It's certainly a big juggling act with working full time as a music teacher too! I use up all the school holidays haha!

Don't know about that but when they heard we were free there was instant interest from them to sign us. It was a difficult decision to leave Listenable as they had done such a good job on the last two studio albums but one we thought we had to make for the future of the band. We're having some success in the USA and with the strength of an American label behind us it can only get better.

No, there's nothing conceptual about the album. The title is taken from the song itself on the album. However, the artwork may give a different impression. We gave Eliran the artist two songs with lyrics from the album as we had done on Atom by Atom. He picked the one that has nspired him the most to create the cover. Cruel Magic is about using voodoo as a way of exacting revenge. Kind of a warning about being aware what you wish for because '…Once you invoke it someone must pay…' Eliran took a different slant on by using the injustice or drowning witches to see if they're innocent or guilty which also fits with the title perfectly.

When we reformed the band we saw no good in trying to compete with the young blood. The fans got us back together because they loved the energy and vibe on CITA and that's what we intended to give them a bit more of. The album was recorded just like we did back in the eighties, no massive overdubbing and drum sampling etc. like bands use nowadays. No altered tuning, just straight forward concert pitch and played and sounding like we do live.

We developed a style of our own that was a bit ahead of its time back on the first album. It was received very well by the press because it was different to what was around and successful at time. I think that's the reason that younger fans have sought us out because they can see that we stood out from that era. Our influences were wide and varied, from punk stuff all the way to Rush and we wanted all of those elements in our music. We're just continuing to make music influenced by all the styles and genres we still love.

The band members all have different favorites on the album but Ophidian is the one which we all agree on. It's a slight departure for us as its the slowest track on the album and slower than most of our previous material. The lyrical content is pure Old Testament, serpents wanting revenge on man for being sentenced by God to 'crawl on their belly' as punishment for corrupting Adam and Eve. Readers interested need some familiar with the book of Genesis. Looking up the title word might be interesting to them too. The music goes completely hand in hand with the lyrics and has some great riffs and a cameo by Brian of Alice Cooper! My personal favorite is the title track. It has a real seventies style rock riff in the verse in which we backed of the gain on the guitars to emulate the time and a strong chorus. Also one of the most innovative guitar harmonies I think we have produced in the mid-section.

Judging by the fans that are turning up at shows and how much they appear to be enjoying it then absolutely yes. How long it lasts for who knows. We're hoping to have established ourselves enough to survive aside of it if the bubble pops at any time haha!

Funny you should ask because on our upcoming North American Tour we are playing the Frost and Fire festival in Ventura and are performing the whole of the album in order as a special one off concert. Who knows if we will be asked to or decide to do this again…..

Thanks a lot Lior it was a pleasure and hope to meet up with you on tour soon.