Interview: Linus Nirbrant (This Ending, A Canorous Quintet)

Swedish Melodic Death Metal band This Ending is celebrating their 20 years of existence with the release of a 7” vinyl, an EP consisting of three songs: an intro, a brand new song in Swedish and a new version of their song “Plague Angel” from 2005, when This Ending was still The Plague . This is for sure a great moment for the band, and I’m here with Linus Nirbrant, founding member of the band and its composer and guitar player. And also, he plays guitar in A Canorous Quintet.

Hi Linus, thank you for agreeing to this interview. How do you feel about the 20th anniversary of This Ending? Years fly by, don’t they?

Linus: It feels great but at the same time I’ve always seen This Ending as our new band. But 20 years isn’t that new anymore, haha.

You have released a new EP to celebrate it, via Apostasy Records, including a new version of “Plague Angel”, which is longer and way more melodic than the original. I’d say it’s much more in the vein of This Ending’s current sound. How do you see the evolution of the music delivered by your band after 20 years?

Linus: Yes, we have our new EP out and I’m glad we could do a 7” vinyl.
Yes, the new version of “Plague Angel” is a bit longer than the original, we added the outro part.
It’s the same song and riffs but the mix is different and I don’t think it’s too different from our new stuff, you can still hear that we are the same band. That’s our idea about revisiting old tracks, to bind them together with the new stuff.

And, why did you guys choose that song to do a new version of it? Does this one have a special meaning to you?

Linus: I asked Mårten which song we should re-record for this anniversary and his answer was “Plague Angel” right away, and everyone thought it was a cool idea.
It was also one of the first core songs I wrote when we formed This Ending, so it’s an important song. It was also on our first demo that got us signed to Metal Blade back in 2005.

Do you plan touring, or playing some special gigs this year, to celebrate even more this 20th anniversary?

Linus: Yes, we’ve just been on a European tour to promote both the anniversary and our latest album “Crowned in Blood”.
We’ve also done a few gigs here around Sweden.
And we’re also looking forward to play at Månegarm Open Air in August.

How did you come up with the idea of a song in Swedish (”Mörkrets Vingar”) in this EP? Because all the songs by This Ending were in English so far. To all of us who don’t understand your language, could you tell us what the lyrics are about?

Linus: Mårten wanted to do a song in Swedish so we thought it was a good idea to try it out for this anniversary EP.
As I understand the lyrics it’s about the same concept as “Crowned in Blood”. Crazy leaders ruining our world.
We did an English version as well, and maybe we will release it in the future.

What can you tell us about the impressive artwork of this EP?

Linus: I like to involve our old members in our releases.
If you look close there’s always an old member doing something, like writing a few riffs, backing vocals, artwork, etc.
This time it was Leo Pignon, our old guitarist (2005-2014), he was also a member of A Canorous Quintet between 1994-1999.
He did the awesome artwork for this release. He did the artwork for our two first albums: “Inside the Machine” and “Dead Harvest” as well!

Before This Ending, you were in A Canorous Quintet since 1992. How did it feel to play in a band as a teenager, was that your main desire back then? Was ACQ the first band you played in?

Linus: It was awesome to have a band and a gang of friends to be around as a teenager. We rehearsed and partied quite often back then.
Since the other guys were a few years older than me, I had to learn fast. I was only 15 when I joined A Canorous Quintet.
But me and Jesper, who also joined ACQ but two years later than me, had a band before I joined between 1991-1993.
And even before that, when my family lived in Växjö in the south part of Sweden, I had a “band” together with my buddies.

For more info check out: The Metal Archives – Linus Nirbrant

What made A Canorous Quintet split, back in 1999? And, how was it that the same members that were in ACQ then, reunited a few years after to found a new band named This Ending? Also… I asked this same thing to Mårten when I did an interview with him in 2021 (after the release of Needles of Rust): How was joining your bandmates Fredrik, Leo, Mårten and Jesper again?

Linus: We split in 1999 because we were restless and wild, haha
We wanted things to happen faster and got frustrated that we didn’t get tour support and we wanted to go a bit in different directions I guess.
But when we were a few years apart it was just nice to hang out again.
At the time it felt really bad to do a “reunion “ with a small band like ACQ.
So we wanted to do something new and I had just started my Studio together with Anders from Vananidr.
So I wanted a band that I could record and mix and I wanted to experiment to learn new stuff about sound engineering.
Nowadays I think it’s best if someone else is doing the mix for my own stuff.

And then, in 2016 A Canorous Quintet came to life again. Besides touring this year, do you have the intention to release new music?

Linus: It would be a lot of fun, but my main focus is This Ending.
I am the main songwriter in This Ending and I don’t want to be that in ACQ, I think it would be too similar to This Ending. So if the other guys come up with a few tracks, I guess I could be involved for an album in the future.
But for now I’m more than happy to play those songs live in both Europe and South America.
Looking forward to do more shows later this year. We’re going to play in Spain, Czech & Mexico in 2025!

Do you think that digital platforms are good for musicians, in order they can be known by more people and their music can reach more ears in the world? Even if they only receive a few crumbs of the cake instead of real slices, when they are the ones doing music and deserving much more? But that’s another issue, I guess…

Linus: I think the digital platforms help us getting new fans so that’s great!
But it sucks that the platforms take all the money.
I listen a lot to Spotify, but I really miss listening to CDs and vinyl sometimes.
It’s something else to check the booklet and read the lyrics while listening.

From left to right: Linus Pettersson (Bass) Andreas Morén (Guitars) Mårten Hansen (Vocals) Peter Nagy (Drums) Linus Nirbrant (Guitars)

Now, let me ask you a few more personal questions, to know you a bit more. Which was the band and the song that first got you into Metal?

Linus: My dad listened to Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and AC/DC while I was growing up so I guess that kind of music got into my system early.
I had a few older cousins that gave me cassettes with great music and the first real Metal band I really liked was Judas Priest and the albums on that magic cassette I got were “British Steel” & “Unleashed in the East”.
My best friend at the time had an older sister and she got the album “Hotter than Hell” by Kiss. We listened to the song “Parasite” and Kiss was the best band in the world for a few years.
But I was really into many Heavy Metal bands during the 80s.

Which bands were you listening to as a teenager? Are you still enjoying them?

Linus: Yes I still enjoy them!!
My favorite bands as a kid were: Kiss, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Wasp & Mötley Crüe.
But then I fell in love with Thrash bands like Metallica, Slayer, S.O.D. etc.
Then Death Metal like Death, Entombed etc.
And I listen to all of them from time to time and still love it!

Did you get inspiration from any musician when you started playing guitar?

Linus: I got inspired by the big bands I listened to when I was a kid, but to really pick up the guitar and learn and write music I mostly got inspired by the smaller local bands around me, and it was the Death Metal community in Stockholm.

When and where was your first live performance? Do you remember your emotions from that special moment?

Linus: We had played in front of people at our rehearsal place from really early days, but my first gig on a stage was with ACQ in March 1993 in a competition with a lot of bands. But my first real gig was later the same year together with: Necrophobic, Internal Decay, Defleshed & Vomitory.
It was scary and really nervous the first years for me, but at the same time fantastic, so I wanted to do it again and again, haha. Nowadays I’m more comfortable doing live shows.

What’s the best thing that the passing of years has brought to you? Do you think you are wiser now than in your 20s?

Linus: Hopefully I’m a lot wiser and I have worked on myself during the years.
If we’re talking about my music I think I take it more as it comes. I’m still dedicated but much more focused, I’ve also learned that the band needs to work hard.
But we all have our day to day lives, families and work. So we’re trying to find the balance.

What’s your favorite way to listen to music nowadays? Do you have a lot of vinyls, or CDs, or maybe you don’t own physical albums?

Linus: I like to listen to music when I’m driving my car or when I just lay down with headphones.
I have both vinyls and CDs but don’t listen to them as much as I want.

Please tell us three things you couldn’t live without.

Linus: My family, music & my guitar.

What would you say to the youngsters that want to start their Metal band nowadays?

Linus: Rehearse, write, record and release music. Be friends with other bands, fix gigs.

Do you have some musical “guilty pleasures” you can confess? And, is there any song that brings tears to your eyes, for being highly emotional to you?

Linus: I listen to all kinds of music, but mostly Metal and Rock.
I’ll guess guilty pleasures are non Metal songs and I have a lot.
I listen a lot to Leonard Cohen, Swedish pop/sing and songwriter music like Kent, Sofie Zelmani etc.
I used to not like glam bands in the 80s, but now I listen to both Bon Jovi, Europe and my friends in Crashdïet.
One really emotional song for me is Deep Purple – “Soldier of Fortune”. Other emotional songs for me are Bruce Springsteen – “The River”, Pink Floyd – “High Hopes”, Judas Priest – “Before the Dawn”, UFO – “Try me”. And a lot more of course!!!

What does Metal music mean to you in your life?

Linus: Oh it means a lot! I spend almost all of my free time with Metal music in some way. Because of Metal I got interested in sound engineering, so I educated myself and have worked as a sound engineer for the last 25 years.

Thank you for doing this interview, Linus, best wishes to you and your bands. Is there anything you want to add?

Linus: Thank you so much for your support, hope to meet you all on some of our gigs.
Let the Metal flow!!

Interview by Sílvia

Check the 20th anniversary EP by This Ending “The Plague Angel” and also check and enjoy all their discography. And don’t miss A Canorous Quintet, both bands deliver great Swedish Melodic Death Metal. Support the underground.