Air Raid: "We hope you will enjoy the new album"...

2023 has been pretty exciting already as far as new releases go, and Sweden’s Air Raid are set to raise the bar again with their melodic metal extravaganza Fatal Encounter, which is set to come out later in the month. Being the inquisitive chap that I am, I was keen to find out more about the band and the album, so jumped at the chance for a chat about all things Air Raid with vocalist Fredrik Werner and guitarist Andy Johansson…

Congratulations on Fatal Encounter– The neighbours have been enjoying it as much as me ever since Sentinel Daily editor Scott Adams sent it to me for review! Can you tell me a bit about who’s doing what on the album?
FW: “Thank you! You sound like just my type of neighbour! Well, we had some member shifting going on just prior to the recordings of Fatal Encounter. The new guys on the block are Jan Ekberg on bass and William Seidl behind the kit. Both friends of us since way back and both highly skilled instrumentalists. As for the rest of us, we are the same three guys going on strong since our Across The Line-era (2017). That means Andy, who is the founding guitarist of the group along with Magnus (Mild) on second guitar and me on vocals”.

We’ll look more thoroughly at the individual tracks on the album later – But what were your general aims and ambitions for the record when you went in to record – and what artists would you say were influences on the band’s sound this time around?
AJ: “I never looked at song writing in that way, like “let’s go in the direction of this or that artist”. I want it to sound like Air Raid, and the best way to do that for me is to not think in those terms. My only preference is that it should be melodic heavy metal, or according to my perception of heavy metal anyway. But in general, I would say we sort of continued in the same realm as the Demon’s Eye single (2019). It comes natural to write in that heavy, yet melodic way”.

Touring seems to be getting back to some sort of normal, gradually – will you be able to spend much time this year touring the album? And do you think the pandemic-enforced layoff seems to have made fans hungrier for live music or are people feeling their way back into things? And is overseas travel going to be cost prohibitive moving forward for bands like Air Raid moving forward?
FW: “The world is definitely hungry and craving for live music again which of course is fantastic and just what we all want. It also seems that, because of this high demand, the club scene is now very crowded with bands being out on tour. If you add increased ticket prices to the equation to cover up for the expensive travelling, you’ll get a situation where some shows are left unattended and festivals goes down the drain because of bad pre-sales, and that’s a shame. Things will level out soon enough though, but the travel costs is a tough nut to crack, especially for smaller to mid-size bands”.

Give us a brief insight into each of the tracks on the album: Thunderblood is first up AJ: “Heavy riffs and powerful vocals in this one. A song about passion, power and freedom. Simply what heavy metal is all about”.

Lionheart – any thoughts on this track? FW: “A fast paced and epic journey set in the mind of a warrior seeking strength and inner courage on his way to the frontiers. Buckle up for the solos in this one!”

What about In Solitude? FW: “I remember this being one of the first songs we worked on for this album. Basically a song about reaching a point in any kind of relationship where there is nowhere left to go but your own way”.

See The Light – what can you tell us about that song? AJ: “I stumbled across this song from 1989 by the Swedish band Trazy. I thought it sounded great and decided to make a cover version. I also contacted the original members of that band and they got very surprised and excited!”

And rightly so! Tell me about Sinfonia, AJ. “This is definitely the black sheep on the album (laughs). I love Baroque music so I wanted to include it some way. It’s mine and Jan’s arrangement of a little piece by Swedish eighteenth century composer J.H Roman. It was fun to go deep into it and analyse the old music scores et cetera”.

Next up is Edge of A Dream. AJ: “Every now and then I have lucid dreams, which is very interesting. I know I’m dreaming but I don’t wake up fully. So this song simply depicts the strange half-awake state of mind in a lucid dream”.

Edge of A Dream is followed by my own personal favourite track on the album, Let The Kingdom Burn… FW: “This song was one of those lightning in a bottle moments. Rather strange because it’s somewhat complex and out of the ordinary (form-wise speaking). But it pretty much wrote itself and covers the subject of revolution, how rulers come and go and civilisations rise and fall”.

An epic subject for an epic song! What about One By One? FW: “Conquering the world with metal in this pagan adventure set under crimson skies. If you listen closely, you’ll find the album title lurking within the second verse!”

Pegasus Fantasy rounds the album out. AJ: This is a Japanese anime song from the 80s. I was introduced to this song some years ago and liked it straight away. Even though I don’t know anything about anime, I’m very interested in Japanese culture and history. We have quite a fanbase in Japan, so it was fun to do something special for them and it came out really great!

Fatal Encounter is obviously an album rooted in classic styles and feel, yet you’ve managed to keep it from sounding like a nostalgia fest – Was that a difficult trick to pull off, or did you not think too much about things like that whilst recording? FW: “If you know what you are aiming for, I think the main trick is to stay true to yourself and trust your ears in where you want to go and to always be your own worst critic while going there! This goes from songwriting right up to the final stages mixing and mastering. On a more technical level, it’s about keeping it real. We try to stay away from too much triggering of drums and also make sure we get all the takes to the level that there are minimal to no adjustments made artificially. No shortcuts. Also, what you hear is typically what you would get from us live. The instrumentation is based on our band consisting of five guys”.

On a personal level who would you say were your greatest influences as a young musician? And has that inspiration stayed with you as you’ve gotten more experienced, or have your tastes changed with age? AJ: “I had a huge interest in music in general when I was younger. But when speaking of rock/metal, my very first favourite band as a kid was Rainbow, so of course Ritchie Blackmore became my idol. He literally made me want to start practice guitar seriously. I also loved blues guitarists like Johnny Winter and BB King. Then around 1999, I discovered Vinnie Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine et cetera. Those amazing guitarists left a big impression on me. So I would say my early influences were quite varied, everything from blues to rock to classical music and heavy metal. Nowadays I don’t listen to so much guitar based music actually (Except when listening to my own songs while composing for Air Raid of course (laughs)).

FW: In the realm of heavy metal, I remember Hammerfall as being the one band that got me into the genre as a young kid. They really brought the scene back to life here in Sweden in the late nineties. I still enjoy those early records and from there there I quickly went through all the classics and found my self gravitating towards NWoBHM and in particular. I think it had to do with their raw rock n roll spirit. I’ve learned to know that for me, any rock music has to be rooted in the blues, or else I’m out. It’s sometimes hard to put your finger on exactly, but I can definitely feel when something got soul and that’s the dealbreaker for me. I’m very diverse when in comes to music ranging and listen to a wide range of styles. For the moment I’m going through a Peter Gabriel phase!”

Anything else you’d like to tell the readers of Sentinel Daily about the album? Or the band in general? What are the band’s plans for 2023 and beyond? “Aj: We would like to say a big thanks to all old and new Air Raid fans for the huge dedication. We hope you will enjoy the new album! There’s no set plan for 2023, but let’s see what might happen. Skål!”