In Pursuit Of Musical Fulfilment With HENRIK STEENHOLDT From EMPYRE

Interview by Kris Peters
UK rock outfit Empyre know full well the ethos of you get back what you put in.
Since unleashing their debut album Self Aware in 2019 Empyre have toured relentlessly, putting their music in front of as many people as possible. Often finding themselves on the festival circuit and playing with bands of vastly different sonic calibre, Empyre soon learnt that a touch of humility can get you through potentially hazardous situations and as such began a sustained effort of self-deprecating humour that turned the tables back on themselves so to speak.
By looking inwards to project outwards, Empyre reversed the confusion and growing apathy from sections of the crowds and encouraged them to boo and throw things between songs - so much so that in some areas the crowd lovingly boos the band between songs.
And the band couldn't be happier.
Empyre continued their upward trajectory late last month with the release of their new album Relentless, another bold step forward in the rock landscape that gathers increasing momentum with each passing track.
HEAVY caught up with frontman Henrik Steenholdt to find out more, starting with how fans have reacted to the new album.
"Quite strong really," he smiled. "We've been really pleased with what we've seen in terms of a lot of the reviews that have come out so far. I haven't seen anything that's negative so far, but I'm sure I will at some point (laughs). So far most of it has been in the higher range of the market out of ten."
Although essentially a rock band, Empyre allow enough strands of DNA from outside sources to creep into their music as it sees fit.
"There's no overall concept to the album," he said. "It's a collection of songs that we wrote over the course primarily of the last three years. Although some of the songs started earlier - songs like Relentless itself. We started writing that around the time our first album Self Aware came out in 2019 and, at least, I had the idea for the riff and the chorus. They were the main parts of the song that I'd written back then and it was only during the course of the pandemic in the first year of that that we started to put together the songs where they turned into what they are now. The same as Road To Nowhere. We covered a reasonable amount of ground in terms of style on this album. Relentless itself starts out with an acoustic intro into a hard rock song. It's pretty straight forward in what it does, then the next song Waking Light we take things a little more commercial and a little bit more in the direction of Killers or Muse with atmospherics and bits that are slightly indie. Then Parasite, the third track, starts out dark and angelic and then goes about as metal as we've ever been and then we've got other songs like Hit & Run which has an 80s vibe to it, Forget Me which is a big ballad, Quiet Commotion which is a big ballad, and then Your Whole Life Slows which is a little more experimental."
In the full interview, Henrik discusses what they set out to achieve musically on Relentless, how their sound has grown since their debut album, the varying genres and if it is an actual focus of the band, finding the balance between genres and making it work into their style of playing, taking the piss out of themselves and more.

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