Nightfall
Nightfall have recently
released their new album under the title "Lyssa - Rural Gods And Astonishing
Punishments" an album for people with a good taste in the extreme metal.
A release for those who yearn for personality, uniqueness and identity
and want at the same time the lyrics to be challenging and thought provoking.
Well, Nightfall's latest endeavor has it all and here's what they told
us...
1. WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS CHANGED NOW IN COMPARISON
TO YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASE?
Hey Kosta! How are you? Well, the differences
between “Lyssa/Rural Gods And Astonishing Punishments” and “? am Jesus”
can be mainly found on the compositional and executional departments. This
time the songs have a more aggressive character, they are more straightforward
with melodies and choruses that stick to your brain. This is Nightfall’s
“Reign in Blood”!!!!
2. I’D LIKE YOU TO TELL ME THE MUSICAL LEVELS
AND PATHS THAT YOUR WORK MOVES UPON. DO YOU DEAL WITH A CONCEPT STORY OR
NOT?
It’s more aggressive from the previous album,
with strong melodies and riffs. Especially on the vocals, a lot of work
has been done and you should listen carefully to all the vocal lines. On
the guitar section now the differences are obvious since my guitar playing
is different than Michael’s. I have recorded all the guitars you listen
to on the album, since ?ob in the studio dealt with the keyboards. Now
regarding the drums, George is a guarantee for the final result! We could
say that there is a conceptual idea behind the album that is connected
with the general Nightfall philosophy.
3. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL US SOME MORE THINGS
ON THE TOPICS “LYSSA” DEALS WITH?
The album is about topics and subjects that
we face in our everyday lives, situations that influence us either positively
or negatively, like for example the role of the church in modern society
that has mainly a politic-economical benefit – character, the financial
control of the Western countries, wars and their relation to religions.
Situations that can’t leave us in apathy. Of course we neither try to create
any impressions around ourselves nor do we want to make others adopt our
point of view. This is not our department, we are just musicians and we
only want to make people think some more of what’s going on around us…
perhaps we can evoke a need and mood for a change. The subtitle “Rural
Gods and Astonishing Punishments” cauterize the instinctive need of the
middle man to believe in something and to follow easily understandable
instructions, which whoever doesn’t follow them is punished. The good against
the evil. A punishment that the “clever” religions managed to offer us
in a tricky way, with the stigma that all the common mortals carry inside,
a stigma we will never be able to dismiss.
4. IS THERE A SONG YOU PICK OUT FROM THE ALBUM?
IF YES, WHY?
It’s really hard for me to pick out one of
our songs, since each one has its special character and personal meaning.
“Swollen”, “The Perfect Life” and “One Of These Days” are three of y most
favourites… Well, in a minute I’ll mention the rest of the album as well!!!
5. HOW LONG HAS IT TAKEN YOU TO CREATE THE ALBUM
AND RECORD IT?
We started the whole process at the end of
December 2003. We had at the time quite many ideas for the new album, so
we started working on the new material. Don’t forget that “I Am Jesus”
was released in July 2003. As you can understand we had plenty of energy
inside of us and we decided to channel it to the new album. The recordings
took place until August 2004. We did everything in Greece except for the
mixing, for which once again we traveled to ?ico –?ico Studios in Finland!
This is the third time we work with Ahti, since he knows us and our demands
for our sound of course! The reason why we followed the same recording
procedure with “I Am Jesus” is because we had plenty of freedom, from the
time point of view, to experiment with different sounds and technics until
we ended up to what you hear on this album. This is an advantage compared
to the time we would have had if we recorded in a studio abroad. By no
means we don’t say that recording in a studio abroad would be a bad idea!
We have just decided to work this way and we are absolutely satisfied with
the procedure and the final result.
6. SEEING THE MUSICAL SCENE OF GREECE AND ABROAD
FROM A PROFESSIONAL ASPECT, WHICH DO YOU BELIEVE ARE THE GREATEST PROBLEMS
OF THE BANDS?
Identity!!!! To be able to stand out among
thousands of bands popping out every day. Bands that all have the exact
same sound. Many say: “everything has already been played”. Ok, but this
doesn’t prevent you from having a sound of your own. The good thing if
that we see a more professional approach in the “band” issue and this is
a very promising sign for the future.
7. IF YOU HAD THE TIME AND THE MONEY TO FORM A
SUPER BAND, EITHER FROM THE GREEK OR FROM THE FOREIGN SCENE, WHICH MUSICIANS
WOULD YOU GATHER AND WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY?
Well, for the bass duties I would choose Giotis
Kiourtsoglou, despite the fact that he doesn’t play metal. He is an amazing
bassist! For the vocal department I would select Warrel Dane and Mikael
Akerfeld and for the drums I wouldn’t give a penny, hehehe, because I’d
choose with no second thought our George Kollias!!! What would we play??
DEATH METAL!!
8. I’LL ALTER A BIT THE QUESTION AND ASK YOU THIS:
IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO COMPOSE THE SOUNDTRACK FOR A MOVIE, WHAT MOVIE
WOULD YOU SELECT AND WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WRITE? FIRST OF ALL,
DO YOU LIKE WATCHING MOVIES?
I like the cinema, but I wouldn’t say I am
a Hollywood fan! I’d like to compose the music for the movie “?”, but I
don’t have the proper words to describe this incredible music!!
9. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER THE RELEASE OF THE
ALBUM? WILL YOU PERFORM LIVE?
We start playing live in Greece this January.
We have some plans for a tour, but nothing is final yet. At this very moment
we are focused on the promotion of the album. As for the future we have
plans for a DVD, whose release was postponed since we released “Lyssa”
now and we have also prepared a video clip for this album. It’s for the
song “Swollen”, responsible for which is Babis and it’s the first Nightfall
video clip with a plot.
10. LAST YEAR YOU PARTICIPATED IN ROCKWAVE
FESTIVAL PLAYING LIVE ALONG WITH BANDS SUCH AS NIGHTWISH, JUDAS PRIEST
AND QUEENSRYCHE. WHAT’S YOUR OPINION FOR THE BANDS FROM ABROAD? HOW IMPORTANT
ARE LIVE SHOWS FOR THEM? DID YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO SPEAK AND EXCHANGE
IDEAS WITH ANY OF THEM?
It was an excellent experience! This was the
third time we played at this festival! What can anyone say for bands like
Judas Priest and Queensryche?? Words are not enough! These are bands that
have taught us heavy metal. As for Nightwish, well they are not my cup
of tea, but they are very successful and they are good musicians. We didn’t
have, neither the chance nor the time to talk more profoundly, but we only
chattered a bit, introduced ourselves and drank some beers with them! It
was really funny and delightful seeing Halford during his lunch backstage!
11. HOW WERE THE FAN’S REACTIONS TOWARDS NIGHTFALL?
Incredible!!! I would truly like to thank
everyone that was there that day of the festival, supporting and welcoming
us so warmly!
12. WASN’T IT A BIT “WEIRD” TO LISTEN TO NIGHTFALL
SONGS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY?
….Err… sort of yeah!!! Imagine us playing
and at the same time facing at the sun! There is nothing we can do since
this is how festivals are. After all the sun is up until 9 in the evening!!
Or else we should play at 4 a.m.!!! He he he!!
13. IF I ASKED YOU TO TELL ME YOUR TOP 10 ALL
TIME FAVORITE CHART, FROM ALL KINDS OF MUSIC, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
That’s a hard one… I will definitely forget
albums that I love!!! I’ll mention some that have marked me… 1. Death:
Symbolic, 2.Pantera: Far Beyond Driven (well actually the whole discography),
3.Nevermore: Dreaming Neon Black, 4.Rush: 2112, Jethro Tull: Thick As A
Brick, 5.Morbid Angel: Domination, 6.Black Sabbath: the first 8 albums,
7.Slayer: South Of Heaven, 8. My Dying Bride: Like Gods Of The Son, 9.Edge
Of Sanity: Crimson (1). The list is endless, believe me. A while ago I
was listening to “Themes from William Blake’s the marriage of heaven and
hell” from Ulver!!! Incredible album, amazing band!!
14. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE GREEK
NIGHTFALL FANS?
Thank you very much for your support all these
years of our existence! I wish everyone to have a good health and “Lyssa”
to become the soundtrack of your lives for 2005 and not only!!! You will
surely not lose! Thank you Kosta for this interview have a happy new year!
Costas “C.O.B” Meidanis
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