Returning with their ninth album, and a new label in Nuclear Blast in tow, power metal champs Dynazty continue to write energetic and passionate music with Game of Faces. Their catchy and fun elements are sure to have fans throwing their fists in the air and singing along at full volume. To that end, we spoke with vocalist Nils Molin about some of the sources of their songwriting, how Game of Faces is special to the band, writing lyrics, and what he has taken away from being on tours through the years.
Dead Rhetoric: Game of Faces is your ninth album and comes out Friday. How does it feel special to you?
Nils Molin: In many ways, I think it’s a natural follow-up to our previous album, Final Advent, but at the same time, I think it has a bit of a unique characteristic to it. One that makes it stand out in our discography. The aggressiveness level has been upped a few notches on this album. There’s a bit of an extra sense of urgency and cohesiveness to the songs. That was our game plan when writing the album. To me, it makes it stand out a bit more – it’s aggressive, straight to the point, and to me, it stands out in our discography.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you feel are the defining parts of Dynazty as a band? What makes a song a Dynazty song?
Molin: I think that primarily we focus on the core basics of what makes a good song. That’s what we try to do at least. We try to make sure that the core melody structure works. Basically, if you strip down any of our songs and have them played on acoustic guitar and piano, with someone singing, then it should still work. You shouldn’t have to add all of the extreme arrangements to make a chorus fly – it should work in a stripped down foundation. That’s the core element of our songwriting. We start with the core melody structure and make sure that it is really solid. Then you can add all of the nice, extra stuff on top of it.
In terms of our sound, I know that some people have some difficulties what Dynazty actually sounds like, and I take it as a bit of a compliment, because it means that we have a strong characteristic within our musical identity. You can’t say that ‘we sound like this band,’ or a ‘mix of those bands,’ so I do think that it’s a positive thing for a band to have a strong musical identity.
Dead Rhetoric: It’s funny that you mention the stripped down part. I know you are also in Amaranthe as well, and they have said the same thing.
Molin: I think it’s a very Scandinavian thing in general. Considering that Sweden is a small country, especially compared to the US, we have a lot of music coming from Sweden. We have had some huge musical exports coming out of Sweden, not only rock and metal, but in pop music too. I think it’s the Swedish motto of writing songs, that you actually have the core song working with an acoustic guitar and vocals. You should still hear that it’s a good song. If you have that, then you can continue to expand upon it, arrangement-wise. So it’s a good philosophy to start with, when writing songs.
Dead Rhetoric: You moved over to Nuclear Blast Records midway through the album process, was part of that due to your relationship with them with Amaranthe?
Molin: I mean sure, I know the Nuclear Blast people from Amaranthe, but also we were on AFM Records for many years, and those record labels are pretty close to each other. They are pretty much part of the same business structure. With that considered as well, it made even more sense for us to go to Nuclear Blast first. Of course, I knew the folks there as well.
Dead Rhetoric: You haven’t had a ton of line-up changes for a band that has been around for over 15 years. Anything that you accredit this to?
Molin: The funny thing, when I have been doing interviews for this album, almost everyone has been pointing this out! So it’s obviously something that people are noticing. I know it’s not very common for a band to have a stable line-up for 10+ years. I would accredit it to the fact that we have been great friends for a very long time now. We were, I think when we had the last line-up change, we were all friends. We spend holidays and weekends hanging out with each other and stuff like that. We have been friends for ages, and that just makes stuff very simple. Our goals are always aligned with one-another. We are all working towards the same destination, in the same direction.
Dead Rhetoric: For you, as the vocalist, what do you enjoy about writing lyrics?
Molin: I think it’s a great outlet for being creative in general. If you feel you have something to say, or that you want to say, you have the possibility to do that. I try to write something far away from me, it doesn’t have to be about me personally. In general, I like to create little mini-stories within a song. I did that for the previous album on a few songs. I make up a story in my head and just started writing about it. It’s a great creative outlet, and I always look forward into diving down into this process when writing new songs. Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure on myself as a lyricist as well, and it’s that dynamic where it’s not just me being excited. Sometimes I feel a bit of pressure with it as well.
Dead Rhetoric: Is that because you feel you have to hold yourself to the same standard or better than before?
Molin: At least as good, and hopefully even better. We in general, as Dynazty, try to up everything a bit from the last time around. I think I just put that kind of pressure on myself. I don’t know if it’s necessary or not, but it’s what I have always done. It comes from me, and maybe a bit that people are dissecting my lyrics and talking about them, and stuff like that. I just feel I have to come up with something that is still creative and not just rehashed. It’s something that is still inspired.
Dead Rhetoric: I can see that happening if people are interpreting what you are writing. I have seen in some other interviews that you like to leave them open to interpretation.
Molin: A little bit, yeah. It’s a good pressure though. It comes from a good thing, because people like it and want more of it. You don’t want to grow stale, creatively.
Dead Rhetoric: Getting back to that Swedish mentality, I spoke with Bjorn from Soilwork/Night Flight recently and he mentioned it was impossible for bands in Sweden to not have a bit of ABBA influence. What’s your take?
Molin: This is another topic that seems to come up when people are talking to me, or other Swedish bands, because people hear ABBA in Swedish bands. I think when you grow up in Sweden with this modern musical history that we have, it’s more or less impossible to not have ABBA influences. It’s embedded in our DNA at this point. I don’t consciously bring out a lot of ABBA influences, but subconsciously, I think it makes its way in. I think this is what musical tradition is, in its essence. It just kind of happens without you noticing it. I do think that ABBA were some of the most amazing songwriters of modern pop music, so I think you could have a lot worse of an influence than ABBA.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you feel that the chorus is something of importance for yourselves, in terms of the way that the song is structured?
Molin: It’s one of our core principles when writing songs. When the chorus hits, you should know it immediately. There shouldn’t be any doubt. It’s a cornerstone of our writing for sure. We feel that if the chorus is not there, or not hitting the way we want it to, then we start to rework it until we feel it does. It’s definitely one of the main things in our songwriting, making sure the chorus hits. And making sure there’s balance with the rest of the song. Sometimes, it’s even more important, the dynamic between chorus and verse – to make sure you really feel it. It’s another Scandinavian trick by the way, if you know the songwriter Max Martin. I think he has the most Billboard Number One hits of all time. One of his tricks was always to downplay the verses a little bit, so it would leave more space for the chorus. This is something we are trying to figure out all the time. If the verse is too intense and steals too much from the chorus, or is it vice versa?
Dead Rhetoric: So in general, do you think what you are saying about the chorus could be applied to all genres of music then? Not just your own?
Molin: Sure, there’s definitely other types of music where you have different focal points of what is important to the song or genre. But for what we are doing, I think it’s really important. That’s what we have been trying to specialize ourselves on. But there are other genres where the chorus is not the main thing. It should be there, but it’s not necessarily the most important thing. I think it varies from genre to genre. If you look at pop, then it is all about the chorus. Certainly a lot of different subgenres of metal, it’s equally important as well. But it’s what we do as Dynazty, to focus a lot on the chorus so it hits hard.
Dead Rhetoric: What have you learned from your time on the road, personally and professionally?
Molin: You learn a lot every time you go out. Professionally, you learn new stuff every tour that you do. Everything from how to handle situations where you get sick on the road, or getting enough food at the right times, and how to manage your sleep. You learn new tricks all the time. You learn on stage every night with how to interact with the audience and what works on stage.
You learn a lot about the world as well. We have done a lot of European tours at this point, but you still see new stuff. You still see new places, new people, new things. You learn what is going on with people in general on the continent. It’s definitely a way of updating yourself constantly, to be out on the road.
Dead Rhetoric: Have you found that your fanbase has gotten larger due to your role in Amaranthe or vice versa?
Molin: A little bit of both I guess. It would have been impossible for it not to happen. I think most of the people who discovered Dynazty when I joined Amaranthe was a long time ago now. I do think that at this point, it has kind of separated. For example, if you look at Spotify statistics, Amaranthe and Dynazty are not even related artists. That caught me by surprise. I remember the first few years when I was in Amaranthe, I saw some Amaranthe regulars coming to Dynazty concerts. There will always be a bit of interflow between the bands. But I think for the past few years, both bands have grown but in a little bit of different ways.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your thoughts on the power metal genre, as a whole? What do you enjoy about it?
Molin: It depends, it’s always a philosophical question when it’s power metal. But for the heavy metal genre, I think it’s doing just as well as ever…if not better than ever before. I still enjoy a lot of the new albums and releases and bands popping up. There’s always something that pops up a little extra, and sometimes it’s some of these older acts that are releasing new music that is fantastic. I think, for me personally, I enjoy it so much.
I spent this week listening to the brand new Dream Theater album, for example. I’ve been a fan of them for a very long time, and to hear this classic line-up, with Mike Portnoy returning to the band, it’s been a fantastic experience for me, personally. To hear this creative atmosphere back together for the first time in 15 years or so, I’m just enjoying it. I don’t think I would be able to be creative myself, unless I had a lot of stuff that inspired me, and continued to inspire me through the years. I think everyone feeds each other in the circle of music, and that’s a very important thing. If you don’t have any influences left, it’s going to be very difficult to keep creating music.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you have any other outlets that you like to use to express creativity that is not through music?
Molin: I don’t think I have time for it [laughs], so no. At this point, I try to focus all my creative force on music, because I have to. I did, at some points earlier, write short stories and stuff like that. At some point, I might sit down and do more, because I would like to explore that part of myself. But right now, I’m just saving my creative powers for more music.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your plans for 2025? Any plans for a US tour given the label switch?
Molin: This has been something we have tried to make happen for a long time – a proper tour in the US. There were actually some pretty good ways in and offers for this year, but it’s probably not going to happen. But hopefully in 2026. For the rest of this year, we are heading out on a European tour in February and March in support of the album release. We are heading to Brazil in May for the very first time, then we will do some summer festivals and then another round in Europe in the fall. Then Scandinavia and possibly Japan towards the end of the year. That’s the full year. But we are definitely working hard on actually going stateside. It’s a question of sooner rather than later.