Ambers (Germany)

Interview with Tobias Ernst & Peter Lehmkuhl
www.ambersband.de

Ambers are a fresh breeze of metalcore straight from Germany! They manage to combine their energy with the necessary lightness and directness through excellent songwriting. With Ambers you’ll get to hear a strong young band with a hard shell but an emotional core – direct and evil they are currently conquering the metal underground. At Metal Revolution we want to be a part of this journey, so we decided to present these young guns with this short chat I had with band’s drummer & vocalist.

MR: Since you’re a relatively young band would you please be kind and introduce your band and present a current line-up? Tell us something about very beginning of this journey.

Ambers: The story began in late 2017, Ben Hoti (guitar/clean vocals), Maurice Ernst (guitar) and Tobias Ernst (drums) left their previous band to start something new. Recruiting Peter Lehmkuhl (vocals) out of an extended network of mutual friends and musicians, the brutal voice of Ambers was found. Felix Baumhauer (bass) completed the band with his five-string.

MR: What got you in the first place to play this kind of music and what were your genre influences while growing up?

Ambers: As all of our band members are fans of different subgenres within metal music and so we just combine them. With a foundation rooted in metalcore that incorporates progressive and djenty elements the writing was influenced by bands like Architects, Silent Planet and Currents.

MR: How was your music been received in German/Munich underground scene? I’ve read someone calling you a ‘Munich Metalcore hope’ and ‘a fresh breeze from Germany’ – is it flattering or don’t you care at all?

Ambers: To hear comments like this is truly flattering but we like to concentrate more on proper criticism to improve our songwriting as well as our stage performance.

MR: Do you feel that you get the attention and recognition as deserved?

Ambers: Due to the massive amount of music it is hard to gain the attention that we´d like to have but where happy with every person who likes our music and supports us.

MR: How would you describe the sound of Ambers yourself? Am I completely wrong if I say that I can hear a blend of metal- and deathcore with some progressive and melodic touches?!

Ambers: We think that balance of heaviness and melodic catchiness is achieved by an instrumental backbone that is more reminiscent of metalcore, which is combined with vocals that are more extreme than usual for this genre. This combination creates an immense intensity in the heavy parts and yet the catchiness is preserved when the chorus kicks in. Our sound is achieved by putting an emphasis on progressive riffs paired with unusual yet melodic chords.

MR: You’re about to release a great video for “Meager Skies”. What can you tell us about the first single and the up-coming EP?
Ambers: Actually “Meager Skies” was released as the second single of our debut EP along with the lyric video. 4 weeks before we released the title track “Covariance”, with an official music video which gained more attention than we expected. In the Meantime our EP got released with a video of our live performance to “Obsolete”.

MR: I was amazed that your debut single “Cold Embrace” did not make it to the EP. Was there a reason for that, or did you just want to showcase more of your new music?

Ambers: We were thinking about re-recording “Cold Embrace” for the EP, but decided against it when we had enough new material to fill an EP by the time we hit the studio – so we felt no need to include it and focused on the new songs.

MR: Speaking in general; what is the main subject in your lyrics? And where do you usually get the inspiration for?

Ambers: The lyrical theme portraits a dystopian view on humanity between failure of a species and insignificance of the individual. In a world where ignorance is not the catalyst to our demise but our inability to act in the face of our ruin.

MR: How does an Ambers’ song come together? Can you tell us something about the recording process?

Ambers: Ben writes the songs mostly by himself, starting from a riff idea, relying more on his gut feeling than using a purely methodical writing approach. On the basis of his pre-production our drummer adjusts his parts and our vocalists writes the lyrics before we practice the songs in the rehearsal room.

MR: What’s been the absolute highlight of your career so far? I know you’re played a big show at Backstage Munich with the likes of Belgian Death metal veteran legends from Aborted and the high-flyers of Decapitated from Poland?

Ambers: As we´re a young band which started late 2017, we can tell that playing with Aborted and Decapitated was indeed our highlight so far – but we strive for more.

MR: What are your plans for the future? Will you tour outside of Germany and any chance that you’ll present your music to our Danish audience?

Ambers: We will play a lot of shows till the end of the year trying to reach new fans and establish Ambers as a force to be reckoned with in the south of Germany! Our goal is to gain as much attention as possible with the EP and to become an attractive support act for more established touring bands that make a stop in Munich as well as for tours and we´re sure, that Denmark will be part of that.

MR: Thank you for taking the time and effort in talking to us, it’s been a pleasure. Any final message?

Ambers: If you like what we did with covariance then be prepared for the next months. There will be a lot more of this.