Flat Earth’s Niclas Etelävuori and Anthony Pikkarainen talk to Chaoszine about new album “High On Lies”: “The song writing was more ambitious.”

The hard rock act Flat Earth are ready to release their second album “High On Lies”. The Helsinki-based band, consisting of bass player Niclas Etelävuori (ex-Amorphis), guitarist Linde Lindström (ex-HIM) and Polanski singer Anthony Pikkarainen, produced their upcoming gem of an album by themselves.

To make sure the heavy-hitting record receives the best final touches possible, the album was mixed in Austin, Texas by Tim Palmer, who has gained fame with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Pearl Jam, and had already previously worked with Daniel Lioneye and HIM.

The album was mastered by James Bacon in England. The physical albums are being distributed by Cargo Records UK and the digital albums by AWAL.

After receiving excellent reviews for their debut album “None for One” (2018), opening for Alice In Chains in Helsinki and performing in all major festivals in their native Finland, Flat Earth are proud to present a new, passionate and strong album of nine killer tracks with a massive sound, insightful lyrics and head-banging riffs that are bound to feed the fire in rock enthusiasts, craving to see the band live.

Flat Earth was about to release their sophomore effort when the pandemic got in the way, postponing it more than once:

“We were supposed to release the record last January. That was our previous plan. After the previous and previous versions of it”, stated Anthony Pikkarainen. Touring plans have also been extensively rescheduled, with dates pushed more than once. Record manufacturing plants have also extended delivery dates for physical copies, which didn’t help the establishing of a release date. Even when this interview was conducted, there was no confirmed release date in sight.

Now that a date has been set, fans will be able to check out all tracks from “High On Lies”, more than 2 years after the release of the first single “Draining By Your Flame”. “This time around arrangements fell in more naturally than the first record, because now we already knew each other and what kind of things we like as players. It was a lot more collective”, Anthony stated. This makes for a more unified sound than “None For One”, even though “High On Lies” still hints on many musical directions: “It’s a very open environment for song ideas”, the singer pointed out. “We like the idea of making different kinds of songs that open new doors for us”, he added.

An important note on this interview is that it was done before drummer Mika Karppinen, also known as Gas Lipstick, exited the band. Chaoszine approached Niclas Etelävuori for comment, and also asked about the quest for a new drummer. He was kind enough to respond to us:

“Gas has been living in another universe from the rest of the band for quite some time now. We had our previous show coming and he didn’t show up for rehearsals twice in a row with no notice, so we had no other option than get another drummer to do the show and let Gas go. We are checking our options regarding a new drummer during the summer. We wish Gas all the best with whatever he decides to do.”

Chaoszine recently sat down with the band’s bassist Niclas Etelävuori and singer Anthony Pikkarainen to discuss the new album “High On Lies”, their creative process, working with Tim Palmer, and the ways in which the forced hiatus imposed by the health crisis affected their plans and touring schedule. They also discussed how technology has affected the music business. You can watch the video interview in full below:

You can pre-order the band’s upcoming album “High On Lies” here.

Tracklisting for album is as follows:

1. Enough Abused
2. Adore
3. Every You
4. Brother
5. Draining By Your Flame
6. Neverhappy
7. Let It Rain
8. Motherfknway
9. Pinman