Stockholm’s Jonestown have spent the better part of fifteen years quietly assembling a debut that refuses to compromise. Formed in 2009, reunited in the early 2020s by four of the five original members, and now arriving with “Promise of Enlightenment” — nine original compositions plus two cover tracks, recorded at Studio for Nations in Stockholm and mixed and mastered in Warsaw by Sebastian Has (Behemoth) — the band has finally delivered a document of everything they’ve been building toward. A dense, riff-driven record that channels Thrash aggression and Classic Heavy Metal craft through a lyrical lens focused on religious fanaticism, geopolitical violence, and Horror-driven darkness. Before the record drops, we sat down with the band to dig into the details of their debut album.
Jonestown: The interview features vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Einar Svensson, lead guitarist Jacob Zetterberg and bassist/backing vocalist Linus Larsén.
Jonestown was founded in Stockholm in 2009. Take us back to the beginning — what brought the founding members together, and what was the original musical vision?
Einar:
The band started as the brainchild of Linus and me, since we shared a passion for metal music and realised that we together constituted the foundation for a band. Linus in turn recruited his childhood friends Johan Hambring and Felix Dahlin, and shortly thereafter Jacob Zetterberg, to form the full original line-up. Initially, the visions of the band were to explore the music of our heroes (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth) while also trying out our own songwriting for the very first time. We were clueless teenagers with big dreams!
Linus:
I think most of us had just discovered the magic of playing metal music and playing an instrument in general. At the start it was playing covers of some common favourite songs that brought us together in the autumn of 2009. Some of us met through school or other activities (Einar and I met through chess!) earlier. With Jacob, I think I almost asked him if he was interested to join a band before getting to know him when I heard he played guitar and liked all the music I liked when we met through school at the same time as the band started.
The band went through a prolonged period of inactivity before four of the five original members reunited in the early 2020s. What pulled you back together, and how did that reunion reshape the band’s direction?
Linus:
For me, I think remembering how fun it was playing together with my close friends as well as doing something proper with our own material that we had rehearsed and played live for so many years drove me back to trying to get together again. I think the direction has remained quite the same so far with the focus on finalizing this album. What happens next is yet to be seen. We wrote quite a bit of new material during the pandemic with some new nuances to it so I guess seeing what happens with that will tell a lot about the direction going forward.
Einar:
The reunion was driven both by lucky circumstances (everybody was finally living in the same city again) and by a wish to keep the band alive and to realise the vision of making our hard work public. Linus, Johan, Jacob and Felix had all kept the band afloat during different parts of the hiatus, so we never really went extinct. The reunion saw us a lot more focused and synchronized – we were now more mature, more musically experienced and better prepared to take on the challenge of recording an album. The reunion also sparked a lot of creativity resulting in the production of many new songs yet to be rehearsed and recorded!
Your sound has been described as rooted in Thrash Metal and Classic Heavy Metal, but with a Progressive songwriting sensibility. Which bands or records were the primary reference points when Jonestown took shape?
Jacob:
We all come from different musical backgrounds. When we started the band, I was heavily influenced by guitar-driven metal bands like Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, Lamb of God. Those bands helped shape me as a young guitarist, along with my all-time favourites, Iron Maiden and Metallica.
Linus:
Everyone brought in some different influences to the band, but Iron Maiden, the Big 4 of Thrash and Black Sabbath (especially the Dio era) was some important common ground as far as I remember it based on our early covers! Besides this, I personally come from a punk background with for instance Ramones and The Clash being some of my biggest childhood idols.
Einar:
I was greatly inspired and influenced by bands such as Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Dream Theater, especially for the guitar work and compositions, but also Iron Maiden, Devin Townsend, Fates Warning, and many other progressive rock and metal bands when it comes to lyrics and vocal delivery.
That blend — Thrash aggression filtered through Melodic, structurally complex arrangements — is not the easiest tightrope to walk. How did the band find its own identity within those influences rather than just replicating them?
Linus:
Good question, I think the fact that everyone in the band has quite a broad music taste outside of these genres and even outside metal helps, together with a teenage enthusiasm to discover songwriting and pushing it forward!
Einar:
As Linus says, I think the fact that all of the members had pretty diverse musical tastes ensured that we got to blend many different sounds and influences, and that helped us make our sound as unique as possible.
Jacob:
As we all have different, but sometimes overlapping, influences, the music we create together becomes unique, without trying to force its own identity for its own sake. Speaking for myself, I find influences everywhere, from alternative rock such as The National and The Cure to more extreme metal like Behemoth and Fit For An Autopsy.
“Promise of Enlightenment” has been in the works for a long time. At what point did the material for this album start to crystallize into a coherent record rather than a collection of ideas?
Linus:
To be honest, the basic structure of all songs have probably been around since at least 2013. I think the songs were largely together at the same time as the band started to dissolve gradually. Of course they have been refined and some cool new details have been added. But if you listen to our demo recordings from that time a lot would be the same song-wise. Performance-wise I think the difference is bigger… (to the better luckily!)
Einar:
The majority of the albums songs and arrangements were pretty much in place around 2013, but as Linus says we have refined some key parts in most of the songs after the reunion.
The album’s lyrical framework covers religious fanaticism, geopolitical unrest, and the brutality of war — alongside horror fiction and cinema. How did that thematic world come together, and is there a central narrative thread running through the record?
Einar:
The lyrical themes are diverse and the lyrics were never written with any central narrative in mind, but I do feel that there is a clear overarching theme emerging – namely the depiction of oppression and evil in its many different forms, and how we as humans react to it and cope with it. The lyrics I contributed to were mostly inspired by historical events and literature.
Linus:
For the lyrical work I did for the album, I think it was an interest for the world, history and literature/film and also the dark side of human nature from a teenage perspective that inspired the lyrical themes – just a mix of influences I got exposed to but no bigger common theme in terms of making it a complete album concept.
Lyrically, it’s demanding territory. How do you approach writing about subjects like religious extremism and war without falling into either polemic or exploitation?
Einar:
I don’t think any of the lyrics were created with any strong political message or intent in mind, but naturally songs such as “Jonestown”, “Death Tape” or “Burning Black Gold” could spark mixed feelings because we cover explicit and sensitive topics (the Jonestown massacre and the Gulf War). But I feel that is well within the artistic license.
The first single released was “Jonestown” — a track sharing the band’s name. What does that track represent within the album, and why was it chosen as the opening statement?
Einar:
“Jonestown” is a really big part of the band’s original persona and musical vision, I would say, apart from being a live staple and our most recognised song. It felt natural to put it forth as the first single.
Jacob:
Personally, choosing Jonestown as the first single felt like the obvious choice. It has become something of our unofficial signature song, almost like Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden. I wouldn’t say that we have a strict or easily defined sound, but Jonestown represents who we are as a band very well.
Linus:
I think we chose it for several symbolic reasons, the main being the mutual name. Also, it’s the first/oldest song written of the ones that ended up on the album. Despite being such an early song, it feels very direct and true and I think we all still enjoy playing it a lot.
The second single, “Viy,” draws on Horror-inspired imagery. What was the source material for that track, and how does it fit into the broader thematic architecture of the record?
Linus:
The inspiration was the horror story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. I watched the Soviet film from the 60s based on that story as a teenager, and it felt fun doing a song based on fiction and making a dark song more effortlessly. The song goes along well with the religious themes of our band name and some of the other songs on the record.
Are further singles planned ahead of or following the May 29 release? If so, is there a specific track you’re particularly looking forward to putting in front of listeners?
Einar:
no further single releases are planned. But I especially look forward to hearing what people think about our somewhat more progressive tracks, mostly “Death Tape”, “The Chains Are Off” and “In the Light of a Frightful Dream”.
Linus:
Next single will probably be from the material we wrote during the pandemic for a potential second album coming up. Among the songs from Promise of Enlightenment, I’m especially curious to see how the audience will respond to the longer songs “The Chains Are Off” and “Death Tape” as well as the more melodic/one of a kind “Away”.
The album was recorded at Studio for Nations in Stockholm. What was the recording process like — did you track live as a band, or was it built up layer by layer?
Linus:
The recording process was very long; it took about three years. Luckily, we had a lot of flexibility since our friend Daniel who owns the studio, was engineering the sessions, meaning we could largely take the time we needed. We recorded everything layer-by-layer. Drums first, then bass, rhythm guitar, vocals, lead guitar and finally keyboards.
Sebastian Has — best known for his long-standing work with Behemoth — handled the mix and mastering in Warsaw. How did that collaboration come about, and what did he bring to the sonic identity of the final record?
Jacob:
Being a Behemoth fan, it was a real thrill to work with Sebastian. Once we had shared our musical vision and discussed our preferences, he did an outstanding job translating those ideas into the final mix. The album ended up sounding exactly as I had envisioned.
Linus:
Some of us in the band are big Behemoth fans so his experience working with them really made us interested when scouting around for mixing/mastering. I also liked the production work he did for other bands when diving deeper. He has a philosophy of not doing too extensive editing and rather keeping as much as possible of the original vibe, which also is something that I really like.
Any memorable anecdotes from the studio sessions — moments of breakthrough, tension, or the kind of unexpected accident that ended up on the record?
Jacob:
During the demo recordings, I struggled to get the tone I wanted for the outro of Burning Black Gold. I experimented with different settings and picks, but nothing really delivered the sound I was looking for. Jokingly, Linus suggested I try his Transnistrian ruble, essentially a paper coin from the breakaway state in Moldova. To our surprise, it produced the warm tone I had been chasing. As a tribute to those demo sessions, the ruble was also used for the outro on the album. Daniel, who produced the album and is a true audiophile, couldn’t understand why I would use something like that on a Martin D-28.
Linus:
Well one thing that delayed the album was the disappearance of all vocal, right rhythm guitar, lead guitar and keyboard takes just as we were about to finalise the recording sessions… Apparently the hard drive had been overwritten by mistake, and the backups had not worked as intended… For a brief time, I thought it was the end of the recording project, but kudos to Einar and Jacob for accepting this so quickly and being ready to re-record their parts. In hindsight, I think everything just turned out a little better than before.
Einar:
Apart from the great mishap with the “lost tapes”, I recall with mixed dread and admiration the impossible number of takes Linus did for his bass solo on “Death Tape”. True endurance and professionalism in wanting to create the perfect recording, but it nearly drove the rest of us mad!
Linus:
Yeah, I feel really sorry for Einar and Daniel for this solo session, haha. I had this ambition of doing some super fast 16th-triplets but finally had to accept that I couldn’t do it!
The tracklist includes two bonus cover tracks alongside the nine originals. Which artists or songs did you choose to cover, and what was the reasoning behind including them on this record?
Jacob:
I’ve always had a soft spot for punk and grunge. Besides the music I mentioned earlier, I spent countless hours learning songs by bands like the Ramones, the Clash, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. To me, it feels like a fitting tribute to our band’s history and to the music that helped shape me as a guitarist.
Linus:
The covers are chosen for their place in Jonestown history and are also fun for being slightly unusual for a band in our genre. Wart Hog has been around since very early in our history and is maybe the cover we played live the greatest number of occasions. Breed is from the time when the band was quite inactive and the future unsure, and to me is a symbol of the band staying alive and doing fun covers when live gigs and releasing an album seemed very far away.
Einar:
Wart Hog is one of our favourite covers, and a song that we’ve kind of made “our own” through the sheer speed at which we play it. It also showcases the punk roots of the band, which I think is fitting.
“Promise of Enlightenment” runs approximately 75 minutes — a substantial statement for a debut. Was there ever pressure or temptation to trim it down, or was that running time always part of the vision?
Linus:
It really has not been a discussion, that I remember – it felt natural that these 9 original songs should end up on our first album to me. With that said, maybe we’ll learn something about trimming from this to take with us our next record, haha
Einar:
Well, I also feel that there never was any real doubt about including the full set of songs. It gave us the chance to show the width of our influences and capabilities, and it let every band member shine in different aspects, both when it comes to song-writing, playing and lyrics.
Are there live dates planned around the release? What does a Jonestown show look like in 2026 — setlist construction, staging, the overall experience you want to deliver?
Einar:
No, unfortunately there are currently no live dates planned but we are actively working towards that. But we obviously want to play the bulk of the album and, personally, I would love to work in some more stage theatrics and prop use in the future!
Any live memories from the band’s earlier years — a show that went spectacularly wrong, or one that confirmed you were doing something worth pursuing?
Jacob:
At one of our shows in 2024, just as we were about to start, the house guitar amp suddenly died. I remember thinking, “What if we can’t get this working again and have to cancel the show minutes before we go on?” After failing to revive the amp, the venue crew quickly brought out a replacement without me even noticing. We did a brief 10-second soundcheck, and then the show started.
Linus:
At one of our earliest shows in 2011, the hi-hat stand collapsed while covering “Four Horsemen”. After the gig a PR guy approached one of the other bands playing and wanted to start collaborating with that band, and while doing it he ridiculed how our gig had turned out with this incident without knowing we overheard it. It felt though at that immediate time, but I think our passion for what we were doing was so strong so it was no problems rising up and doing a much better gig, the next time. And the band that was approached by PR agent fell apart soon after, and after everything we are still going strong now so let’s throw in the platitude “never give up” here 😊
Stockholm and the broader Swedish Metal scene have an extraordinary international reputation. How do you see Jonestown‘s place within that ecosystem — and how do you feel the current landscape in your genre compares to where it stood when you first formed?
Linus:
Since we have a history of inactivity with just a few gigs the last couple of years beside the album release, I think our place are yet to be seen. What have changed since we started out and is really cool is how many great thrash/death bands that have been coming up in Stockholm and Sweden in general recently, Xorsist and Bloodstain just for naming two. The scene feels much stronger than in a very long time.
Jonestown‘s debut album “Promise of Enlightenment” is out May 29, 2026. Fifteen years in the making, it stands as proof that some records are worth the wait — and that Stockholm still knows how to build a riff that matters.
Stream and purchase via Bandcamp: https://jonestownsweden.bandcamp.com