Creation’s End – A New Beginning

There’s a certain sub-genre of progressive metal that really desperately wants to be Dream Theater, and there’s another (much smaller) group that manages to outclass Dream Theater in its own style. Creation’s End can be firmly placed as a member of the latter category, to the point where it even feels a bit unfair to compare the two bands at all – while there’s no doubt that Creation’s End has taken some technical influences from Dream Theater, calling them derivative would not do justice to the incredible level of creativity and skill expressed by all members of the band.

A New Beginning, Creation’s End’s debut album, falls in line with many tropes of progressive metal – it’s composed in equal parts of that popular style of prevailing heavy chord patterns with complex underlying melodies, frantic guitar shredding, and the occasional obligatory light section. It’s incredibly frantic and energetic, and, as most good metal does, contains a great amount of raw emotion. It does not, though, come across as trite – even if A New Beginning is not entirely original, it feels as though it is.

Much of this feeling comes down to the finesse with which the music is executed – everything is very carefully orchestrated, and every note seems meticulously planned. There’s a fair amount of bass work, including some rapidly slapped transitions that work nicely with the rest of the music, and a Jordan Rudess-style synth that alternately reaches into high pitches to complement a lower, heavier melody or appears in the background as series of very well-placed chords. Though many of the instruments often take a backseat to the guitar, none of them manage to be drowned out, and removing a single note from any of them would create an entirely different experience. It’s a very carefully constructed tower of an album – the bass, synth, guitar and drums alike come together at all the right times, and build off of each other in interesting ways. The musicians clearly had a good idea of what they wanted to produce, and A New Beginning has a seriously refined musical quality.

I’ve held off mentioning the vocals to this point because they’re difficult to describe. It’s hard to call Mike DiMeo a talented singer, as I don’t think his voice would hold up very well without the instruments behind it. His singing isn’t exactly melodic, and always sounds a bit strange – but within the context of the album, it works. A New Beginning is one of those albums where the music and vocals are made to complement each other, and DiMeo’s voice serves this purpose quite well. It’s difficult to make any form of value judgment about DiMeo as a singer based on A New Beginning, he’s basing his voice very heavily around the music being played. Even if the singing on the album might not be “good” by many standards, there’s no denying that it’s an important part of the music being played.

To DiMeo’s credit, though, he sells the concept of the album very well. This an odd point to make, because I’m not exactly sure what the concept is – I don’t have a lyrics sheet, and the lyrics are often difficult to make out. It reflects well upon DiMeo that he’s able to make me like the concept without even knowing what it is. The few lines I could make out weren’t exactly spectacular samples of writing – with lines like “So this is what it comes to / regard for life is lost / we fight and kill for justice / but is it worth the cost?”, A New Beginning can come off as a bit preachy and cheesy – but, as said before, DiMeo’s voice is so full of passion that it just doesn’t matter.

The one failing of the album, then, is that it feels as though it’s composed from set pieces we’ve all seen before – it’s hard to find anything completely new in A New Beginning, but everything is executed with such finesse that the last niggling feeling that it might not be entirely original is completely swept away. It’s dense, packed tightly with a lot of different concurrent melodies – a non-stop stream of emotion, energy and overall excellent music.

Tracklist:

1. Of Shadow and Flame – 8:58

2. World Holocaust – 6:56

3. Hollow – 7:04

4. Dissociate – 6:51

5. Still Life – 7:39

6. Forsaken – 10:47

7. Relic – 5:32

8. Creation’s End – 11:13

Line-up:

*Mike DiMeo – vocals

*Rudy Albert – guitars/keyboards

*Marco Sfogli – guitars

*Joe Black – bass

*Dario Rodriguez – drums

Links:

http://creationsend.net/index1.html

Cloverseeds – The Opening

Progressive music fans can generally be classified into one of two categories: those who listen for the music and those who listen for the experience. While members of the former group won’t be very impressed by Cloverseeds’ The Opening, members of the latter will find that it is quite an excellent piece of work. It is an album that you will love if you’re a regular fan of its style, but don’t expect it to be one of those rare cross-genre wonders.

Cloverseeds plays progressive rock with a few elements of metal, and fans of Porcupine Tree and Riverside are apt to find something familiar in their sound. Tracks generally consist of simple dominating metal chord patterns with more complex underlying melodies. Instead of focusing on technical musicianship, each track of The Opening attempts to evoke a certain mood or feeling – and it does this quite well. Most tracks revolve around a central musical theme, but they manage to repeat themselves without feeling repetitive. Though the music is never too heavy or too relaxed, it still manages to span a wide range of musical styles, with tracks that are equal parts dark, calm, angry and passionate. It is vibrant with emotional quality, and the music is very refined – The Opening certainly has a high production quality, and the members of Cloverseeds know how to complement each other well.

That is, in fact, simultaneously The Opening’s greatest strength and greatest weakness. The music and the vocals suit each other very well, and combine to create the emotional experience that is the album’s best quality, but at points the singing sounds a bit needling. This can probably be attributed to the fact that Ced is a French vocalist attempting to sing in English, but the criticism persists nonetheless. This is by no means a constant problem – much of the time the singing is fantastic, but there are points where it is slightly unpleasant. It should be said, though, that this probably comes down to a matter of personal preference. Appreciation of vocals varies from person to person – some will like his voice, some won’t. The best you can do is listen to the clip below and decide for yourself.

Ultimately, The Opening is very well made for what it is. While those who prefer more complex melodies won’t find it enthralling, it is clear that Cloverseeds’ musicians are quite talented, and the simple nature of the music is more of a stylistic choice than an indicator of poor musicianship. The Opening did not leave much of an impression on me, but what it did leave was quite positive. It is subdued but expressive, with little technicality but a lot of feeling.

Tracklist:

1. Over Camellia – 4:02
2. Fam(L)Ar – 4:53
3. Flowers – 6:18
4. Higher – 4:02
5. Brand New Day – 5:28
6. Calling Me Down – 3:51
7. The Opening – 6:01
8. For Those – 5:42
9. Enough – 4:55

Line-up:

* Cedric – Singer
* Christophe – Drums
* Stephane – Bass Guitar
* Pierre – Guitar
* Fabrice – Guitar

Links:

http://www.intromental.com/cloverseeds/

http://www.myspace.com/cloverseeds

Buy album from:

Cynthesis – DeEvolution

Due to the incredible diversity of progressive metal, it’s rare to find an album that satisfies all fans of the genre. Cynthesis’ debut album DeEvolution may end up being one of the few. Keep in mind, reading the rest of the review, that despite all my criticisms DeEvolution is a fantastic album and well worth your time and money.

Cynthesis is formed from the remnants of Zero Hour, a band known for being Opeth but with speed metal (fans of Zero Hour will note that this is not an entirely accurate comparison, but it should suffice for the purposes of this review). Some of their original sound can be heard in DeEvolution, but for the most part Cynthesis seems to have formed a new style independent of their Zero Hour roots.

DeEvolution is a concept album that probably shouldn’t be. While the music is nothing short of excellent at all times, the concept part of the album is handled a bit clumsily and tends to be confusing and preachy. According to the Amazon product summary, “‘DeEvolution’ tells the story of an elite group of leaders from a heavily industrialized city who find, brainwash and then exploit an indigenous tribes shaman, believing he would be the perfect supreme leader. By propping him up as possessing all the answers to societies ills the elites use him in order to gain and maintain control over the masses.” I quote the product summary here because without it I would have had no idea what was going on. The anti-consumerism and anti-corporate sentiment comes across clearly (albeit somewhat preachingly), but the “shaman” storyline is fairly esoteric, and definitely needs some clarification. The album does make clear the idea that someone is being put into power against his will, but the story beyond that is so vague that it might as well not exist. The concept of DeEvolution is not bad – and is even quite successful on occasion – but it would have greatly benefited from a little more attention and revision.

Despite my criticisms of the concept, however, it culminated quite well in an Ayreon-style finale, full of emotion and suitably epic music (although critics of Ayreon will find that it’s not quite as cheesy).

Within the finale, though, arises another issue – that of vocals occasionally restricting music. There is no doubt that the Tipton brothers are fantastic musicians, but I can’t help but feel that they might be held back by their singer – there are a few tracks where the music is notably tempered for the sake of the vocals. This goes both ways, however, as there are times when the music clashes with or almost completely blocks out the singing.

Cynthesis’ only real problem, then, is a failure to properly mesh instruments and voice. The singing and the music are oddly syncopated to one another, and seem to be entirely independent. As someone used to the Pain of Salvation school of “voice as part of the melody,” the awkward juxtaposition of voice upon music comes as a bit of a shock. There are times (in fact, I’d say the majority of the album) where they work together quite well – but there’s no denying that the two sides of the album don’t quite fit together. It can perhaps be attributed to the fact that the Tipton brothers haven’t worked with Erik Rosvold in some time, or that DeEvolution is Cynthesis’ first album – I don’t know, but if these hurdles are overcome then Cynthesis could easily become a new favorite band.

Ultimately, these criticisms are nitpicking complaints on a work that is just really good. If nothing else, DeEvolution is worth picking up to hear the amazing instrumental talent of Jasun and Troy Tipton, with music that is equal parts slow and melodic and frantic and heavy, all with perfect execution. The members of Cynthesis are both talented and creative and all fans of progressive metal can find something to love in their styles.

Tracklist:

1. The Man Without Skin – 4:08

2. Incision – 7:30

3. Divided Day – 7:45

4. Shallow World – 4:44

5. Profits of Disaster – 6:00

6. The Edifice Grin – 5:03

7. Twilight – 3:40

8. A Song of Unrest – 6:47

Line-up:

Jasun Tipton – Guitars and Keyboards

Troy Tipton – Bass Guitar

Erik Rosvold – Vocals

Sean Flanegan – Drums

Links:

http://www.myspace.com/cynthesisband

http://www.amazon.com/DeEvolution-Cynthesis/dp/B004OKFIW2

Lazuli – [4603 Battements]

[4603 Battements], the latest album from the French band Lazuli, is an album that manages to be both pretty good and difficult to recommend.

The title means [4603 Beats], presumably in a musical sense. The first and last tracks are titled “[" and "]” respectively, so my initial assumption was that the album (disregarding the first and last track) contains a total of 4603 musical beats. While I won’t take the time to count out 48 minutes of music, I have no reason to doubt this assumption.

Still, it’s a very intriguing concept – and that is, ultimately, the best description I can give of [4603 Battements]. Some of its tracks are very good, and some are just okay. It’s not a mind-blowing album, but it plays around with some interesting ideas and is worth a look if you’re into that sort of thing

The album begins with a concept that is, to me, very cool. The first track consists entirely of 7 seconds of a metronome beating out the time signature to the following song. At the end of the second track, the metronome reappears and speeds up to match the time signature of the third. Initially, this mechanic appeared to be a neat way of connecting all the tracks (and it does fit in with the album’s concept of “4603 beats”), but it disappears at the ends of certain tracks and at other points does not seem to match the time signature of the following track. I’m not sure what to make of it – when it appears it’s a very intriguing concept (and that is, after all, most of what the album has going for it), but it doesn’t appear with enough consistency to have any discernable meaning.

The second track, Je Te Laisse Ce Monde, is a good start to the album. It is largely indicative of the style of the rest of the tracks, taking a heavier approach to progressive rock with a pounding bass and heavily distorted instruments, interspersed with lighter breaks. About halfway through the track, however, one begins to realize that the same musical strains are being repeated in verse-chorus-verse fashion. Ultimately, this is [4603 Battements]’s greatest vice. Years of rock and roll have shown that a few strong chords can be repeated endlessly without becoming boring, but eclectic music and repetition do not mix well. Lazuli does often strive for an eclectic style – and they achieve it quite well. The first two minutes of every track on the album are highly enjoyable – but the repetition may become too much for fans of freeform prog. This is not a condemnation – but those bothered by repetition will probably be turned away by [4603 Battements].

The third track, Le Miroir Aux Alouettes, follows enough in the style of the second that it is not notable for the purposes of this review.

The fourth track, Dans Le Formol Au Museum, is a slight departure from the trend of the previous songs. It becomes fairly proggy and pleasing to hear. It’s on the heavier side of prog rock, and occasionally treads into metal territory (but only slightly), but it’s never too heavy to be enjoyable. Despite its progressiveness, though, Dans Le Formol Au Museum’s eclectic nature only really shows up in the form of a standard light-drums repeated-piano-chords guitar solo in the style of Jimi Hendrix. If repetition is [4603 Battements]’s greatest vice, its second greatest is a fear to try anything new. While this may seem conflicting with my previous statement that intrigue is its best quality, the intrigue generally appears in concept alone.

The fifth track, 15H40, is a nice light interlude between the heaviness of the preceding and following tracks. It’s a very pretty song, and a great showcase of the singer’s voice, but musically not as proggy as the rest of the album. It’s occasionally reminiscent of Spock’s Beard, and fans thereof will probably be equally enamored with Lazuli.

The sixth track, Les Malveillants, is an unfortunate return to the repetitive nature of [4603 Battements]’s first few tracks. It is still, however, one of the best tracks on the album – it’s not as eclectic as, say, Beardfish or Yes, but is still willing to experiment – and its symphonic nature occasionally reminds one of Ayreon’s 01011001. Les Malveillants greatest quality, though, is that it begins a trend that extends throughout the rest of the album of ending each track with an exploratory passage. Although the main musical strains are repeated a few times, the last third of the track becomes fairly freeform, and these parts are very good – if the entire album consisted of these passages, I’d hold it in high regard.

The seventh track, Quand La Bise Fut Venue, is another song in the vein of 15H40 (and, by extension, Spock’s Beard). Fans of intense prog won’t like it, but the singer’s voice is genuinely beautiful and it’s a good, gentle break (once more as an interlude between two heavy tracks).

The eighth track, L’azur, switches back and forth between lighter akin to 15H40 and heavier parts more like Les Malveillants. Once more, though, it falls into the verse-chorus-verse trap. It’s a good song, with good music, but as with the rest of the album doesn’t take much variation outside of its two primary musical strains until two thirds of the way through the song, when, like with Les Malveillants and Dans Le Formol Au Museum, it becomes more exploratory musically. As I stated before, these sections are pretty great – I only wish they started earlier without requiring 2-3 repetitions of the verse-chorus-verse format.

The ninth track, Saleté de Nuit, is probably the most unique of the album. It features a syncopated synth with strange electronic musical effects in the background. This uniqueness isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it’s a good track. Once more I’m reminded of Spock’s Beard – there’s not much going on musically, but it’s still a pretty, intriguing song.

The tenth track, Festin Ultime, starts out quite calm (once more acting as a showcase for the singer’s voice), but picks up as it revisits all the musical styles that appeared in preceding tracks. It’s actually quite an excellent track, and easily my favorite, as its entire course mimicks the exploratory parts of earlier songs. Although it occasionally reworks musical strains that appeared elsewhere in [4603 Battements], Festin Ultime manages to be largely a unique piece, and it’s a shame that it’s only four minutes long.

The final track, “]”, is a repetition of what appears to be the main musical theme of the album, eventually fading into ambience. It’s not a shining musical piece, but it’s a fitting end to what is, overall, an above-average album.

[4603 Battements] does not have one single unifying style. Throughout its course i was reminded in equal parts of Beardfish, Spock’s Beard, Ayreon and Jimi Hendrix. Although this makes it difficult to recommend to any specific demographic, it accomplishes all the styles it attempts quite well, and it is by no means a bad album.

At times it even feels difficult to call [4603 Battements] a progressive album. Fans of Spock’s Beard and Ayreon alike may be intrigued by Lazuli’s vocal-centric approach to the progressive genre, although those who like only one of the aforementioned artists will probably be turned away by its diverse musical style.

Tracklist:

[ - 0:08
Je Te Laisse Ce Monde - 5:35
Le Miroir Aux Alouettes - 6:05
Dans Le Formol Au Museum - 5:18
15H40 - 4:56
Les Malveillants - 7:20
Quand La Bise Fut Venue - 2:56
L'azur - 4:58
Saleté de Nuit - 5:07
Festin Ultime - 4:35
] – 1:18

Line-up:

* Claude Leonetti – Léode*
* Dominique Leonetti – vocals, guitar, mandolin
* Gédéric Byar – guitar
* Romain Thorel – keyboards, French horn
* Vincent Barnavol – drum, percussions, marimba

Links:

http://www.lazuli-music.com/

Azure Agony – Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief, the debut album by obscure Italian band Azure Agony, is the best example I’ve heard recently of how diverse the genre of Progressive Metal is. It encompasses a wide range of musical styles, from frantic and heavy to light and symphonic. I guarantee that you won’t ever be bored listening to the album, as the music is varied enough to stay fresh throughout its entirety. I find myself enjoying the album more and more each time I listen to it – the band has a great blend of creativity and skill, and Beyond Belief is both unique and impressive.

Azure Agony’s musical style can be split into two distinct categories: metallic and melodic. Each is present in every song, and each song switches fairly frequently between the two. It’s not uncommon for any song to dive suddenly from a light piano melody into a heavy guitar riff. Unfortunately, while the wide range of genres is one of the album’s best qualities, it also acts as its largest flaw. The biggest problem I have with Beyond Belief is that the transitions simply don’t work very well. I’m reminded of Opeth in some ways – anyone who has listened to Opeth is familiar with the quick switches between melodic singing and death metal. The problem is that Opeth executes these transitions with a certain finesse that Azure Agony lacks. The sudden switches between heavy and melodic come off as indecisive sometimes, which is a shame because both are very good. Both sides of Beyond Belief’s music are performed incredibly, but they don’t merge together as well as they should. I’m hopeful, however, that the idiosyncrasies in style are due to the fact that Beyond Belief is the band’s first album, and will be smoothed out for their next release. In my recent interview with Gabriele Pala (Azure Agony’s guitarist), he stated that on their upcoming album the “atmosphere changes… will be less… quick,” so it seems that they are aware of the issue and it won’t be a problem in the future.

As I stated before, each of the album’s styles is executed well in its own right. The musicians are all very capable of adapting to different genres. Most notable among the instruments are the keyboards, played by Marco Sgubin. Beyond Belief contains a wide array of synthesizers, and Sgubin often drives the melody in a way is not very common in Prog Metal. There’s a notable keyboard presence throughout the album that is nothing short of excellent. The guitar, as well, is excellent – played by Gabriele Pala, the guitar parts are incredibly varied, and, as I said before, will never leave you bored. I feel bad for not having much to say about Carlo Simeoni, the drummer. The drum part is very, very good, but I’m not much of a drum person and can’t really tell you anything further than that. Marco Firman, the bassist, is also very skilled. Unfortunately, the bass doesn’t come through as often as I’d like. This is, I’m sure, an incredibly nitpicky complaint – as a bassist myself, I felt that the bass was a little too low in the mix. Firman is, however, fantastic when he comes through, and there are a few melodic bass riffs throughout the album that I enjoyed immensely.

I’ve said pretty much all there is to say – Beyond Belief is fantastic, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Progressive Metal. It has some flaws, but most of them can be attributed to the fact that it is Azure Agony’s first album. I’m looking forward to seeing their future work, and hoping for the best.

Tracklist:

1. Awareness – O:52

2. Mystic Interiors – 5:11

3. Terror Haza – 7:10

4. The Temple of Vandora – 7:31

5. Ante Tentora – 5:31

6. Across Elysian Fields – 4:36

7. The Fall of the Vector – 4:36

8. Secret Getaway – 7:38

9. The Last City – 7:01

Lineup:

*Marco Sgubin – keyboards

*Gabriele Pala – guitar

*Marco Firman – bass

*Carlo Simeoni – drums

Azure Agony’s first CD, Beyond Belief, is available on CDBaby, Masterpiece Distribution and The Omega Order.

Azure Agony

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Gabriele Pala of Azure Agony, an as-of-yet unknown Italian Progressive Metal band. Beyond Belief, their debut album, is entirely instrumental, and the band is working on a new album to be released this year.

Jonathan: Hello Gabriele, thanks for agreeing to do this interview. Would you mind introducing yourself and the band?

Gabriele: Hello! My name is Gabriele Pala and I play guitar in a band called Azure Agony. We are Italian, we play instrumental (so far) progressive metal, and started this activity back in 2006. The band is composed of four people: myself on guitar, Marco Sgubin on keyboards, Marco Firman on bass and Carlo Simeoni on drums. The band began as per a keyboardist’s idea, then all others joined in during time. The main purpose is to create good music, complex and refined but not stressing or too virtuosic.

Jonathan: I’d like to talk about your first and currently only album, Beyond Belief. The album seems to be somewhat conceptual, most notably in the first track which consists primarily of footsteps and water dripping sounds. Was there any specific concept that you were going for with the album?

Gabriele: Beyond Belief is published by the Italian label SG Records. At first we didn’t even think about the possibility of having a label, in fact the copies you can buy on CDBaby (even if with the same album and same artwork) are released by us directly. Then we got in contact with them and found a good partnership. That allowed the album to reach a wide base of listeners all around the globe.

The main concept behind the music in Beyond Belief is to describe places. These places are real (for example “Mystic Interiors”, the first track, is a shop in Malta… “Terror Haza” is the museum of Nazism in Budapest, “Ante Tentora” is a street in Kerso, a Croatian isle)… others are invented or come from ancient mythology (“The Temple Of Vandora”, “Across Elysian Fields”). We would like the listener to close his eyes and imagine being there by listening to our music.

The intro is the beginning of this imaginary journey: a man is walking through a basement with many rooms departing from the main corridor… by peeking inside those, he can listen to something that he’s going to hear later in the album, just drafted by a piano or a cello. Then he reaches a mysterious machine, presses a button and the story begins…

Jonathan: Can you tell me a little bit more about the process of creating the album? It took four years from the band’s creation in 2006 for your first album to be released. What happened during that time?

Gabriele: Well, writing the album has been a natural process. At the beginning we had some line up change, like all the bands since ever. Then we started creating the songs, using some old ideas that Marco (keyboards) had ready at that time. Then everything else grew up without any particular problem. Every one of us did equally contribute in songwriting, som

etimes with more music oriented ideas, like particular scales, chords or rhythms, other times with something more conceptual: describing how a particular passage should evolve, then letting us decide what to do on the instruments. Finally we studied each single note to be exactly what we want.

Then, we recorded the album, thanks to Luigi Stefanini at New Sin Studio. He’s an amazing professional, he was able to guide us to reach the best possible sound. In Europe he’s considered a top notch man for progressive metal and rock. He also worked with members of Stratovarious, Deep Purple and Rolling Stones.

One year (or less) later we were contacted by SG Records.

Jonathan: There are a ton of synthesizers used on the album, can you tell us about some of them? Also, could you tell us about the instruments the band uses in general?

Gabriele: All synth sounds come from Marco’s Kurzweil, which is quite a standard in this kind of music. Then, there are some acoustic pianos here and there, a cello played by Anna Marcossi (Marco’s girlfriend) and a flute played by Giorgio Marcossi (Anna’s father). I am endorsed by BassLab guitar, a German brand making very particular instruments in a composite material. Marco (bass) is endorsed by Wood & Tronics basses, a local brand of our area. Carlo simply plays normal drums. On a live set, cellos and flutes are played by Marco on keyboards.

Jonathan: Beyond Belief is characterized by many quick transitions from light, melodic music to heavier, more metallic music. I hear a little bit of Opeth in the album in that sense – did they influence you at all, or am I completely off base? If I am, was there any specific inspiration behind this style?

Gabriele: I have to say that I’m the only one in the band listening to extreme metal music. Opeth takes part in that arena, even if they are not so extreme. We never thought about them as an influence so far. However, each one of us comes from different musical backgrounds. About myself, I’ve been playing death metal for about 15 years and most of my playing style comes from that. I also like jazz, fusion and prog rock from the 70s. Marco (keys) is more oriented on classic prog stuff like Dream Theater, Rush or Queensryche. Carlo is born listening to Queen and big bands of the 50s but is constantly expanding his horizons. Marco (bass) also listen to a lot of stuff, from pop to metal. I think all of these influences go into our music, with no filters.

Dan: Speaking of hearing weird stuff, I notice some similarities in your music shared with a lot of Japanese symphonic rock/metal bands like KBB. Same question as the last in regards to this, are you a fan of any Japanese symphonic prog bands?

Gabriele: I confess my ignorance about the Japanese symphonic rock/metal bands. Well, this could be a good occasion to start listening to them… so thanks for the suggestion!!

Jonathan: When you play live, do you use the same gear that you used on the album?

Gabriele: Almost the same. The main difference is the guitar rig. I cannot afford the very expensive guitar amp heads that Mr. Stefanini used for recording, however I can reach something similar with my humble gear. As said before, cellos and flutes are played by keyboards, but when you come at one of our gigs, what you’re gonna hear is exactly what you hear on the album, there are no secondary parts left out.

Jonathan: What’s the story behind the name Azure Agony?

Gabriele: Azure Agony is the name of one of the last levels in the game “Quake”. We always thought that a lot of games have good soundtracks with wonderful music, really underrated by most people. So, our name would like to be a tribute to those artists.

Jonathan: You’ve mentioned that your new album, coming out this year, will have vocals on it. What language will these be in, and why did you choose to do them in this language?

Gabriele: Yes, we think that adding vocals can give us a great consensus increase. Call it a more commercial approach, in some sense. People mostly listen to vocals when facing a band. Lyrics will be in English and will talk about introspection topics and mythology, but they are not finished at the moment, thus subject to changes.

Jonathan: What is the music going to be like on this new album? Will there be any changes or will it be roughly the same style?

Gabriele: We think that you will hear our trademarks, however we tried to be more “linear”, with less tempo and atmosphere changes (or better: they will be less… quick ). This is also studies to give the vocals its proper space to express. Furthermore, there will be a lot of improvements on sound, more samples, more spacey synths/effects and maybe less “normal instruments”.

Jonathan: Is there anything finalized about the new album besides musical ideas? Do you have a name you can tell us? Perhaps show us a sneak peek of the cover art?

Gabriele: Not yet. We have some preproduction tracks so far. We also need to create some other songs. Our target is to have one hour of music. That’s it so far. We don’t have any idea about any artwork, album title and so on yet.

Jonathan: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. Before we finish, is there anything you’d like to mention that I didn’t ask?

Gabriele: Thanks to you for getting in touch with us. We were glad to answer your questions and maybe add some of your reader to our fan base! In the future we would like to improve and increase our live activity. With one album with no vocals it’s not easy to find gigs

Azure Agony’s first CD, Beyond Belief, is available on CDBaby, Masterpiece Distribution and The Omega Order.

If you’re interested in the band, be sure to check them out on Facebook or Myspace.