Halylis chat about their new album Cerulean
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF FOR US WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
We are Halysis from Finland, and we play modern metal music! We started (officially) doing music around 2015, and we just released our first album ‘’Cerulean’’ this May.
Our band consists of guitarist Santeri Salminen (that’s me!), drummer (and also the vocalist on the album) Samuel Arola, second guitarist Jose Pynnönen (solo guitarist) and our bassist Santeri Haikonen.
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE?
Our album Cerulean was a long process. We started writing it around 2015 and recorded in 2018-2019. It’s a home recorded and self-produced album, we even did the mix ourselves. Master was made by Jamie King!
Soundwise its a modern metalcore album with noticeable influences from death metal and progressive metal music. Every song is a bit different from the other.
WHAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM OR SINGLE?
Every song has its own distinct influences. For example; Frailty is heavily influenced by technical death metal (bands like The Faceless), whilst Luminous is straightforward modern metalcore.
Cerulean is a concept album, that tells a story of a man trying to find his place in the world. The story is pretty philosophical, and that’s what we were aiming for all along.
CAN YOU SUM UP THE ALBUM IN A FEW WORDS?
Technical but also catchy!
WHAT RECORD CHANGED YOUR LIFE AND WHY?
It has to be Metallica – Master of Puppets. That’s the album inspired me to learn an instrument after all. I’ve always been into music, but hearing the song ‘’Orion’’ on that album did something special to me.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO FILMED BY YOUR BAND OR ANOTHER ARTIST?
I’ve never been a huge fan of music videos, I mostly just listen to the music. That was until I saw Behemoth – Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel – music video. Like man, Behemoths music videos are better than most movies that come out of Hollywood nowadays! They have this eerie vibe to them that I really like.
WHAT WOULD WE FIND YOU DOING WHEN YOU'RE NOT MAKING MUSIC?
Playing video games or watching movies. If you guessed either one of those you would be right 99% of the time. We draw a lot of influences from those too. When you see a really good movie, you just get this ‘’feeling’’ you gotta write into a song.
DO YOU GET NERVOUS PERFORMING LIVE, IF SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT?
Yeah, I do get nervous, I envy those that don’t. I think the best way to deal it with would be ‘’over-practicing’’. When you can play your songs while sleeping, why would you be nervous playing them on stage?
HOW DID YOU FORM THE BAND?
Halysis began as a cover band in early 2010s. Our guys used to jam songs from bands like Trivium, As I Lay Dying and Pantera. I personally joined the band in 2015, that’s when we started doing things more seriously I think.
HOW DO YOU WRITE? - DO YOU HAVE A KEY SONGWRITER, OR DO YOU ALL WORK TOGETHER?
Our songs mostly begin in front of the computer. Jose or I get an idea for a song, maybe just a couple riffs that we put into Guitar Pro. Then we swap it around, adding our own flavors into it and slowly building it. After we find it tolerable, we try playing it at a rehearsal. That’s where we get the small things corrected.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
I try to get inspired by everything. If you only use one inspiring factor you just get dull results in my opinion. Keep your ears open and your eyes wide!
WHAT IS NEXT?
We have a few major announcements coming in the near future, stay tuned to find out!
PLEASE TELL US ANY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS SO WE CAN SHARE.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Halysisband/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/halysisofficial
Bandcamp: https://halysis.bandcamp.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAa-YFhE75DQxr4kOiAdnUg