Introducing Timecry
Introducing Timecry
Words by Warren Zanin
It is well understood that bands will commonly undergo many changes before finding that sweet spot where band members, talents and ideas intertwine to form a cohesive mulch. After all, while spending nearly every waking moment with the same group of people can be a lot of fun, it can also be a real pain in the gooch. Timecry is no exception to the rule of turbulence but for now it seems that they have found their happy place. Well, nearly: the Swedish “Eurometal” band retains just two of its founding members, although the true origin of the band is a little difficult to pinpoint. Ludvig Haby and Christopher Ohlsson, currently the two guitarists, met back in high school and became, and remain, staunch buddies. Ludvig confesses being introduced to metal by Chris. Taking an immediate liking to the genre, Ludvig started to sing some home recording mess abouts while Chris played guitar.] Shortly after the two met Chris lent Ludvig a “shitty wooden nylon acoustic guitar” and so started his obsession over some of metal’s most recognisable beginner intros, including Maiden’s “Dance of Death”. After a year at the strings, fingers healthily calloused and growing more nimble by the day, Ludvig joined a small thrash/ heavy rock project, Headrush, which included brothers Magnus and Johan Edburg on guitar and drums respectively and bassist, with the seemingly famous mononym, John.
As Headrush, the then quartet really enjoyed themselves; practicing and gigging in until John chose to leave the band. For Ludvig, Chris was the perfect replacement so he was brought into camp, ushering in some fresh new musical talent, a rejuvenation of song writing and a change in the band’s name to Timecry. With the addition of Sebastien Jarfelt as their vocal frontman, Timecry recorded their first EP “Chains of Rage”. Strongly influenced by the likes of The Haunted, Lost Horizon and Arch Enemy the EP also introduced the keyboard as vital part of the arrangement.
Not long after the recording of “Chains of Rage” Sebastien called it quits, but the band persisted and worked towards their next, self-titled, EP that would consist mostly of rewrites and improvements on old songs. Shortly before going into studio to record Timecry, the band recruited The Roy to take on the challenging vocal role. Despite the pressure of time constraints, The Roy did a “kickass job with both voice and lyrics”, bringing a raw and gritty personality to the music of Timecry. The tracks were released on Myspace and Youtube in 2008 and received a great deal of interest from the online metal community. At this time the band was performing regular gigs in some of Gothenburg’s most prominent live metal venues, including Sticky Fingers and Wishclub, where some of their most memorable gigs would take place. Chris tells of a particular Wishclub tale from back at the beginnings of Timecry, when he used to kit out for the gigs “wearing a long-haired black wig, spiced up with a bandana around the forehead and the appropriate rockstar clothing”.
The gig started out really well, we got a little moshpit going and I was walking confidently around the stage, headbanging. In the last chorus of the last song, we were really excited with the way the gig had gone and the whole band was headbanging like banshees. My wig suddenly got very stuck in Ludvig’s guitar, and while trying to reclaim my weave it was totally ripped off. Suddenly I was standing there short-haired in front of everybody and the crowd thought that this was hilarious. That was pretty damn embarrassing. Fortunately today I’m able to laugh about it, hahaha, but thereafter I never used the wig again.
The band was to undergo more big changes with the Edburg brothers leaving, and an interim bassist filling in while Chris completed a semester of studies, but Timecry continues to persevere. Remnants Ludvig, Chris and The Roy have just finished recording their latest EP “Dreams. Wishes. Reality” with help from newly announced bassist Johan Von Bromsson and drummer, the mononymous, Daniel Bernström. The band also had some production assistance from upcomers and close friends Dead By April’s vocalist Pontus Hjelm. As Timecry is currently unsigned it has decided to stick with the online release formula, a format that is proving more and more popular in the industry, and successful too. The band’s unsigned status doesn’t phase Timecry – as true musicians they have sold their souls to the music, and their fans. Provided crowds continue to headbang and scream their names, the band will continue to work hard to progress and build on their solid foundations. That’s not to say that they don’t dream of a record deal, which band doesn’t?
Timecry’s music has a definitive Gothenburg flavour but with a stronger electronic sound, or as singer The Roy calls it; “cosmic keyboards and massive guitars”. The latest EP has an admitted 90′s Eurodance influence and some experimentation with clean vocals from guitarist Ludvig, evidenced when compared with Timecry’s brutal self-titled release of 2008. The band’s unique sound and style can be attributed to the varied tastes and influences across the band including, amongst others; Roxette, Sonarta Artica, DJ Mangoo, Everygrey, Serj Tankian, The Haunted and Testament. Timecry is ambitious, with it’s eyes set on the likes of famed German metal festival Wacken as well as playing live shows in America and Japan. The Roy’s lyrics are inspired by life, society, politics, religion and personal experience, following an organic song-writing process, in which threads and ideas are woven together in a cathartic manner.
When the band was asked what acts they thought would be good to keep an eye on in the next year The Roy emphatically announced that he thought 2009 hadn’t been a great year of metal for him. “All the metal I heard in 2009 has sucked I can’t even listen to metal anymore. I’m all into Pop now, like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, seriously, no joking”. Chris and Ludvig aren’t so hard on their musical fraternity, giving fellow Swedish metalers Marionette, Mindscape and Dead by April the big thumbs up.
For such a young band, dating back just 2 years to 2007, Timecry shows a surprising level of maturity and intuitiveness that is reflected in it’s song writing and unique sound. The band has staked it’s place within a new generation of metal, a generation of the melodic, cosmic and beautiful. Listen to Timecry on Myspace, Youtube or Last.fm.
