We had the wonderful chance to chat with Katri from the Finnish band Numento. As her band releases two singles from their upcoming second album, what will Katri tell us about her band’s music and about herself? Read this interview with Katri to find out!
Hello, Katri. It’s really wonderful to chat with you. How are you doing today?
Hey! It’s definitely my pleasure! I’m good – excited and grateful to be able to do live shows again. A thing I’ll never take for granted again. Also can’t wait for Numento’s second album to be released.
I’ve had the chance to check your music out and I fell in love with it almost right away. Unfortunately, not all FemMetal readers have had the chance to enjoy your masterpieces. So what would you tell them to expect if they go check out your music right now?
I’m very happy to hear you liked our music! I think Numento’s music is a unique combination of various subgenres of metal so it’s a bit hard to compare it to any other band but the essence of our music is certainly in contrast between beautiful, ethereal and brutal, sinister. We don’t want to stick to one genre at all, because that would limit the means of expression too much. We put the story and atmosphere first. So from one song, you can expect almost anything from jazz to black metal, but maybe the core of our music lies somewhere in progressive death metal. I use a variety of vocal techniques from operatic to death growls to reflect the contrasts in our music.
That’s a brilliant way to describe it. The two singles you’ve released from your upcoming album so far are very different in terms of topic. One is about a dark parallel reality and the other is closer to real human emotions. Do you personally prefer making art about fictional topics or realistic issues we go through every day?
I mostly get inspiration for lyrics from movies and series I watch, mostly fictional. I also find old fairy tales very fascinating, and they can be very creepy as well. For many Numento songs, I have written my own version of such fairy tales, of Snow Queen or Sleeping Beauty, for example. The theme of Numento’s second album is also psychological: I have thought a lot about how a human being is capable of doing evil, how does one become a serial killer, for example. The album is a collection of many viewpoints to this question, both fictional and emotional, but I’d say most of the lyrics are based on fiction or on real, historical characters.
Very exciting topics. In order to get to know you better, and to have some fun, also because I’m a nerd, how about we play a nerdy game? I will set up some alternative universes and give you a scenario and a question about it. Are you ready?
Haha! Sounds fun, let’s do it!
In a universe where you are chosen as the supreme ruler of a country, what is one law you’d want to make?
Be kind, always. To all living creatures and to our planet itself.
In a universe where you can choose a superpower to possess, would you rather have the ability to teleport from one place to another, or the ability to read minds?
Definitely to teleport! I travel a lot for work so teleporting would make my life easier. I think I’d be terrified to know what people are really thinking.
In a universe where you’re the statue of liberty, what object would you be holding instead of a torch?
A microphone comes to my mind first. Or a crochet hook maybe.
How rich would you be considered in a universe where you pay for things you purchase by telling jokes?
I would be modestly rich but not even close to our bass player Simo.
In a universe where the sense of taste and sense of hearing got somehow mixed up in the human body, what food would you imagine Numento’s music would taste like?
Difficult question because our music is such a combination of many elements! Because we’re from Finland, I will say salty licorice (“salmiakki” in Finnish)! Sweet and salty taste with dark color 🙂
In a universe where a zombie apocalypse happened, would you most likely be hiding in a safe house, outside fighting the zombies, or already turned into a zombie?
Fighting the zombies by destroying them with ultra-high pitch singing.
Thank you for playing along, Katri! Hope you enjoyed this!
Your second album will be released later this year. Is there any date yet for the release?
We don’t have an exact date yet but it’s coming along nicely and the release would be somewhere in October hopefully 🙂
Have you ever faced any kind of sexism in your professional or personal life? How would you deal with sexist behavior and what advice would you give young people around the world who face any kind of discrimination?
I regret to admit this but yes, a lot. The older I get, the more I become aware of it so it’s easier to notice it. In my personal life, I work as a scientist in speech technology and the attitudes of some people I have worked with have not been very encouraging but it kind of gives me the motivation to develop my skills to become even more confident and determined. In music, I have heard hilarious comments about my vocal techniques, but since female growlers are slowly becoming more and more common, I can feel it slowly becoming more standard but there is still a lot of work on this in the field. But I cannot say I haven’t faced any haters, unfortunately. I think that if some men feel threatened about my singing and feel entitled to belittle me, they should turn to themselves and think about the reason behind the attitude and, perhaps, fear. So my advice is: f*ck haters, be strong and practice, don’t give up!
Brilliant advice! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the interview, Katri. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I had so much fun doing this interview! Thank you so much for inviting me! To the readers: if you like our music, make sure to follow us to keep posted about new our releases! We are going to release at least one more single before the album 😉
