Hanna Tsepesh: Hello Marios and Antony! Thanks so much for accepting this interview! Long time since the first time we spoke Marios, how are the things with the band so far and you Antony, how are you?
Marios: Hey Hanna and it’s always a pleasure to talk for our new album. Things are really cool around here and we are very busy promoting the new album with interviews and massive updates all the time on our official pages. We are very excited and we are waiting to see the reaction from the press and our fans, as we have worked very hard to make this album a reality.
Antony: I’m doing well. Things are great in the band! Lots of work ahead of us.
Hanna Tsepesh: that is really great! Now I will make some questions just for you Antony, for people out there know your work a little bit. What are your favorite bands? You have any singer that you admire the most?
Antony: My favorites are like Hypocrisy, At the Gates, Slayer, Immortal, and Dark Tranquility. And for extreme singers I like Tomas Lindberg, Mikael Stanne, and Peter Tagtgren. For clean vocals I like Dio, Marko Hietala, and again Peter Tagtgren.
Hanna Tsepesh: I would like to know if you had or have any singing preparation or something? I have to tell you that your voice is great and I am really surprised with your work and talent!
Antony: Well thank you for the nice words. It means a lot. I have never had any preparation really. Singing is something I have been doing for years and I feel with this type of music you can not be taught how to do it. You have to feel it I guess. I just go out there and sing. It's very plain.
Hanna Tsepesh: At the moment you have only Nightrage or you have other projects?
Antony: Yes Nightrage is the main thing. I have this small project I have been working on for a few years called Burn Your Halo. Nothing has really happened with it yet, just still doing some demos. Other then that I am always doing guest vocals for other friend’s albums when they ask me. Next one I am doing is Disarmonia Mundi and I am looking very forward to that!
Hanna Tsepesh: Now you guys have a new album call “Wearing A Martyr's Crown”. I stay very surprised with all the album, for me is the best album and felt that the album is much more mature than the other, don’t you agree? Like I said before, the voice is great and the sound improved a lot from the other! I think it’s a new chapter for Nightrage! The first music have a great start, this album is really powerful with a lot of energy! For people who haven’t listen to it yet, can you talk about “Wearing A Martyr's Crown” and for you guys, what is the big difference between this album and the previous one?
Marios: We agree totally with u that is the best album so far for the band, and we are proud of the songs that we have made. We were working with the composing almost a year and it went pretty smooth for us, without feeling any pressure, we knew what we wanted and we wanted to make an album that will represent the style and the history of the band. Antony voice is amazing and he brought the old lindberg style back, something that I think fits perfectly with our music and the style of Nightrage. The songs they have that old school feeling that we are all lovers of, and we wanted as fans of this genre, to make an album that we like to hear and feel proud of. The big difference from the previous album, it’s the vocals and the sound of the band, also the arrangements of the news songs are simpler and to the point, we wanted to have those kind of songs that we could also perform live easily.
Antony: For me this album is very stripped down and back to basics. The way I love all my music. No trends, no compromises.
Hanna Tsepesh: Is true that was you 2 that write all the lyrics together? It was easy to work together for this album?
Marios: Yes we have done all lyrics together, and it went amazingly well. Antony loves the Nightrage lyrics and he is a master in English and grammar, plus he has amazing ideas and he understands the feel of the stories that we have to tell. It went very smooth and pretty easy working together, we are sharing the same stories and our main subjects they have to do about the human emotions and how they can affect your personality in different ways. Bad blood, hypocrisy, dark emotions that we all hide in our hearts and it’s difficult to express, our lyrics are truthful and sometimes pretty tough like an exorcism to our life stories that they have been under a lot of hardship, until we reach our own redemption.
They have also a hopeful meaning behind them and they are dealing with our soul and its adventures through the hard and painful path that is called life, that we believe has always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Antony: It is very easy for us to do it. We share the same brain Marios and I sometimes (Laughs). When we have a new song Marios will choose one of the titles we have come up with previously that suite the song's feeling. Then he will write like pros or a poem on his ideas for what the song should be about. Then I take those ideas and fit them in my own lyrics and work them into the vocal melodies I have written for the song.
Hanna Tsepesh: I am very curious for the album name, any reason for “Wearing A Martyr's Crown” title? You want to transmit anything to your fans?
Marios: It’s just the main concept idea title behind the lyrical and musical path that we wanted to reach with this album, and it represents the whole feel of the album as we have explained before on the lyrics question. We all thought that this is the best title of the new album some time ago when we were composing the new songs, Antony explains the meaning perfectly.
Antony: To the fans the title can mean whatever they want. For me this song and title is about being put down for being a better person in a world of liars and fake people.
Hanna Tsepesh: Everything went well at recording studio? The band feels proud with the final result?
Marios: Everything went very well on the studio, we had pre/record all the songs in a demo stage and we knew exactly what we wanted. Even if we had to work on a day and night basis, I feel that we made this album the best we could, and we delivered the best performances possible. Of course we are very proud of it and everybody in the band worked really hard for it.
Antony: Of course! It was amazing and we can't wait to get back into Fredman!
Hanna Tsepesh: How has the response been to the album by the media and fans so far?
Marios: So far has been amazing and it seems that the press and the fans they love the new album and they are supporting the band. We get some very cool reviews from big mags like German Metal Hammer and Rock Hard and Metalized from Denmark. And so many other webzines they are giving us amazing rates.
Antony: I can't believe how positive and excited all the fans and critics have been. This looks like to be one of the best times for Nightrage since the release of "Sweet Vengeance".
Hanna Tsepesh: what is your favorite music in this album and why?
Marios: I love all the songs the same and I can’t really choose any specific. Some very strong songs are: Shed the Blood, Wearing A Martyrs crown and Sting of remorse.
Antony: It changes all the time. Right now it's Collision of Fate. And it's because of the acoustic ending. I remember helping Marios and Olof record this. Still sends shivers down my spine every time I listen to it.
Hanna Tsepesh: The band is thinking about a European tour? You guys have plains to include Portugal in your tour or something?
Marios: We are working on it right now and we want to have the chance to perform everywhere they want us. Hope that we will make it in Portugal as we have always the best of time when we are playing there.
Antony: If we do a Euro tour I'm sure Portugal will be on one of the dates. And we hope to see you there!
Hanna Tsepesh: Of course i will go! Do you want to send any message for your fans out there?
Marios: Thanks a lot for the awesome support and the chance for this Interview. We are looking forward to see u soon on our shows, support Nightrage and please go and buy this new album. Hail to all our Portuguese fans.
Antony: Thanks for the Portuguese support! Make sure to buy the album so we can come play for you there!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks o much for your answers and time. THE GATES OF METAL wishes the entire band a great success with “Wearing A Martyr's Crown”! We hope to see Nightrage very soon in here again…
Antony: No worries. Thanks again for the nice interview. Hope to see you guys on tour!
Marios: You are welcome, and we can’t wait to play in Portugal.
Hanna Tsepesh: Thank you! All the best...
By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some NIGHTRAGE music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/nightrage
