Induction: The Beauty Of Monstrance
Tim Hansen doesn’t mince his words when describing the new INDUCTION album. “Bigger, better, faster, stronger,” he says. “I think we took a lot of good things we did on the first album and made them better. It’s for fans of epicness and great melodies and some more brutal arrangements too.”
He’s got a lot of confidence in their recently released second album, but there’s a good reason for that; Born From Fire genuinely is a step up. Back in 2019, the German quintet made a minor splash with their self-titled debut album, but this new one outdoes it. It’s an hour of muscular, well-written power metal and it’s got some of the catchiest choruses you’ll hear this year. Tim was already notable for being the son of GAMMA RAY/HELLOWEEN legend Kai Hansen, and if this record is anything to go by, he’ll soon carve out a legacy of his own. There must be something in the Hansen family genes because Born From Fire rules.
It’s also something of a fresh start. INDUCTION have been active since 2014 and were just starting to build some momentum when a certain, global event took the wind out of their sails. They’d barely gotten their debut out when the pandemic shut the world down and they went through a major personnel change. Tim Hansen is the sole remaining member of the pre-COVID line-up.
But when this comes up, there’s no bitterness in his voice. If anything, he’s quite philosophical. Coronavirus forced the band to think about their priorities and once he decided to press ahead, he could afford to be a perfectionist. There was no pressure to get back out on tour, so he had the time to find the best musicians he could. And his biggest challenge was finding a singer:
“I was extremely picky when it came to working with people. We had a very lengthy auditioning process for the new members and I was in touch with, probably close to one hundred singers. A lot of them were really good, but none stood out enough and eventually, one night I was sitting in my living room and my friend told me to check out Fiverr (a freelance platform). I just typed in ‘metal singer’ and Craig popped up. I checked him out, got in touch and he sang some songs, then he wrote some things for Sacrifice and added his own element. I listened and thought ‘that works, that’s it.’ I was looking for excellence and I found it.”
He’s talking about Craig Cairns, a hugely talented British singer who puts in a remarkable performance on Born From Fire. Hansen is full of praise for his new bandmate and his versatile pipes, especially as he does what some power metal aficionados would consider heresy: harsh vocals.
Yes, there are moments when Born From Fire gets heavy. Cairns’ harsher tones are used sparingly, but they really make you sit up and take notice. “I don’t want to close my mind to certain values from different genres, I want to be able to include everything in the song writing,” Hansen explains. “I think the more extreme vocals have a lot to add because it’s another way of expressing the emotions. I don’t want them to be a predominant part of the music, but it seems like a natural choice to have this very, extreme outburst all of a sudden. I think it adds to the overall feeling of the song.”
They’re appropriate too. Musically, Born From Fire is a very upbeat experience. There are energetic rhythms and catchy melodies and there’s barely a minor key to be found, but lyrically, it goes hard. These songs were inspired by “crazy dictators that fuck up the world,” and there’s a recurring theme of fire running through it. Topics like religious oppression and extremist ideologies crop up, but it never feels like an angry record.
“I’m a big fan of when music sounds completely different to what the message is,” he laughs. “It brings me joy! I think there’s a way of being very melodic and catchy but still heavy. That’s kind of what I wanted to have, like Born From Fire is a very heavy song, but it’s very catchy. And the lyrics are so metal! It’s fun to just go a little over the top with your choice of words and express yourself like that.”
Consequently, INDUCTION sound like the band you could play to metalheads who don’t usually like this genre. Power metal is sometimes dismissed as a genre for nerds, but songs like Sacrifice and Fallen Angel have an edge to them. INDUCTION are still at the start of their career, but the crossover potential is already there.
And with a fresh line-up and great album, things are once again falling into place. They’ve got a tour with SERIOUS BLACK lined up and are already looking ahead to next year’s festival season. Losing so many band members must have been a hell of a blow, but Hansen doesn’t say a bad word about anyone during the entire interview and even manages to see an upside to the pandemic:
“If you look at this year, the releases we had were amazing. MEGADETH’s new album is incredible, BLIND GUARDIAN coming back. I think the pandemic has done something quite marvellous with all the artists finding inspiration. It hurt the music business very hard, but the creativity got really kindled by it.”
Born From Fire is out now via Atomic Fire Records.
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