Interview: In Mourning (Björn Petterson and Tim Nedergård)

Photo credit: Jens Rydén

Interview: 5th August 2025

Ahead of the release of their upcoming album, The Immortal (review here), Hotel Hobbies had the opportunity for an in-depth chat with two members of melodic death metal band In Mourning.

Hotel Hobbies: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this interview.

Björn Petterson: Nice meeting you. We checked out your review. Thank you!

Hotel Hobbies: It has been a few years since the last album. How do you feel when you are approaching the release of The Immortal?

Tim Nedergård: We are very much looking forward to it. We had lot of stress ahead of the first singles with all the preparations and everything. Now all that was done, I am a little bit excited!

Björn Petterson: Absolutely. There was a lot of pieces that needed to come together for a while and so it has been hectic. Now it feels really good. Most things are in motion now. It feels a little less like holding your breath now.

Hotel Hobbies: Often for bands there is a large amount of time between finishing an album and it actually being released.

Björn Petterson: Yes, definitely.

Tim Nedergård: Don’t get me wrong,  I like all the parts of an album being released. Everything is fun to do but the parts that are not actually about playing guitar tend to hang loose in the air. We have less control over them.

Hotel Hobbies: What was the starting point for the album? Do you actually say its time to sit down and write or does it come from jamming together?

Tim Nedergård: After every album release, I know everyone feels very drained and feels like we haven't got any more to give. That’s often the feeling but I remember us in the car listening back to some old riffs and everyone was feeling they had the fuel and the energy to do something. This time, we thought we should try to write an album, record it and release it in under a year because we’ve never done that before. That would be very fast for us.

Björn Petterson: Yes, that was interesting because it's clear. There needs to be a moment when you say the album is recorded and done.

Hotel Hobbies: The Bleeding Veil was my favourite album of 2021. With the change in line-up, was the songwriting process different this time?

Tim Nedergård: It was a bit different because Cornelius, our new drummer, is located in Germany. We also rehearsed the songs we had written for only a week prior to going to the studio. That was a little bit of a new thing. We also didn’t have a bass player in the band so as Tobias was writing riffs at his place, I was trying to add colour to those riffs with the bass at my place. The funny thing is we only live three hundred metres apart, but we were sitting in a different place. Then you can work when you want to work or when you have time.

Björn Petterson: You were working on bass and lead stuff, Tobias was writing and I was working on lyrics at my end. Then we went away to a cabin for a few intense days to finish up the songwriting. Cornelius had come over from Germany. We were able to rehearse and hear the songs as a band for one week, finalising things. Then we locked ourselves up in the recording studio together.

Tim Nedergård: It’s a weird thing when you say it because it feels like we’ve been very much apart but at the same time it feels like we've never been so much together. Strange.

Björn Petterson: Sometimes it is very individual because it takes a lot of work to do your own part but in the end, everything comes together and it’s a collaborative thing.

Tim Nedergård: With the music part, Tobias is alone much of the time and the overall topics and vibe of the music maybe starts with Björn and me. When we are together, sometimes we are all very stubborn. Sometimes we write together; sometimes we fight together (laughing). 

Hotel Hobbies: Productive fighting (smiling).

Tim Nedergård: Yes, exactly. Sometimes we need convincing the way something should be. Then we can try it. We try things a million ways but sometimes, someone needs to take the steering wheel.

Björn Petterson: Also, you can’t avoid the fact that the three of us are like an old couple! We have been playing together for twenty years. I think when Tobias writes, he has me in mind or Tim in mind and vice versa.

Hotel Hobbies: While the three of you have been together a long time, Cornelius is the new member. What do you think he’s brought to the band?

Björn Petterson:  Cornelius is an old friend. We met at a festival in 2008 or 2009. It was the start of a lifelong friendship.

Tim Nedergård: It took many, many years, over ten years of friendship, meeting every year until we realised that we hadn’t actually been playing together. Not a single moment. And when that moment came, it ended up being in the same band. He's not a Swede so that we knew that we had to change our language. We talk in English all the time now. You want to be a good friend.

Björn Petterson: I also think it puts a lot of stuff into perspective when you have to work around your ideas and translate them to get them across.

Tim Nedergård: Playing wise, he is a bit more rockish than the other drummers we have played with. He has that oomph, with that style of playing.

Hotel Hobbies: To talk about the album itself in more detail, lyrically the album tackles themes of grief, identity and inner conflict. The lyrics are obviously a very important part of what you do. When I write reviews, I like to say something about lyrics and listening to this one sent me down a real rabbit hole of thought.

Tim Nedergård: That’s good and what we intended. If you want to go down a rabbit hole, there is lots to explore.

Björn Petterson: Yes, the tunnels down there mean you can explore them in whichever direction you want. I think they are very open to interpretation but there are these key ingredients that run through the entire thing.

Hotel Hobbies: Thinking about the songs. The title track is a short, ominous opener that sets the mood for the whole album.

Björn Petterson: Absolutely, yes. I remember vividly listening to that soundscape walking back from Tobias’s place. It was pretty late at night and I was walking over the nicely lit bridge here and it really started up a vibe for me. Setting the tone.

Hotel Hobbies: Then you go into Silver Crescent, which is a complete emotional implosion; a great opening song and one thing I notice with all of your music is the attention to detail. At the end of the track, the last chord changes from major to minor and totally shifts the mood. You have a warmer moment and that last chord changes the atmosphere completely. These details make the album even more interesting.

Tim Nedergård: I read that in your review and I know what you’re talking about. In preparation for the album and in the writing process, every bar is calculated. Nothing is done on a hunch. Every bar is how we want it to be.

Björn Petterson: It is also a dialling process as well. Every song is an open project until it is recorded and done. You have a part and then you tweak it and then you get used to it but might tweak it again. You have to make sure you don’t tweak too much - I think we were dialling in on things in a good way.

Hotel Hobbies: With repeated listens to the album, I am hearing different things each time. That’s partly down to how well you layer instrumentation but also the production.

Tim Nedergård: Yes, the production on this album is more than we could have expected.

Björn Petterson:  With the mixing, Alexander has made it sound great and it is really layered. There’s a lot of seasoning in everything.

Hotel Hobbies: You've always been a band that are not afraid to mix aggression with melody, but I think on this album you've done some of your most beautiful melodic work. Some restrained passages that are very effective. The balance makes both the aggression and the melody stand out even more.

Tim Nedergård: Tobias is all about melody and riffs. It’s the inner core of his musicianship. He puts a lot of effort into that. It is something that he has in him. You can play some chords and he can make a melody on the fly. I like to have some virtuosity to it. To only have melodies is fun, but to me, it's not going to be great.

Björn Petterson: You need to let the wild horse in there sometimes and have everyone running around (laughing). 

Tim Nedergård: Yes, I have been fighting for that in this band. I think with this album, we are starting to meet at the halfway point.

Björn Petterson: Yes, I think is great; I think where we have landed feels like a great meeting and not a compromise.

Photo credit: Jens Rydén

Hotel Hobbies: Much as I enjoy the melodic parts too, I also really like the parts where the power of the album is quite evident. At the end of As Long As The Twilight Stays, there is a moment where you feel the song is coming to an end and then you have this potent coda. It was a pleasant surprise at the end of that song.

Tim Nedergård: I am happy to hear that because with the lyrics being about reflection and everything, it is cool when you can entwine that with the music. It ended up being great because it's easy to understand changes in mood when you change from major to minor but here, it allows the music to add more to the lyrics.

Hotel Hobbies: You also have one of the most stripped back pieces you have ever done with Moonless Sky. It sits in the perfect place on the album. I think it is one the most exquisite bits you have ever written from a melodic point of view.

Tim Nedergård: Thank you very much!

Björn Petterson: Yes, thank you. It is kind a leap away from comfort in a way when you strip away all the heavy punching.

Tim Nedergård: It is easy to sit at home and do stuff like that sitting in your underpants (smiling) and you know you’re never going to show it to anyone. That one felt like a riff when it started.

Björn Petterson: When you’re messing around with these soundscape type things its easy to drift away and to get something that feels pretty nice. It’s not so easy to make something significant from it.

Tim Nedergård: When it came to putting on the album, it felt too short but on the other hand, it felt so right.

Björn Petterson: Yes, and as part of the album, it makes so much sense because there’s breathing room in the middle of the album.

Hotel Hobbies: The album ends with The Hounding, the longest track. It’s very cathartic and expansive. It feels like is has something of everything that you are doing at the moment.

Tim Nedergård: Yes, I would say so too. At first, I had a hard time digesting the song because it had that little bit of everything but now it’s actually starting to be a favourite on the album. It has everything but also has some of the progressive elements we used to have. I think it’s a really good ending song.

Björn Petterson: To me, it all came together with all the parts. It is a long song and it's pretty dense but when you add guitar leads and vocals, it makes sense.

Hotel Hobbies: Looking back over your time as a band, it seems to me you have maintained an identity that is definitely In Mourning but have not been afraid to evolve as well.

Tim Nedergård: I can hear the identity but we don’t really think of it when you are involved all the time. I guess we are all a little afraid of not having it but you don’t want to make your last record again. On the other hand, you don’t want to lose yourself in some deliberate idea of trying to evolve. The thing we have done is to just keep on writing in the moment.

Björn Petterson: I think it's this continuous striving. There’s also something you take forward from the last album you have written but everything is also filtered through stuff happening in life too.

Hotel Hobbies: Thinking about the album as a whole, are there songs or parts you have contributed of which you are particularly proud?

Tim Nedergård: I put a lot of effort in the lead playing on this album. I have always done the leads on the album but this time, I have been practising a lot. I have been really trying to do something that adds something musically to all the songs. I am really proud of that.

Björn Petterson: Absolutely. I am very happy with how the album came together vocally. We were taking our time with the vocals and not rushing through anything. We wanted to be satisfied with everything before it was finalised. I’m really happy with how that turned out.

Hotel Hobbies: When you were growing up, which bands did you look up to and enjoy? What music do you like to listen to now?

Björn Petterson: I grew up on punk. The Misfits were the main band I grew up with in the getting-into-music years. Then through Metallica, I got into wider metal. Those two have been very important for me. Still are. I very much like that vibe.

Tim Nedergård: Of course, you brought that into In Mourning too.

Björn Petterson: So from my point of view, its very non-virtuoso at all (smiling). It’s anger and force (laughing). Nowadays, I listen to a lot more ambient or soft stuff. I really like that part of In Mourning very much.

Tim Nedergård: I don’t listen to that so much (laughing). I can do but I’ve been a power metal guy my entire life. Maybe not so much now but I listen to other kinds of power metal. I’m kidding. Everything has to be active. When I was younger, if the singer was high pitched, it was better than if he was singing well! When I was into Blind Guardian, it was all about playing the fastest. So I guess, I am still like that. I've been listening to country music a lot, and it’s the kind of country music that people don’t want to listen to. The radio country music. A good song is a good song.

Photo credit: Jens Rydén

Hotel Hobbies: Obviously, you are going to be playing some of the new material live. Do you think any of the songs from The Immortal will be particularly challenging or easier to play?

Tim Nedergård: Both! We have been playing Song of the Cranes at the Summer festivals. When you play a new song live, it is with a little nerve. When you’re rehearsing, you don’t have to inject quite the same energy as when you have an audience. You are only concentrating on your instrument. Song of the Cranes feels like a song we will be playing a lot.

Björn Petterson: I agree. It has really fallen into place live. We all have different spots and parts in some songs that are challenging. We tested the whole album in our rehearsal space so I think we could pull off most of the album.

Hotel Hobbies: Being from the UK, we don’t see you that much over here. The last time I saw you play was with Insomnium in London. It was a great show.

Tim Nedergård: It was a great venue. I remember it very well. It was the second show of the tour. Everything was fresh and new. Finally, I thought I had time to see London, which I didn’t (smiling) because you’re on tour. I could have a falafel over the road from the venue! The venue adds to the feeling and the audience were really into the music. It makes everything so easy when the energy flows in both directions. It is almost like the show plays itself when its like that.

Björn Petterson: Yeah, I also remember it was a nice, nice show. Early in a tour, everyone is on their toes getting used to things.

Hotel Hobbies: You are coming back in March 2026 with Omnium Gatherum and Fallujah which looks like an interesting line-up.

Tim Nedergård: I’m so looking forward to it, because is an interesting package.

Björn Petterson: It's a bit long until March but looking forward to that one.

Hotel Hobbies: Do you think you ever manage to play a headlining gig in the UK? It would be nice to see you play a longer set. If not, I will just have to come over to Sweden!

Tim Nedergård: We would love to play longer shows. This summer, we have been doing a couple of headline festival shows. It’s a great feeling. To at least play three songs (laughing)!

Björn Petterson: With the long songs, you want to play many songs and sometimes you have to cut it down to a shorter set.

Tim Nedergård: We are also realising we have one more album now and we would like to represent each album on the setlist. We don’t want to always play the obvious songs. Now, we can’t do that in some shows because we have too many albums or songs.

Hotel Hobbies: It must be difficult to decide what to play.

Björn Petterson: It is!

Tim Nedergård: I usually take the easier road and say you decide.

Hotel Hobbies: You obviously want to represent your new album because you have worked on it so hard but also want to acknowledge what you have done in the past. When you are supporting, it is even harder to do that.

Björn Petterson: For me at least, it feels through all the albums, there have been certain songs that stand out as good live songs. We need to have this one and then we need to think of new songs. Sometimes though, we want to change things up.

Tim Nedergård: Then you have the situation where everyone feels like we have some songs that you can’t exclude from the setlist and with the others we choose, we might have only one space in the setlist to play with.

Hotel Hobbies: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I think people are going to love the new album when they hear it. I will see you in March in London!

Björn Petterson: Thank you so much, man. It was very nice talking to you.

Tim Nedergård: Definitely. See you in London.