Cult Of Luna drummer Thomas Hedlund opens up about difficult recording sessions for new album: “It was pretty much the opposite of what we wanted to do”

Swedish post-metal giants Cult Of Luna will release their tenth studio album, “In the Shadow of Your Shadow”, on November 6 through their own Red Crk label. The record, running for over 70 minutes, continues the band’s uncompromising exploration of heavy, atmospheric and experimental music. However, bringing the album to life proved far from straightforward.

Chaoszine recently caught up with drummer Thomas Hedlund via Zoom to discuss the upcoming record, the challenges of maintaining a band over several decades, and why he believes emotional expression is far more important than technical virtuosity.

Having played with the band for more than two decades, Hedlund also revealed that he rarely listens to metal music in his spare time. According to the drummer, the members’ contrasting musical backgrounds and perspectives are among Cult Of Luna‘s greatest strengths.

“This particular recording process was kind of gruesome”

Even after ten studio albums, the amount of work involved in making a new Cult Of Luna record can still be surprising. According to Hedlund, coordinating everyone’s schedules proved particularly challenging this time around.

“This particular recording process was kind of gruesome. It was harder than a lot of the others, mainly because of logistics. We couldn’t really be at the same place for more than a couple of days, and the rest of the stuff was recorded separately or with a couple of people at a time. That was pretty much the opposite of what we wanted to do,” Hedlund explains.

The band had previously enjoyed a much more relaxed recording experience.

“We did a recording where we went to Norway and spent ten days playing music and drinking way too much beer. It was amazing. We thought it would have been so nice to do something like that again, but this time it was the absolute opposite.”

Hedlund was touring for much of the previous autumn, when the band had originally planned to record the album. As a result, he recorded his drum parts first, while the other members completed their contributions throughout the following months.

Day jobs, family commitments and other musical projects have made finding time to work together increasingly complicated.

“We’re kind of used to having a pretty smooth process. When you hear about other bands spending a year or a year and a half making an album, I think that if we had that much time and could only focus on it, we could probably make three albums in a year. But people have jobs, I tour quite a lot, and that’s life.”

Despite the difficulties, Hedlund believes it is essential to maintain high standards whenever the band enters the studio.

“The older I get, the more I embrace the Oasis approach. If you don’t think that your album is great, or at least good and worthy of someone’s time and money, why do it? If you’re making an album and expecting someone to invest their time in it, you should at least believe yourself that it’s worth that investment.”

“I think every album you make has to be your best, or at least the best you can do at that particular point in time.”

“You can have a very limited toolbox and use those tools to build something beautiful”

Cult Of Luna are known for their massive walls of sound, slowly evolving compositions and powerful dynamics. However, Hedlund’s approach to drumming differs considerably from what some might expect from a musician performing such demanding music.

The drummer describes his technical abilities as relatively limited and believes musical expression matters far more than technical complexity.

“I’d like to think that the most important thing is that you fill out your space. Not in terms of the number of strokes or the speed, but you want to hear someone perform music where they’re at their emotional limit.”

Hedlund compares a musician’s abilities to a toolbox.

“Certain people have an enormous toolbox because they can really do anything. But at the end of the day, it’s about how you use it. You can have a very limited toolbox and use those tools to build something beautiful.”

He explains that many of his favorite drummers have earned his admiration through their musicality rather than their technical skills.

“Some of my favorite drummers aren’t my favorites because of their chops. That can be cool too, of course, but it’s more about the musicality.”

Interestingly, Hedlund’s personal musical preferences are quite different from the music he creates with Cult Of Luna.

“I’m more of a pop guy anyway. I listen to more of that kind of music, but I love playing this music. Of course, I’ve gone through all the classic hardcore bands and I still love them, but it’s not what I put on when I listen to music.”

“When I apply my own references, it’s almost never metal or heavy rock.”

The members’ different tastes can sometimes lead to amusing disagreements.

“I can listen to something and think it’s the best thing ever, and then Johannes is like, ‘What are you listening to? This is crap!’ The same goes the other way around. Sometimes I’m listening to his music and thinking, ‘This is just noise!’”

According to Hedlund, those differences help keep the band’s creative process interesting.

“When we come together and make music, we all bring our different references and tastes to the mix. It really keeps it fun and alive for us. To me, it would be boring to surround yourself only with people who have exactly the same taste in everything.”

Decades of friendship remain one of the band’s greatest strengths

Hedlund’s musical relationship with Cult Of Luna vocalist and guitarist Johannes Persson stretches all the way back to their teenage years.

“Johannes and I have played together since we were 16. We played hardcore shows and did crazy tours around Europe when we were 17, playing squats and sleeping on floors. Those are beautiful memories, by the way. Maybe not the squat floors, but everything else.”

Their shared history has helped establish a level of trust that continues to influence the band’s creative process.

Hedlund explains that during rehearsals, he generally focuses on establishing basic rhythmic patterns and understanding a song’s dynamics. Much of his actual creative work on the drum arrangements takes place later in the studio, where better sound conditions allow him to experiment more freely.

“As a drummer, you can really change the mood of a composition. If I started bashing away during a very mellow, vulnerable part, that would set a completely different tone. That’s something important to keep in mind.”

“It’s such a good band because the others are invested in what I’m doing. We can have a conversation, try different things out, and everyone is very open. It’s about trust. We trust each other and each other’s musicality.”

Despite spending decades together, Hedlund says the musicians still genuinely enjoy one another’s company.

“It’s pretty rare in some ways that a band stays together for this long, or at least stays together for this long and still loves each other.”

“We’re the best of friends, and I think that’s a great foundation for artistic trust. You can have arguments and think differently without taking it personally, because you know that no matter what happens, you’d be there for each other.”

Is “In the Shadow of Your Shadow” really Cult Of Luna’s darkest album?

“In the Shadow of Your Shadow” has been described as potentially the darkest record of Cult Of Luna‘s career. Hedlund, however, does not necessarily agree with that assessment.

“Personally, I don’t think of it as our darkest album. But I guess it’s in the ear of the listener.”

For Hedlund, one of the most fascinating aspects of music is its ability to evoke entirely different emotions in different people.

“The same song can make one person cry and another person feel euphoric. That’s a beautiful thing. It’s a cliché, but there are no wrong interpretations. There’s just an endless amount of right ones.”

He also believes that an album captures a particular moment in the lives of its creators, although its meaning can change significantly over time.

“Maybe in a few years, when I listen to it compared to our other albums, I’ll realize it really is our darkest album. Or maybe I’ll play it at my son’s wedding because it’s so joyful,” Hedlund laughs.

To illustrate how our interpretation of art can change, he recalls watching Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror film “The Shining” at different stages of his life.

“When I watched it the first time, I thought the father was such an evil, despicable person. Then I watched it again many years later, and I don’t know if it had anything to do with having four kids, but I felt so sorry for him. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be that person. He was struggling and trying to avoid going into that dark space.”

“The same piece of art can reflect something completely different at another point in your life.”

Ten albums and only six or seven songs per show

With more than 25 years of music behind them, Cult Of Luna have reached a point where putting together a concert setlist has become a challenge of its own.

The band’s lengthy compositions mean that a typical performance can accommodate only a handful of songs.

“We’ve put ourselves in a pretty bad position because we can only play six or seven songs per set. If you change one, that’s a pretty big percentage of the whole show.”

With ten albums to choose from, representing every era of the band’s career during a single concert is practically impossible.

“If you remove a song that’s fourteen minutes long and add one that’s seven minutes, and then you’ve got another that’s eleven minutes, it becomes a matter of mathematics. Especially for festival sets, it’s really about statistics.”

Beyond the running time, the band must also consider the emotional progression of each performance.

“You want the set to follow a certain arc, and that makes it even more difficult.”

According to Hedlund, the band are preparing to rehearse several songs from the upcoming album for future performances. As they head into touring in 2027, they intend to learn more of the new material so that setlists can vary between shows.

One particularly interesting experience for Hedlund was recording “The Rift”, which introduced an unusually fast approach to the band’s music.

“It’s the first fast song we’ve ever done, so that was something different. It was fun to mix things up. But it’s stupid to start playing fast when you’re old! That’s what we should have done when we were 22,” he laughs.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll start making music again pretty soon”

Although recording “In the Shadow of Your Shadow” was unusually demanding, Hedlund believes the experience may actually encourage Cult Of Luna to return to writing new material sooner rather than later.

“Since the recording was kind of difficult in some ways, I’m pretty sure we’ll start making music again pretty soon.”

Rather than immediately beginning work on another album with a specific release schedule in mind, the drummer wants the band to rediscover the simple enjoyment of creating music together.

“We want to get back into that creative mode, just for the joy, inspiration and desire to make music. Hopefully, we can do that in parallel with touring this album.”

Hedlund also believes that established bands should feel free to make their own rules when it comes to releasing new music.

“You can make up your own rules. We could release this album, go on tour, and meanwhile make a completely different album. And if nobody cares about that album, it doesn’t matter, because it was fun for us and an outlet for our creativity and inspiration.”

The members’ different personal circumstances will inevitably continue to affect their plans. Hedlund remains busy touring with other artists, while some of his bandmates have to arrange time off from their regular jobs to participate in tours.

Nevertheless, their enthusiasm for playing together remains undiminished.

“We love playing live, and we always have a blast when we’re on tour. Making new music and touring can complement each other in a really good way.”

Before wrapping up the interview, Hedlund also sends a message to the band’s Finnish fans, recalling their previous performances in Finland with affection.

“See you around! We can’t wait to come back. We have beautiful memories from playing there.”

You can check out the singles released from Cult of Luna‘s upcoming “In the Shadow of Your Shadow” album below: