Cyhra is a Swedish heavy metal supergroup formed in 2017. Founded by vocalist Jake E (ex-Amaranthe) and guitarist Jesper Strömblad (ex-In Flames), Cyhra has gone from being reminiscent of the duo's former bands to having an identity on its own.
With the addition of lead guitarist Euge Valovirta (ex-Shining), and drummer Alex Landenburg (Kamelot) the group have released two critically acclaimed albums: 2017’s Letters To Myself (Spinefarm), and 2019’s No Halos In Hell (Nuclear Blast) – an album which was awarded Rock TV (Japan) “Best Album of 2019”, and given a perfect 10/10 rating by Power Play Magazine (UK).
Adding guitarist Marcus Sunesson (ex-The Crown / Engel) some time ago, the band released their third album The Vertigo Trigger (Nuclear Blast) on August 18th, 2023.
Jake E talked with us about the new album.
M.I. - The band is formed by members from different bands. Can you tell us how you decided to get together and create Cyhra? Can you tell us a bit more about the band?
The band started out when me and Jesper were talking about making two separate solo albums, where I was gonna sing on his, and he was gonna play on mine. But fairly early in the process we realized that it would be way more fun to for a band instead.
M.I. - Who writes the lyrics for the albums?
I am the one writing all lyrics and vocal lines, the music is a team effort where we all contribute.
M.I. - You released your first album in 2017. What has been the reception of the fans until now to the albums?
The fans have been fantastic since day one! We are of course lucky in the sense that we all come from various famous bands before we started Cyhra and therefore had a base of fans that we could introduce our music to. The fanbase is constantly growing so I guess that is somewhat of a measurement that we are doing something right.
M.I. - You released a new studio album on August 18th. What can your fans expect from this new album?
People that have heard us before will absolutely hear that it's Cyhra from the first note of the album, but I also think that this album will have the possibility to gather new fans from other kinds of bands that might never have heard us before.
I would say that we have brought in a bit more modern elements in the songwriting without losing the core of what Cyhra is.
M.I. - You have already released two singles, the last one is If I. It is a very powerful song. Can you tell us a little bit more about the song?
Now we have released three songs. Ready to Rumble was released as a teaser already at the end of 2022.
The main riff in IF I was written for Euge's Youtube channel as he wanted to show his followers how to write a Gothenburg metal song.
I took the song and remodeled it a bit to make it fit into Cyhra’s catalogue and I think the result speaks for itself. It’s a song that is a homage to all the songs we grew up to and that has formed us to become the writers and musicians we are today.
M.I. - What has been the reaction of your fans so far to the singles released?
The response has been overwhelming, both from fans and media! I can't wait until the album is released to hear what people think about the whole album.
M.I. - How was the process of songwriting for this album?
This time we wrote the album in the middle of the pandemic, and we were therefore forced to make it by ourselves.
So, we recorded and produced it in our own studios and Euge Valovirta did an amazing job mixing the album. and Jacob Hansen took care of the mastering.
M.I. - Is there any tour planned for this new album?
Absolutely. I hope that we will tour all over the world as always, but I also hope we can cover Australia and South America this time as we have never been there with Cyhra yet.
M.I. - How has it been to play live since the Covid period? What has been the reaction of the fans to seeing you play live again?
It was absolutely not easy to stand on stage again after the pandemic. I mean you are used to playing live more or less every week and all of a sudden 2 years passed. It took some time to get back into shape. But now it’s all back again!
M.I. - What are your wishes for the rest of the year?
That as many people as possible get to hear the new album, to stay healthy and that we will have the possibility to tour as many places as possible on this album.
M.I. - Last but not least, do you wish to send a message to your Portuguese fans, and do you have any plans on coming to Portugal to present the album?
I can't wait to come back to Portugal, it has been far too long since I played there. I was there with Swedish House Mafia last year and I just wished that I could have played with Cyhra instead. Please make sure to spread the album, because the more people streaming us the easier it will get for us to come and play!
Listen to Cyhra, on Spotify
For Portuguese version, click here
Questions by Isabel Martins
