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Having an archive with close to 200 interviews without a single feature on Portugal’s Ironsword is a fucking tragedy. It must have been Tann himself who sent me the 1998 promo tape for a review in Scream Magazine more than 20 years ago, and even though I have loved all their album since the self titled debut, I believe this is the very first time I have spoken to the man who is certainly one of the best songwriters of the European heavy metal scene for the last two decades.  “Servants Of Steel” is the title of the new album, and Tann is the man answering all the questions.

How do you view your last effort «None But The Brave” released in 2015? In my opinion it was a very good album, although not your strongest release. What do you view as the strenghts and weaknessess of that particular release?

– I honestely think it’s a good album and I was extremely pleased about the way everyhing turned out. I’ve always seen «None But the Brave» as the missing link between «Return of the Warrior» and «Overlords of Chaos». The feedback I got from some fans and press made me understand that people were expecting «Overlords of Chaos» part II, although everyone seemed to enjoy the album, somehow they were dissapointed about the direction we went. It had mixed reviews, some claimed it was our best album to date, others claimed it was our weakest. «Overlords of Chaos» was a very demanding and challenging album to write. It was much more complex in song structure than any other previous album. I wasn’t in the mood to repeat the same formula, that’s why I tried a different approach and wrote stuff that was much more direct, raw and in your face. To put it simple «Overlords of Chaos» was our «Open the Gates» and «Mystification», while «None But the Brave» was our «Metal» and «Crystal Logic».

Prior to this new album, Ironsword released an EP, “In The Coils Of Set” featuring along with the title track, two songs that are exclusive for this release,  «Disciples» and «Fallen Brothers». Tann gives us an Insight into what the intention was with this particular release.

– We wrote 15 songs, but only 12 were part of the original track list for “Servants Of Steel”, so we had three songs that could be used as bonus material somehow. Our label Alma Mater Records, had the idea to release this collector’s limited edition EP prior to the new album. «Disciples» and «Fallen Brothers» are the only songs that were written after Mark Shelton passed away. Sure they sound different from anything we’ve done before, but that was the main goal anyway.

It seems like the song “Disciples” could be like a tribute to Mark Shelton.

– You can say that. «Disciples», «Fallen Brothers» and the entire «Servants of Steel» album is dedicated to Mark Shelton. «Disciples» is a song about following the footsteps of our idols and their spirit and feeling still lives through our music.

“Fallen Brothers” is a very special song when it comes to Ironsword, as it is by far the longest song you have recorded on an album, more than double the length of “Overlords Of Chaos” which I believe held the title for the longest Ironsword-track until  now. Was this track planned to be of such length, or did it just evolve into a really long one?

– It was planned to do this 15 minute long, epic song. I already had some ideas and we started jamming in our rehearsal room. It was an easy song to write and everything came together really nice. I’m sure no one was expecting a song like that from us. We really stepped out of our comfort zone with this one. To me it’s the music that matters and as long as it sounds great, I really have no problems in dealing with it nowadays. I know in the end that we will always remain faithful to our own identity and attitude. I believe by doing this we keep our music interesting and exciting.

Is it possible to step out of the comfort zone more often and remain faithful to Ironsword’s identity and attitude?

– I think the song «Fallen Brothers» proves that. It’s something I would never imagined doing in the past. Songs like «Keepers of the Crypt» and «Isle of the Damned» are other examples, as both are a bit more progressive. I remember writing material for «Return of the Warrior» and «Overlords of Chaos» which I placed on the shelf because i thought it was way over the top back then. It was probably a mixed feeling of insecurity and uncertainty holding me back. Sometimes you’re so attached to a certain style, it’s hard to let it go. Nowadays I don’t think too much about it! If it sounds great and our identity is still present, I don’t try to improve or change it.

Tann has a new bass player, Jorge playing on the new album. He shares some thoughts about Jorge’s contribution on “Servants Of Steel”, and also has some information on why Aires, who played on the last album, is not in the band anymore.

– Aires is the bass player of Moonspell and due to his commitment with the band it would be too hard for him to play in both bands. That’s why he didn’t stay longer in the band. Jorge joined the band while we were still mastering «None But The Brave». I know him since the late eighties, and he always was a dedicated and hardworking bass player. He’s got that Steve Harris meets D.D.Verni vibe. He brought some cool and refreshing ideas to the band. Our drummer João Monteiro also did an amazing job on the new album. Both are important pieces in the band and somehow help restrain my craziness a bit.

How is the craziness reflected in the song writing?

– Sometimes I just get carried away! That’s it, no big deal. I’m a bit of a clown joking all the time and I improvise a lot when writing music out of the normal standards. This happens until we reach a final conclusion and we have a lot of fun doing it.

You write both the lyrics as well as the music on your own. Are there any room for band democracy in Ironsword, or do you make all the decisions regarding gigs, festivals, merchandise and so on? Is it hard finding members as they know they won’t be very involved in the creative side of things?

– No, all decisions are made within the band, no matter the subject, even though the final word is mine. Probably, I was more bossy in the past than I am today. João and Jorge respect the fact I am the founding member, main composer and writing all the lyrics. They understand that for all this to work, I should keep doing it. Everyone is involved with ideas, share opinions, each one puts his own input in the music, so there’s room for everyone to shine. We were really focused during the songwriting process. We were in the same mindset for the entire time. I guess you can be much more creative when you’re collaborating with other people. It provides a more enriching and fulfilling experience.

How do you work with the other musicians to make sure you are in the same mindset, as you say?

– I guess this is just the result of playing together for so many years, knowing each musically and what to expect, so things just flow naturally. We all shared the same goals and we were not going in different directions.

You have been on a few underground labels in the past, Miskatonic and Shadow Kingdom, and I have to admit I was a little surprised to find out that Alma Mater is releasing both the EP as well as the album. What can you say about the work your former labels did for the band, and what lead you to believe that Alma Mater can do a good job for you?

– Miskatonic and Shadow Kingdom Records did everything possible to support the band. I am eternally thankful for everything they have done, and there is absolutely no bad blood between our former labels and the band. Alma Mater Records is a young label with a policy of investing in Portuguese heavy metal talent. They saw huge potential in Ironsword and made us an offer we simply could not refuse. Our records are still hard to find in several countries, so having a very good distribution and good promotion is very important and I believe and trust in the work of Alma Mater Records just like they believed in us. They are very professional and their support has been tireless.

“This is definately the most challenging album ever written and stands out from all previous works.», you said about “Servants Of Steel” in the press release. Why was the album so challenging to write, and how do you feel it differs from what you have done in the past?

– Our goal is always to re-invent ourselves for each release without losing our own identity. I don’t like to repeat the same formula over and over. So, after 25 years and this new one being our fifth album, I guess it’s pretty normal trying a different approach in songwriting, arrangements, vocal harmonies etc. That’s why it was so challenging for me during the whole creative process. I wanted complex stuff, out of the norm song structures. I was just letting myself go with my bandmates, pushing the boundaries of each other’s playing. It stands out from all previous works for me because of the stronger playing, the musicianship and the powerful riffs. I’m not saying it’s our best album to date, as I like to leave that to our dedicated followers to decide.

It’s interesting to see that the band has used Harris Johns for the mix and mastering. He is most known as a legendary producer of course, but I can’t remember seeing his name on many records these days.

– Harris is back in activity. He has done the last Protector album. We had a list of several well known producers of the so called old school scene, that somehow could boost our sound even more. Harris Johns was on top of my list. It was Alma Mater Records that got in touch with him first. He was one of the first producers showing interest in working with us. He really liked our music and already had ideas to improve our sound. The man is a legend and he’s so cool to work with. We all gave him total freedom to mix and master the album. I am extremely pleased of having his blueprint on our album. It did surpass all my expectations and it was a dream of mine come true. That wall of sound is just mindblowing!

I really fell in love with the track “Tower Of The Elephant” at first listen. What a totally crushing, poser destroying track. Tell me about how the idea for this heavy as hell track came to you and how worked out both the music and the lyrics?

– Thank you for the kind words. «Tower of the Elephant» is an adaptation from the original Robert E. Howard tale. This is one of few slowest songs on the album with a catchy sing a long chorus and several melodic parts. Classic epic heavy metal from start to finish. You can clearly hear some Angel Witch and Manowar-influences in this song.

Robert E. Howard is obviously important for you, as you have also used his works in the past. What is it about his writing that is such a good match for the music of Ironsword?

– I remember most of the power metal bands from the early to mid-nineties were singing about Tolkien, namely «The Lord of the Rings» or the Vikings. To be honest, I never really liked Tolkien. So, when I started the band, there weren’t too many lyrical options for me, according to my tastes. Probably, it would make sense to sing about the history of my own country, the conquests and the Portuguese discoveries, but several other Portuguese bands have done that in the past. Our music was more raw, aggressive and unpolished than all those power metal bands. To sum up, it was barbaric. As a teenager, the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie and of course «The Savage Sword of Conan» comics had a huge impact on me, even before I knew who Howard really was. Reading the original Conan stories only came several years later. So, probably it’s just a reflection of all this, I honestly don’t know. All I know is that this Robert E. Howard-thing somehow became naturally our trademark over the years. It suits our musical style perfectly.

What is your personal fave song on the album, and which one do you look most forward to playing live?

– My fave songs on the new album are «Keepers of the Crypt», «Isle of the Damned», «Red Nails» and «Son of Crom». «Isle of the Damned» is probably the one I look most forward to play live simply because it is such an intense song with several tempo changes and totally out of the norm. It will be interesting to say the least.

Obviously Ironsword was always hugely influenced by Manilla Road. What was Mark Shelton’s biggest contribution to the metal scene in your opinion? And what is it about him and his band that have influenced Ironsword the most?

– Everything….from Shark’s singing style, guitar soloing, songwriting, the list goes on and on. He’s definately the father of epic metal Music, and I can point out his passion for heavy metal, for playing and creating music, his loyalty to the fans, his honest views, his resilience, I guess that’s the biggest contribution and lesson to a lot of underground bands like Ironsword. I’m glad in the later years, they got the recognition they truly deserve.

Asked about what his favourite Manilla Road-releases are, struggles just as much as most of our would probably do.

– That is really a though question because I love all of them from «Invasion» to «The Courts of Chaos» and all for different reasons, but to answer your question I will pick up the ones I probably heard most or made most impact on me. «Metal» to me is where I think the band really started this epic metal thing, people might say «Crystal Logic», but I believe they already achieved that with «Metal». Definately the one that inspired me the most in the early albums of Ironsword, specially Mark’s rough vocals. Then «Crystal Logic» which I think it’s everyone’s fave album. That’s a classic! Then, I would say «The Deluge». It’s a very addictive album. The songwriting is totally out of the norm. Randy Foxe’s drumming, Mark’s vocals, guitar soloing, all that is simply out of this world. Songs like «Dementia», «Taken by Storm» and «Friction In Mass» are completely wild and crazy. Still to this day it always makes me think: «What the hell are they playing here?».

On the new album, Bryan Hellroadie Patrick is guesting on a couple of songs. What is he contributing that you couldn’t do yourself with your rather diverse voice?

– I’ve always had in mind Mark Shelton to do some guest vocals on our new album. I was fortunate enough of having him as guest on “Overlords Of Chaos” album and I was hoping he could do it again. Unfortunately, when he sadly passed away, I knew that the only person that made sense by doing this was Hellroadie, and it was not a question of having someone to do the parts I could hardly sing. I really wanted him to be a part of this humble tribute and homage from our side. Mark and Bryan shared vocals not only on stage but on the latest Manilla Road recordings as well. I wanted somehow to recreate that feeling. Afterall, I’m a Roadster for life and I take as a huge compliment when people label us the “European Manilla Road”!

Ironsword on Facebook

Being a bit too young to experience the release of Angel Witch’s self titled debut, the band’s material still made a huge impact on me when I bought the vinyl version of “Angel Witch Live” at my local store when it was released through Metal Blade back in February 1990. It might have been the mystical cover art that convinced me, I can’t recall having heard anything from the band, not even the song “Angel Witch”, but as I listened to the album, songs like “Angel Of Death”, “White Witch”, “Sorceress” and “Atlantis” to name only a few, really impressed me. In retrospect, these songs fueled my interest in NWOBHM and underground metal in general. When the opportunity arose to hear Kevin Heybourne’s thoughts on the band’s brand new, fifth studio album, as well as some topics from the past, I didn’t hesitate a second.  

When you released «As Above, So Below» in 2012, did you know you had another album in you, or did you finish the album with the thought: “Never again, not another album”?

– I am always playing guitar and writing riffs and, ultimately, I always want to record new music, but there has to be the right feeling in a band for that to happen. Come around 2013 the vibe really began to hit rock bottom for a year or so, Bill Steer had to leave because he couldn’t juggle us with Carcass and certain people in the group just started to run their own agenda and attempt to sow division within the group. It was very hard to deal with, and at my low points back then I did start to feel that it wasn’t worth it. But myself, Will and Jimmy had to double-down, cut out the dead wood and carry on anew. Once the fog lifts, the creativity comes back and you start to look forward again. Which is fortunate, because we got it right this time round!

Even though the reception was generally great, was it something about that album you weren’t fully satisfied with and tried to do differently this time, or was the approach pretty much the same?

– The last record was a bit thrown together really. The material was OK, but with a bit more work those songs could have been really great! As it was, we just went into the studio and bashed out what we had and that was that. We really should have rehearsed more. It has its great moments but, as a body of work, it doesn’t stack up, as far as I’m concerned. I wasn’t too sold on it, even back in 2012, if I’m honest.  People liked it, because it had that original vibe of Angel Witch which they love, but I am just not sure that we executed it well enough.

On that album you recorded a couple of older songs from the past. If I understand right, there are a couple of older, never recorded tracks present this time as well, in the form of “The Night Is Calling” and “Don’t Turn Your Back”. How do you work when you choose which old tracks to rerecord? Do you remember all the songs you have perfomed live, or do you have to go back to old live recordings and relisten? How big are the changes made to these two songs?

– I always loved “The Night is Calling” but in the mid-eighties, the other guys in Angel Witch didn’t want to record a track like this, I think they thought it was too old school or something, so we moved onto other things, which resulted in a period of the band which isn’t really worthy of the Angel Witch name in my opinion. Palmer is always boring us with his “imagine what the second Angel Witch album “could” have been theory”.  He has a point, I suppose; there is a live tape from 84 that has “Witching Hour”, “Dead Sea Scrolls” & “Don’t Turn Your Back”, plus there was the original arrangement of “Undergods” and “The Night is Calling”.  And “Guillotine” of course.  Imagine we’d recorded all those, in the “real” Angel Witch way, without getting in a different singer and trying to move with the times….   I mean.  It could have totally failed, commercially.  Or not.  We’ll never know.  But I think the real spirit of the band would have been kept intact. But, yeah, we got rid of that stuff, went a different road, and didn’t start playing “The Night is Calling” live again until 2009, it goes down so well, we couldn’t drop it from the set.  The pressure to get it right in the studio was pretty intense.  I hope we did it justice. What happened with “Don’t Turn Your Back” was, we posted a photo from the studio on our social media and a guy from Finland commented asking if we’d re-record that song.  The other guys were all “how does that one go Kev”, and I could sense they were going to try and ambush me!  Will had already messaged the guy to get an old live mp3 he had (which I already had at home – because it was from my original tape), so I thought I may as well break out the riffs, and they sounded pretty good!  So, I ran through it with Fredrik a couple of times, and we tracked the drums, with that “maybe we’ll come back to this” attitude.  As it happens, we did just that! I don’t spend time going through all the old tapes, as I am happiest working on new stuff. But Will is like a bloodhound man! That’s how we ended up with “Dead Sea Scrolls” & “Witching Hour” on the last records as well.   They may be other tunes out there in the tape-trading bootleg world, but if there are. I am not telling him!

I noticed that on the tape release featuring the track “Don’t Turn Your Back”, that Martin and Palmer were credited for lyrics for “Don’t Turn Your Back”, does this mean that the lyrics for this one are reworked or maybe completely new?

– Once we started tracking rhythm guitars, I did a pass on the “Don’t Turn Your Back, and it was starting to sound decent, so we thought we might carry on a bit further with recording it. We had started listening to the mp3 from the old live tape, and no one could make out the words, so Jimmy and Will disappeared into a room for an afternoon and wrote some lyrics.  They wrote out whatever words they could make sense of from the old recording, and then filled in the bits they couldn’t understand with stuff that just had the right number of syllables; even if it was just nonsense, then they wrote new words around that and presented them to me very nervously! The track was always called “Don’t Turn Your Back” and the structure is largely the same, but I added a bit of spice to the main rhythm guitar riff and, there are a couple of lines which remain from the original lyrics. And the melodies are the same. The new words are loosely based on a movie called The Love Witch, that we had watched one night during the recording sessions. We watched a load of movies during the evenings in the album sessions, Theatre of Blood with Vincent Price and Diana Rigg was a right old trip down memory lane for me. We ended up writing “I am Infamy” about that film, it’s a good one!

Is that a general feeling you have, that the lyrics written in the past are not good enough for the Angel Witch of today, or have the themes you write about or how you write the lyrics changed over the years due to yourself growing?

– I think it’s natural to look back at your old lyrics and cringe a little bit, but I wouldn’t change a thing really. Obviously, we want to do the best we can in the here and now, and that’s all we can do, right? I don’t think that Angel Witch lyrics in 2019 are specifically dripping with 40 years of extra life experience or anything. I’m not preaching here! Although, both ‘We Are Damned” and the title track itself are a based around mankind’s selfishness, specifically with regard to environmental issues and animal agriculture, but they are cloaked in the old Book of Revelations metaphor!

Since it’s something like seven years since the last album was released, have you worked on the material for this whole period, or is it a result of some more concentrated work for the past few years?

– I didn’t start properly working on the new stuff until 2017 really. Fredrik joined in January of that year and it was just a great time. We toured with Electric Wizard a couple of times, went to Japan, did some festivals and all that and the vibe was perfect and I started to think “this set up could do a really good record”, so we had our first set of rehearsals, just two days, in November 2017 and worked on “Window of Despair”. It all just clicked, and by January 2019 we were up in Leeds demoing the whole thing! It happened pretty fast once we got going, after years of treading water.

Do you approach songwriting differently compared to what you did in the early days? It seems you were really creative back then and the songs were flowing out, while things surely take more time these days, although that is perhaps due to other factors than lack of creativity?

– I think that the other factors can influence the creative spark, really. When you have a unit, which is working and there is a positive mood, the songs are easier to write. Although it is never “easy”! I still write in the same way I used to, I get all the riffs and structures together, send it to the guys and then we work on it. Often, I add more stuff to a song, which then gets stripped out in the rehearsal process. The guys have a bit of arrangement input, and some lyrics here and there. Maybe it’s more collaborative then it used to be, but I’d say it’s 85 or 90 pecent me. Not that we think about it in those terms.

The song “Don’t Turn Your Back” was released as the first taster from the album, and it’s also the opener on “Angel Of Light”. Why do you feel it ticks both boxes?

– I think it’s just got that immediate impact which worked so well to kick off the record, and also had that, kind of, “We’re back!” thing about it. I don’t think it’s the best song on the album, but it made sense to open with it, and roll it out for the first track as a kind of statement of intent.

Listening to the new album, I have to say that in 40 years, I have heard bands changing a lot more than Angel Witch has done, both musically and when it comes to the vocals. Why is staying close to the original sound and not trying to develop to much and stray away from it the one and only solution for a band like Angel Witch?

– I think we had our moment of changing style in the mid-eighties really. And it didn’t really sound like the band I had in my head when I was seventeen and listening to Black Sabbath back in the nineteen seventies in Beckenham. And I don’t think it worked, actually. If you’re not careful you can go through these little processes of trying to be “current” or “relevant” or some shit but then you realise, relevant to who? I want Angel Witch to be relevant to Angel Witch fans, so it has to sound like Angel Witch! It’s not rocket science! So, one day you just think “fuck this” I’m just going to do write the songs I’d like to listen to. That was the idea around the time I re-formed the band in 2008, and that was the way we made the last two records. And, what do you know? Not only was it what we wanted to sound like, it was what everyone else wanted as well. Which is lucky, because we’d be doing this anyway. Glad there are people out there who agree though.

You have bein playing metal for more than 40 years, being a way for a while of course, but always returning, and most of the time in Angel Witch. How has this band affected your life on a personal level and what are you most proud of from your long career?

– You make a lot of personal sacrifices to keep playing in bands. Relationships can fail, you can hit real lows in your own head because you are always grabbing for something that is just a little out of reach, and real disappointment can come from that.   Nowadays, I think we are all just grateful to be doing what we love, and we have toned the expectation level down a bit. Ironically, of course, everything happens to be going really great. But you can never bank on these things!   I’m very proud of the new album; proud the hear the band playing so tight, proud to hear the songs recorded with such a great production, just happy that the stars seemed to align this time. In the past, like with the debut LP, I was happy with the songs but there was always a “but”, the production of the first album or the timing issues with the drumming on ‘As Above, So Below’. Always “it’s good, but…”

You never quite lived up to the first album with your second and third one. Do you feel those two albums would have been viewed differently if you haven’t released the debut album earlier?

– That’s an understatement! Those records really should not have been Angel Witch albums! There are some cool songs, but the band wasn’t locked in as a unit, the material was some sort of attempt at doing something “current”, I don’t know what the hell happened with the production. And the vocals? Look. On a technical level, I have to be objective and say that Dave Tattum is a better singer then me. But it’s just not the sound of Angel Witch.

The debut album is still a huge influence for many new acts coming through. In your opinion, what qualities does it have that makes it a timeless classic? 

– I can’t comment on that. I’m really glad that people feel that way, but once we have recorded it and put it out there, it’s their record then. People can take whatever they want from it, and they are better placed to comment on why it’s a “timeless classic” like you say, then I am. If I sat here and described it in those terms…. Who talks about themselves in that way?

Your voice is also very recognizable, have you done anything particular to keep it in shape during the years, also when Angel Witch has kept a low profile. 

– No, I’ve never been one for doing vocal exercises and all that stuff. But I am just starting to dip my toe into that world. It’s about time really, I play guitar all the time and it keeps me sharp, so I suppose I should do the same with my second instrument. After all, I did try to get someone else to handle the vocals for me and look how that turned out!

For this new album, you have worked with producer James Atkinson who did the last Wytch Hazel-album and a few other releases, why did you choose him and what has been his biggest contribution to the album?

– It seemed like the most obvious choice for us. Will has known him since he signed the Gentleman’s Pistols to Rise Above years ago, and has hired James to record bands on his new label like Wytch Hazel and stuff. We knew he was a great engineer, and his new studio is really good, plus he is a great guitar player, a great songwriter and a great singer. We wanted someone more than just a guy to record us and he ticked all the boxes. I don’t want some guy who, can’t play, write or sing telling me how to do stuff. I’ll listen to other people’s ideas. But they need to know what they are talking about, or it’s just a joke, you know? Like I said before, I write the songs. They are probably 90% done before other people get involved, but that extra 10% I got via input from the band and James, that’s a massive leap. You can’t under estimate that.

Jimmy Martin and Fredrik Jansson are both pretty new faces in the band. Why are they the right fit for Angel Witch?

– After Bill had to go, we got a friend of ours in on second guitar, Tom Draper, who then had to move to the US in order to follow his wife when she got a new job out there. This was a low point really, things had degenerated with our drummer Andrew at that point, and there was an unbelievable amount of negativity and strange power games going on within the band. It was pretty unbearable. Will called Jimmy and it worked out really well in terms of the playing, but the vibe was still pretty dire. I don’t think any of us were enjoying the experience too much. Come mid 2015 Andrew had booked a US tour with Lucifer, which conflicted with a couple of Angel Witch dates, so we got our friend Alan French in to cover for him, but Andrew seemed to think that he had some sort of say over who we got behind the kit in his absence and really threw his toys out of the pram: “him or me” kind of thing.   It is unacceptable to be dictated to like that, so we were “OK, him then” and off he went, and we carried on playing with Alan. From that moment, the vibe improved immeasurably, and it was enjoyable again. But Alan had a lot on and couldn’t stick around (he’s still a good friend of ours though) so Will called Fredrik. He knew him from when he was in Witchcraft, and knew he was a heavy hitter, very tight and is a “Bill Ward man”. What more do you want? And we’ve been having a great time since January 2017, it all feels right. It’s never felt like this in forty years!

Being the only original member, you have worked with a lot of different musicians over the years, with both British and American lineups. Who of the musicians you have worked with in the past has impressed you the most?

– Yeah, I have worked with some tasty players over the years, Lee Altus and Bill Steer are both great guitar players, and Tom Hunting is a ripping drummer. I have to say, and I know you’ll roll your eyes at this, but this is the best unit I’ve had as a band. We have four people all pulling in the same direction, and so it’s like a machine. I mean, Jimmy will be the first person to say that Steer is a better player then him, but we all just lock in so well now.

You have two newer albums out now, and even though they are both strong, most people will come to your concerts to hear the old classics one again. How do you feel about this? Do you ever get tired of performing the song “Angel Witch”

– I often feel like I’m tired of playing “Angel Witch”…. Until we do! Then the vibe becomes electric and it’s great!  If ever I get a bit jaded, I just imagine how Tony Iommi must feel playing “Paranoid” again and again. I mean, “Paranoid” isn’t the best song on the ‘Paranoid’ album, is it? And “Angel Witch” isn’t the best on ‘Angel Witch’, but to have a “hit”, if we can call it that, is an honour that most people don’t have, so I don’t want to be the one complaining about it. So, of course, it would be horrible to just exist in a time capsule and not be able to look forward, but that debut record is so loved, by so many people, that it would be a shit night for them to pay all that money for a ticket and then you just play your whole new album from start to finish. Also, I really do love songs like “Angel of Death” and “White Witch” and to still enjoy playing all that stuff over forty years since it was written, to a crowd who weren’t even born until, like, twenty years after it was recorded. That’s a privilege!

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MOVIE4VIDEOS
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With “The Reaper’s Spiral”, one of the strongest albums released in 2015, Terminus debuted with a bang. Packed with powerful epic metal, the album surprised a lot of people. In the wake of the album’s release, the band also built a reputation as a convincing live act, but something wasn’t quite right, and in October 2017, the news broke that the band had quit performing live.

Although it was announced that a second album would come sometime, the news that it was ready, came as a big surprise to almost everyone. Was it a strategy you had to keep a low profile? How many people knew you had “A Single Point Of Light” in the bag?

– Whilst it may seem we kept a low profile to a modern, social media savvy audience, I don’t really see it as having gone out of our way to do anything. We weren’t playing live anymore, the promotional cycle for “The Reaper’s Spiral” (for more about that album, see the interview we did back then) had long since finished so there was nothing going on in terms of reviews or promotion for that. We certainly weren’t going to be posting an endless stream of irrelevant drivel on the band Facebook page promising that an album was still coming and virtually begging any audience we had to please continue to pay attention and hang on our every word. These are strange times we live in when simply not shouting for attention constantly is seen as keeping a low profile,  Only a few people knew – the people involved in the process like Enrico from Cruz Del Sur, Anaïs Mulgrew, Richard Whittaker and a few other close confidants to whom I vent my frustrations, says former drummer, now multi instrumentalist, David Gillespie.

In October 2017 you announced that Terminus as a live act had ceased to exist. Give us a little insight into the process behind this decision.

DG: – James (Beattie) had never really been comfortable playing live. He didn’t feel he was a natural frontman and he had a hard time dealing with his own very rare mistakes. It’s worth noting that from my point of view he definitely came across as a natural frontman and I don’t ever remember him putting in a bad performance but you can’t change how someone feels.

– Truth be told, Leif, I am not a particularly stable person when it comes to self criticism. Other people will have a bad gig, leave it to experience and move on, whereas I will beat myself up constantly, replay the mistakes over and over again in my head and make myself feel pretty worthless. That’s not healthy, and I think I was heading for total mental breakdown if I had carried on with it much longer. At least by just recording the songs, I get a second, third or thirtieth chance to achieve what I set out to do. I have more control over what goes out to the audience and I’m satisfied with the finished work. There were other factors too of course, explains singer James Beattie.

DG: – That left us with a choice of replacing James and carrying on or ceasing to perform live; the latter was the clear choice for me. The rest of the guys weren’t interested in being part of a band that didn’t play live and that is entirely understandable. James, beyond his voice, is fundamental to the band. Good singers are hard to find in this day and age, let alone one who has a shared musical history and vision, shared passion for the subject matter at hand, can make a significant contribution lyrically with vocal melodies and most importantly who you are comfortable working with. Things can get tense when you ask for a 10th or 15th take to get the last part of some weird harmony to line up properly and you don’t cast aside a working relationship like that lightly…

JB: – I’m not quite sure how we haven’t murdered each other…

DG: – If it’s hard to find a singer in mainland Europe, magnify that problem one hundredfold locally. Everyone saw what happened to Old Season – how many years were they out of action after losing their singer? Even if we had continued with an unsuitable replacement, the band would have withered on the vine and in all likelihood would be finished at this point. Keep in mind also that we’re in a fairly isolated location, geographically speaking. Driving to shows in continental Europe isn’t at all feasible even when compared to a band from the south of England for instance. There are very few direct flights from Belfast to continental Europe and, although Dublin is a lot better, the frequency of the flights to some of the places we were playing made things difficult. Sometimes it was a three or four day round trip to play one show and by the time we quit playing live, we were only starting to get to the point where promoters were meeting some of our costs. Unfortunately by then, James in particular had become thoroughly fed up with, as he put it, “pouring my own money down the drain” . All the guys in the band were of an age where we had families and that limited what we could do both financially and in terms of time off work – if you have to take three days off work to play a show in Europe and you do that four times a year, you don’t have much time off left to spend with your family.

How does David feel about not playing live anymore with Terminus? Did you, unlike James, enjoy being on stage?

DG: – I enjoyed playing, but waiting around for three days to play a show was a real pain. Playing the show was fun, if stressful – I don’t have quite the same tendency to beat myself up after the fact that James does, but I was always relieved to get through any performance mostly unscathed.

Having met and spoken briefly to most of you guys on a few occasions, from the outside it seemed that the Terminus consisted of very different personalities and people with different musical backgrounds. Was this a positive thing, or something that made the ride harder?

DG: – I don’t think it made things any harder because the guys knew what the musical vision of the band was when they came on board and there was never any attempt made to change that. They had a lot more experience of the mechanics of being in a band than we did and they were extremely patient initially – I couldn’t play drums at all at our first practice. I’m not exaggerating here; I could play one beat and that was it, I had to learn something new for every song. There were a few points of contention which came down to the difference between presenting yourself as a band that was part of a local scene or one that was aiming for something outside that – things like our social media presence which I touched on at the start of the interview but also the formats we were releasing things on. Bands in Belfast didn’t release cassettes in 2013 and there were precious few of them releasing split 7” records either, but it worked for us internationally which was always where the main audience for a band like Terminus was going to be found. We all knew each other, some better than others, for years from being part of the local scene so there was a comfort level there very quickly that overcame any differences.

I remember when you released your first album, you were quite critical of what you did on the demo. An album is a step up of course, and I guess you must still be proud of what you presented on «The Reaper’s Spiral»?

DG: – I’m proud of everything we’ve done, including the demo. (For more about Terminus at the demo stage, read this interview) Thinking back to the time, James wasn’t happy with his vocal performance on the demo. He went away and did some vocal training and that in combination with naturally increasing confidence over time improved the strength and quality of his voice massively. The singing on the demo is still recognisably James and it captures a moment in time; you can’t judge these things too harshly.   Personally, my problem was with the tempo of the songs on the demo, but that’s how we were playing them at the time. For a demo and also considering it was my first time producing a full recording, mixing, mastering etc. I think it sounds pretty good and certainly on a par with what other bands at similar stages of their development were producing in professional studio.

JB: – Oh yeah, I absolutely detested my performance on the demo. It wasn’t helped by the fact that neither me or the recording engineer knew what part of the mic we used at the time actually captured the sound. Isn’t that right David?

DG: – I have very few problems with “The Reaper’s Spiral”. I don’t question any of the songwriting choices, the performances are all good and the production job that Paulo Vieira did was great too. In my own, biased, opinion it stands alongside the best of what Epic Metal has had to offer in the last ten years.

JB: – Apart from the fact that I would be able to put in a better performance on those songs now than I did at the time, I’m immensely proud of “The Reaper’s Spiral”.

David, being the main man behind the songs on that album, the positive response it got everywhere must have been satisfying for you. Was it parts of the feedback, either from fans, reviewers or fellow musicians that was extra special for you?

DG: – I don’t remember specific feedback but it was always gratifying when you could tell someone really understood what we were trying to do, thematically and musically.

With “A Single Point Of Light”, I guess no-one will accuse you of just copying your debut album. What were the main forces that made this new album different from the first one?

DG: – Broadly speaking, I don’t believe the two albums are very different. The aim was as you put it – to not simply push out a copy of “The Reaper’s Spiral” in 18 months and call it job done. We aimed to remain true to the bands core sound whilst introducing enough new elements to keep things fresh, which we did in a few places. That can be as overt as the middle section of “Harvest” or some of the riffs in various songs that you wouldn’t have found on the first album. Finally, we consciously increased the difference in tempo between the slower and faster songs – the faster songs are a little bit faster than the first album, but the slow songs are a lot slower. This allows James a little more room to sing and also lets the songs breathe.

In the past, the riffs and the basic arrangements were David’s, while the band contributed with ideas and suggestions. Have James now taken this role on his own, or are the songs on the album more or less like when they came from David for the first time?

DG: – James has always had a part to play in that; I always send rough demos of parts of songs or just even a couple of riffs thrown together to see if he thinks there’s anything there or if it inspires him. At the time of the split we had put together “To Ash, To Dust” and “Harvest” partly in the rehearsal room, I had “Flesh Falls From Steel” for a while and we were working on “Mhira,  Tell Me The Nature Of  Your Existence” so those songs had a bit of input in the rehearsal room but we made extensive changes to “Mhira” when we recorded a demo of these four songs during the first half of 2018. The whole key of the verses and the transition to the chorus was changed and the second half of the song was ripped up, pieces moved around and parts increased in length to accommodate the vocals as they were written. I’d say most of that input happens now happens when we do our first vocals on the song before it’s properly recorded, which is similar to how things were at the very start of the band when we were writing the demo material.

David, do you feel you have any limitations as an instrumentalist that has affected the end result on this new album?

DG: – I am a musician of limited ability so naturally that limit was pushed up against on a few occasions, particularly when it came to the guitar solos. We drafted in a friend of the band, Alvyn McQuitty, for a guest solo on “Mhira, Tell Me The Nature Of Your Existence”; I’m no shredder, but he is.

Have the fact that you knew these songs were not to be performed live, affected the way the came out on the album?

JB: – Vocally, definitely. I don’t have to worry about trying to replicate any of it live. In comparison to some of the screamers out there, none of the notes I sing on this album are particularly high, but they’re high for me and If we were still playing shows, where anything from a slight sniffle to being slightly dehydrated can destroy my ability to hit a given note, I would have had to play it safer on the recording. I’ve been able to delve deeper into using harmonies this time around too, without feeling like I’m short-changing an audience by not having them feature in a live performance. “Harvest” for instance, would have been a different beast if I was second guessing if I could reliably do it under anything less than perfect on-stage sound or vocal health conditions.

DG: – Any embellishments we’ve added this time round are no more than any other band would add if they were playing live. There’s nothing musically, or indeed vocally, that couldn’t be pulled off in my opinion.

Last time we spoke together, David said something like: «Science Fiction at its core is a medium for conveying ideas – any idea. I don’t think there’s a subject that I would wish to write about that I wouldn’t want to present in those terms”. It sounds like those words are relevant for this new album as well?

DG: – Absolutely. There are a number of themes in both the original story arc but also in the interpretive songs. To sum it up in the immortal words of one Roy Batty – “I want more life, fucker”.

If I understand right, the last four songs on “A Single Point Of Light” make up some sort of concept. Why didn’t you make the whole album as a full blown concept?

DG: – That’s correct. The last four songs tell the tale of a scientist on her deathbed, feeling her life’s work is incomplete. She is approached by her mentor, a man on the fringes of his field dabbling in legally and morally dubious realms of their shared field with an offer to transfer her consciousness into the digital realm. From there, several events happen as she is forced to come to terms with the consequences of her choices and how she is misused. We didn’t go down the route of a full blown concept partly because we had some other works we wanted to interpret in the same way we did on the first album and partly because we had already written some of those songs before happening upon our concept and didn’t feel inclined to throw out a strong set of lyrics. I tend to think the term “concept album” puts off certain listeners as well; there’s a whiff of the bloated 70s Prog Rock epic about it, which I personally love, but this way there is a thread tying the album together that the listener can either ignore or delve into as they choose.

What about the three songs not part of the concept? I guess writing lyrics for stand alone songs are a bit different, as you haven’t really got the time and space to let a story evolve like in the mini concept. Would you describe the words to these songs as mini stories nevertheless?

JB: – The main difference for those three was that we had source material to refer to. “To Ash to Dust” and “Harvest” were mostly mine and are based on the Hyperion novels by Dan Simmons and the ’70s Sci fi film classic Silent Running (which features my other favourite Bruce) respectively. “As Through A Child’s Eyes” is pretty much all David’s work, I can’t remember if I had any input into it or not, but it’s based upon Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. The approach to writing most of our stuff whether it’s something we’ve created from scratch or not is to zone in on one or two elements of the main story arc or one character in particular and come up with as you say a mini story. A secondary difference is that with the entirely original content, we have a free hand and It can be anything we want it to be. I found that I was able to project something of myself onto the characters and connect more with the lyrics on an emotional level. I’ve found that immensely satisfying and I’d like to head further in that direction in the future.

Seen from the outside, the fact that you are now on Cruz Del Sur comes as no big surprise, as they are the home of many of today’s best underground acts. Are you satisfied with the work done by Stormspell and Horror on your first album, and when and how did Enrico enter the picture for this new album?

DG: – We were very happy with the job Stormspell and Horror did for us. I think we were one of Azter’s best selling releases, the promotion was good and both labels were more than fair with us. We had offers from bigger labels at the time, Cruz Del Sur included, but we felt Horror and Stormspell were a better fit at the time. We recorded a demo of four of the songs from the album over the first few months of 2018 and we only sent this to Enrico. He was immediately very keen and had been disappointed to miss out on the first album. The label’s reputation and reach had only grown since we had last spoken so we looked no further. Enrico is doing a great job for the album so far and he’s a trustworthy guy – we know enough people who have been on the label in the past or are on it currently that would attest to it.

What are your personal favourite bands and release from Cruz Del Sur’s rich catalogue?

JB: – I love most of the stuff Enrico has released, and Ravensire are pretty near the top of the list, but it’s got to be Slough Feg. Picking a favourite album is too hard a task though.

DG: – It will come as no surprise if I mention Walyprgus ‘Walpyrgus Nights’ and Twisted Tower Dire ‘Make It Dark’. The Walprgus album was derided by some for being “wimpy”, or whatever other shit reason they could come up with, but it’s wall to wall classics and has not left the rotation around Casa Del Gillespie for very long since it’s release. It’s like TTD with added Scorpions to my ears and I absolutely love it.

Can you already say that there will be a third album from Terminus as well, or is that decision yet to be made?

JB: – If David keeps the songs coming, I’ll keep singing them. And if we feel like they’re good enough to record, we’ll do it and hopefully someone will release them for us.

DG: – We will inch forward over the next while and see what we come up with. As James says, we’re not going to put out any old shit and, as evidenced by the new album, we’re not going to produce a 100% duplicate either. Time will tell.

Terminus on Facebook

October 18th 2019 — Today sees the release of Valcata — a new independent symphonic metal opera album. The project features a staggering ensemble of eight lead singers (four female and four male), each portraying a unique character through the lyrics. It was produced online in its entirety and features musicians from around the globe, including both emerging and established artists. The album is the work of composer Oha Cade who is based in Brooklyn, New York.

“Everyone involved worked extremely hard on this album. It’s a dream come true to finally share the whole story with the world!”

Taking a fresh approach to the genre in 2019, Valcata is an elaborate work that exhibits a superabundance of influences while sustaining a sharp and ferocious energy.

Check out and support Valcata at the links below:

Valcata on Bandcamp
Valcata on iTunes
Valcata on Google Play
Valcata on Spotify

Sign up for the newsletter at www.valcata.com.

Follow the project on social media:

www.valcata.com
Facebook.com/ValcataProject
Instagram.com/valcata_official/

TRACKLIST

1. Stars
2. Our Quest
3. The Turning
4. Horror Machine
5. Life and a Million
6. 3-2-1
7. Beyond
8. Escalade
9. The Termination
10. Valcata

October 18th 2019 — Today sees the release of Valcata — a new independent symphonic metal opera album. The project features a staggering ensemble of eight lead singers (four female and four male), each portraying a unique character through the lyrics. It was produced online in its entirety and features musicians from around the globe, including both emerging and established artists. The album is the work of composer Oha Cade who is based in Brooklyn, New York.

“Everyone involved worked extremely hard on this album. It’s a dream come true to finally share the whole story with the world!”

Taking a fresh approach to the genre in 2019, Valcata is an elaborate work that exhibits a superabundance of influences while sustaining a sharp and ferocious energy.

Check out and support Valcata at the links below:

Valcata on Bandcamp
Valcata on iTunes
Valcata on Google Play
Valcata on Spotify

Sign up for the newsletter at www.valcata.com.

Follow the project on social media:

www.valcata.com
Facebook.com/ValcataProject
Instagram.com/valcata_official/

TRACKLIST

1. Stars
2. Our Quest
3. The Turning
4. Horror Machine
5. Life and a Million
6. 3-2-1
7. Beyond
8. Escalade
9. The Termination
10. Valcata

The independent symphonic metal opera project Valcata has released a lyric video for their lead single, 3-2-1. The song showcases four out of the album’s eight vocalists — Angel Wolf-Black (Vivaldi Metal Project), Mary Zimmer (Helion Prime), Hadi Kiani (Gereh) and Kenneth Élan (Acoustic Dreams). The video details the lyrics as sung by the characters, against a background of dark sci-fi-inspired imagery. Watch it below:

3-2-1 is now available for streaming on Spotify.

Valcata was produced online in its entirety and features musicians from around the globe, including both emerging and established artists. The album is the work of composer Oha Cade who is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Pre-order Valcata on Bandcamp or iTunes and get the tracks Horror Machine and 3-2-1 instantly. These tracks can also be streamed in full on Bandcamp.

Pre-order on iTunes (get a discount and 2 tracks instantly)
Pre-order on Bandcamp (get 2 tracks instantly)
Pre-order on Google Play

Follow Valcata on social media:

www.valcata.com
facebook.com/ValcataProject
instagram.com/valcata_official

The independent symphonic metal opera project Valcata has released a lyric video for their lead single, 3-2-1. The song showcases four out of the album’s eight vocalists — Angel Wolf-Black (Vivaldi Metal Project), Mary Zimmer (Helion Prime), Hadi Kiani (Gereh) and Kenneth Élan (Acoustic Dreams). The video details the lyrics as sung by the characters, against a background of dark sci-fi-inspired imagery. Watch it below:

3-2-1 is now available for streaming on Spotify.

Valcata was produced online in its entirety and features musicians from around the globe, including both emerging and established artists. The album is the work of composer Oha Cade who is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Pre-order Valcata on Bandcamp or iTunes and get the tracks Horror Machine and 3-2-1 instantly. These tracks can also be streamed in full on Bandcamp.

Pre-order on iTunes (get a discount and 2 tracks instantly)
Pre-order on Bandcamp (get 2 tracks instantly)
Pre-order on Google Play

Follow Valcata on social media:

www.valcata.com
facebook.com/ValcataProject
instagram.com/valcata_official