When I began writing After Chaos, I wasn’t interested in describing chaos itself.
Countless stories begin with conflict. The battle. The collapse. The apocalypse. Everything builds towards a dramatic ending where worlds fall apart and old structures are consumed. There is nothing wrong with that, but while working on this album I found myself asking a different question.
What happens after all of that?
What remains when the noise has faded?
What kind of awareness becomes possible when nothing demands your attention anymore?
That became the true beginning of After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil.
Continuing the path beyond Cycle of the Dying Sun
Although After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil stands on its own, I have always seen it as a continuation of the journey that began with Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms).
The previous album slowly descended through fading worlds, forgotten memories and ancient currents until it finally reached its conclusion. It was never intended as an ending in itself. Instead, it prepared the ground for what would follow.
Rather than beginning a completely new chapter, I wanted this album to begin exactly where the previous one came to rest.
The collapse has already happened.
The old forms have already broken apart.
There is no dramatic climax left.
Only silence.
Only presence.
Looking back, I realise this was also the point where my creative process began to change. Earlier Runemagick albums usually started with riffs, arrangements or musical ideas. With Cycle of the Dying Sun and After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil, the path became different. Atmosphere, words and concept gradually became just as important as the music itself, sometimes even preceding it. That shift has changed not only how I write songs, but also how I experience the creative process.
The music no longer comes first, nor do the words. They grow together until separating one from the other becomes almost impossible.
That new way of creating also shaped the opening of this album. It had to feel patient. It had to allow space for the listener to leave behind ordinary expectations before the journey could truly begin.
From Swedish words to music
Like every song on After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil, After Chaos did not begin with riffs or musical ideas.
It began as a short text written in Swedish. Almost like a poem, or perhaps more accurately, a fragment of a vision. At that stage I wasn’t trying to write lyrics for a song. I was simply trying to capture an atmosphere before it disappeared.
Once that foundation existed, the music slowly began to grow around the words. New musical ideas suggested new images. Certain passages needed more space, while others demanded fewer words. Throughout the process the music and the text continually influenced one another until they eventually felt like a single work rather than separate elements.
Only when that process was complete did I translate the lyrics into English. It was never a direct translation. The text had to be rewritten and adapted so that the rhythm, atmosphere and meaning could survive the transition into another language. The English version therefore became the final stage of the creative process rather than a simple translation of the original Swedish text.
This has gradually become my preferred way of working. The words no longer explain the music, and the music no longer illustrates the words. They evolve together until it becomes difficult to say which one came first.
Hagalaz beyond destruction
The song is dedicated to the rune Hagalaz (ᚺ).
It is often described simply as the rune of destruction, disruption or hail. While those associations certainly exist, I have never been satisfied with reducing Hagalaz to catastrophe alone.
To me it represents something far more fundamental.
It is the force that dissolves rigid forms.
It breaks what has become fixed.
It reminds us that permanence is often an illusion.
Without that movement there can be no genuine transformation.
Destruction is therefore not the destination.
It is the condition that allows something new to emerge.
That perspective became central while writing After Chaos. The song never looks back in grief. Neither does it celebrate collapse. Instead it observes what remains once destruction has exhausted itself.
The silence is no longer empty.
It has become fertile.
Something ancient begins to move beneath it.
That is where this album begins.
Living currents rather than historical symbols
People sometimes ask about my interest in runes and what role they play in Runemagick.
The answer has gradually become clearer over the years.
I have never been interested in treating the runes as museum objects or attempting to reconstruct a forgotten past. History is fascinating, but it has never been the destination of this creative journey.
Instead I experience the runes as living currents.
Not fixed meanings.
Not simple symbols.
Certainly not something that can be reduced to a few keywords in a book.
Each rune carries its own presence. Sometimes they reveal themselves through words. Sometimes through music. Sometimes through experiences that refuse to fit into language at all.
That way of approaching the runes naturally connects with my growing interest in animism.
For me, animism is simply a way of meeting the world. Forests, mountains, stones, rivers, weather, silence and places all possess their own presence. They are not simply scenery surrounding human life. They participate in existence alongside us.
Whether someone shares that perspective is ultimately unimportant.
The music is not trying to convince anyone.
It simply attempts to create a space where those possibilities can be experienced rather than explained.
Building the gateway
From the beginning I knew that the opening of the album had to feel different.
Not dramatic.
Not aggressive.
Not immediate.
It had to feel like standing before an unseen threshold.
That was why I asked Dísa Dráugurinn to become part of the opening piece.
Her melodic chants intertwine with my own vocals throughout the opening passage, creating something neither voice could have achieved alone. Rather than functioning as a guest appearance added after the song had been written, her voice became part of the composition itself. Together the chants establish the atmosphere before the heavier sections gradually reveal themselves.
That opening became the gateway into the entire album.
As the album gradually took shape, Andy La Rocque’s mix at Sonic Train Studios helped give the opening the depth, space and sense of atmosphere it needed. It became the final step in shaping the sound before the listener enters the journey.
Taking time
Perhaps this is the aspect that matters most to me.
Both After Chaos and the album as a whole ask something of the listener.
Time.
Patience.
Presence.
The music unfolds slowly because it was written that way. The lyrics reveal themselves gradually because they were never intended to deliver immediate answers.
We live in a culture where music often becomes fragmented into playlists, algorithms and short moments competing for attention.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that.
But this album was created with another way of listening in mind.
I still believe in the album as a complete work.
I believe that songs change meaning depending on what comes before and after them.
I believe that silence between passages can be just as important as the passages themselves.
If After Chaos succeeds, it is not because it overwhelms the listener immediately.
It succeeds because it quietly changes the way the rest of the album is experienced.
That is why I hope listeners will give it the same time and attention that it demanded while it was being created.
Looking beyond chaos
When I finished writing the lyrics I realised something that hadn’t been obvious at the beginning.
The song is not really about endings.
It is about attention.
It asks what becomes possible once we stop clinging to what has already fallen away.
The title might suggest violence or disorder.
In reality it points towards something much quieter.
A place where awareness returns.
A place where ancient currents can once again be felt beneath the surface.
Perhaps that is why this album begins after the ending rather than before it.
The collapse was never the destination.
It was only the threshold.
The real journey begins when the silence finally begins to speak.
That is where After Chaos begins.
Listen:
https://runemagick.bandcamp.com/album/after-chaos-nocturnal-vigil
Pre order (CD, LP & Digital):
https://runemagick.lnk.to/afterchaos
Cassette:
https://intoitrecords.com
Lyric video:
https://youtu.be/sRZ9PhhwJP4?si=e-fCDA5HCf-xupKW
In stillness,
Nicklas Rudolfsson
ᛁᛚᚾᚱ