Contains interviews with Skullfist (heavy metal-Canada), Dawnbringer (heavy metal-USA), The Crystal Caravan (retro hard rock-Sweden), Abarax (prog rock-Germany), Echoes (prog metal-Venezuela), articles about Mystery (prog rock-Canada), Graveyard (retro hard rock-Sweden), Saracen (pomp rock- UK), Scorpions, an extensive 2010 review with tons of great stuff you probably didn't notice in 2010 and some articles concerning personal thoughts.
2010 was a great year for retro rock and I totally got into this style. If you like 60's-70's rock give these new bands a chance, some off them are really good in what they do, and honest as well. The song post below is so amazing I couldn't believe it was released just last year. If this band comes to tonw get your ass down there! and buy the cd, we want them to release a lot more and it won't happen if we don't support them!
Few prog metal releases impressed me last year. One of them is the second album by this Dutch band. ''Grand design'' is a concept album around a story of science fiction and conspiracy theories. Prog metal at its best.
Hypnos 69 is a Belgian psychedelic rock band formed in the middle 90's. They have released 5 albums till now and ''Legacy'' is the latest and best. Coinciding with the retro rock movement in the US and Sweden Hypnos 69 couldn't find a better timing to get back to a vintage sound that revisits the glorious days of heavy psych, horror and progressive rock. In compariosn to most new bands that try to immitate this certain style Hypnos 69 evidently have the experience not to overshadow their own songwriting abilities with their influences, resulting in an adventurous and mystagogic album for lovers of true art.
It’s a shame that great bands no longer get the promotion they deserve. It seems like quality is totally irrelevant when it comes to major labels choosing their signings. Cirrha Niva should be praised worldwide for this daring achievement that they released in 2009 under the title ‘’For moments never done’’. Now this is a band that can play up to date metal without disrespecting the very essence of metal that derives from the 80’s. A band that can write a complex songs without straying from its core, a core that is nothing but art in its purest form. Cirrha Niva did their part. It’s up to you to do your own now.
For starters, that’s a very strange name you chose! What does Cirrha Niva mean?
Cirrha Niva is derived from Cirrha & Nisa the mountain tops of the Parnassus, symbol of Divine Wisdom, Poetic Inspiration and Human Knowledge. We took this from “La Divina Comedia” written by Dante Alighieri. It might be a strange name, but it also an unique name, which these days is hard to find.
Tell us a few words about the band’s history. Why did it take so long to release ‘’For moments never done’’? Did you break up for some time?
We never broke up. The period between the last two albums was an unlucky period, with a lot of personal situations. This kept setting back the band time after time. Finally, when vocalist Legrand joined the band, things fell into place and in a short period of time everybody felt that we grew together very fast. Things just fell into place and took off.
On your recent album you play progressive metal mixed with lots of other styles. How would you describe the sound of Cirrha Niva today? Did your previous releases have the same style?
It’s difficult to categorize the music of the band, “progressive metal” would be the most suitable I guess. Most reviewers categorize us as progressive metal so.... That’s what we do! The former Cirrha Niva album was totally different from what we are doing now. The album before that one was different also. With each album Cirrha Niva kept developing. The new songs will probably have the same vibe as the songs on “for moments never done”, but they will still be able to surprise you. We are always trying to push our boundaries and make each song a better one than the song before that. We don’t back off from any music style for our songs, we feel that if a song benefits from a certain musical part we’ll use it. In this manner we build our songs and develop our style.
I think that ‘’For moments never done’’ is one of the most interesting releases of 2009. How confident do you feel about the album?
We are very confident, when we started recording we knew we had good songs, we only needed someone who could capture the expression we had in mind for these songs. Split Second Sound did just that, they knew exactly how to translate our ideas. We are very happy with the final outcome. . Your brand of metal incorporates many modern elements yet that never annoys me, although I consider myself a classic metal fan. What’s the secret?
It’s not about the elements itself. It’s about the song. A great song is a great song, if you have a good basic song and work it out well it will never start getting boring, whether it’s “classic” metal or has many modern elements. Legrand’s vocal lines are a very important part of our songs, and I think he’s responsible for keeping the album interesting. Of course musically speaking you can’t describe us as dull, but Legrand is what you call “the icing on the cake”.
Progressive metal has lost much of its popularity due to bands that overdo the technical aspect of their music and lose in terms of songwriting and even heaviness. You certainly be very heavy and the songs in spite of their extended length are focused and direct. Did you bother about these things while writing the songs?
Yes. We keep evaluating our songs again and again, until we are completely happy, there’s no room for doubt. And like I earlier said, it’s the song that counts. A great song will always be noticed and people will remember it. A great melody is just as hard to create as playing a very difficult lead. The song is what we consider the most vital part of our music.
LeGrand has a great voice. How did you find him? Has he sung on any other official releases by other bands? Is LeGrand some kind of nickname?
When we parted ways with our former singer we started looking for a new one. Legrand put up an add on My Space, saying “vocalist looking for a band”. We reacted to his add and after the first audition (to be honest, WHILE auditioning) we were very impressed with his power, melody and his input. We immediately told him he was hired. It’s proven to be a great decision because Legrand not only is a great singer, he writes great lyrics and also has input in the songwriting process itself. If you visit the myspace of Legrand you can see his musical history, he sung with several bands in all kinds of different styles. His name is indeed a nickname, he got it from a teacher who used to translate Legrands real name (de Groot) translated to French. When others kept using it he decided to stick with it.
I couldn’t help noticing that your singer as well as some of the more ‘’classic metal’’ parts of your songs reminded me of the US band Hittman. Especially the fast part of Running from the source and the opening of Self-chosen gave me that vibe. Do you like them, have they influenced you in any way?
Okey, I hope I don’t insult anyone right now, but I never heard of Hittman. I also know Legrand doesn’t listen to metal at all, so it’s unlikely he heard of them too. So we aren’t influenced by them in particular. Music we are influenced by goes from classical music, country, rock’n roll, 60’s-70’s rock to the noisiest and filthiest death-metal you can find. Each band member has its own favorite bands, and the music we share as a common love is progressive music. For instance, Rob listens also to singer/songwriters, Daniel loves the Doors, and I am much more of a metal guy. This doesn’t mean that I don’t listen to singer/songwriters at all; I just don’t listen to it that frequently. Generally speaking, individually we are influenced by our own favorites and when composing we all put it into one big melting pot and try to make it into a “Cirrha Niva song”.
The vocal lines are pretty unique. Intense and melodic parts are weaved in each other and there’s a constant mood change, strengthened by the theatrical delivery of LeGrand. Who composed the vocal melodies? How easy (or difficult) was it to record the vocals?
Almost all vocal melodies are composed by Legrand although for Running… and Framed he did use some fragments of older vocal lines that were composed by our former vocalist. The recording was great, Legrand is a very tough person, especially to himself. He sang some great lines only to tell us “should be done better” and record the line again. The recording process wasn’t easy, but that’s because of the high standard we and the studio demanded from us. And although it hasn’t been easy, it was great to record our music, we had some great fun doing so!!! It’s great to see your darlings evolve in something you feel proud of.
There’s a really beautiful track on the album, I’m referring to Spring before winter, it’s very dreamy and tranquil in the beginning with the guitar and saxophone solos, and later on it gets a little eerie. How do you manage to build up such a strong atmosphere?
In fact the basic parts were written a long time ago by Rob, we wanted to make it an instrumental song, with a long spherical solo. Later on when Legrand heard the song he started singing so beautiful we immediately decided to add his lines to the song. Finally, far into the mixing process, Bouke Visser (who produced the album) gave us a rough mix with the sax solo on it, just as a joke. We all loved it immediately and asked him to keep it on the album. At first he was a bit shy about it but later on we convinced him we really loved it, so he gave in. And we are very happy with it, it’s a beautiful sax solo.
Is there a concept behind the lyrics of ‘’For Moments Never Done’’? Tell us a few things about what the lyrics are about.
The lyrics are very important. You can see the lyrics as autobiographical. Le Grand describes his thoughts and experiences from his point of view, and because of that he sings them the way he does. His lyrics are very close to him. On the other hand, the lyrics are not carrying a certain message, we are not a political band, we don’t try to get a certain message abroad. Just listen to the lyrics and think for yourself. If listeners have any questions about specific lyrics they can always ask and we’ll be happy to explain.
In the last song there’s a lyric ‘’there’s no room to innovate’’. Of course you refer to something totally different but I’m using this line to ask: Is there any room to innovate in metal anymore? Has everything been played before or do the new bands have the chance to create new sounds and styles?
Well, to be honest, Frank Zappa lived so everything has been done LOL. Having said that, I think there’s always room for something new. It’s not about trying to look at what others do and then NOT doing the same, it’s about not looking at others, doing your own thing and believing in what you think sounds great. Give it your full 100% and always ask yourself how you can take a song to a higher level. If people keep on trying to express their inner feelings and stay sincere about it, new things will always appear.
You released a very strong album. What are the plans to support it? Will you do any tours in the near future?
Right now we want to play live as much as possible, we want to be out there and share our music with you guys. We want to play our guts out for our fans and the people interested that aren’t fans (yet). We want you guys to enjoy a great musical event and afterwards have a beer with us. We’d love to see you guys live and hear what you think of our live show!! This goes for each and every opportunity we get to play, whether it’s a normal show or a festival.
Progressive metal fans seem to be too devoted to the big names like Dream Theater and tend to neglect new bands that have a lot to offer. What would you say to them?
I’d like to tell them that we’ve had only positive reactions at international progressive rock media so far, so I would ask you to visit us at our websites and have a listen to our songs. You may like it!!!
Your last words.
First of all, we really want to thank everybody for the awesome reactions so far, great to see people enjoy the album. Second, we would love to see you guys in a live situation, playing our music for you. So if you guys want to see us Live, go to your local youthcenter, concert hall, a guy who organizes festivals, whatever you can think of and let them know you want to see us play live. Hopefully we’ll meet in the nearby future and until then, if any of you guys have any remarks, questions or just feel like saying “Hi” please drop us a line. This can be done at:
A while ago I thought about creating a little music fanzine that I would run totally on my own for just one reason. I wanted it to be me 100%. I've worked on such projects with friends I appreciate a lot and it was a great experience, but this time I wanted to avoid even the slightest compromise which was inevitable when I worked with other people.
So this is it. Something personal, hopefully unconventional, where I will try to breathe my soul intos, speak out my thoughts without bothering about anything like political corectness, criticism, etc.. I just want to spread the word about real artists, past and present, from rock or metal, through Lonely Road.
The first small issue with 30 pages full of great music can be downloaded (as a pdf file) at:
