“We may have hoped, but never expected this” – Interview with Elvellon

Rising symphonic metal band Elvellon is set to release their second album, “Ascending in Synergy” on May 17, 2024. The ten track offering marks the outfit’s Napalm Records debut, and is the successor to their highly acclaimed 2018 album “Until Dawn” and 2015 EP “Spellbound”. Chaoszine caught up with the band to discuss about the upcoming album and what lies in the future for this promising band. 

Hello! Who is anwering the questions and how has the spring of 2024 been for you and the band? 

Jan: Hello! Actually, we all answer the questions. That’s Nele (vocals), Gilbert (guitar), Jan (bass), Pascal (keys) and Martin (drums). This spring was a very busy time for us with the video shoots for the single releases and the crowdfunding, which we started and successfully carried out. Lots of interviews, emails and video calls! The ordinary madness :D 
At the same time, we have already received a lot of great feedback on the new songs, videos and artwork we have released so far. We have the feeling that people are really looking forward to our upcoming album and have not forgotten us after the 6 years since our debut album. 

Your new album “Ascending In Sinergy” will be out May 17 th and it is your first album with Napalm Records. How did you end up choosing Napalm Records as your label and how has the collaboration been so far? 

Nele: Yes, and we are beyond excited that the day of finally sharing our new material with the world is so close! Since the beginning of this band, we all dreamed of being signed to such a huge label. Back in these days we obviously didn’t know what that really means, but we had a dream we chased. Years of hard work later in 2019 we had the chance to go on tour with Visions of Atlantis. On the last night we had a very nice talk with Thomas Caser. He asked us that one famous question we always dreamed of being finally asked: “Do you guys want to become rockstars?“ and the rest is history. We just felt welcome, supported and surrounded by professionals. That’s why we took this once in a lifetime chance with Napalm Records. And our experience with collaborating with Napalm Records is really good. We are overwhelmed by the dedicated support and professionality Napalm Records offers us. It’s easy to work with them and we enjoy it so much! 

The debut album “Until Dawn” was released in 2018 and now six years later it is time for you to unleash the second album. Was there a specific reason why it took you so long to come up with a follow-up? Of course COVID-19 happened but it’s still quite a long gap for a “new” band to put out albums in the beginning of their career. 

Pascal: Besides Covid, which of cause affected us as well, we hadn’t made a plan for a second album after the release of “Until Dawn”. We played a lot of concerts to build up a reputation for ourselves. Years after, we started to write new songs and came in touch with Napalm Records, where we got a deal time later. Since we joined, we worked harder to release as soon as possible, without losing quality on the way. Our music takes some time to be finished because everybody is involved but we’re looking forward to improve, that the next album won’t take too long after the upcoming release. 

Compared to the debut album was the recording and writing process for the album anyway different this time around? 

Gilbert: Somehow yes and no in equal measure. In terms of songwriting, we started as we always have. This means that Pascal, Martin and I go into the rehearsal room and work on new ideas. However, this time Nele was involved earlier in the creative process and most of the lyrics are even written by her. The lyrics to the song “Aftermath Of Life” were written by me, by the way, which has not happened before. 
The recording process was very similar to that for “Until Dawn” with the difference that I bought new equipment so that I could do a lot of the recording at home or in the rehearsal room. This gave us financial and temporal independence, from which we benefited greatly. 

I must say that while listening to “Ascending in Synergy” I got some old school Nightwish vibes. How important band Nightwish has been to Elvellon as a source of inspiration? 

Gilbert: I would say that the music of Nightwish was the common thread that united us back then. But so were bands like Sonata Arctica, Children Of Bodom or Turisas. It was a framework that we could all agree on when it came to the question of what kind of music we actually wanted to make. So you can say that they have clearly influenced us. They simply created the genre of symphonic metal and shaped it for a long time like no other band. It’s hard to avoid a comparison when you’re swimming in the same waters. 

I think that the music that Nightwish and we make now diverges more and, to be honest, we don’t follow what they do that much anymore. 

The first single “A Vagabond’s Heart” was released recently. Was there some specific reason why you wanted to present that track from the album as the first single and what kind of feedback have you received from it from the fans? 

Nele: We actually found this song to be great as a first glimpse of what we have in store for our fans. It’s as simple as that. “A Vagabond’s Heart” is an uplifting, powerful song and it has a great message. We didn’t write this song as a single though, but in consultation with Napalm Records, who supported this song as a single, we wanted to go for it! And it turned out to be the perfect choice! In such a small amount of time we’ve never received so much interest and positive feedback for our music. Napalm offers us such a huge platform to be recognised as musicians which really gives us a positive push. The feedback within the first week was tremendous. And we may have hoped but never expected this. So far we are very happy with how everything unfolds. 

Is there a theme or a concept on “Ascending in Synergy”? Where have you drawn inspiration for the album’s lyrics? 

Martin: While producing “Ascending In Synergy”, we decided not to use a concept as such. Rather, the individual songs were written to tell their very own stories while having the sound of their own. The greatest inspiration for these, came from our experiences of personal growth and progress. 

Where do you normally draw inspiration to the band’s music? For example, do you enjoy listening to movie soundtracks? 

Martin: Inspiration of this kind can come from completely different origins. A very big one are certainly the works of various artists like Hans Zimmer or Bear McCreary or other bands in general. Soundtracks from games or movies for example, are often the biggest adventure in these. Their music helps diving into the respective worlds. 

I don’t want to bore you to death with this interview so as a last thing I would like to know a bit about your future. What does the future hold for Elvellon? Any chance to catch you in Finland with an upcoming tour? 

Jan: As we don’t have a booking agency at the moment, we are unfortunately hardly playing any shows this year. We are currently hoping for a good offer so that we can maybe go on a bigger tour as a support band, but unfortunately nothing has popped up yet. We would be incredibly happy to play in Finland one day. It’s the country of origin of our genre. 

Would you like to add some final words for your fans and our readers? 

Nele: First of all, thank you to everyone interested in Elvellon and our music, to everyone who preordered our upcoming album, who supported us in the past and also today. Everything regarding us as a band stands and falls with a great fan base and community, which will hopefully keep on growing over time. But we cannot be happier with our fans and welcome everyone interested warmly to ascend with us in synergy!