After the band's debut album “Probiotic” back in 2011, Norvegian outfit“Okular” has unleashed a full­length titled "SexForce", which incorporateselements of everything from acoustic playing to death metal. With this newalbum dropping few months ago, “Okular” got in touch with me to discuss thefull­length's recording process and let us know what they can fell from thislatest opus. Composer, lyricist, backing vocalist and mastermind“Okular”member, Andreas Aubert, spoke with “Milfits 'zine” about mergingdisparate music styles on “SexForce”.How did the project “Okular” cometogether, and what did you want toaccomplish with it when you started?I, Andreas Aubert, have written songsusing the software “Guitar Pro” since2004. In 2009 I found suitablemusicians to record a full lengthalbum. At that point, my concern wassimply to get an album professionallyrecorded without thinking too muchabout what would happen later. Ibecame very happy with that first“Okular” album, entitled “Probiotic”,which was eventually released in 2011.So as you understand, “Okular” started

as a project. Then we agreed to recordanother album, and it was still a projectat that point, with me writingeverything and also paying foreverything. But we have now finallymanaged to get a full lineup and havealready played our first concert. Thingswill work differently from now on.Although I will continue to write mostof the music and probably also a gooddeal of the lyrics, it will be more of agroup process where everyone givestheir input. The idea is to record pre­production of several songs, and let thesongs mature over time, before we

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finally record the third album. Itshould also be noted that I am notperforming anything except someadditional/backing vocals on thealbums and I am not part of the live­lineup. So far I have also taken care ofmost of the practicalities regarding theband, but now the areas ofresponsibilities have been distributedmore evenly among us.I still have a difficult time trying todescribe what “Okular” sounds like.If I could, I would just say"progressive death metal," but itwould sound incomplete. How wouldyou describe the style of “Okular”?I am happy to hear that and take it as acompliment. It probably means there issome extent of originality to our music.Yes, it might be difficult to explain ourstyle with precision. Here is anattempt: We play progressive deathmetal with many technical elements,and with a sense of adventure andexploration to it. Some songs are long,some are short, some are verytechnical, some are morestraightforward. The songs do notfollow any fixed formula or pattern.The music is arising veryspontaneously and playfully, mostlywritten into “Guitar Pro” without thehelp of a guitar. I think that this formof composing is part of what makes themusic sound a bit different and hard tocategorize. I can also mention someestablished bands as a reference to givesome idea of our music, but none ofthose references alone can fully giveyou the idea of what we are doing:“Death”, “Morbid Angel”,“Decapitated”, “Gojira”, “Obscura”,“Immolation”, “In Flames”, “At TheGates” etc. Actually, this may not

make you much smarter. It would bebetter for the readers simply to checkout our music! These days we oftensimple refer to our sound as “Extrememetal with progressive elements”. Thatis probably good enough.However, Prog­extreme­metal hasseen a bit of a resurgence recentlywith bands like “Opeth” and“Enslaved” bigger than ever. Why doyou think this is?Possibly it has something to do withthe times we live in. One cultural trendin general seems to be the mixing ofvarious elements that have previouslybeen seen as opposites. This can alsoinclude influences from differentcultures and different parts of theworld. It is becoming more common tomix various styles and influences andsee them as complementary to eachother. The narrow confines of genredefinitions are starting to break down,and creativity seems to flourish in newand exciting ways. Maybe it also hassomething to do with the internet andsocial media making the world“smaller”, leading to many perceivedboundaries breaking away. To explainmy point about combining elementstogether in an unusual and excitingway, I can point to the bands youmention who are combining extreme,aggressive parts with more atmosphericand “clean” parts. I think that part ofthe appeal of such styles can byexplained by a certain shift ofconsciousness taking place in a greaternumber of people these days. A largersegment of humanity is seeminglywaking up to the reality that life is lifeis not as black and white as we oftentake it to be, and that different people,phenomenon and modes of expression

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are interconnected in many subtleways. The progressive music of thebands you mention, and many others,might to some extent illustrate thisshift in perception – even if themusicians themselves may notnecessarily be fully aware of thesedynamics.With the new album titled“Sexforce”, what is it exactly thatyou’re looking to say about? How didit come about?First I would just like to make clearthat while the first two albums were allwritten by me (including “Sexforce”) –meaning I wrote the music, lyrics andmade the concepts – “Okular” is now aband with 6 members. Our views mightdiffer in some aspects. The other guysmay not necessarily agree witheverything I say. I am speaking on myown behalf. On to your question: Thereare many angles from which I canexplain the title. The term sexforce isreferring to the sexual energy inhumans, which is very much connectedto our passion, creativity and our willto live. If sexuality is repressed, it isdifficult to really flourish in life –creatively and in other ways. Themusic and lyrics, as I see it, is anexpression of sexforce expressed in anunapologetic and life­celebrative way.There is no holding back of passionand pure vitality and no holding backof the longing for something that istrue and real. It is life­affirmativedeath metal. When I use the wordsexforce, I am refering to much morethan just sexuality or the sexual act. Iam refering to an explosive force thatcan erupt from inside, bringingaliveness and joy, and a fierceness thatwill not allow half­truths and

superficiality to give direction for oneslife. The cover displays a couple in anaked embrace, sitting in some kind ofvolcano which is erupting. They are ina frozen, icy landscape, with a city inthe distant – tall buildings etc coveredby ice. This is symbolizing the frozen,rigid aspects of human civilization.This includes dead, outdated belief­systems and everything which tries tokeep people in place – as opposed totruly living and expressing theirsubjectivity, which exists on a deeperlevel of who we are. This deeper levelcan become veiled, but cannot becompletely destroyed by belief­systems– there is always hope. The sexforcewhich the couple expresses and allowsthrough their love­making, is herecoming to life as a volcano. It isdynamic and cannot be controlled. Itwill by its nature shatter the old anddead and create new life – in theindividual and in society.How does “Sexforce” compare to“Probiotic”. Did you pursue adifferent direction or do you perceivethis album as a continuation?There was no agenda behind it, otherthan to make the best album we could.As “Okular” is about aliveness andcreativity, as I see it, it would not bepossible that the new album wouldsound like a poor mans version of thefirst album. It is the nature of life itselfthat there will be a progression –unless we are stupid enough to hinderthat from happening due to beinginfluenced by some alienating ideas.The album is perhaps not acontinuation seen from a linear andlogical perspective, but if you look atthe deeper driving forces behind themusic, there IS a continuation. You

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could say the album is a continuationof the first one, although it representssomething different.“Sexforce” has got a multifacedsound. Was there any deliberation orspecific goals about the kind of musicto write for “Sexforce”, or dideverything come naturally when youstarted jamming together?When we decided to do this secondalbum, the songs were for the most partalready complete. It was mostly aquestion of me selecting the rightsongs. There was no jamming involved.When selecting the songs, I wanted itto sound a bit different from the firstalbum, and to explore some things thatwere not covered on the first album.Such as having some of the songs be abit more crazy and technical, yet on theother hand also feature some morestraightforward and simple songs.Other than the stable band members,how easy or difficult was it findingsession musicians to fit into thepuzzle?It was fairly easy to find sessionmusicians to be featured on the album– as we already had guitars, bass anddrums covered by the stable bandmembers – and those are theinstruments that demanded the mostpreparation. We mainly used sessionpeople for some of the vocals, as wellas a few other things such as somepiano/orchestration and one song withacoustic guitars, done by another guitarplayer. On the other hand, it was veryhard to find musicians to complete thelive­lineup. It was difficult specificallybecause the music is hard to play –harder than what many musicians areable to. And those who are skilled

enough are often already too busy invarious bands and projects to be able tocommit to being permanent members.But we eventually got a completelineup together, and this lineup willalso be featured on the next album. Soit is not only a lineup for liveplaying –this is how “Okular” now appears as acomplete band.What artists shaped you most? Whodo you come back to now that youeven listened to as a kid?I can answer only for myself:“Pantera”, “Morbid Angel”, “Death”,“In Flames”, “Kreator”, “At TheGates”, “Decapitated”, “Gojira” areperhaps the ones that have perhapsshaped me the most. But it is quite rarethat I listen to “all­time­favorites” suchas these nowadays. I rather listen tonew stuff. And I never listen to“Metallica” or “Iron Maiden” anymore,although I will still count a lot of theirmusic as very good. When I listen tomusic, I usually emphasise to listen tosomething I am not yet familiar with.Such as in example listening to newerbands who are “pushing theboundaries” of extreme music, orlistening to older bands within thedeath metal genre which I may not beso familiar with yet. I rarely listen tomusic for nostalgia etc, I find thatquite boring. At the moment I amactually not listening that much tomusic at all, and I often choosesomething else than metal.How much of the Viking philosophyis ingrained into your everyday life?I can only speak for myself. I am noteven sure what you mean by Vikingphilosophy. I prefer to stay away fromphilosophy, in terms of belief­systems

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that are rigidly followed, as it caneasily be a substitute fromexperiencing life directly andfollowing my own heart and intuition.That said, I do believe that the Vikingsembodied some desirable and distinctqualities. Every culture has itsstrengths and weaknesses. I do believethat the Vikings were intense andstrong people – and that those qualitiescan be used in both good and bad ways.I can sometimes feel a connection towhat I perceive as a “Vikingfierceness”, especially when it comesto the sense of not compromising withwhat I perceive to be true. I cansometimes tap into a courage that doesnot allow me to accept half­truths andsuperficial politeness. This might besomething that lies within me partly asuniversal qualities, but also partly as aViking heritage. But in either case it isnot a matter of philosophy, it is amatter of allowing what naturallywants to express itself – when culturaldogmas and psychological defences areput aside.What are your artistic ambitions?What would you like to achieve as amusician?Speaking for myself as a composer andlyricist, I would like to continue topush my own boundaries, and I wouldlike our coming albums to take newand interesting turns. I would also liketo see a decent level of success for“Okular”, both in terms of concerts andin terms of getting more establishedwithin the metal scene in general. Inregards to this, there are manypracticalities that needs to be takencare of. It is not enough to write goodsongs or be good musicians. We needto promote the band in a good way,

have a long term vision of what wewant to achieve etc.What's in the future for “Okular”?More albums, more liveplaying,reaching out to more people.Thanks man! Last words are yours.Check us out, and thanks for thesupport!www.facebook.com/okularmetalwww.okularmetal.com

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