Sordid Blade – “The sound is a mix of spontaneity and a wish to do something a little bit different”

Without any doubt, one of the albums that struck me most in 2022 was the debut album of Sweden’s Sordid Blade. Not only did ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ sound really authentic and straight in line with so many other Heavy Metal bands that I deeply love (without sounding like a copy at all), but it also has a deep emotional and melancholic feel to the music that had a strong addictive effect on me. Yes, ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ is one of those albums I have played the most over the past year. With this in mind and combined with the album’s impending first anniversary, it is only natural that I invited singer/guitarist and bassist Niklas Holm to have him talk about this stunning debut album…

Hi Niklas, welcome to The Whispering Darkness and of course first of all thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. As time slowly creeps along, the moment is approaching when ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ will celebrate its first anniversary. How do you look back on this debut album for Sordid Blade?
Hi Felix, the pleasure is all mine. To be honest, I look back on it with mixed emotions. During the recording and all through the release of the album, I went through a pretty rough period in my life. I struggled a lot with stress and anxiety, to the point where I had a burnout and had to sign off from work for a while. It was even challenging to do daily chores and live a normal life. I simply had too many things going on in my life, which I couldn’t deal with in the end. Things are much better now, although I’m still recovering.

Personal issues aside, I’m very happy with the way the album turned out. I feel that the album shows what we’re capable of doing, and we did the best we could to make it sound the way we wanted. In the end, I view the album as a silver lining after a chaotic time in my life, and in a way, I think the album title sums it up quite well.

Your personal musical experience lies mainly in the more extreme genres with Black Metal as the centerpiece, yet your last few years have become mostly filled with Heavy Metal. Besides Sordid Blade, you’ve been involved with Wanton Attack since 2019. Was Heavy Metal always a genre you were attracted and were you waiting for the right moment to let that out or was there something special that made you go through this musical turnaround?
Heavy metal was the first genre of music I became interested in, starting when I was only a kid. As I got older I got into hardcore punk and extreme metal, and around this time I also made my first attempts at playing music. I’ve had quite a few solo projects over the years, some of them could be considered black metal, although I don’t really feel like a part of that scene or as a black metal person overall. Actually, I don’t consider myself to be part of any scene, I just do my own thing and play whatever I feel like. I’ve always wanted to play heavy metal, but in retrospect, I realize the timing wasn’t right until a few years ago. I have to give a lot of credit to Micael who motivated and pushed me to finally take the step to play the kind of music I love the most.

Musically, ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ is in line with a number of “new” standard-bearers of Heavy Metal who have a strong hankering for the past and pay tribute to the Heavy Metal masters of yesteryear, such as Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road. Thus, as far as I’m concerned, Sordid Blade fits into the ranks of bands like Sumerlands, Eternal Champion and the slightly older Hour Of 13. Can you identify with this comparison and musical taxonomy?
Yes, I largely agree with that, although both Sumerlands and Eternal Champion are way more popular (for good reason) than Sordid Blade. They’re simply phenomenal bands. It’s interesting that you mention Hour of 13. While I don’t think they sound that similar to Sordid Blade musically, I do love their first album and especially Phil’s vocals. Again, I’m not actively trying to be a part of any scene or movement, but I can definitely see the similarities to the bands you mentioned. I take it as a compliment.

What attracts me most musically from ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ is that timidity I just mentioned. Although the riffs are powerful enough, it’s the authentic Hard Rock sound that pushes them back into the mix a bit and your vocals are clearly a bit more restrained than the average, often more outspoken, Heavy Metal singer. Was this specific and quite unique sound a preconceived goal or did it just arise spontaneously?
Well, before Sordid Blade I had never sung in a band (if we don’t count screaming), so I guess this is what my voice actually sounds like. I still don’t consider myself a vocalist at all, and I do acknowledge my limitations as far as singing goes. I actually don’t even consider myself a musician, which might have to do with my background in punk, I don’t know. However, I’ve always tried to create my own sound with every music project/band I’ve created and Sordid Blade is no exception. I would honestly much rather listen to a band that has a unique approach to vocals than hear a carbon copy of Bruce Dickinson. The same goes for the actual music as well; I’m more focused on writing music I actually like than fitting in a genre of music or scene. To answer your question, I would say the sound is a mix of spontaneity and a wish to do something a little bit different.

The difference between your (mainly) Black Metal background and the almost timid-sounding Sordid Blade is quite big, and it can’t be any different that you have been influenced and inspired by other things for Sordid Blade. Can you tell something about your sources of inspiration, both musically and for the theme of Sordid Blade?
Sure, I’m influenced by many things. I’m not a one-dimensional character who just listens to one type of music or only eats one type of food, for that matter. Life is too short for that. I would say I’m inspired by medieval times, Nordic folklore, and poetry. Other than that, the manga/anime Berserk has had a big influence on Sordid Blade, as well as the struggles of life in general. Musically speaking, when I started the band I was influenced by Warlord, Manilla Road and viking era Bathory. Since then, I think I have expanded my musical horizons a little bit, and today I would say I’m also influenced by Swedish pop music from the 80s, Italo disco, and even some punk music. In general, I like music with strong melodies mixed with melancholy and that’s the kind of feeling I want to convey with Sordid Blade.

Before the release of ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’, you issued a 2-track demo tape that was later re-released on cassette tape and 7″ EP. All three versions found eager demand and are not all that easy to find by now. The authenticity of the music clearly struck a chord! Were you yourself surprised by the great interest in the band?
Yes, especially since the self-released version of the cassette was just a lo-fi recording I made by myself. I’m very grateful for the response Sordid Blade has gotten, it means a lot to me that people enjoy the music and it almost feels surreal at times when people write me and tell me how much my music has meant to them. Sordid Blade may not be very big or well-known in the grand scheme of things. We’re an underground heavy metal project after all, but it seems to me that we struck a chord with a small, but enthusiastic crowd.

For me personally, it was the cover combined with the logo, with sword, that piqued my interest. The cover, a misty scene of a lone horseman (who is likely to return in the album’s closing track, ‘Lonesome Rider’) in blue colors, exudes a certain mysticism and fits well with the music. How did the concept of ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ come about and how do you look back on the album’s creative process?
From the beginning, I wanted somebody to do a painting for the cover art. I had an idea which I thought would match the mood of the music. I quickly realized that it would be hard to hire an (affordable) artist, and it would have delayed the project too much. Besides, I’m not sure if my vision and expectations would have matched the end result. In the midst of all of this, Micael told me he had found a picture in a book that would be perfect as an album cover. I was a bit skeptical at first, but once I saw the picture I knew instantly that it would be the cover for the album.

After that, Annick Giroux (Cauchemar) started to work on the album layout. The original picture is in black and white, but she suggested a blue tone to make something similar to the Elixir – The Sun of Odin LP. The end result definitely exceeded my expectations, and as you mentioned, the mist and lone horseman add mysticism to the scene. It fits perfectly with the music and track listing and even adds a unique Nordic edge, in my opinion. I’m not sure if I had a set concept in mind but the creative process was very fulfilling, even though it was a turbulent time in my life, as mentioned before. I feel lucky to have worked with all the people involved in the process.

Your extensive musical background and equally wide general interest make me a little more curious than I usually already am about your answer to this question. Can you give me a peek into your record collection? Which records did you last buy or have on the player? And do you perhaps have any special recommendations that we should definitely check out?
I have collected records ever since I was a kid, and it’s one of my main interests in life. The last record I bought was Razorblade – Run For Your Life / Ready To Fight 7” from 1986. Great Swedish heavy metal, and it was only 10€ which is a very fair price. I have a lot of hardcore punk records in my collection, when I was younger I was super into that kind of stuff and I think it sparked my interest in record collecting. Of course, I do have a fair amount of metal records as well. At the moment, I’m obsessed with 80s Swedish heavy metal. Bands like Gotham City, Universe, Sadwings, Onyx and Act are all great and I would definitely recommend them to people who haven’t heard them. I post quite a bit of vinyl nerdery on my Instagram, if you’re interested you can check it out here: instagram.com/sonicrime.

Now that the album has its first anniversary insight, the inevitable question naturally looms: what can we expect from Sordid Blade in the coming period? And perhaps some news from the Wanton Attack camp as well?
We’re currently working on merch and a European repress of the demo. This year I’ve also made demo recordings for new songs. If everything goes as planned, there might be a new Sordid Blade album out in 2024. However, I’m not in a rush to release a new album, I’ve learned my lesson from last time and it will simply take the time it needs. As for Wanton Attack, we’ve started to record for our second album. Right now we have drums and guitars recorded. Realistically speaking, I think we’ll have the recording finished next year and hopefully, it will be released then too.

Okay, Niklas, that’s it for now. Of course, I’d like to thank you for your time and interest in answering this interview. Happy to leave, in line with good tradition, the last words to you…
Thanks for the interview. The questions were interesting and made me reflect on the past year. Thanks again, and all the best of luck to you and your future endeavors.