Palace Terrace - Entrevista

1 – Palace Terrace (origin and meaning of the project’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
GB - Palace Terrace was formed after I had a vision for a vocal oriented album. I composed the "Flying Through Infinity" album shortly after releasing my solo album "Venomous Fingers". After completing the composition process for the album I began the search for a lead singer. It was an early Sunday morning that I put a call into Vocalist Jonathan Marshall. While speaking to Jonathan I explained to him that I had this progressive and neoclassical style album and would like for him to sing on it, without hesitation he agreed to record the tracks. I then further revealed to him the "Flying Through Infinity" concept I had, along with the seeds for the meaning and development of each song. After our conversation I sent him the entire album and the vocal production was underway. The band name was born when Jonathan and I were taking a break from recording vocals in my private studio. I was suggesting a name that sounded royal, majestic and "made for a palace". After further contemplation Jonathan said "Terrace"... "Palace Terrace". The timeline for the vocal production was extensive and extremely laborious, it wound up taking longer than I had anticipated due to studio scheduling, working and re-working John's improvisations and all my vocal parts. In the end the amount of time it took to complete was worth it to me, for it is satisfying both emotionally and intellectually.

2 – “Flying Through Eternity” (writing & recording process):
GB - I had composed the album on staff paper and also recorded the main body of music before ever approaching the other musicians. Once I brought Jonathan aboard we had worked intensely on the improvisations as well as the additional melodic and counterpoint sections I composed. Jonathan had written some lyrics based off of the "Flying Through Infinity" concept and seed ideas for the individual songs I had initially presented to him. I had also written lyrics to further project the song's original meaning. When we got together we melded our lyrics into what you hear on the album.

3 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages) and the main lyrical concept of this record:
GB - In brief... it is a journey through space and time questioning what happens in higher dimensions, wondering if we'll find loved ones on the other side, wondering why we each go through the path we do, and then coming full circle back to a place to call home. As I previously mentioned the lyrics on the album were written by both Jonathan Marshall and myself. The concept of the album was influenced by my love and fascination of astrophysics.

4 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
GB - The album's front cover is depicting a soul flying through the universe, or rather flying through infinity. The artwork reflects the soul looking over planet Earth and all of it's inhabitance. The artwork was conceptualized, designed and created by myself. Along with the lyrics the album came out rather spiritual, without ever really insinuating a particular religion. It definitely conveys a sense of awe, inspired by the grandiose scheme of who, what and were we are.

5 – Musical and other kind of influences:
GB - The music on the album is highly influenced by strict classical composition techniques in combination with modern elements. There are vocal sections that I composed using strict 4-part writing rules and other sections that utilize extensive odd-meters and modern harmony. The song forms used on the album were not restricted to any particular structure and came out rather unique sounding.

6 – Lion Music:
GB - Lion Music I truly believe to be somewhat of a saviour record label that brings high caliber musicianship and captivating artists to the public. While they are indeed in the business of selling records, they too are much concerned with bringing something new, fresh, innovative and over the top to both fans and musicians alike. Lasse Mattson is a talented guitarist and musician himself which I think really aids in bringing to the label the high quality musicians associated with it.

7 – Tour to promote the record:
GB - With the proper management and support a tour is highly probable. We all want to play this material live and very much look forward to meeting and talking with the fans.

8 – Final Message:
GB - I look forward to releasing many more albums in the future of both instrumental and vocal types. I already have several hours of new material on staff paper waiting to be recorded, pieces that have already been recorded and am also continuously composing more material. It will never stop and look forward to bringing much more music to public for their enjoyment. A big sincere thanks to all my fans worldwide for all your continued enthusiastic support and feedback throughout the years.

Entrevistador: RDS

Entrevistado: George Bellas - Composer of Palace Terrace.

http://www.palaceterrace.com/ / http://www.georgebellas.com/ / www.myspace.com/palaceterrace / www.myspace.com/georgebellas / http://www.lionmusic.com/ / www.myspace.com/lionmusiclabel

Mandrake - Entrevista

1 – Mandrake (origin and meaning of the band’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
Lutz: Mandrake was brought to life by me in the wastelands of northern germany ("Ostfriesland") in the late 90`s. In 1998, the self-produced album "Forever" was recorded, presenting the band as a mixture of slow death-metal and elements of the gothic-scene. Female vocals were rare and sung by a guest-vocalist. 1999 Birgit Lau joined the band and her part became bigger and bigger. After several demos, in 2003, Mandrake signed a contract with the label Greyfall/Prophecy Productions. The label-debut "Calm the Seas" was released at the end of 2003. For the first time, this record presents the current line-up with Garvin Bösch on Bass-guitar and Jörg Uken on drums. Live-keyboarder Julius Martinek also became a full member, but soon prefered electric guitars. The music of Mandrake is voluptuous, sometimes epic, sometimes fragile, supported by "real" strings, low guitars and powered by pounding drums. Above all, the significant voice of Birgit. Lyrics and music often deal with the forces of nature, especially water, and the desire to reach distant shores and galaxies. On stage, the musicians of "Mandrake" represent themselves as a tight soundwall with heart and brains. The term mandrake (mandragora) is taken from a poisonous plant which is a symbol for spiritual and supernatural powers. The second album "The Balance of Blue" was be released on march, 14 th. 2005, along with contributions to samplers (Orkus, Legacy a. o.). The song "soaked through the skylight" was also featured on the DVD of the WGT in Leipzig 2004. At the end of 2007 we release our third album called “Mary Celeste”.

2 – “Mary Celeste” (writing & recording process):
Lutz: Yeah, we write the songs for “Mary Celeste” during January and March 2007. The pre-recordings started in April for only one week to produce some demos to find out, how the “Mary Celeste” may sound. In May and June we recorded the whole stuff at our Soundlodge Studio (www.soundlodge.de) of Drummer Jörg Uken and the mastering was done in july at the Klangschmiede Studio e by Markus Stock (The Vision Bleak).

3 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages):
Lutz: We handled songwriting a little different this time. A close friend of ours, namely former Mephistopheles vocalist Eike, has written all lyrics on Mary Celeste. I do not exactly know where he gets his inspiration from, I think he reads a lot of old prose, like John Keats for example. The lyrics basically are about conflicts of life and death, imaginations beyond the mortal way of thinking, embedded in landscapes of our home, the North Sea and its shores. There is no real concept about the Mary Celeste over the whole album, it’s more a red line of mysteries, sorrow and ways to deal with it. The ghostship Mary Celeste, which gave our album its title, is a fascinating story. It perfectly sums up all lyrical themes without forgetting our roots.

4 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
Lutz: The frontcover and artwork was done by Lukasz Jaszak (http://www.jaszak.net/). Mandrake has maybe something like a tradition, that Birgit Lau is on the frontcover. So we always try to combine the Theme of the album with some photographs of Birgit. On the new album you can see Birgit in front of the ship “Mary Celeste”. The whole artwork has this old bookstyle. It shall look like an old Diarybook of the Captain of the ship.

5 – Musical and other kind of influences:
Lutz: Oh, there are so many influences. I mean, we are all addicted to different kinds of metal music. We all started playing in different metalbands. My roots go back to old stuff like first Kreator and Destruction releases. In the last years our favourite music styles became more open minded. Today we also listen to all kind of rock and pop music. So I like the Slayer stuff like “Hell awaits” and something like that, but at the same time I listen to Neil Young or music like Sigur Ros and Wovenhand. One of my faves are Katatonia, Deinonychus, Sceptikism, EA 80, Rotting Christ (old ones) and of course the great Bolt Thrower. I also like Alcest from Avignon. Yeah, and other kind of influences: it`s life with all his ups and downs.

6 – GreyFall:
Lutz: Greyfall, yeah maybe the best record-company in the world, ha ha. We are so happy to be in the Greyfall and Prophecy family and we never want to end up with them. I mean, they never told us how the music has to sound. So we really can do what we want because they believe in our music. That’s the goal for every musician I think.

7 – Tour to promote the record:
Lutz: I sadly have to say no. We all wish that we could go on tour with Mandrake to promote our new album. The main problem is, that we don’t have a booking agency. So we are on search for any help in this way. We are a live-band and we like it very much to play in front of crazy people. So: Please get in touch!!!

8 – Final Message:
Lutz: Thank you very much for this interview. We hope that your readers may have an impression of Mandrake and our new album “Mary Celeste”. So you may have a look at our page http://www.mandrake.de/ or our myspace site www.myspace.com/mandrakemetal and listen to some songs and watch our video of the wave gotik meeting in Leipzig/Germany.

GreyFall / Grau: www.grau.cd/label

Oblique Rain - Entrevista + "Isohyet"

1 – Oblique Rain (curta biografia, pontos altos, discografia, etc):
O projecto Oblique Rain nasceu no início do ano 2004 pelas mãos de Flávio Silva e César Teixeira, mas só no final de 2005 começou a ganhar os contornos que apresenta actualmente. Até essa altura tínhamos feito diversas tentativas de constituir “a banda”, mas todos os músicos se revelaram de alguma forma desajustados. Com todas essas experiências negativas acabamos por nos dedicar à composição, esquecendo por algum tempo a formação do “line-up”.
Já em meados de 2006 com quase todo o material pronto para dar início às gravações de “Isohyet”, surgiram os parceiros que viriam a partilhar dos nossos devaneios musicais e desta forma assumir o projecto como banda. O Daniel Botelho (Baixo) e o André Ribeiro (Guitarra) juntaram-se a nós e a empatia que se criou entre todos foi pura magia.

2 – “Isohyet” (processos de composição e gravação):
O “Isohyet” começou a nascer em Dezembro de 2005 com o tema “Sights”. Foi este que deu o mote para a composição do álbum. Foi como se finalmente, passados quase dois anos do início do projecto, tivéssemos encontrado o rumo que tanto procurávamos. Em pouco mais de 6 meses concluímos a fase de composição de todo o álbum, à excepção de um tema que foi concluído já no início de 2007.
Em Maio de 2007 dá-se a entrada nos Estúdios USS (Ultra Sound Studios), produzido e misturado por Daniel Cardoso (Head Control System / Ex.Sirius).
Na falta de um baterista, Daniel Cardoso assumiu também as tarefas de gravação das baterias e tem tocado connosco ao vivo.

3 – Letras (influências, temas, mensagens):
As letras de Oblique Rain são baseadas em vivências pessoais de experiências próprias e/ou observadas. O conceito de “Isohyet” roda em torno da auto-exclusão, isolamento e rejeição em relação ao estado decadente, a quase todos os níveis, da realidade que nos rodeia, mas aborda também outros temas de índole mais pessoal e aí teria de ser o Flávio a pronunciar-se porque todas as letras foram escritas por ele, à excepção da “Nothing’s Silence”, que teve a colaboração do nosso amigo Miguel Barbosa.

4 – Capa do disco (quem, porquê, significado, …):
Criado por Marina Soares, o “artwork” de “Isohyet” remete para a ideia do isolamento e rejeição explicadas na questão anterior. Repare-se no indivíduo de costas voltadas e no reforço do seu isolamento com a faixa vertical mais iluminada, que ao mesmo tempo significa um isolamento “especial”. “Isohyet” por si só significa, num mapa meteorológico, “uma linha que une dois pontos de igual precipitação”, o que significa que isola ou destaca um determinado espaço.

5 – Influências musicais e outras:
Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Katatonia, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, musica clássica, musica celta, entre muitas outras.
Fernando Pessoa.

6 – Independent Records:
A Independent Records serviu apenas de veículo para a edição do disco, dado que se tratou de uma edição de autor em toda a linha. É possível que venham a fazer alguma promoção do disco, mas num âmbito muito limitado.
Por essa razão e porque pretendemos encetar uma parceria real com uma editora, estamos já em fase avançada de negociação com outra editora com vista à edição do nosso segundo álbum.

7 – Concertos de promoção ao disco:
Hellmeirim Rock – Almeirim (27 de Agosto de 2007)
Velha Guarda Metalfest – Porto (29 de Setembro)
Timeout Bar – Ovar (12 de Outubro de 2007)
Cine-Teatro - Corroios (21 de Dezembro de 2007)
Indycat Piano Bar – Medas Gondomar (29 de Dezembro de 2007)

8 – Mensagem final:
Gostaríamos de agradecer a todos os que nos têm apoiado neste arranque do nosso projecto. Esperamos continuar a surpreendê-los no futuro. Obrigado à Fénix Webzine pelo apoio na divulgação do nosso trabalho.

Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: César Teixeira (Guitarra)

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Oblique Rain – Isohyet (2007) – Edição De Autor / Independent Records
Este é o trabalho de estreia dos Portugueses Oblique Rain. Trata-se de um disco auto-financiado que inclui 7 temas em cerca de 47 minutos. Metal Progressivo é a orientação musical da banda. As influências mais notórias são Porcupine Tree, Katatonia (material mais recente) e Opeth (na sua faceta mais ligeira). Boa técnica musical, tal como se requer no estilo, melodias cativantes, voz melódica e segura (com ocasional passagem por um registo gutural), ambiências fortes. O ambiente geral é muito emotivo e melódico mas a banda não esquece a componente metaleira, marcando presença alguns riffs mais fortes e uma secção rítmica poderosa. Até mesmo a produção, habitualmente algo “frouxa” no Metal em Portugal, é acima da média (cortesia de Daniel Cardoso dos Head Control System / ex-Sirius, o qual, aliás, gravou as partes de bateria). Apesar das influências bem demarcadas, a banda consegue um trabalho bem interessante. Acredito que num segundo registo a banda conseguirá assimilar melhor as suas influências e gravar um disco ainda melhor do que este, pois potencialidades não lhes faltam. No geral, gostei muito deste disco. Há já algum tempo que não ouvia um disco de Progressive Metal com esta qualidade, feito em Portugal. Um trabalho que irá agradar a fãs dos nomes já citados ou outros como Marillion, Ayreon, Tool, Three, Dream Theater e até mesmo Audioslave. 85%
RDS

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Oblique Rain: http://www.obliquerain.com/ / www.myspace.com/obliquerain

Vulture Industries - Entrevista

1 – Vulture Industries (origin and meaning of the band’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
The origin of the name VI one of two alternatives we came up with before the fist concert with this lineup. There was really no other reason for picking up that name other than we considered it cool and fit our music.
VI emerged from the remains of the gothic metal band Dead Rose Garden, after changing close to all of the members VI first appeared March 2004 at Piggtrådfestivalen, The Barb Wire Festival, in Bergen. Since then the EPs “The Enemy Within” 2004 and “The Benevolent Pawn” 2005 were released before the recording of The Dystopia Journals started. By that time VI was independent, no signing had yet been done, so the whole recording process was run by our vocalist and programmer, Bjørnar E. Nilsen.

2 – “The Dystopia Journals” (writing & recording process):
Some of the songs on TDJ are from the EPs, so the material dates back at least 3 years, but the newest songs are written and arranged during the recording process. The writing process usually starts out as sketches on Bjørnar or Øyvind’s computers, these are handed round to the other members for fine tuning and testing out. The next phase is the rehearsals room, trying out the different parts, fitting new and removing parts that don’t fit. We normally use a lot of time on this, so when we came to recording the last 3 songs they were not finished yet. So we spent a lot of time in studio trying the new stuff out and adjusting the sounds to fit the other recordes songs. The fist songs were recorded 2 and 3, starting out early august 2006, finishing the last songs close to summer 2007.

3 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages…):
The lyrics is Bjørnar’s work, he has a huge interest in classic poets, especially those with the darkest or perhaps clearest views upon life I think, not that he is a gloomy guy himself, he is like the rest of us happy campers. But he has a vivid imagination, and comes up with the strangest thoughts. His ideas for the lyrics for TDJ came up by chance he says, there was this “I” person that showed up, turning the process into a kind of a concept-album. But that was never intended when he started out. I think the lyrics speak for themselves, but themes are struggle with inner demons and wish for individuality, the themes are complex but the messages are not hidden. One might interpret them individually, Bjørnar always says that people should think for themselves, and that is perhaps part of the message?

4 – Helge Jordal and the album frontcover:
When we were discussing what the album cover should look like, a lot of ideas were tossed around in the band, many of the ones we didn’t use were really good too, maybe we can use them on the future albums. Anyway, Bjørnar and Maja (who designed the album cover and booklet) came up with the idea of picturing a man so full of inner struggle that he ends up strangling himself.
It was Bjørnar’s idea to contacting Helge Jordal, who is an acclaimed actor here in Norway. He had both the face and skills to show the contrasts between the furious and anxious sides of the same man. I think he did an excellent job, and he was a very cool guy as well. I guess the song “Path of infamy” is the inspiration behind this whole concept.

5 – Musical and other kind of influences:
We all have different musical influences in the band; I for one have taken the standard road of a norwegian metalhead: started listen to Metallica, Megadeth and Sepultura at the age of 13, then moved over to more extreme metal, Satyricon, Dissection etc., then maybe eased up a bit when I got a bit older, really listening to everything from Mötley Crüe to Shooter Jennings.
Øyvind and Bjørnar writes most of the music on the album; I tend to think that Øyvind is a bit more into the death and black metal-scene, while Bjørnar is a bit more into the industrial/ horror/ weirdo-scene.. hehe. They both are prog heads though.

Many have compared us to Arcturus, mainly because of Bjørnar’s vocals and the experimental nature of the music. While I can understand that someone can think so, and myself and other members of VI likes Arcturus, I can assure you that this is not intentional. I don’t think we sound very similar, and Bjørnar can’t really sing any other way, the poor bastard J

6 – Dark Essence Records:
Dark Essence resides in our hometown of Bergen, and we know the guys running it, so this makes it easier to have a good contact with the label. They have really done a good job for us so far. I know that Bjørnar also has started cooperation with them, so this is positive for VI as well.

7 – Tour to promote the record:
We have played a number of concerts here in Norway after the album hit the shops. Bergen, Haugesund, Tromsø and Sandnes. We are also going to Oslo early next year. As that is about all the cities we have in Norway (hehe), we are doing a tour around Europe in March.. a total of 17 gigs I think, from Italy to the UK. That will be a blast!

8 – Final Message:
Thanx for giving us this interview! Hope you guys reading will check out our music, buy our album and go apeshit with us in concert! Check out our website (www.vulture-industries.net) for info about future concerts! Cheers!


Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistados: Kyrre Teigen (bass) q. 1-3, Tor Helge Gjengedal (drums) q. 4-8.

http://www.vulture-industries.net/ / www.myspace.com/vulture-industries / http://www.karismarecords.no/ / http://www.darkessencerecords.no/

Supreme Soul - Entrevista

1 – Supreme Soul (curta biografia, pontos altos, discografia, etc):
Os Supreme Soul são um grupo de pop/rock electrónico de Lisboa. Depois de alguns anos a produzirmos temas mais direccionados para as pistas de dança, decidimos o ano passado repensar a nossa sonoridade. Sentimos que era necessário caminhar em termos musicais para outras direcções. Surge então o Ep “Vision”, um marco muito importante para a banda, pois quando ouvimos o resultado final, especialmente nas rádios, sentimos que tínhamos atingido os nossos objectivos: um som mais pop/rock, sempre com a electrónica como pano de fundo.
Penso que “Love and shadows” é a consolidação do “Vision”, e representa igualmente o início de uma nova fase: os espectáculos ao vivo.

2 – “Love And Shadows” (processos de composição e gravação):
Relativamente ao processo de composição, os temas foram feitos com base em melodias vocais. Os arranjos e os ambientes sonoros eram criados de acordo com essa melodia (s) vocal e a carga metafórica que as letras transmitem.
A gravação dos temas é feita em tempo real tendo por base uma programação de ritmos, sendo utilizados variados instrumentos, tais como guitarra, piano e sintetizadores.

3 – Letras (influências, temas, mensagens):
“Love and shadows” representa os dois pólos extremos da vida: o amor e a sombra. O amor representa a extravagância, a pureza, o positivo, o expoente máximo da expressão humana. A sombra simboliza o obscuro, as nossas fraquezas e tentações, ou seja, o expoente máximo da fragilidade humana. Penso que as letras do Tiago vão de encontro a essa ideia: relações de amor, sentimentos de perda, etc.

4 – Capa do EP (quem, porquê, significado, …):
A capa do Ep foi elaborada pelo João. Achámos logo que era uma representação muito fiel ao conceito e à mensagem implícita nos temas. Os feixes de luz principais e as suas intersecções representam o amor. Os feixes de luz em segundo plano representam as sombras.

5 – Influências musicais e outras:
De uma maneira geral, sendo arte ou não tudo o que nos sensibiliza, influencia a música que fazemos.
De influências musicais “mais orgânicas” temos: joy division, new order, U2, nick cave and the bad seeds, sétima legião, heróis do mar, the cure, sonic youth, arcade fire, neil young, patti smith, pj harvey , The B`52s, rufus wainright...
De um espectro mais electrónico: depeche mode, kraftwerk, underworld, lcd soundsystem, fisherspooner, entre outros.
O Fado é também uma influência.

6 – Concertos de promoção ao EP:
Estamos a contactar alguns espaços musicais, e já estamos a trabalhar com uma promotora. Muito brevemente já teremos datas confirmadas.

7 – Mensagem final:
“Only love can save you from your own shadow”.

Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Susana Mogueira (guitarra, piano, voz)

Supreme Soul: http://www.supremesoul.com/ / www.myspace.com/supremesoulmusic

Fall Of Serenity - Entrevista

1 – Fall Of Serenity (origin and meaning of the band’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
Eddy (guitar): Basically the name means what we see every day. Dead people. For example in school, at work. People who just live for a system they maybe never voted for. Just like machines. They try to work like machines till they get replaced by real ones. Thats something everybody should think about, cause life is to short to waste time.
We´re existing since 98, released 4 full length cd´s (GREY MAN´S REQUIEM, ROYAL KILLING, BLOODRED SALVATION, THE CROSSFIRE), a split with HEAVEN SHALL BURN and an EP called SMOLDERING DOOM which was actually our first release. We toured in almost every european country with bands like DISMEMBER, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, BY NIGHT, HATE ETERNAL, ANATA and so on.

2 – “The Crossfire” (writing & recording process):
Eddy: This went really fast this time. We wrote the songs for the album in less than half a year. Our hearts decided what is cool and sounds great for the songs and the album. So we tried to think not to much about our music....so we basically just played it haha. And have to say that this was great for the album, cause it sounds like FALL OF SERENITY. And thats how it should be for a band.
We recorded 12 days/ 12-14 hours a day. So that was hard but also very fun and worth it.

3 – Ralf Müller / Rape Of Harmonies Studio:
Eddy: Our producer. Very cool and talented with an incredible good ear and good skills concerning motivation. We recorded the first time just with him as a producer. He was the 6th member for almost 1 year, checking out the songs in the writing process till everything was recorded. Many thanx to him. He was very important for the new album.

4 – Dan Swanö / Unisound:
Eddy: We are very proud that he mixed and mastered our album. We´re all a big fan of EDGE OF SANITY and his work as a producer. And he did a great job. He gave us exactly the sound we wanted. No overproduced shit but with lots of power and real metal-balls...hehe. By the way, he told us that it´s the best mix he ever did so far. So give it an ear!

5 – Sabina Classen (Holy Moses / Temple Of The Absurd):
John: Yeah – German metal icon with a real great voice. She joined us to put some guestvocals on the new record. It worked pretty well. Hopefully we’ll perform live together in future.

6 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
Eddy: Just a fucking tank. Not more, not less. There is no specific meaning, but it reflects how the album sounds. The artwork was done by a company called DARKMOUTH. We like this piece of art very much.

7 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages):
John: The lyrics are written in a multi-understandable way. Most of lyrics deal with war against inner conflicts. We put the meaning into dark words and and provocative phrases. Everyone should be able to identify himself/herself with one or two songs.

8 – Musical and other kind of influences:
Eddy: Actually to much to mention. Sorry...but of course SLAYER...haha!!!
John: SLAYER !!!!

9 – Lifeforce Records:
Eddy: Our label. Stefan and his team doing a great job for us. We are really happy with how all works out. We have and had allways lots of support from LIFEFORCE RECORDS. Thats really important for a band and we have to thank very much.

10 – Tour to promote the record:
John:. Doing much interviews as possible haha...and of course we’ll continue to play live as often as we can. In 2008 we will hit the road with Dismember again to support their European tour. After the tour we’ll try to play as much festivals as possible. I guess the best way to promote a record is on stage...that’s what we’ll do...

11 – Final Message:
John: Don’t hesitate to check our new album “The Crossfire” – visit us at myspace and get in touch...we love to talk! THANX FOR THE INTERVIEW !!!

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http://www.fallofserenity.com/ / www.myspace.com/fallofserenity / http://www.lifeforcerecords.com/

Rizoma - Entrevista

1 – Rizoma (curta biografia, pontos altos, discografia, etc):
Os Rizoma nascem com vontade de fazer qualquer coisa diferente, qualquer coisa que ainda não tinham feito até então.
Começámos a esboçar canções que não faziam sentido dentro de uma banda como os Toranja, com um processo de composição muito apegado ao Tiago, e as coisas evoluíram naturalmente até percebermos a inevitabilidade de construir um novo projecto.
Começámos por gravar uma maquete que correu bem (eu o Dodi e o Fred, com o Pedro Cruz no som), e percebemos que o ritmo de trabalho além de ser rápido, nos parecia bastante funcional. Essa maquete foi mostrada a várias editoras e uma delas decidiu apostar na banda, no entanto, isto só seria possível para 2008, ideia essa que não nos interessou por já estarmos convictos de que o registo do disco seria possível para o mês de Março (2007).
Foi nessa altura que decidimos avançar com uma edição de autor e reformular as coisas de maneira a ter uma estrutura leve e dinâmica.
Entrámos em estúdio em Maio, nos estúdios “Namouche”, e gravámos o disco com o Quim, o Fred Stone, e o Artur David no som, e com a belíssima participação do Filipe Valentim nas teclas e do Fred na bateria.
O Rato veio a integrar a banda mais tarde, numa altura em que a agenda do Fred estava felizmente para ele bastante agitada, e o Rato recomposto de um período de pausa musical.
Voltámos a estúdio em Agosto para gravar dois temas, um dos quais se chama “Roma” e está a ser o primeiro avanço da banda.
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2 – “Insistir No Zero” (processos de composição e gravação):
A composição em Rizoma é rizomática, quero com isto dizer que pode surgir de qualquer um de nós, sem uma definição predefinida, e acaba sempre por ser arranjada pela banda na sua totalidade.
Esta ideia de composição é aplicada tanto às letras como à música, sendo que neste momento só eu e o Dodi é que nos aventurámos a escrever.
Quanto à gravação do “Insistir No Zero”, correu tudo de forma muito fluida e descontraída. Sem pressões e sem ideias absolutamente resolvidas. Houve muitos arranjos que se resolveram no estúdio.
A própria mistura do disco foi feita com um cunho muito experimental. Pedimos ao Artur David para pensar no disco como algo que também ele pudesse “modelar”, para que a ideia de sonoplastia se tornasse evidente em detrimento de um som “politicamente correcto”.
Sentimos que o disco poderia ter sido resolvido de inúmeras maneiras e esta foi uma delas. Vemos nisto uma vantagem e estamos satisfeitos por termos acarretado às demais, a função da produção.
Acho pessoalmente que tornou o disco espontâneo.
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3 – Letras (influências, temas, mensagens):
As letras surgem do fruir quotidiano e de uma vontade de intervenção. Acreditamos que a ideia de poética do belo não tem que ser uma constante. Pode lá estar, mas sem demasiada importância. O mais importante é o conteúdo.
Penso que as letras têm vários níveis de profundidade e gosto da ideia de terem uma aparência simples.
As influências são inúmeras como em tudo, nenhum de nós se imagina genuíno e genialmente abençoado para entrar em ruptura com tudo o que foi escrito na nossa língua.
Gosto acima de tudo que as letras transmitam mais a sensação de um “nós”, que de um “eu” isolado do mundo. Talvez seja esse o momento em que surge a vontade de intervir, gosto muito de ler livros que me transmitam ideias de ruptura, como o belíssimo exemplo de um autor como La Boétie do século XVI, com o seu “Discurso sobre a servidão voluntária”.

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4 – Capa do disco (quem, porquê, significado, …):
A capa do disco foi pensada e realizada por mim e pelo artista plástico Hugo Lopes.
O Hugo foi meu colega de curso em Artes Plásticas e admiro o trabalho dele desde essa altura.
Partimos da Ideia do Rizoma com base na filosofia de Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari.
Como algo que não tem de ter um Norte óbvio e onde não se adivinha o início e o fim. Como uma trama.
A capa foi feita a partir de um mapa de Portugal real, em que recortámos todos os espaços em branco para deixar somente o mapa das estradas. Esse objecto, parecido com uma rede, com um rizoma, foi fotografado de forma a criar uma espécie de narrativa com o passar das páginas e acabar com a imagem do mapa de Portugal.
O arranjo gráfico foi inspirado em obras de poesia concreta. O que me parece um veículo interessante para mostrar as letras num disco.

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5 – Influências musicais e outras:
Todos nós temos irmãos mais velhos, o que torna incontornável a audição dos clássicos do Rock dos anos 70 e 80. A influência do Rock dos anos 90 é algo que já foi vivida por nós e que nos acompanha até hoje.
Mas temos todos bandas ou compositores que gostamos mais. O leque de interesse é vastíssimo… pode ir de Jimi Hendrix aos Kyuss, passando pela Fiona Apple e compositores modernos como o Igor Stravinsky!!!
Gostamos todos de ler e beber uns copos! Ah ah ah ah ah

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6 – Babuíno Discos / Raging Planet Records:
A Babuíno Discos é uma Label nossa que fez uma parceria com a Raging Planet Records, que por sua vez nos apresentou a Compact Records para a distribuição.
Foi um processo natural e de respeito por quem faz pela música portuguesa! Achamos que o Daniel é uma pessoa com muito valor e com uma postura incontornável no panorama Rock Nacional!
Estamos também a trabalhar com a promotora Inês Pimenta da “Bola de Sabão”, que nos tem ajudado imenso.

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7 – Concertos de promoção ao disco:
Em Novembro vão poder ver a banda em formato de Showcase nos auditórios da Fnac:
Dia 11 Fnac Colombo
Dia 13 Fnac Norte Shopping
Dia 14 Fnac Santa Catarina e Fnac do Gaia Shopping
Dia 15 Fnac Coimbra
Dia 16 Fnac de Alfragide
Dia 25 Fnac Guia
Podemos avançar também a data de 22 de Dezembro no Music Box em Lisboa.

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8 – Mensagem final:
Os Rizoma querem agradecer a todos os que fazem pela música nacional!
Os Rizoma não querem agradecer aos que não fazem pela música nacional!
Somos uma banda que tem verdadeiro gosto em tocar ao vivo, se nos quiserem ouvir serão sempre bem vindos.
Rock!!!

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www.myspace.com/rizomapt / http://www.ragingplanet.web.pt/ / www.myspace.com/ragingplanetrecordsportugal

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Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Ricardo Frutuoso (Guitarras e Voz)

MCM - Entrevista

1 – MCM (short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
MCM was started in 2003 by Alex Masi, Randy Coven and John Macaluso on the occasion of a tour of Mexico... soon thereafter an album was recorded titled RITUAL FACTORY which was released in 2004... MCM has since toured various parts of the world recorded several of the concerts from which the new album 1900-HARD TIMES was compiled.

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2 – “1900 – Hard Times”:
1900-HARD TIMES is a collection of live pieces that were mixed and edited by me (Aex Masi) in my studio in Hollywood, California. The pieces were improvised for the most part with the exclusion of intro parts and endings and some riff in the middle of them, MCM is based on improvisation and the reason it seems to work so well is due to the length of our musical friendship and the confidence we have in each other as musicians.
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3 – Musical and other kind of influences:
The music is influenced by all of our respective experiences through the years... I bring the classical, acid, indian, experimental ideas, Randy brings the funk and John brings the rhythmical madness....
At the end what comes out though is very much the sound of MCM which is quite unique....
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4 – Lion Music:
The album is released by Lion Music as was the first MCM.

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5 – Tour to promote the record:
We are looking to the spring for some shows in Europe and possibly the US, anyone interested in having us perform in their country, city, is welcome to contact us through any of our official websites and myspace sites (Alex's, Randy's or John's).

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6 – Final Message:
Listen with open ears and an open mind without preconceived ideas or expectations. Thank you.

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http://www.alexmasi.net/ / www.myspace.com/alexmasi / www.myspace.com/thealexmasiallaudiopage / http://www.alexmasi.net/ / http://www.randycovensite.com/ / http://www.johnmacaluso.com/ / www.lionmusic.com/mcm1900.htm

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Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Alex Masi

Von Branden - Entrevista

1 – [von Branden] (origin and meaning of the band’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
Herr von Branden: Well, [von Branden] was brought to life by Vestriz von Mesopotamien and myself, Solarian von Branden, in 2004. We created ourselves to not be part of humanity anymore, as we prefer to watch and help them destroy themselves from a distant point of view. In August 2005, we welcomed our third member Arminius von Theesfeld, who completed Dynasty [von Branden]. We are not a common band, as we do not exist in that common sense. All three members of [von Branden] are nothing but shadows of their once only human beings. We have no past to tell about and no future to poison, we only exist to take advantage of the linearity in this world. Our name refers to some former German aristocracy, along with the literally meaning of the words: [von Branden] stands for the fire we went through to leave behind the chains of continuity. Furthermore, I like the sound of the words. It has the same vowels as “cellar door”. We’re about to release our debut album “Scherben”, following two demos “Behind the Rain” and “Ignoranzkult”, which by the way were never released.

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2 – “Scherben” (writing & recording process):
Herr von Branden: The process of writing and recording our songs needed a long time. Originally, we wrote and recorded the songs only for ourselves, to get rid of all the things we couldn’t bear anymore in daily life. Then one of our guest vocalist showed our first demo to GreyFall, who then contacted us and asked for more songs to release an album. So after Arminius became member of the band, we started a second recording session, the result of which is our second demo “Ignoranzkult”. After signing to GreyFall, we rearranged, remixed and remastered the recordings and added another track to complete the album. So it was a slow process over three years I guess, from the idea of two entities to our debut album “Scherben”, although we spent very little time in studio. We had the help of some guest musicians during all recording sessions, therefore each song sounds unique and it is hard to label our music to one genre.

3 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages):
Herr von Branden: We basically sing about concrete situations of our life, which is in my opinion unavoidable to create honest music. I admit, we concentrate on some really melancholic and sad moments, and in the end it’s all about women, relationships, hopes, disappointments and losses. I use to talk to some special persons in our songs, who were part of my life, to show them a different point of view. Maybe some listeners will find their own experiences reflected in our songs, at least I hope so. But primary, all music is written only for ourselves, to keep us a memory of few special moments. We try to focus all we felt into the words and music, to combine it and paint a drawing of our souls. The album is entitled “Scherben”, which means fragments or broken pieces. It stands for the way I look at people, who are made of “Scherben” deep inside. Everytime you are deeply disappointed, you break into pieces, are told to find strength and put the pieces (“Scherben”) back together. With time, you are nothing but a mask behind which you hide your ruined inner self. Nothing is more disgusting for me. We do not want to spread a message, we just want to make people feel what we felt.

4 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
Herr von Branden: The artwork was done by Lukasz Jaszak, and I’m very satisfied with his work. We had some intense conversations, as I wanted the artwork to be the visual part of our music. So we talked about very personal issues, and he always had great ideas how to interprete our wishes. I think he was the perfect man to complete our album visually, he can be really proud about his work, although it fitted perfectly for sad reasons. The whole album shows transitoriness of existence, of relationships, of everything that is important for a human soul. If you look at the front cover and then open the booklet, you will surely be shocked someway, as it definetely looks different than you would expect it to look. This was really important for us, to have some controverse and disturbing artwork that expresses what we feel and that completes our music. Beautiful in some melancholic way, but shocking honest and different.

5 – Tori Amos “Winter”. Why?:
Herr von Branden: Hehe, why not? I love the original version of Tori Amos, and again, I have very personal memories concerning that song. Some special person gave it to me years ago, but somewhen the feelings of the original version did no longer fit to my feelings listening to the song. So I asked Vestriz and Arminius to do a cover version and record it. I wanted the song to sound desolate and accusing, torn apart between sorrow and blind anger. It was an experiment in studio, like all of our songs. We tried to work with single clean vocals for the first time, and I admit we still have to learn controlling it. But we decided to put that song onto the album, and I do not regret it.

6 – Musical and other kind of influences:
Herr von Branden: We’re pretty open minded musically I think, but there is no special band or musician to mention. We just listen to a lot of different styles… As long as the music touches our heart, we do not care for any genres. We try to not copy any existing band or even copy ourselves, we always try to find new instruments to use and new ways to express our emotions. We simply want to create a drawing of a special moment, along with all the feelings and the atmosphere we remember about it. Not a simple photo, but captured thoughts and emotions, to keep these moments alive for us. We do not forget the suffering… Sometime I use to say that we are influenced only by rain; imagine the raindrops falling, the calm sound, the wet world around, the smell and taste… this is the atmosphere we want to create.

7 – GreyFall:
Herr von Branden: Well, we signed to GreyFal only few months ago, but we knew that they’re interested in releasing our material since about two years. I think they can support us very well, although we originally never intended to release anything. Our friends of Mandrake are on the same label, so we knew what we can await and I’m sure we made the right decision.

8 – Tour to promote the record:
Herr von Branden: We are not sure if we will play live. [von Branden] has been growing steady since the beginning, but we never thought about performing gigs in the beginning. We would somehow like to, but have to consider the problems on stage as we’d have to either play with our guest musicians or use some playback for some instruments. I’m not a friend of playback at all, but next point is that we do not know if we should present ourselves in flesh and blood, as the “real” bandmembers are nothing but shadows of their once human beings. Let’s first wait for the reactions to our debut album and then see if there are enough people who want to see us on stage, haha…

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9 – Final Message:
Herr von Branden: We thank you a lot for giving us the possibility to talk to you and your readers, we appreciate it a lot! I hope some of your readers will give our different style of music a chance. “Keep the pain alive inside!”
Yours,
Solarian von Branden

http://www.grau.cd/

Primordial - To The Nameless Dead (Metal Blade 2007) + Entrevista

1 – “To The Nameless Dead” (writing & recording process):
I don’t like the computerised sound of most modern metal records, they don’t have and life or soul. The frequency range maxed out completely and no space between the instruments. Anyone who tells me the drum sound on the new Soilwork cd is better then Mob Rules or Killers is missing something. We aren’t looking for perfection, we are looking for something honest and real sounding and while everyone is trying to make something sounding more perfect then the next album they are missing one thing. Soul!… I’d rather listen to Venom or The Ramones then something that sounds like it’s been played by a computer! The differences this time round were that we recorded as much as we could live and went for less layers of guitar only heavier, very much like a traditional old Metal album, two rhythms panned left and right, we fired up some old compressors and went through a big old desk. Not a laptop. The way at least I think Metal should be…

2 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages):
There are several different themes of course but one of the main currents running through them is that of nationhood. Why a certain people believe they have rights to a certain land. The movement of borders. The eclipsing of nations, what happens to their folklore, folk heroes, languages etc. the people upon whom empires are built. The nameless dead who gave their lives in wars, in the mud, shit, blood and filth remembered only as numbers. To people who gave their lives thinking they were making a better life for their people only to have it all taken from them. People the world over who in their own way fought for what they believed in… testament to the tenacity of the spirit in man to resist and rebel.

3 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
We wanted something that stood out from the usual photo shopped, fantasy, comic book hocus pocus. Something with more depth. I wanted something iconic and I think on both editions, the book and normal we have created this. Paul from Scald has done a wonderful job in interpreting the band and I think it really stands out in the modern metal scene. I was as with the last album inspired by the care and attention to aesthetic employed in the neo-folk/wave scene. For me at least the whole package is very important. The cover/lyrics/liner notes should go hand in hand with the music and thankfully now we have a label behind us that is committed to supporting our vision of the band.

4 – Musical and other kind of influences:
Musical influences more or less same as always. Black Sabbath, Maiden, Lizzy, Bathory, Frost, Venom, 70s, 80s stuff and early second wave of Black Metal. Some more modern stuff like Neurosis here and there. Other then musical? Living.

5 – Metal Blade Records:
Great so far. No complaints. Nice to be on a label doing their job properly I don’t have to worry about.

6 – Tour to promote the record:
Nothing confirmed so far only some festivals here and there. Should have an idea later in the year.

7 – Final Message:
No compromise. Not then. Not now. Not ever

Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Alan A. Nemtheanga (Vocals)

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Primordial – To The Nameless Dead (2007) – Metal Blade Records:
Novo trabalho para os Irlandeses Primordial. A linha musical deste sexto disco segue a mesma do anterior “The Gathering Wilderness”, embora aqui esteja mais refinada e aperfeiçoada, sendo o resultado final mais épico, mais folk e mais doomy. O som continua orgânico, cru e selvagem, como sempre, mas neste disco está mais cheio e denso. Utilizam-se mais vozes limpas alternadas com as habituais vocalizações rasgadas. Mesmo a nível instrumental há uma maior preocupação em manter as coisas interessantes, simples sim, mas com alguns pormenores aqui e ali que mantenham o ouvinte atento. Nunca fui grande fã da banda, e o anterior disco, que havia recebido muito boas críticas por parte da imprensa e tinha sido bem recebido pelos fãs, não me tinha chamado muito a atenção. Este já me está a agradar imenso pelo seu sentido épico, de grandiosidade e pelas suas ambiências fortes e intensas. Um dos grandes candidatos a disco do ano. 85% http://www.primordialweb.com/ / http://www.metalblade.de/

Fury N Grace - Tales Of Grotesque And The Arabesque” (Dragonheart 2007) + Entrevista

1 – Fury N Grace (origin and meaning of the band’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
The origin of the band’s name came from our interest in "Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow", that is a section of Thomas de Quincey's Suspiria de Profundis. It has a lot to do with the mythology of the so-called Three Mothers. Three like Fury and Grace.
It is also interesting that it turned out to be a perfect description of our style, with all its musical dynamics going on through every song. A perfect definition of the band may be this: a twisted experience of Unheimliche where we hide to disappear, for a moment, through fury, to the grace of Inorganic. Our work openly refers to Poe’s Imp of the Perverse and Freud's Beyond the pleasure principle.

Fury'n'grace started in 1994. It took 13 years to be published: we've had many line up changes (we did have two keyboards players in our very first incarnation: its a long way to present day, as you may understand) and a couple of unpleasant experiences with two different "labels". We've recorded the first album in 1998, the second in 2003, both unpublished. In this unfortunate situation, side projects seemed to be the only way out (Edge of Forever, for instance). But it turned out to be quite a saddening experience for every one involved. When no one is really happy in a project, to go separate ways is the only solution. It's just points of view that don't agree. And it coincided with the very first true possibility for Fury'n'Grace to come to life, get rid of things considered compromising (read: no more useless winking to commercial appeal whatsoever) and shape its true, inspired incarnation.

"Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow / Nought may endure but Mutability".

2 – “Tales Of The Grotesque And The Arabesque” (writing & recording process):
In our creative process we're allowing our own subconscious to be at work. Not knowing where we're going, where this idea will lead us, is very important, intriguing and magical. It's exciting (and reckless, somehow) to be lost and have faith in something you can't even name.
Yet, it has to be an obsession that gives you the direction. Music and lyrics, together, as faces of the same creative drive.
Through this we did compose and record “Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque”.
It's always a multi-layered process that we don't really understand until it's almost complete. It's all about driving Ideas and being true to them.
A dizzy, creative height, we fear and love. We love because we fear and fear because we love. Poe's Imp of the Perverse, again.
It's all based upon unspoken language, and a mistery. It is very difficult to talk about this and explain something that deals with mistery.

It's almost magical how different themes and ideas (that me or Christian or Gabriele or Kiske brought) eventually get together, how structures reveal their nature and perfectly fit in the context of a song: improvvisation plays a huge role in the process, and we follow what we feel correct and important. But nothing is programmatic.

Same thing with lyrics: even though I write them sometimes months before the music, or together with parts of the music in demos, it is a very special moment when we find out how they fit and what an unexpected direction they give to the song. It's like opening doors where there was none. It has to be a beautiful surprise.

3 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages) and the main lyrical concept of this record:
It seems like a weird trip in what is called "human".
But it's just a self portrait, a lucid and genuinely scary exploration of our darkest places.
What we are. No idealizations: we do not HAVE bodies - we ARE bodies, making up comfortable identities - which are fraudulent misunderstandings.
There's an abyss we're to used to hide to ourselves. This album intends to let it come to surface.
It's like saying: we are truly obscure beings, no matter how lucid we claim to be - let's face it. Let's not pretend we are something else. There is an unspoken agreement going on one should get rid of.
Since civilization is based upon the concept of identity, it is quite important to understand that we are on a pretty shaky ground.
It is very dramatic, I suppose, but it has a lot to do with humor, too. Hence the title: an evident tribute to Edgar Poe.
Schopenhauer wrote that human life is a tragedy when it is considered as a whole and in general, but turns into a comedy when we consider the single human being, going through in details. Our life must contain all the woes of a tragedy, but, as if fate wished to add mockery to this miserable existence, we cannot even assert the dignity of tragic characters.

4 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
We relied upon Federica Galli - [www.damnedinblack.net] already known and esteemed for her works with Dark Lunacy and Kenos - to transmute the general ambience of our work into a visual synthesis able to reflect both lyrics and music peculiarities. As you may see in the artwork, it's all about entrances and exits, only you can't tell one from another. Is this the entrance or the exit? Holes and passages, isn't that somewhat human?
Holes upon holes, passages leading to holes, holes to passages leading to nothing. Here's a perfect lyrical synthesis of what human life is.

5 – “Mephisto’s Waltz” & “Inferno”. Unpublished records:
These albums are inevitable chapters we had to face. We can't say we were ready for publication, since we were 18 and there was a long way to come up with our vision. Our balance as a band wasn't perfectly set, yet, and the direction deserved a few more years and experiences to be actually fully discovered. Having said that, we must say also that the band was a genuine little cult because of our live performances and the musical research we were engaged in, already dramatic and very peculiar.
Anyway we couldn't find any label. The one we made those records with were not labels.

6 – Musical and other kind of influences:
The band's roots are of course '70 progressive (E,L&P, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Goblin), Black Sabbath and early '90 death metal.
But every one in the band is totally open to music, and often deeply distant to heavy metal. I'm sure we owe to that our peculiar choices in music. From pre medieval music to Penderecki, from italian madrigalists (Gesualdo, Marenzio) to John Zorn, we have a wide range of musical interests.

Carcass may be one of the main influence for the band. I got into Carcass when I was 12. Their sense of humor, grotesque and comical, both lyrically and musically has nothing to do with the other bands of the early '90. It was something else. Brilliant and intelligent.
It had to do with the charm of the monster, like a perverse, and yet innocent beauty of monstruosity, that, as we're kid, has a totally naive and constructive attraction.
It's when you find out that the human body is probably the most fascinating monster: for a kid like me it was a very natural interest.

As far as lyrical inspiration, literature, the classics. It's music, through prose and poetry.
With this album we payed a tribute to Edgar Poe, since he's the most comical, and probably greatest writer of all times. His tales are often misunterstood: he is always considered as an horror writer, but horror and grotesque, extravagant and serious, philosophical aspects are always mixed. Terror and the parody of terror, going on together.
Humanity, its miserable fate, is of course a pathetical and often laughable experience. Sublime and ridicolous, it's the same.

7 – Dragonheart Records:
We're definitely not used to be treated so well: it may sound ironic, but it is true that we had never experienced such attention: someone else taking care of our music, seriously working for its life as a product, believing in it no matter how difficult the album may sound - it is all very new and a little bit strange for us, and we can't be happier.

8 – Edge Of Forever:
Edge of forever is the result of a deep misunderstanding: both me and Christian couldn't quite fit in that project, even though it all started very naturally as a Deep Purple/Malmsteen kind of thing.
It seemed a project blessed with possibilities: having Bob Harris on vocals, guests as Jeff Scott Soto, being produced by Marcel Jacob, and then by Bobby Barth.
But it wasn't honest to every one: too many compromising aspects lead to inevitable split.
I'm sure everyone is at ease now: we've lost that easy side which couldn't find no more place in Fury'n'Grace compositions, and they gained the possibility to plunge into that aor/bon jovi style they always seemed to tend to.

9 – Tour to promote the record:
There’s nothing planned, at the moment we’re writing, but touring is undoubtedly essential – before considering live concerts as mere promotion – beacuse of the unique nature of every gig. The performance of a crime that cannot be repeated – nevermore. Its evolutions, and consequences, are unknown even to ourselves. It will be our pleasure to let you know, as soon as possible, the schedule of our live exhibitions.

10 – Final Message:
We expect the listener to be 100% open to it. It's so important to be open to art: it's all about mirrors. If you have a lot and give it all to the work of art, then the piece of music, the painting, the poem gives you back so much. It's always a mutual exchange.

Entrevistador: RDS

Entrevistado: Matteo Carnio (Guitars)

Fury N Grace – Tales Of Grotesque And The Arabesque” (2007) – Dragonheart Records:

Este é já o terceiro disco desta banda Italiana mas é apenas o 1º a ser editado oficialmente! Os Fury N Grace praticam uma fusão de Heavy e Power com toques Progressivos e Neoclássicos. As influências são diversas e ajudam-nos a criar um som heterogéneo, forte, pesado, com muito balanço, toques progressivos e jazzísticos, sons de inspiração clássica, influências latinas e orientais, e um forte ambiente épico. Há aqui muitas ideias interessantes a surgir a todo momento que ajudam a manter o ouvinte atento do início até ao fim. Em termos líricos é também muito forte, indo buscar inspirações a nomes como Poe, Schopenhauer, Freud, entre outros. Uma boa aposta para quem gosta de Metal Italiano, com o habitual cariz épico, Neoclássico e Progressivo. 75% http://www.dragonheartrecords.com/

Angel Of Eden - Entrevista

1 – Angel Of Eden (origin and meaning of the band’s name, short bio with highlights, discography, etc):
This is our Debut Album. I have formed this Band. First I wanted to do a Solo Record, but then step by step things developed into forming a real Band. I got contacted by Carsten Schulz and checked out his previous works with Domain and Evidence One and I liked it a lot. Ramy the Drummer and Ferdy the Guest Keyboarder were then recommended to me from Carsten and were then added to the Line Up. Furthermore I needed a strong keyboarder so I approached the Maestro, Mistheria, and for the Bass I asked Steve and he was ready to go, so my Line Up was complete.

The Band Name is called after one track on the CD, I really liked the Name very much, so I decided to pick this one as well as the Band Name. The Name doesn’t have a deeper meaning it’s more kind a fantasy thing.

2 – “The End Of Never” (writing & recording process):
I worked about 1 year on writing and finalizing the tracks. The Recordings took place in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the US.

3 – Lyrics (influences, themes, messages):
Carsten’s Lyrics are based mostly on personal experiences and reflect his state of mind accordingly, pretty weird stuff at times, but they’re great lyrics and always a good read. I cannot go too deeply in them as I unfortunately am not able to read what is going on in his mind ;-)

My Lyrics contributions I can comment as follows:
- Dreamchaser is about a Dream, a Goal you have in Life and what are you willing to give for it and how much you get back for your efforts.
- Battle of 1386 is tune about a historical Battle which took place close to the place I live.

4 – Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
The Frontcover and the Artwork was done by an artist called Jason Juta. I was checking some of his works and came across this picture of this Girl holding this crystal ball. I wanted it to be in a somewhat doomy, mystical context. We then worked it all out and put the ideas together after I presented my ideas to him, which resulted in this Cover, which came out to my absolute satisfaction.
I wanted it to be associated with the Band Name Angel of Eden, so you see kind a Angel in Paradise, but rather in a doomy, mystique background …..

5 – Guest musicians:
- Ferdy Doernberg, keys on 4 Tracks, he is a member of Axel Rudi Pell, Uli Jon Roth, amongst many others. He was recommended to me by Carsten and I watched him live with Uli Roth and I just liked his playing very much, he is a very cool slide guitar player as well!
- Steve di Giorgio, bass, a friend of mine, am very glad to have him on the record, he’s an incredibly gifted Bass Player.
- John West, vocals, my long time companion in Artension. I wanted him for one song and ‘Battle of 1386’ was the one we had him sing on, and I just turned out great, as you would expect.
- David Shankle, guitars, I liked very much his Instrumental ‘Etude’ he was doing on his first DSG Record and he liked my stuff I did with Artension, so we decided to cooperate on my CD. He played a kick ass solo on ‘Return of the Pharaoh Pt.1’.

6 – Musical and other kind of influences:
I’m into Neo-Classical, Power Metal and Melodic Rock. There’s many other styles I listen to, as for example Fusion and Classical Music, but I guess these are the most important ones. Bands that influenced me probably the most are: Yngwie Malmsteen, Cacophony, Uli Jon Roth, RacerX, Tony MacAlpine, early Metallica, Survivor, Van Halen, Maiden etc. although there are so many other bands that have influenced me over the years and still keep doing so.

7 – Lion Music:
A small but a very fine Record Label, they do a very good job at what they do, and are great people to be working with. Besides this, they treat their artists the way they deserve to be treated: Good!

8 – Tour to promote the record:
There’s nothing lined up yet, but we will try hard to make it happen. So in case you want us to play live in your area, give us a shout.

9 – Final Message:
In case you get a chance, check out the record. I hope you have as much fun listening to it as we had making it.

http://www.angelofedenband.com/ / www.myspace.com/angelofedenband / http://www.rogerstaffelbach.com/ / www.lionmusic.com/angelofeden.htm


Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Roger Staffelbach (Guitars)

Forever In Terror - Entrevista

- Forever In Terror (meaning of the name, short bio, discography, highlights, …):
The name means people in this world will live Forever In Terror of what is to come… Eventually it will be the end. We formed 4 years ago in 8th grade and have worked our asses off ever since to make it to the top. We recorded and released a 3 song demo that was released under our old name of 7th Plague. That demo got us signed to Metal Blade Records. We just released our first full length entitled “Restless in the Tides” worldwide this June. Check it out and come see us on tour!

- “Restless In The Tides” (rehearsing / writing process, recording process, label, …):
We had a good while to work on this album. It was a slow but fun and challenging process for all of us. The recording was done over our Christmas break from High School in Dec. of 06. It features our friend Mark Hunter from Chimaira on vocals for the song “In the face of the Faceless” it kicks ass.

- Lyrics (influences, subjects, ideas, messages, …):
My lyrics are mostly just the everyday bullshit and feeling we all deal with. Its like a stress relief to sit and write how I feel instead of just being a complete dick all the time. haha. Some songs are about hatred towards my father, if there is a god, suicide, a girl, many different things.

- Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
It was done by a well known artist from Cleveland, OH. His name is Derek Hess he owns Strhess Clothing and The Strhess Tour (Shadows Fall, Poison The Well, Murder By Death) etc. He created the painting for us after we told him the meaning of the album. He did a great job. It means you are always being pulled by the tides of life. This way and that. Its the process of being so frustrated with everything and there is nothing you can do to stop or change the process of life. Your restless.

- Live tour to promote the new record:
We need a solid booking agent. We tour as much as possible!

- Musical (and other) influences:
Kiss, At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Circa Survive, Glass Casket, GlassJaw, Into The Moat, From A Second Story Window, August Burns Read, Unearth, The Black Dahlia Murder, more…

- Metalcore. Your opinion:
Just a name and a title for people who have nothing better to do then critic and ridicule music. Its lame as hell. If its heavy then its FUCKING METAL. Fuck all your core bullshit. That can be shoved up who ever created that’s ass!

- Final Message:
F-OFF! Hahah just playing. Thanks so much for this interview. Its been great. Please check out our debut album to get the shit knocked out of you!
“Restless In The Tides” in stores NOW on METAL BLADE RECORDS
www.myspace.com/fitmetal

Later – Chris Bianchi FIT

Metal Blade: www.metalblade.de / www.metalblade.com

Simone Fiorletta - Entrevista

- Simone Fiorletta (short bio, discography, highlights, …):

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Endorsement: “D’Orazio Strings” “Jim Reed Guitars”
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At seven year-old I got near the music studying piano with the M°. Gianluca Spalvieri (an European level pianist). At twelve I bought my first electric guitar studying first as self-taught person then taking private lessons. Among the various studies, I frequented the triennial course given by Percento Musica in Rome where I "knew" the instrument with teachers such as Umberto Fiorentino, Franco Ventura, Massimiliano Rosati, Stefano Micarelli and others. At the same time, for two years, I studied flamenco guitar with Roberto Valle. In the last times, now and then, I take lessons with Micarelli and Rosati.

DISCOGRAPHY AND WORKS:
Between 1998 and 2001 I recorded four demo: two as guitar player ( Infinite Dreams and Souls ) and two with Moonlight Comedy (…And The Moonlight Dispelled A Mistery and Second Shadow ), thanks to which I received several proposals by different Italian and international labels. In September 2004 was released the first Moonlight Comedy album ( The Life Inside ) produced by Legend Music in Rome and distributed in 26 nations by Lion Music (www.lionmusic.com) , the Finnish label. In October 2004, the Milanese label Videoradio released in Italy my first album (The Beginning).After the success of both the albums ( The Life Inside appreciated by world criticism and The Beginning that got the first place among the more downloaded albums of Vitaminic ) I have had the honor to sign a Lion Music contract as guitar player; so in September 2005 I released Parallel Worlds , my second album, this time a worldwide distribution. This album has got for various weeks the Top10 in Germany, Norway and in the famous American Guitar9.
In February 2006 I start the recordings of the new Moonlight Comedy album, relesead by Lion Music in February 2007.
At the same time I was working for my new album with:
Andrea De Paoli ( Labyrinth ) – Keyboard;
Pasko ( Loredana Bertè , Cans – Hammer Fall ) – Bass;
Tony Liotta ( Santana, Sting, Tina Turner, Chick Corea and many more) – Drums.

My new album will be released in July 2007 by the same Lion Music.

Always in 2007 / 2008 I will be present on the new album of the big Tony Liotta's Human Steps , with international fame artists.

In 2000 I was the guest in a Neil Zaza's live in concert in Rome.
I work also as session in different studios in Italy, playing also different musical styles.
Since October 2004 I'm a founder partner of the Music Station, center of music lessons, I'm the electric guitar teacher, concert hall and two studios.

- “My Secret Diary” (writing process, recording process, guest musicians, label, …):
MSD was born because, as all my works, I want play my life, my emotions. I love talking about me writing instrumental songs, so I am always the only author of my works. Generally I write songs starting from a rhythmic guitar line to program drum and bass. When it's done the song skeleton I begin to think about the melodic line of the soloist. Sometimes I demand that my drum'n'bass ideas were respected while if I know the potentialities of my musicians I let they express themselves.
In this album I am surrounded by exceptional musicians. For the whole album I am supported by Andrea De Paoli (Labyrinth) on the keyboards, Pasko (Cans) on the bass and the legendary Tony Liotta (Santana, Sting and more) on the drums and percussions.
I have also had a good special guest in a song: William Marino (Mina, Sandy Marton and more) who play the solo in "Good Bye".
This album has also been released by the excellent Finnish Lion Music.

- Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
The whole artwork is by Armando Pizzuti, good graphic artist as well as bass player of my Prog Metal Band Moonlight Comedy (http://www.moonlightcomedy.com/ - www.myspace.com/moonlightcomedy).
"My Secret Diary" cover represents a hand that holds among the fingers a little diary, to give the idea of something personal, not visible to the others, with a background that recalls some emotions transfered in the songs.

- Live tour to promote the new record:
Now I don't want to do a real tour because I'm making a tour with the Moonlight Comedy, but this doesn't want to say that I won't make promotional live for this album.

- Musical (and other) influences:
Talking about soloist guitar player I love a lot Joe Satriani, Neil Schon and Neil Zaza, anyway in my works I simply try to play all my emotions, my feelings.

- Final Message:
First of all I would anticipate you that I'm working with Milan Polak (Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman and more) on vocals and guitars, Andrea De Paoli (Labyrinth) on the keyboards, Domenico Citriniti and Armando Pizzuti (Moonlight Comedy) on the bass, Tony Liotta, Andrea Scala (Moonlight Comedy) and Marco Aiello on the drums. I thank you and all your readers to have spent part of your time with me. I invite you to visit http://www.simonefiorletta.it/ or www.myspace.com/simonefiorletta

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Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Simone Fiorletta

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Simone Fiorletta: http://www.simonefiorletta.it/ / www.myspace.com/simonefiorletta.it

Lion Music: http://www.lionmusic.com/

Aeon - Entrevista

- Aeon (short bio, discography, highlights, …):
The band was formed in 1999 by four members from the newly broken up band, Defaced Creation. Since then 1 MCD and 2 full length albums has been made. The MCD "Dark Order" was released 2001, it was originally recorded as a demo but Necropolis record wanted to release it anyway. In 2005 we released our first full length album "Bleeding the false" thru Unique Leader Records. This album did get very good response from both fans and critics. And now (September 2007) we are releasing our second full length album "Rise to dominate" thru Metal Blade records. One highlight worth mentioning was the European tour we did with Cannibal Corpse and Prostitute Disfigurement last year. That was awesome.

- “Rise To Dominate” (writing process, recording process, label, …):
It was mainly me and Zeb who did write all the music at home. (Except for one song that Max did). Recording the ideas as pre-productions with programed drums on a computer. And when the idea is taking form, we upload it to a file server so all the other band-members can listen to it and give feedback. And when the song-idea is developed into something that almost would be considered a whole song, Tommy takes the idea and writes lyrics and creates all the vocal patterns for it. And after that, it's trying it out in the rehearsal-room, often making some small changes to make it perfect.

We did record the whole album in about 3,5 weeks at the "Empire Studio". After that, we sent the whole project down to Unisound Studio and Dan Swanö for some mixing & mastering. He was done after about 10 day and the result was awesome. Dan was really easy to work with and he did understand exactly what we where looking for. I am sure we will be working with him again in the future.

It's no other label than Metal Blade Records who is releasing this album, and that feels so damn good. Metal Blade is the label that we have always wanted to be on, and now we are. They are doing a killer job so far and i can do nothing but praise them.

- Dan Swanö & Unisound Recordings. Why and how?:
We wanted to try something new this time around and Lord K from "The Project Hate" always praised Dan for the great job he has done with their last albums. And with all rights... the "Project Hate" albums sounds awesome. So we simply asked Dan if he wanted to mix & master our album and he sure did. We are more than happy with the result, i think it sounds amazing.

- Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
Who... it's me who have done the cover + all artwork on this album as-well as the previous one "Bleeding the false". Why, its just dark, evil & demonic...The meaning with it...Well... Hell Awaits, come walk with us, my friend.

- Live tour to promote the new record:
We where supposed to go on Metal Blade Record's 25th Anniversary North American tour in September / October but was forced to cancel it. This is due to a decision made by Nils (drummer) to not go on the tour since it would conflict with upcoming Dark Funeral shows / tour + some personal family business that made him make this decision. This is all very bad since it's a really great tour with good bands and all. But i'll hope new great opportunities will come along later on.

- Musical (and other) influences:
Ohh man... it can be everything from some classic symphonic shit to 80's hard-rock and forward the most brutal death metal there is. It depends on what mood i am in. Other influences can everyday stuff that pisses me off, cool horror movies or whatever. And one other thing... myself with a fat guitar-sound... Thats fucking inspiring. Just to play guitar with a massive guitar-sound brings forth the most evil riff's.

- Final Message:
Keep supporting death metal, and if you downloads albums of the net... at least buy the fucking ones you really like. Cheers!

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Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Daniel Dlimi

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Aeon: http://www.aeon666.com/

Metal Blade: http://www.metalblade.de/

Desaster - Entrevista

- Desaster (short bio, discography, highlights, …):
Desaster’s history is going back to the year 1988 when two young Metal- possessed maniacs wanted to follow the path of bands like VENOM, HELLHAMMER or DESTRUCTION (whose song „Total Desaster“ gave the band its name) – to play some fucking Black Metal without compromises was their aim. After playing the still remembered first live gig in ’89 (which marked the official beginning of the band), DESASTER had to manage serious line- up problems in 1990 before Infernal, the only remaining member of the original line- up, found the right warriors to continue. Okkulto (v) and Odin (b) joined the pack back then in 1992. After the two demos “The Fog of Avalon” (1993) and “Lost in the Ages” (1994) Merciless Records released a split- 7” with UNGOD in 1995, the band´s vinyl-debut. In 1996 the first album “A Touch of medieval Darkness” was released and the band got great response from all over the world. On DESASTER’s following output, the “Stormbringer” mini- album in 1997, the new beast on the drums, Tormentor, can be heard for the first time. One song of the limited “Ride on for Revenge” picture- single of 1998 found it’s way on the “Thrashing Holocaust”- compilation CD released by American Necropolis Records in 1999. “Hellfire’s Dominion”, the second album, was released in 1998. A special killer on the album was the neck breaking Speed Metal hymn “Metalized Blood” which included guest vocals of Wannes of PENTACLE, Lemmy of the old German Speed Metal kings VIOLENT FORCE and Toto of LIVING DEATH, one of the band’s all-time faves! During the recording sessions of the 2nd album DESASTER also recorded their contribution to a SODOM tribute CD called “Homage to the Gods”. The band celebrated it’s 10th anniversary in late 1999 with the “Ten Years of total DESASTER” double- LP, again a vinyl-only release! Another split- EP, this time in the rare 10” format and with the Dutch metal-fighters of PENTACLE, was released on DESASTER´s new label Iron Pegasus in 2000. The 3rd full- length album “Tyrants of the Netherworld” was then released in 2000. In summer 2001 DESASTER contributed the song “Darkness and Evil” with Gezol himself on guest- vocals for a Brazilian SABBAT tribute- LP. After the band had played several festival- shows (e.g. Fuck The Commerce and Wacken Open Air) vocalist Okkulto decided to leave the band, but was soon replaced by the new shouter Sataniac who used to be the main man in the German Black/ Thrash band DIVINE GENOCIDE. The “Souls of Infernity”- 7” (2001) was the farewell- release of the old singer Okkulto. After the release of the 4th album “Divine Blasphemies” in 2002 the show in Sao Paulo/ Brazil in front of 900 maniacs was a special highlight of 2003. The Brazilian show was released as double LP/ CD and DVD on the Brazilian Label Mutilation Records. After the change to Metal Blade Records the 5th album “Angelwhore” was released, also available on vinyl on Iron Pegasus Rec.
After countless gigs in Germany and outside (England, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland...), a Mini- tour through Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Slovenia and the South American Tour through Brazil, Peru and Colombia, the band released a 12” vinyl single called “Infernal Voices” with one new song, the re-recorded “Fields of triumph” and a coverversion of UNLEASHED´s “Before the creation of time”. In May 2007 DESASTER entered the Harrows Studio, Holland (Asphyx, Pentacle, Occult, Soulburn etc.) to record the 6th studio album “666 - Satan’s Soldiers Syndicate”. The new album shows again the band´s typical thrashing, blacking riff metal without mercy where there is no space for any innovation and modern elements! It’s what Desaster is all about: “A FIST IN YOUR FACE METAL ATTACK”! Beware and be prepared for sharp riffs, pounding drums, roaring bass and screaming hell...

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- “666 Satan’s Soldiers Syndicate” (writing process, recording process, label, …):
We recorded “SSS” in May 2007 in the Netherlands. After we finished the song writing process, which took more or less 9 month. The studio “Harrows”, where bands like Asphyx, Soulburn, Pentacle, Flesh made Sin etc. recorded their records, is a really “releaxed” one... so we really liked the feeling there... CD version will be released on METAL BLADE GERMANY and the LP version will be released by IRON PEGASUS RECORDS

- Guest musicians in the new record:
Guestvokills from Mister A.A. Nemtheanga and Sir Proscriptor McGovern on “Tyranizer” and guestsolo from Ashmedi (Melechesh) on “Angel Extermination”.

- Album frontcover / artwork (who, why, meaning, …):
The front and backcover artwork was done this time by Mr. Kris Verwimp. We like his work he did for bands like Absu. He is a really great painter! Meaning? Listen to the music, chekc out the coverartwork and make your own opinion!

- Live tour to promote the new record:
We’ll play a couple of single gigs this and next year. That’s all... no bigger tour or something like this... we all have regular jobs, so it isn’t easy to get so much holidays... but we also prefer playing some single gigs at weekends... to keep the feeling alive.. otherwise it can start working like a daily job! And that sucks!!!!!!!!

- Musical (and other) influences:
SLAYER, KREATOR, SODOM, VENOM, RAZOR, HELLHAMMER and all other bands we listen to!

- Final Message:

Thanxx for this interesting interview... headbangers outthere check out our website http://www.total-desaster.de/ or www.myspace.com/desasterofficial BANG OR BE BANGED!!!

Entrevistador: RDS

Entrevistado: Tormentor

Desaster: http://www.total-desaster.de/

Metal Blade: http://www.metalblade.de/