Interview with VIKTOR GULLICHSEN, vocalist with Finnish melodic death metallers BRYMIR

Hello Victor, Greetings from Australia. How are you doing?
Hey, I’m good.

I’ve only just discovered BRYMIR. I feel a little bit embarrassed about that because I love a lot of Finnish bands, but I’m being honest. Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band, how it started, your influences, and also chat about your first three albums?

Okay. So, yeah, we met when we were around sixteen years old at a music camp. It’s kind of classic band story. We were kids, we were like the only long haired metal guys on a basically, like jazz oriented music camp, and we saw each other like, Hey, these guys look like they listen to the same music as I am. We actually listen to the exact same mix of music, which was magical, because we like the black metal, power metal, folk metal, and that’s how Brymir sound came to be. We just happened to meet with a group of friends who equally liked all these genres.

Then we started, you know, playing together and released our first album in 2011. And then we had a bit of a kind of a break. There was like some guys had to do military service and what not. So we came back in 2016 with our second album, “Slayer of Gods”. And that album was a kind of , we had a backlog of songs like since from the release of the first album. It was five years of writing in between, and those songs from that album were also from like kind of an old era.

But on “Wings of Fire” in 2019, we kind of found our sonic identity and we started to actually, you know, gain some traction and finding the format, which we felt really comfortable in musically. And all this built up to the creation of our newest album and along the way, after Wings of Fire, we got signed by Napalm Records, which was amazing and helps us with finding a new audience. Like you said yourself, it’s the first time you’ve heard of us. We’ve been like a kind of a DIY band., we’ve been, you know, kind of independent since day one, and now when we finally have a bigger label behind us, you immediately see the effect that you’re audience really is much wider. You’re not kind of stuck in this bubble. So yeah, that’s about it from from start to where we are now. And we’re really looking forward to heading out and making an impact.

Totally cool. Now, as I mentioned, also with your first three albums, before we discuss the new album, how would you describe the evolution in your music from the first, second and third albums?

We started as a folk metal band. That was the most prominent influence in the beginning. Yeah, but then as time went on, we kind of grew out of that, that identity of folk metal. And we also didn’t want to be associated with this kind of, you know, gimmick kind of branding thing that that’s that’s so inherent to this kind of style. And it was really hard to make folk metal music when you don’t want to, you know, brand yourself, with the war paint and stuff like that. We kind of grew out of it and we got so kind of tired of being associated with something that we don’t identify with. With that we kind of pushed it back, the folk metal stuff for a long time. On the Wings of Fire album. there was very little of that left, but now for the new album, we kind of want to get back to our roots and kind of embrace that this is who we are. But now we had detached ourselves enough, you know, to be able to come back and embrace that side of us without it being, you know, people are kind of assuming that we are a folk metal band.

We also like to look inward and to see what makes Brymir tick. And that also led to us kind of shedding this. heavily synthesiser based sound that we had before. We used to have a lot of synth orchestrations and we cut down that a little bit and just, you know, now focused on what Brymir is as a core, and trying to express as much as we can, with the instruments on stage and our own voices.

Coming from Finland, obviously there’s a lot of great bands, a lot of competition there. How do you get noticed when there are so many good bands?

Oh, well, we have this certain type of of blend which you cant find anywhere else, I think that you can really like mercilessly combine black metal and power metal and folk metal, and kind of a modernized take on this on this folk metal thing in general.

This I haven’t really heard anywhere, and we have an insane energy live, which is something that we’re really excited to show the world now. We have access to wider touring, and when you see it, you will believe it.

Now, the main reason for the interview, is the big news that the highly anticipated new album, “Voices in the Sky” comes out in two days time. You’ve even got a pre listening party tonight in Helsinki. I got the album a couple of days ago through the Australian publicist. It’s an amazing album! There’s so much, as you just mentioned, musical diversity on it. There’s clean guitars, there’s beautiful choir vocals, awesome technical yet crisp drumming, heavy riffs, amazing guitar solos and brutal vocals. It’s got everything! Can you tell us about the album, the songwriting process, the inspiration and the making of the album, and how it was different to say, the older albums?

Yeah, obviously we wrote it during COVID, so it changed a lot of things. We just had released our previous album in 2019 and we had this amazing year of touring. We went to Japan and we opened for Children of Bodom in Finland, and all these really, really epic, moments. We were on this really, really high, we were like surfing this tsunami of optimism.

When COVID hit, and we already planned to immediately start writing new music. However the fall from that high feeling to the kind of desperation and the frustration of everything being cancelled, and not even being able to meet in person. It was really, really crushing and it set us back a lot.

The first year of lock down, we were really uninspired to make music. You would think that that it would be the amazing time to write, because you’re stuck at home with all the time in the world, but it didn’t work out at all, and we didn’t manage to create music. Me and Joona, the guitarist, we’re buddies in writing and we couldn’t adapt to this long distance work flow. So the first year was really hard, but then when it shifted into 2021, all this frustration that we’d built up, and the longing to get back on the road, was so strong that it really fueled the process.

A lot of the songs on the album somehow relate to travelling or this kind of suppressed ambition, frustrated ambition, like, let me out of here. I want to, you know, let me go. So there was a lot of like suppressed anger and frustration there, that you can really hear on the album in this kind of raw emotion. It also affected my my vocal output because I’ve never been so angry. All our music previously there’s been often like a silver lining to all the lyrics, but here you can find songs which have nothing else, there’s only blood and darkness and death.

There’s a lot of variety on the album and I’ve been listening to the new songs the last few days, I’ve been absolutely playing them to death. It’s the only way to listen to any new album really.
Last week I was chatting with Samy from Lost Society. and I played there upcoming new album to death for a few days, and now it’s your new album.

Great, keep it up, kill it! (laughter)

Now, on the album, the songs that really stand out to me, I love both the singles. The title track “Voices in the Sky” is epic, but there’s a couple of songs on there that I found maybe a little bit unusual, but they definately have their place in there, and I’m sure you’ve been asked this already before. “Rift Between Us” and “Far From Home”. They are a lot more mellow, more subdued, bit more melancholy I guess. What was the reasoning for that? Would you say that’s because of COVID, and all that being away from normal life?

Well it had all this, the mood was really kind of melancholy through that period, of course. Yeah, but the Rift Between and they both kind of have a unifying thing. The songs also, they have these kind of strong synthesizer elements here and there.
But the Rift Between Us I wrote it when I was falling out with with a friend and with my girlfriend at the same time. So there was a feeling of growing apart, so I put all of that into Rift Between Us.

Far From Home I wrote the melody. It’s one of the oldest melodies on the album. and it always related to homesickness. That feeling stayed to the end, of course, the meaning changed a little bit. I was also really depressed by the war in Ukraine, so I kind of adapted it to like a soldier, you know, longing to go home, but he can’t go home because there’s a fucking tyrant there who is murdering civilians. So he wants to get out of there, but he can’t go home. Yeah, there was a lot of melancholy, but there’s those two songs basically, which are melancholy.

Nice. Nicely spotted. The other ones are more kind of angry or just, you know, like crazy.

Each song has its own sort of vibe about it. None of the songs sound the same, which is what I really love on the album. Also noticed that you’ve got the Dark Funeral cover of “Diabolis Interium” at the end of the album, which kind of blew me away. A little bit of glorious black metal to close the album, very cool!

Are there any particular songs on the album that are your favorites, or that have more meaning to you personally than others?

Well, I love “Forged in War”. It’s one of my favorites because we got to explore this kind of thrash metal side, which I really love. Like this combination of thrash metal and death metal. Also, we just wanted to see how heavy we can make the guitars. It was so rewarding to find that, hey, we can make these kind of really super heavy guitar stuff with Brymir. It was a dream come true, and I’ve just discovered a whole new tool kit for our music.

Yeah, but then maybe, like, emotionally, the title track “Voices in the Sky” is one of the most important ones. The title itself, A Voice in the Sky, refers to the legendary names in metal, like the the great stars and the great, you know, are our greatest influences and legends that we have had the honor to tour with previously. The song is about our desire to get back there, and drink beer with these guys in the tour bus, and maybe one day our voices will, you know, echo in the sky along there’s.

That’s totally cool! As you mentioned, you have Joona Björkroth on guitar duties in the band, who also plays in Battle Beast. How challenging was it, putting the record together or generally with touring duties that he’s playing in two bands?

Yeah, there are challenges of course, we are really lucky to have a close friend Antti Nieminen, who is an amazing guitar player and he also sings. He plays like a demon and sings like an angel. That’s how I introduce him on shows. Yeah, we have a really competent guy to fill in for Joona whenever he is unavailable, because Battle Beast is a really successful band and it’s his main job. It his source of income, and of course, when he has an opportunity to do that, he has to do it, he has no other choice.

And then we’re just really lucky to have Antti, our stand in guitar is family and it almost feels like we are a six piece band, with three guitarists. Maybe one day we will have all three guitarists on stage at the same time. It’s a challenge but it works, especially with Wings of Fire. Our previous album was made in parallel with Battle Beast’s fifth album, and I was working on Battle Beast records on the production side, and Battle Beast keyboard player Janne has been working on Brymir production side. It was just a big mess of making two albums in parallel and Joona was so dead, (laughter) never again! We have to make the cycle so that they don’t clash like, you know, fully.

Yeah, definitely. As Joona plays with Battle Beast, that’s probably opened up some amazing opportunities for both bands to play together. I see that Brymir have done many support slots on tour with Battle Beast, so that’s obviously getting your band in front of a different audience as well, which is great.

Yeah, we’ve had a lot of of nice, what’s the word? “Synergy” between the bands. It’s ongoing; we share studios and facilities, we share vans, and we share some technical personnel like the lighting guy and sound guy. We’re really cross-pollinating all the time.

Cross-pollinating (laughter) That’s a very interesting way of wording it.

You mentioned earlier, you guys got to tour with Children of Bodom on their last ever tour. Wow !!! That’s just crazy! What are your favorite memories from those shows?

Well, it’s just insane to stand at the side of the stage, sipping a beer and watching them play songs that I’ve listened to since I was like 12 or 13, like some of the songs that you know, made us who we are today and just stand there drinking a beer, you know, and waving to the guys and they’re like yeah. And also Alexi coming up and saying hey guys, have a great show. It’s really, really, epic! We didn’t know that was going to be the last tour when we got booked. We thought it’s just going to be the “Hexed” album release tour. And then when that knowledge came that it’s the last one, we really were humbled by having the chance to be there. It’s one of the highlights of our careers, and one of the highlights of my life.

During the Summer, Brymir have been playing a few Festival shows in Finland. Rock In The City, Dark River Festival and SaariHelvetti. You’ve got the album pre party tonight, and then the album is officially released worldwide in two days on the 26th August. Then you’re going to be doing an album release show in Helsinki, 5th of October. After these shows you’ll be heading out on the road supporting fellow Finns, Finn Troll on a massive 39 date European tour. That’s a huge tour! Is that the biggest tour the band has ever done?

That’s definitely the biggest tour! I think like the longest consecutive time we’ve been on a tour has been like two weeks or something. Now we’re doing six weeks, and there’s not a single day in between. There back to back, all the shows for for 39 days. So it’s crazy !!!

Oh wow !!! How many places on this European tour have you not played before? Are they mostly new cities and countries?

I think they’re like 95% new places. We basically have only played in Slovenia and in Germany, and a couple of shows in Sweden previously. This is so much new territory and I think we’re going to acquire a lot of new, new fans along the road.

You most certainly will! Exciting times for Brymir! Hopefully after the album comes out, you get an offer to come and play some shows in Australia.

Hopefully, and that is a dream. I’m really having all these kind of visions you know, of what would be cool to do after the release. The next time we go to Japan, maybe we can make a pit stop in Australia. I think it should be doable, we’re trying to come up with something.

Thank you so much for chatting with us today Viktor. Really appreciate you taking time out to chat with Maximum Volume in Australia. The new album “Voices In The Sky” is an absolute masterpiece, and we wish you and the band all the best for the release of the album, and what ever the future may hold, and of course, fingers crossed that we’ll hopefully get to witness the beauty and brutality of some Byrmir live shows Down Under in Australia in 2023.

Thanks for the interview man, I’m looking forward to heading over there.

Interviewer/ Writer: Davey Rintala