A few days ago, on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of their debut «freedom of speech», the band announced that the 4th album is on its way making their fans go crazy with this announcement. «Earthbreaker» will be its title and I couldn’t resist to contact Peter, to talk about this new album, the band, the possible news and the future tours that I hope and wish will bring them to Spain.
Rockmania: Again, thank you for being on the other side to attend me in this interview. Thank you very much.
Mentalist: It is always a great pleasure to talk to you.
Rockmania: In 2020, in the middle of pandemic, you debuted with «Freedom …» and in this period of time three albums in the market and a fourth one in the launching ramp. did you think about something like this when you founded the band?
Mentalist: Of course, compared to our mascot «Mentalist», we can’t see into the future. I believe that instead of worrying, we should seize every day and be optimistic. Bad things happen anyway. Then you can react to them… and the next day is another good day.
Rockmania: How is the public and press response to your work? Are you happy or disappointed?
Mentalist: Today, in the horde of bands in times of self-marketing and social media, you need a bit of perseverance, luck, etc. to get your music noticed. All in all, I was hoping for a bit more. On the other hand, we have 50,000 listeners on the streaming platforms during release times, which is not bad. We reach a lot of listeners and are happy about the support of every single fan. But we would also be happy if we could grow a bit more.
Rockmania: Last year, if I remember correctly, you did a small tour in Germany, didn’t you, how was the experience and the public response?
Mentalist: These were our first concerts as Band Mentalist and therefore particularly exciting for us. We gained a lot of experience and learned a lot. It was a smaller tour with about 10 concerts, most of them in Germany. It was the perfect way to get started. We were allowed to make a few mistakes and optimize our processes. Nevertheless, we did our best, of course.
The best thing is real Mentalist fans who know our lyrics and sing along to them live. That gives you a lot of strength. We hope that we will be able to play bigger concerts in the future with our new experience. The press didn’t particularly have the tour on their radar. Of course there were photographers and photos of individual fans and social media posts.
Rockmania: and far from taking a break, you went back into the studio to compose and record a new work. What’s the reason for such frantic work?
Mentalist: I’ve been a hard worker all my life. When I feel passionate about a topic, I get a lot of energy and creativity and look forward to realizing the version. Because of a few other topics (f.e. the founding of the Metal Streaming Service rokk.app), the fourth album is now coming 2.5 years later. So we’ve slowed down a bit now.
Rockmania: Going a little bit into what could be the new album, you have advanced the title and the person who is again in charge of the artwork design. «Earthbraker» and Andreas Marschall, what do you want to represent with the title and why do you count again with Andreas?
Mentalist: In recent years, there have been several negative events that have shaken up humanity somewhat. There was the pandemic, there is war in Europe and, in addition, we as humans are managing to further destroy the community and the world through radical political views or ignoring climate change. So there is a reason to write about the downfall. «Earthbreaker» serves as the medium, it is the being that is summoned by humanity through its actions and then destroys the world.
In our opinion, Andreas Marschall is the best artwork designer of all time. He has truly earned his cult status. It’s brilliant to work with him. He really manages to incorporate all the ideas of a band into the artwork, comes up with ideas himself and creates one masterpiece after another.
Rockmania: What hints could you give us about the musical direction of the new work? faster, more melodic, more than…?
Mentalist: On the new album we want to emphasize the «Earthbreaker» theme and go a good bit harder and faster. The most tracks are fast. Only a few are mid-tempo songs. The new heaviness can be heard in the speed, the harmonies, the drums, the solos and the vocals. I have to say that it was great fun to compose hard and fast songs. You can’t be so subtle and melodic. It’s more about dynamics and combining them with melodies.
Rockmania: What can you reveal about the new cover, will we see mentalist on it again?
Mentalist: The new artwork continues the tradition. It shows the Mentalist as an Earthbreaker crushing the earth. Many objects and people fall from the earth… With the exception of one cover song, all tracks feature drawings on the front or back of the artwork. The artwork is a bit darker than on the other releases. But that also fits in well with the theme.
Rockmania: How many songs will the new album contain, will it be long, short, double album? Tell us more details….
Mentalist: As the new album is faster, it is also a little shorter, about 50 minutes. The same number of notes are played as on the previous album, but you finish a little earlier. The new album will contain about 10 songs and one cover song «It’s a long Road» from the «Rambo» movie.
Rockmania: Do you already have it all recorded and produced? Is it ready to be released? Could you give us an approximate date about its release?
Mentalist: The album is expected to be released in February. It has already been completely composed and recorded. There is even a song composed by our singer Rob Lundgren. Our guest musicians Oliver Palotai (keys) and Mike LePond (bass) can also be heard. The keys can be heard a little less on the new album due to the fast songs. Fast drums and keyboards often sound like «symphonic metal». But we like it a bit more thrashy. The next step is to mix the album.
Rockmania: And according to the previous question, are you planning to release a fan box like with «A journey» and «Empires falling»? could you give us some information about the fan box?
Mentalist: There will be no «vinyl» of the new artwork. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of vinyls left over from the «Empires Falling» album, which in my opinion has the best artwork, so a series is not worthwhile. There will definitely be a fan box for the new album. We are very happy that we always sell over 400 fan boxes and we make a lot of effort to make them attractive. There may be a mentalist mask inside, but that is not certain yet.
Rockmania: It sounds like a first grade interrogation, but you know I’m very interested in everything mentalist. do you already know how many singles will be released before the launch?
Mentalist: In my opinion, there can never be enough singles. The sad truth is that some streaming services only push singles and ignore all other songs completely. That is one reason for many singles. Another unpleasant truth is that albums are rarely listened to the end these days. The first songs on the album are listened to 5-10 times more often than the last songs on the album. If you want to pay attention to certain songs even though they are at the back of the album, you can release them as a single.
Favorites for the singles are «Earthbreaker» (certainly the hardest song on the album), «Event Horizon» (a catchy, fast power metal song), the anthem «Legionnaire» (mid-tempo, rocky, very melodic) or the semi-ballad «Millions Of Heroes» (which is about how in a war all the people of the attacked country are heroes). Other songs are also possible, e.g. the fast power metal song «Mistress of Pain» (about Kai’s ex-relationship) or «Monkey King» (this is about monkeys ruling humanity because they often don’t behave very smartly)
Rockmania: And as with the previous albums, have you considered the possibility of a video with the collaboration of the fans, like in «An ocean…» and «Generations legacy»?
Mentalist: We love making videos together with the fans. However, we also have to find a suitable song for it. On the second album, the song «An Ocean So Deep» was about evolution and the beauty of nature. Every fan had something to contribute. On the last album, the theme of the song Generations was a little more difficult. There is always something negative about the death of our ancestors. But they leave the planet with progress. It was more difficult for the fans to contribute something. The new album deals with difficult topics and we first have to think about whether one of them is suitable for a fan video.
Rockmania: On another note, do you have any plans to tour with the release of the new album, will you be leaving Germany?
Mentalist: We are still negotiating with the booking agency regarding the tour. Overall, we have to orientate ourselves towards the headliner for the tours. We are supporting another band for whom a tour is being planned. We have a few talks. There is a possibility that we will play a small tour through Germany and Switzerland in the first quarter. There is also the possibility of a longer tour in the fall of 2025.
Rockmania: Some time ago, I already asked you the question, and now I’m going to ask it again… what changes have there been in the line-up of the band since the origins? Is Florian coming back to the band? Are there any more changes regarding the line-up? Because I remember seeing some videos of your live shows and there was no bass player.
Mentalist: The fact is that no musician leaves us. Rather the opposite. We are getting a new band member. Iron Maiden has three guitarists. We will have two drummers. Jan Drumm, a very talented drummer, will be a new band member and will mainly play the live shows. Thomen will stay in the band for the compositional part.
Rockmania: And my last question, will we be able to see you in Spain someday?
Mentalist: I really hope so! At the moment, because we are still a small band playing support, we are dependent on the planning of the headliner. So we can’t say for sure when we’ll finally make it to Spain.
Rockmania: A pleasure as always to share time with you Peter. any message for the fans and readers of Rockmania?
Mentalist: We love music and love writing songs. Our fans and listeners give us extra energy. With your support we are even more motivated and give 100%. We are very grateful for that and want to give it back to you with (hopefully) good songs!
Many thanks to all of you! And also to you and Rockmania. It’s a pleasure to do interviews with you.
And this is the end of the interview with Mentalist. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and if you don’t know the band, listen to it and enjoy great music!