"I don't think it was our intention to wait seven years," says Seven Impale saxophonist Benjamin Mekki Widerøe as he ponders the considerable gap between the band's album releases. "Our last album, Contrapasso, was made at a point where we had more free time, I think. Most of us were studying or working part-time. And there were no children involved. So yeah, we had more time then to make music and just record albums and keep the ball rolling."
Almost following to the letter John Lennon's famed observation that "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans", the six members of this Norwegian prog jazz behemoth found themselves recalling the advice of Enslaved drummer Iver Sandøy, who produced both their 2014 debut album, City Of The Sun, and Contrapasso. (He's also credited with mixing and mastering their latest.)
"We were actually warned by him that we should record as much as possible, as fast as possible, before life gets in the way," continues the saxophonist. "And he was very right about that one."
Not that real life should be viewed as a bad thing when it comes to Seven Impale. This is a situation that the band embraced, and looking at their circumstances between the release of 2016's Contrapasso and this year's Summit, it becomes hard to disagree with their attitude. While some members became parents, others finished their education. Elsewhere, singer-guitarist Stian Økland spread his wings with a career as an opera singer after graduating from the Grieg Academy Department Of Music at the University Of Bergen, while keyboardist Håkon Mikkelsen Vinje lent his dexterous skills to prog metallers Enslaved.
As bassist Tormod Fosso explains, Seven Impale are, first and foremost, close friends with a bond that goes deeper than music.
"We spend a lot of time together, both when we make music and when we just hang out and go to shows or go out to nature," he says.
It's precisely that close friendship that ensures each musician in Seven Impale is vital to the creation of the band's music; no one member is more important than the other as each plays their part within the group.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1687518117/articles/3hr73DCxY1687523781167/7732675540.jpg]
"When we make music, we're depending on every member of the band to do his part," continues Fosso. "It would feel wrong if three of us got together and made half a record and then waited for the rest of the guys. It felt very natural to be back together."
As evidenced by Summit, the band's third full-length album, this is indeed a team effort. The four tracks that make up the album are a thrilling and frequently intriguing amalgam of the members' individual skills as musicians and the influences that they've soaked up over the years. Be it the skull-crushing guitars that are a direct link to the underground metal scene of their hometown of Bergen or the twisted jazz-rock that's emanated from the Norwegian capital, Oslo, Seven Impale are concocting their own intoxicating brew. This is music that takes any number of sonic twists and turns, but never at the expense of the overall presentation.
And it's that team effort that underpins the themes at the heart of Summit. This is more than a team; this is a collective. An avowedly left-wing band, Seven Impale have turned to the legendary figures of Greek mythology to tackle the problems of the here and now: there is Icarus (or Ikaros, as he's styled in the tracklisting) who flew too close to the sun - a figure frequently held up to represent arrogance, recklessness and a defiance of limitations that all too often causes harm to themselves as well as those around them. Also included is Hydra, the vile and poisonous sea monster tackled by Hercules as part of his 12 labours, whose heads kept growing back in double amounts as each one was cut off. And closing the album is the exhausted figure of Sisyphus, doomed by Hades - the god of the dead and king of the underworld - to push a boulder up a hill only for it roll back just as it reaches the peak and to then repeat this futile action for an eternity.
"It's a perfect picture of capitalism," says Økland by way of explanation. "And Icarus is a study in hubris where you're pushing to reach something where you don't necessarily belong."
"We got inspired by these figures that are used a lot in different contexts when discussing philosophy, psychology and economics in relation to how to be a society and how to be a person within that society," adds drummer Frederik Mekki Widerøe. "It's very broad but it's always nice to find some symbols to kind of boil these ideas down to something concrete and recognisable."
By using these familiar mythical fi...
Almost following to the letter John Lennon's famed observation that "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans", the six members of this Norwegian prog jazz behemoth found themselves recalling the advice of Enslaved drummer Iver Sandøy, who produced both their 2014 debut album, City Of The Sun, and Contrapasso. (He's also credited with mixing and mastering their latest.)
"We were actually warned by him that we should record as much as possible, as fast as possible, before life gets in the way," continues the saxophonist. "And he was very right about that one."
Not that real life should be viewed as a bad thing when it comes to Seven Impale. This is a situation that the band embraced, and looking at their circumstances between the release of 2016's Contrapasso and this year's Summit, it becomes hard to disagree with their attitude. While some members became parents, others finished their education. Elsewhere, singer-guitarist Stian Økland spread his wings with a career as an opera singer after graduating from the Grieg Academy Department Of Music at the University Of Bergen, while keyboardist Håkon Mikkelsen Vinje lent his dexterous skills to prog metallers Enslaved.
As bassist Tormod Fosso explains, Seven Impale are, first and foremost, close friends with a bond that goes deeper than music.
"We spend a lot of time together, both when we make music and when we just hang out and go to shows or go out to nature," he says.
It's precisely that close friendship that ensures each musician in Seven Impale is vital to the creation of the band's music; no one member is more important than the other as each plays their part within the group.
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1687518117/articles/3hr73DCxY1687523781167/7732675540.jpg]
"When we make music, we're depending on every member of the band to do his part," continues Fosso. "It would feel wrong if three of us got together and made half a record and then waited for the rest of the guys. It felt very natural to be back together."
As evidenced by Summit, the band's third full-length album, this is indeed a team effort. The four tracks that make up the album are a thrilling and frequently intriguing amalgam of the members' individual skills as musicians and the influences that they've soaked up over the years. Be it the skull-crushing guitars that are a direct link to the underground metal scene of their hometown of Bergen or the twisted jazz-rock that's emanated from the Norwegian capital, Oslo, Seven Impale are concocting their own intoxicating brew. This is music that takes any number of sonic twists and turns, but never at the expense of the overall presentation.
And it's that team effort that underpins the themes at the heart of Summit. This is more than a team; this is a collective. An avowedly left-wing band, Seven Impale have turned to the legendary figures of Greek mythology to tackle the problems of the here and now: there is Icarus (or Ikaros, as he's styled in the tracklisting) who flew too close to the sun - a figure frequently held up to represent arrogance, recklessness and a defiance of limitations that all too often causes harm to themselves as well as those around them. Also included is Hydra, the vile and poisonous sea monster tackled by Hercules as part of his 12 labours, whose heads kept growing back in double amounts as each one was cut off. And closing the album is the exhausted figure of Sisyphus, doomed by Hades - the god of the dead and king of the underworld - to push a boulder up a hill only for it roll back just as it reaches the peak and to then repeat this futile action for an eternity.
"It's a perfect picture of capitalism," says Økland by way of explanation. "And Icarus is a study in hubris where you're pushing to reach something where you don't necessarily belong."
"We got inspired by these figures that are used a lot in different contexts when discussing philosophy, psychology and economics in relation to how to be a society and how to be a person within that society," adds drummer Frederik Mekki Widerøe. "It's very broad but it's always nice to find some symbols to kind of boil these ideas down to something concrete and recognisable."
By using these familiar mythical fi...
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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 141