Kalmah released their brand new album "Palo" today (April 6th) and to celebrate we asked guitarist Antti Kokko to tell us the story behind the track "The Evil Kin". Here is the story:
This song is among the first ones for this upcoming album Palo. The story of the main riff goes back to 1990 or 1991 when Kalmah predecessor Ancestor made up a demo which name I cannot recall anymore. But the song back then was called Thread of Life. Anyways that riff had haunted me since then and for this album I decided to tune it up a little bit. With a slight change I made it to as it is now in this very song.
As soon as the riff was there it was all about start to wrap the song up and catch some nice melodies here and there. As always when there is a solid riff or melody I have already the feeling that this turns out well as it did with Evil Kin. The chorus melody hit my mind while picking cloudberries on a Finnish swamp very early morning. There is basically just sounds of mosquitos and you are in the middle of nowhere just pure nature around you. That is the very source of inspiration to me always. The melody hit my mind and I played it in my mind several times writing the song at the same time. As soon as I got back home I remembered it and recorded it to my computer. If I hadn't remembered it then I know it wasn't good enough. This time I did and that tells me the melody is longlasting.
After that it was just putting all pieces together and dump the song for other band mates for a listen. They liked it from the start. That is the point our songs get "validated". The song itself represents the old Kalmah mixed with our music of today. We didn't get the recording deal with that demo back in 1991 but now we can show that our material back those days was and is still strong. For me thinking about the process of this song is a so called work-win. I have always wanted to reborn it and now finally made it. Hope you enjoy!
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!
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