Stefan: Well thank you very much. That's very gratifying to know. We are very pleased with how it turned out, being a concept album and all which was something new for us.

Stefan: I have not yet got any sales reports but I heard the pre-orders were very fine. The response have been great, we have of course both gained and lost fans by our decision to change vocalists. That's just something I thought would happen, cause it's a big thing to do. Overall I feel that we've made the right decision.

Stefan: First of all you got the just right thought about that. The story is that one year ago we started to plan to go on tour and get more gigs after the 3rd album. At that Mathias responded that he would probably be occupied from July up to the New Year. And if he got another musical part after that he couldn’t decline that offer either. It’s his job so we understood his point. So there we would be, releasing a new album and not being able to promote it for many months. We knew that this might cause a problem earlier but this time it came to be realised. Therefore I thought that the lack of ability from one member could not stop 4 members from doing what they wanted, that would only lead to irritation in the future. So since we wanted to put more time into the band I told Mathias the situation, and if he couldn’t do the same we would understand (Mathias is schooled for musicals and that’s his passion) but then we would have to get a new singer that could fulfil our plans. There was no hard feeling from any side it was just a matter of prioritizing different things.

Stefan: Halfway true. It's still the same music, but maybe not as different on the first listen. Anyway, I think it's gotten better now, we had done 2 albums in the same vein and I think that Kristoffer came in with the necessary things to make us evolve and make something new. With Kristoffer I know I can make different things. For example the song “Busted to the Floor” would have been perfect with Kristoffer, he would have made it more groovy and bluesy. The band feels better now, more together and now finally we can spend more time on Falconer than before. We can promote Falconer better.

Stefan: Exactly. Mathias had his style, and that was the only style he sang. Kristoffer can vary his voice more and that feels very good. I felt with Mathias that it sounded more original but we couldn't really do anything new with it. This album is musically in the same style but the fact that we got a new singer made it sound new. For the next album, I will try to develop the music too.

Stefan: No. It was agreed that it would be cool if he could return for this one and do some stuff. It was suiting since it was a concept album. Also we might keep the complaining down a bit, he he. It would only be foolish to not “dare” to totally let go of him so in the future, we will only use today's Falconer lineup.

Stefan: It’s like a Swedish kind of Macbeth but it’s a true story. It’s about 3 brothers in the early 14th century. One of them becomes king after their father died, leaving the 2 brothers not too satisfied with the situation. It’s a lot of intrigues, deceits, murders and wars to obtain the crown. All three of them play a dirty game but as the title says, they strive to get the sceptre of deception....so the ending is not really what they expected.

Stefan: I understand that people think so. Of course it had a lot to do with Mathias' original, but limited voice. The music I think becomes more original than the typical power metal band because I don't listen much to power metal. Some of the bands are good but most of them are just good musicians doing average music heard before. I prefer listening to older rock and metal, or whatever music that has a good melody. I also think that some stuff that Falconer has could just as well be categorized into some other kind of music but since we play it with distorted guitars it's called Metal.

Stefan: I would say Melodic Heavy Metal. It seems like if you're a new band you're instantly labelled as Power Metal cause that's popular these days. I guess most fans think of us as just a Power Metal band. The fast songs are more popular so I guess people like Power Metal.

Stefan: Epic and folkish metal with choirs. With or without Blackmetal vocals. I would say that we have a touch of it, still remaining from my Mithotyn days.

Stefan: Oh yes. With clean vocals I have one more element to work with. The harsh vocals didn't really add anything where the clean can make things just…..more. In Mithotyn I felt like I didn't really have the freedom to make it wider. In Falconer I can do a song like “Busted….”, “Portals…”, “Trail….” etc. It's not as limiting to play Heavy Metal. It doesn't have to be aggressive all the time

Stefan: Mithotyn has been laid to rest as a band.

Stefan: I think it would sound very bad. Big choirs after some mead yes but not in key. Ha ha!

Stefan: That hasn't been any reflection of mine. I thought we recorded and played as any other band. Just mic the amp up and play. Since I don't know how to play any other's songs I might play in a different way..Fatter. Honestly I think many bands have a more powerful guitar sound than we do.

Stefan: That must have been Motley Crue and Kiss that got me into playing. At that time, I started listening to Death metal as my friends did so that was the music we played but since many years ago I've went back to the good music. Anyway I think it was thanks to the 80's bands that I started with music at all. Today I'm influenced by Jethro tull, Rainbow, Scorpions, Death etc etc

Stefan: Yes. I think the biggest experience for Falconer so far was WOA 2002. It was our 3rd gig ever and we did it in front of thousands of people. It really felt strange but so honouring. I will never forget that.

Stefan: I was certainly not for it before but after seeing the response we got and that it was actually worth the trouble to play we got a real taste for it. The reason why we got more members was to be able to play some festivals. As we discovered that it was so much more fun than we remembered from the past bands, we had we felt like we must do it more and more. Then Mathias couldn't do it so we got some one who could.

Stefan: We have a small tour in Jan 2004. Only 2 weeks, but it's a start and really about time. We will go to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Bulgaria I think. There might be a follow up tour for the rest of Europe in April but that's still too early to say. We are also looking for festivals for the summer. So the only goal for now is to play live.

Stefan: Well thank you very much for the interview. I hope we can see all our fans somewhere in Europe sometime during the next year. It will be a pleasure to play for you all.