Altered
Aeon
I think technical thrash
metal is one of the best and at the same time most underestimated genres.
I think that this musical direction needs a lot of skills, technical knowledge,
flawless performances and complex and even progressive themes combined
and perfectly united with aggressiveness, anger and extremity. All these
make it not an easy music to play and actually not all can deliver great
compositions. Moreover there are few bands out there that play techno thrash/death
metal and Altered Aeon is one of them. "Dispiritism" is truly a great album
that will make you headbang till you drop, so do yourselves a favor and
go and get a copy of this album. For now, read what Altered Aeon answered
to our questions...
1. FIRST OF ALL, CONGRATULATIONS ON “DISPIRITISM”!
IT’S ABSOLUTELY GREAT!
Thanks a lot! “Dispiritism” sums up what we`ve
been doing for the last two and a half years and we`re proud of what we`ve
accomplished musically. I`m glad you`re so excited about it!
2. YOU BELONG TO THE TECHNICAL THRASH METAL GENRE
WITH MANY DEATH METAL ELEMENTS THROWN IN YOUR MUSIC. DO YOU AGREE WITH
THIS DESCRIPTION? SO, WHICH ARE THE BANDS OR MUSICIANS THAT MADE YOU REALIZE
THIS IS THE MUSIC YOU’D LIKE TO PLAY?
Yeah, I think we can pretty much agree on
that description. We`re fans of both thrash and death metal obviously but
we really use anything that sounds good within the frames of metal. If
we use anything that goes beyond the borders of metal, which rarely happens,
we disguise it a bit and make it fit the musical concept of the band. I
think that the whole metal scene is responsible for making us want to play
this kind of music but the credit has to be given to thrash and death metal
first and foremost. Bands like Morbid Angel, Forbidden, Suffocation and
Dark Angel definitely set our minds into this musical direction.
3. I’VE TRACED SOME NEVERMORE (EARLIER ERA) TINGES
IN YOUR MUSIC ESPECIALLY ON THE WAY YOUR SINGER INTERPRETS THE SONGS FROM
TIME TO TIME. SO, DO YOU LIKE NEVERMORE?
Yeah, we`re fans of Nevermore but musically
we haven`t been that influenced by them in my opinion. Kjell has some Warrel
Dane-vibes going on at times and that`s part of why I personally like his
voice. There`s just no denying- I`m a big fan of Warrel Dane!
4. THIS IS YOUR DEBUT ALBUM. SO PLEASE TELL ME
ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT OR ARE THERE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO
CHANGE? DO YOU THINK YOU’VE MANAGED TO FIND YOUR PERSONAL SOUND AND CREATE
ORIGINAL MUSIC?
We´re satisfied with the album but of
course there are things we`d like to change in retrospect. You just can`t
make the perfect album, if you manage to create the perfect album then
there`s just nowhere to go from there. There`s stuff here and there that
could be changed for the better, I don´t really want to point anything
out in case I ruin someone`s experience of the album. But anyway, I think
we`ve managed to create a personal and unique sound and we`re really satisfied
with the sound of the band. I don`t think we sound like any other act out
there, to me Altered Aeon is one of a kind.
5. IF YOU HAD TO REVIEW “DISPIRITISM”, WHAT WOULD
YOU SAY, TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
Hmmm, it`s really hard to be objective about
one`s own work. I`d probably write that Altered Aeon is doing something
rare in this day and age, the band is actually playing a form of tech-thrash!
Awesome instrumental work, awesome vocals, brilliant songs. Perhaps the
production could be a bit rawer but overall a cool experience. Don`t know
if that is objective enough? I tried anyway, he he.
6. WHAT’S THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART IN
YOUR MUSIC ACCORDING TO YOU? ARE THERE ANY ELEMENTS YOU’D LIKE TO ADD OR
EXPERIMENT WITH IN THE FUTURE?
The worst part is probably…well, coming up
with the songs in the first place. I mean, mostly everything flows but
there are points when you`re just coming up with riffs that are good but
they just don`t flow together or you can`t get a song-structure that feels
right…that is just frustrating shit! That is the downside of playing semi-technical
music. I mean, that is the only bad part I can think of. The music itself
has no bad parts he he! The best part is when the band is well-rehearsed,
when we just play the songs and it sounds great. That`s the best part,
when we actually succeed in playing hard passages with a fair share of
tightness. It`s hard to say how the music will be approached on the next
album, we`ll try evolve of course and try out stuff but I`m not sure in
what way. We`ll definitely stick to the main formula and ingredients of
all that is Altered Aeon though, you will know that it is the same band
when you hear the next album.
7. WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK HAVE YOU RECEIVED? WHAT
WAS THE MOST FLATTERING AND WHAT THE MOST UNFAIR COMMENT YOU READ ABOUT
YOUR MUSIC?
We`ve received a lot of good reviews and we`ve
been flattered a lot actually! Go visit our website and check out all the
cool reviews, it`s impossible to pick out the MOST flattering comment.
Everyone who said that it is one of the best album they`ve ever heard has
flattered the shit out of us, he he! The most unfair comment was a couple
of bad reviews that said that the music was un-interesting overall. That`s
not what you want to hear when you`ve spent hours and hours on trying to
make the music as interesting as possible!
8. WHICH ARE THE MAIN TOPICS YOU DEAL WITH LYRIC-WISE?
WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION?
The main topic is occultism in various forms,
theories that are sort of kept in the shadows and that you can`t really
read much about in the mainstream media. Those are the main topics AND
the main sources for inspiration. Check out any of the more valuable works
on occult knowledge (occult as in “hidden”, not “satanic”) and I think
you can draw lines to the lyrics of Altered Aeon.
9. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? WHAT
DO ALTERED AEON DELIVER ON STAGE?
The only plans we have regarding live shows
right now is one gig here in Sweden on the 23rd of July. Keep checking
our website for more info regarding that. We will deliver a wall of sound
and a total thrash-attack that will leave no one unmarked!
10. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE COVER ARTWORK TO THE
READERS AND POINT OUT ITS CONNECTION WITH THE ALBUM TITLE?
Sure. The figure on the front cover represents
a being of Earth (as in the planet earth and in the element earth) who
is trapped inside some sort of building that represents the flesh. Through
the windows you can view a brighter and more liberating place of existence
but it seems to be out of reach. That`s how it touches upon the word “Dispiritism”,
because it is indeed a dispiriting situation. The front cover is actually
inspired by the lyrics for “Dispirited Chambers” in the way that it`s all
presented. So one interpretation of the front cover in connection with
the lyrics is: “You`re locked inside a prison of flesh and the collective
subconsciousness of all the human souls locked inside the flesh creates
an illusion of dispiritism that weighs on all of us”. The second interpretation
is: “You`re in a dark place and you want to get out but your inner fears
are locking you in”. Something like that.
11. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD
IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Emotion-wise our music is PASSION, as in passion
for energetic music. If our music was a painting you would see lots of
death in it, death as an end to something but also as a gateway to something
new. You would probably see lots of symbols for death but also symbols
for an everlasting eternity in one seemingly illogical paradox that is
actually logical on a deeper level.
12. IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE
IN YOUR ALBUM, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I would personally invite Snowy Shaw because
he`s one musician that I admire, the other guys in the band would have
other requests regarding guest musicians. I`m not sure which ones they
would pick though.
13. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULDN’T EXPRESS
YOURSELVES THROUGH MUSIC? HOW WOULD YOU CHANNEL YOUR ENERGY AND CREATIVITY?
I would probably write more. Now I only write
when I create lyrics but if I didn`t have music then I would probably write
books or something.
14. WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO
HAVE?
Altered Aeon- the next big thing in metal!
15. THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE
TO MENTION AND I FORGOT TO ASK YOU?
In case you want to visit our website, go
to www.alteredaeon.cjb.net
. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the interview and
I also want to thank the readers for…reading, he he.
Christine Parastatidou
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