Andrea ''Kiraya'' Magini

Rosae Crucis

ROSAE CRUCIS is an Italian epic Metal band with a very own sound and vocal parts sung in their native language. While having some good company with their latest Il Re Del Mondo 'remake' LP (see below), I took the chance to send some questions via mail to Andrea (founder/guitarist) since, frankly, ROSAE CRUCIS carries a Metal blend rarely seen in bands the last two decades. A rather unique 'epic' syle. Read below and you'll surely get an idea.

By Grigoris Chronis

• May 7, 2009

Interview with: Andrea Kiraya Magini from ROSAE CRUCIS

Hello Andrea, greetings from Metal Temple mag!

Hi Greg, first of all thank you for this opportunity to be knowen in a country very important for us & that inspired us very much.

Well, just finished reviewing the Il Re Del Mondo album and I have to admit I was not prepared to listen to such an exciting Italian Metal songlist. First of all, what's the translation of the band's name and the album's title in English? In what way does the LP's name relate to the songs inside?

The band name is written in Latin and is the name of an ancient philosophical movement called Rose Cross –> Rosae Crucis. We chose this name in a period where we were influenced by the Middle Age, philosophy and mysticism. The album's title in English is the king of the world. This is a very particular album in which the lyrics are very important. We talk about mysticism, religion and social themes, using a lot of metaphors. The lyrics and concept are not so easy to listen to or understand. The title track talks about the Hollow Earth Theories and the mystical land of Agarthi, where the king of the world lived and reigned,and is metaphorically talking 'bout a war declaration to the system and the society. Every song has a lot of interpretation. In this album the lyrics work like a mirror. Everyone can see what he wants to see...

As our readers will have the chance to read in our review, Il Re Del Mondo is not a new album by ROSAE CRUCIS by a rendition of your early 90s demo, right? So, first of all, are the track re-recorded or they are just remixed and polished? What was the motive behind this CD/LP release? Was it your decision or you accepted an offer?

We re-arranged and re-recorded all the tracks of this first demo in 2008 in our personal project studio. Some songs were written in 1989/1990 and we were very young, so we decided to re-arrange the tracks & polish some arrangement imperfections.

The motive was the frequently asking by our loyal fans. We were working at the second full-length, but this project took immediately our full attention. Antonio Keller from Jolly Roger Records gave us a good feeling and he was believing very much in this project so we decided to join the fellowship! We were hiding these demotapes in our vault, waiting for the right time and an offer that could give dignity to our work.

Weren't you worried that a new take on the demo's songs might have 'destroyed' the original atmosphere? How anxious were you in order to come up with the desired result?

Very very anxious. We listened every single tune of the old demo thousands and thousands of times before making any modification on the arrangements. We didn't modify the atmosphere. The tracks are still the same.

Since many readers may not be familiar with the ROSAE CRUCIS history: how different is the original lineup with the one you now have, in year 2009?

Well, the lineup changed a lot in those years. Now from the original lineup still remain Giuseppe Ciape Cialone, the singer, and me, the lead guitar; the deadly combo that wrote all of ROSAE CRUCIS' songs. In the other guitar we have Tiziano ShreadMaster Marcozzi, Piero The Bohemian Moloch Arioni is at the drums and the new entry, Daniele KK Cerqua, handles the bass guitar. With this lineup we re-recorded Il Re Del Mondo and we are working on the re-recording of Fede Potere Vendetta and our new album of unpublished songs.

Sung in the Italian language, Il Re Del Mondo sounds both 'Metal' and 'epic'. Was it a conscious decision to write lyrics in Italian from the beginning? You know that this can be an obstacle for the band to expand its horizons to a wider audience, right? (I like your choice, on the other hand, haha!)

Since the beginning ROSAE CRUCIS tried the two roads, Italian and English lyrics, but we felt that singing in our language was better. It's very difficult for us to write songs in our language because Italian is a difficult and ancient language that doesn't have slangs and all the facilities you can find in English. We know that out of our country it is very hard to listen to Italian epic Metal, but we still believe in this and we will try in the future to mix up these two things.

You have added a bonus track on this 2009 release. Is it a cover version? If yes, who sung the original?

Yes, is a cover version of a beautiful song written by Angelo Branduardi, a folk Italian artist that mixes Rock and Middle Ages melodies in a wonderful mix. We rearranged at our manner the track but the atmosphere and intentions are still the same.

The ROSAE CRUCIS lineup features five members, with all the traditional weapons: two guitars, bass, drums and vocals. ROSAE CRUCIS was always a five-piece band? Have you ever thought to hire a keyboardist as a 'bonus' member? I think your music has enough parts that could use the help of keys. Or you think your style would turn out to be more 'soft'?

We are five since the beginning (four with one guitar only for few times) and for a small period we tried to use keyboards, but I think that they cut a loss of power to the general sound of the band, that is more heavy than simply 'epic' Metal. We don't want to be a soft or 'classic' epic Metal band. We are stronger and with a lot of Viking ,Power and Death influence (still remaing a Heavy Metal band!). Every tune you can hear in our last record is played with guitars and with real voices (in some tracks we have 9 guitars and a dozen of voices). We don't use keyboards.

You founded- as I had the chance to read- the band in 1990 along with Igor Bacceli. You've so far released only one studio CD, Worms Of The Earth (2003), so we should suppose that you're preparing a new album in the near future, now that the band started rolling again?

Me and Giuseppe Cialone, the singer that is in the band since the early times - are guiding the band. We have worked at new album for two years and it is ready to be recorded. We are waiting to finish Fede Potere Vendetta (the remake of our second demo tape, from 1997) to start recording the new album.

Should we refer to classic Metal of the 80s as your main influence? Should we specifically stick to the Power/Epic side of 80s Metal? Which bands would you name as influential for ROSAE CRUCIS' music?

We like 80s and pure Heavy metal. So we don't think about labels but to let you understand what ROSAE CRUCIS' music is I must use them. We are a great mix of a lot of influences. We love classic Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Speed, Thrash and Death Metal. We are very tied to the German sound (we love bands like GRAVE DIGGER) and early MANOWAR (me and the singer carry a tattoo on our arms with the words Death To False Metal). We have learned a lot from MANILLA ROAD and CIRITH UNGOL and sometimes we play like AMON AMARTH! We love SLAYER and QUEENSRYCHE...We love Heavy Metal and we play Heavy Metal...We like to play a darker and faster epic Metal. And with the next album you will have the time to understand what I mean!

Are you responsible for the band's music or you work as a team?

Me and Giuseppe are the writing team. We work together to build up the structure, the riffs and the lyrics, and then all the band tries the new tracks, with everyone putting in their own syle and influences.

And what about the lyrics? Sorry for not speaking Italian, but we'd deeply like to have some information regarding the lyrics themes.

Generally I write all the lyrics, with the help of Giuseppe. We can't separate the lyrics from the music. We write them together. We use every kind of inspiration, and focus the idea to the dramatic side of stories. Every thing could be epic. Next work will be based upon Undead Apocalypse, and will be very very epic, even staying in nowadays. It's not necessary to talk about swords and dragons. Every moment in this fucking life is epic..only surviving today is a great epic poem. Soon we will put online our new website, and we will put all the English translations for our Italian lyrics.

Do you read books/novels and watch documentaries/movies in order to draw influence for the epic/warriors themes? Or/and you get inspiration by what's going on in the real world and re-code new messages? I think The Worms of the Earth relates to the mighty Robert Howard, right?

Yeah, Worms Of The Earth is a novel from Robert Howard. I think that you can read that novel even thinking about the today situations, with Americans, Middle East, Twin Towers and all the other stories we sadly know..We draw influences from everywhere. The most influences we have are from the Middle Ages, pulp novels, epic novels and from Robert Howard.

As for your live shows: were you active enough in 2008? What's the plan for this spring/summer?

We are playing a lot in Italy, trying to create a hard base of fans to support us for the next works and to achieve some gigs out of Italy.

Reading you play with medieval costumes in your gigs, carrying weapons, I'd like to ask how important it is for ROSAE CRUCIS to add a theatrical performance to your music recital when appearing onstage. You want to create a visual concept, too, apart from the songs or it's also a message?

For the Il Re Del Mondo shows we put in scene a performance based to the concept of the brotherhood of Metal. So, we started with a ritual like a Christian Mess, with monks on the stage and the singer that speaks about our Manifesto. Is very theatrical and we love it. We base this in an ironical cult (we are not so convicted religious or Christian fundamentalists!) based upon Heavy Metal. We think that with a name like ours the theatrical aspect is important and inseparable from the music, but we remain a Heavy Metal band, so music is the first thing.

Andrea, thanks a lot for this first talk. Really hope we'll have fresh ROSAE CRUCIS material soon. Anything you'd like to add?

Thank you for this opportunity. We wish you'll like our music, and we will try to come to your country as soon as possible (wishing to come with our friends HOLY MARTYR). Till that time, keep on supporting Heavy Metal even with strange Italian lyrics! Come to www.myspace.com/rosaecrucisband and to it-it.facebook.com/pages/Rosae-Crucis/46140613016, and soon on www.rosaecrucis.it. Fede Potere Vendetta.

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