COLDWORKER
Track by Track
By: COLDWORKER
The Track-by-Track series effectively removes the media, the middleman and the message boards, opening a direct line of communication between the artist and the audience. In this second installment the members of Swedish death metal upstarts COLDWORKER take turns discussing the meaning, method and madness of each of the 14 tracks they recorded for their debut album on Relapse The Contaminated Void.
1. THE INTERLOPER
Andre Alvinzi (guitar): “So what inspired me to write this song? A drum track. I had
programmed a drum track and had no riffs, so I came up with the riffs afterwards. That’s something I like doing when I’m having trouble coming up with riffs. For me it just feels more natural to jam to a beat than just sitting with an amp and trying to “compose”. It’s a very energetic song. After the intro riff (verse) there is a break, followed by a really
hysterical 2-beat riff. The chorus has a nice, groovy feel to it. We decided to put this song as track no. 1 on the record, and I think fits really nice as an opening track.”
2. D.E.A.D
Anders Baerilsson (guitar): “D.E.A.D” features the most technical stuff I’ve ever done. I normally don’t write very technical riffs, but I think this song turned out really fun to play, since it’s quite challenging (very much due to the fact that the song is rather fast). I came up with the verse and chorus riffs, and Anders J and André had one riff each that fit this song like a glove. This is one of the two songs on the album that I wrote the lyrics to (this time dealing with something I feel a strong disliking for; organized religion), and I think that they turned out great. I struggled with them up to the point that I almost started to hate my riffs, listening to them over and over trying to get a nice lyrical flow. However, when the song was finished, I was really pleased, and Joel truly brings the lyrics to life. As a finishing touch, André plays a killer solo on this track, amazing really!”
3. AN UNFORGIVING SEASON
Joel Fornbrant (vocals): “One of two very metaphor-heavy lyrics I wrote for the album. Of my four lyrics, this is probably my favorite one. Partly because it was the first work I ever did, song writing-wise, for Coldworker, but also because the lyrics for this one are quite personal to me. I have to admit that I was very nervous letting the other guys read them, as I had just joined the band, and wasn’t at all sure what kind of lyrics they wanted me to write. Luckily for me, they gave their approval. The vocal patterns for the verses were originally somewhat different, but I had to simplify them a little, as they turned out to be very hard to pull off once I started rehearsing them. Musically, I know that there were some problems settling for a version of the verse riff, but other than that I think the song has been pretty much the same since I joined Coldworker. All in all, this song feels really special to me.”
4. THE CONTAMINATED VOID
Anders Jakobson (drums): “This was the seventh song we wrote and by that time I’ve seen the quality of my fellow Coldworkers and decided to write some more complex stuff. The intro might sound easy, but it is slightly tricky to play and I think all of the others have struggled with it at some point or another. I believe that music benefits from the challenge of playing something that is on the verge of what you can handle, technically and musically. The rest of the track has a nice groovy feeling and quite aggressive vocal patterns that pushes it forward. When we had recorded our first multi-track rehearsal and listened to our songs in a more objective way I remember feeling that this one was a killer track, and it’s very fun to play too!”
5. DEATH SMILES AT ME
Oskar Palsson (bass): “This was the forth song we wrote on like our third rehearsal, still as a three-piece. We later rewrote it when André and Joel had joined the band and it turned out a lot better. The intro-riff was something I came up with one morning still snoozing before I had to go up and get to work. Lyric-wise this was the first song I wrote on the album. From the beginning it was supposed to be a lyric for “Antidote”, but the vocal patterns I wrote fit this song a lot better. I rewrote it a couple of times, and would probably
have done it a few more times if it wasn’t for the lack of time before the recording. We had some trouble finding a suitable title.”
6. A CUSTOM-MADE HELL
Palsson: “When André joined us as a second guitarist we soon realized that nothing would be like before. He always has like 10 new complete songs. I don’t understand where he gets it all from. So after he brought us the most of “Heart Shaped Violence” he showed us this song. The slow/heavy riff after the first chorus is one of André’s ‘jamming between two songs on a rehearsal just making up a new riff’-riff. A really cool, heavy/slow riff which he came up with on the spot. The lyric deals with overprotecting parents, keeping their children from the outside world: They’re refusing to show, but I am dying to see. This is a custom-made hell, constructed only for me. I came up with lyrics for the slow part first, and then wrote around it. Joel really helped me out with the vocal patterns. There is an instrumental rehearsal video of this song available at our website.”
7. RETURN TO ASHES
Jakobson: “This song came to me after really enjoying the instrumental “Infinite Misery” on the latest Cannibal Corpse album. It felt right to write an all heavy song to bring some dynamics to the album. If I remember correctly the first riff came to me as I was going home from work and I went straight to the guitar and played the riff once I’d opened the door. The rest of the song came pretty easily and André had one heavy riff left over that we tossed in as well. I remember feeling very proud and happy once we played this death waltz during the first rehearsals - of all the 200 something songs I’ve written in my life this one really stands out. I love it!”
8. STRAIN AT THE LEASH
Palsson: “Once again a song by André, track 11 in the making of the album. This one was considered to be the opener for the album, at least until André came up with “The Interloper” a few weeks later. This one came together really quick, we only rearranged a couple of small parts due to André’s original idea for the song. The lyric is one of three ‘Anti-organized religion’ lyrics on the album. Anders J, Anders B and I wrote one each basically at the same time, without knowing that someone else wrote about the same subject. I guess that shows that we sort of share the same lyrical vision.”
9. FLAMMABLE
Fornbrant: “The music for this one was written before I joined the band, and it was one of the first Coldworker songs I ever heard. The chorus and the slower part, I think, were originally even shorter than they are on the album, but after some discussion it was decided that the song needed to be longer to fit better with the other ones. The lyrical inspiration came from the music itself, as I thought it had a very ‘explosive” quality’. So it seemed fitting that the lyrics should be, at least superficially, about fire and things burning up.”
10. ANTIDOTE
Baerilsson: “The intro and verse riffs for “Antidote” were the very first I had when we started Coldworker. They had been lying around for quite some time, originally meant for a grindcore project a couple of friends and I had together. I must say that I think they turned out awesome, exactly as chaotic as I wanted them to sound. Anders J had an excellent chorus riff to go with my four riffs. I’m very pleased with the musical aspect of this song. The lyrics to “Antidote” are the second of my two lyrics for the album, and they deal with the suffering caused by sadistic human beings.”
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