Track By Tracks: Demolyn - Tales Of Demolyn (2022)

1. The Shattered Soul:

“The Shattered Soul” was the first song I wrote for the album. Definitely the fastest and most brutal song on the album, which was the reason I chose it to be the opening track. There’s a more melodic and slightly lower-tempo riff around the middle of the song. I experimented a bit with some ambient choirs in the background of that riff. Seems as if this song might be the fan favorite.

2. Withering Away:

“Withering Away” is a song that was inspired by real-life experiences and turned into a tale. I suffer from a skin disease that causes extreme pain and itchiness, which can lead to bloody and infected wounds. It comes and goes in periods and during a difficult part of my life, it became really awful. I wanted to create something positive out of something negative so I got the idea to use this real-life experience and turn it into a story to fit the album. The story evolved to a man who is slowly dying from a very painful disease. Musically I think this song carries a bit more influences from both death and thrash metal.

3. Döden Jag Är:

“Döden Jag Är” is a versatile song, featuring atmospheric samples, acoustic guitars, and probably some of the most melodic riffs on the album. Some of the riffs definitely feel Iron Maiden-ish when I listen back to it and that’s definitely no surprise as they are one of my favorite bands. This song is also the first one with Swedish lyrics on the album. I believe it’s important to create a lyrical pattern to match the music and make it feel like they contribute to each other. Naturally, this song felt perfect with Swedish vocals from the moment I wrote the main riff. I feel the vocal pattern and lyrics worked very well with the main riff. The song title translates to, “Death I Am”.

4. Hear My Battle Cry:

“Hear My Battle Cry” is a mid-tempo song that ends on a faster note. One of the first songs I wrote for the album and the first one I recorded. The song tells a tale in the perspective of an evil conqueror who persecutes the innocent and incinerates lands for his pleasure.

5. På Toppen Av Berget:

“På Toppen Av Berget” might be pure melodic black metal, even using some synths in the choruses. The title translates to, “At the Top of the Mountain”. The song is about a large, menacing, and mysterious entity that has come from the outer realms and landed on top of a snowy mountain over a small village. With its arrival, there’s a sense of evil and darkness brought to the world. The villagers gather together and slowly march to the top of the mountain. A march in silence while they all tremble in fear, they can feel with certainty that their noble attempt to rid the world of the newly arrived evil will be in vain.

6. Per Sanguinem Effuderit:

There’s quite a lot of variety on “Per Sanguinem Effuderit”, a maze of different riffs with a higher and slower tempo, and a lot of atmospheric sound effects. The song is about the sacrifice made by a madman who attempts to bring back an ancient evil creature. The man has been broken by the world and seeks to find some sort of meaning to his life by summoning an evil that can purify the world which he deems as “cruel”. As there is a ritualistic theme to the song I tried to convey this in a musical sense as well. This led to the song having some spoken words in the beginning and towards the end of the song, completely in Latin.

7. Höj Era Svärd:

“Höj Era Svärd” is the third and last song with Swedish vocals. The title translates to “Raise Your Swords”. This one is a tale taking place on a flame-covered medieval times battlefield which can be heard in the opening of the song. I am a huge fan of folk-inspired black metal and I listen to quite a bit of folk music. l think that comes through a lot in the instrumental section. Some very folk-inspired riffs.

8. The Seven Riders of Demolyn:

Musically, “The Seven Riders of Demolyn”, is a very simple and straightforward black metal song, with my personal favorite chorus on the album. This song is quite representative of the album in a thematic sense as the album cover is based on this song. Seven different creatures, which you can see on the album art, are together “The Seven Riders of Demolyn”. They ride through fire and ice which is represented on the cover by the icy mountains and the lava. The 8th character, the large one behind them, represents Demolyn(or me).