Dagheisha interview in english
http://www.dagheisha.com/music_section/interviews.asp?report=582

Answers by:
Mika Tanttu (drums)
Ville Hovi (vocals)

How did you come up with an epic title such as 'For Rome And The Throne'?

Mika: Actually Ville was demo-entitled one of our new song as “For Rome and the throne” and as I was figuring out the theme
for the album I thought it would be good and an epic name so I suggested that maybe we could use that name as our “redline” for the album.

What do you love of romans?

Mika: Ville is man behind the lyrics so…

Ville: That was just a topic I have had in mind for a long time and it`s a really interesting matter for a song, as are all the other great topics of life and death.
Because that`s what these great empires are about, I think, and that`s what the actual theme of the song is. I love to write about themes that are big enough.
Themes that are very profound and fundamental such as life and death, black and white, good and evil etc.. And I think it really fits for our band to have these
megalomaniac subjects. So the answer to your question is that the Romans where very big influence to the development of Europe and human lives in general
in both good and bad. And that same confrontation is the main theme in lyrics throughout the album.

What are the main events that brought you to the release of this album?

Mika: Our debut album was released in 2007 and we had a few line-up changes, some changes in our management and booking agency 2009, and we also
changed the record label which made things a little bit complicated but as we got these problems out of our hands we decided we will fully concentrate to make
a new album. We started to record the album in 2010 even we didn’t have label at that moment but as things started to roll and we signed the contract with Inverse
the release happened really fast. We knew we have to release the album fast because the debut “Take Another Life” was released a long time ago and a lot of
people were asking all the time what is happening in the band and when we will release the new album. After the contract was made with Inverse we worked really
hard to make the release possible as fast we could. We are really satisfied to the album and now as we’re back in the track there’s not going to be such long caps
between the albums.

Did you receive any kind of pressure by Inverse Records during the recording process of your second album?

Mika: Not at all, we actually had already recorded the album before we started to negotiate with Inverse Records. We have a quite good relationship with
Inverse so we as a band can make all the decisions regarding the release and such. 

What are the main differences between this record and the debut?

Mika: There’s 4 years between debut and “FRATT” so obviously we have developed as musicians. Of course in that time our own music interests have been
changed a little bit too which affected to this album. But in my opinion the main thing is that “FRATT” is very diverse, there’s acoustic parts, heavy parts, fast parts,
slow parts and so on. The debut album was much more straight forwarded, you know, full speed all the time and not much dynamics.

Ville: I think that this was the album we needed to do in order to have a fresh, sort of a new beginning. And this album is very ground breaking for us and is a very
good starting point for our future. We really made a huge effort in making “For Rome…” and it became very much the way we wanted it to be. Whereas our first
album was a collection of old songs added with couple of new pieces played as fast as we could. It seemed reasonable at that time but I think, and I believe we all do,
that “For Rome…” has music that really defines us. And as Mika said it`s been four long years in between these two babies.

What are your main reference points as far as music is concerned?

Mika: For “FRATT” Tomi, Patris and me all wrote songs. We all have our own music interests so it’s a little bit difficult to say main reference points. And of course Ville
is arranging his vocal parts which are giving the final direction to the songs. I guess our main roots are somehow still coming from this so called Gothenburg metal ála
At the gates, In Flames and Soilwork etc. Patris has also brought some new vibes and elements to our music and songwriting which is great. I don’t know is this melodic
death metal or modern metal etc. and honestly we don’t care. We’ll try to evolve all the time and our music is a sum of all of us.

What albums inspired you in terms of production and mixing?

Mika: In recording and mixing wise Soilwork’s Panic broadcast inspired us a lot. I don’t mean that it sounds exactly same or nothing like that but that album was a reference
album for us while we were making this album.

I think 'Blood Bell' and 'Late Night Void' are totally huge. What’s the meaning of these songs?

Mika: Ville can tell about the Blood Bell but “Late Night Void” is actually the only song in this album where I came with the lyrics. It’s a quite personal song. It’s a story about
following night when Antti, our ex-guitarist, the man I had been playing and growing-up from a little boy decided to leave the band. Although it’s all good now and it’s a little
thing in stream of life in that time it was a huge thing for both of us, Antti and me, and of course for the rest of the band too. I wrote the basic structure of the song very soon
when that had happen and I wanted to do something a little bit different what we had done and something which will sound big. Like always, after some of us has wrote a song,
the whole band will bring own spices to it as we are rehearsing and arranging, so Late Night Void really grew and we managed to get the right “that night” feeling to it.

Ville: Blood Bell is a story of a little seashore village from the 900th century that has a big bell in the middle of it. The bell, which is obviously called Blood Bell, is there to warn
of a Viking attacks. The twisted thing of the story is that the bell never tolls. The people of the village are constantly frightened by the stories their ancestors have told them but
they haven`t actually seen or experienced any attack. the lyrics are of course written in the most obvious way you could write a story of that sort but although it`s written partly
in tong in the cheek the subject is very serious. Can you wonder something more frightening than the fear of something you cannot see?

What should we expect in terms of sound from the future?

Mika: We will evolve all the time, as I said and we don’t make plans that we have to sound like this and that, we just write songs. Certainly we try to keep that little Kill The Romance
sound we have had from the beginning but everything else is open. We already have some new song structures and no worries, it’s still gonna be heavy and aggressive.

What about some finnish underground bands that you think deserve attention ?

Mika: There are a lot of great Finnish underground bands, very professional bands but all of my favorite ones have already quit, like Full Diesel, which is such a shame.
Ville owns millions of records so maybe he could name a few.

Ville: Bloodred Hourglass and Airhead.

What are your next tour plans ? Have you ever been in Italy ?

Mika: At the moment we have a couple of shows coming in this summer, a few own club shows and few shows where we are supporting Machinae Supremacy.
We’ll try to play as much as possible before the end of this year and then concentrate to the next album. We haven’t been in Italy but I heard some rumors that we might have
some shows coming in outside of Finland, even in Italy, let see what happens.

There's such a big movement around melodic death in North Europe. What do you think you have to offer that most bands in the genre don't?

Ville: What does any of any genres band has to offer that noone else does? Maybe we have a hint of more traditional metal-type of songs than most of the other
bands have and a bit more clean vocals.

What's your favourite Dark Tranquillity's album?

Mika: Never listened them much. But it has to be “Haven” because it’s the only one I’ve been listening back in the days. It’s full of great songs and melodies and I still listen to it every now and then.

Ville: All of them are quality albums but Projector is my all time favorite. It really has a special place in my heart. I really like We Are The Void too.