MYSTIC PROPHECY Interview
Category: Interviews Published Date Written by verkaim Hits: 251
Genre: Power Metal
1. Hello! How are you? There are a few days now that “Ravenlord” is released? How do you feel about it? Are you anxious of how people will accept it?
Hello, I would like to thank you for giving me the chance to speak with you and share some information about our new album!!! We are definitely very happy and proud to have released such a great album as "Ravenlord", it seems that people like very much already... All reviews are much better than the ones from "Fireangel", and it seems it is going to enter the German charts again as "Fireangel" did...
2. “Ravenlord” is already your seventh album. A very rare achievement for metal bands especially the new ones. Have you ever imagined that the band would last so long? Which do you think are the biggest things that you have achieved all these years?
As you correctly say, the band was founded in 2000 and since then, in an eleven- year-period we did 7 CD releases... I really don't know that many bands to have accomplished such a thing in the last years... We have so far survived many difficulties like line-up changes, which made us realise that it's very important for us to stay united. A band never depends on only one person, you have to work as a team, or else it’s gonna be difficult to keep it together… and through the years MYSTIC PROPHECY has managed to get over all the hard times and member changes without losing their strength, integrity, and passion for making great music, a fact that you will realise with “Ravenlord”. And without any doubt, our best achievement is that the band managed to stay strong for more than 10 years into the music business, and we feel great about it because this gives us the chance to play our music in front of our die-hard dedicated fans, we owe everything to them, we couldn’t have made it without them!
3. Also are there some things that you would like to have avoided during these years of existence?
You know, being in a band always has its ups and downs... it's like life, like being a family, and no matter how hard you try there are things you can't avoid, but the important thing is to stay together, united, and I believe there is no difficulty you can't overcome ...
4. Now let’s talk about the present and your current album, “Ravenlord”. How long did it take you to compose it? Which are the biggest problems that you had to confront during the composing and production process of the album?
This time it took us two years to make this album... it was reasonable that, after touring
with STRATOVARIUS in early 2010, the band needed some time to write new songs... besides that, "Fireangel" entered the German charts in 77th place, and in order to make a good album reach the top takes some rather serious effort... music business is not forgiving at all when it comes to mistakes, especially when not making good songs from a band that's out in the market for such a long time... but this time in this album the songs were written by 3 people, me, Markus and Connie, instead of me and Markus in the previous ones...
The album's production was made by me and being the producer in all MYSTIC PROPHECY albums, is not something new to me... of course, when we make new songs, I know very well what I want in order to have the desired results at the end of the production... there's always a vision when I start working on something.
5. After 6 albums are there still things that you have to give as MYSTIC PROPHECY? Which are the new elements that you have added in “Ravenlord”?
We consider ourselves as evolving musicians, and in order to maintain interest and keep our fans intrigued by our musical vision, we have to surpass our level every time we make an album, but also, everyone can see that MYSTIC PROPHECY has a very strong identity as a band. So, it is essential to always give a clear and strong message with every new album, this time we managed to give the massive sound we know we can, and combine it with new, fresh ideas... Now, having 3 people working on the new songs instead of 2 in the previous albums I think made a difference for the better... As you can see from the lyrics, "Ravenlord" is a one-concept album... this shows that the album has an entity of its own, we consider it to be a part of our way to develop as musicians and composers, better think of it as a new chapter for MYSTIC PROPHECY...
6. If I am not mistaken the Ravenlord in the Norse mythology is Odin. So does the album have to do with the Norse mythology? Which are the themes of each song that you have included in your new release?
I think that if I give you some clues about the lyrics on "Ravenlord" you will have a better image on why... first of all it's a concept album... we have 11 songs and each one
represents a warrior, who takes place in the last battle... The Ravenlord is the one above
all and, of course, the only winner of the battle... Death... Each warrior has his own perspective of the battle, and they describe it in their own way... one fights for his faith... another is a mercenary and does it for the money... one other is a natural born killer and wants to quench his thirst for blood... if you look, even these days everything is still the same... for thousands of years war prevails for the same reasons as I mentioned above, nothing has changed... and the only true winner in the end is Death... in the album, the Ravenlord takes the form of Death in the battlefield... there's no winner in war, there's only Death...
7. R.D. Liapakis the singer of the band works also as a producer, so I would like to ask him: Has the quality of the metal musicians improved lately? Is there any interesting bands that he has helped in the production of their albums and he would like to recommend them (the bands) to us?
The quality of the bands is definitely improving... having the chance to be a producer, I am in a position to distinguish the details to make everything sound better and more focused... bands like SUICIDAL ANGELS, ELDRITCH, WINTER’S VERGE, FIREFORCE, CRYSTAL TEARS, I think have all that good stuff I'm talking about, not to mention DEVIL’S TRAIN, the new great band I'm involved with, our debut album will be released worldwide on February 17th, from Edel-Ear Music.
8. Mr. Liapakis was for a time the singer of SARISSA. Have you recorded anything with the band? What happened and you never continued with them?
I've never been a member of SARISSA... I only played a concert with them, which was fantastic, and we had a great time... after that the band went its own way, and so did I... but it was a great experience I must say...
9. How did the press and fans receive the new album so far? Which is the best comment that you have read?
When you hear people saying, or see written comments like "best album for 2011" or "album of the month", all things to point at one direction... "Ravenlord" seems that it will go better than "Fireangel" on sales, it's been for 13 days at number 1 in Amazon downloads, and in 30th place on CD album sales... and if you visit our official website as well as our Facebook and MySpace page you'll see for yourself...
10. Do you think that a good review can influence people on these Internet days we live in?
It surely can, but it's important that you can support it as a band, by simply giving a great musical result, a fact we definitely have with "Ravenlord"... this is actually the way to keep a band alive, interesting and finally, surviving over the years... that's why good reviews are very important to us...
11. By the way what do you like to read from a review? Does the review help you to improve or notice some things about your music that you hadn’t since then?
We always feel very proud of the albums we have made so far... everything we've done
is a careful choice of songs we've worked very hard for, but using the reviews I think it's a great way to filter your efforts, and try to pinpoint certain things in your music for further development, that way you can actually help yourself improve and mature musically...
12. Will you do any live shows to promote the album? Will you visit Greece?
Our European tour has already been announced, it's being advertised in all German magazines... we tour with POIWERWOLF, STORMWARRIOR and LONEWOLF... I truly believe this is a fantastic power metal tour package...
So far we don't have any shows booked for Greece, but if something comes up we'll be more than happy to play again in my home country...
Here are the tour dates so far:
30.03.12 DE Lindau Club Vaudeville
31.03.12 AT Wörgl Komma
01.04.12 DE Ludwigsburg Rockfabrik
05.04.12 DE Hannover Musikzentrum
07.04.12 CH Zizers Eventstage
06.04.12 BE Kerkrate ROCK TEMPEL
08.04.12 BE Mons PPM Festival
09.04.12 DE Augsburg Spectrum
13.04.12 DE Langen Stadthalle
14.04.12 DE Berlin C-Club
27.04.12 DE Speyer Halle 101
28.04.12 DE Geiselwind Musichall
29.04.12 DE Hamburg Markthalle
30.04.12 DE Bochum Matrix
13. Thanks for your time answering my questions. I wish you the best of luck! The last lines belong to you…
Once again, thank you so much for giving me the chance to say some things about "Ravenlord"... I believe that everybody who knows MYSTIC PROPHECY and watch the band's career they know that we always show our best in every new album, actually better every time... for us, quality in songwriting and sound is absolutely crucial, and there 's not a chance that we let our fans down with any musical experiments... The new MYSTIC PROPHECY album has got balls, power, melodies, fast and mid-tempo songs... anything a metal fan needs to be happy...
See you soon on tour... hopefully!!!
R.D.LIAPAKIS
WWW.MYSTICPROPHECY.NET
Nick “Verkaim” Parastatidis