IN THIS MOMENT Singer Explains Decision To Cover PHIL COLLINS's 'In The Air Tonight'

WNOR FM99 radio station recently conducted an interview with IN THIS MOMENT singer Maria Brink. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the theme of IN THIS MOMENT's new album, "Ritual":

Maria: "The new album is definitely dark. I've got a lot of darkness in me. Some people go to the gym and some people have different ways that they express themselves, and I do all mine through my music. Instead of yelling and screaming or losing myself all the time, I release everything in my music, and that's kind of how I expel my demons, as you would say. So I think there's definitely some dark colors, but it definitely has an inspirational overall energy to it. 'Cause I think that's always important to… even though, if there is darkness, to kind of have light at the end of the tunnel. We've always kind of been passionate about that for our fans."

On IN THIS MOMENT guitarist Chris Howorth recent statement that "Ritual" is more "raw" and "stripped down" than some of the band's previous records:

Maria: "Yeah, it's definitely a more organic [record]. I love being theatrical, we love electronics in our music, and we're not afraid to put electronics on my voice and do all these fun things. I guess we wanted to show a more organic kind of… If you were to strip a lot of those things away, what would be underneath it all, kind of album. And that's what this album is. It's a lot more organic and raw.

"I'm always striving to do something new, and I think I'm just maturing as a woman, and different points of view happen. You're always evolving and changing, so I just don't like to do the same album over and over. And I was going through this independent kind of spiritual journey, and I just figured I might as well bring everyone else on it with me on this album."

On IN THIS MOMENT's decision to cover the PHIL COLLINS classic "In The Air Tonight" on "Ritual":

Maria: "Honestly, that's one of my all-time favorite songs, since I was a little girl. It's such a… Oh my God! It's just so haunting and powerful and dark and captivating. And I've been trying to cover that song forever; we just couldn't quite figure out where and when. So this time we just took a little attempt at it. It's a hard song to even attempt to cover, 'cause all by itself, it's so awesome and it's scary to try to do something to a song that's already perfect. So we just try to do our own individual expression of it, because I feel like you can't make theirs better. [It's] just a different version, a different take, our point of view, and I think it's a real special song on the album. I can't wait for everyone to hear it. It makes me feel all these different feelings."

"Ritual" will be released on Friday, July 21. The group's sixth studio effort will be released by Atlantic Records in partnership with Roadrunner Records and is available for pre-order now.

Produced by longtime collaborator — and multiple Grammy Award nominee — Kevin Churko (FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, OZZY OSBOURNE),"Ritual" includes the song "Black Wedding", which is described in a press release as "a walk down the aisle of musical madness" that sees lead Brink sharing the mic with legendary JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford.