Интервю със Sebastian Ramstedt – (IN APHELION, NECROPHOBIC)

Interview with Sebastian Ramstedt – (IN APHELION, NECROPHOBIC)

Hello, Sebastian! Thank you for your kindness, your spare time, and the incredible music! I hope all’s well.

MH18: In Aphelion is your own personal project. What prompted you to create it? What is different here compared to what you do in Necrophobic?

Sebastian: It has grown into a band but it started as my own solo project. It was in the beginning of the pandemic that I felt that I needed something to focus on when we could not tour with Necrophobic. We have all our own ways of handling the isolation and I got the feeling that I had a different drive than the others in Necrophobic on how to use the time. So I started to work on ideas that would not really fit within the concept of Necrophobic. I started to write with no bars hold. I just let It flow and had no goal to release this at all. It was quite liberating to write for my self just like I did when I was a teenager. I think for the outside listener it has more similarities to Necrophobic than what I think myself. I use different moods in In Aphelion and different tempos. It is also progressive in a way that Necrophobic never will be. Maybe Necrophobic is for the body what In Aphelion is for the soul?

MH18: Or compared to what you do in any other group with your participation?

Sebastian: It is very different from Nifelheim that I played with for 13 years or so. That band is more old school 80’s black without the atmospheres that the 90’s brought into black metal. But in Nifelheim I never wrote any music. Same with Black Trip and Ordo Inferus. I think In Aphelion is probably the most personal band I have been in.

MH18: What is the optimal guitar setup, with which you have played so far? Tell us a few words about the current one? How do you pick your instruments?

Sebastian: I dive deep down into one brand at the time. I have collected and played Jacksons for a decade or more. And I also played Peavey amps for a very long time. But just recently I took out my old Gibsons from the basement and bought a couple of Marshall amps. The set up with a Gibson and a JMP Marshall with only a boss overdrive is a very unforgiving set up. But if you play well it crushes the high gain and active pickup thing. I always practice guitar and I seem to have grown out the easy way of getting a brutal sound. I think the vintage set up now fits me better. Actually, I get my vintage gear to sound today just like my modern high gain gear made me sound 10 years ago. It’s all in the fingers. With better technique you don’t need all the things that help you cheat.

MH18: A little digression before we go back to In Aphelion. With Ordo Inferus you created an amazing album in 2014. What is the status of the project? Can we expect anything new?

Sebastian: That was a thing I did to help Hempa and Janne because they did not have a lead player in the band. Then shortly after the album Janne for personal reasons kind of left the scene. I think that the band Darkened that Hempa got together probably could be seen as the continuation of Ordo.

MH18: In Necrophobic you have achieved a perfect balance for the last few albums between melody and aggression. Do you think this will be the style of composing for future albums?

Sebastian: That is really a hard question. I think the Necrophobic album comes in pairs. Hrimthursum and Death to all is like part 1 and 2. Same with Mark of the necrogram and Dawn of the damned. I think Dawn of the damned closed a chapter. I could not write Mark of the necrogram part III. Maybe In Aphelion was a sort of a palette cleanser for me. I needed to do something else to not get stuck in a formula. I have not any ideas at all at the moment for a follow up to Dawn of the damned. We need to tour that album first to see what’s on the other side.

MH18: Let’s come back to In Aphelion. I would like to summarize everything in this question – how were you able to create such beauty? But… Is the music you’ve created with In Aphelion a reflection of your feelings and emotions that came to you during the pandemic and the events around it, or was the lack of any meaningful events what gave birth to these riffs?

Sebastian: It’s important to understand that I don’t TRY to create music. It’s not an active choice. I sometimes feel like I am mentally insane and hallucinating the themes becomes the songs. And if I don’t get them out of me it eats me from inside. I get depressed and stop to function. The themes and melodies just come to life for reasons I cannot explain, and they take all my attention until I get them out of me as songs. I can’t stop it. I have been doing this since I was a very small child. Back then I painted but it was the same. Seen from the outside I am probably I quite stable person. I don’t kick and shout so to speak. But inside it is a different story. I guess the music helps me channel everything that is me that I normally do not show. The beauty of In Aphelion is probably that it is not made up. It’s not songs created to form a band or become a rockstar. It is the most honest thing I have ever created, and I think that shows.

MH18: How far from the sun is In Aphelion and from which sun do you wish to get as far as possible with your music?

Sebastian: It’s not a quest to escape the light. It’s a quest to bring light were there is none. In Aphelion reflects me and what I am when I am in solitude. It is what no one get to see, and it is spawned from a place where no one has followed. Of course, I’d rather be close to the sun in eternal happiness. But that does not seem to happen so I will build my temple on the ground I have. And as it seems it is quite far from the sun at most times. I think I have a good life with family and friends etc. it is not that. But it is hard to escape the darkness, so I have made it mine. I try to accept it.

MH18: Was your preliminary project for a Black Metal album or was it the final product that acquired such musical form?

Sebastian: I do not really think of genres when I write. My inspiration comes from all kinds of music but mostly from classic Heavy Metal. I Rarely listen to Black Metal. When I started to write I actually tried to make it not sound like Black Metal, but it was no use. It sounded like I tried too much. When I just let loose the songs became what you hear. I think the essence of black metal is much closer to who I am than the rather happy go lucky party themes of heavy metal. To me black metal is more real. And I am not trying to create something solely for entertainment value. I am trying to be free of the darkness growing inside of me but at the same time be one with it.

MH18: Can it be said that in In Aphelion you present your talents, abilities and skills as a musician or the goal of this project is not to prove yourself and seek fame?

Sebastian: I never seek fame. But I as a person am needed to carry the songs to the listener. I find it a bit irritating that the people need idols to enjoy the music. But I am the same. Take W.A.S.P. for example. One of my favourite bands of all time. Even though Blackie Lawless is a better songwriter today than in the beginning I can’t enjoy it as much as I would if it was the original band still performing. I try to cut loose from that thought. I tried to present In Aphelion faceless, but I soon realized that the audience kind of need something to admire behind the music. I practice every day. Not to be able to show of my skills but to be able to write the music I want. Sometimes a song needs a certain guitarsolo and it is a quite good thing to have the skills to lay it down just like you want yourself.

MH18: What different music project would you participate in outside of what you are doing at the moment?

Sebastian: I would love to be in a good heavy metal band. But there is not time for everything. Actually, one day I’d like to go back to just be in a local band performing a couple of days a week at the local pub. Just because it is fun to play. One of these days I will leave the bigger stages behind and do something totally different. But in one way or another the art that I now create to be In Aphelion will live on. Maybe I will write books or start to paint again. It will be the same but in another form. Life is long but still to short to do the exact same thing over and over again.

MH18: Do you think you’re a celebrity?

Sebastian: To some I am. To me I am the same metalhead I was when I was 12. Where I live no one really knows that I am a musician. I go to work everyday just like a normal person. They know that I play music but they are totally uninterested in what I do. They probably think I am just a family father that needs to rock out with his friends once in a while. But I do not like the hierarchy of fame. I do not wanna be looked upon differently because I am on stage. I am just like most people but with a guitar.

MH18: COVID measures a slowly but surely getting lifted. Would you go on tour to promote In Aphelion?

Sebastian: We have been keeping it still because of this. We do not have any funds yet to promote this on the roads and it would be a great economical risk to take to book gigs with an unknown band during a pandemic. But we will play. We are rehearsing the songs right now and we will be ready when the world is!

MH18: Why should fans hear In Aphelion? This is the place for a personal promotion.

Sebastian: Do we have fans yet? Haha! Well I really hope that people will like the album and that it will bring some of my creation into their lives. I hope that the songs will continue to grow and transform from what I am to what you are. That they will become your personal entity.

MH18: Thank you! I hope to see you somewhere along the road, someday.

Sebastian: Thanks hope to see you too!

IN APHELION‘s highly anticipated debut album, Moribund will be released on 11 of March via EDGED CIRCLE PRODUCTIONS. You can make your pre-order here:

https://edgedcircleproductions.bandcamp.com/album/moribund