How Volbeat Embraced the Unexpected on New Album

Volbeat has found a freshness in their new album through a process of embracing the unexpected.

While speaking with Full Metal Jackie on her weekend radio show, Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen told the radio host that the band took a rather unorthodox approach to the God of Angels Trust album that has led them down a creatively satisfying path for their new music.

“Without overthinking anything, we wanted to find some combination of finding the innocence of how we were writing material in the very, very beginning and now making better decisions at our craft. We threw away the book of rules that has a lot of structure in it,” explains the singer.

He uses the recent single “In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom” as an example, throwing listeners off by purposefully not providing a chorus, leaving listeners waiting for the horror flick title instead.

The practice carried through other songs before Poulsen says his creative mind reminded him of structure and they found a balance between traditional and unorthodox songwriting.

Elsewhere within the chat, Poulsen addresses the fears he has for our children’s world, what the addition of Flemming C. Lund has meant over the last few years and shares his passion for music discovery. Plus, he also gives us an update on Asinhell‘s future.

Check out more of the chat below.

It’s Full Metal Jackie and I’m so excited to welcome back to the show the one and only Michael Poulsen of Volbeat. The band is back after taking a little break with their God of Angels Trust album. Michael, what did it mean for you and the band to finally take a break after so many years of establishing this band? And also did the time doing Asinhell in any way impact your approach and desire to return to making music with Volbeat?

Well, the break was a little bit weird because that was not something that we’re used to. We’ve been a constantly touring band if you look away the pandemic years. But we were always on the road even though that we had management set up. “You guys should find the time to actually take a sabbath here,” [they told us]. “You deserve it and we also have to take care of overexposure.”

I actually needed to go through a third throat operation which was a blue laser system that use here in Denmark. And that really helped me out. So I’m doing really good vocally. It took me a lot of time to heal and get back to vocal shape. But in the meantime, I could go and tour with Asinhelll and play some old school death metal. I had a lot of fun doing that and then kind of recharged to get ready for the Volbeat machine again.

It felt refreshing because that was the first time when I picked up the guitar and suddenly I haven’t had the Volpeat hat on for quite a while and then I start thinking about how we should put together this new record. It was really refreshing because it felt like we were going full circle and kind of catching our own tail again.

So we said why not look at this album like it’s the first Volbeat record that we are about to write and how do we want to do that? And, without overthinking anything, we wanted to find some combination of finding the innocence of how we were writing material in the very, very beginning and now making better decisions at our craft. We threw away the book of rules that has a lot of structure in it.

Back in the day, we didn’t know anything about what is a pre chorus, what is a bridge, what is a chorus even. It was all about the riffing and putting vocals on top. Those songs, we still play them live and people love them, so they work somehow.

So by having the experience of being a songwriter, some of the later Volbeat albums were a little bit more structured. And that’s where the experience of songwriting comes in. So if we just throw away the tools that we have in our toolbox and throw away the book of rules, what would a Volbeat song sound like if we just didn’t think too much about it and just used our DNA and the signature sound that we have?

So I wrote “In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom” and the guys in the pen were like, “What title is that?” Yeah, I’ll get back to you.

That’s the title of all time by the way.

Yeah, a lot of fun.

Volbeat, “In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom”

Michael, you were telling us about the songwriting on the record and, of course, this song.

Personally, the thing is, as listeners, I think I talk for everybody out there. Mostly when we sit down and listen to a rock song or a pop song, we think what kind of song it could be. We’re always waiting for the chorus to kick in. How is the chorus gonna sound?

And I said, what if we did something unexpected where the chorus doesn’t become the essence or the climax of our song? What if it’s something different that people is gonna wait for? And then I played the song for the other guys and they said, “Where’s the chorus?”  I said, “Exactly. That’s the point. There is no chorus. There’s only this stupid long horror flick line, ‘In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in the Dying World of Doom.’ That’s gonna be the thing people are gonna wait for instead of the chorus.”

We were laughing and said, “This sounds like a fun approach. Let’s get to work.” And I think the next song we wrote was “By Monster’s Hand,” where when you go into the second round of the song where I’m singing and then it goes on and on and on. You kind of expect a chorus to kick in, but that’s not gonna happen. You hear an up tempo, thrashy riff with three guitar solos on top. And we kind of continue with that approach, doing something unexpected on each song.

So I will pretty much just be writing a song on Monday, we’ll be rehearsing it on Tuesday, then I’ll be writing a new song on Wednesday, and then we will be rehearsing it on Thursday, and then we have the weekend off. And there’ll be weeks where I came up with two songs. But before we knew we had 10 new songs and we were only one month into the songwriting. And it came to a point where the second half of my brain pretty much said, “Hey, what about me? Who knows everything about structure and have the experience of writing a real song? Can I be part of the record too?”

So that did happen and I wrote “Time Will Heal,” “Acid Rain,” “Lonely Fields,” “Devils Are Awake.” So it has a really, really nice balance of how we were approaching songwriting in the very, very beginning of our career and also how we have been approaching songs on the later end of our career.

Michael, in reading up on this album, you took a more instinctual approach and chose not to dwell too long on the music. Was it a more rewarding experience for you? And do you feel this is something you might do more of in the future? How did that impact ultimately what we hear on this new album?

I don’t want to think too much about the future. I want to concentrate on what we’re doing right now with this record. I don’t know if we can pull that off again. Sometimes you have to be a specific time in your life or in a certain bubble where you managed to pull it off. We were just having a lot of fun. The approach totally made sense when we start working.

It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to make sense on the next Volbeat record out there in the future. I just know that it felt great just being aware of our DNA and not overthinking anything, and pretty much being inspired by our own material.

As I said to the other guys, when we go out there live there’s not room for many takes. You only have one chance when you’re up there onstage. Let’s go in with that mindset. When we go into the studio, let’s not do that many takes. Let it flow, let it be the spirit. If there are a few mistakes, let’s just keep them. It is what it is. Let it sound fresh, and it still sounds fresh. And I just came back from the rehearsal room right now, and we’re trying to get ourselves ready for the coming tour.

These new songs, because they were written and recorded so fast, they still feel very, very fresh and new which is really, really great because it means when we go out there and execute them live, they will still feel like really new songs for the band. Normally, when writing and creating an album, when you finally go on the road with the material, it already feels pretty old, actually. But this material is just gonna feel very fresh. And I think that people will be able to hear that when we execute it live, because that’s gonna be a lot of fun.

We were talking about the song with the greatest song title of all time earlier – ‘In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn…” and you spoke of the track being like a silly horror movie. Are you personally a horror movie fan? And if so, what type of horror flicks do you like? What are some of your favorites and why?

I don’t watch horror movies as much as I’ve done in the past because it. There’s no really time for it. I pretty much watch what my kids are watching.

So you can imagine horror movies for the kids then.

But yeah, it is kind of a horror. We’re not satanic and we are not religious people. In Volbeat, we are pretty much atheist and we’re spiritual people, but we don’t support any religious belief. It is a horror flick and it’s a subject that’s been used as a cliche.

And heavy metal music, there’s nothing new to it. But in between the lines, of course there are certain hints to the modern world that’s become such a crazy, scary place to be in. Being a parent, of course, you are very concerned about the future of the world.

The kids should be allowed to go to bed and think the world is a peaceful place where there’s only beautiful things. But that’s just not reality. So in between the lines of the title God of Angels Trust, it’s really about that we put so much trust in rules and regulations and religious beliefs just to see them being broken by the creators. So where do we put our trust? In the system and in the true troublemakers?

It’s not Volbeat coming up with a horror flick, but it’s actually more powerful men out there. In certain countries, you could just turn on the news speaking to you and nobody’s doing anything. We’re just sitting here waiting for somebody to lock them up, but nothing is happening.

So in between those dark lyrics and dark videos, that’s a certain hint to certain systems that we’re just hoping that it doesn’t get too far.

Going back to your question about horror movies, the good thing about horror movies seems to be like that the good thing always win against the bad things. The good people always seem to win over the bad people. And you can just take a sci fi movie like Star Wars, it ends up with the good people winning against the bad people. I wish that it would turn out like that in the real world too.

READ MORE: Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen Credits Famous Athlete for Sobriety

So it’s not really us in Volbeat that people out there have to be afraid of. It’s the real world when you turn on the news. And we as people just have to stick together so it doesn’t get too far.

Michael, for this record, Volbeat are still a trio, but Flemming C. Lund is back in a guest capacity to add some lead guitar work on songs. He’s been with the band for some time now, helping out. Can you speak to what it’s meant to have Flemming’s input since he’s come on board.

It means a lot. Not only as the talent he has, the craft on his guitar, the understanding of music, but he’s extremely talented. He’s doing really good. He’s been a good friend since back in the days when I was active playing death metal in Dominus.

So we were playing shows together. He had his own death metal band called Autumn Leaves and I was playing in Dominus. So we’ve pretty much known each other since we were 17.

He’s been helping Volbeat with live shows and he’s been helping out Asinhell with our live shows and playing the lead guitar. We were on tour together in Asinhell and since we made an agreement with Flemming asking if he could commit the whole 25 year with Volbeat. He said he would love to. So it totally made sense for him to put down the solos on the album as well. Now we take one day at the time.

The world has become a crazy place to be in. So we concentrate on this tour, this album, and Flemming is doing an amazing job. Let’s see what the future brings.

Volbeat are wasting no time getting back out in front of audiences again. You’ve surrounded yourself with some great talent this year on multiple tours with Three Days Grace, Wage War, Halestorm, The Ghost Inside, Bush and Gel playing alongside you at different parts of the world. Do you take something from each touring experience you have? And also, what are your thoughts on the bands you’re playing with this year?

Well, it’s a great package. There’s lots of different bands, really good bands doing a great job and they have their own fan base. It’s going to be great to meet those fans and see if they’re into Volbeat music as well and the other way around. That’s definitely very, very interesting. There’s always things to pick up on when you’re on tour with great bands, so definitely looking forward to that.

Michael, you can straddle the line between hard rock and more metal. I’m sure you had your favorites before you got into this industry that helped set the standard for what you thought this career should be. What is your current take on heavy music? What are you listening to now and how does it compare or differs to what you thought this would be when you first got into music?

We all have our certain taste of what we think is good music and what moves us and what makes us happy. I have respect for all musicians who go up there onstage and live their dreams and pull it off, no matter how they do it or what their style it is. I can totally get behind it because, you know, music is a passion, music is a feeling. It’s very emotional.

I always have my favorites and there always be certain styles that I don’t understand because I don’t have to. But I still respect the bands that I don’t really know anything too much about or understand the style.

For me, it was all about growing up, listening to a lot of 50s music because that was what my parents were listening to and it was constantly being played in my home. A lot of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly. The list continues. And very early on as a kid, I believe I was only 8 or 10. I started listening to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and a little bit later on Metallica and pretty much classical heavy metal bands. Then later, especially the late 80s, early 90s, it was where the more extreme metal really had a breakthrough. That was a great adventure, finding those extreme records in independent record stores where you would go out with your demo and tape trading and exchanging flyers and find on the underground magazines.

So there’s a certain love and passion for those bands from the late 80s, early 90s that I just continue listening to and can still find a lot of inspiration from. Some of them are still around making great music, making great albums.

I’m still supporting music, buying a lot of vinyls, discovering new bands as well.

But I think we all know the feeling when we discovered something that just felt like falling in love. There’s no turning back. There’s no medicine. You’re pretty much being sick at the time you discover something you can identify yourself with. So that feeling I’m still searching for when I search for new bands. There’s definitely a lot of great new bands out there who needs a lot of support. So I’ll just tell people, go support music. Go out and support live shows. It is needed.

The music business is a tough place to be in. So go out, buy the vinyls, buy the CDs, and buy that concert ticket. Buy your T-shirt. It will keep the bands alive, and maybe things can get a little bit back to normal, but it’s gonna take time. But supporting music is the right way to go.

I couldn’t agree more.

Michael, we briefly mentioned Asinhell earlier. Obviously Volbeat is front and center for you right now, but is that something you’d like to continue after branching off to do that in between Volbeat records?

Absolutely. The next plan is when the time is right. Right now, I’m only concentrating on Volbeat, but the next move will be to write the next Asinhell album and hopefully find the time to go out and play some more shows with Asinhell. So, yeah, there’s definitely plans for releasing more Asinhell records on Metal Blade. We’re very proud of being in the family with a death metal band on Metal Blade. So, yeah, there’s gonna be more Asinhell coming up.

Thanks to Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen for the interview. Volbeat’s God of Angels Trust is out now. You can keep up with the band through their website, Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify accounts. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show here.