The Arcane Order

author AP date 08/10/06

In the past few years, Denmark has been spitting out new, interesting metal acts at an ever growing rate. The latest addition to the club of 'Blood, Beers and Satan' is The Arcane Order following in the footsteps of oldschool thrash. The band recently released their debut album, "The Machinery of Oblivion", which was well received by the Danish public and critics, featuring a blend of oldschool thrash metal, electronics and keyboards, an effort that earned the band a signing with Metal Blade Records. Rockfreaks caught the band's guitarist, Flemming C. Lund for an interview, providing some insight into what The Arcane Order actually stands for.

RF.net: You recently released your debut album, ”The Machinery of Oblivion”. This is, however, not your first recording, and the history of the band dates much further than 2006. Can you outline the process leading to the release of “The Machinery of Oblivion”?
Flemming: Boris and I were in a band together called Autumn Leaves, with whom we released two albums in 1997 and 1999. A bit before we split up in AL, I decided to form a now project called Scavenger, because I wasn’t too happy about how things were going in AL. Almost at the same time I was asked to join Invocator, so I spend a couple of years concentrating on Invocator and writing stuff for the album we released in 2003. After this I could start to focus on Scavenger again, and we recorded and released a promo CD in 2005, which secured the deal with Metal Blade.

RF.net: As you say, The Arcane Order was known as Scavenger before. What inspired the name change?
Flemming: When I came up with the band name there was to my knowledge no other bands with that name. But when we finally released the promo in 2005 we discovered there were at least 5 other bands by that name. So we decided to go for a more original name, and ended up with The Arcane Order, which we are very happy about.

RF.net: What are your influences?
Flemming: Definitely old school thrash; Bands like Forbidden, Exodus, Slayer, Exhorder, Dark Angel and so on. I started listening to metal in the late 80’s so the aggressive bands from back then are the roots of the bands. But again newer bands like Darkane, Scarve and Strapping Young Lad also had a lot to say in the way our sound was defined.

RF.net: Is the album writing process a collective one for The Arcane Order?
Flemming: The way it works is I write all the music at home and record it on my computer. I then send the songs to the other guys for them to start to come up with ideas for. Then we meet up in the rehearsal room and start to work on the songs together. So all band members have a say in this, I just write all the riffs and stuff.

RF.net: How would you describe the style, atmosphere and technical aspects of the debut album?
Flemming: I’d say we’re a mixture of old school stuff and new school stuff. Our roots are pretty old school; we are very much influenced by old thrash bands like Testament, Dark Angel, Exodus etc., but at the same time we’re attracted to samples and keyboard used in music today. Plus our drummer is a bit younger than the rest of us so his approach is much more technical. So basically we’re Thrash Metal with a bit of Death Metal and atmosphere added with samples and keyboards. We combine different genres and moods and this ends up in the monster known as The Arcane Order.

RF.net: “The Machinery of Oblivion” is an interesting title for an album. What is the album about?
Flemming: Kasper came up with the title for the album and we all liked it a lot. It’s not a concept album and there is no deeper message hidden in the title. So we just wanted something metal sounding, and we ended up choosing that title. We have however talked about doing the next album as a concept album.

RF.net: Has the album lived up to your expectations?
Flemming: Yeah, definitely. We didn’t really know what to expect since we are just a debut band, but the reviews and reactions have been really good, so we can’t complain at all.

RF.net: What are your favorite tracks on the album?
Flemming: I’d say tracks like Infinite Ghost Anathema, Bloodlust, In A Hail of Deadly Bullets and Flames of Liberation because they are the most aggressive and diverse. They are also the newest songs we did.

RF.net: Hatesphere is currently the act that immediately comes to mind when the subject is Danish metal. Is it difficult, as a Danish metal act, to make a breakthrough in Denmark with regard to a few overshadowing successful bands dominating the scene?
Flemming: Yes and no. Danish people have a tendency to always compare bands to each other, which sucks a bit. But if you do a good job, people will recognize you for who you are, so that’s a good thing. But yeah Hatesphere definitely has the crown at the moment. Back in the days it was Invocator; I guess it will always be like that. But the Hatesphere guys really deserve it too. They are the most hardworking guys I know, and they play live constantly.

RF.net: Danish bands are beginning to demonstrate increasing interest in international touring, which has now culminated in the Danish Dynamite tour with some of the most renowned metal acts from Denmark: Volbeat, Raunchy and Hatesphere. Do you have plans for touring, particularly international, in the near future?
Flemming: We actually had a chance to go on that tour if Raunchy turned it down but unfortunately they didn’t. We are at the moment trying to find the right tour to join, so I hope that we’ll be able to tour sometime around the now year. But a lot of things have to be taken into consideration because the other guys have other bands as well.

RF.net: The Danish metal scene is currently quite limited, and the big acts usually skip Denmark on their Scandinavian rounds. Why do you think this happens?
Flemming: They didn’t back in the days, but lately they always skip the Danish scene. It’s of course due to the fact that the audience has decreased the last years. That sucks a lot because there are so many shows that we never get to see. But during the last half- or whole year, I think it’s gotten a bit better and more shows are starting to come to Denmark again.

RF.net: Do you see a commercial breakthrough for rock, and particularly metal, in Denmark anytime soon?
Flemming: Maybe not a big breakthrough, but other wise yes. We have/had bands like Aqua, Junior Senior, The Raveonettes and others that have had a lot of success abroad. Also bands like Saybia and D:A:D seem to be quite popular. But for some reason I think Denmark will always stand in the shadows of our Swedish colleagues, which is quite sad.

RF.net: What is your stand on downloading music off the Internet?
Flemming: I think it’s impossible to stop the illegal downloading, however it’s a good thing that the record companies finally have started to give people the possible to buy the songs from the Internet. So far it shows that it’s a major success. I mean some people will always leech off the Internet, but at least there are some decent people out there.

RF.net: Myspace.com has been the source from which to get to know new bands for a long time, yet it was recently announced that Myspace.com will begin to sell music and compete with iTunes. What is your opinion on this?
Flemming: I don’t see a problem with that. Myspace is a very commercial organization and they have to make money. As long as they keep the possibilities for bands to upload music for free I think it’s cool. I however wish they would spend some money on improving Myspace’s performance though, because there are always waaayyyy too many errors.

RF.net: Is there anything not covered in this interview that you would like to tell our readers?
Flemming: We are currently looking for a second guitarist to add to the line up so if you know any, let us know! Cheers and thanks for doing the interview!

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