Dear readers, in this article we have the pleasure to offer you an interview with a Danish band playing Progressive Metal, with a new album out in January 2025. We welcome Danefae.
Hi, it is a pleasure to have you among our pages, how are you?
“We are very good thank you! Such an emotional roller coaster ride to release an album. Right now the main focus is live concerts, so that’s really nice.“
The band formed recently, how did the project come about and what is the meaning of the name Danefae?
“The name, spelled correctly with an æ – danefæ, describes a Danish historical item. Could be anything from a viking sword to medieval coins or potsherds from the stone age. We thought with the Danish lyrics and historical references it was a good name. I think the band kind of took it’s form with the four of us, Anne, Carl, Jonas and Anders, all loved playing technically hard rock, and loving to compose your own stuff, you end up making a band.“
You play a modern Progressive Rock/Metal genre, how did your passion for these sounds come about and what are your sources of inspiration in this regard?
“I think all four of us have different musical preferences, one likes Opeth, the other Dream Theater, one is into grunge and the final Kate Bush. All these references mixed with our upcoming in the Danish outskirts give us this, to me, kind of unique pool of inspiration.“
Your second album ‘Trøst’ was released on January 31, 2025, how would you describe this work?
“Hmm, that’s a big question. It’s a personal, historical, modern progressive metal album with clean vocals. We try to make the music an intense listening experience with a lot of shifts, but with this album we also challenged yourself to try to make some more long and slowly evolving passages. I think we managed quite ok.“
8 intense and elaborate tracks, what themes do the lyrics deal with?
“Many of the songs deal with the lack of human compassion. They describe how History keeps repeating itself when humans don’t seem to improve. A big “shame on you”-vibe to a lot of the tunes. A couple of them are also very personal. For example P.S. Far er død (meaning: P.S. Father is dead), which is about the guild you can feel when you long for someone you love to die. It was quite hard to write, but we’re really happy with the result.“
A good mixture of vocal and instrumental parts, how does the creative process of your music take place?
“Ah, it’s actually not that cool. Usually a song starts with a sketch idea from a band member, could be any of us, then we put it into a DAW (Ableton, cubase, reaper, you name it) and then bounce it back and forth between each other. From time to time we do these band trips somewhere to write intensely. But usually we haven’t played the song together as a band before we are completely done with the demo. Not very rock and roll, but it works very well for us.“
This is your second studio album, how has your sound evolved since the previous one?
“Heavier is a main characteristic change. And then I think we kind of found out what we liked and disliked from the first album, kept all the cool things: piano riffs, choir stuff, instrumental parts, historical references. And then we just tried to do better riffs, better lyrics, more advanced stuff, that was still easy to listen to. That was kind of what we aimed for anyway.“
Many of our readers and your fans wonder if there will be a chance to hear your music live, do you have plans in this regard for the near future?
“We have a handful of gigs in Denmark in 2025, and then we actually have our first gig in Germany, Dortmund, on the 2nd of March! We will definitely try to spread out our music live as much as we can, but I can’t tell you when we’ll have expanded that business yet.“
Do you have any anecdotes or special memories of your live experiences that you would like to tell us?
“We did a tour in 2023 where we only played on Danish historical sites. That was quite cool, and also quite the challenge. We were very dependent on the weather (since several of them were outdoor) and had no fans who already lived in those areas, so we were very worried, that no one would show up. We played one evening outside in the woods beside an old mine. The vibe was amazing.“
The music market is constantly evolving, how do you see today’s scene in your genre?
“I think from our perspective there are two main movements: “Let’s get it cleaner and more technically advanced” and the other one “retro, old school, let’s go back to the roots”. I think our music is just an example of a band, who can’t make up their mind, and decided to go with both. We kind of like that feature.“
How difficult, if at all, is it to succeed in today’s world with a progressive sound?
“Both difficult and easy. Making progressive music usually means you make something a bit of from the ordinary, which means you more easily stand out, which is always a good thing in the music industry. The hard part, for us at least, has been that the metal fans don’t think what we do is heavy enough and the rock fans think it’s too much. So I think it’s hard for progressive bands, to figure out, where they can fit in. But we’re trying to find a space somewhere.“
What advice would you give to young artists approaching music with sounds like yours?
“Just grind. You have to wait out the shit times, and then remember that you are so lucky to be in a genre with such loyal fans. Once you have them, they never let go.“
Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside of music?
“We’re actually really boring in real life. Our passion is Danefae, our day to day life is where we can shut our brains off and blend in with all the other boring people. It’s nice.“
I thank the band for the interview and wish them all the best for the release of their new album and the continuation of their artistic career.
Purchase new album on Bandcamp: https://danefae.bandcamp.com/album/tr-st