Norwegian extreme metallers Zeenon recently released their new promo Arbor Vitae which turned out to be a pretty cool experience so I was curious to learn a little more about this upcoming band. Vocalist Linn Pedersen and guitarist Linda Aurland was so kind to satisfy my curiosity by answering a load of questions.

How are things up in Norway, still cold and snowy?
Hmm, spring is coming along. The evenings are getting brighter and brighter everyday now! Finally…

Please start out with a brief history of the band!
Zeenon have been in existence since 1995. Everything started in 1994 when Nina (earlier bass player) and Linn formed a band called Spooky Balloons. A couple of months (and band members) later finally Linda came along and Zeenon became a reality. We made a settlement that we were going to make the band as extreme in metal as we could… Elin replaced our deceased bass player in May 2002, and the latest change in the line of band members came with Mads who was recruited last year in June to play the drums.

Your new demo Arbor Vitae is a very heavy and varied recording. How long have you been working on the material?
We continuously write songs. The songs on the EP were our newest productions. We just finished song no. 1 on the EP "Superior Control System" before we entered studio in September last year. The EP was recorded within a period of 4 months. We didn't record frequently due to other schedules and illness. The drum tracks were recorded last year in August, and the final vocal tracks were done in early December.

What does Arbor Vitae mean?
Arbor Vitae is the gray and white nerve tissues in the cerebellum (the lesser brain), formed as a tree when seen from a vertical angle. The title isn't meant to be just grotesque. It's a mixture of that Linn has continued her higher education and what the word really mean. You see, translated this would come out as the tree of life. We feel that Zeenon can be compared to a tree in its growth and development. Nice `ha?

A minor thing I noticed on Arbor Vitae was the lack of solos. Is the any particular reason for this?
We have always had our focus towards the hard and pumping vibes. Earlier we agreed on no solos basically because we didn't think that they would add something to the music back then. Only one of our earlier songs has a solo. But we're always in growth and we're always trying out new things in our music, so you must not be surprised if there's a solo or two in our future work. The path we have chosen now is more in the solo direction if you know what I mean… time will show.

How would you compare Arbor Vitae with your previous material?
We never compare any of our earlier work because we use them as a tread on our way to more and more extreme metal. I guess that the recent work is closer to our heart because this is the latest stuff we have put ourselves into. We're always working on developing our music and making it as personally as we're able of.

How would you categorize/describe your music? To me it sounds like death metal with influences from power groove a la Pantera and Meshuggah!
We've always had problems in describing our music. We can say that we have three elements that take place in our music. This is speed, technical elements and depth- like in hard and pounding guitar riffs. Media call it death metal (also because of the growling vocals), and since we are influenced and admire several bands in this category we can understand that some parts of our music can be defined under that tag.

Correct me if I'm wrong but to my knowledge you started out as a Nu-metal band! What made you change directions?
Actually I think we started out more as a doom metal band (as hard as we could get it at that time). As said earlier we like to go forward with our music. We practice as much as we possible can and therefore we are able to play more and more advanced music. This is what we have been doing since we started. So, we have not changed any directions, we have only developed as musicians and the music follows.

How do you feel you have evolved and progressed from the early days?
We've grown more experienced being in this business for some years. Its hard work and you need to put all of yourselves into it. There's no room for half-finished work, you really got to struggle if you're going to get somewhere and get attention.

Do you work as a collective unit when writing music or do you work single handed?
We work as a collective unit. Start out with a few guitar compositions, or bass lines. Let the drummer toy with different beats and take it from there.

To my knowledge you have released six demos! How come you haven't been signed yet? Any ideas?
Yes…For four years our earlier bass player struggled with cancer. This was a difficult period of time in our lives. It was impossible for us playing gigs and we did not actively promote the band and music because we could not predict our future. So in this period we never looked for deals. It wasn't really an option and some of the demos were not even sent to any labels. After the loss of Nina we gathered a "new" band with Elin on bass and Mads on drums. Now is the time where we've become able to tour and fulfill the things that a deal will demand of us, so record deal, YES please!

Okay you've probably been asked these questions countless times but I was wondering how three ladies ended up in the same band! I mean it's kinda rare having three ladies playing in such an extreme band.
When we started to play back in 94/95 we attended courses. Linn did vocal lessons, Nina bass lessons, and we met Linda through her guitar class. We three girls were the perfect matches. We've always listened to metal, so this was the number one choice when we started to make music. When Nina started to get really sick from cancer we knew about one more extreme metal girl bass player in the area where we lived, so we contacted her and she started practicing with us when Nina was too ill to come to rehearsal. Just to emphasize that it is hard to find women musicians in this category of music we tried with ads in different metal magazines over a year where we tried to recruit a second female guitar player. No one contacted us, not even with questions…

Is it annoying been judged on being a woman and not on the music which I assume must have happened a couple of times or is it a problem you never have felt?
This has always been a male business/scene, but it's really about whom you are as a person and how you stand out. We're all used to work with guys in other fields than music, and that's always been a helpful factor. Sometimes it can be a preference working with guys because they can in this particular business have more sense of fair dealing than women. But of course sometimes it's the opposite direction. This theme can have different outcomes due to which person/event you're dealing with and it haven't really been a problem for us.

How did you get into playing metal in the first place?
We have listened to metal since we were kids, so this was an obvious choice for us. We love challenges, and this is a type of music that in many areas will demand more of us than doing pop music for example.

What bands are you inspired by?
We all have our favorite bands, but in common we can say that we are inspired by death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated, Morbid Angel, Zyklon with more.

What does the name Zeenon actually mean?
Zeenon with double -e is our interpretation of the Greek philosopher called Zenon. We liked the name and some of the things he said and represented. For example, "Zenon took the opponents argument and showed them that if you followed them, you would end in self-contradiction and meaninglessness". This means that a person who argues with us is always wrong...

Have you decided to continue as a four piece or are you still looking for a second guitarist?
We would like to try out a second guitarist, and are working to find a match. Only the future can tell if we succeed, or if we will stay a four piece.

How is the underground scene in the Oslo area?
It's actually great. There are very many great bands in different categories, and there are also some interesting scenes and clubs. Norwegian metal has exploded over the last years, which is understandable. There are a lot of great sounds and musicians out there coming from Norway. We have a lot of friends doing different kinds of music styles, and it's great having an environment that's so full of music.

Do you get the opportunity to play a lot of gigs?
Yes, we're happy to say that we're regularly doing shows. We love to perform, so after the release of Arbor Vitae, we have played several gigs and we have some great jobs ahead of us. When we do a gig one place, we are often invited to other gigs with other bands, so we are continuously booking jobs. We also have an amazing booking agency in Sweden that is working hard for us.

Any closing comments?
Thanks to everyone that are supporting us and buying our music. Keep sending us e-mails on zeenon@hotmail.com and come see us live! www.zeenon.com