Ethereal
Blue
Ethereal Blue is a Greek
band that plays melancholic and atmospheric death/black music in a very
interesting way, revealing at the same time their abilities and potential
to do even better in the future. "Black Heart Process" is the title of
their debut album out on Deadsun Records and taking this chance we decided
to ask them some questions. Here's what the band's singer, Efthimis told
us...
1. FIRST OF ALL I THINK IT'S
NECESSARY FOR THE READERS TO PRESENT YOURSELVES AND GIVE US A BRIEF BAND
BIO BY STATING SOME OF YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS?
Ok,it all started back in 2002 when a company
of students decided to form a metal group in order to play the music that
we love many years now.As the time was passing by and the rehersals sounded
better we decided to take ourselves seriously and we came up with the material
that consisted our first demo cd titled "A mourning ocean.." which gained
the approval of the metal media in the world and gave us the chance to
sign a contract with Deadsun Records.Our greatest achivements till now
are our supporting appearances to groups like Arcturus,Rotting Christ,Septic
Flesh and the worldwide circulation of our debut album "Black Heart Process".
2.OK, WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND ETHEREAL BLUE?
BLUE IS THE COLOR OF SADNESS. IS THIS THE REASON? BY THE WAY DON'T YOU
MIND THAT THERE ARE QUITE SOME BANDS IN METAL MUSIC THAT USE THE SAME COLOR
WITH YOU?
Your remark about the blue colour is correct,
we named the band Ethereal Blue for the reason that you mention but also
bacause it sounded "catchy" to our ears. Of course I have to admit that
Ethereal Blue is a song On Thorns I Lay from the album "Future Narcotic"
that I like very much. I mention this because I think that it played a
great role to the naming of the group. Actually we have no problem
with the name of other bands that use the colour blue, all of them have
something different to propose in metal music.
3."BLACK HEART PROCESS" IS YOUR DEBUT WORK. BEFORE
THAT YOU HAD A DEMO ENTITLED "A MOURNING OCEAN", SO CAN YOU PIN POINT THE
MAIN SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM?
No similarities actually between them,only
differences I believe. The demo was more gothic oriented and the album
is more agressive and intense. At that time we used female vocals that
we don't use now. Only the melancolic melodies are common in these two
releases.
4.IF A METALLER CAME ASKING YOU TO PRESENT HIM
AND DESCRIBE "BLACK HEART PROCESS" TO HIM, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM? WHICH
WORDS WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
As the flyer for the advertising of the album
says,"Black Heart Process" is an individual apprenhension of the NWOSDM,
the English gothic metal forms and the bitter agression of the Black Metal
genre within agressive and intense but also melodic paths. I think I cannot
agree more with that.
5.YOU BELONG TO THE ATMOSPHERIC/GOTHIC DEATH-BLACK
METAL GENRE. A BRANCH VERY DIFFICULT IF YOU ASK ME, BECAUSE A FEW YEARS
AGO IT WAS QUITE POPULAR AND THE COMPETITION IS HARD. SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK
ALLOWS YOU TO STAND OUT FROM THE REST OF THE BANDS AND HOW EASY IS IT TO
MAKE THIS HAPPEN? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU'VE FORMED A PERSONAL SOUND OR
ARE YOU STILL IN A SEARCH OF YOUR MUSICAL IDENTITY?
There is no one who can claim that with one
album he has managed to form a personal sound in music. Innovation needs
time and effort. I can say that we are in the right path in order to find
our personal sound. We know that competition in the kind of music that
we perform is hard but actually we play music to express ourselves and
have a good time. We want to stand out from the rest of the bands but this
does not mean that we will be alienated while we will be chasing glory
if you see what I mean. At this time we are glad enough with the feedback
that we gain from the metal media and the fans for our first album. I dont
know,time will show...
6.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT OR IS
THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE? CAN YOU DESCRIBE IN A FEW WORDS ETHEREAL
BLUE'S SONGWRITING PROCESS AND YOUR RECORDING SESSIONS?
I have listened to the album hundreds of times
and every time I find something that I would like it to be different. If
the musician enters this procedure the result is always the same but basically
we are all satisfied 90% from the album. We keep on discussing these things
together but the conversation never ends with a result.
As far as the songwriting is concerned some
one from us brings a whole song and we work on it. We are not the band
that jams and then keeps the best parts of the whole, we are not in that
level yet. The recording procedure was painful because we used four different
studios to achieve the best result, but we have many beautiful things to
remember from these days.
7.PLEASE NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS
AND ALBUMS. WHO ARE THE MUSICIANS THAT MADE YOU REALIZE THAT THIS IS THE
KIND OF MUSIC THAT SUITS YOU THE BEST?
I cannot speak for the others in this question
so I will speak for myself. I mainly like atmospheric bands as Anathema,
Opeth, Orphaned Land, Septic Flesh and Arcturus but the band that I love
the most and I would do anything in order to play support to them at least
once is MY DYING BRIDE. I also like movie soundtracks very much and black
metal bands as Emperor and Satyricon. All the albums from these bands consist
my inspiration when I compose a song for Ethereal Blue.
8.AS EXPECTED THE COVER ARTWORK AND THE WHOLE
CD LAYOUT ARE IN BLUE COLOR. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT AND WHAT DO WE SEE
IN THE COVER? I'M SORRY BUT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT THE COVER SHOWS.
Our drummer Dimitris K. is responsible for
it. The cover is the face of a whiping woman and is very dark and simple
because we wanted it to go deep into the melancoly of the album.
9.PLEASE EXPLAIN THE ALBUM'S TITLE "BLACK HEART
PROCESS" AND TELL US A FEW THINGS FOR THE LYRICAL CONTENT OF THE SONGS.
Well, to begin with, there is no "evil" concept
behind the title. Since people around us seem to consider themselves
the "normal" even the "enlightened" ones (white-hearted), with that phrase
we state our opposition to any kind of "Politically correct", hypocritical
hype that seems to lead most people's life to questionable results that
spring out of vanity, the "conventional good-truth" etc. The very essence
of this world includes both God and Hell, Love and Hate, Life and Death
etc. The way to catharsis, the self-knowing process is to conceive and
to realise these contradictions. So we 've chosen this course in
life, and that is what we call "Black Heart Process" in a symbolic way.
The lyrics concern personal experiences and
points of viewing Life, Humanity, God, Love etc. They are quite symbolic
and expressed in a rather poetic way, but we believe that anyone could
find oneself in these fiction (?)- states of mind and emotion.
10.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK YOU'VE GOT
THIS FAR? WHAT WAS THE WORST AND WHAT WAS THE MOST FLATTERING COMMENT YOU'VE
RECEIVED?
Up to now I have read about ten reviews of
the album from metal media worldwide and they are more than encouraging.
So far we are lucky enough not to have seen any bad comments in the reviews.
They all focus on the melancoly of our music and to things that can actually
be corrected. I wouldn't like to refer to flattering comments because they
will have no meaning if the continuity is not proportional to the beginning.
Please forgive me.
11.WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE LIVE SHOWS? YOU'VE
DONE QUITE SOME AND YOU'VE SUPPORTED SOME FAMOUS BANDS. SO, WHAT'S IN STORE
FOR ETHEREAL BLUE? DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS? IS THERE A CHANCE YOU MIGHT TRAVEL
OUTSIDE THE GREEK BORDERS?
The live part of the "job" is the one that
we like the most, till now we have played with bands as Septic Flesh, Rotting
Christ and ARCTURUS!!!! For the time being we have arranged some live appearences
inside the Greek borders in several cities and two great gigs with Rotting
Christ and Out of the Lair in Ioannina and as a support act to Moonspell
in Thessaloniki in April. Two months ago we traveled to Sophia - Bulgaria
and we participated in a festival there along with Naer Mataron. We will
pass the borders for sure again,JF from Deadsun tries to close some dates
for us, we will see...For Info about our live dates check www.etherealblue.org.
12.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Sadness I guess...The painting would be the
cover of the album. It represents us very much I must tell you.
13.IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE
IN YOUR ALBUM, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Aaron Stainthorpe from My Dying Bride or Mike
Akerfeldt from Opeth are good for a Beginning...ha!
14.WHAT'S, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHAT'S
THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC? IN WHICH FIELD DO YOU THINK YOU NEED FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT?
I am afraid I can't answer this question I
cannot actually specify with accuracy neither the good elements nor the
bad ones. I think that we have to find a better chemistry as a band, musically
talking and to develop the pure melancholy that flows from our music.
15.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING
AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
We'd like to thank you guys for your interest
and this opportunity given by your zine to express ourselves and be heard.
Please visit the band's site at www.etherealblue.org,
we'd love to hear your opinion or email as at: [email protected]
Efthimis - vocals on behalf of Ethereal Blue
Christine Parastatidou
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