Iyaan & Naut

Ethereal

When we are dealing with England, we must have in mind: Metal was born in those lands. And it's not difficult to see England giving birth to many of revolutions inside Metal scene.

Metal was born there, came back to life on NWOBHM, and reached high popularity thanks to English bands. And of course we can name some important bands as BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN, SAXON, and on extreme Metal, ONSLAUGHT and CRADLE OF FILTH. But actually, another name is rising, carrying the torch and the spear of English Metal: the Liverpool based quintet ETHEREAL.

After two independent EPs (2005's "Hells Divine Existence", and 2011's "Revelation Beast"), in January they release via Candlelight Records their first album, "Opus Aethereum", one extreme Metal jewel, that is opening new possibilities into Black Metal due it's melodic and symphonic approach, but with a brutal and oppressive grasp.

We had the opportunity to interview the band, and here it is for you all.

By "Metal Mark" Garcia

• August 7, 2015

Hi, guys. First of all, I want to thank you a lot for the interview. To start, please, tell us about Ethereal history, from the beginning until now. And is there some reason, a concept behind the name Ethereal that you could tell us?

Iyaan: Hi Marcos it's a pleasure to be speaking to you.

Ethereal were formed in the year 2000 to create symphonic black metal , with 2 EPs and a steady run of shows the lineup had changed a few times and in 2013 Ethereal gained there most accomplished lineup to date, showcasing a huge musical progression from previous efforts.

The new incarnation of Ethereal has stormed stages across the UK with acts such as Gorgoroth, 1349 and Marduk, winning over fans both old and new with an energetic live performance and gargantuan symphonic black metal sound.

After signing to legendary label Candlelight Records in 2014 and continuing to create dark aggressive Black Metal with the debut label release of "Opus Aethereum", Ethereal have only just begun to scratch the surface of their true potential.

Ethereal was formed back in 2002, released two EPs, "Hells Divine Existence" in 2005 and "Revelation Beast" on 2011. But what were the reasons for six years between them both, and 5 years from "Revelation Beast" to "Opus Aethereum"?

Iyaan: Well, part of the reason there where such long gaps between releases was mainly due to lineup problems, we had played a few shows in between the releases with Fleshgod Apocalypse and a tour with Dark Fortress, but the lineup wasn't right for us to move forward in a more consistent way that we wanted .

Again speaking about the EPs: how do you compare them both with "Opus Aethereum"? What are the big differences between them? And if you could go back in time, do you would change a thing on them?

Iyaan: The main differences between the EPs and the album would be the lineup. Only myself and lead guitarist M-Inanz remain as the 2 original members from the EPs.

If I could change anything about the previous releases it would be the lineup.

Both I and M-Inanz had decided if we were going to carry on with Ethereal, we would only do it with the right people, who were strong and committed, so we both began writing what would become "Opus Aethereum". And finding the right people to work with and I think the album reflects how strong the lineup is now.

Now, "Opus Aethereum" is released, and an astonishing feature is that no song from the previous Ethereal's releases is present. Is there a special reason for that?

Iyaan: The main reason there's no older songs on the album is that it's a different band now, with different set goals. We wanted to move forward and evolve as a band, so we have no intention of recording old tracks again, although we do on occasion play two tracks from the "Revelation Beast" EP at some live shows, but we feel it's good to move forward with the strongest material really.

By now, some questions about the production: who was the producer of the album? And who recorded the keyboards? And who is the designer for the album's art? And let me tell you: the final result we hear on the sound quality is astonishing! Both symphonic and brutal aspects are perfectly balanced.

Iyaan: The album was produced by Ethereal. It took a long time to get the musical arrangements correct and the way we wanted the album to flow with riffs and orchestral arrangements, We used a studio here in the UK to do most of the recording and then all the mixing and mastering was done at Studio Hertz, in Poland.They were great to work with and understood what we were after in the final stages of production.

The artwork was handled by Santiago at Triple Seis Design in South America. He had previously worked with Pestilence and Amon, we liked his work and again he was very easy to work with he understood the vision and the music so it came out pretty well, we think.

One thing that passed by our thoughts is that you come from England, a country extremely important to Metal worldwide. Does this fact put a kind of responsibility over your shoulders? And still speaking about England, how is the Metal scene as a whole on it by now?

The Metal scene in the UK seems to be bigger than ever. At the moment, a lot of good bands from a lot of different genres are coming out. The one thing I would say about it is there needs to be more unity in the scene between the bands.

Some bands are bigger than others and if they supported each other a lot more then I think the UK would be a lot more active.

About responsibility well we have a responsibility to ourselves to create the best music we can and keep striving for what we believe in for ourselves .

And how is being the answer for "Opus Aethereum" to Metal fans worldwide? Since the album is out now, maybe you're getting good answers from outside of England, and even outside Europe…

Iyaan: Yes, the response from the album has been great. It had a few comparisons to Dimmu Borgir, but we don't see the comparison to be honest. Yes, it's Symphonic Black Metal, but we didn't purposely sit down to write an album like Dimmu Borgir or anyone else. We create the music we enjoy and that's the bottom line for us.

"Opus Aethereum" has a very good insight for extreme Metal, and speaking again: you use musical arrangements as brutal as symphonic at the same time, a musical vision not so usual in our days. So, can you tell us how your music is done? I mean, how the composition process inside the band is?

Iyaan: Usually, both I and M-Inanz write the guitar parts and come up with some standard drum parts just to see how the tracks flow. Then we begin writing orchestral parts to try and bring certain parts of the riffs out its more to accompany the guitar parts than to have the orchestra leading the tracks like some bands do. Naut is main lyric writer, so he tends to come up with some concepts and ideas of how he wants the lyrics to sound and get an overall feeling to the music.

Then we usually rehearse the tracks as a band and change anything that we feel could be better than we usually will do some pre-production demos of the tracks before we use a studio to record the final product.

And how about the lyrics? It's an interesting aspect of your work, for even being darkened, they are a bit far from the simple concepts used by many. It seems to me that there's a thinking mind on the band, and that there's a message hidden on them. Am I right about this?

Naut: I didn't want to take a typical approach to the lyrics on "Opus".

Whilst I wanted the spiritual and philosophical aspects of the band to come through the words, it was important to me that the lyrics had to be genuine.

The overall theme focuses on the struggle for self empowerment and liberation in this restrictive world, the desire to be become something greater.

As far as hidden messages they can be found if you seek them.

As first video for the album, you released "Ungodly Unholy". Was there a special reason for you to choose it for the video? And how are things working with it?

Iyaan: We chose "Unholy Ungodly" for the video simply because we had played it in the live setlist before the album was released, and we felt it was a strong track to release as our first video,

It was done by Doug Anderson at Visceral Video and we feel it came out very well, it received some strong feedback.

You made a tour of four shows along Marduk and Belphegor in U.K. How things went on it? And how was the answer of the public to your music? And it seems you'll be playing on some great festivals this year, are we right?

Iyaan: The Marduk tour was great, we had previously played a tour with Gorgoroth in 2014 and we knew the guys at Massive Music who were putting the tour on so we got the offer to tour with Marduk and Belphegor and it went very well, really great guys to play with and it gave us a lot of knew fans and was a great experience for us all.

This year will see Ethereal travelling to Poland for Dark Fest alongside bands such as Vader and Hate to name a few, and also play Bloodstock Festival here in the UK.

Well, I want to thank you again for your attention and kindness, so, please, leave your message to our readers and your fans.

Iyaan: Thanks for the interview and hails to all the fans in South America and the rest of the world, hopefully Ethereal will get the chance to play to you all very soon.

Hails from the Beasts of UK Darkness"

"Opus Aethereum" is out now on Candlelight Records worldwide ……………m/

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