[Interview conducted December 2003]

If you haven't heard the sad news yet, The Crown decided to call it quits as of March 7^th, 2004.  It is really a shame, too, because they were one of the best death metal bands in the world and certainly had more personality than just about any other outfit on the scene.  As a parting gift, they did complete the reworked Crowned in Terror which should be out by summer.  This interview was completed in December via email with riff master Marko Tervonen…

The sound on Possessed 13 is pretty killer - what led you guys to produce it yourself?
Actually we have always produced our albums. Well, actually it depends what you mean with "produce."  I guess producers are more important in the world of pop.  In that case it means that the producer writes the songs or has a more important role in it.  But for us, that wouldn't be necessary.  When we enter the studio, the music, lyrics, leads, etc., are already done.  What we need is simply an engineer, a guy who helps us get the sounds we want and press the rec button.  And nowadays we all know a bit of Pro-Tools, so after the engineer left the studio around 4PM, we stayed there by ourselves and recorded each others tracks.  Sometimes around the clock. But hell...it's all fun!!!

What was the recording process like?  Was there one or two band members mainly filling the producer role or did everyone work on it together?
We all pushed the rec button at some point.  But then of course for the mixing we were dependent on Patrick's and Fredrik's skills...  The recording process was pretty smooth.  Janne nailed the drums in a few days and then we kept on building from there.  It took 4 weeks to record and 1 week to mix.  It turned out KILLER!

I really liked the fact that you can really hear the bass on this album, something that is often missing on death metal albums.  Did you make an extra effort to get a really good, balanced mix?
Yeah.  Janne and Magnus have always been pushing for a louder bass in the mix.  I have been against it, since I thought that METAL is all about guitars ya know...  But when we turned up the aggressive sound of the bass in the mix it just felt right.  That really gave the production that extra energy.

How long do you spend readying the songs before you go into the studio?  Does a lot get added during the recording session or is it mostly all planned out ahead of time?
We did record a pre production of the whole album before we entered the studio, so we were very prepared.  Mostly the songs are all done before we hit the studio.  But some stuff was added in the studio, like the sound effects to "Dream Bloody Hell."  Janne did the intro during the studio time.  And maybe some bits and pieces here and there were added in the creative moment during recording...

The artwork on this album is considerably different from the earlier records.  Was it important to kind of break out and have a new look this time?
Definitely!  Magnus had the idea to go with the 70's horror theme, and the idea just felt perfect!  Different, creative and beautiful!

There seems to be a bit more of a thrash influence on the new album - would you agree?  Did you first get into metal during the thrash era?
Hmm...yeah, maybe this album and Deathrace King have the most Thrash metal riffs.  If you mean the EARLY 80's....no.  I got into metal late in the 80's and of course bands like Metallica and Testament were important for me.

I keep reading that you guys will be forging a new sound with your next album.  Do you have any insight into how that might go or is it still too early to say?
It's too early to say.  We REALLY emptied our old riff banks into this album and everything you hear from us from now on will sound new.  I guess in the end, the new songs will sound very Crownish anyway, but hopefully with a different approach etc... I'm looking forward to it.

Going back to Crowned in Terror, what made you decide to re-record the vocals?  When will that take place and when can we expect the album to be re-released?
The vocals have already been re-recorded, also the bass actually and we'll start mixing the album the 2nd of January 2004.  I have NO clue when it will hit the shops...  Why we do it?  `Cause we can and we want!

The video for "Face of Destruction/Deep Hit of Death" is killer - very basic but very effective in capturing the energy of the song.  Was it enjoyable to make?
Yeah, it was pretty fun.  I think we played to the song for about 16 times, and Janne did some extra takes by himself after that.  So it was sweaty but also fun.  The bad part was that in the evening we played the Summer Breeze festival and we were PRETTTTTY damn tired.

You guys have such a perfect balance between brutality and melody - is it challenging to maintain that?  Do you consciously try to keep from going too far to one extreme or the other?
Actually no.  We just write the stuff that comes out of us.  It must be that we have grown up on both brutal American Death Metal and melodic thrash from Europe...

You guys started out during the really lean years of death metal - was it a struggle to keep the band going all that time?
Yeah..... there were many bands at that time.  We started playing in 1990 and didn't get signed til 1995 on Black Sun Records.  And in 1998 we did our first tour.  So yeah, we've suffered... hehehe

I know you guys toured the States a few years back - what was that experience like?
Amazing!  We've done 2 tours over there, one as a support band to Cannibal Corpse, and the last time we were the headlining band.  We REALLY love touring the US.  It's so different from Europe.

Who influenced you early on?  What kind of stuff do you listen to outside of metal?
In the early days, it was bands like Morbid Angel, Entombed, Edge Of Sanity, Paradise Lost, Metallica, Slayer, Deicide that created our sound.  But then we have evolved from there.  Today I still listen to those bands, their latest albums and the bands that mean something to me I REALLY try staying loyal to.  I WANT to understand and enjoy the development of a band ya know.  Paradise Lost is a good example.  They started out as a doomy Death Metal band and a few albums later they sounded like Depeche Mode.  Now the guitars are back, but I honestly like all their albums and styles.

One of my all time favorite songs is "Back From the Grave" - can you tell me a bit about writing that one?  Did it all come together pretty quickly?
Yes it did.  The song wrote itself.  One of those rare things being me, since usually it takes a couple of weeks for me to finish a song.  This song was done in 20 minutes, except for the middle part.  That part came to my head a few months after I wrote the other riffs.  And when that part came to me, BANG - the song was done.  It just felt right!

I saw on your site that you would like to build your own studio and get into production of other bands.  Do you have any concrete plans yet for that or is it just a dream for the future?
It's in the works.  I have produced some demos for other bands and there's a studio in my hometown where I can record other bands.  Early next year, if everything goes well, I'm gonna start advertising myself for the metal world.  It's definitely something I enjoy doing.

I understand you are very into computers.  Can you tell me a bit about what all you are involved with and how you got into it?  I do some web design myself and work as a software tester, so I'm curious to hear your experiences.
Yeah, I like computers and technology in general.  I'm a sci-fi freak so I guess that says it all.  I'm the responsible one for the www.thecrownonline.com , for the new layout I got some Flash help from Locust Constructions (who did the P13 cover/layout/booklet).  But actually on web designing, I must admit that I'm a "fake."  I don't know much about HTML coding, I do it the easy way: DreamWeaver.  Shit...busted!

http://www.thecrownonline.com