Interview: Anders Jacobsson / Niklas Nord (Draconian)

Interview: 17th April 2026

Ahead of the release of their new album - In Somnolent Ruin (review coming soon) - I spent some time in the company of Anders and Niklas of Draconian. We discussed the band's core identity, the new album and the return of Lisa Johansson on vocals on her first album with the band since 2011's A Rose For The Apocalypse.

Hotel Hobbies: Anders, you have been – alongside Johan - with Draconian since the very earliest days. Having been there for all that time, how does the love of being in the band balance with any feeling of responsibility in keeping the core identity of Draconian alive?

Anders Jacobsson: I think now it happens automatically because, as you said, it has been since December 1994. It’s a big part of who I am. There is the sense of responsibility because you’re representing other people and the band is a unit. That’s growing with each album because you have more of a legacy to defend. It's not just within ourselves as band. You have responsibility to your fans, your management, your label and to yourself as artists to do your best. I try not to overthink it.

Hotel Hobbies: Niklas, you have come into the band during the last four years or so. This is the first album you have made. How does it feel coming into such an established band where you can contribute something new?

Niklas Nord: It’s been an amazing journey to get the vote of confidence to be part of this legacy. I was going to join the tour for Under A Godless Veil but that was cancelled due to COVID. Then, the discussion started up again and there was a tour booked. Johan again contacted me. We discussed things and we rehearsed. It's really a privilege to be a part of this and to play these amazing songs that Johan and Anders have written. It's fantastic. I said to Anders when we did the last European tour that I could play them and make them my own in some way.

Hotel Hobbies: On this album, you have Lisa returning on vocals. How has it been starting a new chapter for the band but with someone you know really well?

Anders Jacobsson: It was like something familiar when she came back. With some people, even if you have barely seen them in ten years, it's like they’ve only been gone a few weeks and you pick up where you left off. It is definitely like that with Lisa. So it felt very familiar but in an updated kind of way because she's an even better artist and singer. We are better musicians too. But also, the two albums with Heike are extremely important in our catalogue and also very important to the fans. Lisa loves to perform the songs on those albums. It was a fresh thing for her to interpret those songs that she was not a part of. Then we take it from there and make this new album. We also have Daniel and Niklas as new members so half the band is different from Under A Godless Veil. I think with this new lineup, we have never been so good live as now. When Johan first started writing the new songs, we were still in a transformation phase.

Niklas Nord: To add what Anders said about Lisa, what’s really interesting is that Lisa kept singing when she left the band. She was singing a lot of different genres. From church music to covers bands.

Anders Jacobsson: She just loves to sing.

Niklas Nord: In my opinion, her voice is better than ever. When she hits those high notes and you stand next to her on stage, you get goosebumps. It’s like a physical experience. I don’t know how she does it so many nights in a row.

Hotel Hobbies: I have been listening to the new album, which has been most enjoyable. It very much feels like Draconian now. You have always been a band that keeps that core identity we spoke of while managing to move forward at the same time.

Anders Jacobsson: Yeah, that's a good point. That’s what I want us to be. We don't struggle with the identity. We know what we are but we still want to be open to new influences. We also grow as people, as listeners and as artists. We need to be open to new inspirations. As long as you don't stagnate and try to repeat yourself, then I think it's fine to have a core identity.

Hotel Hobbies: As you say, none of us think exactly the same about ourselves or the world as we did thirty years ago.

Anders Jacobsson: Definitely. You shouldn’t copy yourself too much. Some bands do that for too long. I am sure some people would say that about us too but that’s not what we are trying to do. We know what kind of band we are. We are such lovers of music so it's going to influence us whether we like it or not.

Hotel Hobbies: To speak about the album itself, I have listened to it loud through speakers and also through headphones. The production gives the album a beautiful balance between weight and clarity. A great listening experience.

Anders Jacobsson: That’s great to hear.

Niklas Nord: Thank you. I am really impressed by the sound too. Karl Lidén has been mixing and mastering the album alongside Johan. Everything except the drums were recorded in Johan’s living room. It’s great what technology is available to us today. He's a magician. I don't know how he does it.

Anders Jacobsson: He is also a good drummer and has his own post-doom band so he knows a lot about immersive atmospheres.

Hotel Hobbies: Opening song, I Welcome Thy Arrow has a gorgeous fragility and vulnerability in Lisa’s vocals. It sets a strong emotional tone for the album.

Anders Jacobsson: It's like a dream state that song. It kind of prepares you a little bit for what's coming. I think it's a really good song to represent the album soundscape wise. It’s a great song to open the album.

Hotel Hobbies: There are some very interesting lyrics on the album. On The Monochrome Blade, I picked out the lyric, the binding of the spirit onto shame. There is a strong sense of burden running throughout the track. A great example of impact coming from words as much as structure and pace. The album is very cohesive but each song has its own identity.

Anders Jacobsson: It's a bit more introspective compared to the previous one, I would say. It might take little bit more time to get into properly. It is a little bit more personal and a little bit more philosophical. I'm addressing a lot of feelings and thoughts about life, death and identity with some mythological archetypes. It's a little bit more story oriented but it's also very, very subjective and personal at the same time.

Hotel Hobbies: Draconian has always been amazing in the use of space and allowing songs time. Anima, for example, builds and builds over a long period of time.

Anders Jacobsson: Thank you. It is like it is holding its breath sometimes. You also hear it in Misanthrope River as well. The music almost stops and when it begins again, there is a connecting of the dots in between. That was also all over the previous album. I know you asked about Anima but the funny thing about Misanthrope River is that Johan actually wrote that for the previous album. That song goes back to 2019, 2020 but it didn’t really fit on that album. So we just put it on hiatus and resurrected it for this one. But for me, I can almost hear where it comes from a little bit. You have that holding of breath and this airiness of the song that was so present on the previous album. It works very well here. I think it's one of those songs that kind of binds it all together in a way. Anima does that as well because it's different. It builds up from a very dreamy, melancholic place where and it goes to a climax where the ultimate confession begins. It's a very interesting song, I think.

Hotel Hobbies: The Face of God is one of my favourite lyrics on the album. It has this imagery of creation moving backwards into ruin. What things inspire your lyric writing?

Anders Jacobsson: There were a lot of things happening since the last album. I never stopped writing during COVID. I was having a lot of periods of being in certain states of mind and just kind of coping by writing. Of course, when this album started coming together, I tried to figure out what to use for this album. It was a little bit of a culmination of everything I felt have felt over the years. It still stays true to some of the tropes that we've always dealt with: alienation, yearning for a home and trying to find your identity. You want to wake up to the person you already are. But during that time, you get more and more jaded and stagnated. Also, we're growing older now. It is a little bit more difficult to get things out and be happier with everything in the artistic world. You don't want to repeat yourself too much but you also want to tell a story about yourself and your experiences. You want to tell how you feel but not making it too much about yourself in the sense that other people cannot relate to it.

This time around, I was trying to be a little bit more elusive and introspective compared to the previous album for the listener to find themselves within it. But the lyrics, of course, are also about what's happening, what's happened in the last few years. It has affected me deeply. I care a lot about the social issues and everything. It also stagnated me in my creative process at times. I have my own issues, of course but I feel I'm very empathetic. As soon as I come up with an idea, I write it down and I automatically feel like it would be good in the Draconian song, because that's just such a big part of who I am. So it's like a seed gets sown. Johan can get an idea for a riff just watching a movie or standing in line for food! Sometimes for me, it is streamlining ideas. I don’t know where they come from sometimes. I am so fortunate to be able to express these things through a band like this. I'm grateful, so grateful to have that possibility to do that. Even when we are just rehearsing together, its amazing. It's even better on stage. Music brings people together.

Hotel Hobbies: So far you have released Cold Heavens and Misanthrope River as singles. Two quite different songs. What was the decision behind releasing these two songs first?

Anders Jacobsson: On Under A Godless Veil, Lustrous Heart – the shortest song – was the first single. This time, Cold Heavens is the shortest song. It's kind of straightforward and that’s something labels usually want to start with because it's more in your face. You need to open someone’s eyes. I think it was a great single to do that. With the second single, you can sit back a bit a let it flow. Misanthrope River is more patient. I think that one represents the album the best. But on Cold Heavens, Lisa is really pouring it out!

Hotel Hobbies: Yes! She really goes for it during the chorus.

Anders Jacobsson: It was the perfect song to start with in regard to her return.

Hotel Hobbies: The video for Misanthrope River was recorded in the Faroe Islands. Why did that appeal as a place for the video?

Niklas Nord: It was Gaui, the videographer who suggest that because his wife is from there. He's from Iceland originally. He described these places for us and also showed us some photos. I think we were kind of very in awe of how this place looks. There are really amazing views. When we got the first images for the video, we were blown away by the majestic scenery with cliffs, waves, snow and waterfalls.

Anders Jacobsson: It was a great opportunity to use something spectacular that is natural in this day and age of fakery.

Niklas Nord: Absolutely. We know he wouldn’t put anything in our video that isn’t real or he hasn’t created or shot himself. He’s a very talented photographer and videographer. It was a blast working with him. He did an amazing job.

Anders Jacobsson: Very easy to work with. Very humble and open to suggestions. It feels very natural to work with him.

Hotel Hobbies: You will be on tour this year and next year. How do you feel about taking these new songs out on the road? You must be looking forward to sharing them live.

Niklas Nord: Absolutely. We haven't rehearsed them together yet (laughing). I rehearsed them a few weeks ago and they are coming along nicely. It's really fun to play the new songs. Some of them are tricky because of the ambient parts or where Johan has recorded a gazillion guitars. We don’t want to put in loads of guitars on backing tracks – only the choir, strings and orchestral stuff. So we try to work with what we can do with two guitars live on stage that still captures the essence of the songs. We are actually rehearsing tomorrow and Sunday before the Latin American tour.

Anders Jacobsson: That will be very, very cool to go through tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to playing these songs live. It's kind of where it comes together for me. This album has been so long in the making. It’s on stage where our music breathes. I get to understand them from a more organic perspective and a performative perspective. It's always a very, very exciting moment when you have new songs and you get to do them live for the first time.

Niklas Nord: It's like you finalise songs two times. You finalise it firstly when you record it. Then, you come to a live situation and you finalise it another time. It makes it your own and you get to feel it on another level. So, when we come to the rehearsal space, it's the first time we actually play the song at the same time in the same room. We have all played the songs but at different times in Johan’s living room (smiling).

Anders Jacobsson: Tomorrow is a little bit historical in that way. The whole band actually gets together and plays these songs, even if it's in a small rehearsal room. It's going to be interesting and I'm going to love it.

Photo credit: Therés Stephansdotter Björk

Hotel Hobbies: I look forward to hearing them live. My last question to you is, over the time both of you have been musicians, what is the most valuable lesson you have learned?

Niklas Nord: For me, it's that I'm never done. I started with the flute when I was nine years old. I went through piano, saxophone and electric bass. I've played a lot of other instruments and sing. It’s the expansion of the Dunning-Kruger effect (smiling). The more you understand that you are not complete, the more there is to learn. I think my biggest take away as a creative person is there are so many fantastic things to experience. I can never sit down and say, okay, now I'm done. I want to know everything there is to know.

Anders Jacobsson: I have learned you should never be arrogant about it. You should never think you have reached your full potential. When you have learned to abandon ego, that’s the beginning of knowing. I just try to be better and not stagnate. Sometimes you need to take the time to listen. I have also learned that although there has been a long time in between these two albums, you don’t have to stop being creative. You need to do whatever it takes to maintain that flow.

Hotel Hobbies: Thank you both so much for your time. I have really enjoyed listening to the album so good luck with it when it comes out. I look forward to seeing you play the songs live but at the moment, I will have to wait until London next March! See you then.

Niklas Nord: Yeah, I'm looking forward to that!

Anders Jacobsson: Come and say hi! Thank you for talking to us. Take care.