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Saskatchewan – the city name literally radiates a sensation of eccentricity. It calls to mind the image of the elusive Sasquatch; this prehistoric bipedal primate creature that, if nothing else, continues to be summoned by leisure-time storytellers in their efforts to rattle and shake the perimeters of normality. No wonder this is the idyllic hometown of the Canadian progressive-metal combo Into Eternity, whose critically acclaimed third album “Buried in Oblivion” has left its footprints on record shelves world-wide since its release in February 2004. After having had my meticulously clear-cut stylistic categories scattered about the living room as a result of an insolent attempt to write this skilful five-piece off in a jiffy, I chose to confront vocalist/guitarist Tim Roth to alleviate my growing ‘reviewer’s headache’. Scroll down for a glimpse into the sundry, multicoloured world of Into Eternity.

# Greetings from the chilly regions of Denmark! First of all, could you please introduce yourself and your position in the band?

“I think it’s way colder in Canada, so I feel your pain, ha-ha! My name is Tim Roth. I play guitar and sing clean/death vocals.”

# Into Eternity became a part of the metallic biosphere with an eponymous debut in 2000, and has since conquered fans far and wide outside the Canadian borders. What are your comments on the first full-length effort from a hindsight perspective, and how does the material compare to that on “Buried in Oblivion”?

“That material was good for what is was back then. There are still lots of people who like that album. It doesn’t compare to “Buried in Oblivion”. That is in a whole other league. We were only together for a year, when we recorded “Into Eternity”. Those were the songs we had and we just did it for fun. A loan was taken out, so it was a really tiny budget to work with. It was a good first start though and it did get our foot in the door because it got us signed with DVS Records. Little did I know after doing it that a year later a lot of people in Europe would be listening to the disc. If we knew that, then we would have probably put more time into it. Every band has to start somewhere and some good songs came from that album.”

# “Spiraling into Depression”, “Embraced by Desolation”, “Morose Seclusion”, “Splintered Visions”... Frankly, one could easily get the impression that Into Eternity is one hell of a despondent bunch of musicians after a brief inspection of the song titles on “Buried in Oblivion”. Whatever went wrong with the virtues of a positive outlook? :)

“We’ll save that for other bands, ha-ha! I write lyrics from a personal stance. 2003 was a tough year emotionally. Rob lost his father to cancer and I lost my mother to cancer. There is nothing worse then seeing a loved one waste away in front of you. A lot of the depressive lyrics came from dealing with that and just everyday life problems. I think of music and lyrics as a release. I think some people have had feelings like this. I can’t imagine this band writing about swords and dragons. I think reality is a great tool to be creative with.”

# If you were to single out one track on “Buried in Oblivion” for a favourite, which one would it be and why? Would it be detrimental to the overall ‘texture’ of the album to listen to the tracks separately, or can each and every song stand alone?

“That is a tough one. I think each track is strong on its own. I like each one for different reasons. We don’t write 40 songs for an album and then pick. We write 10 songs and then record 10 songs. Everyone is really picky about each song so it takes up to a month to complete one. It is worth it because the final product is about quality not quantity. If I had to pick one song it would be “Splintered Visions”. The band let me rip up a solo in the beginning of the song and the middle. So for my own selfish needs I would pick that one. It has all the elements of the band.”

# “Buried in Oblivion” is the first full-length effort that features the musical talents of vocalist Chris Krall and guitarist/death vocalist Rob Doherty. What features have these two musicians contributed with to the Into Eternity sound in terms of both composition and actual performance?

“A couple of things actually. It was cool because for the first time I had help with lyrics. Rob wrote a couple and Chris helped out as well. That means less work for me. It’s good to get another person’s perspective as well. It was also the first time we had other death voices in the mix. I did them all on the first two albums, so it really changed our sound. Chris has a great low growl and Rob can do long stretched-out ones that sound almost wind-like. I do all the high death parts. It’s cool to have a songwriting partner in Rob. I think we’ll split the riff writing now in the future.”

# The cover artwork for “Buried in Oblivion” is a first-rate artistic eye catcher created by Mattias Norén (Evergrey, Lost Horizon, Derek Sherinian and others). How does the artwork relate to the title of the album, and what was Norén commissioned to carry out with his artistic brush to accommodate the music on the album?

“Mattias is a genius. He has such an incredible vision and drive. All we had to do was give him the title and the lyrics and then he came up with the cover and total package. We got the chance to meet him when we played in Europe in 2001. He is a real nice guy as well. Hopefully he’ll be involved with all of our records. He’s done all three of them so far.”

Into Eternity




# What is the symbolic story behind that lonesome, majestic crow which appears on the cover artwork of “Buried in Oblivion” as well as the predecessor “Dead Dreaming from 2001”?

“That is Mattias again. The crow signifies death, which works well with the overall theme of the album. There was some debate going into this album about the crow reappearing. It seems to be following us, ha-ha. At the end of the day we trust Mattias and his foresight, so the crow returned again.”

# In relation to the musical and conceptual character of the band, what does the band moniker Into Eternity represent and symbolize?

“We wanted a band name that didn’t block us into a corner to label us. When you hear the band name, you might not guess what the band will sound like and that’s exactly what we achieved.”

# “Buried in Oblivion” is my first ever encounter with Into Eternity despite the fact that the band seems to have a firmly established fan base as well as a wide recognition across national borders. What further professional achievements do you hope to take with this release, and what are your future expectations for the collaboration with Century Media?

“I think we have just started to scratch the surface. We want to achieve as much as we can. It would be the ultimate to move up to small theaters from clubs. I think that would be the ultimate goal. We want to play everywhere in the world. Right now we are trying to get a Japan deal going. It would be great to play for that market as well. Getting on a huge tour opening for another band would be great like Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Dream Theater etc. There are so many things we have to do and so far were off to a good start with this new disc. Century Media seems to be really pushing us, which is perfect!”

# To the best of my expressive talents, Into Eternity can be described as a progressive death/power metal band with a persuasive capacity for groove and heaviness. If forced to narrow the musical substance down to one central focal point, what would be the fundamental essence of Into Eternity?

“I think you just nailed it on the head. Our job as a band is to come up with the best songs that we can. To do that we incorporate all those different styles of metal. I hate to classify us though, that is for the press to do. I think you’re right though... progressive/death metal.”

# Arguably, hybridism is more predominant than ever in metal music these days, and countless of ‘crossbreed constellations’, if you will, are constantly defying stylistic limitations. Have we reached a point in time where rigorous genre conventions have become insufficient, and where cross-stylistic audacity and innovation are essential for the continued existence of metal music (pardon the verbosity)?

“Bands should take chances. I always wondered growing up why bands had to be just progressive metal or just death metal. I think you should do what your heart says. Nobody ever sat me down and told me we can’t combine different styles of metal, so I had always done that since like 1992 or so. Metal music shouldn’t have rules. Some record companies are just worried about marketing a band, so our music poses a challenge to do that. I can understand that. We aren’t going to change though. We have been doing it for too long.”

# What is the musical environment like in Regina, Saskatchewan and are there any regional impulses that have had either a minor or major influence on what Into Eternity is today?

“That is how I explain how we have sort of a different sound. There weren’t a lot of bands coming through our city growing up, so we weren’t really influenced by seeing live bands. It was more watching videos on TV and buying magazines. I think the isolation of Canada actually helped us that way. Actually the weird thing about Canada is that the bands all sound different from each other.”

# Thanks a lot for your patience with the above questions. Once again, I’ve managed to stray off the contextual frame here and there... Feel free to put the finishing remarks to this interview. Cheers!

“Thanks a lot for the interview! Hopefully everyone will check out our new disc Buried In Oblivion. Also go to our website www.intoeternity.com.

“KEEP IT METAL!”

-->> Conducted and written by Misereion.