Photo: Nikolaj Bransholm
Melodic death metal possesses a wide array of choices when it comes to the blending of catchy hooks / runs against the energetic aggression of the riffing, tempos, and extreme to clean levels of vocal employment. Danish act Livløs has been active for over a decade – sustaining a DIY ethos while establishing themselves as a viable force on the live scene. Their latest album The Crescent King differentiates itself from the typical Gothenburg / Scandinavian movement, possessing a raw, refined approach that speaks to an old school aspect balanced next to a killer sci-fi, cosmo-fantasy narrative lyrical concept which evolves over the course of the record. We reached out to bassist Benjamin Andreassen to catch up on some wonderful Norwegian-related musical childhood memories that include black metal ties, thoughts on joining Livløs, work behind the new record, special live show memories, important metal albums, and future plans.
Dead Rhetoric: What can you tell us about your earliest music memories growing up during childhood? At what point did you start discovering heavier forms of music – and eventually the desire to want to be a musician and perform in your own bands?
Benjamin Andreassen: (laughs). Straight to it! This would be for me personally. It’s a little bit special. When I was a kid, most of this relates to stories my mom has been telling me and my sister has been telling me because I was very young, I was too young to remember personally. I grew up in Bergen, Norway, our upstairs neighbor turned out to be a bit of a celebrity, Varg Vikernes if the name rings a bell for you. Turned out to be a big figure in Norwegian black metal, he did a lot of stuff that he shouldn’t have done. He was arrested and this was our upstairs neighbor when I was five to seven years old. The rest of my family have quite fond memories of him because he was a very polite young man, 18 to 20 at the time. He was a musician, a bass player and a songwriter. He would come home, dressed in this crazy chainmail and stuff – obviously most known from Mayhem, Burzum, and a couple of other acts.
When I was a teen, I started revisiting some of the stuff that he had released over the years, I got into heavier music that way. In tandem with the traditional introduction of heavier music – I got into Metallica, Megadeth at 12 or 13. This connection back to Varg, having grown up there and what he meant to our family, was a big thing when he was arrested. Our neighbor was in the media all of a sudden. I listened to a lot of black metal, The Faceless, Nile, more death metal I got into later on. Pure death metal I’ve gotten into more recently, as I always felt like I wanted my death metal to be mixed with something else. Melodic death metal I have learned to love over the years. It’s nice revisiting some of the stuff you listened to when you were a kid, it was quite out there. Maybe all of it is not as scary as it first sounded when you were younger.
I started on the guitar when I was nine or ten. In my very first band I was a guitar player. It was a cover band when I was 15 or 16. We did quite a few gigs, Friday bars and university parties – even a couple of weddings in there. Which was a lot of fun. It came to a stop because people started their studies, move abroad. I knew because every time we had a little break, I would gravitate to the bass. There’s something about the low end and the majestic sound that the bass provides, it resonated with me. I knew I wanted to transition to the bass at 18. I bought my first bass, put on Opeth’s Damnation, and I tried for weeks to learn that entire album because it has a lot of great bass parts on it. Not too fast or too technical, it was a very good starting point for me. A lot of the theory, I could push over from the guitar, but everything else was a different beast. The size and gauge of the strings, especially the frets, it took a while.
I was so lucky that during the final gig that I did with the first band I overheard a funny scenario where you hear enough of a conversation that you know what to do with it but then you hear nothing else of the conversation. I remember hearing, ‘hey – have you seen this long-haired guy in the Iron Maiden t-shirt asking for a bass player to join his power metal band?’. Obviously, I had to find the guy and I found him. The week after I auditioned for his band, I couldn’t play bass at the time. I went there, it didn’t go very well but he took a shot. He had seen the show I had done on the guitar – I practiced my ass off and I came back a couple of weeks later. I got the gig, but I practiced because these guys were good. We played together for many, many years. Life happens, the band came to a natural stop.
I did a lot of session work on the bass for heavier genres. I started writing stuff on my own, practicing a lot in those early days. I looked at Alex Webster, Billy Sheehan, Justin Chancellor, all of these incredibly technical bass players. I wanted to be able to do something like that. But that’s not something you do after a year. I didn’t always gravitate towards the bass, but I got there in the end, and here I am now, sticking to it.
Dead Rhetoric: How did you get the opportunity to join Livløs in 2022? Were you familiar with the band previous to joining?
Andreassen: Yes, we actually gigged together. I had been in the Danish metal scene; people tend to know each other as it’s a small scene. I didn’t know them well, but I did know of them. The same for them, they knew of me. I spoke to Jacob who also produced the album. I was super interested in playing something super heavy, as my music tastes gravitate more towards death metal, black metal, but I never had the opportunity to play that in a live scenario. I called him up, he said he would take a note of that. I recorded two or three albums with Jacob in other constellations at the time, he knew of me. I got a call from Franz (Posch), the lead guitarist, asking for a stand in, temporary thing for a Danish and European tour. This is great. We spoke for a long time about it, I said yes. At least during the domestic part of the tour, my wife was pregnant at the time, so I had some technical difficulties doing the European tour as it was smack down in the middle of that.
I had a couple of rehearsals – I knew of them, didn’t know their material very well. The first week I listened to it all the time, to know these songs by memory. There’s a lot more to (the songs) than I remember, things that surprised me initially. I practiced, I get to the rehearsal space, I could play 3-4 songs, we had more sessions. I did ten-twelve shows with them, they are the nicest guys. It felt very natural, it didn’t feel like the temporary, hired gun. There was a lot of ambition, a lot of drive. My previous project at the time was during COVID, and we did things remotely because everybody lived away – moved everything online. We never met up in a rehearsal space to have a community around that. Here was a chance to be a part of that again – and play something that was right up my alley, something heavier than what I was playing currently. During those shows, I changed my mind, and I wanted to be a part of the band on a permanent basis.
Dead Rhetoric: The Crescent King is the third and latest studio album for Livløs. How do you feel about the songwriting and recording sessions developed with this set of material?
Andreassen: It’s a bit of a loaded question to me because you tend to think the newest album is always the better album. I definitely feel like that this is strongest album yet – I’m also biased because this is the first album I’ve played on with the band. (laughs). I feel like if you compare it to the previous albums, the sound of Livløs is much stronger – it’s more in tune with what the band wants to sound like. There is more cohesion in the songwriting, the songs are more thought through, more methodical. There are great elements in the first two albums, don’t get me wrong, but on this third one there are greater elements that are tied into each other a little more. Less material where you think if we needed to do this part four times, we cut things to the bone a little more this time.
I came in at a time where there was a skeleton and a structure for most of the songs. It was a hectic time, I still had to learn some of the old catalog for live shows but also learn these new tracks. There were a couple of more tracks that didn’t make it to the actual album, where we cut them. There was a lot of new material, and I wanted to put my own spin and feel to it, not just quickly learn guitar parts and try to duplicate them on the bass. I wanted something more that was me – it was a lot of work in those months leading up to the finalization of the songs. Quite a few live shows during that time – it was a good working process. I’m looking forward to being in from the start – where we have no songs whatsoever and being a part of the whole thing.
Dead Rhetoric: What influences shaped the cosmological fantasy-inspired narrative in the lyrical concept of this record? How important is strong lyrical content and melodies to the overall package and presentation of songs for the group?
Andreassen: Yes, I would say so. In terms of what inspired it – as many a metalhead before us, we are huge nerds. In different ways, be it from games – Niklas (Lykke) and I are big fans of the Dark Souls universe. Big sci-fi nerds, be it the classics. Niklas is most responsible for the lyrics and the themes of what this album ended up with, it’s a good mix of a lot of inspiration from the sources I mentioned here. We are very good at pushing each other, once you have the beginning of a thought and you put it out to the group, we can contribute to it with other source material or spin on it. It ended up being a theme that we can very much all get behind. It created a strong narrative that would add something extra to an album. We decided quite early on that it would be a conceptual album with this theme as a centerpiece. Which became interesting as we started to put the songs together. Extra consideration goes into what the track order will be like. Which songs we put where – which instrumental themes and melodies fit best into what each track is trying to tell from a lyrical perspective. In retrospect, committing to the concept album was quite difficult but also a really good challenge.
Dead Rhetoric: You’ve released three videos to date from the record – “Usurpers” which is an animated effort, “Endless Majesty”, and “Orbit Weaver”. Were these obvious single choices to premiere from the record, and how do you feel about the impact videos have in the current marketplace?
Andreassen: The obvious choice – we debated it. The answer would be no. We talked a lot about what songs to select. We wanted songs to have a bigger register. Together with the team that helps us getting the album out, we ended up landing on songs that were not the longest – a little bit more easily digestible for the current landscape but provide a view of what this album can do. I remember us going back and forth on a song like “Harvest” – which was not one of the singles, but we debated whether it should be. We ended up concluding that it was too long and too slow, and we wanted to hit people in the face right away. In that sense “Orbit Weaver” was a very, very clear choice. We are very happy with the singles and what we ended up selecting as singles.
Videos do add something. Life is very fast paced, and you need to pull on more strings to hold people’s attention. We can discuss whether or not that’s a good thing, but it helps at grabbing people’s attention. The animated video – they all turned out very good, and all contribute to the song and what we wanted to achieve and accomplish. It helps us pull on more channels – people are not going to look on a still picture on YouTube for seven minutes and listening to the song in the background. Having visual cues helps – especially in terms of getting the story of the conceptual album out, it’s been a big help. There are a lot of lyrics in here, and the lyrics are amazing, Niklas did a fantastic job, but we know and acknowledge a lot of people aren’t going to sit there and read through a CD booklet of death metal lyrics. For those not willing to do that, a video will tell more of the story. They can get a taste of the storyline there.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe the band performing live versus what people hear on the record? What have been some of the most memorable shows you’ve done to date?
Andreassen: We strive towards not having that much of a difference. The production is quite raw and organic, so it doesn’t differ that much from what we sound like live. There is a little bit of layering, and we add a couple of extra tracks like everyone else does. There’s nothing crazy going on there – not triggers on the drums, overdubbed guitars, overdubbed bass or vocals. We don’t use any samples in terms of backing tracks. A little bit of it on the more ambient track, but it’s a story of its own and we wouldn’t put it in a live sitting. The rest of the songs sound quite close – Jacob (Bredahl) as a producer, it’s one of the things we like about recording with him – there’s not a lot of polishing or cleaning up. If you don’t play it right, you have to play it again. Because he isn’t going to sit and fiddle every kick drum or bass hit – it sounds the way it’s recorded, and we do that live as well.
We have a couple of memorable shows. Every one of them is connected to a funny thing that happened that day, or just a show that was well played. In recent memory we played the Copenhagen Metal Festival a couple of weeks back, together with many acts from the Danish metal scene. It was packed, the crowd was with us all the way, we all left the stage high on energy and happiness. We played the band’s biggest show to date, Copenhell 2023. That was absolutely memorable for us – the biggest crowd, 15,000 people. Playing a show of that magnitude, it humbles you. Leading up to going on stage, I remember being extremely nervous. And then the year before, I was a stand-in and we played the Gaffa Awards, an award show in front of a finely dressed crowd. We were the heavy metal band – there was a hip-hop act, singer / songwriter style acts. It was a different show to play, we had pyrotechnics with us to cement the fact that this is the metal act coming through (laughs). It was amazing, and it was livestreamed on national television. Other guys in the band would also highlight playing the Inferno Festival in Oslo, Norway, Eurosonic they would highlight as well. Other international shows before my time. We always have fun when we are on the road.
Dead Rhetoric: What are three of the most important metal albums that have helped inspire you and shape your outlook on the genre?
Andreassen: Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk – Emperor. Sons of Northern Darkness – Immortal. There’s a lot to choose from. Blackwater Park – Opeth has to be in there, definitely. Riitiir with Enslaved, definitely would be one. Moving into further back – Conquering Dystopia and the self-titled album featuring Alex Webster on bass, showed me things sonically and technically primarily to hone in on what he’s doing on the bass, it’s amazing. I’ve listened so much to the Mr. Big albums, especially some of the solos Billy delivers, his bass playing is monstrous. S+M by Metallica may be an oddball choice, but it’s the album that got me into Metallica. Where do I start with Iron Maiden? I can’t pick an album in that catalog. Those have shaped in one way or form. In more recent times, Job for a Cowboy and their latest album Moon Healer. It’s been so long since they released something, but I think the new album is close to perfection. No one sounds like that. The songwriting on that is fantastic, and all of them are phenomenal musicians. I don’t know where we start with Cannibal Corpse either.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for Livløs over the next twelve months when it comes to promotion, shows, festivals, tours, or other activities? And what’s going with your power metal act Steelbourne?
Andreassen: There’s no activity with me and Steelbourne. I’m still friends with them. Spending some time on it, and there will be some tracks coming out, so I’ll probably play bass on it. The Livløs album just came out, and the reviews have been very good, the reception amazing. It’s really fun to see the comments and reactions. We will play a couple of festivals in Denmark, and a winter tour next year in Europe. We plan on going abroad somehow, a couple of shows in the pipeline in late spring/ summer of 2025. We are planning for more international shows to get the album out there, nothing concrete though I am allowed to say. Promote the album, play a lot of shows, try to bring more people in. We love playing live, the real core of the band is about the live shows.