Palantir: The Monsters, Madness and Magic Interview
Power metal has the ability to conjure forth strong emotions from lands and times that are long lost. An alchemical blend of a subgenre that, when crafted carefully, can call upon tracks swarming with staggering symphonies, flowing with fantastical yet furious guitar riffs and galloping rhythms, capped off with soaring vocals.
On September 29th, 2017, a modern gold standard of the spell of symphonic metal was released via Stormspell Records. Palantir’s Lost Between Dimensions takes the arcane elements previously mentioned and produces a perfect representation and, dare I say, reconstruction of the genre. With songs that will send the listener sailing to the shores of Valhalla to the dark void of deep space, Palantir’s blending of sci-fi and fantasy elements is second to none.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Palantir vocalist Marcus Olkerud on the origins of the band, their creative inspiration, and their upcoming participation in the Wacken Metal Battle.
J.R: Palantir released their first full-length album Lost Between Dimensions in 2017 via Stormspell Records. From your formation in 2012 to landing with a label, can you speak a bit about your journey from inception to selection in this year's Wacken Metal Battle?
Marcus: We actually formed sometime around 2010, that’s when I joined. 2012 is where we played our very first gig together as a support act to our friends in Shadows Past. It was in a small basement in Stockholm, the stage was so small that Joel, our keyboard player at the time, had to stand on the floor beside the stage. It was a successful show considering the circumstances and I think you can still find some of the clips online. We played some more shows and then we decided that it was time to record our debut album. We already had a lot of material at that point. So much so that not all of the songs made it on the debut album (but don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about them)! Anyway, this decision was made somewhere around 2015 - 2016 and by this time we also started having some line-up issues. Some of the guys decided to leave the band, but there was no real drama, we parted as friends. Left was me, Fredrik and Emanuel.
Since we were only three guys who were pretty low on cash we decided to do everything ourselves. Easier said than done, but we did it and it only took us a year, haha! We also did everything song by song in order starting with the first one (To Valhalla). And because of this you can actually hear me getting older since the recording of To Valhalla is one year apart from the recording of the title track Lost Between Dimensions! I also came in contact with this guy, Cederick, during this time and he told us he wanted to mix the album so we let him and he did a great job! He was also the guy who hooked us up with Stormspell Records and they were happy to have us (we’d already done all the hard work!). The album released late 2017 and got great reviews and we started to audition for new members. And here we are today! We finally have a complete line-up again with the addition of Calle, Johannes and Cederick (yeah, the mix-guy and multi-instrumentalist from Rocka Rollas, Blazon Stone etc.) on guitars, keyboard and bass respectively.
This whole Wacken Metal Battle thing came out of the blue, because none of us remembers signing up for it, but apparently we did and the judges liked us so we will now compete for a short gig at Wacken this summer. We’ll see how it goes.
J.R.: Lost Between Dimensions touches on many sci-fi, fantasy, and inspirational themes, making it an apt name for the album. Your name is, correct me if I'm wrong, derived from Tolkien and the topics of your songs travel from the halls of Valhalla to the front-lines of the H.G Wells' War of the Worlds. How much of your creative inspiration comes from literature and lore of the past?
Marcus: The name Palantír is indeed borrowed from Tolkien and it means “far-seeing” in Quenya (one of the languages spoken by the elves), and for some reason we still don’t have a single Tolkien inspired song! Blind Guardian does it better anyway, haha.
And yes, we’re all nerds in one way or another, so a lot of our lyrics are inspired by literature, movies, myths and even video games. War of the Worlds is very on-the-nose, but we do have some subtler (in my opinion) references such as Warriors of the Sun (Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”) and Tragicomedy (based on a monologue from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” that begins with the phrase “All the world’s a stage”). And there are tons of references in the title track both to movies (The Thirteenth Floor (1999)), science (simulation theory) and philosophy (Plato’s allegory of the cave). All the different tastes, interests and beliefs held by the members of Palantír makes for a very interesting blend.
J.R.: The title track Lost Between Dimensions itself is a potent power metal epic clocking in at just over ten minutes. This is a song that personally took me on on spiraling staircase of synchronicity and simulation theory. These are subjects we discuss often on Monsters, Madness and Magic. I'm curious to where Palantir stands on this subject? Are we truly Lost Between Dimensions?
Marcus: I can’t really speak for the entire band since we all have quite different worldviews and beliefs, as previously mentioned. I can however speak for myself (I wrote the lyrics after all) and I personally don’t know where I stand on the subject, much like the main character of the song. I enjoy asking questions but I sadly don’t have the answers. I do think that simulation theory has a lot going for it but so far it’s been quite hard to empirically test. The concept of a multiverse is also intriguing but again very hard to prove. I love reading and contemplating about these things. We’re most definitely lost, but then again, does it really matter?
I think the main reason for why the song resonates so much with people is because it’s not really about the answers at all. It’s about these universal questions; “where are we?”, “why are we?” and “what comes next?”. Everyone, regardless of status or culture, have asked these questions. We’re all united in anxiety and existential dread, haha!
J.R.: Palantir lists bands such as Gamma Ray, Falconer, and Iron Maiden among their musical inspirations. I'm curious as to what albums you would point to from these bands specifically as the most influential on your own work?
Our list of influences is long and ever-expanding. These three are examples of some of the bands that all of us like though and if I were to pick one album for each of these bands they would probably be (and I’m sure my band-mates would disagree):
Majesty, Gamma Ray
Among Beggars And Thieves, Falconer
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (Somewhere in Time as a close second), Iron Maiden
There are also a few bands that I would like to add as honorable mentions here since they inspire us greatly and more people should know about them.
Any album you pick up from these bands is pure gold. You’re welcome. Oh, and the guys would probably punch me if I didn’t mention Galneryus, they’re ok too, haha.
J.R.: In 2018, Palantir released the single "Hope Has A Place" and as mentioned previously, you guys are participating in the Wacken Metal Battle in Sweden on Saturday, March 21st. With this stirring from the impending icons of inter-dimensional symphonic power metal, can fans expect new material soon?
Marcus: “Hope Has A Place” is originally a song made by Enya, and me and Frederik being fans of hers have jokingly been saying that we should cover one of her songs for years, and then we just went an did it! Because why not?
We are currently working on a new album and we’ve come pretty far with the material. We can’t really promise anything but if all goes according to plan, we’ll release it sometime this year! We’re posting (somewhat) regular updates to our Facebook page, so keep an eye out and hopefully, we’ll see you soon! Keep chasing the dream!
Palantir on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/palantirsweden/
Palantir on Bandcamp: https://palantirsweden.bandcamp.com/releases
