For Elbanna, the start of the year already feels surreal. Between big personal life changes, intense live shows, and preparing to release the band’s sixth album, there is a sense that everything is moving at full speed. “It’s mind baffling that I still get to do this and call it my job,” he says, reflecting on the fifteen years since Lost Society first started.

The excitement around the new album is unmistakable. While the campaign has been rolling out steadily with singles, the approaching release makes everything feel increasingly real. Yet Elbanna no longer worries about trying to satisfy everyone. “In no universe will it ever be possible to please everyone, nor should that be the basis of doing anything,” he explains. Instead, he hopes listeners take the songs and make them their own, whether they love or hate them.

Looking back at Lost Society’s earlier albums, Elbanna stresses that each record represented the band’s authentic voice at that moment in time. From the youthful thrash beginnings to the more experimental directions of recent years, the band has constantly evolved. What makes this new album different, he believes, is that all those explorations have finally converged. “With this music, it’s something that I have not heard before. I think it’s us offering something absolutely unique.” Part of that mindset is rooted in the legacy of Finnish metal pioneers like Nightwish, HIM, and Children of Bodom. Rather than feeling pressured by that legacy, Elbanna sees it as a privilege. Those bands succeeded because they dared to combine unlikely influences, and Lost Society has embraced that same fearless approach. “If we ever got the instinct that we were going too far,” he laughs, “we just said: no, let’s go even further.”

One of the most noticeable new elements on the album is the orchestral dimension that runs throughout the record. Interestingly, that direction began almost by accident. The song ‘Blood Diamond’ started life as a melody over a hip-hop beat before the band experimented with turning it into something more cinematic. The result opened a creative door that shaped the entire album. Classical instrumentation, Elbanna believes, adds a powerful emotional layer to heavy music. “Classical musicians were the original metal musicians,” he says with a grin, pointing to the dramatic intensity that orchestration can bring.

Despite the large-scale production, the songwriting process remained surprisingly simple at its core. Many songs started with nothing more than two acoustic guitars. Elbanna calls it the “campfire method”: if a melody works in its simplest form, it will work in any arrangement. “You can add a thousand synths and an orchestra,” he says, “but you can’t make a bad melody sound good with all the tools in the world.”

That philosophy also helps when translating the songs to the stage. While the studio recordings feature layered atmospheres and orchestral textures, the band keeps the core arrangements grounded enough to perform live as a four-piece. Some studio details may disappear in a live setting, but Elbanna sees that as part of the experience. “That’s rock and roll,” he says. “Sometimes the shows where you mess up are the ones you remember.”

Vocally, the album pushed him further than ever before. Determined not to be seen merely as a guitarist who sings, Elbanna deliberately wrote demanding vocal parts and then trained himself to deliver them. “I consciously write very difficult vocal lines and then I just have to learn them,” he says. After years of growth, he now feels confident standing behind every performance on the record. Emotion ultimately became more important than perfection during recording. Some takes were kept because of their intensity, even if they weren’t technically flawless. “You can sing something note perfect,” Elbanna explains, “but if it doesn’t have the performance, it won’t sound good.”

With the album about to be released, the band is already preparing to bring the new material on tour. Among the songs he is most excited to perform live is the title track ‘Hell Is a State of Mind’, which he describes as the most dynamic piece Lost Society has ever written. Other songs like ‘Blood Diamond’ and ‘Is This What You Wanted’ are also high on the list, though deciding on a setlist may prove difficult. “I’d love to play the whole record,” he admits.

Before wrapping up, Elbanna leaves listeners with one simple request: give the album a proper chance. “Listen to the whole record once before you make up your mind,” he says. Whether people love it or tear it apart, the most important thing is that the music sparks a reaction. “If it makes you feel something, that’s all that matters.”

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