From new arrivals to unexpected departures with a pandemic thrown in for good measure, SCAR SYMMETRY have had many obstacles to navigate over the course of the last few years. The Singularity (Phase II – Xenotaph) was scheduled for release in 2017 but has taken considerably longer to see the light of day. Whilst feint noises of his son playing outside trickled through his microphone, founding member Per Nilsson opens up about his struggles to get to this stage.
“The album was written back in 2016 and the base for the tracks was recorded in 2016/2017, at that time I was really falling out of love with the band and the album. I spent so many years being the man in charge of everything including the management side of things and that really took its toll on me. The business side is not my strong suit, I was nominated as the best candidate but I didn’t do the best job of it. I really wanted to do something else for a while. Funnily enough I was presented with opportunities to tour with NOCTURNAL RITES and then with MESHUGGAH so that was like a vacation for me. Being able to go and play guitar and travel the world without all of the responsibilities.”
When MESHUGGAH come calling, you answer. There are few people who could fill the shoes of the towering figure of Fredrik Thordendal, which shows just how respected Per is in the industry. This necessary break could be exactly what saved the future of SCAR SYMMETRY. “Once I was finished with those commitments I felt like I was in a better position to get back into working on SCAR SYMMETRY and the other guys were too. We would have been finished earlier but I became a dad in 2019 and then we had the pandemic so that slowed things down. I understand if some fans think we’ve left it too late but everything has seemed very positive. I’m not sure the album would’ve had this much attention if it was released on schedule! It seems that people still care and that makes me really happy. We were away for a long time and the interest in the band is still strong.”
This period of dormancy could have derailed a band entirely but if anything, it only strengthened the desire of the fans to see this release come to fruition. Returning to the songs also lit a fire under the band. “I was away from the songs for so long that I was almost scared to revisit them but when I did it was like ‘holy crap, these songs are really good!’ and I got that rush of enthusiasm back again,” admits Per. “The second that we put out Scorched Quadrant the comments started pouring in and seeing the song available on Spotify, YouTube etc was like discovering it all over again alongside the fans.”
The opening track Chrononautilus is quite possibly the heaviest song that SCAR SYMMETRY have written to date as it comes hurtling in with a flurry of blast beats and ferocious aggression, it soon sets the tone for what is to come and was all part of Per’s masterplan. “I can’t recall when we decided to choose it as the opener but it’s a statement piece and ties in well with the ending track of Phase I, which was more of a self contained album. I wanted it to feel like a cycle where it would circle back to the beginning but Phase II is left a lot more open and almost finishes with a question mark, leaving you wanting more. Every album we’ve ever written we have just written a bunch of songs and then put them into a sequence which felt right and sometimes it doesn’t feel finished until you do that. It’s always the intention to put one of your strongest songs out there first but you also want the album to finish strong too. The albums are part of a concept trilogy but they’re not necessarily chronological which gave us a bit of flexibility with the sequencing.”
Since the departure of guitarist Jonas Kjellgren back in 2013, Per has completely taken the reins on songwriting. This has enabled him to put his own spin on utilising both the lighter and darker sides of the spectrum, opening up a world of opportunities, particularly with their utilisation of dual vocalists. “Usually the melodic vocals tie in well with the harmonies and the growls would suit the death metal elements but I like to flip the script,” explains Per.
“I also like to add a lot of interactions between the two styles and let them bounce off each other. I try to fulfil my need of what I would like to hear as a listener. When I listen to music and look for new bands I feel like there is something missing. When I listen to melodic music too much I feel like I’m longing for something heavy but I can only listen to death metal for so long. There are obviously bands who are doing adjacent things like SOILWORK and DEVIN TOWNSEND who are mixing styles in cool ways but I’m trying to create my own little space where I can fuse them both together and put everything I like to hear in one format. This album does however, feel like a different era of my life. A lot has happened since this music was written and I’ve had all these experiences. I feel like I’m in a happier place so I’m excited to see what the next project will sound like. Maybe next time we sit down and talk you will be like ‘dude, what the fuck happened?’.”
The Singularity (Phase II – Xenotaph) is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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