The last Hangmen interview about “Executing Empires” – on Feb. 2013

“The broke down statue is a symbol for the revolution and for our development as a band.”

It’s been a long time after I had an interview with Simon about “Servants of Justice”, it’s more than one and a half years ago. So, how was your last year? How have you been feeling since you released the second chapter of the kick-ass Hangmen universe “Executing Empires”?

Pether:
The past year was awesome. We played many shows, our Crowdfunding worked out even more than perfect and we finally released our second album. It was a lot of work and we are in every aspect proud of the development of our sound. Especially our record release show was mind-blowing. The club nearly exploded as the crowd shouted our band's name after each track. Crazy and exciting.

Since I’m a big fan of Hangmen’s, I had expected so much about the new album naturally, and since I listened through it at the first time, I can definitely say it’s more than my expectations. Did you get any other positive feedbacks about the album already?

Pether:
We got much positive feedback from our fans, not only those who took part in our Startnext-Campaign. We sold many copies of the new album to all around the world and thanks to your efforts the most of them to Japan.

Okay, let’s step into the new chapter “Executing Empires”… As an opener of the album, “Overture to a Falling Empire” gives us much imaginations and curiosity for the following tracks with some sound effects like broken glasses, hams of propellers, explosion sounds and so on. It seems that the intro syncs completely with the album artwork, right? What did you aim with the very first instrumental track?

Pether:
As you discovered already, we tried to create a sound that matches the artwork, which depicts a kind of revolution or civil war in a scenario inspired by dystopias like Orwell's 1984 or the movie Equilibrium mixed with a visual style referring to the Futurism art-style of the early 20thcentury. So the picture we had in mind for the intro was a tyrant sitting in his massively oversized office of the party's headquarter, playing a farewell-song on his piano for his recently falling empire and gets finally killed by a plane crashing through the window.

As I mentioned above, the art is totally impressive and even I can find a kind of homage to the art of the first album “Servants of Justice” which appears as a statue but it’s going to be broke down and the five guys are hanging at the gallows…Can you explain a bit about the story of the artwork?

Pether:
We thought of a lot of story details for the artwork. The broke down statue is a symbol for the revolution and for our development as a band. Despite this it was a cool gimmick for fans of the first hour.

Stefan:
We tortured Jenny a lot with the inclusion of many small details in the picture. The statue being one of them, but there are a lot more gimmicks in it. The Five Guys hanging from the so called “Clothes line gallow” –inspired by WWII pictures -could be interpreted as the Five Guys who recorded the Servants, but since we are not Iced Earth, who change their Lineup with every album, this might not be the full truth. Take a look at the left of the Artwork and you will see Five People in Cloaks disappearing to the left. There are many possible Interpretations. Let´s just leave it that way.

You placed a huge orchestration in the intro and the outro for “Servants of Justice” but you didn’t for “Executing Empires”, right? Why?

Stefan:
For me Intros are always the first to skip when listening to a new Album, especially if the Intro alone plays for 3 or 4 Minutes. I want to listen to the Music and not something orchestrated as an atmosphere creation. So we had some minor discussions about this theme, but it all ended when Simon played the Intro Theme on an old Piano. We definitely were into the Idea of a real Piano Sound as an Intro. And since the piece wasn’t that long anyway it ended up as a small Intro, for Abolition of Acquittal as well as the whole Album. The Outro was more or less completed with the instrumental. The Outro of “Executing takes Time” serves as a CD Outro as well. Since with all the “real” tracks on this CD it plays for more than 50 Minutes an extensive Outro would have just been too much for any listener.

Every song of “Executing Empires” is just amazing, it has very melodic guitars, powerful and evil vocals, fast and dense drums…those are typical elements of Hangmen’s but everything turned to be more dynamic and overwhelming than the previous one. Can you introduce each track one by one shortly?

Pether:
The Abolition of Acquittal is an overwhelmingly fast lead guitar driven song. Compactly in your face Simon has written this track as the opener in order to show where the journey will lead.

The Holy Bond of Black Blood deals with the misbeliefs of (monotheistic) religion in general. It offers a more grooving sound to the listener. Speed attacks vary with slower parts. To push the chorus even more we used group shouts for the first time.

Defeat of Despair starts freaking fast again, but also contains brutal stomping parts with focus on bass and drums. It's the first song you hear on Executing Empires that is written by Stefan and you get a glimpse of his guitar solo skill. The lyrics are actually older than the song itself and express some personal feelings of me from the time I wrote them. We also experimented much with different vocal colors in this very song.

Or Forever Hold Your Peace is the first song of the little partial lyrical concept. It's about the already mentioned revolution, rising against oppression and injustice. Simon wrote some insanely catchy lead guitars for this one. The little spoken words part is Søren's voice by the way.

Downfall of Glory is part two of the concept. Here the victorious revolution turns into terror and has to fall, too. In this one you find the longest guitar solo of the album, as well as small bass solo. In the middle Stefan created an awesome kind of Old-school Death Metal part that I tried to emphasize with my vocals as good as possible.

Beyond the Crimson Nightsky is the first song Stefan wrote for The last Hangmen. It's through a great evolution until the version you hear on the album. There's a live incarnation of 2010 on YouTube if you want to check out the differences.

Sleep Tight is part three of the concept. Two brothers in arms find themselves on two different sides after the revolution. I think it's the catchiest song on the album. Simon developed some really possessing melodies for this piece.

Rotten Seeds is my lyrical favorite. It's a huge metaphor. On the acoustic side this one is our Thrash-Grenade and I really dig the blackish chorus. All in all Rotten Seeds sounds kind of atypical and is still 100% The last Hangmen.

With Legion of Sold Souls it gets even more blackish. But hell yeah this song got so much energy.

Even though the last track Executing Takes Time has no lyrics it tells a story just with the instrumental. I still get Goosebumps every time I hear this eight-minute-epos.

I would love to ask you about Crowdfunding by the way. It was a very meaningful challenge with the great result, right? Of course the album is absolutely worth buying but many people are trying to avoid paying for music nowadays, and your challenge showed us there’re still a lot of true Hangmen fans who are willing to pay for getting physical copies. What do you think about it?

Pether:
We were totally stoked that our fans put so much trust in us and helped us to fund the record in advance. We feel that Crowdfunding is a great way to involve the fans in the development of a band and push it further. But you are right it's important that people realize that if they don't pay for music, there will be one day no music anymore.

Stefan:
Most of the times you buy an Album via Amazon or in big electronic stores you are never sure who gets the Money you spent on the Album. The Store? The intermediaries for the Store? The Label? The Band? A good way to really support a Band is always to buy the Merch directly via the Band or in Record Shops that are in direct contact with the Band such as Disk Union in Japan. The Crowdfunding is just the next step to accompany a Band from scratch to the final Album and by this making a real Contribution to the Music.

Can I ask about the member’s replacement? What happened between Sören and the band? Did you find another permanent bass player already?

Pether:
Søren was too busy with his job to put enough energy in the band, so we all five decided that it is time to find some replacement. There's no bad blood and if everything turns out well, Søren will do the vocal production with me for the third album, too. We will soon introduce a talented freshman with our first concerts this year. If he fits in well and has fun with us, we will keep him. We're excited about hitting the stage with him. The official announcement will follow soon.

Since “Executing Empires” is a perfect album, maybe it makes a bit different to produce more fabulous album in the near future, haha. What is your next goal/plan at the moment?

Pether:
The plan is to push this project as far as it can go. So the next goal is to find a Label to spread our records even further. Since Executing Empires is a “classical” second release in the tradition of “faster, harder, stronger” our third one sure will explore other limits.

Stefan:
Since Simon wrote the biggest part of the first Album completely on his own and the Second one was more or less split in half between Simon and me, we are still defining our common Sound. So I guess the third album will be more of a real community effort on all our parts to create a real homogenous Album with our typical mixture of complexity and Catchiness.

This is the last question. I’m not sure you know it or not but physical copies of “Servants of Justice” got a kind of success in Japan, it’s sold out at the moment and a bunch of “Executing Empires” are going to be sold here now. What do you think about it? Please leave some message to Japanese metalheads.

Pether:
We are really happy that we sold so much CDs to the other side of the planet without a label. So we thank every Japanese metalhead for supporting us from so freaking far away. Hopefully one day we meet live and spread some fucking loudness over the clubs of your beautiful islands.

Shortly after the interview, the band revealed their new bassist – Jason Melidonie.

Check them more on…
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelasthangmen
Official site: www.thelasthangmen.com
The last Hangmen – Crowdfounding(completed): www.startnext.de/en/thelaasthangmen

Check the past article and interview

Check a track from Executing Empires!

Burden Of Life released new song!

Burden Of Life has released the new song from their upcoming album -The Vanity Syndrome-! Check it out!

official: https://www.burdenoflife.de
facebook: www.facebook.com/burdenoflife

Divided in Spheres released new video!

Divided in Spheres released a new video for the song "Change is the Price"

official: www.dividedinspheres.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/dividedinspheres

Bleeding Red’s released the first official video!

Bleeding Red's first official music video "Wasted Screams" is out!

facebook: www.facebook.com/bleedingred
official: www.bleedingred.com

Extreme Metal Over Japan 2012 – BLOODSHOT DAWN Interview

Here is the final round of Extreme Metal Over Japan Tour Reports, and my heart is full to feature one of my favorite support bands BLOODSHOT DAWN this time. The band had proved me that they are the real enormous band not only with the recording stuff but also with the unforgettable live performance in Tokyo! I had an interview with Josh and Ben about the Japan tour. So, here we go!

First of all, thank you so much for coming all the way to Japan! I heard it took about 23 hours to reach here, phew. How was the flight?

Josh: Haha. Well we arrived the day of Osaka, so we only had ourselves to blame but we had a 12 and half hour flight then a 9 hour drive from Narita to Osaka! The flight was fantastic we were given free alcohol which typically we took advantage of!!

So, after the long flight you had to make through the tight scheduled but great organized tour with travelling by car. Are you already familiar with travel to such widely separated venues within a short time (e.g. the long distance between Tokyo and Osaka)?

Josh: No we are not used to this intense travel, but we didn't care the build up to this tour has been unreal so we knew we had to deliver in Osaka!! We arrived at the gig half asleep but with a meal waiting for us we focused and took the stage! The reaction of the crowd was so fantastic it helped us out in that tired situation!

Cut to the chase, how was your first impression of Japan?

Josh: Was unreal... Since I was a kid I have wanted to go to Japan because of the cartoons and games I was bought up on (Dragonball / Pokemon / Final Fantasy) and to be honest it was above all expectations. I could not be more glad I visited as a musician the fans and crowd were so friendly it almost felt like home!

Did you have any troublesome matter or surprised things because of cultural differences between Japan and your country?

Ben: There are some differences between our cultures, yes, but I don't think any of these caused us any problems. We really enjoyed the cultural change coming over to Japan. We got a strong impression from everyone we met that there is a higher sense of respect and common politeness in Japan and we felt very welcomed from the first minute we were there!

How was the very first show in Japan – at PANGEA in Osaka? How was the crowd there?

Ben: The first show was insane.. for a number of reasons. Firstly, we were absolutely exhausted after travelling for over 20 hours with little to no sleep (and getting drunk on the plane into Japan). This meant that playing the show was a little more difficult than usual, but adrenaline kept us able to put on a good show. We were using amplifiers and equipment that we were not used too, for the first time as well, so that was a bit less comfortable for us. The crowd made the show go amazingly though. The reaction from fans was incredible and made us all so happy that these other small problems did not matter. We also got to meet a good friend, Toshihiro Egawa, who had designed some of our t-shirts in the past, so this show was really special. We couldn't believe how great it was, so thank you to all of the fans that came to see us in Osaka! :)

Well, you visited Nagoya Castle in the afternoon on the day of the gig at 3Stars, right? Did you like it? What about the show and the metalheads in Nagoya?

Ben: Nagoya Castle was beautiful, and we were really excited to have a little time for sight-seeing. We knew we would get to see modern city sights in Tokyo, but it was great to explore something more traditional while in Japan. I would have loved to have longer there, but it was brilliant! The show was great again that night. There were more surprises for us as a this gig, as we had fans meet us outside the venue before we had even walked in to set up the show! The reception was wonderful, again, and we were blown away after the show as so many people came to talk to us after our performance. Thanks, Nagoya!

Did you have a fun time at the signing party at Shinjuku GODZ in Tokyo, by the way? I guess you guys got surprised with a lot of gifts from your fans there?

Ben: This night was crazy! We are still a very small band, considering we have only released one album so far, so we felt like we were in a dream when we went to GODZ. The atmosphere was so great - everyone was meeting new people and talking with fans and friends, having a drink and partying for the whole night. And yeah, we were so surprised by the gifts that some fans had for us. Some people had even hand-made or drawn for us, and it was really incredible. I can't possibly tell you how much that meant to us and we are never going to forget it!

I’m still stoked with the amazing night at Shibuya Cyclone! I and everybody else had an incredible time with your kick-ass performance! How about you guys? Do you think our passion matched well to your expectations?

Ben: Thanks, Kumi :) We had an absolute blast at this show! The energy in the room was so intense that it made performing that much more exciting. For me personally, it is undoubtedly one of my favorite shows I have ever played.. maybe even the best! I had an awesome time on stage, and usually I am super focused on my instrument on stage because of the technical music, but I kept finding myself with a huge grin on my face during our songs! I think I can definitely say that the passion of the fans, both at this show and the others, has far exceeded our expectations!

BLOODSHOT DAWN is a very technically adept metal band with very complex songs and I was totally impressed with your absolutely precise and tight playing. Concerning to various circumstances like the changed environment you had with this tour, do you feel any difficulties to play the songs on gigs as same as on your blasting record?

Ben: Thank you! I'm really happy it sounded precise! It is always going to be different playing shows with equipment that you are not used too, or after travelling / with a time zone change. It's a bit more challenging as we had to get used to the new equipment while performing (no practicing with it before hand), but it only makes a slight difference I think. Without own equipment it is more comfortable for us and I think the songs go a little smoother, due to some of the changes in our music, especially with lots of solos. We were still happy with how the shows turned out though, and fans seemed to really enjoy it, so no complaints from us! Hopefully next time we will have a little more time to get settled before we begin performances and then we can play even better! :)

I wonder why you have avoided to play the new song - Theoktony - on this tour. Can you tell me the reason?

Josh: Simple reason being that the song was ready to present to the Japanese crowd and due to time constraints with our set we wanted to give Japan the best set possible! Next time we come we will be armed with a bunch of new songs ready to grace your ears!!

The next question is to Josh. You joined Deals Death to sing along to their song without your axe, that was a real highlight for us! Did you enjoy it too? Have you ever stood on a stage for singing without a guitar before?

Josh: I am glad you enjoyed it, the song "Fearless" is a very exciting song and I enjoy it very much on record, on the day Olle from Deals Death invited me to join the stage and help get the crowd really pumped up for the remainder of the bands set, needless to say I was excited to rejoin the stage after our awesome set just 30 minutes before! I have been in other Death Metal acts in the UK in which I screamed without guitars so its something I feel comfortable with anyway, as its easier to interact without having to hold that spikey piece of wood!!

By the way, it’s really enormous that you sold a lot of physical copies of the first full-length in Japan. Even you have won the first prize for sales among imported albums for a while, as you know. Congratulations for your epic success! In this regard, the tour was just at the right time for you, right? How did you feel when you knew that you became No.1 in Japan?

Josh: The response has been absolutely fantastic in Japan, we have been seriously well received in such a short period! The Tour was perfect timing and our distribution and promoters have done a fantastic job, without them we would not of sold 1/10 of the records! For this we would like to thank Benneth and Fay at Chaotic Tapestry Management Asia, Disk Union and last but not least Kumi!!! Being number one is Testament to the hard work put in by there great people and organisations, we are extremely humbled to be a part of such a great collective of metal fans and together reaching number 1 In the import charts!!

Thank you so much. Hope you come back and have a much bigger tour in Japan very soon! We love you guys! Good luck!

Live photos at Shibuya Cyclone Tokyo below by METALSHIP
Check the complete pics on https://en.metalship.org/livereports/379

BLOODSHOT DAWN facebook: www.facebook.com/BloodshotDawn
BLOODSHOT DAWN Official online store: bloodshotdawn.bigcartel.com

The latest music video: Theoktony – BLOODSHOT DAWN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7c5T1Qbbiw

Extreme Metal Over Japan 2012 – SERENITY IN MURDER from Japan interview

Hi guys! Congratulations for the great success of this tour with BLOODSHOT DAWN and DEALS DEATH. What did you feel about your situation to have gigs on a level playing field with those enormous bands?

Freddy: Thanks. This tour was really good experience for us. We are proud that we could tour with them. This tour made us grow, and we certainly got new fans in Japan.

Actually, it was the second time for me to see SERENITY IN MURDER at live show, the first one was a year ago, with Lazarus A.D. and Anterior. Comparing the Extreme Metal Over Japan live in Tokyo with the past one (yeah, it’s the same venue – at Shibuya Cyclone) , it’s obvious that the band became more tight and secure. What do you think about it?

Freddy: Yeah, exactly. We are more tight and powerful than before. But we are never satisfied with ourselves. All we want is more tight and powerful performances/ sounds. We always seek the best way of performances and making sounds. We will be better next time!

The crowd at Shibuya Cyclone went crazy over your dramatic universe of The First Frisson Of The World and your passionate performance. Did you notice those energies by the crowd on stage?

Freddy: Of course! The audiences always inspire us. They give us energies! Especially, the audiences in Tokyo were awesome! They heated up when we were on the stage, and they headbanged and made mosh-pit. Their power motivates us so much and it will be our inspiration for the new album.

Have you ever experienced such a tour (like through Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo) with bands from other countries before?

Freddy: No,this is our first time to tour with bands from overseas. Actually, we really wanted to do tour like this , so it was a great experience.
As we imagined, it was awesome and stimulated our minds . And we are going another tour over Japan with Aborted on February,2013. This tour will be crazy as Extreme Metal Over Japan! I hope many people see us. Check out more info! https://www.facebook.com/valentinesmasher

Do you have any unforgettable episode with BLOODSHOT DAWN and DEALS DEATH through the tour?

Emi: We had many experiences with them through this tour, but if I choose a thing, one of the most impressed things is that they enjoyed meeting with fans after each shows, fan meeting at Shinjuku and etc. Some of bands just play at the shows, drink and go back soon to have a rest, but they never did like that. They had a fun of autograph sessions, taking pics and talking with all of fans. Josh(Bloodshot Dawn) told me meeting fan is his favorite thing. I agree. We can't play gigs without fans.

I’m proudly introduce SERENITY IN MURDER to metal lovers in the world, by the way. Could you tell them about the members and the band’s history?

Freddy: Ok. Serenity In Murder was formed in 2008. I composed a few songs at that time and also looked for members to make a band. At first, I met Emi (vocal). we went to the same university and were members of the music club, so I knew she covered songs like Slipknot, Children Of Bodom and etc. She listened to my songs and she decided to join my band. About one year later, I found Ryuji (guitar). He posted movies of his guitar playing on the Internet. He covered Steve vai, Racer X and etc. I liked his playing so much that I immediately asked him to join us. I have known Shuntaro since we were child. He can play any instruments, so I asked him to join me as a keyboardist. Others were still the support member. We started playing on the show and recording with these members, as Serenity In Murder in 2010. Takumi (bass) and Shohei (drums) joined us while recording. These are the current members of Serenity In Murder. In September 2011, we signed with Spiritual Beast / Universal Music, and released 1st album ”The First Frisson Of The World”. We did many gigs in Japan, and played in Taiwan. And now, we’re working on our new album. We hope to work worldwide next year!

As far as I know, I can say that SERENITY IN MURDER is a dramatic/symphonic melodic death metal band with some modern elements. How do you describe about the band?

Freddy: Our music is mixed with many elements. The most characteristic part is the melody.
We have our original melodies inspired by Northern European metal, traditional metal, and Japanese metal scenes. Our melodies are like the mixture of sadness and sorrow in the powerful sounds. I want to put Japanese taste in our melody, because I'm proud of being Japanese. So,"Japanese symphonic/dramatic melodic death metal" would be the best word for our melodies.

Did you already experience enough gigs after released the album The First Frisson Of The World?

Emi: After released our 1st album, we played the show about once a month and we experienced some big events like Geki-Rock. We played with Anterior(UK) and Lazarus A.D.(USA) last year on that event. Also, this year we played at Taiwan. That tour was so amazing. Two of gigs are held by ourselves. Serenity In Murder is formed for two years and it takes only one year after released debut album. So I don't declare we had enough experiences for now but we had many opportunities to play at many great gigs. We will join cool shows more like EMOJ. We have to gain experiences through gigs and tours.

What are your future plans and what is the biggest goal for the band so far?

Freddy: We are already working on our next new album, and thinking of doing tour in Europe and Asia. Our biggest goal is working worldwide. We really want many fans around the world to enjoy our music.
We just do what we want to do. If it will lead us to good directions, it's a pleasure .

Could you leave any message to the people who went to see Extreme Metal Over Japan, and also to metalheads in the world?

Freddy: Hi guys! How was the Extreme Metal Over Japan tour? We are happy if you really enjoyed that tour! If you are interested with us, come to our show again, and spend crazy time together! Check out our website!
To all metalheads around the world, we'll see you soon! Stay tuned and keep your eyes on us!
Thanks.

Thank you so much. I hope for your future success!

Serenity In Murder Official facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sim.jp
Serenity In Murder Official Website: https://www.serenityinmurder.jp/

Live photos below by METAL SHIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF7WEV9BL2A

Extreme Metal Over Japan 2012 – DEALS DEATH Japan tour interview Nov.2012

First of all, I want to say congratulations for your brilliant album “Elite” which is the best album in 2012 for me and I’m sure for a lot of metal lovers in the world! I should say Japanese metalheads are very lucky for having a chance to be the witnesses for your shows in such an early time! Well, how was your first trip to Japan?

Erik: First of all, thank you for everything you’ve done for the tour! It wouldn’t have been the same without your work! Our first trip to Japan was out of this world! Sure, we had expectations. But this!? It was like stepping into a video game! And all the people we met were so nice. I remember when we were at Nagoya castle and an old lady asks us where we are from. “Sweden and England” we replied. After that she says “Thank you for coming to our country” “Nice to have you here”. I just wanted to hug her… I didn’t! But I wanted to. You never see that kind of thing where we´re from.

As far as I know, you had a bit time to see some famous places in Tokyo and Nagoya, right?Could you tell me your impressions of Japanese cities you saw?

Erik: As I said, it was like stepping into a video game. Lights and sounds everywhere! The busiest street in Gothenburg would still have less people than the slowest street in Tokyo! And all these tall buildings are so awesome! I could keep watching my photos and videos from the whole trip forever.

How was the very first show in Japan at PANGEA, Osaka?

Erik: A bit nervous, in a good way. First show on a tour is always like that. But we had a good show and it hit us that the crowd was so wild! Where we usually play, people like standing still with their arms crossed and maybe a beer in the other hand. In Osaka there were moshpits and we even got a proper wall of death!

How was your condition at each show on this tour? I guess, moving between Tokyo and Osaka was long and tough for you … or not?

Erik: Yes, it was rough. Half the band needed to pick up Bloodshot Dawn from the airport that morning and after that travel to Osaka. So it took about 10-11 hours cramped in a small van with 9 other dudes. You can figure out the rest… haha.

I saw the show in Tokyo. Honestly, that was one of the most energetic and powerful live performances I’ve ever experienced in my metal life! Do you have any important point to play such an enormous live performance?

Erik: Thank you! We had a good show as well! Really good crowd! We really try to play “big shows” even if the venues are small. It fits our music and it goes hand in hand with how we want to project ourselves. Powerful and aggressive. Controlled anger so to speak.

You have played the bonus tracks for Japan from the album Elite – Internal Demons and Truthful Profession on this tour, that was a totally happy surprise for us! Are they a usual feature of your performance?

Erik: We usually play those tracks live. They are big and energetic and helps to create a varied set-list. I personally chose those 2 tracks to be added on the Japanese edition of Elite. Turns out it was a good idea :)

You gave us one more happy surprised moment: Josh from BLOODSHOT DAWN joined the band for one song on vocals, without his axe. The overwhelming killer duet was absolutely brilliant. Who’s idea was it?

Erik: Haha, yes. That was pretty cool. Josh is an amazing performer and artist. We talked a bit about doing something special for the last show. So Olle and Josh took the matter into own hands and pulled it off.

Your songs are great for headbang and sing along. I really enjoyed a feeling of unity between the band and us through the show. Did you feel any difference between Japanese metalheads and the people in the other countries?

Erik: Thank you! That is actually something we strive for whilst writing the songs. Nice to hear it's working. I always want a close connection to the crowd, even if it's a big festival stage and we are a few feet away from the sea of people. The enenrgy should be flowing through the entire crowd and create unity. The Japanese crowds were very different to what we have played in front of before. They seemed really happy to see us and it got us all pumped!

By the way, did you enjoy the signing session/meet and greet at GODZ in Tokyo?

Erik: Oh yes, that was something! To go in there and get greeted with applause and cheering was unreal. And to meet the people who had travelled over a 100 miles just to meet us and had made handmade gifts for us..oh man. Very humbeling to say the least. Im a proud wearer of the GODZ T-shirt here in Sweden. :)

In my opinion, after I have experienced your incredible performance in Tokyo, the band could play even at LOUD PARK in Japan for sure! Do you already have any next aspiration towards Japan?

Erik: LOUD PARK would be amazing. I saw a clip from when our good friends in AMARANTHE played there and it was mind-blowing. Really hope to play there someday. I can say that we want to come back to Japan for sure! We hope to grow larger and be able to play for more people and have larger signing sessions and a proper after-party or something like that. To create a closer bond with the Japanese metalheads. We salute you!

Thank you so much for the interview and the incredible shows in Japan! Hope you guys come back here next year! We are already eager for that!

Erik: Thank you! Stay heavy!

The live photos at Shibuya Cyclone by METAL SHIP

Official facebook  https://www.facebook.com/dealsdeath

Extreme Metal Over Japan 2012 vol.1 – The tour report

Part.1 - The full tour report by Benneth from Chaotic Tapestry Japan

Day one 11/14/2012 Tourism

Pretty excited after 4 month of intense promo and booking work for this tour, I go to Narita to pick up Deals Death in the morning, first meet with the guys, they are super nice and I already feel that this tour is gonna be awesome. After a quick stop to my place for shower, we decided to go check the ESP Craft House in Shin Ochanomizu and then Akihabara, to buy some video games, then the last tourist spot we did this day was Asakusa temple. The guys were really impressed about this spot, this temple is really cool and show you the traditional side of Japan.

11/15/2012 Osaka

After couple of hours of sleep, my driver (Tomoya Takeuchi, a big Thank you to this awesome guy) came to pick us, direction Narita airport once again to get Bloodshot Dawn. This was a bit stressful for me as they were landing at 10:00 a.m. and supposed to be in Osaka at 19:00 p.m. the same night.

All the guys are waiting us already when we stop to Narita, same feeling as for Deals Death, they are all cool, the difference is I know already couple of them. Then we had a 9 hours driving time to reach Osaka, when we went to the venue (Pangea) the show has already started. Bloodshot and Deals Death were not able to do any sound Check. I was really busy to meet everybody who helped me in Osaka to make this show and really glad to see that one of the most talented Drawing metal design artist was in the audience (Toshihiro Egawa, I want to thank him and his wife for their kindness and support).

In Osaka Hemorrhoid Carnage killed the stage, they are playing a Technical Death metal who remind me bands Like Obscura/Necrophagist/Archspire to name a few but better, those kids will be huge that's for sure!

Then Gotsu Totsu Kotsu go on stage, this band is just one of the most impressive Japanese act ever, Haruhisa the Bass/vocals is definitely the best Bass player I ever seen on live, they will tour in Europe in September with Bloodshot Dawn!

Venue start to get kind of full when Serenity in Murder reach the stage. They play a Symphonic Death/Black Metal. All members are pretty active on stage. Emi, the vocalist, has a god communication with the public. They are also pretty young but I am sure that they will become a major act in the future.

Finally time for Bloodshot Dawn. I never saw them in live but couple of friends (from Decapitated and Aborted) told me that this band is pretty cool. Well, I won't be disappointed: they know what they are doing and they are raping the stage. Josh has a good communication with the audience and people start to get crazy in the venue, Ben is playing is solo exactly like on the album (It's sad to say but now many bands can't play live what they are doing on studio). Anthony is smashing his bass and Doug was playing tight and sing in the same time. I had a really good moment to watch them.

After 5 minutes of setting it's time to Deals Death to come on stage, well I was really impressed by their show. They are happy to play in Japan and they show it. There is a symbioses between the members, they are not here to joke. Their music is really powerful and the sound-man did a good job. Everything was perfect!
For two bands who traveled 16 hours by plane and then 9 hours by van giving such energy in live was just awesome!!

After the show Toshihiro and his wife brought us to a bar in Shinsaibashi, we drank several beers then it was time to leave, Thank you so much Osaka!!

11/16/2012 Nagoya

We arrived in Nagoya around 7h30 in the morning, everybody was really tired after the Party with Toshihiro so we went to sleep at the hotel directly, we woke up around 11h00am, and went to visit the Nagoya Castle, it's always good to see the history of the country you are playing shows in.
This castle is really beautiful and everybody was felt this zen and peaceful sensation!

Let's get back to the show, well show started with Resurection, a metalcore band, pretty good live, vocalist can growl and do clean vocals. Then Gotsu Totsu Kotsu, who one more time blow my mind, Haru and Atsushi have fun when they play and you feel it, their set have so much energy!

Followed by Serenity in Murder who one more time played a really tight show, Freddy the guitarist is giving 100 percent of himself , I had a really good time.

Then Bloodshot Dawn go on stage, well, the audience are waiting them as everybody start to scream their name, the guys play a good show, the audience went crazy since the first riffs until the last, special mention to the sound-guy of Nagoya 3 stars club who did an excellent job for them.

Couple of minutes of setting then Deals death come with their melodic Death metal, it's really good Olle is really impressive and the show was insane!
After the show we stayed at the venue drink with people , then around 1h00 am it was time to come back to Tokyo.

11/17/2012 Tokyo Signing session

We arrived in Tokyo around 8:00 a.m., then went back to sleep, today was a day off so we organized a signing session to God'z Metal bar. We had time to do some tourism spot like the city hall of Shinjuku, then we went to do couple of interviews for Metalship webzine (Thanks to Guillaume Cattella for the time he spent with us!)
We also went to eat some fish and chips and pizzas in a British pub, we had a lots of fun, after that we went to the signing session. The signing session went very well, a lots of people came, bands had a lots of fun!
We went home around 23h30 to prepare for the Biggest show of the tour.

11/18/2012 Shibuya Cyclone

We arrived in Shibuya around 11.00 a.m. We had time to go visit the Disk union store, then the Donkijote, we ate some sushi and then time to go to the venue! Cyclone is a nice venue and I heard that tonight we have almost 130 presales, which is pretty insane!

It's early when Hemorrhoid carnage start to play, but still a lots of people are already here and everybody seems to enjoy the show! After it's time to Ogre, to reach the stage, Sayaki and his crew are not here to joke, they have been around since a while and you can feel it, I saw them several times in live, it's always a good moment!

The venue is really packed when Serenity In Murder come on stage, tonight was there best show, really intense and powerful, they play really tight and Emi is really active with the audience!

Then time to Bloodshot Dawn, as usual they deliver an energetic show, Josh is a really good front-man, Ben plays his solo perfectly, Doug and Ant are also good, this show was clearly insane!

It's 21:00 p.m. when Deals Death reach the stage, same as for Bloodshot dawn, the guys are really tight and happy to be in Japan, they show it, the show is really good, Olle is a good front-man, Erik and Sebastian plays there solo very well, Janne and Fredrik are super tight, no other word awesome show!

After the show we went to an Izakaya to party, maybe to hard haha, bands convince me to stay all night in Shibuya so we did. The morning it was time to say goodbye to everybody, I made a lots of friend on this tour, and had a lots of fun. I would like to thanks Everybody who came to those shows, it was our first real tour in Japan, and it was a success because of the people who came!

Special thanks to:
Kumi (for her support since the Day 1), Tomoya (for driving us the whole tour you’re the best man!), Fay (for Supporting me even when I am a dick), Mika (my beloved wife who accept that 9 guys come to sleep at her house), Toshihiro Egawa (for coming to the show and support us!), Freddy and Emi (for helping me to make this tour happen), Hemorrhoid Carnage/Gotsu Totsu Kotsu/Ogre/Resurection for their help for the Promotion and the badass show they played!, God'z metal bar (for their help in promo and let us to get drunk to their place) and one more time EVERYBODY who came to those show!
Without you guys nothing will be possible, if you want to keep having cheap shows in Japan please support us!

Our next Event is in February with Aborted and System Divide 5 shows through Japan please check the facebook for more info! https://www.facebook.com/ValentineSmasher

Thanks again

Benneth / Chaotic Tapestry Japan

- The whole photos below at Shibuya Cyclone by Live Action Hero -

Bloodshot Dawn https://www.facebook.com/BloodshotDawn

Deals Death https://www.facebook.com/dealsdeath

Fabulous moments passes so fast always, but the memories could dwell vividly in your heart forever… I’m sure I’ll never ever forget about the incredible time with BLOODSHOT DAWN and DEALS DEATH at Shibuya Cyclone. The kick-ass metal shows made me feel totally alive and blissful, gave me much positive powers for the future. Thank you so much for all guys from BLOODSHOT DAWN and DEALS DEATH. Thanks so much for all your efforts Benneth. You rule.

- Kumi666

Part.2 - The live review at Pangea Osaka by one of the witnesses of the show - "Are You Ready, Osaka?" An Extreme Metal Live Report! by Alicia

Extreme Metal Over Japan's first stop was at Osaka's PANGEA, and every band was terrific! The final European two groups in the five-band session were on their initial Japanese tour.

The first was English band Bloodshot Dawn. They'd just arrived in Japan earlier that day and before their set spent a few minutes calling out instructions to the sound engineer; Anthony, the bassist, loosened up the joints in his fingers with some warm-up exercises.

All movement stopped and the anticipation exploded as the opening strains of "Becoming Oblivion" gave way to some hellacious drumming and guitar solos. They may describe themselves as an "unrelenting, hyper speed, extreme-metal machine" but I thought their melodies were also　lyrical and moving.

Deals Death had a much darker tone than Bloodshot Dawn and most of their songs had a very forceful, direct beat. The entire band radiated this mesmerizing charisma and the crowd sensed it too. Audience members would rush the stage, body-slam Olle, the vocalist, and crash back down to the floor. At one point Olle grabbed one of the most enthusiastic fans and spun him around. He looped the mike cord twice around the fan's neck, pulled hard, and screamed the chorus while the entire place erupted in utter chaos around the pair. Amazing stuff!

When will Boodshot Dawn and Deals Death return to Japan and perform for the crowds once more? For Extreme Metal Over Japan was easily one of the best lives I've seen this year. Kudos to both European bands for traveling such a long way to show us what death metal is really about!

Thanks a lot Alicia for your awesome review! - Kumi666 

Merciless Terror Interview about their very first Japan tour!

“getting up on stage to thousands of screaming metal heads will be a moment that stays with me for a long time.”

How was your very first flight to Japan? Was good? I heard that Dale doesn’t like plane at all, haha.

DALE: Well the first part of the flying was fine. The flight to Germany from England was good because I decided to get drunk on the plane! However the long haul flight to Nagoya was a different story. My T.V on the plane was the only one that didn’t work and the beer was wearing off, so I had to endure 11 hours of boredom and crappy airplane food (Laughs). It was actually better than I expected though, considering I am a very nervous flyer.

Could you tell me the first impression about Japan when you landed in Okinawa?

DALE: The First thing we noticed when we got off the plane in Okinawa was the heat and humidity. It is a very different climate to what we are used to in England so this was a slap in the face! Once we met the organizers (Jason & Clay) They drove us to where we were staying, so we got to see a bit of the Island and we were impressed with the beautiful scenery and the large number of Daihatsu’s driving on the roads!

I should say that many of us (the people in Tokyo) haven’t been in Okinawa for sure. How could it be possible to have an opportunity to play gigs there?

DALE: Well we were kind of lucky to be honest. We hooked up with the Rocktoberfest organizers and they basically liked what we done and offered to sort us out a few shows including the festival slot. Personally my advice from being in a band in general is to try getting hold of bands in Okinawa and trying to arrange some gig swaps with them. There are plenty who I spoke to who would love to come over to the mainland!

Did you enjoy Rocktoberfest and other gigs there? How did you feel about those shows?

MIKE: The fans are crazy and very appreciative of bands that make the effort to travel such a long way to entertain them. The show at club Fujiyama was a great warm up to Rocktoberfest. I think people were surprised at how aggressive and direct we were yet we were nice guys to talk to after the show. Rocktoberfest was probably the most amazing experience for me personally thus far. Having our intro blasting out then getting up on stage to thousands of screaming metal heads will be a moment that stays with me for a long time.

Did you meet with your old and new fans there? What do you think about metalheads in Japan? I guess there’s a lot of American people from US forces at every MT show in Okinawa though.

DALE: The metal heads were awesome! And yes we played to a lot of the US Military, but there were a lot of locals there too. Everyone seemed friendly and really pleased to have us play in Okinawa.

Which songs did you play at Rocktoberfest?

DAN: We brought our current set list over to Japan, which covers material from our demo and ‘Perpetual Devastation’ E.P. As a treat for this tour we decided to add a brand new track to the set, which comes off of our new E.P we recorded exclusively for our trip here called ‘Eternal Decay’.

I’m curious about MT live seriously, hope you’ll be back in Japan and have a tour through Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo in the near future. Did you have any time to see Tokyo this time by the way?

DALE: We would love to come back and hit Mainland Japan too! Were actually hoping to do this next year so I’m sure you’ll get to witness the Terror live. And we managed to drive around Tokyo but never got to go look around unfortunately.

I would love to introduce MT to the people who haven’t heard about the band yet. Could you tell me about the members and the band’s history?

DALE: The band formed in April 2009 by myself, David Siddons and original drummer Dan Mulligan. He then introduced Aiden Hornbuckle into the band on bass duties. After several lineup changes over the years the current lineup we believe is now the strongest unit we’ve ever been as musicians and as friends which is: Dale Linsdell – Vocals, David Siddons – Guitar, Dan Oldcorn – Bass & Michael Brush – Drums.

How do you describe your music and its genre for new listeners?

DALE: I would describe our music as ‘Death/Thrash’… basically we take the elements of the early 90’s era of death metal such as bands like Bolt Thrower, Obituary & Napalm Death and combine them with the Thrasher stuff, such as Sepultura, Kreator, Sodom & Slayer. So if you like your metal Fast and aggressive I think you’ll dig us!

Okay thank you so much guys! The last line belongs to you. Leave some message to metalheads in Japan or whatever you like. :)

MIKE: Thank you to all of our new fans in Japan, you made us all feel very welcome. We'll definitely be back to do a bigger and longer tour very soon.

DALE: Yes we made a lot of new friends and fans on our trip and would like to thank you all who made it an amazing experience for us! We WILL be back once the full-length album is released next year… Let The Terror Reign!

MERCILESS TERROR facebook www.facebook.com/MercilessTerror
MERCILESS TERROR official web site www.mercilessterror.com

Parasite Inc. interview on Oct 2012

“...The movie dropped our whole concept and we had to find another one...”

Hi Kai, How have you been? I’ve heard that you guys finished an artwork for the upcoming album. Is that true? If you could reveal it on this blog, it would be awesome.

Kai: Hi Kumi, we’ve been fine but very busy. Well, the information about the artwork is right. We finished it and we think it perfectly mirrors the album.

Oh, that looks fabulous! As you said it looks perfect for mirroring the album concept as far as I know at this moment. You always deal with machines and societies as crimes/enemies and there’s some people (or every human being?) as victims, and all things could happens through the medium of “time”, I feel it from your past songs. Can you tell me your thoughts about the concept a bit?

Kai: Well, actually Benni came around with the idea: He seized the idea of the old cover and tried to rebuild it. But then we got a feeling like “Yes, that’s it!”. Like I told you before we rerecorded the old songs, so the cover is a kind of bridge to our first inofficial release. If you compare both cover you can see the development and I think it fits well to the colder and darker sound of the album.

It also mirrors the lyrical side of the songs. The lyrics contain thoughts and experiences with life, time and also society and the cover contains all that elements. I don’t want to describe too much about it because I think people should have their own thoughts with the things (if they even take the time to have one ;) ).

In my last interview, you guys told me the new album would be titled ‘Back For War’ but you’ve already replaced it to ‘Time Tears Down’, right? What happened with the previous name?

Kai: Oh yes, that’s unfortunately right. We felt we had to change it because of the release of the “The Expendables 2”. The subtitle of the movie was also called “Back For War” and the design of the movie poster felt a bit too similar to our concept of the album design. So, the movie dropped our whole concept and we had to find another one. Don’t ask me… it was a search for months until we found something new that fits.

I see… you also had to change an artwork for the album, it sounds kinda time tore down your first idea for the concept, haha. Actually, the new title makes me more firing the imagination somehow. All's well that ends well anyway, right?

Kai: hahaha ya absolutely. Time is a nasty bitch haha. But even because of that the new title fits so much more haha. “All's well that ends well…” Let’s hope so ;)

I also found something impressive in the art by the way. You placed a logical brand new band logo as initials in the dial of the clock. I think it’s reversible, you can see it in the right direction even you turn it upside-down, right? Who’s idea?

Kai: Yes, that’s right. It’s an “Ambigram” again and actually it was a silly idea of me: We still have been searching for a picture-mark beside the word-mark. So I made a lot of drafts and also overworked the old ambigram logo… without any satisfying success. You can see in the picture below a tiny history of our band-logos. It was a long search again but I think we finally have found our elements now and feel 100% happy with it. Looks cool hu?

Well, I am going to say something nasty to you, haha. I mean you also told me in the last interview that you could be sure you’ll release the new album before Wintersun do, and as you know it became your epic fail already, haha. How is the album production going?

Kai: hahahaha :P Well, epic shame on us but who could have known they really release it this year. Actually I am just wondering how fast time passes by: The last interview was in May and now it’s October… so, how can I say, the production is going a bit at moment. Even now that everything is recorded we are still struggling with the final mix and I have become careful with any prognosis about a release date. Nobody of us is a studied sound engineer and we also don’t have the advantages of a professional studio facility (nor we have the money to give it away for mixing). The bit we have, we need for the mastering process then. All we can do is work hard and kick our asses to the limit. Time will tell.

Yeah, time will tell for sure. I hope it won’t be “time tears down”, joking. Keep at it guys!

Thank you so much for the interview! Have a great Time ;)

PARASITE INC. facebook www.facebook.com/parasiteinc

PARASITE INC. Official Homepage www.parasiteinc

Soulbound short interview – “We’re hitting the Studio right now to record a few new tracks.”

It’s been a lil long time since we had an interview last time, huh? How have you been?

Mario: Tell me about it! Far, far too long! We’ll, as you might know, we’re hitting the Studio right now to record a few new tracks. Jonas and I just finished their recording sessions; just three more to go and hopefully we’ll be able to show the guys out there our new stuff as soon as possible! We’re not even planning to play any gigs during our time in the studio, cause we really wanna put all our time and energy in it.

Did you play much gigs since Towards The Sun was released?

Johnny: Yeah, quite a few, there were some pretty big shows among them where we really had a blast! It kinda was a good reward for spending so much time on ‘Towards the Sun’. Now the time has come to reap our award (laughs). We’re still getting so much positive feedback, feels really good.

You guys are currently working for some recordings, right? For what? Will you going to release the first full-length?

Patrick: We will definitely release a full-length-record, but not right now. We’re recording those tracks so we can send them to record companies and agencies. Plus, we’re doing this because we’re considering recording an album there and we wanted to get an idea first how we would get along with the people of Cubeaudio-Studios and how the recording session itself would feel for us.

Is there anything you can tell your fans about details of the recording stuff at this point in time?

Felix: We took off our recording session with a whole different approach. ‘Towards The Sun’ was recorded in many different places with different equipment each time. This time, we wanted to do it different, all magic will happen at Cubaudio-Studios. Also, this is our first time actually working together with a producer; it really took the recording process on a whole new level. Anyway, we don’t want to beat the fans to the punch; all we can say we’re having a whole lot of fun recording those tracks and we can’t wait to show you guys our new stuff!

As far as I saw photos of the recording, you guys’re in a very good mood and enjoying it, right? How can you keep your motivation for it? I guess recordings are tough stuff, right?

Jonas: We’re doing the thing we love with the people we like most, together, as a unit. It’s as simple as that. Besides, right now, we’re getting to know a studio and producers who’re really trying to push us forward, beyond the stage that we’re in now. This process by itself is motivation enough. Sure, recording sessions are pretty tough, but all in all, if you’re hearing the music you create coming together for the first time, it really speaks for itself, awesome feeling! It’s the thrill to create a musical piece and show it to the people out there and see how they react, that’s kinda one of our drugs that we’re addicted to (laughs), besides playing gigs, of course.

I found out you’re going to produce some new designed shirts, right? Can you tell me about it? Who designed it?

Jonas: Right, we designed some awesome new T-Shirts, all of them were conceived by out guitar guy Patrick. Of course, all of those T-Shirts are fair-trade and high-quality, we don’t want to sell some cheap bull-crap which wears out after washing it two times. We want people to actually wear our stuff and be happy and maybe even a little bit proud of it!

Thank you so much guys! Good luck for the new record! I would love to have a longer interview with you when you’ve finished ‘em all!

Midnight Realm Interview “The new album is going to be called ’The Rebuild’.”

I must say the word “faithful” exists for the amazing 6 pieces band from UK. I was curious about their thoughts for the beautiful EP “Polarissima” and the upcoming full-length and they gave those incredible answers one by one to my questions.

First of all, I would love to ask you about the brilliant EP Polarissima. Together with the artwork of the EP, the name “Polarissima” reminds me naturally to the spiral galaxy “Polarissima Borealis (NGC3172)”. What is the meaning of Polarissima for the band?

Liam: The name “Polarissima” was already established when I joined the band, so I had no part of choosing it for the EP. Still, my first impression on the name was that it commanded power. I love astronomy too, so there was a bonus!

Dan: I began writing the EP with our previous keyboard player Alan Woodham. We wanted to create a concept of a world like ours, but make it just that little bit different so we could add that aspect of fantasy in there. I used to read a lot of papers on astronomy when I was back in college and the name Polarissima kept cropping up. I thought it would be an excellent place to stage the storyline that the EP tells.

As I mentioned above, the beautiful artwork of the EP also gives me some imagination of the cosmos. Whose idea was it?

Dan: That was my idea again! Haha. Space and planets have always been big inspiration of mine and to incorporate those images into the music just seemed natural for me. As we have progressed though we’re moving away from the whole ‘solar’ theme and actually getting into the storyline. Our concept imagery is now based more on the world after the destruction and the rebuilding of civilization. Dystopian society is a really powerful image and something that we’ve been using a lot in the writing process for the new album.

Liam: Yeah, it was a good call – like I said, I love anything to do with astronomy so it was a huge inspiration, particularly when Dan and I were writing the lyrics to the songs. Writing in line with such a concept has been fantastic.

Ste: We initially thought of Colin Marks (www.rain-song.co.uk) to do the artwork as we had seen a lot of his album art for bands like Scar Symmetry, Xerath and Nevermore and we really liked his whole style and vision. We think he really captured what we were trying to say perfectly.

Every song in the EP sounds very atmospheric, progressive, aggressive and melodic, and the lyrics includes some huge themes about the human race. They are not of a personal nature, right? Can you describe the songs one by one?

Ste: Think I will leave this up to Liam and Dan as they did most of the song writing etc for the EP!

Dan: The lyrics to the songs aren’t personal in any way really. The EP tells the story of a moon that is heading toward the planet, and a girl who keeps seeing visions of the world’s demise. The whole thing is about her coming to terms with the oncoming extinction of her race and reflecting on what impact her species has left on the planet. I suppose it can mirror is some ways conceptually what we are doing to our own planet, but hopefully our moon wont be falling on us any time soon!

Liam: To me, they’re only personal in terms of encapsulating some views that I hold on us as humans; both as animals and as members of society.

For example, Abstract Connections talks about how our way of life is taken for granted and how our earth is exploited in order to quell our greed, impatience and materialistic “needs”… not to sound like a tree hugger or anything, you wouldn’t catch me dead in a Prius! For me, its just about being aware.

John: Polarissima is a very natural intro. We needed something that started small and built to a huge crescendo to set up the album. It’s very filmic, and flows straight into Abstract Connections

Abstract Connections has very strong guitar leads, so they keyboards needed to sit behind that but still give it the atmosphere set up by Polarissima. The sustained strings that build up from the bridge into the chorus allowed that to happen.

Liam: Solaris is about living in a world that’s gone to shit… whether it was our doing or not, we’ve paid the ultimate price and the world (and us) is on the cusp of extinction. The end chorus however suggests a glimmer of hope that we may turn the tables if we are willing to change. Will we? Who knows?

John: Solaris was actually the last song we wrote for the E.P. It has a rather staccato feel in the guitar line, so when writing the keyboard parts, it was clear that it needed a strong backing line. The huge orchestration of the previous tracks needed to continue, so we took the opportunity to write a segue between the intro and first verse and the outro, which features harp, strings, piano, choir, French horn and a bassoon.

Liam: Enlightenment is always associated with positivity, but Mystic Revelations is about the sudden realisation of bad things to come and the desperate struggle to find a solution. The verses speak of a struggle to come to terms with what appears to be inevitable, while the chorus shows a cry for help – a need for all of these events to get turned around.

John: The song features a choir and harp as its main orchestration. The title already sounded very ethereal, so the backing needed to be very choral, with strings giving it some depth. The harp lead also accents the entire song, playing melodies over and with the guitar.

Liam: Requiem is all about renewal. For me it’s very much a positive song, despite the current concept allowing plenty of room for depression and gloom. Rising through the ashes of the planet we once had and still holding bold aspirations of success and positivity? Hell, its smiles all round!

John: Requiem was the song that changed the least (keyboard wise) from its inception to its recording. It’s the most progressive song on the record, but it also has a very thrashy feel to the verses. It also features two smooth synth leads, giving it a very Soilwork-esque sound. The song finishes with the synth lead, which I think hints nicely at the change of the world in the album, from its heavily orchestrated introduction to its thin electronic outro.

I’m also paying attention to the band’s name. I mean “Midnight Realm” sounds very mystic for me. Do you have any point with the name? Who gave the bands its name?

James: When I joined the band "Midnight Realm" was already its designated title, as it started off as Daniel’s project. I think each one of us perhaps has a different view on the meaning behind the name. I believe it to be a description for what the EP collectively stands for. When the world has wasted away we enter a realm of darkness.

Dan: I took the name from a project our old keys player Alan started. We thought it sounded different to what everyone else was calling their bands at the time and we have never looked back! I’ve been writing under the name Midnight Realm for about 4 years now, but as a complete band we have only really been together the past year or so.

The official music video “Solaris” is totally impressive, especially for your fans in the world who have never seen the band at gigs (like me). You succeeded to express the Universe of the Polarissima with the dismal location and the white dressed girl. Can you tell me any episode of making the video - behind the scene?

Liam: FATIGUE! Never had such a bangover in my life, it took about three days for my spine to return to normal! I can’t think of anything gossipy to share, but it was the first time I’d ever been with the guys in such a serious “we’ve got a job to do” situation. I believe that we were 100% efficient and that as a group, we could tackle different, more challenging scenarios – such as naked car washes, ABBA themed weddings and politics.

Dan: The music video was shot by Richard Slater, a friend of mine at an abandoned industrial works in Hartlepool, about an hour from where we live. We shot the video on two separate days.

John: We wanted to replicate the artwork, but on a tight budget creating an apocalyptic wasteland is rather difficult. The first weekend we travelled down to film all the scenes in which our friend Alex, playing the girl from the cover of the album, was walking around trying to make sense of the world.

Dan: when it came to shooting the band live they had fenced off the whole industrial estate and told us we couldn’t record on the land. It was a bit of a nightmare but we found a location nearby and finished the video there. I think Richard did a really good job of making it look like the actress was the last girl alive, and we are going to be using him again for our next music video!

Ste: The only downside was that in getting up at 5am in the morning to prepare for it, the last thing I thought about was sun cream as I was just praying it wasn’t going to rain (it is England after all) – so by the time we finished up I suddenly realized that I was burnt to a crisp….

James: The wind made it seem like we were cold but we were actually slowly sizzling in the sun after every take. Stephen and myself were both totally burned by the end of the day, if I remember rightly you looked like a beetroot by the time we had finished shooting, isn’t that right Steve?..

Ste: SHUT IT!!!! Next question!?

By the way, you guys replaced the permanent drummer already, right? Can you tell me the history of the band? Please introduce current members.

Liam: Yeah we got a new drummer! He’s not bad, not bad at all!

Dan: Steve Cross our last drummer was working with us on a session basis till we found someone closer to home. He lives about 4 hours away from where we practise and getting up to us on a regular basis was becoming really difficult; so we felt it best to start looking for someone full time in Newcastle. Patrick got in touch with us shortly after we posted up an advertisement for a new drummer and we’ve just clicked. Learning the drum parts played by Alex Rudinger (the drummer who played on our EP) is no easy feat but Paddy has done an excellent job, and our new material is sounding even better!

Ste: We have been through a lot of members in the past for various different reasons, either musical incompatibility or people just generally not fitting into the fold as well as we hoped. The line up as it is now will be the one we push forward with and we are all very happy with the way things are. Patrick has filled that space we were looking for and things are going really well with him.

Patrick: Having drummed for a couple of local acts around Newcastle I was on the look out for something a bit more serious to focus on. By chance I saw that Midnight Realm were after a new drummer and felt the songs were suitably challenging enough to excite me and I already vaguely knew John so I sent him a message. The ball just started rolling from there and I'm looking forward to the future of Midnight Realm.

James: Our line-up is now: Liam Posselwhite on vocals, Daniel Russell and Stephen Traut on guitars, myself (James Carter) on bass, John Dalziel on keyboards and Patrick Deans on drums.

Dan: Alan Woodham our old keys player is always helping in the background too with the orchestra. He’s very much our ‘man behind the scenes’!

I’m already eager for your first full-length CD. Do you have any specific plan for it at the moment?

Liam: METAL! SO MUCH METAL! But not too much… just the right amount.

Ste: The plan for the moment is just to crack on with the writing and recording of the new album. We are already well under way with a good 5-8 tracks nearing completion. We don’t want to jinx anything but we are hoping to have it released some time in the first half of 2013.

James: The new album is going to be called “The Rebuild”. We'll have some sneaky surprises and previews for you all near the winter months. Until then I’ll just say it’s going to be heavier, it’s going to be faster and your going to love it!

John: It’s going to be huge- imagine the E.P with more orchestra and more groove.

Dan: Conceptually the album begins in the aftermath of the EP. The world has all but been destroyed by the impact of the planet and civilization is living in a dystopian chaos. The album follows the rise and fall of ‘The Architect’, a man who has a utopian vision and will stop at nothing to make it happen.

Patrick: We have just about enough material to make a full length now it's just a case of putting the songs together into a coherent order. My main goal is to incorporate as much cowbell into the songs as possible.

Well, Polarissima is also available at famous Japanese CD stores called “disk union” and “Amazon Japan”. I got some positive feedbacks from the people who checked it out already. How do you feel about it? Do you have any message to Japanese metalheads?

Liam: I honestly can’t tell you what that means to have fans that are so far afield! It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my….

Dan: Now now Liam! It really is an overwhelming feeling to know that people all over the world listen to and support your music. We honestly can’t thank you all enough, and we WILL be over to play to you. We will find a way!

Ste: We are all so happy that the Japanese people have had the chance to listen to the music through you Kumi. We love you for what you do and your passion for metal! – It’s inspiring!

James: I still cant get my head around it, we have fans so far spread over the globe. It’s incredible. I just want to thank every one of you who has supported us!

Patrick: I had no idea it was on Amazon, that's awesome! Can't wait to play in Japan hopefully someday soon.

John: We’re so glad that people enjoy the CD, I never imagined that it would make it all the way to Japan! Thank you to everyone who has bought it, and has spread the word about Midnight Realm. Don’t forget to stop by our facebook and say hi!

Midnight Realm on Facebook: www.facebook.com/midnightrealmband
Midnight Realm on Facebook: www.midnight-realm.com
Midnight Realm Official Online Store: midnightrealmstore.bigcartel.com

Midnight Realm Official Music Video “Solaris”