We don’t have a template when writing songs

Days of Jupiter is a hard rock/ heavy metal band from the city Örnsköldsvik located north of the arctic circle in Sweden. The band consists of Janne Hilli (vocals), Jörgen Hellström  (guitars), Marcus Lindman (guitars), Janne Karlsson (bass), Magnus Larsson (drums). Days of Jupiter was formed in 2010 and has released 2 records so far; Secrets Brought to Life (2012) and Only Ashes remain (2015).

Drawing their influences from both modern American metal and European hard rock, they might sound a lot like other modern European hard rock bands. With that been said Days of Jupiter simply does it to perfection with their upcoming album New Awakening that will be released on April 28th.
With very powerful vocals, perfect guitar solos, slaying bass and very solid drumming techniques… they simply do it better than most.

Track list of New Awakening:

1.    We Will Never Die
2.    I am Stone
3.    My Tragedy, My Curse
4.    Wasted Years
5.    Erase
6.    Awakening
7.    If I Were God
8.    Insane
9.    Give In to me
10.  Favorite Waste
11.  Inglorious

The album can be pre-ordered through EMP: http://m.emp-shop.se/art_352989/#
 
I’ve had the privilege of listening to this record before it is released and ask Magnus Larsson, drummer of Days of Jupiter a few questions…

First off congratulations with your new album. I must say I’m quite impressed with how much you guys have grown since Only Ashes Remain (2015) – which was also a great album. Well done!

Thanks! Yeah, it feels like we have found our sound now, 3 albums in our career.

Imagine I haven’t heard of Days of Jupiter ever, how would you describe your band?

Like a good hybrid between classic hard rock from scandinavia/europe mixed with modern metal/post-grunge from the US. We don’t have a template when writing songs, they just happen to end out as they do. We write music that we like and in general I think it’s pretty hard to categorize our music. we leave it up to the listeners.

What can you tell us about Örnsköldsvik and the scene there? Give us a picture of how it is to be a rock band in a small city far north of the Arctic Circle. Is it hard to get good gigs without having to go on longer trips?

Örnsköldsvik is a calm and quiet city located around 550 kilometers north of Stockholm, and it´s most known in Sweden for the ice-hockey team MODO and that we have a lot of well known hockey players from our town including Peter Forsberg, the Sedin twins and Markus Näslund. There is a rich music life with many bands and international music-schools here but  there are not that many opportunities to play live. Most of the good venues and festivals are located in the south of sweden so a tour van comes in handy!

Your 3rd album will be out on April 28th, how would you describe it to the readers of Metal On Loud?

We are very proud of the new album as we have worked on it for a long time and put our mind and hearts into it. It´s consistent with well-written songs both musically and lyrically and with a great production.

It’s quite apparent that you’ve drawn influences from both sides of the big pond. Which bands would you say influenced you the most when it comes to The Awakening? Are there any specific releases from 2015 and 2016 that caught your attention and inspired you?

We listen to a lot of music of course, and some of us like American bands like Disturbed, Shinedown and Alter Bridge and some of my bandmates like bands like Eclipse, or other typical hard rock bands.

What is the album about lyrically and how does the album title fit in? Where did you get inspiration for the lyrics? Who wrote the lyrics?

The lyrics are mainly written by singer Janne and his brother Robert and they are about everyday life and shit that are happening all around us. We don’t write fantasy, horror or fiction, we tend to write about stuff that people can relate to. Awakening is about that we must wake up and pay attention to the world before it’s too late.

I love the album Only Ashes Remain! But it’s quite apparent that you’ve learned a lot and everything sounds super tight on New Awakening. What can you tell us about the writing and recording processes of New Awakening compared to Only Ashes Remain?

For New Awakening we had written a lot of songs and we actually had to choose the songs that would end up on the album. Some good songs were left behind… but that was just fine as we could choose ourselves the direction of the album. We were more thorough and we were more prepared when we hit the studio. We recorded the album at Leon Music Studios in Karlstad, Sweden with producers Rikard Löfgren and Gustav Ydenius. It was the first time we used that studio and we are super happy about the result, as they did an awesome job bringing our new album to life.

Which songs off of New Awakening are band favorites and which do you suspect will be fan favorites?

I really like “I am Stone”, “Wasted Years”, “We Will Never Die”… the list could go on. “Insane” could be a nice song in the set-list as it is a bit up-tempo and has a party feel to it!

You’ve got two singles already off of New Awakening, first one was “The Awakening” was released in December 2016 and the next one “We Will Never Die” came out on April 7th. Why these two songs?

“Awakening” was the choice of the label (Ed. Metalville Records), as we all were thinking that Days Of Jupiter hadn’t released anything in awhile (since april 2015) and it was time for us to return with a bang. “Awakening” has a lot of attitude in it and we thought that it  would be a perfect first single. “We Will Never Die” is a strong songs with a great chorus and we think people in general will appreciate this song. Also the child choir makes it stand out a bit.
 
Where is the best place to get New Awakening when it drops in case someone doesn’t wish to pre-order?

The album should be available from most record-stores online as well as on every digital platform.

Do you use any guest stars on New Awakening? If you could pick any guest star for your next album, who would you pick and why?

We got my two sons and producer Rikard’s two daughters on “We Will Never Die” as the child-choir! That is pretty cool if you ask me. At this point we haven’t discussed any guest musicians at all, but you’ll never know…

What are your plans from here? Will we be seeing Days of Jupiter on any festivals or tours this summer?

We are currently looking into that and would love to go on tour, as for now we are heading down to Germany for some gigs in July/ August.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it! Do you have any other things you’d like to tell the readers of Metal On Loud?

Thank YOU for spreading the word out for us!! Happy to make music and thankful for every one who likes it! Cheers!

See also: “Broken Halo” and “Last One Alive” off of their album Only ashes remain” (2015)