In May of this year, I wrote a review of Solemn, the latest album by the Norwegian band In Vain. The – to me – relatively unknown band managed to surprise me with a mix of musical styles that pushes the boundaries of the outer corners of extreme metal with the audacity to incorporate non-metallic elements as well. I contacted guitarist and songwriter Johnar Håland for an interview. You can read the result of our exchange below.
Good day, first of all congratulations on the excellent new album Solemn. Can you tell something to our readers about the origins of In Vain?
Hi, and thanks for those kind words! In Vain actually started as a school assignment in 2003, when I was studying at a music school. We had to do a project in a recording class where each of us needed to record a track in the school’s recording studio. For some time, I had been considering the idea of forming a metal band with my pal Andreas (Frigstad – he was the main singer), who was really into metal music back then. That assignment from the school really helped to turn our idea into something real, which eventually became In Vain. I hadn’t played extreme metal music before, but I managed to come up with some guitar pieces that turned into the song As I Wither. Andreas handled the lyrics and the vocals. As I Wither was our first song, and it actually made it onto our first album The Latter Rain, which was released in 2007. Since then we have released four more albums and our last album, Solemn, was released in April this year.
Please give a brief introduction. Who are the musicians behind In Vain and what do the band members do in daily life besides making music?
We have Tobias Øymo Solbak who is a full-time musican on drums. He is playing in a bunch of bands, for instance as the session drummer for Ihsahn. Alexander Bøe plays bass. He also plays in Trollfest and is a part-time subway driver. Kjetil D. Pederson plays the guitar and he works as a teacher. Sindre Nedland is one of our singers and he works in television. Andreas Frigstad is the other singer and he works in the oil service industry. Finally, Johnar, myself, I play the guitar and and I have been working as a portfolio manager in finance for more than a decade.
Can you explain the choice of the band name?
Originally, we wanted a three-word band name, something like “xx in Vain”. But we were never able to come up with what should be in front of “in vain”. So we ended up just calling ourselves In Vain. Not a very original name to be honest, but that was what we were able to come up with back in 2003.
How exactly did you start the writing process of Solemn and were there some differences with the previous albums, or is it always the same approach?
I guess I started writing music for Solemn some time after the release of Currents back in 2018. The approach was the same as on our previous albums. I compose the songs on my own and when I compose I write for all the instruments, from drums to strings, vocals, etcetera. When I compose, I try to combine what I consider the strengths in the various musical genres that I enjoy: for example feelings from blues, intricate chords from jazz, groove from rock, aggression from death metal, etcetera. My vision is to combine all these different musical elements, without making the songs chaotic and non-cohesive. I compose music on my own and we never write music together. Later on I make préproductions and send demo versions of the songs to the other members. Typically Sindre is also involved in this phase as he lives in Oslo as well. When we do the actual recording, all members are free to add their twist to their individual instruments.
What do you think are the main differences and similarities between Solemn and the band’s previous albums?
In my view, Solemn encapsulates In Vain‘s essence to date while also introducing fresh components. The similarities are that the music covers a lot of different musical styles and sub genres of metal. There is a lot of variety and contrast in the music. We for instance use many different vocal techniques. This is something we have done since day one. When it comes to differences, we’ve incorporated electronic segments, analog synthesizers, and a variety of unique touches that distinguish it from our previous work. Additionally, I believe this album boasts the finest production quality we’ve achieved thus far.
As I said in my review of Solemn, the high degree of diversity stands out in particular. Is this something that arises quite naturally or do you work collectively as a band to weave the various elements into the songs?
I have always listened to a lot of different music styles and when we started In Vain I never wanted to limit myself to play in one musical genre, simply because I found that boring as a songwriter. The risk of incorporating many styles is obviously that you need to balance everything and make sure it does not turn into a sonic circus. That is something we have focused on since day one. In my opinion, it arises quite naturally and I typically follow my gut feeling. If I do not have the right gut feeling, I know something has to be changed in a song. Also, listening to the songs during préproduction I try to get a sense of whether the songs flows naturally, despite having many elements. A lot has to do with experience and I think the most important are not the actual riffs themselves, but the transitions between the riffs, which sometimes could just be very short. It is crucial to get those right.
To be honest, that is not something new, we have utilized horn sections on many albums in the past. I have always thought that a horn section adds a very nice flavour and contrast, without going completely overboard Lord Of The Rings with a full blown orchestra, which I find a bit too much. When it comes to saxophone, that is also something we have used on several songs in the past and we did for the first time on second EP from 2005. You can check out the song In Remembrance. I actually think it has one of the best saxophone parts we have ever had. Having a sax part on every album has kind of become a tradition for us.
The track Beyond the Pale has an ending where the vocals are laid staccato over the instrumentation in a very special way. I find the final vocal with echo particularly successful in combination with the atmosphere. Can you tell something about the creation of this song and the idea of having it end this way?
So the instrumentation is a riff I had laying around for years. It is a whole tone scale that is looped so it gives the listener the feeling that it never really finds its base to land. Also, we liked how it added a sort of mystical ending to the song. The vocal delay helped with that. I think my original idea was to have a more bombastic ending, but then I thought: why not do something completely unexpected? And that is how this ending came about.
What sources of inspiration do you know as a band, both musically and non-musically?
I get inspiration from all kinds of music. That said, in the past I found it way easier to get new inspiration. It is simply harder for me to find new bands that I think offer something fresh and unique these days. That is obviously also a result of me listening to a lot of music throughout the years. Besides that, I get inspiration from life’s ups and downs, travels, movies, nature and other subjects and events that occur in my daily life.
I know that all members have a very broad musical taste. But when it comes to specific bands, I can only speak for myself. In metal I consider Opeth, Extol and Emperor among the best bands of all time. I am also a huge fan of the hardcore band Shai Hulud. They have a genious as songwriter. In the Woods from my hometown was also a huge influence for many years, in addition to heavy bands such as Isis. But I also listen a lot to post-black metal, hardcore, rap, classical music, pop, etcetera. Basically everything.
To me, it feels like the maximum achievable in terms of musicianship has been achieved on Solemn. Do you guys see it that way, or is there still room to grow further musically by mixing genres, musical styles?
To be honest, I am not really sure myself where we go from here and it takes a heck of a lot of time and work to make these albums. Right now I am not even sure if we will make another album. Also, it seems people’s expectations get raised for every record, a “downside” of releasing good albums in the past. At some point expectations just get too high. We will always focus on writing good songs, but when you have released more than five hours of music, there comes a time at some point where you cannot really surprise the listener anymore because they know you too well. Of course, there is the option to do a drastic style change, but that is not something we have considered. In my opinion, it is typically better to launch completely new musical ventures under different bandnames. But there are bands that have had success doing that and Ulver is a great example of that.
What can we expect from In Vain in the future? And will you also be actively touring to promote Solemn?
We have a tour lined up in Norway after the summer. We’re also working on organizing a European tour, but it’s challenging since we’re not a full-time band. With families and full-time jobs among our responsibilities, embarking on a month-long tour is difficult. We’ve had to decline several attractive proposals for that reason. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to arrange something feasible!
Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers and fans of In Vain?
Thanks a lot for showing interest in our band and thanks for your time! Hopefully we can visit your city soon, play a great show and hang out afterwards!
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