Greetings...  I believe "World Of Ice" is the first album by INSANIA, however I may be wrong due to the lack of information on your band when it comes to metal mass media and WWW.  Have you got any other albums, singles or videos?  Where can I get information on your band?  Can I have some info regarding your history and other stuff from you at the moment?

- As you believed "World Of Ice" is our debut album. The only info on the band, so far is found at www.houseofkicks.se and that is not much. We dont have an own homepage yet, but soon we'll hopefully will have one. It's under construction. Our debutalbum is the only thing we have released so far.
The story of INSANIA (shortly): In 1992 Mikko and Henrik started a nameless band at the time they were studying in the same building in school, but different classes. The band had two guitarplayers, a bassplayer and a drummer. They played mostly covers by HELLOWEEN and IRON MAIDEN. In 1993 I joined the band for a short period, but I got tired of playing the same songs over and over again and never having any concerts. The same year Patrik joined in and now the band had also a keyboardplayer. At this time, Niklas studyied in the same class with Mikko and he became interested of playing the guitar, so Mikko started to teach him. And he was a talented beginner and he learned very fast. In the beginning of 1994 Niklas eventually joined the band also. They called themselves INSANITY at the time. They started to really put their energy on writing own songs and even if the result wasn't always the best, they were heading in the right direction. Constantly improving their own skills and the level of songwriting, they started to get a small but true number of listeners. In 1996 I made my comeback in the band and shortly after we changed the bandname into INSANIA. Now we were to 5/6 parts fully manned, but we needed a singer. Mikko had sang at all the concerts we played, even if he is a skilled singer it's very tough to sit behind the drums and play in a high tempo, so we went out with a note, that said that we were looking for a metalsinger. So in the autumn of 1997 a fairly shy guy namned David showed up in our rehearsalstudio and we asked him about his background and what kind of music he liked, etc. We played and he sang "The Trooper" with IRON MAIDEN and his voice was superb, so there was no doubt: He was our man. Now we were complete, and early in 1998 we recorded our first demo. We decided to send it to a few recordcompanies, not really believing we would get a recorddeal. But a week later Mikko got a phonecall from Johan Hargeby at House Of Kicks and Mikko thought he was first making a fool out of him. But we got a contract offer, signed it and here we are today...
Now to some personal stuff about INSANIA: 4/6 parts of the band are Finnish. Mikko, Henrik, Patrik and I have Finnish parents but we all are born in Sweden and have lived our whole lives here.  We speak Finnish fluently and the song "Fighting My Tears" is a dedication to FINLAND written by Mikko. Everyone except for David are from Stockholm and thats why we are called INSANIA (Stockholm).  I'll come back to this matter later.  David moved to Stockholm in the autumn of 1997 from the northern parts of Sweden. He comes from a really small town. We are are between 22 and 24 years old. I'm the oldest and David the youngest member. For the moment we are just rehearsing a lot, writing and improving songs for our next album that will be released next year.

Here is a set of questions concerning the cover of "World Of Ice" which truly captured my imagination: who came up with the cover and what does it reflect (I am sure it has a meaning)? "Hymns of Insania Stockholm part I": do you consider your songs to be hymns? And furthermore, does your full band-name sounds like "Insania Stockholm"? If not why does the city of your origin appears near the band’s name? Moreover, when part 2 is going to be unleashed and what will it sound like?

- The cover of  "World Of Ice" is painted by a guy named Dick Aschenbrenner here in Stockholm. We wanted it to have a landscape of ice and snow, with a mystical and magical appearance. The castle was also one of our wishes and the clock in the ice on the right, has a symbolic meaning to the band. It had to be an old watch showing the time 5 past 5. The watch has been a symbol for the band for a long time. None of us knows really when and why it was painted and why it had to show the time 5 past 5. We know for shore that it was painted by Niklas in the band during a party. So when it was time to have the cover made we gave Dick quite much freedom to experiment like he wanted. And when we saw his first drawing, we decided to have it. We are all very satisfied with the cover and hopefully everyone likes it. The cover has no specific meaning, but the song "World Of Ice" tells the story... The explanation to the bandname INSANIA (Stockholm) is that there are, what we didn't know earlier, 3 other bands called INSANIA. One in Germany, one in Tjeckia and one in Ireland. So we didn't want to get in trouble using "their" bandname so we added (Stockholm). Just like the bands TEDDYBEARS have done. One is called (Stockholm) and the other (Germany). But we like to be called plainly INSANIA. Why we have written: «Hymns of Insania (Stockholm) part 1» is that it sounds good to to call the songs hymns, but we don't consider the songs to be hymns. Not all of them at least. Some songs can be called hymns in a way. And part 1 is part 1. Part 2 is our forthcoming album. It will be called: "Hymns of Insania (Stockholm) part 2". The name is not decided yet for that album. Part 2 will be improved one more step in the direction we are heading. Part 1 had a few quite old songs that we had improved a lot musically and written new lyrics to. The song "Paradisia" was written already in 1994, but has been remade a lot during the years and the final result is on part 1.  One of the last songs we wrote to part 1 was "Fighting My Tears" and that is quite similar to the songs we are writing and finishing now.  On part 1 Mikko wrote all tracks except for "Carried By Wings" that Henrik wrote. On part 2 everyone will be part of at least one song each, so I think everyone has improved their songwriting skills. Personally I feel that the new songs are more melodic and powerful and I think that part 2 will be even better than part 1. On part 1 we had 2 ballads, but on part 2 it is not really certain that we will have any ballads on.

I was really surprised when I saw that “World Of Ice” was brought forth the light by No Fashion Records, the label which is well-known for releasing mostly death and black metal bands! How did it turn out the way that INSANIA was signed to the same company with DARK FUNERAL and LORD BELIAL…???

- When we sent our demo to H.O.K., they didn't have any other melodic power metal band signed. They only had death metal and black metal bands and a few other styles. And when we signed with H.O.K. they had been looking for a melodic metal band and there we were. They didn't have a label that suited our musicstyle so we got No Fashion as our label. That's the story...

According to Kai Mathias Stalhammar (the main guy behind Vae Solis, the magazine I’m working for), Swedes are heavily into beer-drinking and there are a lot of nice stories to tell about it…  What are your comments on this assertion?  Have you got any stories to tell or can any advice of a true power metal way to get drunk (*gigles*)?

- Yes! We drink a lot of beer and also cider. Spirits works too. Mostly we drink beer when we party and want to have something to drink with a meal. Maybe it's so because some of us are, like I told, Finnish. We like to take a saunabath and drink beer before, during and after the sauna. And a fact is that Finnish people drink more beer than Swedish, but Swedes are good at it too. We drink mostly finnish beer, it's the best. A word of wisdom from us: Don't drink when you rehearse or play live. It only makes you play bad. But off the stage and studio, feel free to have a beer or 10...

Europe gives life to a new generation of power metal bands, such as NOCTURNAL RITES, HAMMERFALL, SINERGY and many others. What do you think about the aforementioned acts – and the same questions goes for the power metal gods, such as GAMMA RAY, HELLOWEEN (Kai Hansen anyway), BLIND GUARDIAN, RAGE, STRATOVARIUS? Can we compare them in any way?  Where would you ‘place’ yourself in the power metal scene?

- We listen to many different metal bands and everyone in the band has their own favorites. Henrik likes KISS, David likes Ozzy / BLACK SABBATH and I like METALLICA. But we all agree that power metal is the best. We have got lots of inspiration from bands like HELLOWEEN (both without and with Kai Hansen), STRATOVARIUS and Yngwie Malmsteen. Those bands I believe are the biggest influences to our music today, but we listen to and love bands like: GAMMA RAY, EDGUY, MANOWAR, NOCTURNAL RITES, DREAM THEATER and many more. If we would have to place ourselves somewhere on the power metal scene I would describe it like this: We are a quite unknown band so far and haven't reached the heights of the bands you mentioned. But we hope and will try to climb higher and sell a lot of records, hopefully make a living out of our music. We play a very honest kind of music, no artificial stuff and the lyrics are mostly taken from happenings and feelings in our lives. I think you can compare all the power metal bands…

In my opinion our society leads an individual to degradation and slowly kills itself with envy, greed and materialism. All feelings and possibly good intentions are gradualy sold out for more materialistic pleasures that money provide. Would you agree with me?  What is your opinion on the subject I mentioned above?  What can lead a human race to so-called 'paradisia' and what is the sence of human life?

- Buten more important than human and environmental values. One of the ways to "paradisia" is to have no religion, because that has lead to many wars. Racism and capitalism should also disappear. But this is the way it is now, so we'll have to fit in to this way of life.

What do you think of magic and all sorts of spiritualistic practices as well as of personal spiritual growth?  Have you had any practices in this area?  What are your beliefs concerning this question?

- We haven't had any magical or spiritualistic happenings. But the most of us believe in some sort of higher mind or spirit. David is a christian and he believes in god, so that's his belief. Many of us believe that some other kind of life exists in the universe.

What is perfect on “World Of Ice” and what needs further improvement? Can you give us your own review on this CD?

- I think you mean the album when you ask about the quality. We should have had more time to record the album. Everything was done in a hurry, because the budget was a little small due to us being a new band. But we are fairly satisfied with the sound quality and the instrument levels on the album. We will record the next album in a different studio this time. The cover is very nice in our opinion, but maybe we won't hire the same coverpainter again. My review: A good debutalbum, with many strong songs and a well balanced mixture of fast, heavy and slow songs. Guitars, drums, keyboards and bass are used well together and not creating any mess out of the solos and instrumental parts. Great melodies and powerful refrains makes it a must for a true metal conscious listener. 8/10. (You're never really satisfied with anything you do...)

What are the best five albums ever made and why?  What were the bands and the albums that inspired you to take the instruments and start to learn playing? What amased you most of all on these albums, maybe any songs in particular?

- The five best albums ever:
1. STRATOVARIUS "Visions". Great songs from the first beat to the last tune. None of the songs have any weakness and you just enjoy the whole album. Songs like "Black Diamond", "Paradise" and "Forever Free" are pure gold for your ears.
2. EDGUY “Theater Of Salvation”. Even better than “Vain Glory Opera” that is a fantastic album. Tobias Sammet’s voice is special and very good. It takes EDGUY to an even higher level. The melodies and songs are superb with very good lyrics and wonderful refrains. “Babylon” and “Wake Up The King” got stuck into my mind the first time I heard the album. “Land Of The Miracle” must be one of the best ballads ever written.
3. EDGUY “Vain Glory Opera”. Do I need to say anymore. Songs like “Vain Glory Opera”, “Scarlet Rose” and “Until We Rise Again” tells the story.
4. STRATOVARIUS “Destiny”. Needs no specific comments. Worldclass. “S.O.S.”, “Playing With Fire” and “Anthem Of The World” are the best on this album.
5. HELLOWEEN "Keeper Of The Seven Keys 1&2". These albums need no more further explanation. Many others consider these to be the best albums ever made. "Future World" has inspired me a lot to start to play an instrument. Michael Kiske is th best singer ever in my opinion.
My biggest influences in the beginning were METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN and HELLOWEEN. But later STRATOVARIUS and EDGUY, with many more has inspired me. Steve Harris and Markus Grosskopf has been the most inspiring bassplayers for me.

What is the essential thing for the future prosperity of the human race?

- Find a cure for HIV, remove religion and stop the racism. People of different cultures shouldn't mix like they do today, it only starts fights because of different values and ways of lifes.

Do you have any final words left for us?

- To all metal fans: Keep the music fast and hard. Stay metal!!!

INSANIA contact –
Email: lager@elt.se