About two years ago now, rock band Brandish Your Knife very nearly became rock stars. With a signing to various indie labels and eventually a major label, everything was going right for them. But then, in-band feuds and tensions spilt them up and made them forgotten forever... until now.

With their past firmly placed behind them and a new album to come out shortly, the band have proved that they're going to defeat their demons and set out to complete the task that they left behind. Their new album, Sonic Overload, is an amazing feat of intricate skill and brutal speed. It combines the rap metal that they were known for, with even more hardcore, thrash and funk influences. It is aimed for the top 10 in their homeland, Sweden.

They seemed nervous on their first interview since the reformation. The good thing, however, is that the band seem like a brotherhood, all laughing with eachother throughout.

Thank you for coming here guys. Firstly, well done on the album!

Vladimir: Thank you. We hope you liked it.
Johan: We tried our best on it, anyway.

So, why did you decide to come back from nothing?

V: Numerous amount of reasons. I think my first one was that I missed the guys. Every last one of them. When we split up, I moved away from where Johan and Andriy lived, so did Ansgar. But Ansgar moved north and I moved back to Denmark, so...

Andriy: As well as that, we all had creativity flowing through us at the time, with nothing to express it. We needed to put our pride and problems behind us and start a new chapter.

J: I got bored, heh heh! Nah, seriously though, me and Andriy are brothers, so we're always together, but we both wanted to start writing again. I still played guitar in a few other bands, but BYK is where i'm comfortable at.

Ansgar: I think the guys have summed it all up. I mean, it's boring as shit up where I was. I had very few friends it was so desolated and I was miles away from civilisation. I missed everyone.

Who do you count as influences then?

V: On the heavier side, I would count Faith No More, definitely. Ummmm... Slayer a little, Accept, Red Hot Chili Peppers and System of a Down are all huge influences. I've also really been getting into Coheed and Cambria lately.

AS: However, on the funkier side, I count Ohio Players as an influence. George Clinton too, he's a legend.

AN: Alice in Chains are pretty cool... a bit of Soundgarden maybe.

J: Rage Against the Machine are a band that we've been compared to a couple of times with a couple of songs. I absolutely love Sigur Ros at the moment, although I wouldn't say they're an influence, because we sound nothing like them.

What do you think of the current musical scene?

V: I've mentioned them before, but Reckoner right now are leading it for me. Of course, I can't go without mentioning Mind (OOC: Shameless self plug), who rock aswell. Blood of Wecz, Black Gold Reign, Chimera... I could go on forever.

J: Metal and rock are definitely making a comeback, possibly becoming bigger than the initial wave. We thought it was a perfect time for a comeback. Well, not really a comeback, hardly anyone knew us...

V: Don't get me wrong, I do have guilty pleasures, but I'm so, SO happy that metal is finally getting the recognition it deserves. We hope it will last for a long while. We need less of these pop "divas" and more of educated, intelligent music. Some pop is intelligent, but some is absolute crap.

One last question before you play your song... Is their any upcoming tours?

AS: We don't actually know yet... we might be able to go on tours supportiong bands but we can't actually have our own headliner yet, too soon. I'm sure there are a few bands who would accept us on their tour though.

V: You never know what the future might hold. At the moment, no, but in the future, we'll definitely do a tour or two.

And now, here's the lead single from their new album, Dictation!