UNFOLD interview

We had a quick chit-chat with UNFOLD, a sludge metal / post metal / post hardcore band from Yverdon, Switzerland.

Thanks for taking this interview. Please introduce yourself.

Hello. We are six nice but furious guys from Switzerland.

Damn you guys, your back! “Cosmogon” sounds almost perfect. It’s quite a masterpiece, a remarkable achievement I’d say. You took your music to new musical heights, that’s for sure. How did you manage to create such a sound? Tell us about your thoughts of your third album. How long did it take you to write it?

Well, thank you very much for the compliments. We are very happy with our new and third album. It took a long time to write the songs and record them… three years at least, I would say, which means we are not really quick to write and record albums. Regarding the sound, we were looking for a heavy and dark sound and I’m pretty happy we achieved it.

You’ve been around since 1996, with the first album released in 2000, the second one in 2003 and the third one in 2011. What have you been doing in the meantime? What was the pause all about?

UNFOLD split up in 2004 as our singer left the band. Most of us continued to play together in a band called Vancouver. We released one album and two split CDs on Division Records and Get A Life Records). In 2009, we discussed of the opportunity to play again together, as we were still good friends. It seemed a really cool idea and we were really motivated to start again from where we had stopped.

How has your music evolved through the years?

I would say it has become more mature, as we do not only focus on playing heavy stuff, but try to integrate new elements in our music.

All three full lengths were released through Division Records. Tell us more about your relationship with the label, your overseas cooperation with Earache Records and how do you distribute the latest album.

Laurent, our drummer, is the founder of Division Records, back in the 90’s. So it was a pretty evident thing to release our first EPs and albums on his label. But he became very busy with kids, job and so on, and he decided to “give the keys” to some friends of him (members of KEHLVIN and RORCAL), who are now in charge of the label. We have a very good and trustful relationship with Division Records and are happy to continue to release albums on such a cool and independent label. Our second album, Aeon Aony, was released/distributed for some countries by Earache Records, yes. It was a nice opportunity, but we split very quick after that. To be honest with you, we haven’t had any relationship with them and I don’t think they have sold tons of albums…

What’s next? What are your future touring plans? Please don’t tell me you are going to a hiatus again! [laughs]

We are all very busy and will not tour a lot. UNFOLD is still something very important to us, but with kids/families/jobs, it has become difficult to find time to tour or even rehearse. No hiatus is planned (for now)…

Tell us more about Yverdon. How has your local, as well as the national music scene changed over the years?

Yverdon is a nice little town with an old tradition of heavy metal scene in the 80’s, but it more or less disappeared in the 90’s (the scene, not the town). But some great bands came up in the 90’s in Switzerland (EASTWOOD. KNUT, SLUDGE, SHOVEL, UNFOLD, and so on) and built a strong Swiss scene. Now, the Swiss metal/hardcore scene is well recognized, but has stayed mostly alternative and independent (except maybe SAMAEL).

Thanks! Is there anything you’d like to add?

Thank you for your interest in Unfold and for this interview! Take care.

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