DESTYNATION - Cold-fired Power From The North! Page 3
by Martin Popoff

Ronny alludes to a fair bit of psychological and emotional strife surrounding the band and its past, but doesn't want to go into details. You can hear it in the impassioned and dark melodies on Rising Up, in the almost claustrophobic structures, and for now, that will have to suffice...

"Yes well, there's too much to even talk about it here," laughs Ronny. "We could easily write a book about it. It is very much about the band history and the band situation, personal experiences during the last years and such stuff that could easily make you give up. Some things almost turned into police business. I don't really want to get any closer to that subject. So we leave it there; it's just bad stuff. But I noticed there's a lot of anger and confusion in our lyrics, still with a glance at a brighter sky in the distance which encourages you to keep struggling. So that's my own personal conclusion - that in some way our experiences are showing through our music."

Curiously, Ronny also mentions the word envy, when looking at the band and its environment. How so? "There have been times when people talk very bad behind our backs, a lot of gossip because everyone knows everyone. I believe this is caused by the 'small town syndrome.' People envy those who succeed, maybe due to their own failure? It's hard to stand and fight against this type of envy from an entire village/city. You know, it's almost impossible to get anywhere. It's like 'access denied' everywhere - you get rejected by most people. It's like a grand conspiracy. Finally you break apart and give up."

So, er, where is this place?

"We live in a small town located in the northeastern coast of Sweden, surrounded by hills and woods. It's called The High Coast and was actually included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO Sites in the year 2000 because of its grand magnificent nature. The closest band around here is Nocturnal Rites who live a little further north from us. We sometimes go and visit them, as we are friends and it's not that far away, only a one hour car ride. That's also the hometown of the band Persuader. The closest band south from here is probably The Storyteller, about four hours car ride from here. They are very good friends to us and we've played many gigs together through the years and will hopefully team up again someday soon."

DESTYNATION - Cold-fired Power From The North! Page 4