Metalium
This is the 3rd interview
Behind The Veil does with the band’s leading force Lars Ratz, who once
again proves to be a fun to talk guy with a great sense of humor and offering
us some clever answers. This interview comes to support Metalium’s latest
musical endeavor called “Demons Of Insanity” which is, I think, their best
effort and release to date! Let’s see what we have talked about throughout
this interview...
1. WHAT HAPPENED TO METALIUM THIS LAST YEAR
FROM THE RELEASE OF “AS ONE” TILL THE RECORDINGS OF “DEMONS OF INSANITY”?
Well, we’ve been writing songs and we’ve been
for the very first time touring Japan. It was a very big success for us
and this gave us extra motivation to write songs and we had a wider range
of style and somehow we made it everything to be happy for us all. This
is the only record so far that everyone in the band is happy with the sound
and songs, cause you know someone had to complain always! (laughter!)
-WELL SOME SORT OF COMPLAINTS ALMOST ALWAYS EXIST
AND THIS HELPS THE BANDS TO IMPROVE THEIR SOUND.
Yes, that’s true, it’s hard to make everyone
happy with your sound, but we made it somehow. I was amazed too you know,
cause I’d never expect to make half of what we achieved.
2.YES AND THAT’S WHY I TOLD YOU EARLIER THAT FOR
ME “DEMONS OF INSANITY” IS THE BEST ALBUM YOU’VE DONE SO FAR…
Yeah! I love you say that! For me all my kids
– my babies – are the same for me… I would never say like others that this
is the best record we’ve ever done. I think that every Metalium album has
its own flavor and there is no song or record that I should be ashamed
for. But on the other hand everything is a matter of taste and there are
always different opinions!
3.WHAT I REALIZED IS THAT THERE IS MORE VARIETY
IN YOUR COMPOSITIONS. ON THE PREVIOUS ALBUM YOU HAD MAINLY UPTEMPO RHYTHMS,
BUT NOW THE SPEED VARIES FROM FAST TO MID TEMPO PLUS I’VE ALSO NOTICED
AN EPIC ATMOSPHERE IN THE SONGS. YOU’VE ADDED MORE DEPTH AND I THINK THIS
SOUND SUITS YOU BEST! HOWEVER, I’D LIKE TO HEAR THE CREATOR’S POINT OF
VIEW…
I agree with you! On “As One” me and Michael
did everything on our own, cause our singer was practicing in his vocal
school, building up his voice and our guitarist got married, so we had
you can say more or less half of Metalium’s power. Still I like it very
much, though, because half of it was written by me! (laughter) However,
this time we all 4 were involved and this gave more variety to the songs.
4.GERMAN POWER METAL IS WHAT YOU PLAY AND I THINK
BESIDES THE METALIUM PERSONAL STAMP I’VE TRACED INFLUENCES FROM GERMAN
LEGENDS LIKE FOR EXAMPLE ACCEPT AND RUNNING WILD (THE RIFF ON THE SONG
“SKY IS FALLING”)…
-WHAT?
I don’t know… Should I take it as a compliment
or as an insult! (laughter)
-WELL RUNNING WILD IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BANDS,
SO IT’S DEFINITELY A COMPLIMENT!
That’s something we don’t agree on (laughter).
-SO, THIS MEANS THAT YOU DON’T LIKE RUNNING WILD…
Hmm… there are other bands I like more, to
answer to your question dimplomatically!
-OK THEN YOU ALSO HAVE A JUDAS PRIEST ESSENCE…
DO YOU AT LEAST AGREE WITH ME ON THAT?
Well, Michael is a big Judas Priest fan so
it’s possible his songs to have a touch like this. I’m more like into the
old Maiden and Motley Crue stuff. Mattias is more like an Ozzy guy, so
we have different elements here and there.
5.NOW YOU ALSO DID A TURN LYRIC-WISE AND YOU FOCUS
ON SERIOUS SOCIAL ISSUES. WHY?
Yeah, because like we say in the introduction
it’s time for us to say what we really think and what troubles our minds
years now. We are not 25 anymore, we have kids and if you see the world
with open eyes, you see all these bullshit happening and for example you
realize that mankind is the most arrogant race on this world and at the
same time we are the only race that annihilates itself. We like killing
each other for religious, race or other issues…
-FOR STUPID REASONS ANYWAY…
Yeah and we simply want to say that our own
intelligent will kill us in the end and this is a very dark and tragic
message in “Demons Of Insanity” cause in the end you find out, reading
the lyrics, that the demons of insanity are us, ourselves. Then it goes
around things like cloning humans…
-YEAH AND I THINK HUMAN CLONING WILL HAPPEN EVENTUALLY…
Yeah, well I’m sure it’s happened already,
but they told tell us. We don’t know and I don’t want to know what has
already happened… We also have the fact that mankind things that as long
as they have enough money they can do whatever they want and rule their
own fate and then there come the waves and wash away their lives as if
they were just flies… This is something for example we talk about in the
song “Sky Is falling”, which is not sounding like Running Wild (laughter)!!!
-I INSIST THAT THERE IS A RIFF SOUNDING LIKE THAT…
I’ll tell you what… I wrote this song and
I don’t possess not even one single Running Wild song…
-WELL, OK THAT’S MY POINT OF VIEW ANYWAY
Ok then!!! Our singer is a little better hopefully!(laughter)
-WE CAN’T EVEN COMAPRE THAT. TOTALLY DIFFERENT
VOICES…
And he doesn’t wear funny hats… (laughter)
Rock ‘n’Rolf is a nice guy! I haven’t got anything against him!
-HOWEVER, THIS WASN’T A VERY DIPLOMATIC ANSWER
LIKE YOUR PREVIOUS ONE. YOU EXPOSED YOURSELF!
6.WELL ANOTHER INTERESTING THING IS THAT YOU HAVE
A CONCEPT INSIDE ANOTHER CONCEPT. WHAT I MEAN IS THAT THERE IS THE OBVIOUS
CONCEPT WITH METALIAN FINALLY MEETING WITH METALIANA (SOMETHING THAT HAS
ALREADY HAPPENED IN THE END OF THE “AS ONE” ALBUM) AND THE OTHER IS THE
DESTRUCTION OF OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. I FIND THIS VERY ORIGINAL! PLEASE
COMMENT ON THAT…
Well, basically the concept between Metalian
and Metaliana is the fact that we see the story through their eyes. They
stand for the endless believers for what they believe in and we picture
this on the cover with them holding the earth that is falling apart in
their hands and they still hope and faith. Also we still have hope and
faith in heavy metal or otherwise we wouldn’t do it you know. I don’t think
we can rescue the world with heavy metal. That’s a very nice thing to think,
but still it’s something you have to fight for.
7.WHY DIDN’T YOU RECORD EVERYTHING IN YOUR TORNADO
STUDIO, BUT YOU’VE ALSO USED BLUE NOISE STUDIO IN HAMBURG AND JUMPOWER
IN MALLORCA?
Yeah, this time I wanted to have a bigger
drum sound, so we went to Blue Noise that had a bigger room for recording
the drums. This was one reason to record the drums there and then we got
the offer to play in Japan for the first time as I told you and it was
exactly shortly after we started to produce this record. We had a deadline,
we had to finish and this was in a very short period of time and I said
ok guys we have to move our fucking asses to get the record down otherwise
Japan tour flies out of the window. We fought 5 years to play there and
it was a very important thing for us, so I simply said “Ok we have to split
up. You guys stay in Hamburg then I go with Henning to sunny Mallorca!”
(laughter) So, we had a house there and a little studio and we did the
vocals there. They stayed in Hamburg and recorded the guitars, so we returned
to Hamburg, played the bass quickly and mixed the album. You really can
realize, when you listen to the album, that the vocals are a bit more “open”
somehow than before…
-YEAH AND I WANTED TO ASK YOU ON THAT. THIS IS
THE FIRST TIME I LISTEN TO THE VOCALS BEING SO LOUD AND CLEAR. THEY HAVE
A FRONT ROLE AND THIS IS VERY NICE BECAUSE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING SINGER AND
THAT’S THE FIRST TIME WE CAN FULLY LISTEN TO HIS POTENTIAL! HE INTERPRETS
THE SONGS WITH A LOT OF PASSION AND HE CAN SING ANYWAY HE WANTS..
Yes, and this is perhaps we woke up and we
could look at the sun and then we went to the beach and looked at the waves
and then we went in the studio and with all this emotion input, with no
girlfriends, no going back home to sleep… You know, there was only me and
him!!! Ooooohhh!!! (laughter)
8.HOW DID YOU CONVINCE DON AIREY TO PLAY THE KEYBOARDS
AGAIN FOR YOU?
I simply asked him!(laughter) He became a
big Metalium fan you know!
-OH THAT’S COOL! YOU MADE HIM A POWER METAL FAN!
He is a very nice guy and musically he is
a genius! It’s great to have him. It’s a big honor for us!
9.ONCE AGAIN THE COVER ARTWORK IS BEAUTIFUL! IT’S
SIMPLY SUPERB! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT?
We use the same guy. He does all our albums
from the very first “Millennium Metal – Chapter One” CD.
-I SEE THAT YOU MAINTAIN THIS COMIC-LIKE FEELING.
WHY?
Because we like it! There are many people
who tell me to change and blah blah blah but why should I change? Everything
I do in Metalium is for me. This is my band and my decisions! I can’t make
it right for everybody. I listen to totally different opinions, so why
and how could I make it right for everyone? I do what I like and what I
want to listen to and I am happy when people like it as well. But even
if they don’t like it, if I like it, that’s what counts to me the most!
-HOW COME YOU HAVEN’T DECIDED TO DO A COMIC BOOK?
I THINK THAT IF YOU WERE IN THE U.S.A. METALIAN WOULD BECOME A COMIC BOOK…
Well, we have him in the Metalium DVD, we
have a little comic story.
10.I THINK THE COVER IS VERY ELOQUENTLY CONNECTED
TO THE ALBUM’S LYRICS. DO YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN HOW?
The key message of the album is that Metalian
and Metaliana are holding the earth which is about to fall apart and that’s
exactly the message of this album.
-DOES THIS COVER CONTAIN A METAPHOR, LIKE FOR
EXAMPLE THAT EVERY HUMAN CAN HOLD THE FUTURE OF THIS WORLD IN HIS/HER HANDS?
Well, no it’s more or less the fact that they
support what hey believe in and this is exactly what Metalian and Metaliana
stand for and believe in heavy metal. I believe in heavy metal. I don’t
believe that we can rescue the world with heavy metal, but if I don’t believe
in what I wouldn’t do it anymore, cause there is no chance I can get rich
with this music.
11.ONE THING THAT SEEMS WEIRD TO ME IS THE FACT
THAT METALIAN DOESN’T HAVE A FACE, THUS HE CAN BE EVERY METALHEAD. HOWEVER,
METALIANA HAS A VERY SPECIFIC AND BEAUTIFUL FACE. WHY?
I don’t know why he painted like this! (laughter)
12.YOU ARE A BAND THAT WE’VE NEVER SEEN PLAYING
LIVE IN GREECE. WHY IS THAT? WHEN WILL WE SEE YOU?
We’d love to play in Greece, but the problem
is that Greece is so far away, so it’s not possible to put it in a normal
routine schedule. Unfortunately we never made it to Greece. Like I said
there are a lot of countries to explore. We’ve already gone to Japan for
the first time and we will play for the first time in U.K. in Bloodstock
Festival so who knows?
13.ARMAGEDDON MUSIC IS AN ACTIVE LABEL. RIGHT?
SO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN STORE FOR US? WHICH WILL YOUR NEW RELEASES BE?
Well we have Suidakra’s new album and Holy
Moses and the “Armageddon Over Wacken” triple CD, very first triple CD
for a festival worldwide and the double DVD of “Armageddon Over Wacken
2004” with a 5.1 dolby surround sound and more than 320 minutes, I think,
with lots of stuff. We’ve also signed Goddess Of Desire. Do you know them?
-YES THE BLACK HEAVY METAL BAND…
Yes, they are from Holland and we have a lot
of interesting artists we’re talking to at the moment for new signings
so there’s more to come!
14.YOU HAVE A FULL TIME BAND, IN WHICH YOU WRITE
AT LEAST HALF OF THE SONGS, YOU PRODUCE AND MIX THEM AND ON THE OTHER HAND
YOU PRODUCE ALBUMS FOR OTHER BANDS AND YOU ALSO HAVE YOUR OWN LABEL. HOW
DO YOU FIND TIME FOR ALL THESE?
Good question! How do I find time? I have
to organize more and more a team of people around me so we can work it
all. I get very busy, especially this year that I also start to produce
my first Spanish band called Forever Slave. You should have a look on their
webpage www.foreverslave.com.
-WHAT DO THEY PLAY? HEAVY METAL?
Ohh…Their style is… a mix of a Rhapsody sound
with a lot of gothic influences. They sound different! Have a look! I will
produce them in May so they will soon be out on Armageddon Music.
15.IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO BE A FAMOUS PERSON
FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BE AND WHICH PERIOD OF HIS/HER LIFE
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE A TASTE OF?
Hahaha! Godgilla! (laughter) I’d like to be
Godgilla!!!!
-PERHAPS IN THE SECOND MOVIE?
No, no the first one, the old one!!!! I’m
a very big fan!
16.IF SUDDENLY ELECTRICITY CEASED TO EXIST, WHAT
DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN TO HEAVY METAL MUSIC AND TO THE METALIUM IN SPECIFIC?
We might play the bongos again! (laughter)
or even sing a capella! Who knows…
17.WHAT ESSENCE AND FEELINGS DO YOU THINK YOUR
NEW CD CREATES TO THE LISTENERS?
Hopefully as much as possible good and positive
feelings!
18.YOU’RE ALSO ABOUT TO RELEASE YOUR FIRST DVD,
WHICH WILL BE THE FOLLOW UP TO “METALIAN ATTACK PART ONE”. WHAT WILL THE
DVD CONTAIN?
Well, it will contain the other 4 years since
the last DVD and it will contain live shows, things behind the scenes,
etc…
19.THANK YOU FOR THE INTERVIEW!
-SO LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE METALIUM FANS AROUND
THE WORLD!
Yeah! I hope, like I said, we’ll have the
chance to come to Greece one day and to see a lot of Greeks have a lot
of ouzo and eat pita gyros (note: a Greek kind of sandwich)!
Christine Parastatidou
Special Help: Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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