Mario Haui Haueis & Martl Storch

Silius

Let the good times roll, I guess most people nowadays wish it was possible as the current pandemic has been eating away the good from the times. However, folks have to go on, and so in the music business. The Austrian Thrash Metal machine, Silius, are furious due to the situation that has been on for the past several months, yet also pissed off at the aspects that society somewhat hold dear, or not? Coming in hot with "Worship To Extinction", signed to a new label as their new home, Steinmetal had a chance to talk to Mario Haui Haueis (Guitarist) and Martl Storch (Bass) about what really went on within the creation of the new album and their personal experiences

By Lior "Steinmetal" Stein

• July 31, 2020

Silius's Mario Haui Haueis: "You just can't reinvent the wheel

Hello guys, I am very pleased to have you for this interview for Metal Temple online Magazine, how have you been doing considering what has been going on out there?

Hey Lior! Thank you so much for the interview, it's an honor for us. We are all good hope you are too! Weird times are going on but we go through it and keep the wheel going.

This newfound reality, forced upon mankind, is quite something, a thing that you can see in the movies. Sometimes it is quite bewildering to think about it. How is the situation in Austria nowadays? Any signs of the second wave that is slowly hitting worldwide?

You said it … it's like a movie. In Austria there has been more loosening up until now, since the numbers have decreased, but now those are increasing again… We will see what's going to happen this fall

Looking forward, what do you make of this situation? Will people understand how to live with the virus, anxiously waiting for it to fade away on its own, hopefully without a trace?

Like we said we all have to make the best of it and stay on the ball ... We are sure that everything will change over time, but now we just have to be patient and deal with it

With the change that came upon the world, fate took a different turn for your band Silius. After coming strong as a newcomer prospect in Thrash Metal, signed to Massacre Records, things changed. Now, here you are with a sophomore album, signed to a new label, the Greek Rock Of Angels Records. I think it would be good to know what made you shift away from a veteran label that has a hold in the German market, to a rather new label such as ROAR!?

Good question; After our release of "Hell Awakening" on Massacre Records, we decided to make a new album. So we got in touch with Massacre, but there wasn't much interest in our plans. If you know us, we are not interested in being on a label that is just relaxed and waiting to sell something or we do not have the same direction and future! Then there was an offer from ROAR!, these guys believe in something and they do a really great job on promo and everything, support the bands in every way they can ... they gave us a great new home and we are super happy to work with the boys

After the release of your debut, the band's lineup also shrunk from a five piece to four piece, introducing the new album with a power unit of menace. What happened with your second guitarist earlier and what made you remain a four piece?

In 2018 our second guitar player Mex decided to leave the band due to personal reasons and it was ok for us, we are all very strong personalities so we remained a 4 piece. The guitar work was always my part and our bass machine Martl is a monster so it was no problem to go live only with bass and one guitar

Attributing a strong measure of harsh opinions towards the world, with such a title as "Worship to Extinction", it would appear that you may have stumbled on the right time to be grim rather than hopeful. So in your view, what is wrong with the human race? Will we have a chance to redeem ourselves to become better in the foreseeable future?

Funny way the album title is already 1-year-old hahaha, we made the cover and some arrangement for the album in the end of 2019 along with the album title... a lot of things go wrong with mankind no matter if belief, environment, politics, racism etc. there are so many problems that can be dealt with in music and lyrics can, and we all have to try to get along and make the world a better place

As people that shares antagonism to aspects of life that makes people fall to their knees with no apparent reason, what do you believe in?

We can of course not speak for everyone now but in our opinion everyone believes in something. For us and for the others, for example, the church has nothing to do with belief ... on this album we do a lot of accounting for the church and partly process our experiences with the association and belief in general

The musical setting of "Worship to Extinction" puts you guys as an even heavier bunch that holds no bars, no remorse, no regret. More groove, more chugs, and wholesome of anger. How would you say that the band developed in its music with this album based on your opinion?

We are very happy on how things have developed so far, we have also developed as a people and musicians and this time we just wanted to be "us" as we, and our style, are dirty ... raw ... right in your face

With the revival of Thrash Metal still going strong, even after nearly two decades of the attempts to recreate the havoc of the late 80s and early 90s, what do you think that Silius brings fresh to the table with the emergence of "Worship to Extinction"?

To be honest it is quite difficult to get something new out and write it today. You just can't reinvent the wheel, but you can let yourself go and just do what is fun and what you like ... and that is what "Worship To Extinction" is all about… We don't need a drawer or genre, it just has to be fun and feel the love for music.

What aspects of "Worship to Extinction" do you think that you made right in comparison to what was done on your debut album? What lessons would you say that you learned from your previous recording and songwriting experience?

We had RD Liapakis on the first album as a producer, and we're still very proud of the album. He showed us a lot and helped us a lot... We're still very, very grateful to him! Lia was very busy with his own band for the new album and we also wanted to go our own way somehow. Already the songwriting was a bit different, we just wanted to let it happen and not tinker with everything 1000 times etc, just let your soul run free

Talking about the experience of songwriting for this album, how did it feel? I guess there was less pressure on you right?

We were much less stressed that's right dude, we already had a lot of material and riffs after the "Hell Awakening" recordings and we actually kept writing and wanted to go back to the studio as soon as possible

How do you think that the team up of Andreas Reinhart, along with the mastering artist, Henrik Udd, were able to capture the burning essence of Silius on "Worship to Extinction"?

Andy is an old friend of the band he has already made the first band of Ralph and Matthias Instinct Hate. We were looking for a studio that is closer to where we live and are at home to catch the atmosphere all of us damn well…Andy caught us perfectly and we are damn happy with the result. Henrik Udd then put the crown jewel on, really a great guy and he understands his craft ... We wanted it to be fat but not too modern and we think he did it perfectly

"Dance On Your Grave" is somewhat of an uncanny in regards to your efforts on this release, it takes that fine Southern American form alongside the Thrash element. What is your perception of this mixture of Southern kind of US Metal with your version of Thrash Metal? Is it a direction in your music to continue exploring?

We already played "Dance on your Grave" at "Hell Awakening" times. It was already in our live set at that time. yes, it definitely has a touch southern style as well as some songs from the first record, it reflects my and our actual style somewhere ... I love Country and Texas style music maybe it comes from there ... hahaha

I assume that for motivation and inner belief in your own dogmas, you came up with "C.U.L.T.", a Thrash Metal hymn, purely made for the stages for the audience to relish on the lyrics and simply join the tune. What keeps you alive according to this song? Who are your enemies that intend to destroy your life's values?

Well, right now our biggest enemy is that fucking virus right?! No there are a lot of things that piss us off. War, religion, politics. They all want to bring us down sometimes. But they can't take away the music from us. It's our C.U.L.T

Finishing up the album with a cold, heavy and somewhat little stoned crusher such as "Drowning" really adds up to the impressive line of directions that you guys made your own. What is your appreciation of this track? What was the initial vision that guided its creation?

Haui brought the riffs and the first thing I thought when I heard it was "wow, that's fucking depressive" haha. So I looked back on worse days of mine and tried to bring that emotions on the song.

Second wave or not, you guys have to continue to promote the album strong as possible. Have you considered the newly bred trend of live stream shows? Do you think that there are other creative ways of promotion other than the traditional turn to the press?

We talked about that, it's great that bands out there doing some live stream shows. But we don't feel well playing in an empty audience in front of a camera. Maybe we'll stream some live rehearsal room stuff or something like that. We'll see.

Where do you see the Silius ship heading in the coming few years? Have you already started working on the next album by any chance, since you have plenty of time on your hands as it seems without live action?

It's difficult to say in such weird times. Let's see what next year brings. We can't wait to go back on stage in different countries and festival around Europe, or maybe the world? We worked already on new stuff yeah, the lockdown was a Riffpusher haha

Mario, and Martl thank you very much for your time and effort for this interview, I am glad that we could have this talk. Please continue to Thrash your way to recognition. Cheers.

We have to say thank you, it was a pleasure for us, your magazine rules dude! We try our best to thrash as hard we can, see you and let the good times roll