With the debut album A New World, Norwegian act Terravia is positioning themselves as a new comet in the prog sky. After several concerts around their hometown of Trondheim throughout the past year – which culminated in a support gig with Conception at their concert in Trondheim in October – the focus has been on completing their debut album. With the album out, the band is now ready to address a larger audience.
Their music has been compared to everything from Dream Theater, Opeth and Transatlantic to more traditional prog like Pink Floyd and Genesis.
The songs are often long and complex, and include everything from quiet, contemplative sections to epic climaxes. Genre-wise, they range quite widely, with inspiration from both 70s prog rock and more modern subgenres within rock and metal.
– We’ve been working on the music on this album for a long time now, says drummer Anders Kristiansen.
– We’re looking forward to finally letting people hear it in its entirety. We’ve played the songs live, but it’s different when you have the studio recordings compiled on an album, and can reach listeners who haven’t had the opportunity to attend any of our concerts yet.
The album’s first single, Arcane Horizons, came out in April last year, and single number two, The Origin, was released at the end of November. Both have been very well received, and have garnered praise from all quarters.
A New World consists of five songs, which are linked together in a loose concept where the main theme can be said to be human hubris and the inability to learn from past mistakes.
Singer Petter Falk elaborates:
– If you look at the big picture, you can interpret the concept as a civilization destroying itself, and the survivors must travel to a new world to start over. But you can also see it from the perspective of an individual who must start over after their own vanity, pride and greed have torn down the life they had.
The album opens with War!, which describes the destruction that war brings, both on a societal and on a personal level. The Origin explores learning from the mistakes of the past, perhaps what led to the strife in the first place, and making better choices in the future. Strive to Endure is about standing together against the destruction humanity is inflicting on the world, and building each other up instead of tearing each other down, while in Arcane Horizons you get a glimpse of what the future could be like if you can’t learn from your previous mistakes and work towards a common goal. The title track, A New World, depicts a journey to a new world where one can start over, in the hope of not falling into the same traps again.
So what are the plans going forward for Terravia? Guitarist Anders Danielsen answers:
– Now we are putting all our efforts into the band. We want to play as much as possible, and are working on getting a record label. We are already well underway with the writing of album number two, so A New World is definitely not the last you will hear from us. This is just the beginning!
The drums were recorded at Stringville Studio in Lillehammer, with Kjell Magne Robak as technician. The rest of the album was recorded by the band themselves in Trondheim. Rohan Sharma contributes keys on Arcane Horizons and A New World. In addition, Tine Sköll Johansen contributes with vocals on Strive to Endure, Jørgen Krøger Mathisen with violin on A New World, and Ingrid Lauten and Jørgen Simarud Stabell with trumpet and trombone, respectively, on War!.
The album was mixed and mastered by Adam Bentley.
Charles Assaf and Petter Falk are responsible for the cover design.
Terravia is:
Anders Danielsen: electric guitar, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Petter Falk: vocals, acoustic guitar
Øystein Helland: electric guitar, backing vocals
Anders Kristiansen: drums, marimba, percussion
Kevin Meli: bass
Øystein Myre: keys, vocals
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