Sweden’s David Nilsson is the mastermind behind the epic heavy metal solo project Mace ‘N’ Chain! In only a few years his project went from a couple of songs to a full length record and being picked up by No Remorse Records. We had the pleasure to review the new album ‘Among Ancient Pillars recently and now David has provided THenwothm with this insightful interview!

THE NWOTHM: Mace ’N’ Chain it is good to speak to you! Please introduce us to the band members and where you are all from?

D: Likewise! At the time being this is a solo project only. My name is David Nilsson and I reside in northern Sweden, in a town called Skellefteå. The debut album features several guest solo guitarists though.

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

D: The recent pandemic gave me a chance to give outlet to this urge I’ve had to write some songs more akin to the stuff I grew up on. I am also the vocalist of a death metal band called Feral, and the pandemic caused us to have a forced hiatus of a couple of months, due to some members work situations and a couple of other reasons. My initial plan was only to write a single song and to upload it to my private social media
accounts. This quickly grew into a three track demo, that sold out in little more than a week, and then into a full length album.

THE NWOTHM: How did you come up with the name of the band Mace ‘N’ Chain?

D: I’ve actually used it in the past. Let’s say I were to book a gig in town I would say the show was booked by “Mace’n’Chain Promotion”, or if I threw together a quick promo video I would say it was created by “Mace’n’Chain Media” and so on. It should be fairly obvious to anyone into this kind of music where the name is from, “if you know, you know” so to say. Not that it’s a big secret or anything.

THE NWOTHM: In 2021 you released the demo “Upon the Anvil Formed.” Tell us more about that and how the writing and recording process went?

D: As mentioned above it was something I have wanted to do for a long time. And since I don’t know many others in my area that are into the same stuff as I am I decided to do it myself now that I knew I wouldn’t have much else going one music-wise for a while. I started writing during the holidays of 2020 and I think I had it all done in March 2021, then it took a while to sort out the cover art and logo, also deciding to actually print a physical tape instead of just releasing it online caused it to be released first in September. My goal was to work fast, at least compared to how I usually do, writing and recording about a song per month until I had a full album done. It took me just a couple of days short of a year, so a little slower than I had planned still. I had great fun doing it tough, and learned a lot that I will take with me in the future.

THE NWOTHM: As a band what do you guys like to do when you’re not making music?

D: For a living I work as a flooring contractor, putting in vinyl, linoleum, textile or wooden floor coverings. I enjoy it quite much as it’s both a very physical job, but you still get to do something aesthetic. Otherwise I mostly spend time with my wife and kids. Music is basically my only “real” interest, both playing and listening. Of course I enjoy watching a movie or reading, mainly fantasy or history, but nothing bears collecting records and listening to them. There is nothing I do without also listening to music while doing it. I do think I sometimes become quite unbearable with my incessant talking about music, but that’s me I guess.

THE NWOTHM: You have only been around for a few years! Do you feel like things have progressed really quickly for you and are you are at the point where you want to be?

D: Yeah, as I touched on above things started moving real fast as soon as I announced the first demo. Give or take a couple of days the physical demo was sold out in a week and I was contacted by No Remorse Records within two weeks of the demos release. A short time later I had landed the deal for the debut album. I am very excited to see where things are going from here. There are a lot of killer bands putting out equally
killer records, and I am just happy to be a small part of it.

THE NWOTHM: Please tell us more about your musical background? Did you study music?

D: I studied music in high school. My main instrument was the guitar, but I also played some drums, bass and piano, I wasn’t a very engaged student though and a lot of that stuff has fallen out of my mind by now. Some of the basics are still in there somewhere of course, but when writing I do not think I’m particularly helped by following a bunch of “rules”.

THE NWOTHM: Do you read books and if so would you say they have been an influence on the bands music?

D: Yeah, I try to read often. There were many years where I hardly read at all, but it has come back to me more recently. Tolkien is my unsurpassed favourite by far, and I’ve read several of the books multiple times. Between other fantasy novels I like to throw in some of Robert E Howards stories about Conan, but I still haven’t read them all. They get a bit repetitive when reading them back to back, but are a great change of pace when throwing them in between other readings. I am a big fan of Maurice Druons book series “The Accursed Kings” as well, and am currently finishing up Robert Jordans “Wheel of Time”, which have eluded me for many years up until now.

They have all been influences on me, but I think it got blown a bit out of proportions because I mentioned Tolkien and Jordan in the liner notes of the album. They have for sure influenced me, but “influenced” is not the same thing as “based on”. If you get what I mean. For example, one thing I know for sure I have gotten from Tolkien is my love of alliteration, lyric lines like “with black blades brandished” from the track “Labyrinthian Black” or the album title itself “Among Ancient Pillars”, are things that I can trace back to Tolkien. But there are no songs on the album based upon The Lord of the Rings or anything like that.

THE NWOTHM: Do you each have any big influences when it comes to music? Any bands or artists from past or present?

D: Oh for sure! The “usual guys” should be mentioned, like Manilla Road and Cirith Ungol. But I’d say that the bands that by far have influenced me the most are Virgin Steele and Savatage. Although I tend to focus more on the heavier aspects of their music. As they use a lot of keys and piano parts, which I do not. But both Jon Oliva (Savatage) and David Defeis (Virgin Steele) are some of the best damned song writers I
could think of. Although it wouldn’t be right not to mention some European bands like Blind Guardian and Grave Digger either.

THE NWOTHM: This year you released your debut full length album “Among Ancient Pillars.” How has the reception been so far for the album?

D: Mostly positive for sure! But must say that I have never released anything that has been this divisive before, people seem to either hate it or love it. But I prefer that for sure, nothing would feel less inspiring than releasing something that causes no emotion at all. I appreciate the positive feedback I’ve gotten, and the negative stuff usually comes from people who have never in their life released anything themselves. I’d like to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to the fans, and the rest I am sorry to inform that the next album isn’t that far off from being fully written already 😉

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about some of your favourite tracks from the record?

D: Oh, that is really hard. I have a soft spot for the first track that was written, Upon the Anvil Formed, which closes off the album. It has a nice drive to it and is very much carried by the chorus, it also features two absolutely blistering guitar solos by Jacob Björnfot out of KVAEN. I am also very fond of the track “Fountain of Voices”, which provides some much needed variation on the album. It is very much inspired by
Candlemass and the Tony Martin-era of Black Sabbath and I think I captured a nice, kind of ominous, feel in it.

THE NWOTHM: The album cover has got a lot going on so can you tell us its story and who designed it for you?

D: It was drawn by a friend of mine, Bram Bruyneel, from Belgium. He is insanely talented, and like me he has more of a background in extreme metal. I love the woodcut style of his art, and it works very well with medieval- and fantasy themes. He was very excited to do is himself, as I had not done anything else in this genre before. The art is based on the track “The Key to Ancient Riddles” and features an adventurer
approaching a ruined city where he has sworn to find the answers to an old mystery.

THE NWOTHM: And when it comes to the production, who produced your album and how did you go about making such an important selection?

D: Petter Nilsson handled the mixing and is an old friend and ex-band mate of mine. He works as an audio engineer based in Gothenburg full time, and he also provided the guitar solo for the opening track “Bloodied Talons”. He has produced all of the releases of Feral, and he and I always used to talk about that we should start a band who plays this kind of music that I now do with Mace’n’Chain, back in 2005-2008. That sadly
never happened, but it felt natural that he should be included somehow now.

THE NWOTHM: For the production can you tell fans what instruments you used on the record? Any favourite types of guitar or brands you like to use for instance?

D: I actually used my first guitar that my parents got me back when I was maybe ten or eleven years old. All my other guitars are tuned down so low, because I use them to write death metal, but it also felt like the right guitar to use for this. It was the guitar I owned when I got into metal, and the guitar I should use when I pay homage to that type of metal. It is an old Jackson dinky-model, probably made in Taiwan. But it sadly lost its life recording this album, and has now gone into permanent retirement. I haven’t had the heart to throw it away yet though.

THE NWOTHM: What is next musically for the band?

D: I am currently throwing around some ideas for the next album actually. I have about five rough versions of songs written already, but not recorded. I have learned a lot of this during the recording of “Among Ancient Pillars”, and since its release as well. It’s very early to start to talk about anything like that yet though, but there’s a bit more variation coming and maybe some other changes as well. At the time being I’ll enjoy having this album out and interacting with the fans as much as possible.

THE NWOTHM: When it comes to shows do you have a pre show warm up ritual?

D: Since it is just myself, I do not have any plans for live shows at the moment. And am currently quite happy with the situation.

THE NWOTHM: And if you could share the stage or drink a beer with any band who would it be?

D: Hmm. I think most of the contemporary bands that are around right now seem to consist of real great people. While I’m not planning on sharing any stages at all at the moment, I’d be happy to meet and have a drink with anyone in “the scene” right now. Rarely am I given the opportunity though, living in quite a remote part of the world.

THE NWOTHM: In terms of touring what do you have planned for 2023?

D: None. I’ll enjoy being cooped up in my studio, thank you very much.

THE NWOTHM: Can you guys tell us where you can get your music and merch?

D: For sure! “Among Ancient Pillars” is available mostly everywhere from what I gather, but I’d very much appreciate anyone who’d like to grab it directly from me, either on CD, LP or as a digital download. My bandcamp page also offers some really killer merch design as well: https://macenchain.bandcamp.com/