EMQs with Aspherium
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQs interview with Aspherium. Huge thanks to guitarist, Marius for taking part!
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Hey! My name is Marius, I play guitar and sing in the progressive death metal band Aspherium. We started out in 2007, and have released three albums. The latest one The Embers of Eternity which just recently was released!
How did you come up with your band name?
The name just appeared when trying to figure out a band name. I was trying to combine different words and finding something cool, and somehow I ended up with Aspherium. We thought it sounded nice, and it wasn’t taken by anybody else since we just made it up!
What country are you from and what is the metal scene like there?
We are from Norway, and as is well known around the world, black metal is a pretty major thing here. But Norway has a lot of great bands in most genres. We have played with so many great Norwegian bands, and we have made really good friends in the Norwegian metal scene.
What is your latest release (Album, EP, Single, Video)
We recently released out third album The Embers of Eternity! It’s a concept album where our planet has ended up in a pretty dystopian future. The whole albums flows as a cohesive piece, and we are super proud of this album. It has everything from death and black metal sections to acoustic guitars and even a synth solo. We blend a lot of different elements together, but we work really hard on the arrangements and how well everything flows together naturally.
Who have been your greatest influences?
I’d say band like Metallica, Opeth, Machine Head, Fear Factory, Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, Pantera, Nile and Meshuggah. I don’t think we sound a lot like those bands, but those bands helped shape us as musicians, and have definitely influenced how we write and play.
What first got you into music?
I’ve always loved music ever since I was a kid, and that love just kept growing as I got older. I got a keyboard for Christmas when I was 9, and tried that for a while, but it didn’t really stick. But when I got into Metallica at age 11, I knew I needed a guitar, and from that point it has been a major part of my life.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
It would be amazing to do something with Devin Townsend, if we could get him to something really brutal and epic that would be awesome. Also it would be fantastic to do something with Marty O’Donnell who used to work for Bungie and who did the Halo soundtracks. He and Halo in general has been huge inspirations for us, so that would be perfect.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
It would be really cool to do something huge like Rock in Rio, Download festival or Wacken. We have played a few festivals in Norway, but never at the big stage and at a good time slot, so to have the opportunity to play for such a huge crowd would really get our music in front of so many new potential fans, it would be amazing.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
We haven’t really received anything weird. I think alcohol is the one we get, and that’s just appreciated!
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
I just want to let them know how much we appreciate that they take the time to listen to our music and help spread the word a out the band. And the people who buy music and merch, we can’t thank you enough!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
I think it would have to be Dimebag. That’s the one that affected me the most. Dimebag and Pantera were huge inspirations when I was getting into metal and learning to play guitar. If Dime never died, I think Pantera definitely would have gotten back together and made more great music.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
The most enjoyable is the journey that you take with the music. From creating it, to recording it and then finally playing it live. It’s so cool to create something from nothing and then end up playing it live for people who love it.
What I hate is working really hard and spending countless hours working, only to end up with nothing. Not in regards to writing music, this is more the business and industry side of things.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
The most obvious thing would be that bands would actually get paid decently on streaming services.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Opeth – Still Life. Pretty close to a perfect album! The songs are amazing, very intricate, but also brutal and beautiful. I really dig the concept, and everything on the album works so well together to create this amazing musical journey.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Vinyl for the experience! I feel like you appreciate it more when you have a physical part to relate to. You put the album on and look at the artwork when you listen. And you can’t just skip to another song, or any other artist in the world for that matter… You have to get up and flip to the b side. I really love the whole experience. That said, I love the convenience of streaming. I stream music every day when I’m out walking and doing stuff. It’s a great way to check out, and find new artists. And extremely easy access to pretty much all the music you can think of.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
The one that comes to mind first is Paris a few years ago in a fairly small club. We won the crowd over and they went crazy with crowd surfing and stuff. It was very cool to see how they went from “Who the f are these guys? ” to “This is amazing!” in just a few minutes.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
When I was a kid I wanted to be an archaeologist, so maybe that? More likely I would probably make video games, music videos or maybe photography.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Gordon Ramsay can make the food, Mikael Åkerfeldt can play acoustic guitar to set the mood and then James Hetfield, Robb Flynn and Devin Townsend can tell stories from the road.
What’s next for the band?
Right now we are waiting for our drummer to get done with some surgeries on his hands. So we will be back on the road next year. We are working on promoting the new album, so since we can’t play live right now we are trying to more online stuff, like interviews like this one 😉 We will also try to make more video content to promote the music. So tell your local promoters that you want Aspherium to come to your town next year!
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
We are on most social media platforms, but Facebook and Instagram are probably the main ones. And Spotify for the music streaming.
http://www.facebook.com/aspherium
http://www.aspherium.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1f9vK1LjJ4YPpThBEiiI25?si=c2_pNeu5RMK1UAmvKBW6kg
https://www.instagram.com/aspherium/
https://twitter.com/aspherium
https://www.youtube.com/aspherium
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
Jaffa Cakes are clearly biscuits designed to infiltrate the cake community, and try to convert them to biscuiteers. It worked for a while, but growth has stagnated somewhat the last few years.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks to everyone for reading, and I hope you take the time to listen to our new album The Embers of Eternity! Be sure to let us know what you think on social media!
Marius
Aspherium
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.