By Carl Begai

Better late than never, as the saying goes. Initially this interview with Nonexist vocalist Johan Liiva was intended to be released in October 2015 in tandem with the release of the band’s third album, Throne Of Scars. Unfortunately, he decided to leave the band shortly after the record was unleashed, leaving the band’s existence – no pun intended – in doubt. Liiva’s hectic personal and professional schedule made a timely follow-up chat impossible, leaving me no choice by to shelve the interview due to some painfully large holes in the story. As the months passed, however, it became clear thanks to the magic of social media that Nonexist was still very much alive with guitarist Johan Reinholdz – also of Andromeda fame – up front, and that it had been an amicable split with Liiva. Reinholdz elected to fill in the glaring blanks of the original article, dismissing any misconceptions of the band being dead and buried.

“The recording process for Throne Of Scars started almost immediately after we finished From My Cold Dead Hands," says Liiva. "The writing basically went on for the last three years or so. It’s been a long process but that’s the way we like to do it. We had lots of time to cram everything into it and experiment. A lot (laughs).”

Throne Of Scars is one of those everything-including-the-kitchen-sink albums, seemingly going in a multitude of death metal flavoured directions within the space of only nine songs.

“It’s a very diverse and very dynamic album, yes, and it was a really interesting process,” Liiva offers. “We just did what we wanted with the songwriting, music and arrangement. I even wrote a song myself (‘Rodents Of War’) because Reinholdz wanted something with an old school feel to it. But he had all kinds of stuff; old school, modern edged, symphonic. We were reaching and climbing everywhere for Throne of Scars but we never gave any thought to whether it was too much. I think we’re able to get away with that because Nonexist is still a small band. We just did what we wanted, recorded it, and hoped somebody would want to release it (laughs).”

Sadly, Liiva is no longer with the band. Given his abrupt departure and lack of an official statement, fans assumed Liiva and Reinholdz had some sort of dust-up that forced them to part ways. Not so, says Reinholdz.

“There was only a statement from me that Liiva had left and that Nonexist would continue with me as frontman doing both guitar and vocals, with Johan Aldgård, Linus Abrahamson and Joakim Strandberg Nilsson completing the line-up on live gigs. Liiva didn’t express any interest in posting a statement of his own and I don’t blame him for not doing so. He just contacted me in private and told me he wanted out of the band because of job stress and other personal reasons. We don’t have any disagreements, we’re still in contact and we’re still friends. I was already kinda prepared to take over the vocals as I had been singing a bit on the last album, even more on the new one, and also doing the vocals at rehearsals during the autumn when Liiva couldn’t be present.”

Liiva has what is best described as insanely unique voice; you either love it to the core or hate it with a passion. It’s what makes the Nonexist material up to this point stand out the way the first three Arch Enemy albums did. As stated, Reinholdz is taking up Liiva’s post and has no intention of burying Nonexist again.

“Nonexist is absolutely not finished, it has never been more existent (laughs). I agree, Liiva has a VERY original and cool voice and I can never replace him by trying to copy him. I want to develop my own style as much as I can and I look forward to that very much indeed So yes, I will definitely be the lead vocalist in Nonexist from now on. I started singing when attending the Music Academy in Malmö in 2008 when I was 28, so I’m a late starter, but I think it’s very important to challenge yourself and continue to learn new things all through life. I worked hard and long on my guitar playing, which I’m now kinda content with, however still humble and wanting to get better. Music production and singing are two new areas for me where I want to improve my skills as much as I can in the years to come. Also, these two areas enable me to do albums basically whenever I want; I don’t have to depend on another vocalist or producer to be ready. I just do what I feel like. So, Nonexist is gonna be around for a long god damned time!”

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