Moonlight
Agony
Moonlight Agony released
a couple of months ago an excellent piece of work that comprises both happiness
and sorrow. It's very difficult I think to be able to compose an album
that has such an obvious variety in sentiments and being able to change
from one to another... I am sure that most of you will realize and appreciate
this, so we've decided that an interview with such an interesting new band
was absolutely necessary! Here you are...
1.HELLO! FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS FOR “ECHOES
OF A NIGHTMARE”! IT'S AN EXCELLENT PIECE OF WORK!
2.HOWEVER, I'D LIKE TO HEAR THE CREATOR'S POINT
OF VIEW. SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK NOW OF YOUR ALBUM? ARE YOU FULLY SATISFIED
WITH IT? IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING WHAT WOULD THIS BE?
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Of course there’s always some things that we would
do different but all in all we’re very satisfied with the result. If we
would do any changes, maybe we would shorten some songs.
3.IF A METALLER CAME ASKING YOU TO DESCRIBE “ECHOES
OF A NIGHTMARE” FOR HIM, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM? WHICH DO YOU THINK ARE
THE ELEMENTS THAT SET IT APART FROM THE REST OF THE DARK SYMPHONIC POWER
METAL RELEASES?
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We mix a lot of different styles, we try to make
ourselves hard to categorize. For an example, the song “Vanished” moves
from a progressive part to a pure jazz riff. But then again it’s always
hard to describe your own music and convincing people that this doesn't
sound like everything else.
4.YOUR MUSIC IS AMAZING! I HAVE TO BE HONEST HERE
AND TELL YOU THAT YOUR INFLUENCES ARE MORE OR LESS OBVIOUS. HOWEVER, I
HAVE TO CONGRATULATE YOU FOR MANAGING TO ACHIEVE SUCH AN ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE
SOUND. I THINK THAT AS SOON AS THE METALLERS WILL LISTEN TO YOUR ALBUM,
THEY WILL BE ABLE TO REALIZE YOUR SOUND AND DISTINGUISH YOU FROM THE REST
OF THE BANDS. THIS IS A DIFFICULT TASK YOU'VE ACHIEVED. WHY DO YOU THINK
THERE ARE SO FEW BANDS NOWADAYS WHO HAVE A SOUND OF THEIR OWN? PLEASE COMMENT
ON THIS...
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Its easy to just go with the flow, playing music
that everybody buys now, but nobody will remember you in 5 years. But we
aren't playing music to be famous or to just make a shitload of money,
we want to come up with something new and maybe be remembered for that.
That’s the idea, but if we can make a living out of it, cool!
5.TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE LYRICAL CONTENT
OF THE CD. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LYRICS AND WHICH THINGS INTRIGUE
YOU TO TALK ABOUT? WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION?
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Kalle and Robert wrote most of the lyrics on the
cd. It has a theme, it’s a story of a person that lives in his own fantasy
without knowing it. He’s doing all kinds of fucked up stuff, which seem
fully normal to him, but in the end he wakes up from this fantasy and realizes
that he did all the things in real life. We thought it would be more fun
to write about a psycho instead of The Great Hero who travels around the
world searching for The Big Shiny Stone, haha.
6.THROUGHOUT THE YEARS YOU HAD QUITE SOME LINE
UP CHANGES, ESPECIALLY ON THE GUITARS AND VOCALS. VOCALS HAS BEEN A VERY
“SENSITIVE” SUBJECT FOR YOU, SINCE YOU HAD A DIFFERENT SINGER IN ALMOST
EVERY DEMO OF YOURS. NOW YOU HAVE CHITRAL SOMAPALA WHO HAS A GREAT VOICE
BUT IS ALSO THE SINGER OF OTHER BANDS. DON'T YOU THINK THIS MIGHT AFFECT
HIS WORK OR DEVOTION TO THE BAND? IS HE A PERMANENT MEMBER OR A SESSIONIST?
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We’re really happy working with Chity, both a
very good singer and a nice person to hang out with. He’s a permament member
in the band. Since Moonlight Agony isn't a full time job we have no problem
with him working with other bands, in fact it’s just more promotion for
us.
7.HOW DID YOU GET IN TOUCH WITH TOM S. ENGLUND?
HE IS THE PRODUCER OF YOUR ALBUM. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE SOUND YOU
ACHIEVED? WHY DID YOU “TRUST” TOM S. ENGLUND AND NOT ANOTHER PRODUCER THAT
SPECIALIZES IN THE POWER METAL BRANCH?
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We never actually contacted him to begin with,
he contacted our management and said that he had a new studio outside Gothenburg.
So we went to the studio to check it out, and after a while we booked a
couple of weeks. Tom is a real pro and we’ll probably work with him again
on the next album. It’s very good that he’s not a power metal producer,
we don’t really want the production to sound to much power metal.
8.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS OR FOR
TOURING? WHAT SHOULD THE FANS EXPECT TO SEE IN A MOONLIGHT AGONY LIVE SHOW?
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We recently came home from a mini tour supporting
Doro in Denmark. But right now we don’t have any gigs booked, maybe we’ll
play in Gothenburg in February but nothing is confirmed.
9.BEFORE SIGNING WITH MASSACRE RECORDS, YOU RELEASED
3 DEMOS AND CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG, BUT I THINK THAT YOU FIRST RECORDED
THE ALBUM ON YOUR OWN AND THEN YOU INKED A DEAL WITH MASSACRE. AM I RIGHT?
WHAT DID THEY OFFER TO YOU? ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE COOPERATION THIS FAR?
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That’s right, we financed the whole album ourselves
and had the album ready when we sent it to the labels. Massacre had the
best offer and they have a good reputation so we decided to sign with them.
So far so good, they have done an excellent job promoting the cd.
10.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK YOU GOT TILL
NOW? WHICH WAS THE MOST FLATTERING COMMENT YOU RECEIVED AND WHICH STATEMENT
YOU THINK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR MUSIC?
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Yeah we’re satisfied with the reviews, even
reading some of the bad ones cause then we may learn stuff to have in mind
when we do the next album. The most flattering would be when the guy who
reviewed the cd (can’t really remember in which magazine it was) wrote
that our sound would inspire many other bands. Love that one, haha! We
have seen some reviews saying that this is the regular Helloween ripoff
shit. Sure we have 2 songs that are very German power metal but in the
other hand we 6 other songs that don't have a relation with that kind of
metal at all.
11.IF YOU COULD BE OR AT LEAST MEET AN IMPORTANT
PERSONALITY FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHICH PERIOD OF HIS/HER
LIFE WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE A TASTE OF?
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Mr.Doctor of Devil Doll. It would be really interesting
meeting the man that creates so totally fucked up stuff, how he works and
how he thinks. That’s one of my dreams really.
12.WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHICH
THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? IN WHICH FIELD DO YOU THINK YOU NEED FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT?
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We have learned some things during the last year,
especially when mixing the album. We’re trying to have more vocals in the
new songs, some songs on “Echoes...” is basically instrumental parts with
a vocals here and there. And we’re trying to have the same style in every
song. Meaning that we’re not having 3 powermetal songs, 4 death metal songs
and 2 hiphop songs. Definitely not that last one!
13.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
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Oh shit that’s an hard question. It’s impossible
to take one emotion, since the music goes from light to dark all the time.
The painting would show two different sides of one thing, one light side
and one dark side.
14.WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK ARE IDEAL TO REPRESENT
YOUR WORK- YOUR MUSIC? WHICH PHRASE CAN SUM UP THE MOONLIGHT AGONY HISTORY
AND EFFORTS?
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We’re not trying to overdo ourselves, we’re doing
this just to have fun.
15.WHY DID YOU NAME THE ALBUM THIS WAY? WHAT DO
YOU WANT TO SUGGEST WITH THE TITLE “ECHOES OF A NIGHTMARE”?
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We like to think of the title of something that
haunts you. Maybe something horrible that happened long ago and you can't
get rid of it. That it’s impossible to change the past so all you have
to is live with it. A frustrating feeling.
16.THANK YOU! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE READERS AND
TO THE MOONLIGHT AGONY FANS ALL AROUND THE WORLD...
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Thanks to all of you who appreciate our work,
hope to see you all on tour!
Christine Parastatidou
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