>>From the second floor of the Orlando Public Library, welcome to Melrose in the Mix.

Our series of live recording sessions from the audio studio here in the Melrose Center.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Jim Myers.

Today's session features extreme metal band Varanger.

Based in Central Florida, the five piece unit features Tyler Futrell on vocals and guitar, Paul Green on guitar, Fred McCarthy on keyboard, Carlos Vila on bass and Geoffrey Kirchoff on drums.

Before the session, we had a chance to talk to everyone about the origin of their name, how the band formed their respective musical influences, their writing process, the general lyrical content of their songs and more.

[MUSIC] We bring the shadow sky We set the land afire Archers, loose your arrows Theyve built their funeral pyre The wind carries stories of glory home Go forth, tell the world We are come The Varanger rides again Go forth Tell the world We are come The Varanger rides again [MUSIC] Fear not the sounds of the war machines, ire sparked at the will of the Byzantine We will leave our mark upon this land The wind carries stories of glory home Go forth Tell the world We are come The Varanger rides again Go forth Tell the world We are come The Varanger rides again [MUSIC] So what will you do You king of kings Crowns of thorns upon your pretty heads So what will you do When you hear the screams Echoing from the trees Run run run Fall to your knees you could never escape me Hold your tongue.

Realize you could never defeat me Go forth Tell the world we are come The Varanger rides again Go forth, Tell the world We are come The Varanger rides again Run run run fall to your knees You could never escape me Hold your tongue, realize you could never defeat me.

Run Run Run Fall to your knees You could never escape me Hold your tongue, realize you could never defeat me.

Hi guys, my name is Tyler.

I'm the lead singer and guitarist of Varanger.

Varanger is named after a peninsula in Norway.

The name has held a million different connotations for us over the years, but it was just something, it was one of those things that I would at night, just in the middle of my random going down rabbit holes, I found pictures of this place and for some reason it just it's one of those places like it looks like the gods created it.

This is the place that I always wanted to go.

I've always wanted to get myself lost in that.

So we decided to name the band after that.

And then ever since then, I think it holds a different meaning for each of us.

I write the majority of the lyrics.

I love to tell stories, and while we draw a lot of our symbolism and a lot of our history from the Norse the Norse culture, it's important to stress that that's not all we sing about, you know, my my personal beliefs.

It's fairly eclectic.

You know, it spans from ancient cultures all across the world.

And, you know, on our first album, Dark Traditions, we had a song or two Hadrian's Wall one and then new stars to follow.

We kind of broke away from the Norse mythology type of, you know, stories.

And so on this upcoming album, No Promise of Eden, we're stressing that a little more.

We're getting a little more away from just the Hey, we like Vikings.

We have songs that are about a couple of different tribes of of Native Americans.

We've got we've got one about the Celts over in Ireland.

We're just we're all about telling the stories of cultures that are no longer here, people that can't speak for themselves anymore.

And we try and do a lot of research to be as accurate as possible about this and be as respectful as possible about this.

It's it really is just about bringing the ancient thought process to the modern world and telling it in a way in which the modern society would like to listen to it.

[MUSIC] The man and the hour Have met at long last He stands, dignified He stands, Iconoclast We do not come to kneel Nor do you come to heal Prosperity means nothing If none of it is real I stand accused a blasphemer A sordid muse I stand accused.

Your avarice My imagined dues I stand accused [MUSIC] I bear no innocence Nor do I bear your guilt But I bear your sin of Pride Do what thou wilt will you let your fellow man burn upon your force-fed alter Would your God not turn in shame; Would his son not falter?

You do not know of Hell Nor of the pain you bring Eternity means nothing If I hear your angels sing I stand accused A blasphemer A sordid muse I stand accused Your avarice My imagined dues I stand accused [MUSIC] So pass your sentence As the God you pretend to be Light the pyre and burn me down I will be your ecstacy [MUSIC] The mountains come alive And the seas are raging higher The forest seems to cry I am purified in fire The old ways will not fade Our songs will resonate From here to Albios For pagan pride for Cernunnous [MUSIC] Though I may burn My spirit lives forever My faith in pagan gods Will not be severed I stand accused A blasphemer A sordid muse I stand accused Your avarice My imagined dues I stand accused >>My name is Geoff.

I'm the drummer of Varanger.

Um, Varanger, to me, it was, it's like a symbol of a challenge, you know, especially with this style of music.

It's a little out of my comfort zone.

I'm more of a groove kind of player, but this is you got to be really on top of your P's and Q's to play this type of music and, you know, for me it's always like, All right, how can I push myself?

How can I find that next level?

How can I, you know, break plateaus and become a better version of myself?

Once that happens, then it becomes a better group.

And we all just kind of benefit from that.

>>Suffer in the name of god Suffer for the cursed son Suffer for the mother You spread your love through hate and fear Why have you come This is my ancestral home You cannot take it Its mine by rite You think youre so significant In the eye of Odin youre but a spark He tells me bide my time, enjoy my wine and soon I'll run you through, swine Who are you to tell me what to do?

Light the fires Who are you to tell me what to do?

For 10 years time Ive watched my people burn You light the fires and we scream in turn You bring your empire well bring out steel, Our Spirit proven, your lie revealed Suffer in the name of god Suffer for the cursed son, Suffer for the mother You spread your love through hate and fear Therell be no pity, no fear of retribution No vengeful hand of god handing down my execution My gods they cheer me on as a blood stained grin absolves my sin See what youve done, youve freed the beast within us all For 10 years time Ive watched my people burn, you light the fires and we scream in turn You bring your empire, well bring our steel Our spirit proven, your lie revealed.

[MUSIC] >>Im Fred, I play keys.

I'm one of the original members of the band.

The biggest thing I love about this band is that it's all my favorite music.

It's heavy viking style with power metal and orchestral and big, mean and epic and Varanger is fun to play and it brings out the roots of the location.

>>So me being a leader, member of the band, that was one of the big draws for me to join this band where we're able to perform as close to both music as we can, but maintaining the black metal and the anger of the modern music.

So I think there's there's a lot of there's a lot of elements that allows us to be in a place like Varanger without actually being able to be there.

So that's one of the draws, draws of the band.

>>He has, you know, the silly little keyboard parts that I was working on.

He has taken those to an absolutely next level, you know, same with Geoff, Carlos, all these guys, they take my little polish psychosis and just make it something that is actually listenable.

We stand the victors, brothers united we stand as one Can you hear it?

The silence?

No more whips, no more chains I can see the lake from here We're not far now though were far from home And still the ash rains down as we pull false king from throne I plunge into the depths to wash away this baptism And still the vulture, they rip flesh from shattered bone We reject your dissolution, our temples they stand on high Kind is met with kind in turn Fair enough that you should die We stand here with our pride intact All the world is at our backs A different breed from different seed, a hellion born from each of me for 10 years time I've watched my people burn You light the fires and we scream in turn You bring your empire well bring our steel our Spirit proven your lie revealed For 10 years time I've watched my people burn You light the fires and we scream in turn You brought your empire, we brought our steel We are the Northmen, our god are real You call it sin, we call it revolution.

We will suffer no more.

>>I'm Paul.

I'm the guitarist, I actually joined the band about two years ago.

Be honest, I wasn't really familiar with, like, what the Varanger terminology was, but, you know, always been a big fan of like all these different genres of music and everything that these guys are about and being with these guys, they're always kind of like pushing me and getting me out of my comfort zone, pushing me to the next level, always leveling up with these guys and like, you know, just like Jeff, you know, I'm more of a groove player as well.

So like getting into this learning, like, definitely this guy basically had me like relearn my whole guitar style in like two weeks.

He's like, Here you go.

But I mean, it's been worth it every second of the way.

>>When writing these songs, you know, we'll we'll get the pretty much like the the meat and potatoes of the of the song and then we'll come back and add some vegetables once we've written the lyrics.

>>And it's a tasty stew.

>>Tasty stew.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] I cant focus, I barely breathe I miss the forest and its fallen leaves The path ahead is losing form Clouds of pitch lead me to shore, my grip releases the drink from my hand Reflections of light, they call to a man I bid the sea as welcome inside Allure of the moon, and the weight of the tide I tried to run, I tried to fight, but Im withered and broken And void of light.

Ocean, take me away show me the promise of better days And fill my lungs with fire, with melancholy and dissonance A dance like foreplay to war, I watch the moonlight fade as I sink evermore [MUSIC] Distant laughter, the comforts of home.

What does it matter?

Ill be gone ‘fore anyone knows Chasing horizon, with the waters too dark for a silhouette My muscles screaming, Aegir pulls me down to his chest I tried to run, I tried to fight but Im withered and broken I am void of light.

Ocean take me away, show me the promise of better days And fill my lungs with fire, with melancholy and dissonance A dance like foreplay to war I watch the moonlight fade as I sink evermore.

>>So playing today, the Melrose Center, honestly, it was one of those, you know, a good friend of ours reached out about it and it was one of those things like, I there's no way I was going to say no.

You know, it's it was it's so different.

We've never done anything like this.

I think we've done one taped performance so far and we never even saw anything from it.

>>Like it never came to light.

>>Yeah, but I'm really excited about this.

Just like it's it's a brand new challenge.

And if there's one thing Varanger's about is it's meeting challenges head on.

>>When they first told me I was kind of like thrown off because I was like, Wait, we're a metal band?

Going to play in a library?

Isn't that aren't we supposed to be quiet?

They're like, >>Yeah, that was like the first thing everybody said >>But it's a library that -- >>Shh.

I mean, I've seen Ghostbusters, if youre too loud ghosts come out.

I don't want to do.

>>It's a huge honor, really.

>>It really is.

>>I think it's a I think it's a really cool opportunity for most of us.

Most of us grew up with public television, PBS, Like, I remember watching PBS when I was a kid, so kind of being part of it.

I've done it before with other projects, but never with a music project, never with a music of this style.

So-- >>I think that was what we were most thrown off by what was like we were being invited.

But I think I mean, like if you look at the lyrics, like it works, like it's all poetry and stuff, but.

>>I think, I think it just shows a little bit of the value of, of like the community environment.

>>Absolutely.

>>Like public television does for the community overall, where you're not necessarily you have to play the popular music like there's a whole bunch of other subgenres around that are local to the Orlando area.

So being able to showcase our little subsection to the community, it's actually really good opportunity for us.

>>It's not just that like it.

You know, there's been a lot of talk about, you know, our library's necessary and this and that, whatever they are unbelievably necessary and things like this really drive that home.

It's not just a place where you can go and rent out books, its a place where you can really go and do anything and just expand yourself as a person.

I'm loving this.

You know, I spent a lot of time in libraries just I was a bookworm, honestly.

That's why I got so involved in history.

And, you know, to be able to do something like this at a place like this.

>>It's pretty cool.

>>It's really cool.

[MUSIC] Mother, Im sorry you shouldnt have to outlive your son The current is pulling, a farewell dance weve begun I want you to carry on in ignorant bliss, If you can hear me, I wanted this [MUSIC] Existing but lifeless, adrift on a maritime floor Heartbroken and eyeless, Im spit back out upon shore Ocean, take me away, show me the promise of better days And fill me lungs with fire, with melancholy and dissonance, a dance like foreplay to war I watched the moonlight fade as I sank evermore [MUSIC] >>Thanks for joining us for this episode of Melrose in the Mix, featuring Varanger.

We'll see you again soon with another live recording session here in the Melrose Center at the Orlando Public Library.