with the relationship is that we have people with connections and people who give us some boundaries, when things to be ready. Because without that you know you have to have something done and out to the world. The guys at Inverse have been truly spectacular with us and.we raise our horns to them”
If you could bring any guest on stage to join you for one of the songs on the album, who would you like to bring and to which song? “That’s a hard one. Maybe Ihsahn for Black Noise. It would be cool to hear him give the sound of the high notes. And to Misfortunate Phoenix I have to say Devin Townsend. It could have collateral damage written all over it”
What’s next for Mortyfear? “We are currently looking for a company to take duties of our management and booking. This way we are aiming to tour, hence the pandemic gives in during the forthcoming times. We are actively working on new material and couple of new songs are coming in to pre-production. They have working names “Pirates” and “The ways of the World”. So yes, there will be new music and it will not take a decade to release, haha. And there will be no dull moments either”