So, these were the two biggest things I thought about approaching it. I think that’s partly why the album is called ‘Dissolution’. I want to move away from the idea that I need to put so many things into one thing to make it interesting for YouTube reactors or to work on TikTok. I want to step away from that and pursue something that feels intuitive.

RS: What would you say was the catalyst for you exploring those more personal and unearthed things within the lyrical side of things?

Mirza: I’ve been spending my life really having the fear of death, and it comes with everything that I do. If I wasn’t good enough in my relationships, if I was drinking too much, doing too many drugs. It was just so inherent in me. I know this doesn’t sound healthy, and I don’t even know if it’s good to say, but I figured out it’s just part of me. These things, these unlucky things, these bad things that I have been repeating, it’s just there. It’s been a learning curve.

But I’ve always been afraid of them because my father was a violent alcoholic, and I come from a family with a history of massive abuse and of Balkan culture, which is very different than what we know now. But I have found that I can live, I can be normal, I can be functioning and have all these things with me and work on them without being scared to death. And on all those albums we have made, I’ve just been whipping myself, being like, ‘Oh, how could I do this? You know, it’s going to ruin me. It’s going to cost me my life. It’s going to cost me everything.’ But writing about it this way now has made me feel more whole.

RS: You want to be the one who breaks the cycle. Who does things differently. Sometimes that is easier said than done, but most of the time you have to work it out for yourself.

Mirza: When you grow a little bit older, it just turns out that you can do more than you thought. I was not that fragile. I was not that vulnerable. The first thing that came to me in these realisations was that I had severe anxiety a couple of years ago, triggered by COVID, and I’ve just started talking to everybody about it. I know that’s the mantra: you need to talk, but I learned that the more I didn’t talk about it, the more I accepted it. I think that’s the thing. I accepted it. It’s there. It’s gonna be there. It’s fine when you feel it in your stomach. It’s not going to kill you. And I just lived with it, and it turned into something new. That was a milestone for me, and also what made me feel like doing something new with the band and just letting it happen.

RS: And when you’re talking about musical changes, you want to make sure that you’re doing things in a manner that works not just for you but the people who have supported you along the way.

Mirza: This industry is very fear-based, especially from fans. I’ve also worked behind the scenes, and one thing that always comes up in management is that we don’t want to scare people away. But a very important part of all of this is that if you’re creative and you don’t feel like a child when you’re creating, it’s going to be a problem down the road. And it became a problem for me when I thought, ‘Let’s just spit out some tunes that would work for Spotify or vitality or the reactors. There are way too many bands on our scene that are chasing that clout. The competition is fierce, and it’s never been this strong with so many good bands. But everything feels fake. Bands are not talking about the music, but I still think some of the best music in the history of metalcore is being made right now.

RS: Also, when you’re in a place where you’re talking about real stuff, real feelings, real problems, you can’t, or shouldn’t be trying to fit it into any box or trend. It should be as horrible and gross and weird as it needs to be, because that’s what life is.

Mirza: And that’s something I realised when we first went out on the road. What really resonated was how much it meant for people to see us be open and honest. And what I learned was that maybe some of these honest songs that talk about really shitty stuff might not get radio play, and that’s fine. But it will mean something to someone, and they will buy tickets to your shows, buy the vinyl, and get involved with you. So much more than a viral video or something will give you.

RS: What else makes you feel proud about what Siamese has been able to do throughout the journey you have been on?

Mirza: The thing that popped into my head first is that if I can do it, everybody can do it. When I started, I didn’t know anything. We made several mistakes over six or seven years. What sets us apart is that we never gave up on the idea of travelling the world and doing what we do. So around the fourth album, when we started seeing traction, that’s also when I figured out how this industry works, and how to take care of myself and my guys.

It’s one thing to be an American or a British artist because those countries are so big. But being in Denmark, doing the sound that we do, I think there are maybe only two other bands that do what we do. So, it’s wild that we have even been able to do what we have done at all, but I’m really, really proud of us for how we have made it so far. We did a show in Denmark with a 2000 capacity and never had a heavy band, besides Volbeat, do something like that. It’s been taken more seriously now and given the space it needs, like at COPENHELL.

We have helped people see that they can do this. You don’t necessarily have to play death metal. You can sing, and you can write melodies. Standing up for that has been a big part of our journey. We were never built on hype. We were never suddenly bursting onto the scene. We just took it really slowly, and now we are here, and it is very satisfying.