ELYSION

Hanna Tsepesh: Hello Christianna and Johnny Zero! Thanks so much for accepting this interview and Welcome to THE GATES OF METAL! First of all: how are you and how are the things doing with your concerts?

Christianna: On behalf of all Elysion, hi to everyone and a huge thanks for having us! At the moment we are all very excited about our forthcoming tour, which is bound to begin after the summer of 2010, so we simply cannot wait to make a live date with you all!

Johnny Zero: Hello from me too, it’s great to be given the opportunity to talk to you and discuss a bit about Elysion. Like Christianna said, our concerts all over Europe will start in the second half of the year, so until then we will take the time to tour our homeland to honor as many cities as we can for all the great support we have been enjoying in these very first steps of ours!

Hanna Tsepesh: for those who do not know the band, could tell us a little how it all started?

Johnny Zero: It started by me and Maxi, Elysion’s former singer in 2006.We invited Petros Fatis ,our drummer,and FxF ,our bass player on board and began composing and rehearsing right away. We very soon had the chance to throw a number of gigs with an awesome feedback, and as soon as our demo was recorded we managed to sign a record deal with Massacre Records. Christianna joined the band in 2008 ,when we were recording our debut album,Silent Scr3eam,which was released a couple of months ago.T hat pretty much sums it all up…

Hanna Tsepesh: Christianna, It was easy your Integration in the band and what is the feeling and all the experience for you in the band so far?

Christianna: Actually, it was quite easy because I was no stranger with Elysion, as in past we had shared the same stage a number of times, not belonging in the same band of course, so I was very much familiar with their sound and they were familiar with what to expect from my voice. I certainly had some anxiety to make sure I respect the original atmosphere of the songs but to also blend my personality as a singer to the outcome, but the process was more of a thrill. So far I can only say I feel 100% blessed for all that I am experiencing ,I get to do all I ever dreamt of and I’ll be forever grateful to the rest of the guys for trusting me.

Hanna Tsepesh: What inspired you the most to create the lyrics and what process the band use to create the riffs, melody to comply with the lyrics?

Johnny Zero: Well, the main inspiration for both the music and lyrics of Elysion is a strongly emotional platform, a celebration of the human soul as we call it, in all its times of weakness or grace. In Silent Scr3am,I was the main composer but I always like to leave enough space for everyone else to express their musical identities, I have great faith in us all! The most common process for me is to get up in the middle of the night with a riff pounding in my head, and while I sit down to record it things slowly develop and I pretty quickly have the whole structure of the song before me. Right after that I invite everyone to take a listen and share their thoughts, while I usually leave the vocal melodies for the singer…

Christianna: …that would be me J! Johnny provides me with the perfect platform to best be able to express my approach of singing, I can say that his composing is so atmospheric that it gets me in the mood right away and I instantly know what I want to do with my voice. Lyrics are usually written after we have an overall idea of the song’s character, we want the music and lyrics to be a perfect match for one another, but also be as simple and straightforward as possible. After all, the most beautiful things are always spoken with the simplest of words.

Hanna Tsepesh: What are your favorite bands? You have any musician that you admire the most?

Christianna: We are all very openminded about our musical influences, so the list of artists we admire could go on forever!I always find myself admiring artists from totally different backrounds, especially when it comes to singers I am always ‘’jealous’’ of opposing vocal techniques coming from all genres of music. Since when I was growing up this all ‘’female fronted’’ outburst in the scene had not yet occurred, my influences mostly came from male singers, so some of my all time favorites are Bruce Dickinson, Eric Adams, Freddie Mercury, Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine and Messiah Marcolin.

Johnny Zero: Same here, I listen to all sorts of different things because I think it is very important for someone to have an overall understanding of music, after all nowadays most boundaries and limitations in any kind of music have collapsed. My most treasured legend band will always be Iron Maiden, I cannot believe that after so many years I still find new things to amaze me in their music, even after having listened to the songs for a billion times..Christianna here makes fun of me by saying that if someone asked me to choose my way to die I would most certainly choose to be eaten by Eddie…J

Hanna Tsepesh: You have another band or some future project at the moment?

Johnny Zero: Well I always find myself involved in all sorts of music projects, actually I’ve somewhat lost the count! However, at the time we are all cutting down all our extra activities to a minimum, due to Elysion’s increasing demands, because we want to be 100% devoted to what we do and give the band all our energy. Side projects work mostly as a way of relaxing my brain, one of them for me is N.I.M.A, a very active Greek rock band fronted by Nikos Mixas.

Christianna: Like Johnny said, we are all involved in side projects but all this works in a completely mind relaxing level, as Elysion is absolutely top priority in our lives! For me, I feel very lucky to be able to express my different approaches of singing in Elysion, so my need to try a variety of things is fulfilled and that is one of the things I have always looked for in a band.

Hanna Tsepesh: I would like to know if you had or have any singing lessons or any other preparation? I take this opportunity to send you my congratulations for your amazing work on this album and I really liked a lot your voice, you have a lot of talent!

Christianna: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your kind words, they honestly mean a lot to me…I actually have been singing ever since I can remember myself, my dad was an opera singer so my childhood memories are full of notes and melodies..i took piano lessons and studied music for some years, never took any singing lessons, but I did try to give myself some! Once I found out that this is what I want to do with my life, which was when I was 15 or something, I began to study like crazy, all sorts of different vocal techniques, anything which sounded good to my ears. Like I mentioned above, at that time women in the metal scene were very few, if any, and that was partly good because I had to struggle to find my own voice and not have anyone to imitate, even unconsciously, or copy from. That lack of a female metal figure as an influence helped me a lot to develop my very own approach, of course I admire many female singers now and always find myself learning new things…

Hanna Tsepesh: When you start to play guitar? It was difficult to learn? What brand guitar you prefer? Also, congratulations for your work on this album, I really liked a lot!

Johnny Zero: Thanks for all your observations! i began to play guitar when I was 15,it all started when my parents gave me one as a present for finishing junior high. I very soon fell in love with it and started playing for endless hours, I cannot even remember if it was any difficult for me at the beginning because my lust to play was so great that it this all I can recall…I have tried playing with almost all different brands and find different things that appeal to me in each one of them, still my most favorite ones are: Gibson standard, Fender Stratocaster, and Ibanez Universe .However, I believe that any guitar sounds differently when touched by different fingers so it is the player that makes the guitar and not the other way around…



Hanna Tsepesh: What was the highest and lowest point of your career as a musician?

Christianna: I guess my lowest point has to do with my psychological condition and mood, there were times in the past when I had to struggle with so much to keep on following my dream that I felt disappointed or frustrated but luckily, I never gave up. Things were not always easy…but in music, they never are. It is a constant battle to not let go of your dreams, but today I feel a lot more strong and confident. Definitely, my highest points so far have been all the times that I have performed live with Elysion, regardless of what the event was or whether we headlined or not. Playing live is my greatest reward ,I treasure each minute on stage because I get to look in people’s eyes and know we are connecting,it is the time when music makes sense.

Johnny Zero: I don’t think I had much of a low point ,things have constantly been difficult but stable for me, without any serious surprises. Of course, there are always times when things are harder and problems come up, but I wouldn’t characterize them as low points because this all is what a musician’s job has to deal with. As for my highest points, as the ‘’father’’ of Elysion one of my happiest moments was to see the band sign up with Massacre, because I knew that we would finally have the chance to work hard and see our music reach out to people.

Hanna Tsepesh: Let’s talk about the “Silent Scream” album. Can you tell to our readers what they can expect from this album?

Christianna: They can expect simple but powerful music ,a mixture of atmospheric metal with rock, gothic and electro elements. Basically, we never labeled what we play so we wish that they will just listen to something beautiful. We did our very best in the album, we gladly had a lot of material to work with but we think we have chosen the very best for Silent Scr3am.To us, the concept behind it is what each of us would like to whisper or cry out to life itself, hoping to be heard. We didn’t follow any recipes, nor tried to sound over technical, we just put our feelings down to melodies and celebrated beauty throughout simplicity.

Johnny Zero: Listeners can expect 11 varying musical suggestions, all different in music influences but same in the dark atmospheric platform behind them. We expect everyone to find a little piece of himself in the songs, relate to what he hears and simply sink into the music. Silent Scr3am to me is a ray of light sneaking into a dark room…

Hanna Tsepesh: at recording studio, you guys faced with difficulties? If yes, tell which was and how as the whole process?

Johnny Zero: Well, we all feel totally grateful in all aspects concerning Silent Scr3am,not only did we not come across any difficulties but on the contrary, we got to experience one of the most creative and exciting times ever! We owe a great deal of this to our producer, Mark Adrian, who besides being amazingly talented on what he does he is also a great psychologist, knowing exactly how to handle musicians to bring the best out of them. The whole recording process was very emotional to us because every day we got to see our feelings and ideas shaping up their final form ,which was totally thrilling.

Christianna: We still cannot believe how lucky we were! our collaboration with Mark Adrian, like Johnny said, eased all our fears and worries of what the outcome of the album would be, as we were very self conscious about wanting our debut album to sound as strong as possible. Many dreams came true for us during that time, one of them being to collaborate with Ted Jensen for the mastering of Silent Scr3am.Having the musical genius who mastered Iron Maiden, Slipknot ,Madonna and so many other huge names of the global scene work on our debut album was more than we could ever pray for, and the outcome was exactly what we had wished it to be: a totally balanced production, emphasizing not on any instrument but on the beauty of the songs itself. As for me as a singer, the entire recording process was a liberating time , a true moment of genesis.


Hanna Tsepesh: How has the response been to the album by the fans and media?

Christianna: Although the release of Silent Scream is quite recent, we have received an amazing feedback both from local but also international sources ,and I cannot describe what great strength this all has given us! We cannot thank everyone enough for embracing us and giving us a chance to reach their hearts, especially in times when the competition is tremendous! We are very down to earth about all positive feedback and know that we are ready to work even harder to present something beautiful to all those who have trust in us. Silent Scr3am was a step towards the right direction for us, but it was just the beginning of a long , difficult way before us. All we know is we will serve our dreams to the end!

Johnny Zero: Everything has been amazing so far! It has overcome our expectations, to now arrange a European and American tour so quickly after our first release and we owe this all to everyone who supports us. It is difficult not to sound corny but Elysion honor each one, individually, who comes in a show to see us, because it is each person independently that makes what we do meaningful. We can only promise that we are truly hardworking in what we do and try to become better everyday. I hope we will get to do all we have in mind for the future of Elysion, and thereby give something back to all who took the time to ever get interested in us.
Hanna Tsepesh: If one of our readers wants to buy your album, what they can do?

Christianna: Well, apart from paying a visit to the nearest music store, anyone can also buy Silent Scr3am online, for instance by visiting Massacre website’s online store ,or www.amazon.com, or even itunes. We have Massacre to thank for our worldwide distribution, so I think by the time this interview is uploaded Silent Scream will have been released almost everywhere, with an exception of Japan, where our release date is the 7 nth of April.



Hanna Tsepesh: what is your favorite music in this album and why?

Johnny Zero: This is very difficult to answer since I am emotionally attached to all of the songs for different reasons…I have a deep connection to all tracks, they all strike a different chord in me so iam not the most objective person to answer this…

Christianna: I tend to listen to a specific song more according to my mood. When I am rather energetic I tend to get even higher with ‘’killing my dreams’’, when I am rather melancholic ‘’erase me’’ makes me cry…there are all sorts of different shades of feelings in the album and that is one of my favorite things about it.

Hanna Tsepesh: Do you want to send any message for the people who going to read this interview?

Christianna: …Instead of a message, I will quote something from Dreamer, our opening track and address it to everyone as a reminder of the fact that we should never let go of what we believe in:’’…always a dreamer.., always fighting for more than I can have…’’

Johnny Zero: Once again, an honest thanks on behalf of all of us for all your kind support…We invite you to take a listen to Silent Scr3am and maybe find something beautiful in it. We keep our fingers crossed that we will very soon be able to make a live date with you in Portugal and get to share all this magic live energy with all of you!

Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks o much for your answers and time. THE GATES OF METAL wishes the entire band a big success and a fantastic 2010! Hope to see you guys very soon in here…

Christianna: It was our pleasure to get in touch with you, we promise to soon see you from stage and get to realize once more that no matter what the hard times the world is going through,music will always unite us all !

Johnny Zero: see you in a live show the soonest possible! up the horns!

Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks so much and you are very welcome! All the best...

By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some ELYSION music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/elysionmyspace

THE SPEKTRUM

Hanna Tsepesh: Olá (Hello in Portuguese) The Spektrum! Thanks so much for accepting this interview and Welcome to THE GATES OF METAL! First of all: how are you guys and how are the things doing with your concerts? I saw you guy’s a couple of times and you guy’s are still very humble and very nice and talkative to the public! I hope you guys never lose that…

Zouza: Olá Hanna! First of all, thank you for the interview opportunity. We are fine, concerts are going well, we've made lots of friends everywhere, awesome.

Engraved: Olá Hanna! The concerts are going well, lots of beer, awesome public in the concerts and many great bands to play with!

Dyrion: Olá Hanna! How are you? Hope everything’s great, and thank you for this opportunity. Well everything is going great, the shows are being better and better as we play and people are loving it. We are still the same crazy guys; we love to hear some good metal and drink some beers, and we usually talk and hang out with everybody, unless someone’s too drunk to talk (laughs).

Hanna Tsepesh: I am fine Dyrion, thanks for asking! For those who do not know The Spektrum could tell us a little how it all started? In the beginning you guys start to play Thrash, why you change the music style?

Zouza: The Spektrum started on October 2005, with a different line up, we were 6 members. We started playing Thrash cause of our drummer, he was a Thrash fan, but, all changed when Samnu (originally as the keyboard player) arrived to the band with his “keyboard” influences, we decided to work on music’s with keyboards and leave the Thrash influences behind.

Engraved: Lulu was, with no doubt, the trash head that strapped us there, even more, we couldn’t develop our sound, because he couldn’t keep to our evolution. That became a problem, generating a bad ambience in the rehearsals. I started composing more “technical” (more advanced that before) causing him to stop attending the rehearsals and always complaining. Eventually he decided to get off the boat, which turn to be good, cause we, Zouza, was about to fire him. Samnu integration in the band was with no shadow of doubt a major step towards our today’s sound. Our first music in the style we play today (similar, more raw)” Shadows”, the keyboard was made by him, its that gives the “doomsdays” ambience, sadness. And we were all happy with that result, making that our road!

Dyrion: We felt that we needed to do something strongest and definitely darker, we wanted to create obscure ambiences, and Lulu didn´t fit in our vision what the band should be. After his departure we started to work in that kind of material, and faster, we started to record our demo in July (2006); we composed technical/heavy dark stuff, finally we could use keyboards as we always wanted.
We played a lot in 2006/2007, we shared stage with a lot of great bands, we played in Spain, and we took a few contests, it was great.
In that time we’ve discovered a lot of new things, it helped us growing as mans/musicians, we are always discovering new things, like everybody, I think in that time we found our path, and for shore we will explore many ways in this dark journey.

Hanna Tsepesh: How did the name of the band come from?

Dyrion: I remember when we discuss the name, it was 2 weeks before our first show, we didn’t know what to call ourselves, I wanted some obscure, enigmatic, that makes you think and imagine things in your mind, something that you could not touch, but something that it is always there, an obscure presence that walks right beside everyone; it is difficult materialize everything in one word or two, and I think The Spektrum is the better expression to define us.

Hanna Tsepesh: I have a big difficult question for you guys (laughs). What is The Spektrum music style? Some people say: Death/Gothic, Black/death, etc. So, for the people out there that are lost in what The Spektrum are, what is your answer for them?

Dyrion: (Laughs); it is very complicated to answer that question, I think we don’t know the right definition for our music style, we love a lot of different metal things, I don´t know if we ever can classify our music, in the future when people hear our music we want they to say this is The Spektrum . We want to play brutal stuff with dark/epic ambiences, that makes people think about their existences, we do not concern about a specific style, we concern about our own music, it is the most important part, I think future releases will help people to identify better our sound, not a specific music style, but as The Spektrum, we are trying to make some difference, it’s our goal.

Engraved: That is with no doubt a difficult question to ask, seeing that many people have classified us and there are so many classifications. We’ve been classified as Death Gothic Metal, others Medieval Heavy Metal, Black Doom Metal. I think we have a little bit of various things, making it difficult to be classified in these words. “Being forced to choose a style” I think I would probably pick the Death Melodic Metal, I think that is what we have more, in Daemonicus Awakening.

Hanna Tsepesh: What inspired you the most to create the lyrics for The Spektrum?

Dyrion: Well, mostly life, everything that surrounds me, I write almost every day, different kind of things, usually very dark stuff (laughs), and I don’t need to be depressed or something, just let the feelings come, I write poetry, almost everything in Portuguese, and mostly every day I gather new ideas for The Spektrum, it makes me think a lot and explore new worlds, which I love. The other part of the inspiration come from the riffs, I am a big fan of Engraved way to compose music, many of his riffs inspired me, and I work the lyrics embracing them in the riff/ambience of the music, so we can have everything gathered as one unified piece.

Hanna Tsepesh: What are your favorite bands?

Zouza: I started listening Rammstein, and I think is still my favorite band, I also like Moonspell, Tiamat, Bathory, Ramp, W.A.K.O, Switchtense, etc. I listen to loads of bands, especially Portuguese bands.

Dyrion: Well I don’t know, good music inspires me, when I was a kid, Rammstein, those guys are crazy, and Zouza got me addicted to them, (laughs), Moonspell it was a band that helped me a lot to walk among the shadows, Monotheist from Celtic Frost is an authentic masterpiece, I love it, all it´s ambience, the riffs, the delays, and mostly the lyrics, it really elevates my mind, Tom is a genius, he’s unique; Quorthon it was another genius, I love Tiamat ambiences and the lyrics are awesome.
I love Emperor, Marduk, I heard a lot of progressive German black metal, bands such as Farsot or Secrets of The Moon, lately I’ve being heard a lot of grind/brutal death bands, Nile, Anaal Nathrakh, oh and I was about to forget Anathema, Antimatter, it makes really fly (laughs), and in Portugal, I already refer Moonspell, we got a lot of bands which is great, and really all of them inspires me a lot, because we all are in the same boat, we got to take the right path we got here so much good bands in such different music styles, and I think we are in the right way to take Portugal to another level in the metal scene in Europe, to become a reference in the world metal scene.

Engraved: As Zouza, it was Rammstein that brought me to the “metal planet”. That’s why I know, every album and music from them, so its one of my favorite bands, but not the favorite. I hold on the top Moonspell and Dimmu Borgir my two top favorite bands. Also I like Emperor, Bathory [fav. cds: Hammerheart, Destroyer of Worlds, Twilight of The Gods), Septic Flesh, Old Man’s Child. These are my tops; but there are many more bands.


Hanna Tsepesh: Let’s talk a little bit of you guys. First I would like to start with Dyrion: Do you have any singer that you admire the most?

Dyrion: You want it you got it laughs, they are so many, Ihsahn ( Hails to the mighty Emperor , laughs), Fernando Ribeiro (Moonspell), Tom G. Warrior( Hellhamer, Celtic Frost, Triptykon), Dave Hunt (Anaal Nathrakh), Till (Rammstein), Mortuus (Marduk), Alan “Nemtheanga” (Primordia), Vincent Cavanagh ( Anathema), Dany Filth (Cradle of Filth); well I’m definitely forgetting someone, fortunately there are so many.


Hanna Tsepesh: I would like to know if you had or have any singing lessons or any guttural technique lessons? I don’t know if you agree on this with me, but do you think when your band started to play Thrash metal, it helped you to have more technique in your voice?

Dyrion: No I never had any lessons of anything, I learned everything for myself, as I am still learning now, it is an long process of evolution, I think about some ideas in my mind and I practice until I got minimally satisfied. Everything we’ve done helped me in my singing, every rehashed, the bands that I listen, and me (laughs), I am trying to get there, to get close of my own perfection, we learn experimenting things, it’s a work for a life.

Hanna Tsepesh: Engraved, do you have any guitar player that you admire the most? When you create the riffs and melodies what is your big inspiration? When I listen to some melodies in this album they remind me the old terror movies.

Engraved: My favorite guitarist is Tom Rune Andersen [Galder] from Old Man’s Child and Dimmu Borgir. I admire his work in his band, especially the “Revelation 666 - The Curse Of Damnation” and “Vermin” albums, he is a reference!
Now about inspiration: First there’s a crucial element for inspiration (when composing) to appear, creativity. I think I was “blessed” with such (laughs) Inspiration surrounds us. It is everywhere, you get it through your eyes, through you ears, trough every sense. The mood is also an influential element in inspiration, whether your sad or happy, if you’re with rage or peaceful. I myself am an adept of composing drunk (laughs).
Take, for example, “Nenphilis”, what a night (laughs).. I had arrived at Nazaré, in the summer, not to go to the beach, but to get drunk. I took my guitar and a pc. At night I started drinking Port Wine. After a whole bottle a riff came to me, so I recorded it not to forget, this is because I have a faulty memory, I forget things very easy. Then I went to a bar to have some beers (my favorite beverage), after an “indicated” amount of that I returned home. The inspiration stroke me again, and from that I recorded the entire music. I’m quite happy with the result. It has happen with other music’s too, all related with wine or beer, or even both (laughs)
A mood influence is for example “Eternal Fear” was when I was upset and kind of nostalgic. I compose it all in the same day. Started by the keyboards, then moved to guitars, that’s the why the keyboards, to me, are the highlight of the music!
About the “old terror movie” sounds, those are my favorite’s movies (laughs). Hail Hellraiser! You’re the first to relate our sound to it, it is good. I’m remembering old terror movies to have awesome dark ambiences, and suspense!

Hanna Tsepesh: Also I know that you have another band project, right? Can you tell to us about that? You guys have MySpace or something for the listeners out there add your band and listen to some stuff…

Engraved: I have something like four (laughs) but two of them are currently stopped, being “Mortis Causa” a Death Metal project and Shadow Sun Gothic Metal, but are currently on hold and Thrones of Astaroth, which I founded to play black metal, but in the way others styles come in (laughs)! You can take a look at www.myspace.com/thronesofastaroth . We’ve finished the 5 music’s, plus an intro, we’re going to record on our EP. We are too here seeking for others members, being, the bassist, drummer, and perhaps keyboarder, and also looking to get a female choir to record in our EP and a female solo voice.

Hanna Tsepesh: Zouza, You have any bass player that you admire the most? Any reasons for you pick this instrument? It was difficult to learn?

Zouza: I´m a fan of Jeordie White, he is a great bass player, and, thanks to him, I discovered B.C. Rich basses about 14 years ago. The reason I choose to play bass it was because the first band I had I was playing keyboards, but we were not able to find a bass player, so, I decided to buy one bass and start playing bass.. Was it difficult to learn?? I still don’t know how to play bass.

Hanna Tsepesh: (laughs) Good one Zousa! The band has a new album called “Daemonicus Awakening". My god what can I say about your album (laughs), we have a lot of things to discover in this amazing album! I liked a lot the melodies and all the atmosphere that the band create in all the music’s some of them remember me the old movies(like I already told to Engraved), I send my congratulations for the entire band for this great work! My favorite music’s are “Lost in Time”, “Drowned in sadness” and “Eternal Fear”. For people who don’t listen yet can you talk about “Daemonicus Awakening” and what the band want to accomplish?

Dyrion: Thanks a lot, our main goal was creating something unique, something unified, like I said before, we wanted to do an album that touch people, to make them think about their existences. We worked a lot for having a whole album that would touch people; to make them think about their existences. Like I said, we worked a lot for having a whole album intimately connected itself; the music, lyrics, among the illustrations.
It is a conceptual work, all the music’s are fables, and all of them are connected, unifies the whole concept, it is like a movie, divided in 10 chapters; you can listen the tracks separated, but if you listen the whole cd among with the lyrics, you will understand it much better; it is when everything is really connected, when you do that you will realize that this opus it’s much bigger and epic that it seems. I think our main goal was achieved; we wanted to breach our own borders and we did it, we are very satisfied with ourselves.

Hanna Tsepesh: How was working with Dikk (WichBreed) and Ares (WitchBreed)? You guys learning something with them? Also, everything went well at recording studio? It was an easy process for the band?

Zouza: It was great to meet and work with Dikk and Ares, two Portuguese metal masters, we’ve learned a lot with them, as persons and musicians, we had great time with them as professionals and friends, and I hope we can repeat the experience soon, I even got the pleasure of recording “Daemoncius Awakeing” with the ESH bass that toured with Moonspell back in the “Irreligious” album. All went well and fast, we had some problems, but nothing special, normal things I think, except the mastering of the album, which went missing for about 2 months on the way to Portugal from Germany.

Dyrion: Well, what can I say, it was a great experience for us, we never worked before with someone with such experience. It is never easy to record an album as you know, but we went to studio almost 90 percent prepared; one of the most important things was that we worked almost without pressure; we did everything we wanted to do and much more. Ares and Dikk were awesome; as the whole Witchbreed crew, we felt at home, and that is the most important thing in my point of view. It is a natural process, while someone was recording the others were drinking, laughing and working on other aspects of the album, like the photo session or the artwork.

Engraved: As for my experience, like Zouza said, it was an incredible pleasure to work with Dikk and Ares. Very patient and with awesome personality. Also, Dikk was a fundamental key on the recording process. In all areas he gave his ideas on which to make it sound better. The guitars were improved in some parts due to ideas he gave. Also in the keyboards, he put his hands to work, and done some amazing things! The recording process was “hard” it self, two days to records the guitars from the whole album and overdubbing them! It was intense (laughs) In the second day, which was the one where I recorded for more hours straight, I got to a point where my hands desynchronized one from the other, but then a glass of wine put it back together (laughs). Overall it was a great experience which I intend to repeat!

Hanna Tsepesh: In this album you have 2 Guest vocals: Ruby (witchbreed) and Peter Slaughter (Echoes of the Fallen Messiah). How was working with them? Can you tell to us what are your opinion about their contribute on “Daemonicus Awakening"?

Dyrion: It was great, Peter is a friend for a long time and it was a kind of natural, he did a great job; Ruby has a great voice, she can do almost whatever she wants, and while we recording Ares suggest her contribution, we needed a female voice and she is awesome, so it was natural to, she took the role of a nymph Hamadryad in “Drowned in Sadness”, and in "The Awakening" she does the voice of conscience, we are very satisfied with their contribution, they’ve done an amazing job.

Hanna Tsepesh: The band feels proud with the final result or you think that miss something?

Engraved: I’m proud of it, for what we had ended up in a great opus in my way of view.

Dyrion: We are very proud of the job we’ve done, I think it is a very powerful album, very compact, full of great details, and it marked a specific time of our lives, it is not an perfect album, nothing is perfect, but there is nothing to change there, if we need to change something we work that for future releases, we learn with our mistakes and if we need to change anything it is a good signal, it is because we are in the right way, it is evolution, and you put that in practice for further releases, because if we pass our lives try to get one perfect album, we didn’t record anything.

Zouza: Yes, we are proud with the final result, of course that we think we could of done something’s better, but, thinking that way, the album would never be finished, there always something better that should have done.
Hanna Tsepesh: How has the response been to the album by the media and fans?

Dyrion: Great, people are loving it by the reaction we’ve received, every day we collect new fans, It is a difficult job; the market is full field o new great bands every week, and it take a lot of time and hard work to reach many people as possible; yesterday a friend of mine call me and say, “men your new video clip it’s amazing”, and I thought for me, this video has a year, in the end of this month we will record another video, you see, it took a year for him to see the video, it is a long process. We had received great reactions from Europe, South America, and the US and Canada of course, and lately we had a lot of good reactions from Asia, and it is because of them that we will record this new video, in the past few months Eternal Fear had been heard thousands of times, and people talk a lot about that music, and it is one of our favorites, we will record this video to show respect for our fans for everything and it marks a new Aeon for us to.


Hanna Tsepesh: If one of our readers wants to buy your album safely, what they can do?

Zouza: They can buy the album at our label website www.noiseheadrecords.com, or visit Locomotive Records, www.locomotive.es (our distributor in Spain and Portugal) website to find where to buy our album in Portugal.

Hanna Tsepesh: what is your favorite music in this album and why?

Dyrion: All of them, I’m proud of my babies, (laughs), each one in a different way, there are some parts that I prefer more than others, it is normal, every music and every lyric has something very special to me, it depends of my mood, I love to play all of them live.

Zouza: Lost in Time is the oldest music from the album, and still one of my favorites, The Angels Set our Future Appart, I love this music and I love to play it live, and the melodic Eternal Fear, is such a great music, can take us to suicide, I think is the best music from the album.

Engraved: It’s hard to say, “every music has its moment”. But I would go for Eternal Fear, I think it’s the more complete song of the album. It has great ambience, a good melody, a great “feeling”
Hanna Tsepesh: The band is thinking about an European tour?

Dyrion: Yes, of course, it is very hard to go on tour for a young band, without any kind of support, this market it’s fuck up for young bands, and usually the small bands have to pay this costs to the bigger ones, it’s complicated, we already received a few proposals, and 2 of them were very tempting , but back in that time it was impossible for us to go on that tour, if anything went wrong it were catastrophic for us, we have to plan it very carefully. But just to answer again to your question, touring is our dream, is that what we wanted to do forever, and soon or later it will happens.

Hanna Tsepesh: I know that is very soon to ask that but, the band is thinking about other album? What are the future plains for THE SPEKTRUM?

Dyrion: Yes, and I think it is not so soon, we had a lot of new material, almost ready to record, Engraved had composed some of that material while we were at studio, we all go a lot of new ideas, and I think this next further release it will be much more characteristically, it is natural evolution, I think we will be ready to record during the second semester of this year; just like Zouza and Engraved I want fresh blood to.

Zouza: I feel ready to start working on a new album, we recorded “Daemonicus Awakenging” at the end of 2007, and it was only released on 2009, for fans is a “fresh” album, for me a very old album.


Engraved: Well I started creating new stuff even before we went to studio (laughs). I got dozens of music’s, I’m always trying to compose new stuff, I don’t like to be stopped, unfortunately the time isn’t enough and I end up forgetting things. I’m anxious to enter studio again.
Hanna Tsepesh: What is your feeling to have NOISE HEAD RECORDS as your label? The entire band is happy with N.H.R work so far?

Dyron: Yes, we are, they are helping us with our own publicity, and I have to tell you, after we got signed we have a lot of work, we learned a lot of new things, that will help us a lot in the future. It is hard, because we work at distance, but it is normal like you know, your job is similar (laughs), and the internet help us a lot to communicate, it is an recent label and they have a lot of records on the market, they are growing, so as we, sometimes it is hard to get 100 per cent attention, because they have a lot of bands, but I think that is a great thing to, because they spread their/our word in different regions of many countries, and that’s awesome.
Hanna Tsepesh: What is your opinion about the metal in our country (Portugal)? Do you think that the metal bands are supported in here by Magazines, Radios, places to play, etc.?

Dyrion: Well it is growing a lot really, every week we heard about new bands, the hole community is growing and you can see it by the number of shows last year, and by the shows already booked for this year, there are a lot o people working in the right direction, but still are many to do, we all need more support and recognition for all our work, I’m talking for the all Portuguese metal bands, many promoters and bars earn a lot of money exploiting bands, because bands need to play, many times we pay for play, it is very hard to get good conditions, but fortunately there are good people, personally, and for example we love to play at Side B Lounge Live Club, in Benavente, it is a fantastic place to play, and to go to see a live show, people are amazing and they only care about the music, and we have more examples, last year we had great festivals, and I think this year it will be better, and by the way my deep regards and respect for Alex & Bigdog Prod, for Caos Emergente Open Air among other events, and of course the other fantastic festivals like Swr Barroselas, Vagos Open Air, and Ilha do Ermal, they are the living proof of the capability of what we can do. And by the way, last year when we played at Caos, we were treated like everybody else, we had fantastic conditions to work, the sound was amazing, so as everybody, I’m telling you this because unfortunately it is not usual, many magazines and radios, etc, disrespect our work when it is compared to our foreign friends, I’m not talking only for us, but for almost every Portuguese bands, and many promoters don’t care about the sound and the conditions for the Portuguese bands, they only care about the foreign ones, but fortunately this is changing, I think we all are in the right way, you know why? Portuguese metal bands are getting better and better.

Hanna Tsepesh: I agree with you and you are totally right! How does the band deal when people say bad things about your work?

Zouza: I like to hear / read bad things, I don’t answer, but I think on them and work to improve the “bad things”.

Dyrion: I like it (laughs), we had an album, many people like, many don’t, it’s normal, in my case I am the front man, I get used to it, hear it is normal people to say good and bad things about us, I don’t care about that bad things, you know why? Because they already listen to our music and that is our main goal, people listen to our music, well if they say bad things and they didn’t listen to our music, I cannot talk about that, it’s ridiculous. History already teaches us, those who gather more attention, are the most loved and hated ones, you cannot be loved by everyone, even Jesus, the savior (laughs), supposedly he was the promised one, loved by humanity, and men crucified him, he got out of lucky. (laughs)

Hanna Tsepesh: (laughs)

Engraved: I share Zouza’s opinion, if it is an opinion, a review, etc, as long as it is founded. Like, if a person says “they suck” just because they feel too, well…It’s not a very appealing comment, if a person doesn’t like she doesn’t like, it’s normal, it’s a taste. But when they make shitty comments just to try to take the band down. (laughs)

Hanna Tsepesh: Do you want to send any message for the people who going to read this interview?
Dyrion: Thank you for your patience (laugh), for those who had been taking the same path as us thank you so much, we owe you everything, for those who don’t know our music, listen to our album, visit us on MySpace, youtube, our label, etc, but make shore that you come to one of our shows, you won’t forget that soon, and this year we are stronger than ever and we will rock live, that is for sure.

Zouza: Listen to “Daemonicus Awakening”, buy the album, or just download it (we aren’t able to fight that) and make sure you go to our shows.

Engraved: Listen our music and, especially, support all metal!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks o much for your answers and for your time to answer this big interview. THE GATES OF METAL wishes the entire band a great success with “Daemonicus Awakening" and good luck for your future concerts! See you guys very soon in live concert…

Engraved: It was a pleasure being here! Thanks, Hanna, for the interview, you’re awesome! Great Work!

Dyrion: Thank you so much, it is always a pleasure, best luck for you to, you have been doing an amazing job, really; hope to see you soon for some beers and metal. Awwwghhhh!!!

Zouza: All the best for you and THE GATES OF METAL, it was a pleasure, see you live. Cheers and beers

Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks so much guys for your words! All the best...

By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some THE SPEKTRUM music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/thespektrum

URBAN WAR

Hanna Tsepesh: Olá (Hello in Portuguese) Nelo and Bobby! Thanks so much for accepting this interview and with you guys a great 2010! First of all: how are you guys?
Nelo: Great!

Bobby: I’m a little sick… but no worries!

Hanna Tsepesh: Before we start to know more about Bobby (The new vocalist), I want to ask you (Nelo), what happened with the previous vocalist?

Nelo: He stayed with Urban War for almost 3 years, but he had to leave due to some personal issues that were affecting him and the band.

Hanna Tsepesh: It was difficult to find Bobby? And in your opinion what he will bring to Urban War?
Nelo: It was not easy to find him because our style is not only about guttural vocals. The new Urban War member had to have some good singing as well, good attitude and, of course, lots of power.
I’m sure Bobby will bring (and he’s already bringing…) lots of new ideas, power, awesome attitude, good melodies and he’s a good friend too. He is getting along very well with the guys.

Hanna Tsepesh: Let’s talk with you Bobby. What is your feeling to be on Urban War? What fans can expect from you? Also, you have other band or some project, or only Urban War at the moment?

Bobby: It feels great to be working with these guys! The music is great and I’m getting along very well. The fans can expect all that Urban War has already showed them and a lot more! Some new stuff, real power, great melodies and excellent attitude. I try to pass a message of peace and self discovery.

Hanna Tsepesh: What are your favorite bands? You have any musician that you admire the most?

Nelo: I love all that is good music and good drummers. Since the beginning I’ve been influenced by Igor and Dave Lombardo.

Bobby: I’m into many musical styles besides Metal. I admire those musicians that don’t do this for the money or fame. I don’t have “favorites”, but right now I’m more into “thrash-core” bands.

Hanna Tsepesh: I would like to know if you had or have any guttural technique lessons or any other preparation?

Bobby: No. It all came from passing from one band to another and learning by myself.
Fortunately in Urban War I have the help of Espinha (Guitars / Back Vocals) that helps me create the lyrics and melodies, and also showed me some techniques.

Hanna Tsepesh: When you start to play drums? It was difficult to learn?

Nelo: I have been playing for 13 years now. It wasn’t difficult because I always felt that the rhythm was “inside” me. I never took drumming lessons.
Hanna Tsepesh: Now you guys will be on tour, to show the new vocalist and some new music’s, right? So, you guys are feeling nervous about that? Tell me the truth guys… (Laughs)

Bobby: Ok. Maybe a little nervous because it will be my first time getting up on a stage as a frontman, but no worries, I will have a great crew watching my back on the shows!

Nelo: No. Not nervous at all. I would say we are very anxious to get on tour again and spread our music!

Hanna Tsepesh: The band have some plains for a new Ep or maybe an album? Who will be the guy that will create the lyrics?

Nelo: Bobby and Espinha are the lyric writers. I hope soon we can think on a new EP or maybe even an album. It would be great… but right now we are putting our mind and all our effort on live shows. Despite that, since Bobby entered the band, we have already 3 new songs, so let’s see what the future reserves to the Urban crew…

Bobby: I hope to be recording a few new songs sometime in a near future, just to let the fans listen to my voice and the new Urban War “era”.

Hanna Tsepesh: hummm, Nelo I have a little curiosity: Now with a new member you feel that is like a new start for Urban War or something?

Nelo: Bobby it’s very different from our previous vocal. He is giving a new and different energy to Urban War music. It’s not a new beginning. It’s more like an evolution. The continuity of the good work we have always been doing until this day.

Hanna Tsepesh: Do you want to send any message for the people who going to read this interview?

Bobby: Yeah! I’m here to bring a new concept to the Urban War Music, new message, better attitude, strong and powerful vocals and good melodies. My voice is not yet on record or on Myspace, but soon people will be able to judge by themselves my vocal skills. I’m sure that people will enjoy a lot mote the new Urban War 2010!

Nelo: Urban War is back in 2010, we’re better than before and stronger than ever! We have new stuff, new songs and many surprises, so check out our shows. We will be rocking throughout the country this year promoting out new material! See you guys out there!

Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks o much for your answers and time. THE GATES OF METAL wishes the entire band a big success! Hope to see you guys very soon on stage!

Bobby: Thank you for the interview! We are looking forward to see you in our shows…

Nelo: Thank you!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks a lot guys and wish you the best luck!

By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some URBAN WAR music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/urbanwarmusic

NOXIUS CORP.

Hanna Tsepesh: Hola (hello in Spanish) Lord Dan! Thanks so much for accepting this interview and Welcome to THE GATES OF METAL! First of all: how are you and how are the things doing with your concerts?

Lord Dan: Hello Hanna! Thank you for your devotion and dedication to the metal world.
Well now I’m recovering from a knee injury that made us cancel some shows some time ago, but I’m quite better now and we’re rocking the stages once again! We’ve started a good 2010 for that matter because we have some very interesting shows on view. We’ll be playing with Kells when they come to Spain in their European tour and we’ll be featuring in the third edition of the Metal Femmes Festival with other great emerging bands. But it doesn’t end here because we’re about to close some more gigs. We’d also love to be able to play in your country, that’d be amazing!

Hanna Tsepesh: For those who do not know the band, could tell us a little how it all started?

Lord Dan: NoXiuS Corp. is created as we know it in 2009 with our current formation: Laura Espejo on vocals, J. Monfu on guitars, Luka Gómez on drums and myself on bass, growls and synth programming. Founded by Miky Vega (ArboreA) and me, it’s originated on 2007 when it was called just NoXiuS and the line up was quite different. We released then a demo called “The Dying Earth” and the video clip for “Slavery”
But after some line-up changes, the band has now found stability and has evolved to what can be heard nowadays, the “Grey Shades” EP and the first LP that will see the light late this year.

Hanna Tsepesh: What inspired you the most to create the lyrics and what process the band use to create the riffs, melody to comply with the lyrics?

Lord Dan: We don’t actually close any door when writing, but the truth is that usually the roots of our songs come from the instrumental side more than the lyrics one.
When I write usually the work comes form a rhythm base that leads to everything else. I believe that a good instrumental job it’s essential for the vocal line and for a good song. Once the musical base is finished we focus on lyrics and vocal lines, keyboards and finally the last arrangements to close it properly. When writing the lyrics our inspiration comes from things that happen to and around us. Some other times we just try to listen to what the music tells us or just create a little story that fits with it.
The general idea for the band it’s not just having a good vocal line with emotive lyrics to make the world believe that we are very, very sad or very bad ass. We think some bands take that role too seriously and that it’s the typical “cliché” of female-fronted metal bands... for that stuff there are lots of bands out there that do it better than we do! (laughs)
Hanna Tsepesh: What are your favorite bands? You have any musician that you admire the most?
Lord Dan: The answer is hard and could be endless but well… I’ll try to be as tight as possible!
I love all from Mikael Akerfeld & Opeth, they’re one of my biggest influences and it’s the band I’ve seen the most live (on our new LP you will be able to check their influences, specially in one concrete song). I also love the “renewed” Dream Theater, I believe they’ve found a way to bring progressive music to everyone, and speaking ‘bout prog I can’t forget Porcupine Tree. Turning into more extreme metal stuff there is Strapping Young Lad (I strongly believe that Devin Townsend is a demi-god), Dark Tranquillity, Katatonia (who seem to start to get the popularity they deserve). Then there would be Samael, Queens of the Stone Age, Sybreed, Muse, Senteced & Charon, Chuck Berry, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Skindred, Stollen Babies, Fear Factory... I also got into some rock-related (or not) bands such as No Doubt, Mindless Self Indulgence, Portishead, Mr. Bungle (God save Patton), Zombina and the Skeletones, Goran Bregovic... and so I could write for hours but no-one would read. Actually everything depends on the season, the day, the mood, the moment...
Hanna Tsepesh: You have another band or some future project?

Lord Dan: From some years now I’ve been also playing in ArboreA
ArboreA stands in different ground, it’s music was more to do with progressive while extreme metal and pop music walk hand in hand with experimental stuff (which sometimes is close to psychedelia). In three words : Alternative, Fusion, Metal
We’ve edited some promo CD’s and the first LP is predicted for late this year (like NoXiuS Corp)
Those who are curious can and will check our stuff at our myspace (www.myspace.com/arboreaband) and on Facebook. Check it!

Hanna Tsepesh: When you start to play bass? It was difficult to learn?

Lord Dan: I got my first bass as a gift when I was 16, but real intentions of playing seriously started some time after that.
As self-taught, I would say that learning process is always more difficult and slow than when you’ve got someone giving you their knowledge, guiding you and making you have a discipline. Nevertheless, I believe you never end studying an instrument because there are always new things to do, to learn and play.

Hanna Tsepesh: What was the highest and lowest point of your career as a musician?

Lord Dan: I believe the lowest point of my career (and I believe it’s common to most of the musicians out there) it’s when i’ve been almost defrauded by promoters who haven’t promoted on their careers, club owners who want to own your money and managers who couldn’t even manage their live... all those people who doesn’t love music and the only thing they care about is to steal some money to the musicians and make profit out of their dreams. I believe that all bands should get serious with those people and kick them out, all together we can make them see that we don’t need they. That’s really the cancer of the underground scene, at least in our country.
Luckily, not everyone’s that way and you can always find some people who loves music and wants to do his job as best as he can.

Hanna Tsepesh: Let’s talk about the “Grey Shades” EP. Can you tell to our readers what they can expect from this EP?

Lord Dan: What they can expect is what we've tried to show! Modern metal that doesn’t forget or obliterates the past but at the same time is coherent with the year we live in, sweet, clean, crystal voices suddenly march with some filthy, desperate and visceral growls; a strong rhythmic base very tight on drums, bass and guitars, some keyboards and samplers to add textures and a lot, and I mean a lot of metal! (laughs)
Grey Shades merges different rock styles such as industrial, progressive, metal core, gothic, heavy and death metal… among others. (Warning: advertising ahead) So don’t forget to listen to it when the interview it’s over... or even better, don’t wait boys and girls! Check our MySpace or look for us at Goear and let our music play while you read this! (laughs)

Hanna Tsepesh: at recording studio, you guys faced with difficulties? If yes, tell which was and how as the whole process?

Lord Dan: Not many, really. My team is very capable and strong, everyone’s a great musician and person besides good friends, so the only musical difficulty was just to find and choose the right arrangements and really getting satisfied with every single section. Luckily most of them were in our minds before recording so everything went great

Hanna Tsepesh: How has the response been to the EP by the fans and media?

Lord Dan: Oh the response has been awesome! The underground specialized media are helping us a lot and we’re obtaining really good reviews from all around the world. Just check our MySpace and you’ll see that almost every week we’ve got a new review or we’ve featured in some radio show.
We’ve have had some major response from the fans, a lot more than we expected! People has bought CDs from some parts of the world, Japan, Russia, Canada, France, South America... besides what is downloaded in the web that, on the contrary of what labels want us to believe, it’s always a great helping hand to these bands, specially from the underground!
The truth is we’re very thankful to all of you and your support is decisive. You’re the fifth member of the band!
Hanna Tsepesh: If one of our readers wants to buy your EP, what they can do?

Lord Dan: It’s very simple and you’ll be always in touch with the team for any question or doubt that might come out.
You just have to send a e-mail to noxius@noxius.net asking for a copy of “Grey Shades” and specifying your data (name, address, etc.) and there you’ll receive more details to get your CD as soon as possible!
We’re also working on an e-market (an online store) for our web page. From here I want to thank our web-mistress all the hard work she’s doing for us.

Hanna Tsepesh: what is your favorite music in this EP and why?

Lord Dan: Though it’d be very difficult to tell, I’d say my favourite is “I Hate the World” because of it’s rawness and viscerality. Every arrangement has been taken care of, the music is frenetic and lyrics have that spot of insanity that makes it interesting.

Hanna Tsepesh: What is your opinion about the metal in your country (Spain)? It is easy to get some support and places to play?

Lord Dan: I believe that there are very good bands both on the main-stream and on the underground, the problem is that there is too little support beyond the top 10 of best known (national) bands and the underground scenes doesn’t work at all on our country. There’s no tradition of going to the local club where you drink your beer while every night a new band plays (like happens in other countries), on the other hand it must be pointed out that the locals charge abusive amounts of money for bands to play and the government organizes witch hunts against locals and clubs, and that doesn’t help to the fact this is not a majoritary music on our country.
So as you can see the support in general is something to fix in Spain. The huge rental prices for locals and clubs (whom many times have no legal validation to hold live music) work against culture reducing it to the most capitalist and market-focused part of it, so the result is the ouroboros (snake biting it’s tail). At the end of the day, the musician remains a pariah, without rights, money and being robed everywhere always worthless. Nobody seems to care but what’s happening is that they’re killing music and underestimating the role of the musician.

Hanna Tsepesh: Do you want to send any message for the people who going to read this interview?

Lord Dan: Yes, I’d like that everyone who reads this interview and becomes curious about us to enter our MySpace, listen to our songs and give your opinion! We love to hear your opinion, it’s great for us and helps us to do our job better every time!
We’d love to play in Portugal, so the more support and fans we get there, more possibilities of playing there! To all of you interested on doing street team, you just have to get in touch with us.
Don’t forget to ask for NoXiuS Corp. On your local radio and thank you so much again for the support. You are the reason for all of this!
We’ll try to answer everyone who gets in touch with us.

Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks so much for your answers and time. THE GATES OF METAL wishes the entire band a big success and a great 2010! Hope to see you guys very soon in here…

Lord Dan: Thank you Hanna and the Gates of Metal team! We appreciate very much all your work and support. I hope it’ll be a great year for all of you to and we can soon meet!

Hanna Tsepesh: You are very welcome and thanks a lot! All the best...

Lord Dan: And search for NoXiuS corp fan club on Facebook, Vampire freaks and twitter!

By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some NoXiuS corp music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/noxiusmetal
www.goear.com/listen/885ed54/Grey-Shades-noxius-corp.
www.noxius.net
www.noxiuscorp.com (coming soon)