Can you compare the turnout of Solitude in Madness in terms of digital or physical sales with previous records? What are the sales or radio numbers telling you? “… The response was more than great. Can I ask for more after so many albums recorded? Selling? I never really carried about it. Sales may help in business but not in creativity. As a composer and huge metal fan, I just create and do not follow trends or copy the works, which gave me best credits, if you know what I mean. Fans decide if they like our actual works or not. However, I am a metal freak and I feel no fun in “defining a wheel again.” I’d rather master a style we follow for years than unnatural push myself to do something new. You never make a revolution in music unless it is a natural flow, which comes from emotions…”

 

Finally, it’s the first tour in two years, right? I believe these tours will be like introducing new songs on stage. How does the band feel about quitting online and coming back to real-life shows? “… Actually, we were not totally grounded for last two years, though. Vader was still able to play 50 shows in 2020 and over 30 in 2021, so we were not that much “frozen”. However, we usually play 100 shows in a year on average, and that made last [two] years kind of crap indeed. We are really hungry for touring and playing some fresh sets, so coming shows are definitely more than welcome.

 

It’s great that you re-issued De Profundis on vinyl. Why this particular album, and who came up with this idea? Nostalgia or marketing strategy? “… These days, nostalgia connects pretty much to a strategy, I think. Lockdown forced fans to focus so much more to the music itself. Collecting is so much fun again! That helps bands, especially in those bad days, when there are no regular shows and tours. De Profundis, however, was never released as LP. Before and even last CD editions were released quite long time ago, and even prices on eBay became ridiculous high. I am so happy that Nuclear Blast decided to release the title, because that always guarantees a quality and proper number of edition. The reedition was more than very welcome by fans and collectors, and the whole release was sold out quickly. We will follow the idea and we’ll release Vader 3rd album Black to the Blind this year together with Nuclear Blast again. There is 25th anniversary in 2022. De Profundis, since it was released in 1996, became one of most favorite VADER albums for fans. It was a very important and crucial album for our band and songs like “Silent Empire,” “Sothis” or “Blood of Kingu” were a part of “classic set” in almost each Vader show. However, many titles were performed very rarely for years, and such re-edition is always good reason to bring back some old tunes on stage.