In February 2021, Finnish quintet EPHEMERALD released their impressive first effort “Between the Glimpses of Hope.” By mixing epic symphonic elements with the high energy of death metal, harsh and beautiful clean vocals, but also some folk here and there, they created a varied and intense album. We had the opportunity to chat with guitarist and composer Joni Snoro about it, find out more below.
Hi! Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. How are you today?
My pleasure! Our debut album is finally out now, so I’m pretty fine, thanks for asking!
Could you please introduce yourself and EPHEMERALD to our readers? And how would you describe your music to someone, who hasn’t heard about it before?
Sure, my name is Joni Snoro. I’m a guitar player and composer behind the music of EPHEMERALD, which is a Finnish band. We create epic, yet furious and straightforward metal music from the hearts of its creators.
You just released your debut album “Between the Glimpses of Hope.” How do you feel about it, and how has it been received so far?
This album means a lot to us and the whole journey from forming the band in late 2016 to this day was filled with storms and life changing moments of many kinds, so it’s a great feeling to finally hold the album in my hands. Some kind of circle has closed now. The feedback on the album has been more than we could have ever asked for! It was 2 weeks in the official Finnish album charts, got many streams, great reviews, and comments from people.
What can you tell us about the cover artwork and how does it reflect the album thematically?
First of all I need to say that Petri Lampela did an amazing job with the cover art! We sent songs and lyrics to Petri, so he could get into the album mood. We just had an idea about the color theme, but for the rest we gave free hands. The first draft of what we got back was the one that you can see now. Thematically, that artwork crystallizes the album content to one picture.
Musically speaking, “Between the Glimpses of Hope” is a fantastic album, and considering that this is a debut makes it even more impressive. One reason might be the experience you bring in as musicians, as you all play in different bands already. How did you guys find together?
Thank you for your words! I had a couple of songs in my pocket in 2016 and got the idea to ask Vesa (VORNA) to do vocals for them. We had played some shows together, so I knew Vesa from there. It escalated quickly, and soon Lauri (VOIDFALLEN) and Juho (APOCRYFAL) joined the band. Both were my friends already and we live in the same town. Couple of years later, Lauri was in some kind of family reunion and found out that his cousin Tuomo (MECHANIK PROJECT) made movie soundtracks. In 2020 he also joined the forces of EPHEMERALD and now the line-up is complete.
Is there a story or deeper meaning behind your band name?
Yes, actually there is lots of meaning behind the name EPHEMERALD. So far we have also seen some great speculations about it, and maybe we keep the mystery over the name!
Where do your main influences come from?
Every song that I wrote for the album hides behind real stories, memories, and feelings, so the main influence comes from my own life.
Can you briefly describe your writing and recording process, please?
The songwriting process has been very straightforward so far. I have written all the music, then Vesa has done the lyrics and vocal arrangements. After that, every member threw in ideas and made their own arrangements if needed.
Do you have a favorite song on “Between the Glimpses of Hope?”
That’s a pretty hard question because I like every song of the album, haha. It depends on the day!
What can you tell us about your future plans?
We like to keep little mystery clouds over the band and don’t want to make future statements. We live in the moment and don’t think about the future too much. But I have to say that when I write music, I write it for EPHEMERALD, and I’m pretty sure that there’s lots of ink in the pen left.
Great to hear that. Lastly, do you have anything you’d like to share with our readers before we wrap things up?
Thousands of thanks to everyone for the support that we have got so far! It means a lot to us! Keep up the good spirit in these weird times we live!
