THE NWOTHM: For those who do not know who you are, can you tell us your band name, who is in the band and where you are from?

Smoulder: Hey! We’re Smoulder. We’re an epic heavy metal band with members from Finland, Canada and the USA. 

THE NWOTHM: How did the band form and is there any interesting story surrounding its formation?

Smoulder: We formed in 2013 in Canada as a two piece featuring Vincent on vocals and guitar, alongside Sarah on drums. Ten years later, Vincent and Collin are on guitars, Adam is on bass, Kevin is on drums, and Sarah is our vocalist. Adam is in Canada, Kevin and Collin are in the USA, and Vincent and Sarah are in Finland. We love being in a band together and are very close friends, so International distances work for us. When one of the members is unable to play a gig, we recruit local people to play with us. Thus far we’ve been very lucky to borrow members from bands like Midnight Dice/Fer de Lance,  Possessed Steel, Ranger, Emissary, and more. We tend to think of ourselves more like a collective and frequently prioritize helping other bands out and sharing other bands, and in turn, folks have been generous with us as well. The “scene” is competitive, it doesn’t need to be. 

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us more about the Finnish Nwothm scene and how Smoulder have become one of the stand out nwothm bands from that part of the world?

Smoulder: The Finnish scene is pretty cool, although I wouldn’t argue there’s a very big scene for that genre you mention here (it’s much bigger in Germany!) We do, however, really, really like Iron Griffin. Otherwise, there’s lots of “traditional heavy metal” under that wider genre umbrella for sure, but more of the speed metal variety. We’re big fans of bands like Ranger, Chevalier and Rapid, all of whom play blistering speed metal.

THE NWOTHM: Since the bands formation what big milestones have you achieved?

Smoulder: Quite a few! So much has happened since we formed that it’s overwhelming. We’re are thrilled to have played only eight shows, but have played in five countries. We are currently on the fifth press of our debut album ‘Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring’ (2019). We’re also happy to have a second press of our EP ‘Dream Quest Ends’ (2020). Back in August of 2022, we headlined the Horns Up Festival in Greece, which was a blast. Felt really good to be able to return there after the Covid-19 related stuff that cancelled our first tour before the first date back in 2020. That was pretty special. The Horns Up Crew treated us like royalty with amazing food and trips, and we got to see the ancient Eastern Orthodox monasteries in the Meteora rock formations, although we were dressed too “immodestly” to go inside. HA! 

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about your past releases and any background information to the music? Any songs that stand close to your hearts?

Smoulder: There is a story behind everything and we care about all of our songs! We pay a lot of attention to detail and it’s a priority that our music, lyrics and image is narratively cohesive. 

THE NWOTHM: Where do you get inspiration for the lyrical themes that runs through Smoulders music?

Smoulder: From a variety of sources: life, literature, myth, history, films, music, art. The biggest inspirations are anything that have an appearance of high fantasy but are, in reality, low brow sword and sorcery. That type of inspiration is pliable and easy to infuse with frequent double meanings. 

THE NWOTHM: The artwork for your releases is pretty impressive. How did you choose the artist and where did the visual theme for Smoulder come about?

Smoulder: We agree, and think Michael Whelan is among the most skilled and famous fantasy painters in the world, in the same realm as Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo. His pieces have been commissioned for bands like Cirith Ungol, Sepultura and Demolition Hammer, which is lofty company we aim to be part of. Sarah saw the first album cover in a compendium of his art back in 2018, and immediately knew it had to be the album cover. Dozens of emails later, he agreed to license the piece to us. It was originally created for the fantasy novel ‘The Well of Shiuan’ by C.J. Cherryh (1987), which is a series about a warrior obsessed with her mission. For ‘Dream Quest Ends’, we used the artwork Whelan made for ‘Lore of the Witch World’, a fantasy book that compiles Witch World stories by writer Andre Norton. It’s pretty cool, as the introduction for her book is by C. J. Cherryh, and that artwork on her book perfectly encapsulates the song “Dream Quest Ends”. We choose that artwork together before the lyrics were done, and it helped tie those lyrics together into a quest. The second album will also feature artwork by Whelan, and we are very excited to share more information about that soon. 

THE NWOTHM: What shows have you got coming up for 2023? Any major performances you would like to highlight?

Smoulder: We’ll be playing in the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Germany, and many other countries. We are particularly excited for the shows up next: we’ll be playing at Heavy Metal Thunder Fest Vol. III in the Czech Republic with our friends and bandmates in Ranger. That festival also features Attic, High Spirits, Stallion, Acid Blade, High Spirits, and more on March 10 and March 11. After that, we’ll be playing Helicon Metal Festival in Warsaw, Poland on March 23 with Atlantean Kodex, Venator, Evangelist, Mayhayron and Shadow Warrior. 

THE NWOTHM: It seems you are working on new music as hinted by social media! Can you tell us more about what you have in the pipeline? What can fans expect from album two?

Smoulder: We’ll be announcing more details soon, but we’re absolutely thrilled with the results. Everyone in the band flew to Finland to record together in a studio, and we took about eight days and went in extremely prepared. Having a classic whole-band recording experience in a professional studio was a dream that Sarah desperately wanted realized, and the album speaks for itself. It’s extremely tight, heavy, and consistent. Everyone in the band agrees that it’s stronger than the debut, which of course, bands say…. But who cares. We make this music for ourselves, and we think we nailed it. Also, it was the longest we’ve ever been together given our distance and Covid, so it was extremely special to all of us. 

THE NWOTHM: Where can people check you out on social media and buy your music/merch?

Smoulder: Please head to smoulder.bandcamp.com to buy our music and merch! You can also check us out on the internet at facebook.com/smoulderdoom and instagram.com/smoulder_doom 

THE NWOTHM: is there anything else you would like to mention?

Smoulder: Thanks for the interview.