Bright dancing lights like a dawn - Severnica Interview

Severnica is a Finnish symphonic and melodic metal band. 

"Long Lost Longing" is their debut EP released 26th of May 2014.

Their drummer Ville Vainio talks with us about this project.

LFdM: Hi Ville, thank you so much for this interview!

V: Thank you for this wonderful opportunity and for your important work in promoting independent bands such as ours!

LFdM: So your band is called Severnica and you are from Finland. Tell us something about the band: how and when Severnica was born?

V: Severnica took its first steps back in 2010. I was looking for a new project and answered an ad seeking a drummer for a symphonic metal band. Severnica had been founded by vocalist Maarit and keyboardist Teemu and they had already added guitarist Lauri to their lineup. We started out like most new bands playing covers mainly from Nightwish and Epica. Back then we had this horrible tiny room where we rehearsed. There was no heating and in the winter it was so cold that we had to wear heavy coats while playing. Sometimes upon arrival we found that someone had trashed the room and the drums. Good times!

Then later on we found a better place to rehearse and added my good friends guitarist Tuomo and bassist Timo to the roster. With this group we recorded the EP though Lauri left the band shortly after because of moving to another city.

LFdM: We love Finland and its music. There is an important symphonic and melodic metal scene. Where does the inspiration for this kind of sound come from?

V: Yes, the metal scene has always been very vibrant in Finland. I think it's because we need the extra power to get through the long and dark winters! In the symphonic and melodic metal genre there has been important Finnish bands like Nightwish, Apocalyptica and Sonata Arctica which have paved the way and provided great inspiration for new bands and also for us. I think that we Finns also have an unique relationship with nature and a passion for folklore which both are a great source for compositions as well as lyrics.

LFdM: What is the force of your band, in your opinion, something that makes the difference with other bands?

V: I think that Teemu is an absolutely fantastic songwriter and his compositions provide a rock solid backbone for our songs. Then there's Maarit whose high and clear cut vocals are of course an essential component in this kind of metal. Tuomo's and Timo's play has influences from a vast pool of music ranging from progressive metal to funk which brings a unique touch to the arrangements. By no means do these strengths give us an edge over the other bands since there's just so many amazing and talented bands out there. But hopefully there's an audience that is able to connect and relate to our music and we're able to find our place in the community.

LFdM: The EP is recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by you. Nowadays is very important to have a figure like this in a band, because it enables you to feel every single mistake or distortion and correct it. What do you think about it?

V: Well, regarding the making of this EP I feel like my role was kind of a double-edged sword. On the other hand it gave us the freedom to do everything in peace without having to be on the clock like in a studio. This enabled me to focus more on the details during the mixing phase though I don't think that it's absolutely necessary to correct every single detail. On the other hand we didn't have strict deadlines which made everything a lot slower than we had anticipated. Also the fact that this was my first serious project where I handled everything from recording to mastering, I had to learn a lot along the way, making it even slower. But I'm really happy with how the EP turned out and I hope that this experience will be useful for the band in the future with things like creating our live sound or making our pre-production more efficient.

LFdM: The EP consists of four songs. Can you describe us their own stilistic path?

V: The EP begins with Mirror And Me which is an energetic blast off where Maarit's vocals really get to shine. It's definitely the heaviest songs of the EP.

The second song is the titled track Long Lost Longing which cools things down a bit with a slower triple timed tempo. Timo's groovy bass lines are prominent in the verses and set up the more straight forward chorus nicely.

Third song is called My Journey which lyrics is written by Tuomo. Tuomo also provides a growl vocal part which opens up a dialogue with Maarit and brings a different kind of dynamic to the song.

Dream is the last track and begins with a delicate piano intro which erupts into a heavier verse. I think that the piano melodies play an important part in carrying the song through and also finish things in an epical outro which seemed like the perfect way to conclude our EP.

LFdM: Is there going to be a video from the album?

V: We didn't plan for a video for this release. It's definitely something we would like to do at some point, possibly alongside with our next release.

LFdM: Have you got any plans for this summer?

V: Bandwise we're going to work hard to get into a great gigging shape for the autumn! Personally I'm going to also try to find time to enjoy the awesome Finnish summer!

Thank you Ville and thanks to Severnica! 

Interview by Michela

Official Link: severnica.bandcamp.com

Video: "Long Lost Longing"

SadDoLLs - Interview

One month ago, I had the opportunity to meet in person this new reality of the Greek dark-wave scene. The occasion was the release party of their latest album, “Grave Party”.

A month later, we wanted to have a chat with the lead vocalist George Downloved, to ask him how all of this was born.

Hi my boy!

First of all, I wanna thank you again for the great experience in Athens last April, for me it was fantastic to know you and breath the sound around your world.

Well, let’s start?

-"Grave Party"came out last month. What do you expect now?

George Downloved: Hello to you too and thank you for this interview.

This album is a major change in our musical and lyrical direction, we made this album in a way that many different “ears” will appreciate it. There are goth rock songs 80’s style, many industrial metal songs, some black metal vocals from time to time, a cover song and a ballad, and of course there’s Skinny Disco from Deathstars doing some vocals for the track “Terminate Me”. We are planning some shows in Europe and the feedback we are getting is really positive so let’s see what happens.

-What’s the concept behind this album and its emotional impact?

George Downloved: Well the album was originally to be called “Valentine’s Breakup” and the story behind this title was the series of bad relationships and breakups had happened to some band mates during 2012-2013 :P Even one member broke up on Valentine’s day. After the composing though we thought that the title did not suited the songs decently, so we decided to change it to “Grave Party”. Anyway it is an album driven by rage and anger, but made with love and unity.

-What are the main differences between this album and your past ones?

George Downloved: As many out there already know, we were and still are HIM fans and fans of the Finnish so called “Love Metal” bands. This was our influence too. An influence that one could tell by listening to “About Darkness” or “Happy Deathday” (especially the latter). The songs were more melodic, more goth-pop rock in the style of Join Me In Death by HIM or Hollow Heart by To/Die/For and some of them even more poppier  than that :P Grave Party has it all. It has our previous two albums combined but with many more new stuff added. The songs are darker, heavier and danceable. It is also a synth-driven album. This is our own little goth party and we invite everyone to join!

-You have lost a little bit of 'love metal' sound like HIM, I mean, I'm happy for you, because It's very important for a band born as a cover band like you, to find own personal  path  … Could you tell us something about  the lyrics of this album, is there a general concept running through everysong?

George Downloved: Just like i said in the previous question, the tag  “Love Metal” or  “they sound like HIM” or “they sound like...” was something that got us tired through the reviews from the previous albums. This is why we decided to: quit the band OR do something entirely different. So we sat down and wrote the songs. The deal was 50 – 50. If the songs came out well and got us satisfied we would make the album, if not, we would just break up. So when “Lady Cry” was born we just said that not only the album was going to happen but this abomination would be the first clip too :P I Also tried to do the lyrics in a more dark and twisted way and so I presented my perverted nature from within the lyrics. Some of them are extremely pessimistic, some of them are sleazy, some of them are just crazy. For example the song “Suicide Girl” is dedicated to all the suicide girls out there that love to paint their sins on their bodies in the form of tattooes. ”Lady Cry” is kinda ironic about the cry babies that finds their way out from bad situations simply by crying to gain some pity, ”The Last Valentine” talks about that breakup I mentioned above, ”Sexy and Undead”  talks about a zombie girl and “On The Road 66” talks about a car crash and the Devil that came and took the girl to Hell.

-Why this radical change compared to the last ones?

George Downloved: The main reason was that we wanted to create our own sound and we are really proud of the outcome, so we are continuing in this direction from now on.

-How do you feel after 'Grave party' release? Would you change something?

George Downloved: No, just some minor details, but nothing major.

-Is there in your mind a song that isn't come out yet?

George Downloved: There was this song that our drummer Gus wrote back when we were making the pre-production called “Cold Blooded Sacrifice”. I think it was the greatest ballad along with “On the road 66” we ever composed. But when he left the band the song left the band with him too so it never made it to the final tracklist, but it’s lovely and now that Gus is back we could use it for the next album, but I don’t know yet, we’ll see.

-What are your greatest not musical influences in your life?

George Downloved: My mom, my band and her…

-Do you have played some gigs around Europe, what is your relationship with fan?

George Downloved: We had the chance to appear at the Dark Storm Festival in Chemnitz,Germany in 2013 along with VNV Nation,Blutengel,Solarfake,Gothminister and Mono Inc. And through this gig we introduced our sound to the German audience and we gained some more popularity from that show and recently we opened for the 69 Eyes in Tallinn, Estonia at the Rock Cafe, and it was a great show and we gained some new “fans” from there too. Our relasionship with the “fans” is like pure and simple, we do not consider them as “fans” but more like people that enjoy our stuff and sometimes we go out and drink beers with them :P We are no rockstars, we are people with lives just like everyone else.

-In which country, or perhaps even more specifically, what city, do you enjoy playing the most, and why?

George Downloved: I Personally just LOVE Prague, although we had never so far the chance to do a gig there, I really adore this city and I would go to live there in a heartbeat.It’s the No.1 gothic city in the world!

-Could you describe every single members of the band through your musical or personal experience with them?

George Downloved: Well ok, let me see...Right!

Paul Evilrose: He is the boss :P He is our manager and booker and promoter and he writes most of the songs and sometimes he writes lyrics too. He is my bro, and I love him but I want to punch him sometimes cause he is a pain in the ass :P

J.Vitu: He is the calm guy and the most emotional of us all. We all love him cause he is always so kind and helpful and he is great to hang out with. The only bad about him is that he is joining the Greek army in a few days for 8 months :/

G.B: He is a crazy motherfucker! He is a sound engineer, a video editor and film maker (he is going to shoot our next video too) he is also a pervert and he is half American :P The only bad thing about him is that he has so many things running in his life that sometimes he has zero time, and we can’t even get him on his phone.

St.Gus: Well Gus left the band back in 2013 cause we had a disagreement on the musical direction we would take for the next album, and the main reason was that he likes to play metalcore music, a genre that differs a lot from the SadDoLLs style. Now he is back with us, he likes the outcome of the new album and he still likes and plays metalcore with his other band :P He is a hipster and a redneck :P

Thank you so much George and...much LOVE guys!

Interview by Michela

Official Link: www.saddolls.net

Original Interview for Ondalternativa HERE

Anathema - Distant Satellites

There are albums that keep you company for a little time, and then there’s Anathema, with ten songs that definitely are here to stay. Tenth studio album of the Liverpool based band, “Distant Satellites” is the album that better summarize their musical growth. A dreamy, melancholic and sometimes dark atmosphere permeate the whole album,  and the final result is emotionally overwhelming. 

The highlights of the album are the three part of “Lost song”, in which Vincent Cavanagh and Lee Douglas sing  the same story by two points of view, reminding a bit of “Untouchable”.

And, if your heart is still whole in your chest,  there come “Dusk (dark is descending)” and “Ariel” to finish the job.  “Anathema” is an anthem, sort of a link between past and future, a song that reminds of Alternative 4 but with the mood of the latest albums.

The last three songs leave more space to some experiments with electronic sounds. The result? Is magic. Anathema tear my heart in pieces once again, ’cause Distant Satellites it’s me, it’s us, it’s a way to remind everyone that love’s the only thing that matters, in the end.

Tracklist:

      1.       "The Lost Song, Part 1"

2.       "The Lost Song, Part 2"

3.       "Dusk (Dark Is Descending)"

4.       "Ariel"

5.       "The Lost Song, Part 3"

6.       "Anathema"

7.       "You're Not Alone"

8.       "Firelight"

9.       "Distant Satellites"

10.   "Take Shelter" 

http://www.anathema.ws/

"Wall of Sound" Ewian Interview

Ewian is a emerged band from Germany and LFdM had the pleasure to talk with Ewian Christensen (Vocals and Piano) about his world.
Ladies and gentlemen, Ewian...

LFdM: Could you describe your sound for those who never have heard you before with three of your songs?

EC: I think the following three songs best represent the characteristic sound of Ewian: Don´t stand by me, Voices in your head, Take your meds.

Significant elements are bittersweet melodies, noisy guitars, distorted piano and solemnly string passages.

However more important than the characteristic sound of Ewian is in my view the meaning of every single song.

Portraying an issue musically in a coherent way is one of the biggest challenges of songwriting.

LFdM: Which album or artist awakened your interest in production and songwriting?

EC: Radiohead - OK Computer

       VAST - Visual Audio Sensory Theater

       Muse - Showbiz

LFdM: What kind of atmosphere do you want to catch before entering in the studio?

EC: I fully try to empathize with the issue of a song before i make recordings, especially vocal recordings.

I heard that Korn Frontman Jonathan Davis cried while vocal recordings.

Well, this is what I'm talking about.

Watch this: (Jonathan Davis: KoRn)

LFdM: What are you doing currently? Projects?

EC: I´m absolutely focused on the the production of the new Ewian album. I can say that we are not far away from finishing

the record. Beside that? Nothing much :)

I´m just looking forward to all the things and uncertainties wich might come.

Members: 

Ewian Christensen, Benjamin Lachance

Discography: 

- March 2013: We will never grow old (EP) 

- October 2013: Voices in your head (Single)

Link