Ελληνικά
Good evening, first of all give us a small flash back on the band’s story and introduce yourselves to the people once more.
The band was originally formed in April 2012 under the name “Me And Myself” by N. Palivos and D. Vintsou, and at the beginning the band’s music could be described as alternative doom/gothic metal (first line-up: D. Vintsou / vocals, N. Palivos / bass & vocals, P. Varvaropoulos / guitars, H. Kyriakopoulos / guitars, A. Kousakis / drums). With this line-up we recorded our first album entitled “Last Wish”, which was released in 2013 from the independent label IKK Productions. At spring 2013, drummer A. Koussakis left the band and was replaced first by Nick “Yngve” and afterwards by K. Savvidis (as session drummers), while in May 2013 V. Thomas took H. Kyriakopoulos’ place on guitars. This was the line-up when the band changed its name to “Caelestia”, the album “Beneath Abyss” was recorded and the band’s style changed to our -now familiar- melodic progressive death, with lots of symphonic and black hints (one can call it extreme metal as well).
What happened from the release of “Last Wish” until the latest “Beneath Abyss”? How did this regeneration of the band take place and what led you to this? It seem like you have a lot to say about this…
We are very glad that you asked, because you aimed straight to the heart of things and we do have a lot to say…! Many factors, some of them really unpredictable, brought this “regeneration”, as you have named it (the same has been said by many reviewers of our album). The main factor for the revival is, of course, the people of the band themselves, meaning the band members (with their ideas, influences and inspiration). When new members arrive in a band with certain -up to a certain point of time- orientation in music, new influences arrive as well and blending and brewing starts to take place. As we said above, one year ago we were under the name “Me and Myself” and were labeled as an alternative doom / gothic metal bend. Our new guitarist’s (V. Thomas) adding up (after H. Kyriakopoulos’ departure) at that point was the catalyst that allowed many death and progressive elements to surface, as those were the influences Vassilis was carrying. As a natural aftermath, Nikos started as well writing songs that contained more black, death and progressive hints, which were already in him, but never until then matched the pursuits and the influences of the previous members and time had not yet come for them to come to life. So did the orientation swift, something that was evident at the following period of time when all the band members started to contribute with death / progressive / black / symphonic / extreme metal ideas in the songwriting process.
What did the renaming of the band mean to you and how was the new name chosen?
The renaming of the band to “Caelestia” in summer 2013 was natural, following our turn of musical direction and the type of music we then decided to play and write. The name “Caelestia” spawned from Demetra and was instantly approved by all of us, as it was suitable as a name for our new dark style in music that has its own bleak and suspenseful character. It is a trademark of the band’s sound and style, as we already said. Our previous name reflected on a different state of mind, one could say that it described a state of solitude and quest, something that upended afterwards.
On your first record I think that the influences from the classic progressive bands are obvious. In this second project of yours which influences can you name?
Indeed, in the first album we released as “Me and Myself”, we were walking on more classical “progressive” forms, as well as gothic / doom ones, with influences from “typical” bands of the genre. In some of the reviews for “Beneath Abyss” it has been compared to «Velvet Darkness They Fear» by Theatre Of Tragedy -more high paced of course-, an album that rests among the most important releases of the genre (and it is certainly a great honor to be compared with a band so top-class). On the other hand, bands such as Death, Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Therion, Nightwish, Katatonia, Cradle Of Filth, Moonspell, Hypocrisy, Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh are solid influences for us (both as a band and as individuals) and we could go on endlessly talking about bands that shaped our sound. Therefore, we could say that we feel closer to modern bands that serve the wide genre of melodic / progressive / black / symphonic / death metal. As you may have noticed we are trying to combine all these ingredients in an even mix. Besides, since we broke the chains of conformity in terms of songwriting, the same way we broke through the traditional style labels put to every band by some people. If someone listens to the title song of the last album, which was our first videoclip by the great Matthias Kollek, he/she will understand the natural progress of the band and what will our new songs sound like.
For me, personally, it was a pleasant surprise the step you took towards more extreme sounds. What is the feedback you get from the fans?
More than three months have passed since the release of the album and we are still receiving dozens of reviews from foreign sites, blogs and webzines, from Europe and the U.S. mainly, but also from Greek sites. Those reviews, at their vast majority are very positive and encouraging and the ratings are from 7.5 and above. Some have described our album as “…terrifying from start to finish…” or as “…an inspired effort that balances perfectly among beauty and destruction…”, while another review defines our songs as “…compositions of high technical difficulty, which swift among esthetic approaches…” and in general the majority of the arbiters and the fans have recognized that we have managed to combine different styles in our unique, personal style. This is morally satisfying, as we have tried to make a successful combination of all the influences and styles that each member carries in the band, death, black, progressive, symphonic etc. Our goal was from the beginning to forge our unique musical style as a band and not to sound as “mimics” and “clones” of other bands, something that is admittedly difficult nowadays.
Your second album “Beneath Abyss” was crafted assiduously, as I was able to witness. What were the setbacks in the creation of the album?
This genre (which we chose to serve) is obviously a very demanding and we are forced to walk the line between the dipole “Beauty and the Beast”. The changes from male to female vocals are so often that one could think that is watching a death / black opera. We are trying to be the directors of our own music and we are letting it lead us to apocryphal roads. Our sound demands great fantasy, originality and creativity. Nothing is forbidden, but on the other side we have the sense that we should balance on a tight rope. We are trying to combine all our influences and achieve the perfect mix, as we assimilate different metal styles. Besides, it is very difficult to play high speed tunes knowing that on the next riff you must change style and become more operatic and melodic. As you have witnessed, our music consists of a lot of diversity, numerous riffing and guitar phrasing (it is indicative that every song includes at least 8-9 different riffs, maybe more), many rhythm and meter shifting, which can reach from 130 up to 210 bpm, many times in one song (not the easiest thing for a drummer…) and the vivid orchestral and operatic themes. It demands fanatic diligence and discipline in order to achieve this. Our intension to break from the traditional song structure (intro / verse / chorus / verse / chorus / solo / chorus / outro) and insert a variety of alternate parts, passages and bridges in our songs, so that the listener could never guess what comes next. Of course in some parts there are standard stuff, however most of the time the listener falsely assumes that this is so. One can listen to a riff or a vocal tone and think that he heard it just before, still this is not the case. The music just guides the listener. We create a certain feeling of sorrow, angst, or even fear. We are working non-stop, trying to push our music and our knowledge one step forward. It demands many hours of work in order to produce a solid result in the sound and image department and to capture this result on stage. Most of all, everyone works for the band, not the band for us, everyone learns to submit and discipline his ego and serve the general purpose of the style and sound of the band.
This album had some great guest names, like Bjorn «Speed» Strid of Soilwork, drummer Markus Freiwald of Sodom and many Greek ones. So, how did this experience affect you?
From the start we had in mind to use some known artists in some of our songs, as this can surely add artistic value to them and enrich the sound. Since the famous “Fascination Street Studios» took hold of the mastering of the album with its trademark sound, it was our objective to have a representative of the Swedish sound in one of our songs. After a few contacts, Bjorn Strid «Speed» of Soilwork displayed great interest and, after listening to some of the songs, he came to the conclusion that it would be more fitting to do vocals on “Blessing Of Tragedy”, which decision made us very happy. The outcome was a success, once the song gets a lot of praise and is mentioned in many of the reviews. Now, about Markus «Makka» Freiwald (Sodom), we must mention that the song “Secret Rite” was already recorded with a session drummer, but Markus insisted on re-recording it (and who are we to say no to him..!), resulting in him covering the song with his unique, teutonic style! During the show that Sodom did in Athens, Markus managed to steal some time and listen to the song’s final form (mixing and mastering) and he was excited! Now, regarding the appearances of Nick Yngve (W.E.B.) and K. Savvidis (ex-Nightfall, Soulskinner) on the drums, we must say that they carried the album on their shoulders, as we didn’t have a permanent drummer and those excellent and experienced musicians helped us inexpressively as session players. Now, words have no meaning when it comes to our friend Andreas (Andrew Geo / AlterSelf, Gravebane, Malediction): he stood beside us since the birth of this band and “lended” us his awesome brutal vocals in order to achieve this immerse aggressiveness and power on the album’s title track. We thank him, as we thank everybody else, from the bottom of our hearts…
The band is signed to Inverse Records, is your cooperation going to continue?
When a well-known Scandinavian label is taking care of work, then you are flattered and this is some kind of vindication concerning the effort and the investment you have placed upon releasing this record. This becomes more significant, if one will consider how many worthy Greek bands fail to sign with a foreign label, waiting for months for an answer about their sent demos. We are pretty lucky in that sector, as we had to choose among several foreign labels and we didn’t have to wait longer than 20 days to get an answer. From that point on, the crucial part was the specific terms on the contract that was offered to us. In a few words we chose Inverse Records because: a) it provided a certain level of flexibility in our obligations towards them, together with a certain level of freedom in our rights as a band, contrary to the suffocating and firm provisions the biggest labels apply, b) it has a well organized distribution net in Europe (which is our main market nowadays) with Bertus’ guarantee in distributing, c) it ensures the digital distribution in all the platforms in the world d) it has a good reputation as a middle size independent label with over 140 bands on its roster, d) it is all in all a label that is run by people with the metal fan mentality, opposite to the commercialism that overrules in other labels. We believe that, in our current status we couldn’t ask for more, let alone entering a “solid contract” state of mind. There is always room for a band to develop and find out what level of professionalism and commercial success it can reach to, in order to make deals with bigger labels, following the example of big bands, domestic and foreign, that are considered to be an example. In conclusion, we feel that the label we signed with is a very good start and is ultimately up to us how far will we are willing to go or capable of going.
Tell us a few words about the promotion of the album and the feedback you got for this release.
As we already said, the label promoted the album very nicely, sending it to many sites to be reviewed and uploading it in many digital platforms, besides the “traditional” distribution. Moreover, thanks to our label many interview requests were made to us by well-known international sites and webzines (and Greek mags and sites as well) and as a result our work became well known in Greece and beyond the Greek boundaries. On the other hand the first numbers of sales at the end of the trimester are very encouraging, the album shows forward momentum, which we believe is going to be enhanced when we will start our live shows abroad. The countries in which our sales are enhanced are already legible (mostly Scandinavia and G.Britain) and those are our target group of live appearances. From our part, we never rested assured, but we managed to make a very nice video with one of the best directors in Europe, Matthias Kollek, we made endorsement agreements with many well known companies (Schecter Guitars, Orange Amplification, RotoSound Strings, The Black Angel Clothing, No Logo picks etc) and we sure made ourselves recognizable in the genre.
What are your future plans? Live shows, perhaps?
Considering that we have recently added in our line-up three new members (V. Evangelou guitars, S. Varotskis bass and G. Papadosifakis drums), nowadays we are working day and night to bind together as a band, so we are programming our first shows at the end of autumn, in order to be absolutely ready both in terms of performance and stage appearance. We want to throw a huge release party and invite friends that supported us and bands that we’ve worked together. We also have two invitations to appear in festivals (domestic and foreign) in the winter. From 2016 and on we are planning on entering an intense touring mode and give as many shows (especially abroad) as possible considering our budget and planning, as touring is the best way for a band to become recognizable beyond the local boarders. Besides the live acts we are planning on shooting a second video clip (of equal to the first one quality) and to complete other promoting acts which we mentioned above like for instance photoshoots, interviews, endorsements, merchandise etc…
Time for closure, last words are yours.
As we have said publicly in many of our interviews, the huge economic crisis did not leave the metal scene unaffected. There is lots of great metal music in Greece -which has nothing to be jealous of from the European or international scene- that needs to be known abroad, so the Greek bands in the scene must realize that they must work together, help each other (for example in festivals and tours) and leave behind all the ill mentality that reigned in the past. As someone said: “strength in unity and unity in strength”. We thank Metal Invader for this interview..!
