TRIBULATION INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST JONATHAN HULTÉN BY CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON
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“We haven’t completely changed our sound, really,” notes guitarist Jonathan Hultén. “We’re still the same people who’ve created all this music, and a lot of the elements are still present that were there from the beginning. The horror and gothic atmosphere has always been our inspiration. It’s just fantasized in a different way now. It’s another side of the coin, you know?” The most prominent sentiment running through Tribulation’s albums is the distinct darkness therein; it’s in this precise dimension where the band feels a complete freedom of approach. The chance to look at things differently, see the shapes change, and mold dark forms. Death metal bands are certainly not always dark in nature, and this is an important distinction to consider, particularly when jumping to conclusions about a band’s evolution and intent.
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“The Children of the Night is a more dynamic record than past efforts; there’s more space throughout it, more room for things to be going on,” Hultén notes. “Whereas on The Horror, a straight-up death metal sound was the intent. You know, I don’t label us as a death metal band per se, and I remember I didn’t ever think of the band as simply a death metal band. We were certainly influenced by the old-school death metal stuff, but we were really just creating music in the form of the genre, rather than actually being in the genre.” There’s a huge difference between these two states. The ability to see one’s art outside of one’s self, to be able to clearly understand the context of how things are viewed, and to navigate creatively based on the strength of one’s own convictions is a method that produces great art. Tribulation have traveled through a creative process rooted in the need to express what they trust in. This is the DNA of the band, and this is precisely why they’ve arrived at such success.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM DEGROSS
n the darkness, many find their true strength. Harnessing the shapes of diamond-fused inspiration that pour endlessly from the shadows, they build from it. It is here where they capture the spirit of life. The strength of absolution. The light within the whole. Creation is the fire of the night, the ship to the new world. Arvika, Sweden’s Tribulation—a band molded from such vast gloom—hums a particularly dark verse that’s destined for the deepest of depths. Over a decade old now, with three stirring records to their name, the band have evolved considerably in the past few years. From straight up old-school death metal on their 2009 debut The Horror, to the progressively inclined, gothic-inspired, rock ‘n’ doom found on their latest full-length, 2015 Century Media release, The Children of the Night, Tribulation have always reigned in creative distinction: they do things their own way.
The Children of the Night was a breakout album for Tribulation, finding itself on a boatload of top 10 albums of the year lists and deservedly so. It’s an enchanting meditation on darkness, doomgroove, inward-divination, and ‘70s inspired headbangers. It’s also wickedly progressive, an attribute central to the band’s overall mindset. Though the record was released last year, Tribulation have sated fans’ thirst for new material with a January 2016 release, The Melancholia EP, which features several remixes of the title track, three demos, and—bizarrely—a cover of The Offspring’s “Pay the Man.”
with Abbath, High On Fire, and Skeletonwitch, a huge outing for any contemporary extreme metal band. Tribulation have come a long way since The Horror, and, in a few ways, they’ve found themselves in unfamiliar territory. “The tour went really well; it was certainly different from any other tour we’ve done. It was the first time all of us didn’t drive in one van together,” Hultén says. “We were with the other bands on one giant bus, so it was very different. Having a mutual respect for everyone aboard was important, so we weren’t blasting music whenever we wanted to. This was our fourth tour across the States, and we always love traveling across this country.”
The band recently finished up the 2016 Decibel Magazine Tour
Tribulation are moving linearly, creating forms from an eternal
darkness of inspiration. Creatively, they’re peaking, and soon, will start the journey to create a new album. “We’re writing new material as we speak,” Hultén enthusiastically relays. “We’ll start recording at the beginning of next year. It’s really rolling,” he laughs. Forging individuality, high-art, and unrelenting rockers that are destined to be the younger generation’s “classic metal,” the band ride into the abyss with a profound confidence— brooding, yet lofty—the mark of true darkness.
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