V:28 are a really exciting thrash/industrial metal band from Norway. May 24th will see the light of their second album called "SoulSaviour". That album will be relased via American label Vendlus Records. Vendlus Records already accept preorders and IF you're among the first hundred who order the new V:28 CD you'll get a free poster! Click here to see an image of this sexy poster (It's a part of the front cover). In this interview I have chatted with V:28 frontman Kristoffer Oustad and singer Eddie Risdal.

Vendlus Records have set May 24th, 2005 as the release date for the follow-up to your debut album from 2003 called "NonAnthropogenic". "SoulSaviour" is what your second album is called and how would you compare it to the debut?

Kristoffer: It's been two years since the "NonAnthropogenic" album was finished, and I think it's natural that we have learned a lot from all the experience over the last two years. The progression from the "NonAnthropogenic" album to the "SoulSaviour" album reflects this, and we've learned a lot from both rehearsals, the studio experience while recording the "NonAnthropogenic" album and especially live shows. Musically I would say that the new album is much more varied than the first one, but it's still very V:28. This time we've taken a step further in all directions, and I think the industrial elements are in more focus this time. We're still very happy with both albums, but they represent a change in the state of the Earth (the whole concept), so it was obvious that the "SoulSaviour" album would differ from its predecessor.

Before we go further, I think you should give us the basic info about the band. Who started the band, what is your intention and why should people unknown to V:28 check you out in your opinion?

Kristoffer: V:28 was founded by Kristoffer Oustad (guitar and programming) and Eddie Risdal (vocals and guitar) early in 2002. Right after V.28 saw the light of day, we released the first demo called "Time Is Empty", which we got a lot of good response with. In May 2002 we played our debut gig as support for the mighty Enslaved, and that was an important experience for us. As 2002 went by we had made enough tracks to release a full album, so we were looking for the right label to release our debut. While searching for the right label we decided to record the album, and we were lucky enough to get LRZ (known form Red Harvest) to produce it. August 2003 would be our lucky month, first of all we signed for Vendlus Records and we got to play at the Hole In The Sky Metal festival in Bergen, Norway. Later this year we recruited Atle Johansen as a permanent member, and he had done some gigs with us earlier as well.

Kristoffer: Our intention with the band is to make the music we like, have fun and to share our music with other people! I think V:28 represents something that most other bands lacks in the metal scene today. We try to take things to a new level, and our main goal is to be leaders instead of followers. If people take their time to check us out, I'm sure they won't regret it!

V:28 play dark industrial metal and LRZ of industrial metal kings "Red Harvest" has produced both your albums so far. Grutle of Enslaved did some guest vocals on "NonAnthropogenic" and LRZ did some programming stuff on "SoulSaviour". Are there any other guest apperances on "SoulSaviour" and can you tell us more about them if that's the case?

Kristoffer: Yeah, there's some very cool guest appearances on the "SoulSaviour" album as well! "The Brightest Light" was made by Deutsch Nepal (one of the biggest and most important industrial/dark ambient bands). The outro (second part of "Dead Men's Choir") was made by Peter Andersson (known from Raison d'être, another great dark ambient band), and Lars Pedersen (known from the Norwegian cult band When) assisted us one some percussion of the same track. LRZ contributed with some excellent programming on one track, and we got some assistance from Kim Isaksen (Vocalist in now disbanded Norwegian prog metal band Trivial Act) on clean vocals on another one. It's been an honor to work with all of these people, and they have all done a great job!

V:28 is a concept band and "SoulSaviour" is the second album in the trilogy based upon the total deconstruction of Earth. Can you tell us more about this concept? I must confess I'm on thin ice now, but how did you end up with the number 28? I must say it's a very interesting concept though, but I must confess it's a shame that you'll only release 28 songs spread on 3 albums. No chance for a fourth record?

Kristoffer: The concept is a bit complicated, but I can try to explain some of it. Basically it's based upon the state of the world today, and many prophecies about the future. If one looks at the world today you see people strive for perfecting everything. To kill thousands to improve one! We're trying to focus on this madness and what consequences it may give. Control and greed are two other important headwords as well. In the end humanity is only fighting themselves, and they make their own enemies. We try to focus of the mental aspects of the end of the world, and not so much on what's actually happening on the battlefields… That scenario has been described 1000000 times in 1000000 versions, so it's no point for us to repeat it. The number 28 is related to the name the band Eddie and I played in before we founded V:28, called VOID. When we keep some of the essence of that band, so we decided to use the letter V. And we later discovered that if you add the numbers OID have in the alphabet the sum is 28. What happens after the third album is uncertain… I guess you'll just have to wait and see, and meanwhile you should focus on enjoying "SoulSaviour" and "NonAnthropogenic".

Eddie: What's definitely for shure is that the concept is finished with the 3rd album, but as Kristoffer said, things are uncertain. We might continue if the band spirit is good and record sales and general interest for the band increases. It's no secret that playing death metal is a non-profit business, so it's easy to get exhausted of broken agreements, no income, lots of expenses and such. But nothing (in a positive context) beats the feeling you get when going off stage when you know you've done your best!

Which bands would you compare V:28 to and which bands have inspired V:28 during the years?

Kristoffer: Well, it's not easy for me to compare V.28 to any other artists, but I think there are some similarities to bands like Samael, Bolt Thrower, Red Harvest, Emperor, Morbid Angel, My Dying Bride…(And maybe a little bit Slayer? -Eddie) As you may notice those bands are very different from each other, but V.28 shares some of the same elements as these bands. When it comes to inspiration, I think I'm inspired of everything that happens in "my world", but it would be stupid not to say that what I've been listening to through the years has affected me as a musician. I started to listen to Metallica after the "…And Justice For All" album, and that was what introduced me to metal. Later I started to listed to more extreme stuff, such as Sepultura, Morbid Angel, Samael and some Norwegian black metal bands. Still, I've always liked much electronic music, and I think that has affected me a bit. Lately I've been very fascinated by industrial and dark ambient, and that may be reflected in the music as well!

Will you tour Norway/Europe in support of SoulSaviour? I personally would love you to see in Haugesund.

Kristoffer: Hopefully we'll be able to play in most parts of Norway, but it's not always easy to arrange a tour like that. I guess there's not too many venues that want to book a concert on a Monday or Tuesday, so we just have to keep working on it… What we have confirmed so far is one gig in Arendal on May 20th and one in Kristiansand on May 27th. If there are anyone out there that want to book us for a concert don't hesitate to contact us!

Vendlus Records are located in US. How will the distribution process be for "SoulSaviour"?. Will it eventually be easy to find the album in shops or do you have to rely on orders from the net?

Kristoffer: Vendlus Records is currently working on getting a better distribution, and we hope that some distributors in Scandinavia and Europe will be carrying the Vendlus titles soon! Vendlus has a lot of great releases and more to come soon, so I'm sure there's a lot of interest for the music!

How do you look upon Internet, mp3, filesharing and so on?

Kristoffer: I think if the Internet is used right it is a powerful marketing tool. Mp3's are necessary for people to check out music, and at the same time it's a genuine chance for bands to get their music known. However I think that if a person likes the music he's/she's downloaded they should buy the album. I personally don't like to listen to mp3's, and I think it's cool to have the proper release in my hands. Another important thing is that one wants bands to get the chance to make more and release more music it's important that people buy their music! Support hardware!!!

As far as I understand Kristoffer Oustad is V:28's main songwriter, basically his band so to speak. After V:28 is ended, Eddie has his own band - Ancestral Legacy - to concentrate on, but what about Kristoffer? I hope he'll stick around in the metal scene, his talents are needed!

Kristoffer: Thanks for your compliments! I'm not sure what will happen after the third album… Keep your eyes and ears open! Right now V:28 is the only band I play in, and when I'm in a band I'm very focused on that band, so at this time I'm comfortable with just playing in V:28.

Finally, you got anything to reveal about the last V:28 album? Has a title been set yet?

Kristoffer: Hehe! Unfortunately there's no info available, and we haven't started to think too much about it … The future is uncertain, that's the only thing I know at this moment! Currently we're focusing on promoting the "SoulSaviour" album, and trying to get a many gigs as possible!

Thanks for doing this interview with me. The last words are yours!

Eddie: Visit V:28 and check out everything about our new album SoulSaviour, download an MP3 from the album, and buy the album when it hits the streets!

V:28 website. 

[This interview was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]