Opus Limbonica with Sami Selkäinaho
Art: Roberto Toderico
Founded in 2017, Clamoris set out to bring their vision of neoclassical-inspired extreme metal to life. Originally planned as a two-person studio project formed by keyboardist/composer Sami Selkäinaho and vocalist/bassist Niko Peräkorpi, but feeling that due to the demanding nature of the songs, a total band effort would be highly beneficial. They introduced drummer Tom Israels and guitarists Joonas Kinnari & Samuli Kaakinen to the music, who, upon hearing the material, agreed to join the band. After working out the songs for the album, rehearsing them for a while and demoing one of them in the latter half of 2018, the band felt they were ready to start working on recording the debut album, named ‘Opus Limbonica’, which was finalized and prepared for release in 2022.
Our music is a meeting site of classical music and extreme metal. We like to dabble with these two contrasting styles in a light vs dark duality to attempt to express life and humanity. As a songwriter, our music means exploring the full spectrum of my influences, ranging from the most obscure extremes of my tastes, whilst trying to tie it into a coherent whole.
Our debut album is, as described above, a combination of classical and metal worlds. In our case, the creative side is handled by a single person, me. Most of the album was written in the Spring-Summer of 2017, a while ago. Our vocalist suggested that I set up a band with neoclassical stuff going for it, and I took up on the suggestion to see what I could cook up with this kind of stuff.
The lyrics have different angles to them, I would say, but they come together into a singular whole. The album is a somewhat negative ordeal, dealing with hate, apocalyptic visions, lies, and deception. Most days, I liken it to something of a bad habit. I would be better off putting my spare time into many other things at my age. Still, I’ve learned to reconcile that if you happen to be a creatively inclined person, you are basically stuck with having to pursue it in one form or the other.
My journey started quite early on. Combine the fact that I was a teenager during the early 2000s when metal was pretty huge with the fact that I’m Finnish, where metal is a good deal bigger than in most places, so it was easy to get into metal with all the TV shows and friends and acquaintances pushing it on me. The earliest stuff I listened to was Eurodance, but I got into metal music when I was ten after I stumbled upon Korn. After that, I was sold and kept sinking further into the pit.
This is a tricky question. We still don’t have a comprehensive answer as to why we enjoy music. The angle I find myself approaching this often is that it allows us to keep connected with that part of us that we must keep caged in a civilized society. One of the significant attributes of the general success of humanity as a species is our ability to adapt. Still, we prefer to avoid being put in places where we must adapt to our everyday lives. People resist change in general yet are bored in the absence of it. Art is a way to stimulate that part of us, among others. Albeit, there are more comprehensive answers.
www.clamoris.fi
