A Lament From Faraway Time: An Interview with Ville Friman (Insomnium)

Metal fans might be hard-pressed to find someone in the realms of heavy music with a more diverse and impressive resume than Insomnium’s Ville Friman. Though many may know him for being an original member and songwriting force for the Finnish melodic death metal masters, as well as one of their clean vocalists, some may be surprised to learn that despite the tremendous skill he displays in all those facets, music isn’t his main gig. With a doctorate in evolutionary ecology, Friman’s primary focus is being a professor of microbiology at the University of Helsinki, or leading research teams and writing scholarly articles based on his research in the field. These days, it’s only in his limited spare time that he’s composing the incredible riffs or reflective lyrics you hear throughout Insomnium’s well-celebrated catalog.

Due to his academic commitments, Friman’s contributions on previous albums may seem less than in the past, where he was one of, if not the predominant songwriter for the band’s early, classic albums. His contributions on Heart Like a Grave and Anno 1696 pale in comparison to the volume he delivered on the group’s earlier works, but that’s since changed since moving back to Finland recently after being a member of the faculty at University of York in England for many years. On Netherworlds, the band’s 10^th studio album due out October 16^th on Century Media Records, Ville seems to be firmly back in the saddle with his bandmates, penning two of the lead singles from the record, and by his own account, participating much more actively in the songwriting process now that he and his bandmates are back to residing in the same country. The results are fantastic as usual: melancholic yet optimistic lyrics inspired by old literature, crushing and catchy riffing, beautiful acoustic sections, and the high-quality melo-death the world has come to know Insomnium for, with some new twists and turns mixed in for good measure.

Ahead of the release of Netherworlds, I had a chance to catch up with Ville about all this and more, including:

the “best of” approach to songwriting the band took for Netherworlds, what fans can expect from the rest of the album based on the first three singles, the meaning behind “Arch of the Sky” which Ville composed, and the centuries-old song Insomnium chose for their first ever proper cover.
the artwork for the record designed by Travis Smith, a discussion of classic Opeth albums and how they influenced Insomnium, the reason for fewer contributions on the previous two records from Ville, why it’s not possible for him to tour with the band currently, and how the addition of a third guitarist in the group came to alleviate that issue.
the band’s collaboration with Amorphis members on “The Hour Grows Late,” how they came to perform on the song, their upcoming tour of North America with them, and a recent performance at a Medieval castle in Finland.
the unexpected answer to a question I posed about the mixing of In the Halls of Awaiting at Astia-Studio with Anssi Kippo, the Edge of Sanity inspiration behind Winter’s Gate, whether or not scientific principles can be useful in music, and what Ville hopes to achieve in two fields he excels in moving forward.

You can watch the entire interview HERE:

Though Ville rarely has time to tour anymore, and will only occasionally join the band on stage when his schedule permits, his passion for songwriting is evident when speaking to him. That passion is on full display on Netherworlds, which is another classic addition to an already sparkling catalog that Insomnium have created over their nearly thirty years in existence. The day remains to be seen when Ville will be able to join the band on the road, an experience he laments not being able to enjoy anymore. These things happen when you’re teaching the finer points of microbiology by day and writing catchy-yet-somber guitar melodies and lyrics by night. But as long as there are more songs to be written, especially if they’re rockin’ (and a bit depressing), you can expect to be hearing from him in both of his fields of excellence for the foreseeable future.