CIVIL WAR Blames Former Record Label For Nearly Non-Existent Profile Outside Sweden

CIVIL WAR — the Swedish metal band featuring former SABATON members Rikard Sundén (guitar),Daniel Mullback (drums),Daniel Mÿhr (keyboards) and Oskar Montelius (guitar) alongside singer Patrik Johansson (ASTRAL DOORS, LION'S SHARE),bassist Stefan "Pizza" Eriksson (VOLTURYON) and guitarist Peturs Granar — was interviewed at the Graspop Metal Meeting, which was held June 27-29 in Dessel, Belgium. The chat, as well as footage of the Graspop performance, can be seen in the four-minute clip below.

Speaking about CIVIL WAR's future plans, Johansson said: "We just recorded the upcoming album. It will take off where the first one left you and it will be… We are really happy with the first album, but the new album will be… it will be the mother of all albums."

Added Mullback: "And now we have a real, proper record label behind us, Napalm Records, and we're so happy that they're behind us."

Johansson continued: "We had a Swedish label [when we released] our first album, and they fucked up so bad. The album went good in Sweden, but the rest of Europe, no one has heard it, almost. So we had to change to take a new label. And Napalm gave us a good offer, and they are a serious, great label. So with Napalm, it's almost like we're making our debut album one more time."

CIVIL WAR's sophomore album was mixed at Peter Tägtgren's (PAIN, HYPOCRISY) The Abyss in Pärlby, Sweden.

The band's debut CD, "The Killer Angels", was certified gold in Sweden by the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 20,000 copies.

(Note: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry [IFPI] in Sweden has revised the sales requirements for albums to reach gold status in the country twice in the last 11 years — from the pre-2002 level of 40,000 to the current 20,000.)

"The Killer Angels" was distributed in Sweden via the June 2013 issue of Sweden Rock Magazine and each copy of the magazine containing the CD was counted towards the certification; the album was also sold separately.

CIVIL WAR's debut EP was released on November 13, 2012 via Despotz Records.

Borrowing its name from the novel by Michael Shaara about the Battle of Gettysburg, "The Killer Angels" was recorded by Jonas Kjellgren at Studio Myhrer (which is actually the bed and living room of keyboard player Daniel Myhr),Black Lounge Studio and Peter Tägtgren's The Abyss in Pärlby, Sweden. Artwork comes courtesy of Polish artist Lukasz Jaszak.