Extol
by Alex Cantwell & Scott Waters
reprinted from Ultimatum Metal Mag. Vol 4. Issue 5 (Fall 1998)

Extol & Ultimatum at Texas Rocfest '98.

Scott & I recently had the opportunity to interview Eystein Holm & Christer & David Espevoll from Extol. Upon hearing Extol’s ‘96 demo, "Embraced," they immediately became my favorite band! I had come to revere Norwegian bands before them, not only because many of them incorporate Norwegian culture both musically and socially, but also because of the musical originality and skill level at which they play. Extol meets that criteria and are also Christians! When we were thinking of the questions we really wanted to ask such things as, "why do you rule?" or, "how do you rule so effectively?" I wanted to tell them that, "surely you will be the worship band in Heaven!" but that would not provide for a very interesting interview, would it? In the end we opted for a more standardized format. Enjoy!

UMM: Could you comment on your lyrics. Some of them are worship oriented, and it seems that you have a high value for worship, since you included"Jesus Kom Till Jorden" on the "Burial" cd.

Extol/Christer: Extol means to honor or uplift; we want to honor God and lift up His holy name with our music and lyrics. Our vision is for people to be blessed by listening to our music, and hopefully get saved. We pray that the lyrics will be more than just words, but will have real meaning, and that the Holy Spirit will work through the music and lyrics so that hearts can be touched. We write a lot of different type of lyrics because each of us have our own way of writing. Like, "Embraced" is about an non-christians who long for something to fill the void inside them, so they turn to satanism, but all they find is depression and darkness, so they scream for help and ask God to save them. "Renhetens Elv" is written to Christians, about the river of purity that will run through every country in the world in the end of time, and how the church must be cleaned up and stand pure in front of God. Satan hates pure Christians because he has nothing on them. Christians all around the world need to fall on their knees in front of God and confess their everyday sins; that one sin, or several, that they’ve been doing for years. Sin becomes that's like a rope that keeps us away from God's blessings upon our lives. We also need to spend time with God in prayer, so that things will start happening around us and the church. God will come closer, and He will rest upon the church with his incredible presence. And then there is "Work of Art" which is about God's creation. Just look around! Even if the nature isn't as beautiful as here in Norway, try to comprehend how your body works; how every single cell needs a certain amount of vitamins, minerals and what ever it needs to perform it's tasks. Try to imagine how your brain works. How can a tree grow? How can a human being grow? How is it possible that one little cell which is invisible without a microscope, is able to to grow to become a human being, almost 7 feet tall, with long black hair and a goatee? (That's me!) How can it be a coincident that the temperature on earth fits us just perfect? The questions are endless. The more questions you ask yourself, the more you'll understand that the earth with everything on it and everything around it, (the atmosphere protects us from dangerous sun rays and is the reason we have gravity) is MADE by SOMEONE! That someone is God! We agree that a simple thing like a guitar is made by someone. That's human logic. How much more complicated and complex is a human body? So how much more logical would it be to believe that we were made by someone? Life was created by God!

UMM: You’ll get no arguments from us on that. So, what kind of impact has Ole had on the band?

Extol: As you probably know, Ole did Schaliach a couple of years ago, and that was a kind of melodic doom/death metal. He kind of brought the melodic stuff with him and added it to Extol's already brutal sound. Also, he really has his own way of writing music, so it's often easy for us to hear which parts Ole has made. But, of course, we all learn from each other and pick up things here and there, and "Burial" is a blend of several styles within the metal genre, a mix of warm melodies and cold, brutal black/death metal riffing.

UMM: Kind of an open question, tell us a bit about your Christianity.

Extol: That's a funny question, isn't there only one christianity? (Of course there is. -ED) All of us, except Ole, come from the same Pentecostal Church. Ole is member of another Pentecostal Church. Is that what you mean by the question, directions within christianity? UMM: Sure, we were just wondering where you’ve come from, as far as your Christian background. Extol: Well, what can I say? We all believe that Jesus died for us, that he rose from the grave, and that he soon will be back to bring us to Heaven. In the meantime God has sent us the Holy Ghost so that we can spend time with Him and feel his presence and do some pretty incredible stuff in Jesus' name by the Holy Ghost! That's what the Bible says.

UMM: What are the English translations of the Norwegian song titles on the new cd, Burial?

Extol: "Renhetens Elv" (track #4) - River of Purity, "Innbydelse" (track #9) - Invitation, and "Jesus kom bl jorden for a dø" (track #13) - Jesus came to earth to die.

UMM: Cool! So, how did you enjoy you trip to America? What were your impressions?

Extol: It was great, we really had a good time. The whole trip was a huge blessing for us. Impressions? Well, Texas was extremely hot. I lived in Kenya (Africa) for two years, but that wasn't even close to the humidity and those 110 degrees in Texas. The funny thing is that over here in Norway we've had the coldest summer in 130 years. So I guess we picked the right summer to go to America. Everyone we talked to in Texas were really nice. Our first night in Marble Falls we couldn't find a vacant motel room, so we all crashed in some Texas Rockfest attendees motel room. We had ten people sleeping in one motel room with two beds. They were just so nice to us. Cornerstone was great, even though I ended up with extremely sore feet after walking those rocky roads and paths with my old Converse All-Stars. Galactic Cowboys were the highlight for me, and I think for the others as well. They are definitely one of my favorites. I mentioned that this trip was a real blessing for us, and it was, especially at C-Stone. We weren't scheduled to play, but on our way to Texas, we met the guys of Lament at the Detroit airport. They mentioned that we could split the two and a half hours they had been given on the HM stage with us. So we were going to play at 1:30 AM on borrowed and partly not very impressive equipment. (Sorry guys, that telecaster was bad.) Both Peter and I had very sore feet and we were all very tired. We also knew that there were people in the audience that we had to impress. In other words we had to play a good show, and what can I say, it was the best show we've ever played! I know that God was with us; He was very much with us. So we would very much like to get over there again, where everything is big and play some shows. Our population in Norway is only about four million people.

UMM: One of those people you impressed was obviously from Tooth & Nail/Solid State. Have you officially signed with Tooth and Nail, and if so, are they going to make any changes to the album?

Extol: As of this date September 26, 1998, no we haven’t.(Obviously, since the CD is now out on solid State, they are now signed with them.) But negotiations are going on. It seems like there is a very good chance that "Burial" could be released on Solid State sometime before Christmas. More info can be found on the T&N/SolidState web page.

UMM: Are you guys big Vengeance Rising fans? Scott noticed that you all came up front to mosh when Ultimatum played "Burn" in Texas, plus he said that you pulled off a great version of "Warfare."

Extol: I think we all are fans, except Eystein. You know, Vengeance was one of the really good christian metal bands in the early 90’s, and I guess bands like Vengeance, Believer, Mortification and old Tourniquet are kind of in our blood, 'cause musically we grew up with those bands. I need to point out though that everything Vengeance did after "Once Dead" wasn't really that impressive, but "Human Sacrifice" and "Once Dead" are excellent albums.

UMM: If you were stranded on a desert island, what cartoon character would you most like to spend the rest of your life with, and why?

David: Donald Duck's lucky cousin. (I don't know his American name.) Why? Because he's lucky, of course.
Eystein: Brandy from University2 because she's the prettiest cartoon character as of this day.
Christer: I have to admit that Eystein picked a good one, so I'm tempted to say the same, but that wouldn't be very original, so, I don't know, the question is too deep for me. Sorry, we didn't ask Ole or Peter.

Extol's "Burial CD is available at most stores and through Ultimatum Distribution.

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