Track By Tracks: Brotthogg - Epicinium (2022)

1. When the Curtain Falls:

The first song is out. I think this song is very representative of the album. It contains slow parts, fast parts, progressive parts, some cool guitar solos, and a very melodic ending. When composing the song the idea was to base the riffs and themes on one very dissonant and ugly chord, and then use it in a melodic way when put together with the following chords. I am always searching for the perfect dissonant chords when I am composing. The chords can sound totally atonal and foul when played alone out of context, but when put together with the rest it suddenly makes melodic sense and creates just the right atmosphere. The lyrics are quite open for interpretation, but it describes some kind of madness going on in the mind of a person at the moment before death.

2. Forvitring:

My personal favorite song on the album. We call it the ballad since it has no fast parts or blast beats. This song is quite melodic and has a great dark and gloomy atmosphere. It contains even some doom metal parts in the middle, as well as a long and tasteful guitar solo played by Stephen Carlson. I guess you could say that this track follows a more classical approach to composition. The lyrics are in Norwegian and reflect upon how time erases everything in the end.

3. Vengeance:

This is one of the more brutal tracks on the album. The riffs for this song are almost 17 years old and were originally made for my other band Subliritum, but they were never used. You’ll find lots of fast thrash metal riffs in this song, as well as some real fast blast beats. The title speaks for itself.

4. Ravn:

This is one of the more black metal-sounding tracks on the album. The whole song is in the 6/8 time signature which creates a very groovy feeling. I`m very satisfied with the atmosphere in this song. The lyric is based on the poem "Ravn" by Per Sivle (1896), a tale about the supernatural raven called Valravn from old Norwegian folklore.

5. Ved skumringens ytterste rand:

Here you`ll find seven minutes inspired by good old Norwegian mid-tempo black metal. The track pays tribute to bands like Satyricon, Burzum, Dødheimsgard, and Gehenna without losing the Brotthogg sound. We have made an official video for this track, so be sure to check it out. Again with a Norwegian lyric.

6. Epicinium:

This is a more death metal-oriented track. The song is quite progressive with many different parts: brutal, thrashy, and melodic. Some parts are even a bit neo-classical, drawing inspiration from classical composers such as Bach and Beethoven. The title Epicinium is Latin for the word aftermath.

7. Possessed:

The last song is a brutal and fast black metal-oriented track. Lots of blast beats, but also quite melodic. The whole song was actually composed on the piano before it was rewritten for metal guitars. Again you’ll find some really cool guitar solos played by Stephen Carlson. The lyric describes some sort of madness in the mind of a person, or could it be a demonic possession?