The Swedish melodic death metal band Thermality emerged last year with their debut album, and quickly followed that up with an EP. Their second full-length is The Final Hours. Bassist Ture Skärfstad Stål gives us the scoop on the record, tour plans and other topics.
Chad Bowar: Did anything change in the songwriting process for The Final Hours compared to your debut?
Ture Skärfstad Stål: The way we write music has always been more or less the same, but at the same time the process can vary from song to song, naturally. Some songs come along super easy and some take a little more time. The big difference for this album is that we have evolved as musicians and improved many elements of our music. Looking back at our debut album, we now have some experience in writing music, and we know what we like and what we don’t like about both the song writing process as well as the result. We have used this experience to improve ourselves as song writers as well as inspiration for the sound we would like to achieve for each song.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Probably the fun we had with Fredrik Nordström, our producer who mixed the album, while recording the album in his studio. Also, the experience of ‘living’ in a recording studio for a week. It was the first time any of us had such an opportunity to just focus on recording, there were no distractions, we could simply focus on getting the job done. Great experience. All of it.
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
Probably the recording of vocals. Our singer unfortunately lost his voice when we were supposed to record vocals. We got about one and a half songs down before his voice gave up. We had to leave it be for a while and then go back to the studio and record the rest of the vocals a couple of weeks later. Even though it didn’t go as planned, I still think we handled it pretty well and the songs turned out good in the end.
How was the experience working with Fredrik Nordstrom again?
It was great! A lot more fun this time since we were able to record the album at his studio, Studio Fredman. We were all was super excited to record the album in his legendary studio. Fredrik is a fun person to hang out with and at the same time he is very professional, he sure knows what he’s doing and we got to learn a lot simply by hanging out at his studio.
How has your sound evolved from Before I Get To Rest?
It’s much heavier and more melodic. Perhaps the sound is a bit more old school than on Before I Get To Rest, but we have added bits and pieces to personalize and to tune the sound into something that can add to the genre. There’s a bit intertextuality, we’ve been inspired by other pop culture genres like movies and stories, not only music, that we have grown up watching or listening to. There’s more depth to the sound then in our previous stuff.
What inspired the album title?
We had a hard time deciding what to call this album when trying to come up with a title for it, but eventually, we all agreed on the name The Final Hours because we felt that the lyrics had a melancholy feeling, at least for the most part.
What lyrical topics do you cover this time around?
That varies quite a lot, but a common thread in most of them is mental health and because of how hard it can be for people to fit into this world.
How did you come to sign with Black Lodge Records?
We actually reached out to them. We sent them the songs of this album and they liked what they heard.
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
Our goal is to reach new listeners who like this type of music. We are also hoping to be able to play lots of more live gigs.
It’s also available on vinyl. Are you a collector?
Personally, I wouldn’t call myself a collector. I guess you can say that I’m pretty new at collecting vinyl records. I enjoy it, I have a few records and buy from bands I think are awesome and that I like to support. Some of the other guys in the band are a lot more into it and have growing collections.
What has been your most memorable Thermality live show?
It’s hard to say, but maybe our first real show was at Valand in Gothenburg for the Wacken Metal Battle. This was perhaps not the best of shows, we had a bit of bad luck to be honest. We had no sound check, just a fast line check, which ended up in a lot of technical difficulties. Even though it didn’t go as we hoped, we decided to learn from this experience. Still, we were honored that we were selected to play at Valand for the Wacken Metal Battle.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We don’t have a lot of shows set yet, but we making all sorts of plans and hope that we will be able to schedule some exciting shows next year.
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
That is a good question. When I think about it, I don’t really have any other hobbies these days. Music has become my life. I study music, play and listen to music all the time. When I was younger, I had a bunch of different hobbies but as I’ve grown older my entire focus has been on music, there is just so much to it.
What’s currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Recently, I’ve been revisiting some Lorna Shore and also some lesser known Swedish bands like Vittra and Tibalt.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Be sure to check out the album and if you want to support us even more grab yourself or a friend a vinyl.
(interview published August 16, 2024)
Listen To Thermality – “Stranger”
