The Drammen-born four-piece thefalls crafts their meticulous approach to metal in the most experimental way possible by blending in hardcore, post-metal, and sludge elements altogether. Hailing from the same town as Kambodsja, which I interviewed earlier, they are one of the rising forces that helped build the foundation of the underground scene in the said Norwegian small town.
Having stated several great names such as Converge, Ion Dissonance, and Between the Buried and Me as their primary sources of inspiration, there sure happen to be hints of their influences noticeable in the riffs that thefalls present. Nevertheless, they also stay true to their own domain at the same time, finding immense focal points between chaos and control in an enticing way through their introspective lyrics and strong visions.
Nine years after releasing their very own debut album Break the Calm, they are back on creating heavy chaotic soundscapes in the form of a full-length titled REFLECTIONS////VOID, out September 22nd. The Ghost Cult editorial team, under contributor Ralka Skjerseth, decided to invite thefalls a bit for talks regarding their new album and their musical craftsmanship.
RS: Greetings, thefalls! Congrats on the release of REFLECTIONS////VOID! It’s been two weeks since the release date, how do you feel about releasing yet another impeccable-full length to note?
Thank you! It’s been a long journey and we are so stoked to finally be able to share it with our fans who have been very patient. We started writing the album after the release of our debut Break The Calm back in 2014. However it was not until november 2019 before we started recording the drums. We always start with the drums. The first guitar parts were finished in February 2020, then corona hit, and we had to postpone until society started to open up again. Another set-back struck us when our bassist quit in 2021. We slowly recovered and started recording again. We received a giant boost when we got an honorable mention from Mathcore Index about our debut album right around new year 2023. Frostbitt, who are a killer band also from Drammen, wanted us to open for their release gig. This gave us a lot of motivation so we put our heads down and worked really hard on finalizing everything. Now we can look back on a very productive year, we have regained our focus and we will continue to work hard. That means playing gigs and making more lovely music.
You guys said that this album tells about a “narrative exploring the sudden realization of a man’s own inadequacy and self-deception and how it affects his further existence”. Do you mind explaining where the inspiration comes from to write about such a narrative?
It mostly came from our own experiences. I think we all have felt a form of inadequacy in one way or another during our adult formative years. Suddenly you’re a grown-up working for a company. You might feel like you’re not in the right place and feel like you’re stuck. This impacted me, Kenneth, quite a lot and I struggled to come to terms with it. So I wrote about my experiences in small notes and poems as a form of self medication. And we used these writings as a basis for our narrative. So the story is loosely based on our own lives. We also based the story on a subtle mix of the movie Fight Club and the novel The Double by Dostoevsky.
I’m personally a fan of sludge metal and its equivalents and I’m looking for more recommendations on sludge-centred acts that hail from Norway. Can you recommend me some?
Kollwitz, Saver and Octohawk are some Norwegian sludgy bands we like.
To each member — by blending multiple aspects of genre spectrums such as post-metal, sludge, and hardcore, you must have involved the use of plenty of gears to note. What are some of your favorite gears you have used throughout the years of your musicianship?
Kenneth: I have used my fair share of pedals to date, but the one which stands out is The Drop by Digitech. Both Lasse and I use it. It helps us down-tune the guitar and bass with the simple push of a button. It saves us a lot of time and effort and they sound great as well.
I recently bought a Darkglass 500 V2 Bass Head which I adore. It has all the distortion I need, I love distorted bass sounds, and I can fit it in my backpack. It’s a game changer!
Espen: I need my double pedals, I recently got the Tama Dyna-sync and they are the best ones I have tried so far. I also can´t live without my 20 inch Meinl Byzance china. It’s great for that extra attack and presence when the guitars and vocals are turned up to 12.
Lasse: My 7-string Ibanez J-custom is probably my favorite guitar that I own, it is a real workhorse of a guitar that has taken quite a beating over the years. I mostly play 8-strings now, and my Mayones Regius has probably been the best.
The Kemper Powerhead with a Friedman profile has been my go-to for a few years now, and beside the practical aspects of the Kemper (easy to carry around, endless sounds and effects) I love that it sounds great at all volumes.
As for pedals I would say Big Sky and Timeline from Strymon are pretty excellent. I also love EarthQuaker Devices, and have been using Afterneath, Avalanche Run, and Plumes alot lately. The Life Pedal is also a ton of fun! I mostly use these pedals for writing/recording and pretty much only use the Kemper footswitch live.
You have stated that Converge is one of your main sources of inspiration. I’m also a huge nerd myself about everything Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou have done! Mind mentioning some of your favorite Converge releases and why?
No Heroes and Jane Doe are our favorites. We like the other albums as well, but those are the two that really struck a chord with us. We actually used to warm up with the title track No Heroes at rehearsals. It sure got our blood pumping. Maybe we need to start playing that one again.
Has any memorable gig experience happened this year? Tell us about it!
Playing our first show in 7 years was a pretty nerve-racking but special experience! Though not as special as our release gig for the album. That night was a huge success. The mosh pit was insane and people were grinning from ear to ear both during and after the show. That meant a lot.
Do you get inspired by other forms of art and pop culture (books, movies, video games, etc) other than music in the creative process of REFLECTIONS////VOID? If there are any, what are they?
Yes indeed! A lot of these inspirations are kinda hard to pinpoint, it is more like a thing that seeps into your system in many ways. The ones that come to mind that have directly inspired us are Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, Andrei Tarkovsky, Guy Maddin, Jackson Pollock, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Francis Bacon. Also, the song title “Seconds” is taken from a John Frankenheimer movie from 1966 by the same name.
I know 2023 hasn’t officially ended, but what are some of your favorite releases this year?
We have been very much up our own creek so to speak this year and most of our time and energy has gone into finishing our own album. That means listening to masters and mixes over and over again. That being said we have to mention Frostbitt who released Machine Destroy earlier in the year and Kambodsja who just released Resilient. Both those albums are impeccable both when it comes to songwriting and the overall quality of the recordings.
Thank you for your time and correspondence, thefalls! We wish you luck on your foreseeable journey of craftsmanship.
Buy the album here:
https://thefallsband.bandcamp.com/album/reflections-void
Follow Thefalls:
WORDS BY RALKA SKJERSETH