DESTYNATION - Cold-fired Power From The North! Page 4
by Martin Popoff

Delving into the varied origins of the songs on Rising Up, Ronny explains that "Shadowgate and Signs for example are both from the Shadowgate EP. We believed in those songs, enough to give them another try. We also knew we could do them better now than the old versions and they only received a minor facelift. Freedom is actually a rewritten song dated back to '99 I think, though it was named differently and had a completely different approach and you can hardly recognize it, I assure you. We knew it had potential and it was just a matter of time. The Shadows Remain was a difficult song to complete. At first we couldn't get it together; the verse and chorus didn't match at all. It was like two, three different songs in one and we tried different solutions but we never got it right until the recording of Rising Up began. Then we tried one final change with new chords, new melodies and a very different style, and there it was. The songs Back From The Dark, Spirits and Evil Tonight are examples of completely new songs which were written only for this album. I think the strangest track on here would be The Tears I Cry. Yeah, the lyrics are really far-out, all seen through the eyes of a person who suffers from very severe delusions and doesn't quite recognize the world he's in. Me and Daniel wrote the lyrics on a dark and stormy winter night - I think that's a big reason why it turned out the way it did (laughs)."

I'd say my favourite is Evil Tonight because of its heavy power sing-along chorus... it's definitely a very cool song, with a touch of the progressive - I never get tired hearing it. Back From The Dark is also cool because I think it's got that old Nocturnal Rites style which I like a lot, some cool riffing and a chorus which makes you happy and also some fast speed picking on the solo parts, which I'm actually satisfied with."

The Rising Up songs are delivered with a very icy, chilly production sound, especially down into the drums, which attack near Pantera-esque levels, specifically at the bass drum. As regards production, Ronny - also the producer of the album - opines, "I like very much the Dream Evil sound, and also the new Nocturnal Rites sound. I wanted to give the production a little touch of everything, not too much rhythm guitars because I find that irritating on an album. It should be a perfect balance of guitars, bass drums, with the string section floating on top of everything. Then the vocals, clean with nice melodies yet hard soul-piercing power in the voice. I think we managed all that. Anyway I'm very satisfied with the whole production, and I also knew that all band members would do their best so there wasn't any doubt in any of our instrumental performances."

DESTYNATION - Cold-fired Power From The North! Page 5