DARK ROMANTIC SOULS

ANIMA IN FIAMME

Life is full of wonders. Nature is enigmatic. Can a simple man understand deeply and be part of nature's neverending circle? We are dust in the wind, we are small particles in a great big play. Yet, we bear the charisma of understanding. The price is big. Our souls forever burning in flames. Life offers a lot to those having their eyes and hearts ready to receive the signals. Passion, storm, serenity, deliverance. Pain and sufferings torture our souls, but there's always love and hope to soften the pain. Music is a path to escape reality. Do you want the courage to stare into Anima In Fiamme's souls? Come and look into their naked I...

1.GIVE A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE BAND. WHICH ARE THE CURRENT MEMBERS?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: ANIMA IN FIAMME project started in January 1998, after the split up of our previous gothic band NADIR. At the beginning the band was composed by me playing violin and keyboards, Pasquale Scotti guitar and voice, Alessandro Izzo playing percussions. After some time, and after the unuseful attemp to find other good musicians, I and Pasquale decided to continue as a duo. We are supported by Giacomo Vitale, a friend and a really good classical guitar player: he’s like a half-member of the band, because he’s not joined AIF nor he’s a sessionman. To record music we compose we use many instruments so we have various session musicians, and among these I’ve to mention Alfredo Notarloberti and Fulvio De Fuccia, because they’ve not only played what we told them but they’ve helped us also in the process of composition.

2.HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC? WHICH ARE YOUR MAIN INFLUENCES?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: Our music is a fusion between harmony and anxiety: two discordant emotions, but mixing them together we have created ANIMA IN FIAMME’s style. I cannot decribe our music, sometimes it’s so complex but at the same time plain and magic. As probably our cd “SUB OCCASUM SOLIS” shows, our musical influences are really different: I listen to every kind of dark music, rock, blackmetal, gothic and industrial (only when it’s played with taste), without forgetting classical music, in particular the medieval and reinassance one.

3.HAVE YOU RECORDED ANY DEMO? IF YES,HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO FINISH THE RECORDINGS OF IT? WHERE DID YOU RECORDED AND WHO WAS THE PRODUCER?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: We have issued two demos. The first one, released in 1999, contained all the songs we recorded for compilations. The second one was the rough version of the album “Sub Occasum Solis” (with 8 tracks instead of the final 12) and we sent it only to labels and some magazine. We usually record at AKUSTIKA STUDIO, and since the 2nd demo also something at our KOBAL STUDIO, both in Naples. Because of our extreme fussiness, recordings are a long and really expensive moment of our life: it could take months. About production, we’ve made all by ourslves, helped by the sound technicians Roberto Bascetta and Angelo Tedeschi.

4.ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH IT OR NOW AFTER A WHILE YOU FIND THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: Regarding the demos, I think that many many things could be better, but they were our first experiences in recording, so sometimes we felt lost and didn’t know how to make better our songs or to give them the right sound.About the album “Sub Occasum Solis”, we’ve really grown up, both in composition and in recording experience, and I think that it’s really clear to everybody listening to our music. But now, after half a year since we released it, I feel various things that could be done better. I think it’s a natural process, because with the passing of time, and making music everyday, your maturity increases and you can notice many little particulars. The only thing that really makes me angry in “Sub Occasum Solis” is Sabrina Merolla’s Chinese voice in “Teng Ku Yeh Ch’eng”: I don’t know how could we keep it so low, you hear it with difficulty and that’s something that everyday hurts me.

5.WHAT'S THIS ELEMENT THAT INSPIRES YOU IN WRITING MUSIC?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: I started writing when I was 17 (not considering what I wrote before because it was too childish). I think that, even if these 10 years have really changed me, the substance is the same: I write of my pain and sufferings. This is something that many authors have already said in the past: when I’m happy I live my emotions, I have no need to sit and write because I have to breathe each moment of serenity, because pain has always a place in our life. So, I write to give vent to my tortured soul, to let some anguish go out of me.

6.DO YOU THINK THAT METAL MUSIC SHOULD HAVE ITS LIMITS OR SHOULD IT BE ENRICHED WITH DIFFERENT MUSICAL STYLES? WOULD YOU EVER USE ON THE FRONT RAW FEMALE VOCALS AND KEYBOARDS?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: Surely metal, as every other musical genre, has its limits. But I think that good bands know how to make a good album both breaking this limits or remaining “restricted” in them. There are many bands, such as CRADLE OF FILTH, HAGGARD, MY DYING BRIDE, CELTIC FROST, who have inserted keyboards, mixing classical music with extreme metal, and the result is often a masterpiece. Other bands, as MOTORHEAD, KREATOR (not considering the wonderful but experimental “Renewal” and “Endorama”), IRON MAIDEN release great albums even playing the same style without inserting other influences. I think that every band has its own way to compose and to give the better music. About ANIMA IN FIAMME, even if we don’t consider ourselves as a metal band (we listen a lot of metal, but we think that in our band is stronger the dark/gothic influence) we already use keyboards, and probably we’ll use also female vocals. We’ll have to see which direction will take the next songs we’ll compose, but we’re open to every solution if necessary.

7.WHICH SUBJECTS DO YOU LIKE TO HURT THROUGH YOUR LYRICS? WHICH THINGS INSPIRE YOU IN WRITING LYRICS? DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT EVERYDAY SITUATIONS OR DO YOU THINK THAT SOME TIMES FANTASY IS A NICE AND EASY WAY OF EXPRESSING REALITY?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: Life offers various suggestions and we inspire from these: our existence is so full of sensations that it’s really natural for our lyrics to remind of fragments of real life: we taste every moment, doesn’t matter if positive or negative. We don’t neglect the wonderful images offered by Nature: we cannot avoid contemplating a beautyful sunset or being enchanted by the energetical light of the Lady of the night. I don’t like to write conditioned only by my imagination, and I think that life is vital energy for our compositions. In “Sub Occasum Solis” lyrics are often introspective tales hidden behind verses with a double meanings.

8. WHY SOUL IN FLAMES? WHY DID YOU SELECT THIS BAND NAME AND WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY WITH IT TO THE PEOPLE? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR BAND NAME TO BE ITALIAN AND NOT ENGLISH LIKE MOST OF THE BANDS?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: I think that ANIMA IN FIAMME contains our complete thought about life and Art: as I’ve been able to tell often in the past we would like to evoke with this name images of passion and storm. For the choose of our name we’ve been helped by Romantic Art: Sturm Und Drang is for us a great inspiring force.The idea of using italian language was obvious for us: Italy has so ancient roots, Art is everywhere in each city, and we thought we had no need of using other languages.
FERRUCCIO MILANESI: I think that the choice of the language has also other reasons: when you play in a rock band (for example our ETOILE NOIRE), you have to let your music be widespread and understood by the greatest part of listeners in all over the world, so english is surely the best way and has a great musicality and ductility to show each emotion. When you play in a smaller and elite scene (as for ANIMA IN FIAMME), you have no need to be understood everywhere with simple and direct messages, because your public is deeper in listening your music and probably would appreciate your words for its musicality or particular research, will ask for translations and so on. So, we wanted to recreate the particular atmosphere of past centuries, and our language could better fit to this intention.

9.BRING TO MIND ALL YOUR SONGS. HAVE YOU IMPROVED AS SONGWRITERS AND PERFORMERS? WHAT'S THIS THING THAT YOU THINK MAKES YOU EASY TO RECOGNIZE FROM ALL THE OTHER BANDS OF THIS GENRE?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: Looking at the past, I see with no doubt that we’ve grown in composition: our first songs were rough, with too static orchestrations and melodies, while if you listen to “Sub Occasum Solis” album the songs have been more various, with instruments interlacing and a greater care for sounds and performance quality. This is probably the difference between us and other neoclassic dark or apocalyptic-folk bands: too often they record with no care for intonation, time, recording quality, using keyboards to play classic instruments (with the usually horrible result when playing trumpets or flutes) instead of real ones. We’ve spent a great time (and money) for composing and recording in the best way our album, we’ve used many good musicians, all studying in academies of music or already playing in orchestras, and I think that the final product shows the difference.

10.WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A GUY TO CONVINCE HIM BUY YOUR ALBUM INSTEAD OF SOMETHING ELSE?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: Today musical scene is growing everywhere: there are many good bands but at the same time there are bands of really low quality. Unfortunately in dark/folk scene there are too many groups with too little originality and that’s a bad thing also because this throws also on bands with great personality, who are enclosed in this not respectable circle. I’m not suitable for convincing people to buy an article: I can only say that if they have the courage to come near to our flame, “Sub Occasum Solis” is an album for them. They will find the charme of ancient Middle Ages and the disturbing atmospheres of the most claustrophobic industrial. This is ANIMA IN FIAMME and I hope I’ve not been guilty of presumption.

11.WHICH SONG OF YOUR DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST IDEAL TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: I think there’s no particular song, because each one has its own life and personality: “Ieratico Buio” transports the listener to a world far from here, with the harpsichord showing the beauty of Baroque Age, full of shades and richness; “Il Dolore” with its industrial magma evokes storm and a disturbing vortex. But above all I think that the best song to show the real soul of AIF is with no doubt “Come Fiore Reciso”: it’s a really important track for me, because I wrote for a friend that now is not among us anymore. At the beginning it was for guitar, violin and voice but with the passing of time we thought that a nineteenth-century trio of violin, piano and cello was the better choice.

12.IF YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD DO IN YOUR LIFE?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: I don’t know, my nature has always forced me to do works connected to Art: I had experiences in theatrical field, even if at amateur level. My aspirations are all in music: in the past it could be only a passion, now it has become a primary need and I can’t live without it.

13.HOW DO YOU FIND THE METAL SCENE OF ITALY? IS IT INTERESTING? HAVE YOU HEARD ANY NEW UNDERGROUND BANDS YOU FOUND INTERESTING AND WORTH TO BE MENTIONED?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: Italy is not the best place for music, it’s difficult to play live well equipped clubs: that’s a sad thing because there are a lot of great bands: you have to think to bands mentioned as seminal for others in all over the world as NECRODEATH, SCHIZO, UNDERTAKERS, DEATH SS and the more recent ART INFERNO, ABORYM, LACUNA COIL, RHAPSODY and EXTREMA, just to say few. Even if I don’t like all of them I’ve to say that, apart from genre and my personal tastes, these (and many others) are bands truly dedited to music, trying to go always forward in a country where music is the considered only as a little entertainment and where the only way to work as musician is to play the horrible melodic pop defined as “Italian Music”. About the underground, I don’t know very well the scene, so probably I ignore bands that in the future will be famous. I remember a band, EDENSHADE who shocked me at Agglutination Festival, in Summer 2000 and I like very much SULPHUR, death/black band of a great friend of us (who designed our ETOILE NOIRE’s logo).

14.HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS? DO YOU LIKE PERFORMING LIVE?

PASQUALE SCOTTI:As every band I love to play live, to feel sensations coming from public, adrenaline at maximum level: it’s the best way for an artist to express. As ANIMA IN FIAMME we’ve only played once in a little club here in Naples. I hope in a future we’ll play in some festivals and maybe in other countries.
FERRUCCIO MILANESI: Playing as AIF is not simple, becasuse you have to use many session players, so the costs are really elevate. In any case, I think in the future we’ll find a way to re-arrange the songs just to be played by three-four elements. Yet, I’ve always played in dark/metal/punk bands so I surely prefer to play live in aggressive rock concerts, to show and transmit energy and obscure force with ETOILE NOIRE than to be behind a keyboard playing quiet neoclassic music with AIF.

15.DO YOU LIKE READING BOOKS? WHICH IS YOUR MOST BELOVED BOOK AND AUTHOR? WHICH HERO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: I’ve been always involved in reading: you can enter in different world, meeting unknown characters you won’t ever meet in real life. Yet, confronting with other styles and authors is really important for an artist. I’ve no preferred author, but I’ve found really enchanting all ANN RICE’s novels , E.A. POE’s disturbing tales, CHARLOTTE BRONTE’s elegance, without forgetting A. CAMUS, S. KING, F. KAFKA, G. LEOPARDI and DANTE ALIGHIERI (his Inferno is really wonderful). Probably there’s no particular character I would like to be, but Louis in Ann Rice “Interview with the Vampire” could be one: I’ve been always enchanted by vampire themes, by the chance of seeing centuries passing, of looking at the world with different eyes and senses, to be a lord of the night to contemplate the moon, always cold and immobile as marble.

16.WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMPOSE THE SOUNDTRACK FOR A MOVIE? IF YES WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

PASQUALE SCOTTI: We’d be really happy to compose a soundtrack for a movie: it could be a great positive shove for the band. I’ve appreciated a lot LISA GERRARD’s work for “The Gladiator”: she’s been able to go out the too reductive circle of dark music and its subcultures. I would like to work for a horror movie such as “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” or for a movie with a nineteenth-century setting, with elegance and pomp.

17.WHAT MADE YOU DESPITE BEING FANS OF THIS MUSIC ALSO TRY TO COMPOSE YOUR OWN?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: It happened when I was a 12-13 years old. I was totally involved in writing, because I’ve started reading a book every day when I was a child, and Art had already touched me. Then I started listening to Cure, Bauhaus, Christian Death, and later Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, Kreator: soon I felt I had to do the same. I often imagined me on a stage, with all people looking at me, and I felt a great energy passing through my body. So, I’ve started playing bass and later keyboard/violin and history has shown I did the right thing.

18.WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE U.S.A. AND IN THE WHOLE WORLD IN GENERAL AFTER THESE TERRORIST ATTACKS?

FERRUCCIO MILANESI: It’s really difficult to say something… Each situation has ancient roots and it’s difficult to find where the problem started. In any case I think that violence is sometimes necessary, even if war is a tragic and really negative thing that involves also innocent people and destroys a Nature already damaged by our stupid and blind way of living. In the particular case of America, their politic in Middle East has created a great grudge in Arabian people, and this is not a new thing. So, they’ve created this and have continued doing what they want everywhere totally ignoring signals and other people’s interests (as for Kyoto’s agreements) and the result is 5000 persons dead. On the other side, the Islamic fanatic dogma is raising and has to be stopped (as for every other fanatic religion or movement) before it will cover with a burka every Art (being it the wonder of Nature or music, painting and poetry or the beautiful body of a woman). So, I think that war is useless and probably it will only serve USA’s interest: maybe the solution is first in resolving Palestine and Israel conflict and so reducing also the anger against Western Country (that continuously nourish fanaticism). But these are not simple problems to solve, and even if I think so a part of me calls revenge and thinks that the only thing to do is to attack without waiting. You can understand the reasons of a problem but you cannot excuse or justify everything.

19.THESE LAST LINES BELONG TO YOU...THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW AND I WISH YOU THE BEST!

PASQUALE SCOTTI: Thank you for your interest and for the space you have given to us.
FERRUCCIO MILANESI: I hope we’ll release soon our second album and our fans’ number will always grow.

Nikos "William_Kidd" Parastatidis

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