Last month, Frosttide released their new (and rather awesome) single From Dusk To Ascend. We caught up with vocalist/guitarist Juho and keyboardist Felipe to discuss it further, and also spoke about future plans. Check it out – along with our review of the single – below!
From Dusk To Ascend is your first release with your changed lineup – what has the reception been like so far?
Juho: The reception has been very good overall. People seem to like it and it has drawn a good amount of attention considering it’s only a single release without any album release info revealed at this point yet. We can be happy with it!
Did the writing and recording process differ at all, compared to your previous releases?
Juho: The writing process was quite alike to the previous records. The main differences were in arranging as this time we worked way more on the songs together to perfect them than in the past and in recording since we were able to set up our own studio to our rehearsal place and record everything on our own. Giving us the freedom to use as much time as needed to fine tune the arrangements while recording, without the “time is money” meter ticking in the back of our heads all the time.
I really like the lyrics for this one – is there a particular story behind them?
Juho: The lyrics are part of the concept for the forthcoming album so it’s quite tricky to try to tell the story behind them for only this particular one without revealing too much from the story as whole and in order for it to make any sense. But to say something about them, they are describing the character’s feelings in a moment where he thought, all was lost, yet a glimpse of hope looms somewhere in a distance giving him the strive to give his all once more, no matter what the end result will be.
The artwork was created by Whispered’s Jouni Valjakka – did you go to him with a particular idea in mind or did you give him free reign?
Felipe: We had some ideas about the overall theme of the artwork. Still, Jouni had free hands to bring his ideas into the final design. We had a great communication that resulted on a very effective collaboration. After we had agreed on the basic ideas for the design, Jouni sent us some advanced drafts and we gave some pointers on what should be added or removed. He got our ideas really fast and surely delivered! He is a very talented artist so it was very easy to work with him. We look forward to continue working with him on the artwork for our new album. He did an amazing work with the artwork and lyric video for this single!
The single features a rerecording of your song Assault from an old EP of yours. What made you decide to revisit that particular song?
Juho: It’s a song we all liked and have wanted to redo at some point when the time seemed right. Now it felt like it could be a great addition to publish it along with the single, with the sound updated to today’s Frosttide. We are very happy with and can’t wait to play it live again too!
As well as that, FDTA also features a really cool cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Lodi, what made you decide to cover this track?
Felipe: Our drummer Joonas suggested us to cover this song. It is a great track so we had a good time making our version! I would say covers (depending on the song) are usually the recreational break during the recording sessions. We can just break loose with the arrangements and explore further into “new” music styles that, in one way or another, we are not allowed to infuse into our own songs. For example in this one there are some sections that have bossa nova, latin percussion and samba arrangements, but still keeps the overall Frosttide sound and the essence of the original song by CCR.
And finally, what’s in store for Frosttide for the rest of 2017 and the next coming year?
Felipe: We will be playing our first North American tour together with our friends Valfreya. “The Blood Oath Tour Canada” will take part from August 17th till September 4th. We are very excited about it and we look forward to support our album for the first time on that side of the globe! Once the tour is done, we will continue on recording our forthcoming album, so there is not much going on live for the rest of 2017. We hope to release our new record next year and start touring in Finland and abroad. Maybe one day we’ll get to play in the UK! Let’s see what the future will bring. Exciting times are ahead!
From Dusk To Ascend Review
From Dusk To Ascend is the first release from Frosttide following their fantastic second album Blood Oath and it’s an awesome taster into what fans can expect from their upcoming third album.
What’s especially good about the track is that it incorporates new approaches whilst also staying ‘true’ to the Frosttide sound and shows they’re unafraid of progression – which is good because who’d want a band to keep on releasing the exact same thing with each piece of music? From Dusk To Ascend is perhaps a little more guitar-driven when compared to the older stuff, but it also features a magical keyboard solo to boot and the powerful vocals from Juho are the icing on the cake.
As well as the single itself, From Dusk To Ascend also features a rerecording of Assault from their 2012 EP Our Journey and a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Lodi. Assault is a great reworking of an already-good track and there’s an awesome freshness to it, proving it has certainly aged well since its initial release. Meanwhile Lodi is a cool interpretation of the CCR track, with Frosttide adding their own little spin to it whilst also staying true to the original.
As a whole, this is a great single. It’s both a look to the future with the new song and a look back at the past with the rerecording of an old thing, but one thing is for sure – Frosttide are continuing to slay in the here and now!
