VON HERTZEN BROTHERS

As Mikko Von Hertzen fills us in on the Finnish band’s new album, VII: War Is Over, we’re taken all over the map. The frontman kicks off the journey by revealing that the new record’s roots can be traced back to its hard-hitting predecessor, 2015’s New Day Rising.

“With the last album we had a clear vision of making a killer rock album with ‘America’ written all over it,” he says. “Maybe as a rebound, we now felt like turning back to more proggy and landscape-y expression.”

Mikko went India to work on lyrics. “I lived for many years in south India. I go there for better concentration and vibes.”

He then conjures up images of Scotland when choosing his standout track from the new record. “The main theme of New Terrain is played with bagpipes. Took us a while to learn how to play bagpipes, but we nailed it.” RC