SEPTICFLESH (Eng.)
– Hello and first of all, thanks for taking the time. What are you currently up to? How is everything going into the band’s camp with the release of your newest album?
Sotiris V- Everything is going well. Titan is just released and the reactions from the crowd and the press are very positive.
– This new opus is entitled «Titan». How good do you think it describes the musical content on it?
Sotiris V- The sound is like the earth is shaking under the heavy feet of a Titan, so the title of the album describes appropriately the sound.
– I personally think when you came back with «Communion» you were through a significant change, heading toward a more creative and symphonic direction, and you are still on that path. What did «Communion» mean to SEPTICFLESH? Could you say it was some kind of turning point for you?
Sotiris V- Indeed. Communion marks the point that we managed to integrate in the most efficient way the symphonic elements that we always flirting with, into our heavy extreme sound. It was the first time that we collaborated with a real orchestra and that allowed us to escape from the limitation of samplers and keyboards that were our main option in the past in order to create multiple layers of music. From Communion and on, we keep extending our horizon, experimenting with more complex orchestrations and challenging song structures.
– Now «Titan» follows the steps of your previous «The Great Mass» but, how has been the evolution from one album to the other?
Sotiris V- Titan is definitely more blacked death metal in nature in comparison with The Great Mass. There is more riffing and less spaces without guitars while there is a general hellish rage on the album. Also there are more progressive rythms besides the traditional hellblasts, as Fotis further evolved his drumming. Considering the classical orchestrations, they are more advanced and also we utilized for the first time a complete children choir that added an eerie atmosphere to the songs, enhancing the cinematic feeling that you get while listening to the album.
– I felt like this new opus has some Prog elements, both in structures and sounds. What could you comment on this?
Sotiris V- You are right. There is a lot of work and experimentation on Titan, much more that we have ever done before. There are many musical layers and different soundscapes on the album. The more you listen to it, the more you will find.
– In fact is a really rich album, it demands the whole listener’s attention to process so much «information». Was this how you envisioned the album or do you just let things flow naturally?
Sotiris V- Creating an easy listening album definitely wasn’t a priority at all. We started the creational process, with a mood for experimentation while our compass was that we wanted to give to the album a very dark mood. As all 4 of us are composing material, there is always a lot of brainstorming and the result comes out naturally after a long period of trying and tweaking ideas.
– And, how of a challenge is the aforementioned for the band? How positive do you think is to be changelling for your listeners as well?
Sotiris V- The listeners of Septicflesh are accustomed to expect something advanced from our albums. Our music is not addressed to close-minded people and we don’t have the delusion wanting to be liked by all. With each album we accept the challenge to keep building our music upon our strongest elements, upon our strongest emotions and thoughts, making another step upwards the “ladder” of artistic creation. Of course at the end of day, music is about emotions, so each individual is a different case and he or she will be the one to experience or not, something intense and desired from our music.
– On the album we can also find some new things, as a children’s choir. Could you please tell us how did you come up with the idea?
Sotiris V- The innocence and less disciplined performance of children, provide a different feeling from the use of mature singers. So we wanted to explore this direction of vocal performance and the use of a full children choir as a contrast to the dark music of Titan and the brutal vocals of Seth. The experiment worked as we imagined, as songs as “Prototype” and “The First Immortal” point out.
– This time seasoned Logan Mader mixed the album. If I’m not mistaken it was your first time working with someone that wasn’t European so, how did the whole process go? Did he fact he resides in the US make things harder?
Sotiris V- Indeed it was the first time that we used an American producer. Of course there were obstacles due to the difference of time between the 2 countries. However everything turned out well. Logan is a very patient person and gladly accepted the challenge to mix such a difficult sound material. In order to make his work easier considering the initial balance between the orchestral instruments, he used the help of Gerard Marino, how is known for his work on game soundtracks as God of War, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. There were a lot of different mixes of the songs and corrections after we were all satisfied from the result. It was a very hard work.
– Anyway the own band always does pretty much everything on their albums, from production to artwork. How positive is this for you and when it comes to get the exact result you were looking for?
Sotiris V- We prefer having full artistic control. Seth is an acclaimed visual artist that has done album covers and artwork for many known bands as Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Kamelot, Belphegor etc. Of course that means that he has a lot more work to do when we are making a new album. However, in this way words-music-images are treated as a unity, giving the ultimate insight of our art to our audience.
– Also with each album you managed to raise the bar of your own creativity and also quality, is this something you focus on? Do you pressure yourself too much in order to top over your previous releases?
Sotiris V- Exactly. We are just restless minds that are not satisfied from past glorious moments. And we are not afraid to raise the bar higher.
– All this about «Titan» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Sotiris V- Heavy symphonic attack.
– And finally, what are your near-future plans? If I’m not mistaken, besides some dates in America, this year you will also play your first show in South Africa.
Sotiris V- Indeed. It is great to visit all corners of the earth, spreading our darkness. We are really exited to visit South Africa for the Witchfest in 2015.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Sotiris V- Conquer your fears, stand tall as a Giant!
