Die Norweger Extol sind eine absolute Ausnahme-Band. Sie sind bekennende Christen, was für eine norwegische Metal Band nicht gerade typisch ist und spielen musikalisch ca. 10 Stockwerke höher als die Konkurrenz. Die Jungs sind ohne Übertreibung wahre Künstler auf ihren Instrumenten! Ihr aktuelles Album "Undeceived" wurde kürzlich von Century Media neu rausgebracht. Grund genug den Jungs ein paar Fragen zukommen zu lassen, die Gitarrist Christer Espevoll beantwortete und Interessantes zu erzählen hatte.

Musicscan: Tell me about your band first: Who is Extol and what is Extol doing?

Extol: We're a Norwegian metal band and we play metal :)

Musicscan: What are you doing in your "real life"? What kind of jobs do you have beside playing in Extol?

Extol: Three of us have regular jobs and the other two study. Tor Magne studies to become a teacher and I go to a Bible school. David fixes cars, Jon Robert teaches kids and Peter is into sales-business.

Musicscan: How come that your new CD was released on Century Media now? Are you still in contact with Solid State Records on wich the CD came out some time ago already?

Extol: Undeceived was originally released on Endtime productions (Sweden) and liscenced to Solid State (USA) and Avalon (Japan), but since Endtimes distribution in Europe is very limited, Century Media decided to rerelease it for Europe. Our future records will be distributed through Century Media all over the world. As of now we do not have any deals with Solid State, but we do have contact with them because our old albums are on there.

Musicscan: How was/is your relation to the other Solid State Bands like ZAO or Spitfire?

Extol: Unfourtenatly we didn't get the chance to tour much with the other Solid State bands except for Blindside. We also did a show with Spitfire a few years back.

Musicscan: It´s well known that you are a christian band and that you are from Norway.When I look at the metal scene in Scandinavia the most of the metal bands are dealing with satanic stuff or are against christians. Is that a problem for you overthere?

Extol: No, not really. Most people and bands respect us for the music we play, and that's how we want it to be. I'm not saying that our faith is not important to us, because it is, but we want to be recognised on the same level as all other bands (christians or not) regardless of what our motives are or what believes we have.

Musicscan: How important is GOD for you?

Extol: God is very important to us. In fact He is all! Without Him we would have nothing and we would be nothing. Without Him there would be no hope, no reason to live.

Musicscan: What do you think of "the other" norwegian metal bands like Satyricon, Dark Throne or Mayhem for example. Name some if you want to say anything about any band. Are you in good contact with some "known bands"?

Extol: They play good metal in the Norwegian tradition that we are proud of being a part of. We are definetly in contact with the metal scene and with many bands.

Musicscan: What bands would you say are the main influences for your music?

Extol: Believer, Rush, Death, Bjørk, old Mortification, old Tourniquet, Meshuggah and Vengeance Rising are some of the bands that have influenced us over the years. One of our goals though is to create an original sound and I think we have managed to create exactly that over the years.

Musicscan: Do you guys have projects beside Extol? If yes, what kind of music are you doing in those sideprojects?

Extol: Peter, Jon Robert and Tor Magne play in a rock'n'roll metal band called Ganglion (ex-Lengsel). David and I have a thrash project under the name of Absurd2 and David also plays in a tekno-metal band (technical metal) ala Spiral Architect.

Musicscan: Touring or playing shows - what does that mean to you?

Extol: We love touring, and playing shows has always been an important part of Extol. We've done three US tours and one European tour in addition to noumerous shows in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Musicscan: What impressions did you get on your Germany/Cz/Belgium tour in 2001?

Extol: Those was our first European shows outside Scandinavia and it was a very interesting experience. At times the sanitary conditions were horrible, we didn't shower for over a week. Looking back we had some challanges but also lots of fun.

Musicscan: Are there plans for any tours in the future?

Extol: Next summer (2003) we'll be back in USA for a tour there, but before that we don't have any specific plans. We might do a European tour around Christmas or springtime, but nothing's for sure.

Musicscan: OK, thank you for your time. Still something you want to say to the kids out there?

Extol: God Bless and Rock on!!