Norwegian industrial cult act Zeromancer are set to release their brand-new album “Orchestra Of Knives”, their first in eight years, through Trisol Music Group on September 24th 2021. The album artwork will be embellished by old family photos from the private Ljung vaults.

The album’s track list:

1. Testimonial
2. Damned le Monde
3. Transparency
4. Mourners
5. Birthday
6. Terminal Love
7. Worth Less Than Deutsche Marks To Me
8. Orchestra Of Knives
9. Stand on Ceremony
10. San Zero

Check out the new video for “Terminal Love”, the 6th track from their new album. It’s the 3rd track already from the new album that is being released, before we already got the “Damned Le Monde” and “Mourners” singles.

About Zeromancer

Zeromancer is a Norwegian industrial rock band formed in 1999 by members of the band Seigmen. The current lineup is Alex Møklebust (vocals), Kim Ljung (bass guitar/backup vocals), Noralf Ronthi (drums), Lorry Kristiansen (programming) and Per-Olav Wiik (lead guitar). They have released six studio albums to date; the latest, “Bye-Bye Borderline”, was released on January 25, 2013.

A new single “Underground” was released to coincide with their best of album “Something for the Pain”, which was released November 1, 2013. In early 2018 the new L’Âme Immortelle album featured a remix by Zeromancer. A single entitled “Damned le Monde” was released at the end of 2018.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)
Norwegian industrial synth rockers Zeromancer follow up their February release ‘Damned le Monde’ with the new track titled ‘Mourners’. The release comes as a digital EP with three remixes in addition to the original – and they’re all great! This time around we also contacted the remixers to get their thoughts about the band and this release –  it’s always interesting to hear what someone who’s both a professional and a fan have to say about their remix work.

Zeromancer core members Kim Ljung and Alex Møklebust were very happy about the end result:

Side-Line: ‘Mourners’ and the first lines indicates someone sad, but becomes increasingly uplifting – will things get better is one find someone to share it with?

Kim Ljung: That is pretty spot on I would say! Mourners is a message for the lonely. Lonely in life or lonely at heart. Never give up. There is always a twin soul out there somewhere!

Alex Møklebust: Songwriting is about expressing yourself. The last 3 years has been pretty rough on a personal level and making music becomes kind of a treatment. «Mourners» became that song for me.

S-L: Musically it’s a bit softer than usual, almost synthpop, and the singing made me think about Alex’ guest vocals on the Bermuda Triangle album ‘33RPM’, and it also made me wanna listen to ‘ZZYZX’ again – a new direction or just keeping it varied?

AM: Trying to recreate a demo is always a challenge, but with Mourners it was impossible. The demo had parts that didn’t sound great and the performance was quite bad, but had a really good feeling to it. If we removed the demo ideas or tried to replace it with new recordings, the song fell apart. It’s all about the feeling of a song. We just chased that feeling all the way until the end and. Imperfection elevated the track. It was the right decision. You can hear the the demo tracks clearly in the Rotersand remix. Love that they decided to represent the demo tracks so clearly in the remix.

KL: When you write a song, you don’t think what genre would be best suitable. You make the choices that fits that particular song the best. Mourners were meant to be exactly like this. I remember starting out with the verse on an acoustic. I never play acoustic guitar with normal chords and full notes. Never. It’s all riffs, basslines and weird shit.

The verses are quite dark. It’s the chorus that has this uplift feel that great choruses have. However the term synthpop is not so accurate I feel, at least not to me, since my idea of synthpop is a happy thing. We don’t do happy. 🙂
When you get to hear the full album, you will get the picture. It’s a classic Zeromancer album. With all the elements present. A gift from us to our devoted, loyal fans.

S-L: You also got a good, varied bunch of remixes this time too, even by Norwegians – what about their versions did you like?

AM: The remixes compliments the EP 100%. Love it. A beautiful balance. Electro Spectre with a superb version, Sebastian Komor with his awesome mid tempo hard hitting remix and the lovely moody Rotersand version. They all put in a lot of effort to make this EP as good as it can be. How they interpreted our song blows my mind. Respect to them all!!

KL: Couldn’t agree more. What amazes me the most, is how they all understood the core of the song. I’m dead serious when I say those three remixes makes the song a better song. Not that their versions top the original. That’s not the issue. It’s what they add to that song, that makes Mourners a longer lasting piece. At least that’s how I feel! So much passion and a whole lot of “fingerspitzgefühl”!

S-L: This started with ‘Damned le Monde’, and you will get it every time now – who’s in the cover picture?! 😉

KL: My mom 🙂
Holding the white lilies. A symbolic flower, often used in funerals. Perfect for Mourners.

S-L: Other upcoming highlights fans can look forward to during these slow-moving days until more restrictions are lifted?

AM: Yes, there will be more releases and a full new album. It’s important for us to promote an album release with live shows. As for now that’s impossible, but we have to keep believing that it’s happening soon.

KL: The fans are in for a treat. A lot is happening in the shadows. New label that will help out regarding issues with previous albums hard to get, both digital and analog. At this moment I can’t reveal more than that. But in the end, there’s definitely a reward for everybody!

As mentioned we also reached out to the remixers who contributed to this EP, and also asked if they had remixes of their own to share. First to reply were Isak Rypdal from Electro Spectre:

S-L: What’s your relation to Zeromancer before this remix?

Isak Rypdal: I was a big fan early on, and two major favorites from nearly 20 years ago is ‘New Madonna’ and ‘Famous Last Words’,  I think they only were included on a maxi-single or something then. In 2013 Electro Spectre supported Zeromancer on their ‘Bye-Bye Borderline’ tour at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo – that was a lovely event.
Alex Møklebust, aka SnifferGod, has also been so kind remixing the Electro Spectre single ‘The Way You Love‘ just a few years ago, which became a great remix.  

S-L: How did you like the new song ‘Mourners’?

IR: Personally I think it is admirable to deliver one of their very best singles to date. In my opinion not all bands only get better and better in what they’re doing as the years go by. The previous single ‘Damned le Monde’ is that kind of caliber as well! 

S-L: What was your main idea with your remix?

IR: Actually, I think it was one of the easiest songs I have ever remixed. The reason is simple; when you get a remix-kit from a major band, who delivers pure quality elements it is a lot more inspiring. Although not to say I took the challenge lightly, I spent several few weeks on the remix, adding all of what I think is my very best production techniques into the remix to get it as punchy and well sounding as possible. It was a pure joy, and I am very happy I had the time to spend that many hours on the remix process. In the end, Alex from Electro Spectre also delivered some additional spice to the final mix. I hope the Mancerheads enjoy the remix!

Across the Atlantic, in Canada, the Polish/Norwegian expat Sebastian Komor elaborated about his involvement:

S-L:  What’s your relation to Zeromancer before this remix?

Sebastian Komor:  I know the guys more as Seigmen, the Norwegian Alt Rock band. In fact, a time and place long ago I booked Seigmen to play at a venue I was working at, during their Radiowaves album tour.  Always loved their music.

S-L: How did you like the new song ‘Mourners’?

SK:  It is a beautiful song. I dig the electronic approach in this.

S-L: What was your main idea with your remix?

SK: I really dig the snare sound in the original and def wanted to make that a big element of this mix. My approach to remixes is to use as few original sounds as possible vs. making it sound like an extended 12″ mix of the original. I am really happy with the result. It promotes the emotions in the original song while taking it for a ride through my mind.

Check Sebastians playlist with a lot of his work, remixes included!

Final remixer was from Germany, Krischan Wesenberg of Rotersand:

S-L: What’s your relation to Zeromancer before this remix?

Krischan Wesenberg: Zeromancer and Rotersand are signed to the same label, work with the same booking agency and love our live-sound-engineer (which is the same person). Surprisingly it took rather long to meet in person, which luckily happened during an epic meal in Oslo while I was there as sound-engineer for Nitzer Ebb.

S-L: How did you like the new song ‘Mourners’?

KW: I really loved the depth and flow of the song instantly; its melancholic mood and I am addicted to melancholy in music anyway.

S-L: What was your main idea with your remix?

KW: Obviously with Rotersand attached to it expectations went towards a more club-orientated vibe. As there aren’t any clubs open I took the chance to search for a very electronic vibe and flow that kept a lot of the original recordings, and added some space to let the melancholy breathe and enjoy its special magic.

Listen to and buy the EP from Spotify, Apple music and other services – click here!

jrstange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)
After an almost eight year long hiatus from releasing new music and 15 months after their previous live concert, the Norwegian industrial synth rockers in Zeromancer releases their brand new single ‘Damned le Monde’, out today on Trisol. Or, maybe not exactly brand new, but more about that later when Kim Ljung explains its origins.

The track itself sounds refreshingly new, and at the same time also comfortably like a Zeromancer classical. With a haunting bassline filled build-up the first third of the song, followed by a take-off into the kind of chorus Zeromancer famously does, filling your ears  with that uplifting feeling, making you wanting more.  Almost from the first listen ‘Damned le Monde’ also gives you that ‘first track/first single’ feeling, like ‘Clone your lover’, ‘Doctor Online’ and even ‘Sinners international’ also did. Will it be the first track on the upcoming album too?

The remixes are also good matches, making good use of the song into something new without losing touch with the original.

On the day of the release I also managed to squeeze in a phone call with a very happy Kim, getting some more info on this release.

Side-Line: Tell us about the single and its content – are you mad at the world? 

Kim Ljung: No, not at all. Although I often see things in black and white, I’m mostly happy. It’s being released in a difficult time for most people, and feels fitting in that sense. But it’s written several years ago,  have changed the title a few times too. As it have had a long life already from the first demo to the final take, things have changed a lot along the way, especially the text. It became a bit fragmented in the end; something personal, something seen from another persons point of view, taking side with the weak and the misfits. Main theme might be “being seen”, even in hard times.

First demo was very much slower, with more synths and drum machines. Then Noralf did his part, and the bass lines I’d done on an old Mini Moog didn’t integrate well with the drums, so we decided to record it with bass guitar. And after playing the same bass for many years it’d be fun to try something else, so I found a cheap bass here at work (at Haugarock) that sounded great, and it took the song a step further.

When we started rehearsing for songs Per Olav came up with new guitar riffs, which in turn made me make a brand new chorus, and the whole song benefited from having a few years in the making.

S-L: There’s three remixes too…

Kim: Our German record company boss made them happen, getting good bands to remix, and it feels like when we bought 12” records in the 80’s, always several remixes included. In my opinion a good song can tolerate almost everything regarding changes, and still be able to rise and get better.

S-L: The cover photo was unlike earlier Zeromancer covers, and seems like it holds a story on its own?

Kim: Correct, it’s a picture of my aunt, taken in 1957 by my grandfather (“Besten”) from Sauda (on the Norwegian west coast). All his life he were in the forefront regarding photography and filming, always sporting the latest versions of equipment. I was always very close to him, and when he died I ended up inheriting his entire archive of photos, mostly dias slides, and lot’s of films, mostly Super 8. I have digitalized almost all of the diases, and showing it last X-mas to my mother and her siblings was a blast, showing their entire childhood and discovering long-forgotten events.

And some of the pictures immediately stood out as cover material, so it felt very rewarding finding these gems and early on decide several single covers, having them connected. The record company also liked this, felt it was something new and different, not so genre traditional.

S-L: Any releasedate for the album yet? 

Kim:  We’re still working on the album, but we’re taking our time since the corona situation prevents us from touring. First a couple of singles, then album probably in the autumn. When things ease up again we’re ready!

 All in all I have a very good feeling about this release today. In this time with almost nothing happening and creativity being on a low, it’s great to release something that matters for people and makes them feel good. Have already gotten lot’s of positive feedback, people saying it made their week and so forth.

Get your damned tracks @ Spotify or Apple Music

jrstange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange