Haunted By Silhouettes is a melodic death metal band from Trondheim, Norway. When the sense of direction is lost, and there is simply no motivation to continue on a certain path, a new course is bound to be set because the will to create is alive and continues to burn. Back in Trondheim, Norway during 2013, vocalist Mathias Jamtli Rye, guitarist Stian Hoel Fossen, and bassist Fredrik Voje Vinje, felt that their early band had no future, and therefore made a decision which led to the foundation of Haunted By Silhouettes.
The ambitious trio had a shared vision towards the next generation of Scandinavian bred melodic death metal, which included various aspects of attitude and a harmonious form of metalcore. Setting a course that is similar to early 2000’s In Flames, Soilwork, Killswitch Engage and Dark Tranquillity, the band (along with two additional members) created a number of notable singles and EPs. Even with sheer determination though, co-founder Fredrik Voje Vinje, left the band after the debut EP, The Final Mind Plague was released in 2014.
2017 was a pivotal change for the band however, with the recruiting of guitarist, Per Kristian Grimsland. Stian comments, “Per Kristian might have had the biggest impact on the band. He was a driving force to make the band work on a more professional level, and he really stepped up our sonic sound with the production and mixing of our first two albums.”
One year later, the single Iskalde Blikk changed everything for the band and elevated them to the next stage in the market. Iskalde Blikk is considered one of the band’s proudest achievements. Mathias remembers, “We were lucky enough to gain traction and interest for Iskalde blikk and the music video that accompanied the track. We suddenly became a tad more interesting to reviewers and online fans of the melodic death metal genre. It is because of Iskalde Blikk that people worldwide started to notice us”. Stian adds, Iskalde Blikk was also one of the reasons we got our first record deal with the small, independent label Rob Mules Records”.
Prior to their engagement with Rob Mules Records, Haunted By Silhouettes released their debut album, Shortcuts to Dead Ends (2018), as an independent release. Later on, signed to the Norwegian label, the band unleashed their sophomore, The Last Day On Earth (2019).
Fast forward to present day, the band’s new EP No Man Isle, sees Haunted By Silhouettes newly signed to Eclipse Records, ready to tackle the next step in their career. The EP was planned to become a short concept story written by Mathias, inspired by poet John Donne, focusing on themes such as solitary survival, family, independence and societal humanity. Mathias comments, “No Man Isle centers around a middle-aged divorced man that decides to cut all ties with the world, and to live on his family’s deserted island for the rest of his life. He travels to the island and a lot of mysterious things happen that seem to be connected to his uncle’s disappearance from the island 40 years earlier.”
The musical vision behind the EP saw the band turn to a slightly more melodic direction, while taking the song arrangements to the next level, while aspiring to become larger than life. Mathias states, “The songs are perhaps more melodic and to the point this time around with more distilled, focused details added to each song. There’s also a maritime retro vibe going on with the added synth arrangements that make the songs pop out more and sound a bit bigger, epic and unique.”
No Man Isle was also a great opportunity for Haunted By Silhouettes to take their unique death metal sound – down a heavier path. Their method of writing, demoing, and finally recording the album was an experience to remember. Stian recalls, “We wanted to tune down from drop-C to drop-A to make the sound heavier. Per Kristian and I wrote a bunch of riffs and then the whole band took a trip to a cabin in the mountains of Norway to write 7 demo tracks for the EP. From those seven, five songs ended up on the EP.” No Man Isle was released worldwide on May 6, 2022 via Eclipse Records.
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