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Velcra's debut album 'Consequences of Disobedience' introduced a fresh Finnish band with both attitude and a sense of melody. In their home territory Finland, the debut entered top 40 charts and the single 'Can't Stop Fighting' peaked at ..5. After extensive touring in Finland Velcra headed abroad. The album was released in the UK and Germany. Touring continued: Velcra supported Breed 77 on their UK tour. In Germany Velcra was the opener Oomph!'s massive Augen Auf tour. Now Velcra is back with the second album 'Between Force and Fate'. The new album introduces a harder and more experimental sound. OD and a top Finnish producer Jyrki Tuovinen, who also worked on the debut album, spent over a year in the studio perfecting the songs to their final shape. 'Instead of entering the studio with a bunch of final songs, we were more interested in exploring the different possibilities that were musically available to us. We allowed the songs to find their shape and direction during the recording process. The key to the songs was to maximise their emotion. We wanted the aggressive songs to be really brutal. Yet we found a deeper and more psychedelic level to the more tender tracks.' The second album introduces a raw and experimental Velcra. The hardness and energy of metal combined with the rich sounds of electronic music are still the core of the band's sound. This time however pop-influences and sing-a-long choruses are left behind. The new songs are woven from layers of sounds, which unfold and reveal new things on each listening. The trade mark of Velcra's sound is still front lady Jessi Frey, whose expressive vocals have evolved to reach even harder screams and even softer whispers. 'Lyrically I have wanted to learn to express myself in a more emotional level. The aggressive songs are still based on strong opinions but I wanted to leave more room for the listener's own interpretations. Musically and lyrically the songs became very visual, like little movies.' 'The war has changed many things that we have taken for granted: freedom, safety, impartiality. Many of the lyrics discuss insecurity and hostility that we feel when we start to fear other people. On the other hand all the chaos has taught us that it is impossible to try and control the world and our lives. Fatalism became the main guide to us in the studio. It was fun and exciting to see where we would end up when we stopped controlling ouselves and started to experiment with our music.' 'Between Force and Fate' was released in Finland in January 2005 and got an overwhelming response from both the media and the audience. The album hit ..6 in the Finnish charts, and single 'Our Will Against Their Will' reached .. 3 on the singles charts. The band is currently touring Finland and preparing for the album's European release. |
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