Battlelore - Fantasy Metal From Tolkien's World

BATTLELORE appear to be one of the most substantial bands of today’s so-called  “epic fantasy metal” thing (for more please check the reviews section). No matter how they or we call it, the point is that they manage to create an energetic soundscape that contains the cream of nearly all metal genres! And they combine ‘em very successfully.

Taking the opportunity of their second album, we contacted founder member M. Kokkola and asked a few questions about his band’s essence. This is what we got back:

 
Please tell us a bit of the band's history. How did you all get together?
J. Vahvanen and me (M. Kokkola) founded BATTLELORE in 1999. The same year their first promo CD "Warrior's Tale" was out to be reviewed by label companies. "Warrior's Tale" failed but the band didn't give up - instead BATTLELORE strengthened their unique style and pushed harder on forward. In the year 2000 BATTLELORE had a complete set of new songs and they recorded "Dark fantasy", their second promotional CD at Music Bros-Studios, Imatra, and made it with time and care. The result was much better than what could be said about "Warrior's Tale". "Dark Fantasy" brought up very nice feedback and Napalm Records asked BATTLELORE to make one more promotional show out. An untitled three-track promo CD was made in a very little time and it won the hearts of the people at Napalm Records. The recording deal became reality. In Autumn 2001 BATTLELORE recorded their first full lenght album "...Where The Shadows Lie" again at Music Bros-Studios. "...Where The Shadows Lie" resulted in good reviews and got fans to stand behind it 100%. Unfortunately T. Havo had to leave the band and J. Rautio came to play lead guitar in BATTLELORE. Now BATTLELORE is back heavier, more steel-flavored than ever! The new album "Sword's Song" takes BATTLELORE to a totally new level in our music. "Sword's Song" was also recorded at Music-Bros Studios with Miitri Aaltonen.

What do you expect to achieve with the release of this album?
Maybe some more name that we could play more gigs around the Europe and of course it would be great to get some kind of status as a true Tolkien-metal band because we are really doing this truly from our hearts.

How would you describe your music and which bands would you name as your main influences?
We don't want to categorise our music in any way, but if you say that we play "Fantasy Metal" it might be a very good description 'cause our lyrics are about J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy world and our image is very high fantasy-like. Talkin' about the influences I can only tell you my personal influences 'cause all of BATTLELORE's band members have a very different kind of music taste. My personal favourites are bands like Hypocrisy, Rammstein, Rhapsody, Kotiteollisuus, Dissection, Black Label Society etc. and the list is almost endless because if you are a fan of very different kind of music styles, you always get your influences from many different kind of music genres.

Did you compose your music all together? Who is the main composer of BATTLELORE?
Yes, we compose our music together but most of the song structures are made by Jyri Vahvanen (lyrics, guitar)

Why did you decide to make a concept album based on 'Lord Of The Rings'?
The whole idea of BATTLELORE is based to Mr. tolkien's Middle-earth theme and actually BATTLELORE is some kind of tribute band to Tolkien's amazing work.

If Tolkien was alive, do you think he would appreciate your music? Do you think that he would be into heavy metal and why?
I believe that Mr. Tolkien would not care a shit about our doings 'cause as far as I know, he didn't like those fanatics who asked a stupid questions about his writings about Middle-earth and who tried to worship him.

Do you enjoy playing live? What is exactly that you enjoy most on stage? Could you please describe us a BATTLELORE live concert? Would you say that you are more of a studio or a live band?
BATTLELORE is both, studio and live band but in our case we do those things very carefully and they are quite far from the others and when we are on stage, the sound is much more aggressive and energetic than on album 'cause we don't use any backing tapes from PA-system. We try to reach a very powerful mood when we are on stage. We use a fantasy costumes to reach a right kind of atmosphere between the band and the audience and so far people have been very satisfied to our live shows.

Apart from Tolkien which other writers do you enjoy reading?
Weiss & Hickman (Dragonlance), R.A. Salvatore, David Eddings, Robert Holdstock etc. I enjoy the work of many fantasy writers.

What are your future plans?
To play a lot of concerts and Tours around the world and in spring/summer 2004 we are going to release our third album.
 

questions by Elias Ritsios