When not busy tearing it up on guitar for Kreator, Sami Yli-Sirnio performs with Barren Earth. Featuring former members of Amorphis and Swallow The Sun vocalist Mikko Kotamaki, the melodic death metal act put out a stellar debut, Curse of the Red River, last year. This is no basic studio project though; Barren Earth is a legitimate band, at least in the eyes of Sirnio. I spoke to Sirnio while the band was on tour about the Finnish Metal Part Two tour, what Barren Earth represents to him, and what the future holds for both Barren Earth and Kreator.


Dan Marsicano: How did Barren Earth come together?
Sami Yli-Sirnio: It started a couple of years ago. I knew our bass player Olli (Pekka Laine) already from Amorphis and all kinds of friends from back in the ‘90s. We jammed and songs were beginning to form already in the first rehearsal. So we thought, ‘What the hell? Why not record this s**t?’ We put the demos on the MySpace site and before we knew it, we got offers for a recording deal. That’s pretty much how it started.

This style of music is quite different from playing with Kreator. What excited you most about working with this melodic death metal sound?
That’s something I’ve never really done before, so that’s what made it interesting. It’s something different. I enjoy doing what I do in Kreator, but it’s definitely a thrash metal band. There was one reason: to have change and do different kinds of music. They are both metal, but then again, in several ways, quite different too.

What kind of satisfaction do you get out of Barren Earth that you don’t get with Kreator?
Basically, the same.

With these guys, it’s easier to jam and they’re like old friends. Basically, the same kind of satisfaction, but also I sing a little bit in this band, some backing vocals, and that’s one difference for sure.

Do you enjoy being able to sing more and not just be that guitarist standing around?
(laughs). It’s definitely not the main point, but that’s one of the reasons for sure. Now we’re just happy to do our first tour ever. Funny enough, we did three shows already, now we’re having a little bad luck with the weather. We’re just hoping to make it early enough to Ft. Worth, Texas to play the next show.

Did you bring any influences or styles into your guitar playing with Barren Earth that you don’t get to use with Kreator?
Of course, there’s a lot of similarities in both, but with Barren Earth, progressive rock influences might be more present there then they are with Kreator. It’s a difficult question; I never really thought about that. In the end, it’s pretty much the same.

I’ve noticed that there’s a presence of more melody and acoustic guitars. Did you enjoy playing that style?
Oh, absolutely. Our drummer Marko (Tarvonen) has a really nice 12-string that he brought into the studio. The acoustic stuff is more present with the Barren Earth recordings, for sure. There’s some of that in Kreator too, but in a slightly different way. That was really basically one of the reasons to get this band more active is to do a little bit different stuff. I’ve been doing Kreator for ten years. I still enjoy it a lot, and we’re planning to make an album this year, but something different on the side. Now touring is fabulous to me. I enjoy it very much.

Curse Of The Red River is the band’s debut album. What is the significance of the album’s title?
On one hand, the song deals with dangers of excessive alcohol abuse. On the other hand, it deals with the insanity of today, the corrupt views, and the sea of greed. It’s a doom/death metal band, so what can you expect what we’re singing about? Of course, the end of the world, and death. (laughs). What else?

How were the songs arranged? Was it a group effort? Do you all just get together and jam out?
We recorded demos. Our Twilight EP is actually the demo sessions. The album was a different recording session. We were more concentrated on things and the different takes. Our drummer is really fast. When he is recording, it is usually the first or second take, and that’s it. Working with these guys is very smooth and very fast. It doesn’t take too long and we were also very well-prepared. All the arraignments were already done in the rehearsal room. When someone comes up with the initial song idea, there’s some kind of a version of it already that someone does at home.

Now we’ve been working on new stuff. We got about 13 songs lined up to record. Just a couple of weeks ago, we booked a studio for May. At the end of May, we’re going to start working on the next one, We started working on the songs straight after Curse Of The Red River was released. We’ve gotten enough time and the song ideas are really coming from everyone. The great part about this band is that there are five songwriters. We have plenty of ideas coming all the time; loads of ideas for the next one lined up. The songs are already there. When we get back to Finland, we’re going to start working on the final arraignments, and do the demos before we hit the studio.

The band is currently involved in the Finnish Metal Part Two tour. How did the band get involved in the tour?
We know the Finntroll and Ensiferum guys already from before. Our manager just heard that they are going to have the second part of the same tour because they had a pretty good draw last time when they did the states a year ago. Funny enough, our singer Mikko (Kotamaki) was on the first part singing for Swallow The Sun. Our drummer and other guitarist Janne (Perttila) were also on the part one.

Is there one song in particular you are excited to be playing live?
I think they all work pretty well, but if there is a favorite, maybe “The Leer.” We usually have as an opener, on the first few shows, the song “Forlorn Waves.” I think we’re going to switch a little bit around. We got 40 minutes; not a long set. Everything from the album and we usually end with “Floodred,” the last song off the EP. It works pretty well as an outro.

Where do you see the future of Barren Earth heading? Do you see you doing this and Kreator at the same time?
Absolutely. I still see us doing stuff. We already got festivals lined up in Europe. The next album should be already recorded in the summer, so it should be released by November or something like that. I’m not sure yet. Since we’re now doing a tour and already planning our second album, I don’t think this is a side-project. It’s really more of a band to me.

You alluded to it earlier in the interview, but can you give an update about what Kreator is going to be up to?
Next summer, we got the Sonisphere festival. That’s a cool thing. The Kreator album is planned to come out January 2012. Everything is looking smooth. Right now, I’m giving Mille time to do some songwriting (laughs).

Is there any new material done or is it still in the writing process?
Yeah, it’s still in the writing process right now.

What kind of an impression do you want to leave on people listening to Curse Of The Red River?
That’s a good question. I hope that it’s an interesting album to listen to. We put a lot of work into it. Dan Swano did a really good mix of it. We’re so happy with it, we want him to mix the next one as well. Of course, it’s always hard for a musician to analyze it because you are very close, almost too close, to the music. The only thing I can say is that for a debut album, it exceeded our own expectations.