Store: Metal-Rules.com - Volume I

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Viperine are represented
on this CD by the track "Like A Viper"

Web: www.viperine.tk
W-mail: viperine@hotmail.com

Viperine - Biography

Sweden's Viperine began as the band Winterlong. Winterlong formed in the beginning of 1998. In 1995 Hussni Mörsare and Erik Tornberg decided to start playing guitar. And as the interest in playing guitar grew, they met Thorbjörn Englund and thought that he was the coolest guitarist in their hometown. Thorbjorn was playing bass at the moment with a band called Endomorph formed by a guitarist named Per Kankanranta, but later on he decided to quit the band and start doing music with Hussni and Erik. Without a permanent drummer Hussni were forced into the drum position, as well as he played guitar and did all the vocals. Suddenly they remembered an old friend who played drums in another band, his name was Mikael Pekkonen.

When Mikael entered the band they came up with the name Winterlong from an old rocker who once had a dream. Mikael played with the band for about one year, and then he left...The main reason was school.

Winterlong now had to find a new drummer, and the only drummer capable of performing WL´s music, and the only one who came to meet their heavy demands was Toni Erkkilä, former drummer with Thorbjörn when they did Endomorph.

This was the beginning of a new era for the band...

The band practiced like possessed and rehearsed like crazy, then they took the music on the road for a few shows. The metalscene in the area in which they where living in was not to big though, and they realized that they had to break out of the cold north to survive. The only problem however was that they went separate ways. Thorbjörn and Erik left town, also did Toni, and only Hussni remained. As time went by, and the guys didn´t hear from each other in a while, Hussni joined Per Kankanranta in a newly started project; Javelin. Erik and Thorbjörn began studying, yet they knew school was absolutely not the place for them. They spend all their time with their instruments instead, and recorded lots of material in Thorbjörns homestudio. They sent their material to record companies all over the world.

Then suddenly, after achieving some contacts with rather small metal labels, mainly in the U.S., they received an E-mail from Lars Eric Mattson, president of Lion Music. He thought the material was pretty good, and the only problem for him, as he stated, was the lack of a real drummer. They had been using a drum machine! Well, that ignited the spark in their lives as they called up Hussni and Toni and told them what was going on. Hussni quit the Javelin-project immediately, and Toni came up from the south of Sweden where he now lived, so once again they joined forces, only this time it was something magical in the air. They signed their very first and well earned record contract!

A short briefing in the awakening of Valley of the lost;

Winterlong – The valley of the lost (Lion Music), has since its launch into the world of metal received very positive critics and been held as a true piece of art by many. At several requests a tour would have been the natural way of following up their success with the album, but when drummer Toni Erkkilä in the late of 2001 had to leave the band, all possibilities for a tour went up in flames. The band now stood without a permanent drummer, and the dragon went to rest. During the cold winter-nights the members still carried on making music for their second album, all in the spirit of Winterlong.

Another line-up change was made in March of 2002 when lead guitarist Thorbjörn Englund left the band and a new axeman was brought in, namely Haparanda raised guitar virtuoso Payre Kankanranta (more about this man can be found at his official website - www.payre.net). The band is currently writing new material for their second album and despite the change of guitarists the band will continue on their set course and the new album is certain to be another step forward.

In April of 2002 the line-up became complete again as drummer Toni returned to the ranks! The band name also changed from Winterlong to VIPERINE. The Viperine line-up is as follows: Hussni Mörsare (Guitars and Vocals), Payre Kankanranta (Lead Guitar), Tony Erkkilä (Drums) and Erik Tornberg (Bass).

Interview Introduction By EvilG

Back in 2001 I heard the first Winterlong CD entitled VALLEY OF THE LOST. This was an excellent traditional metal / aggressive power metal album on Lion Music. In the month's that followed the CDs release I didn't hear much news from the Winterlong camp. Luckily I got an e-mail from Payre, the new guitarist in what is now Viperine. This happened at the exact time I was looking for bands to complete the line-up of the compilation CD. I had a listen to Viperine's pre-production material and right away hoped that maybe, just maybe, they'd be interested in being on the CD. Well since you're reading this, you know their answer was of course yes!! The Viperine track on here represents the first release of any material with the new line-up and with the new band name. I'm sure these guys will be snatched up by some bigger label before too long!

Viperine's guitarist, Payre Kankanranta is the respondent to the below interview.

Reviews: Winterlong - Valley of the Lost

How did you first learn about Metal-Rules.com?

Through links on some other webzine I think!

Are you a regular visitor to the Metal-Rules.com webzine?

Oh Yeah, sure!

How important is Metal-Rules.com or the Internet in general for getting your music?

Well Metal Rules is, since the sampler is due to be out soon, pretty OK I guess! Otherwise our webpage is an easy way for the interested to find out more about the band!

In your experience, either as a reader or as a band, what has Metal-Rules.com meant to you?

Valhalla for a metal-head!

Do you think webzines like Metal-Rules.com are, or maybe someday could, replace traditional published magazines?

Maybe. For the cyber kids, definitely. Personally, I get a headache after readin' too much on the net!

Can you please list the members of the band and what they each person plays?

Hussny Morsare - Lead Vocals and rhythm guitar
Payre Kankanranta - Lead and Rhythm guitars
Erik Thornberg - Bass guitars
Tony Erkkila - Drums

How long has the band been together and what goals would you like to achieve in the coming years with the band?

Under the name Viperine, with me as a guitarist, the band's been around since March 2002. Although the merry three amigos started it up a couple of years ago as Winterlong! They also made one album called "Valley of the Lost".

We set our aims as high as possible of course! Doing our thing on a professional basis is what we are all striving for!

In your opinion, what style of metal would you say best describes what you play?

This is a hard question! We don't want to be labeled as yet another fucking power metal band, but still most people brand us one! In our opinion we are just a heavy metal band! Nothing less, nothing more!

Who have been some of your main influences?

For sure, the band closest to everyone's heart is Manowar! Hussny and Tony are Pantera freaks too. Erik finds inspiration from Billy Sheehan and such I think, and I dig old school hard rock and guitar heroes!

Is your band currently signed to a record label?

For the moment Viperine is still unsigned. But we've had some interesting shit turning up lately! Always on the prowl though!

Have you contributed work to other compilation CDs?

Not as Viperine, no!

Where did they hear about this compilation?

From EvilG himself!

Why did you choose this compilation to get your music to potential fans?

Cause it's always a good thing to get heard! Wherever, whenever! And since this is a compilation put together for fans of metal, of course it's even better!

Besides your song, what is the best feature of the Metal-Rules compilation and why?

I really can not answer this question for the moment since I haven't heard the other tunes! I'm sure they're all great!

Why did you choose this particular song for the compilation?

Because we had a recording of it that was pretty ok, and we were out in the last minute without a possibility to record anything else right then! But still "Like a Viper" is a song that features all of Viperine's trademarks you know! Fast, Hard, Aggressive but still melodic!

Where did you record the song & who wrote it and produced it?

The song is written by me, Payre, and arranged by the whole band! (It was) recorded and produced by ourselves (mainly engineered by Hussny though) and mixed by Hussny!

Would you say that your song on this compilation representative of all your material?

As I mentioned earlier, Fuck Yeah...It's got the shit we're all about.

What is your song on this compilation about and what was the inspiration behind it?

Well, the lyrics are about some strange sexual experiences...mating with a really dangerous woman you know! As in all our lyrics, there always is a true life experience weaved in, although it might be "somewhat" adjusted to be just a little more exciting!

What about this song made you select it for this compilation?

Since the circumstances gave us very little time, and this song was ready, thus chosen! I'm not saying we wouldn't have chosen it anyway, I'm just tellin' the goddamn truth!

What kind of expectations do you have towards this particular compilation? What do you hope to gain by being featured?

Some more fans of course! We'll see what turns out!

Are you hoping this might help you in some way gain the kind of exposure that may lead to a label picking you up?

I can't really answer that! We have to see what turns out, but we're hoping to get the exposure that leads some more metal lovers in our direction!

As you know, most of the bands on this compilation are not extremely well known. Do you think a compilation CD with a group of mostly underground bands is a great way to help get your music noticed?

Yeah, these compilations are great! That's what got Metallica and Slayer started!

What do you think of compilation CD’s overall?

If all the bands rock, it's a great thing for every fan!

What kinds of things should a compilation feature in order to make it worth purchasing and what makes a compilation worthwhile?

This is hard for us to answer! It's up to everyone's personal opinion!

If you had a chance to put together this type of compilation, what would be some of the unsigned bands you’d like to feature?

We are not really into the underground scene. For the moment we have to focus on our own survival in the jungle of bands that's out there!

Would you be interested in sacrificing another song for “Metal-Rules.com - Vol. II” if the opportunity presented itself?

I'd think so, yeah!

Where can people order your other recorded material?

Currently, we are not selling any demo recordings! The best way to know what's up is to check out our webpage or drop us an e-mail!

What are your band’s upcoming battle plans?

A lot! But nothing that we want to make public for the moment due to a lot of circumstances!

Do you have any live dates coming up that you’d like to list here?

No, not for the moment as we're not currently playin' outside Sweden! Any live dates will be posted on our webpage!