Finnish atmospheric progressive metallers ALASE are set to release their second studio album ‘A Matter of Time’ on April 14th 2023 via Finnish Inverse Records. A new single & music video ‘Clear Sky Is Not a Curse’ is released today and it’s available here: https://push.fm/fl/alase-clear
Guitarist Janne Lunnas comments:
“We chose Clear Sky Is Not a Curse as the first single taken from the album as the song is pretty straight-forward but still progressive. This song was born as our other guitarist Mikko sent me the intro’s clean guitar tracks and I started to build other elements on top of them. The song is filled with hooks and it represents many musical elements of the album. Once again our lyricist Ninni Swan managed to capture fragile emotions that many people can relate to. Vocalist Juha Tretjakov sang almost every song on this album and he was a perfect fit as the vocalist for Clear Sky Is Not a Curse as well.
If I would need to compare the song to other bands, I think this song is pretty much in the same ballpark style-wise with Katatonia and VOLA as they combine beautiful elements to crushing heavy drumming and riffs in similar way.
Aarni Visuals filmed a music video to be accompanied with this song and I think they nailed it great how the atmosphere matches with the song.”
ALASE switches their lyrical language from Finnish to English with their new single Unburden. Music video for the song is once again made by Kaira Films and its story is a sequel to Alase’s previous music video.
Unburden represents modern progressive metal and djenty style combined to melodic atmospheric and emotional metal. In Unburden one might hear influences from bands like Tesseract, Alcest and VOLA. Structurally the song develops from straight-forward up-tempo parts to progressive heavy and technical sections. Catchy vocals sung by Juha Tretjakov might lead the listener to wonder what we’re doing to this world.
Guitarist Janne Lunnas talks about the language change:“Unburden is our second song in English. It is important for us that the listener is able to understand what we want to say. For our previous four songs we provided English translations of the lyrics so basically it was already a step towards this change. It is also refreshing for us to work on songs with another language. Lyrics have always been an essential part of Alase.”
Finnish ALASE have released an atmospheric single “Ajan kysymys”, after which the band will switch their lyrical language to English. The single will be released together with a music video made by Vesa Ranta‘s Kaira Films.
“Ajan kysymys” combines Alase’s main musical elements such as melancholy, modern atmospheric soundscapes, progressiveness and heavy riffs. The band will continue to work with guest vocalists, however this is singer Juha Tretjakov‘s third song with Alase.
Guitarist Janne Lunnas describes: “Working with Juha is fun and it involves creativity which clearly enhances the song through the vocal arrangements.” The song was recorded with session drummer Ville Aatsinki and it was a very straightforward process.
Janne describes the session with Ville: “Before the studio, Ville and I worked on the drum arrangements remotely and it went really smoothly. After less than two weeks, we went to studio in Tampere, and Ville nailed the song with just a few takes.”
Alase has the composition of the next song ready and its recordings will start soon. There are plans to release a single called “Unburden” in the fall.
“Vailla nimeä” single continues on ALASE‘s new, more progressive path. There are two vocalists in the song, of which Juha Tretjakov sang in Alase’s previous song “Poissa silmistä”. Another vocalist, Markus Hirvonen, has sung in several Alase songs (most recently on “Jäljet”), and he has also been the band’s live vocalist. A variety of different vocal styles have been utilized in the song, ranging from brutal growls through screams to beautiful melodic singing. The lyrics and composition go hand in hand, starting with the gloomy wintery death doom metal, moving towards spring and light. “Vailla nimeä” showcases a more modern style than what the band’s previous material has had, and there are more technical riffs and drum parts aboard.
Guitarist Janne Lunnas describes the song: “Markus’ and Juha’s voices fit together very well and sometimes it’s even hard to tell which one is singing at that moment. However, the use of two vocalists in the song allowed more versatility in vocal arrangements – we’re extremely happy with the result. There are more djenty style rhythms in this song than what we usually have had and at least to me it is an interesting addition to the Alase sound. Still, melody and clean vocals play a major role this time too.”
Alase is working on several new songs that will be released as digital singles. The band also has plans for several music videos. Although there are not going to be any live shows for a while due to the situation of the world, the band is constantly working on new music.
ALASE comes back with the new “Jäljet” single after the “Vastaus” album that was released last summer. The song shows many aspects of Alase, from airy atmospheres all the way to heavy hitting post-metal grooves. The band is heading towards more progressive expression and ”Jäljet” is the first sample of this. The song’s line-up is the same that Alase has for live shows, Markus Hirvonen on vocals and in the drums there is Markus Majaniemi who is the band’s newest member. When the band was originally formed they used to release digital singles only and now Alase returns to this way of working and releasing after the “Vastaus” album.
“Jäljet” is released with a music video made by Vesa Ranta‘s (ex-Sentenced, ex-The Man-Eating Tree) Kaira Films. The video has been shot in many locations of northern Finland, including Pudasjärvi and Kainuu. Video is very visual and it tells a story – there are even some science fiction elements aboard.
WATCH music video here:
Guitarist Janne Lunnas describes the song: “Making of the song started already last summer and for a long time it was kept in the “drawer”, until in February we started jamming it together in our rehearsal room. In the past we used to write all of our songs from start to finish entirely remotely, and each musician did their contributions to the songs separately at their homes. Recording of the final version was still done that way though. “Jäljet” song is a good sample of more progressive and riff driven new Alase. I really enjoy playing the guitar with a heavy hand, but by no means do I want to remove the more beautiful and atmospheric sections or the ambient elements from our sound.”
Band is working on several new songs and there are plans for them to be released later this fall and hopefully Alase will be able to return to live stages soon as well.
Finnish atmospheric metallers ALASE have released a second single Riisuttu from their long-awaited debut album Vastaus which is set to be released on June 7th 2019 via Inverse Records.
Watch “Riisuttu” music video here:
Guitarist/composer Janne Lunnas comments: “Riisuttu is the most versatile song we have done so far. It combines influences from progressive metal to post rock and alternative metal/rock. This song presents well the new musical directions we have started to take in our music and it is very fun to play live.
Everyone in the band are extremely happy about the music video that was made by Kaira Films (Vesa Ranta & Aapo Lahtela). We wanted to have a stylish video full of atmosphere and they delivered it perfectly! It was great to see how well body painting theme worked out with our music!”
Alase’s guitarists Mikko and Janne started to write music for the debut album Vastaus during spring 2017. Later, in the same year’s autumn drummer Janne Kusmin decided to part from Alase as his primary band Kalmah was getting to be more busy with their newest album and touring. Mikko and Janne decided that it is better to do the Vastaus album with session drummer and they were lucky to find the right man, Toni Paananen (Malpractice), to do the job.
After the composing of the songs was finalized around February 2018, it was time to book a studio for tracking the drums. Toni Paananen played the drum parts for all 8 songs during one weekend at Värähtely Creative studio in Vallila, Helsinki, where studio engineer Janne Storm handled the recording. Rest of the instruments and vocals by 6 different vocalists were recorded mostly in several home studios which took about 7 months to complete.
Vastaus album has been mixed and mastered by Ari-Pekka Repo and vocals on the album are mixed and produced by Markus Hirvonen. Music on the album is produced by Janne Lunnas. All Alase lyrics are written by Anni Aho. All the graphics and trailer video related to the album and digital singles are made by Sakke Paavola.
CD1:
1. Vastaus
2. Näkyvä
3. Binary Stars
4. Osa minua
5. Vaienneet
6. Vapaaksi merkitty
7. Riisuttu
8. Haukka
CD2: (Bonus CD):
1. Vielä
2. On jatkettava
3. Kidukset
4. Utopian hellimät
5. Erehdykseni
6. Sanaton syytös
Album cover art by Sakke Paavola
Line-up on Vastaus album:
Janne Lunnas: Guitars and composition
Mikko Häkälä: Guitars and composition
Ari Miettinen: Bass
Toni Paananen: Drums
Vocalists on Vastaus album:
Markus Hirvonen (Noumena): Vastaus, Näkyvä & Riisuttu
Ville Nisunen (Vini): Binary Stars
Jani Ala-Hukkala (Callisto): Osa minua
Eemeli Bodde (Mors Subita): Screaming vocals on Vapaaksi merkitty
Sami Honkonen (Embreach): Clean vocals on Vapaaksi merkitty
Janne Lunnas: Choir/ambient vocals on Vastaus, Vaienneet & Haukka + screams on Näkyvä & Osa minua
Bonus CD vocalists:
Vielä – Vocals: Markus Hirvonen
On jatkettava – Growls: Ari Nieminen (Whorion, Dauntless and Hanging Garden), Clean vocals: Ville Saloranta, Screams: Janne Lunnas
Kidukset – Vocals: Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow The Sun), Backing vocals: Markus Hirvonen
Utopian hellimät – Vocals: Markus Hirvonen
Erehdykseni – Clean vocals: Juha Simola (Owler), Screams: Jouni Koskela (Clock Paradox & Abysmalia)
Sanaton syytös – Vocals: Marko Eskola (Crystalic), Growls: Jukka Marjoniemi
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