Metal Wani’s Chuck Marshall took a few minutes to talk with founding member and guitarist Patrik Jensen (also a founding member of The Haunted) about the new album and future plans for the band.
The new album ‘I Am Legion’ received rave reviews from Metal Wani and we had read that the band had a goal to release this album within one year of releasing their equally fantastic 20th anniversary album entitled ‘In His Infernal Majesty’s Service’. We asked Jensen why the band set that specific goal. He relayed that the main goal was to signal to promoters that Witchery is more than a side-project and that they are seriously ready to share their music around the world. Given the long periods between prior albums, the band sought to get another album out quickly to drive interest in getting the band on the road.
We also talked with Jensen about the production on the new ‘I Am Legion’ album. The stripped down and raw sound of the band was in response to what Jensen calls “metal fatigue” where many bands have so much production and processing that things begin to sound the same. Witchery’s goal was to achieve a sound that captured the bands live and fierce sound. In some respects, to capture that vital energy as had been done in the past with bands like Motorhead.
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Our conversation dug down into some of the songs on ‘I Am Legion’ such as “Welcome, Night”. Jensen revealed that instead of the riff dictating the song, this one started with lyrics and vocals. This led to a song that isn’t standard thrash. The result is a chilling tale with great tension. We asked about the origins of the lyrics which do hint at Jack the Ripper with the dates changed to allow the band to roam without being confined to that subject. As it turns out, the date of 1855 which is sited in the lyrics does have an interesting tie to a devilish event in UK history.
Finally, we chatted a bit about upcoming tour plans which have Witchery booked for 70,000 Tons of Metal at the beginning of 2018 and then some festivals in Europe to be announced. There are no plans currently for the United States, but Jensen mentioned that the band would love to tour their as well. Hint, hint any promoters who are reading, we need Witchery here in the states!!
