Track By Tracks: Mandy Mandala - Mandy Mandala (2025)

Introduction

Firstly, when writing lyrics, I quite often use metaphors to describe certain feelings that I have. Therefore, the meaning of the song can come to mean a whole other thing for someone else, which I think is very interesting and something that I strive for.

Secondly, I always carry this notebook with me where I write stuff I come up with. Poems, feelings, wordplays, one-liners, tongue-in-cheek-stuff etc. Things I write don’t necessarily turn in to a song. It’s just something that I do. But when I need lyrics for a song, I often pick stuff from ”the little black book” that we work in to song lyrics.

Thirdly, I try to work together with the whole band when writing stuff. For example, David (Granfors, lead guitar) comes up with 90% of the riffs, while I come up with 90% of the lyrics. And then I am the first to have a plan for arrangements. But the vision of a song is always interpreted by all the band members until we have a finished song. I think it’s good to leave stuff open for interpretation because sometimes your vision can take a whole other turn when someone else interprets it. That’s what band members are for. Otherwise you might as well go solo. No fun.

1. Stillborn:

This is a good example of a song from ”my little black book”.

This lyric started as a poem written seven years ago. And my girlfriend was waiting for our first child, that were due in the autumn ,and I was going through a major crisis. I always worry too much about everything and seem to dwell on every possible thing that could go wrong. I sat up at night, punishing myself with the thought of the pregnancy in its final stages going wrong. The demons were whispering stuff to me. I wrote ”CAN YOU FEEL THEM, I CAN HEAR THEM” in the middle of a page. And then started to write down all the bad feelings in my head, with the demons still whispering stuff to me.

Many years later, when me being the proud father of a healthy boy, David played the riff for me. In an instant, the poem I wrote that night many years ago came to mind, and I started working it into a song named ”Stillborn”.

2. From Whence You Came:

This is a typical song with all these metaphors that could mean basically anything. The story I think I try to tell is that there is always a battle between good and evil somewhere. I mean, people always battle with doing right or wrong. Battle with anxiety and depression. Love and hate. Here,” the commander” is good and ”the beast” is evil. Can you put your bad feelings aside and do good instead? You probably hope to, but sometimes you are overtaken.

3. The Machine:

The downfall of mankind is another good subject. The world humans created for themselves. Is it a good one? It’s very much up for debate. Suicide rates are all-time high, and people seem to live in this ”machine” that someone felt was a good idea to create. Do you create your own happiness? If the answer is ”yes”, then you sure as hell create your own sadness as well. People scream for help without anyone listening, just a part of the machine.

4. Black Sheep:

Cover song of New Zealand-based singer/songwriter Gin Wigmore.

So why a cover song and why this one?

A good album should (almost) always contain a good cover song. That makes it a little more playful and entertaining.

What is a good cover song?

In my opinion, it is something that is from a whole other genre. That’s why we chose this pop song. It suits the world of Mandy Manala very good both lyrically and musically. Very fitting song to ”Manalize”.

5. May Queen:

This song is heavily inspired by the film ”Midsommar” by Ari Aster.

When I had seen the film, I was very touched by the subject since I had thought about how they celebrated midsummer in the old days and the evil spirits that could be found all around the tradition. Mix in some northern mythology, and there you have it: true horror!

I wanted the song to have a little bit of a black metal vibe and pagan chanting, with a melodic chorus and pop hooks. The video is also heavily inspired by the works of the Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman.

I think we succeeded in what we wanted to get; an evil midsummer-anthem.

6. The Dark Passenger:

The reptilian brain controls our more primitive and instinctive emotions like sexual drive and aggression. The reptilian brain can also detect threats and process fear.

This song is about how the reptilian brain takes control over a person and tells that person to be evil. The human being is very driven by instinct, some more than others. Some try to fight it, others don’t.

7. War Drums:

Very straightforward rocker with very straightforward lyrics, where we also come to analyze the mere stupidity of human behaviour.

Humans could end world hunger in an instant. Will anyone ever do it? Probably not. We will just keep on fighting endless wars of subjects that don’t matter in the long run. An endless dick-measuring-competition.

8. The Lighthouse:

Another song is heavily inspired by a horror film. This one is inspired by ”The Lighthouse” made by Robert Eggers.

It explores different stages of insanity and envy caused by loneliness and isolation.

The film relies very heavily on ambiguity. That’s what I also wanted to achieve with the lyrics when I threw in aspects of Greek mythology.

9. When We Rode Out to War:

I have always wanted to write a 9-minute metal ballad! Here it is!

So what is it about? Well, that’s up to you to decide!

I just played around with words that might as well be in an Iron Maiden or Manowar song, and thought about that we’re gonna start this exciting band-thing and all the things that will come along. We’re gonna be in an eternal battle with labels, promoters, directors, photographers, producers, OURSELVES, booking agents, etc. Even other bands! People are so envious. So many people in the music business talk shit about eachother and so many people fail and so many people are afraid of failing. Just go into it with positivity and your head held high, and you might just win the war!

Conclusion:

I don’t want to write songs about sensitive and gloomy subjects to offend people and make people sad. On the contrary. I want people with dark thoughts to relate and feel like they’re part of something. I often listen to sad music and start to feel better because someone else out there has felt the same way. One day I also hope to be like one of those artists who have been able to help me through dark times. Music is a powerful tool. I hope to be able to use it for something good while I play evil music.