Pennsylvania USA’s Lör have been around for a few years and finally committed their progressive folk metal stylings into a full-length album. “In Forgotten Sleep” was officially released via Bandcamp on August 11th and has consistently ranked among the top folk metal albums on there. As a side note, they were also one of the most requested acts to play at my folk metal festival this coming November. I caught up with vocalist Tyler Fedeli and sent him some questions regarding the album, their writing process, playing live and a few other things… check it out…

Congrats on your epic debut album “In Forgotten Sleep”…. have you been getting some feedback on it so far?
“Thank you! The response this far has been overwhelming. There have been so many positive reviews and comments. I don’t feel like we could have hoped for a better reception.”

You have been in existence for about 8 years or so…..did it take this long to amass the tracks for a debut album?
“We began recording “In Forgotten Sleep” over 4 years ago, and by that point we had already been playing every song, other than the title track live for a little while. The recording process was extensive and several life obstacles happened which caused the record to be so heavily delayed. We are just happy that people cared after so long.”

I have seen you self-described as “progressive folk power metal”….. is that about as simple a tag as you could give yourselves to describe your overall sound?
“It just seems to be the easiest way to describe our genre. I don’t think it really encapsulates what Lor is, but for people into classifying genres, we think it gets the job done.”

What or who are the main influences as far as musical artists that influence your sound? How about influences outside of music (books, TV, movies, nature, etc.)?
“All of us have very different influences when it comes to music and other forms of art. Some important ones are Opeth, Blind Guardian, Finntroll, Between the Buried and Me, Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, Leprous, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and nature is pretty bomb too haha.”

How does the Lör writing process work (if there is one)? Does one member write the tracks for you to collaborate on or do you all participate in writing?
“It is different for every song, but for the most part Peter writes out framework, and then we flesh out the songs together. We’ve already starting planning for the next record and so far, as a whole, it looks like we’ll be approaching things differently. I don’t know exactly how yet, but it will need to be different.”

Are there musical ideas that are off limits when it comes to a Lör track or is it everything goes? Do you try to push the boundaries when it comes to your musical style?
“We definitely like pushing the boundaries of our sound, but there are definitely styles that probably wouldn’t work for the overall feel that we’re going for, whatever those may be.”

The tracks on the album have a wide range on lengths and styles….. are you still “finding your sound” so to speak or is it just a matter of showing numerous sides to what you do?
“You may be right that we are trying to find our sound, but I think every band is to a point. Each track hopefully accomplished different things, and some songs required a longer length to achieve what we were going for, while others didn’t require that type of attention. I’m not sure we’ll ever completely settle on one specific “sound” or that we would even want to.”

How do manage to practice with everyone’s presumed busy schedules outside the band?
“Somehow, we found a couple of days that work for most of us every week but it is hard to be consistent sometimes. We practice with 3 or 4 of us if we need to. We’ll be utilizing recordings and the “cloud” more often as well to share and build on ideas.”
Have there been offers to be signed to a label as you are currently independent? What are the pros and cons of being on a label vs. doing everything on your own?
“There have been no offers so far, and while it isn’t off the table, we are not sure a label could help us that much at this point. I guess the pros and cons would depend on the offer though. We aren’t really sure what to think of it at the moment. So far, we think we can manage most things ourselves so we don’t even know why signing to a label would even be attractive. We don’t have to worry about it yet though haha.”

What sort of folk metal scene is there in Philly if at all? While known as a rock town, Philadelphia may not have a folk scene like NYC or Baltimore….what other bands are there locally that you have performed with?
“There isn’t really a folk metal scene in Philly that we know of. We mostly just play with other metal or progressive acts which is okay with us because we aren’t full-fledged folk metal and we can definitely cater a set list to accommodate different styles on a bill. We love playing with In the Presence of Wolves, an amazing progressive rock band, as well as Alustrium, who we think wrote the best technical death metal album in the last few years.”

How important is performing live for Lör? Is it a necessity or do you enjoy it? Any tour plans in the upcoming future?
“We love performing, but we haven’t in a couple years due to our album production. We have a couple shows coming up, including the folk festival, and we may be in the early stages of planning a tour for next year.”

How do you feel about downloading music and not being compensated for it?
“The industry has changed, and people aren’t going to stop downloading so I would rather people have it and support us in other ways.”

Favorite albums from 2017 so far?
“Tigran Hamasyan – An Ancient Observer, In The Presence of Wolves – Of Two Minds, Stages 1-2: The Ape and the Cage, to name a couple.”

Closing thoughts?
“I wish I had the rest of the band to list their favorite albums of the year, I feel like I always get into stuff a year late anyway. Thanks for taking the time out to interview us and include us in the Pocono Folk Metal Festival. It is an amazing opportunity for not only us, but the metal community in PA as a whole and we can’t wait to have a great weekend with other folk metal bands and fans!”

By: Jeff