Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, Sorcerer stands as one of the true keepers of the epic doom metal flame.
Formed in the late 1980s, the band has built a reputation for their majestic blend of heavy, melodic riffs, soaring vocals, and lyrical themes rooted in mythology, darkness, and human emotion.
After a long hiatus, Sorcerer re-emerged stronger than ever, delivering a series of powerful albums that have cemented their place among the genre’s elite. Their sound bridges the grandeur of traditional heavy metal with the emotional depth of doom — dramatic, heavy, and utterly captivating.
Below you will find the interview, that Joanna Gonas conducted with Kristian, band’s guitarist!
Metal War: Could each of you introduce yourselves to our readers by sharing your role in Sorcerer, and maybe one word that best describes what you bring to the band’s sound?
Kristian: I’m Kristian and I’m one of the two guitar players in the band. Happy to be here! I think I contribute the “modern” sound (if we have any of that) to our music. I’m constantly checking out new bands, not just metal but across different genres, and I try to get some of that stuff to come out during writing. We can’t only draw from Sabbath, Priest and Maiden if you know what I mean haha. I like a lot of new-ish music like Gojira, Knocked Loose, Lorna Shore, Loathe etc so maybe those influences seep into our music.
Metal War: Your latest album, Reign of the Reaper, feels both heavier and more melodic than before — what was your vision behind it, and how do you feel it pushes Sorcerer’s music forward?
Kristian: Thanks! Our goal was to expand the sound and have more variety in the writing. We wanted some heavier songs, some faster ones etc. It’s really boring to just play long, slow songs live so we wanted to write some faster numbers that we could include in the live set. The Curse of Medusa is a good example. It’s also a reaction to the previous album which was very slow and gloomy. Reign… is a bit more upbeat and our heavy metal influences come through a bit more I think. We also tuned down our guitars for the first time; Morning Star is in D and I think Thy Kingdom Will Come has a part that’s in C. New territory for us.
Metal War: If “Reign of the Reaper” were a movie, what would its genre, director’s style, setting, and mood be?
(Imagery + metaphorical thinking can open up creative ideas.)
Kristian: Oh wow…… I have no idea actually. I don’t think about music like that.
Metal War: When writing longer, more elaborate pieces (like those on Lamenting of the Innocent or Reign of the Reaper), how do you structure the tension and release? Do you storyboard the song like chapters, or is it more organic?
Kristian: It’s very organic. It’s always rewarding to play with contrasts: slow Vs fast, one chord Vs several, heavy parts Vs clean stuff, consonance Vs dissonance etc. But really, the only question you have to ask yourself when writing is ‘what comes next?’ You might have a cool riff but then what? The songs just grow naturally and organically from that. Some songs get long because it feels like they haven’t fully evolved after 4-5 minutes, they need to be 9 minutes to really get to everything we want to say, whether that’s musically or lyrically. I think this is probably true for how most people write.
Metal War: Which non-metal art forms (e.g. painting, literature, cinema, poetry) have recently influenced your lyrical or musical choices, more than ever before, and can you trace a specific example in one of your songs?
Kristian: I think a few movie soundtracks might have influenced a few pieces on the new album but I’m not giving anything away. Where’s the fun in that? Better if people discover that stuff for themselves. As far as lyrics go our bass player Justin is a devourer of literature; he reads tons of stuff and certainly draws inspiration from that.
Metal War: How do you handle the contrast between heaviness / darkness and melody / beauty in your music? Is there ever a point where you feel you’ve pushed too far one way and need to “pull back” or restrain yourselves for balance?
Kristian: Sure, sometimes I can be guilty of putting too many “pretty” parts in the music and we need to make it more sinister. I’m a huge fan of, amongst other things, well-written pop music and I have to keep those influences at bay or the other guys in the band will scold me. Which they actually do, haha. I find it harder to write “evil-sounding” parts for some reason. I can whip up a poppy chorus in no time but ask me to write a simple-but-awesome riff like the song “Black Sabbath” and it takes forever.
Metal War: Given your early demos were underground classics, how does living and creating in an era of streaming, social media, and digital platforms change your mindset vs. creating before that? What do you miss of the “old” way, and what do you embrace now?
Kristian: The big change is it’s much harder to make a living doing this. We’re basically losing money when we go out and play live because everything is so fucking expensive. Also there’s no mystery to bands anymore. With one click you can find out everything about a band which I find a bit boring. The good thing is that everyone can get their music out there without needing a record label but sometimes that’s also a bad thing because you just get lost in a sea of new releases.
Metal War: When you return to stage after an album like Reign of the Reaper that you feel has layers, which parts are you most excited to reinterpret live, and which parts do you anticipate changing or adapting?
Kristian: We try to recreate everything that’s on the albums. We do use backing tracks for the orchestral parts and the huge choirs and the odd part here and there but everything else is live, and that’s the way we want it. Sometimes we have to drop a guitar part because I like to layer tons of different guitars to create a big epic sound but it’s probably not very noticeable if one of those layers disappear in a live setting. Everyone in the band can sing so we enjoy recreating those vocal layers live.
Metal War: Is there a lyric, a riff, or a moment in your new album that started accidentally (a jam, a mistake, a happy accident) and then became central to the song?
Kristian: The opening melody in Morning Star was a very happy discovery. I was in the gym by myself and the melody just popped into my head. It probably doesn’t qualify as an accident but there aren’t many accidents in our music really. It’s all very thought out and planned.
Metal War: What’s the role of silence or “space” in your songwriting — those moments when you don’t fill everything with sound? How intentional are they, and what do they bring to the doom / epic atmosphere?
Kristian: Everything in our songs is intentional. Space is important as a contrast to dense and chaotic. If something is full-on all the time it gets boring, if something is quiet all the time it also gets boring. We like to use contrast to create motion, tension and release in our songs and space is one tool we can use.
Metal War: Do you ever write with specific listeners in mind (someone you met, a fan, a friend), or is it more about internal personal narratives? Could you tell of a song where a listener’s reaction altered how you view or finish it?
Kristian: No not really, but personally I sometimes write songs/parts with a live performance in mind. Like, how will the audience react when we go from this part to that part? That’s something that can help when writing music, or at least it helps me tap into a different vibe.
Metal War: If you could go back to 1992, after your second demo, and tell your younger selves one piece of advice about creating / careers, what would it be — musically, personally, or organizationally?
Kristian: I wasn’t in the band then so I can’t really answer that.
Metal War: How do you see Sorcerer’s “legacy” evolving— not just in albums, but influence on other bands, on the doom scene in Sweden and abroad? Are there things you wish to leave behind beyond just records (e.g. sound, ethics, performance style)?
Kristian: Without sounding like a pompous asshole with an out-of-control ego I’d like to think that we are all pretty decent musicians and that we maybe have a more “virtuosic” flair than most doom bands. That stuff might be more common in progressive or power metal. That’s one thing. We also have one of the best singers on the planet in our band so that helps a lot too haha 🙂 To me Anders is the best singer in doom, bar none. His feel and delivery is top notch and the thing that I believe makes us stand out from other bands in our genre.
Metal War: What’s something about Sorcerer that most people (fans, press) consistently misunderstand or overlook, and what do you wish they would pay more attention to?
Kristian: I think our fans know what they’re getting with Sorcerer but I’d just wish more people were given a chance to hear us. I think we can appeal to a lot of different listeners, they just have to know about us.
Metal War: Your last show in Greece was in Volos — what do you remember most from that performance, and what would it take for you to plan a return here? Perhaps in Athens, Thessaloniki, or other cities?
Kristian: It was a really great show, great audience, but it took such a long time to get there. On about two hours of sleep we traveled from Norway from a gig the night before to Bulgaria I believe and then a 6-hour van ride to Volos from the airport. We were hungry, tired and exhausted when we got there but we were ready to ROCK! And rock we did 🙂 Also we had read in Swedish newspapers about the massive fish death in Volos and how the whole town smelled like rotten fish. Not true at all. The driver took us past the river and there we could notice a faint fishy smell but nothing like it was made out in the media. Also our bass player had a Pasta Carbonara and threw up (he’s very allergic to mushrooms). I mean, who puts mushrooms in Carbonara?!
Metal War: Looking ahead, where do you see Sorcerer’s journey taking you — musically, thematically, or even in terms of live shows and collaborations?
Kristian: We are currently writing for our fifth album (all on Metal Blade) and having a ton of cool ideas. It’s too early to tell if there will be a theme to the album’s lyrics but we have a few ideas kicking around. The last album was basically about death, Satan and stuff like that while Lamenting of the Innocent dealt with the witch hunts. We’ll see. Music-wise I’ve written the slowest, most doomy song I’ve ever done so far, we’ll see if it makes the album. It’s like a pizza of doom with extra everything on it! When it comes to live shows we do mostly festivals. More chances of people who don’t know us can hear us.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! It was a real pleasure hearing your thoughts and diving deeper into your music and creative journey. Your dedication and passion for heavy metal truly shine through, and it’s been an honor to feature you.
Wishing you continued inspiration and success with everything that’s ahead — both on stage and in the studio.
Cheers,
/Kristian
Metal greetings and respect,
Interview – text: Joanna Gonas
