amaranthe

All Axess Exclusive: Q&A With Amaranthe Vocalist Jake E

2014 has been a huge year for Swedish melodic metallers, Amaranthe. As well as recruiting new screamer, Henrik Englund Wilhelmssone and embarking on successful tours with the likes of Within Temptation, the group has recorded and released their third album, ‘Massive Addictive,’ which has proven to be their most successful to date, after selling nearly 3,400 units and reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseeker’s Chart. Its single, ‘Drop Dead Cynical’ was also added to SiriusXM’s Octane channel.

Despite being released just one year after 2013’s, ‘The Nexus,’ ‘Massive Addictive’ represents an evolution of Amaranthe’s sound. As well featuring the band’s trademark blend of metal and pop, the album features contemporary influences never used before in Amaranthe songs, including breakdowns, dubstep, voice studders and delays.

All Axess recently caught up with Amaranthe vocalist Jake E to discuss the band’s new album and sound as well as to find out their biggest influences and when they plan to return to the states. Check it out below.

You are known for your ability to blend metal and pop. Is your diverse sound reflective of the kind of music you each like listening to?

Absolutely! Our music is a mixture of what we’ve grown up listening to and what we’re listening to at the moment. On the new album we sat down and tried to listen to a lot of new music to find the right vibe as well!

 

Would you say this fusion of genres has made it easier or harder to establish the loyal fanbase you now have?

I don’t know. We’ve had the same style from the beginning and grown our fanbase from there, In that sense I’d say it’s easier with amaranthe because my former bands that focused on just one particular style of music never came close to the fanbase of Amaranthe :-) 

Which bands would you cite as your major influences?

I can just speak for myself, But the reason why I even started to sing was Helloween, Europe and Bon Jovi.  Then song writing wise I’d say that In Flames are one of our biggest influences ( Jesper Stromblad) 

You recently released your third album, ‘Massive Addictive,’ how would you say it differs from your previous offerings?

It differs in many ways, but we made sure to keep the core of what is defined as “the Amaranthe sound” the whole album is a bit more keyboard oriented, but the biggest difference is of course Henke our new growler. He have updated the sound in a lot of ways with his unique way of combining pure death metal growls with more modern slipknot growls. In general I like to say that the sound on the whole album is amaranthe 2.0  

Was writing the album a collaborative effort?

It’s always a collaboration between me Olof and Elize. Olof is the mastermind behind the riffing and keyboards while me and Elize usually focus on vocal melodies and I see the lyrics as my little baby. We all of course contributes on all this stations but this is he generalization of how it usually works.

 

It is also the first album to feature your new screamer, Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson, how is he fitting into the mix?

As I already mentioned, Henrik brought a lot of fresh air in to the camp and I believe that this was what the band needed. We released 2 albums pretty close to each other sounding pretty similar. With Henrik behind the mic we got that unpolished tool that we could shape into what we wanted to achieve. He is a very diverse singer and the cool thing with him is that he can vary his voice in a lot of different ways!

You have always had three vocalists, what made you decide to do this?

It’s probably the question that I have answered most times in our soon six year career, But it all began a long time ago in a land far far away. the mist was thick and…. Jokes aside. We are not good enough, none of us, so we need to be three. 

No. Me and Olof started the band as a project. But one day we invited both Andy and Elize to participate on the same song and when we had the final result we thought it was such a cool thing and we decided to start a band instead. 

Does each vocalist write their own lyrics?

Not really. It’s usually a collaboration between me and Olof but I am usually the one that writes the final words and binding the story together. Me and Olof always work out the core on what the songs are about and Olof usually have one song that he writes most of the lyrics to. 

You are clearly a hard working band, having only released ‘The Nexus’ last year, do you attribute you your work ethic to your success?

Well. I believe that to become something our to reach your goal you have to work hard. The competition in this business are harder then in no other branch and if you start to relax and feel comfortable you can be pretty sure that some other band or artist will take your place.    

Do you plan on releasing future albums in such short intervals?

We have just released an album and I don’t really wanna talk about next album at this point. Right now we are focusing on touring the world on this album and we are really exited to see where it will take us. 

How’s your current tour going

We just finished six weeks in US, JAPAN, CANADA and MEXICO and it was fantastic! It’s always hard to be away that long from your family but hopefully it will bring fruit when we come back again next year! But first we’re heading for Europe and Russia before we will come back to the states again 2015.

 

Is there anything else you would like to add?

We had a blast on the US tour and we really love our fans in there! We cant wait to come back soon and thanks to all our fans for your loving support!! See you soon!