CHAOS PLAGUE Interview
Genre: Progressive death metal
1. First of all I’d like you to fill us in on what’s happening in the CHAOS PLAGUE camp at the moment.
Our reality is in constant evolution: we keep improving our skills and our technique to create a music that is always new, complex and interesting!! At the moment we’re writing new material because we’ re going to start recording a full-length next year.
2. What made you form a band of your own? What was your driving force and which were your influences?
Music is more than a hobby for us, it is a part of our essence, it is a real passion: we are the kind of people who feel complete only when they play an instrument. Forming a band is a necessary step for people with this passion. We want to create something new, a music that can move whoever listens to it… that gives something more. It has been very natural for us to start writing our own material and introduce our signature in every aspect of our art: sounds, phrases, harmony…
The members of the band listen to several music genres, so we’ve many different influences in our music: from jazz to flamenco, from blues ‘till hard rock and, obviously, metal. Death metal is in the first line of our influences with groups like OBSCURA, OPETH, MARTYR, DEATH, PESTILENCE and CYNIC.
3. If you had to write a review for your EP, “Chaos Plague”, what would you say trying to be as objective as possible? Give our readers reasons to check your work out. What do you have to offer to the metal scene?
“Chaos Plague” is a good work with great potential but it is just a starting point; the production is a little rough and it is not perfectly what we want for our mix. The drum’s sound isn’t what we really like. This is our first EP, the first studio experience with this band… we can absolutely do better than this, but anyway it has been a good step, a lot of experience for the next studio work!
What we can bring to metal is a wave of fresh and modern vision of our genre! We try to give our personal view of progressive death metal and offer something new that is original and really rich.
4. Which are the elements you are most proud of in your music and which are the things you think you need to work more on?
We need to find our definitive dimension because we want to dig our place between death and progressive with our own style and balanced mixture of both genres. It's not easy to create some boundaries that make people recognize us at the first “listen” and, at the same time, making music with many different elements. We’ve our own direction and we’ll keep searching the best path for our musical identity and this is our most important element! Another thing we’re very proud of is the voice of Francesco which is amazingly versatile, with a great timbre, both clean and when growling.
5. Does “Chaos Plague” contain the same songs with your demo, “Virus”? If yes, have you changed them at all? How and in which ways has the band’s sound evolved and progressed all these years?
No it doesn’t. “Virus” was a very simple and rough demo, made in a VERY SHORT time. We still play some songs from “Virus” but they have been radically re-arranged, we’ve tried to refine them adding some prog elements. After “Virus” we’ve improved many aspects of our sound, the bass is more blended in the contest, guitars now are more mature, drums are more various and we give larger space to the clean vocals. We aren’t less “death” but we’re trying to be more “progressive”!
6. Have you got any more songs ready? Why did you decide to release an EP and not a full length album?
Yes, we have! We’ve added “Coil” to the live schedule. “Coil” is a brand new track that is the finest CHAOS PLAGUE's song, as violent as prog! Now we’re working on new material and it will be complex and very heavy! You will see!! We think that everyone who has enjoyed our music will go crazy for the new one!!
7. What kind of procedure do you follow when you compose songs? Do you have to be in a certain state of mind in order to perform the songs as you want?
We start from every good idea, a guitar or bass riff, a vocal line… even a drum pattern! The main composers are Matteo and Davide but everyone in the band adds his contribution. There is no unusual mechanism: embrace the instruments and start to write. When the material convinces us, we start to do a “labor limae”, refining the song until it is ready and satisfy the entire band.
8. Which song do you think is the most ideal to represent the EP’s essence?
As you can image, “Chaos Plague”’s essence is the band essence. In this record we've put material that signs our style bases, “Chirality” is the nearest concept of what we are and what our music is.
9. Which are your sources of inspiration when it comes to the lyrics? Which are the main topics you deal with?
We start from life experiences, philosophy and existentialism. Sometimes we represent them in an allegoric form. When we want to consider a “classic” topic, we revise it in a modern form. The perfect example is “Chirality” which deals the duality of Good and Evil inside people: we’ve used the chemical propriety of chirality, which means that two molecules are one the reflection of the other, to explain it.
10. Who created the cover artwork? I love the colors! What does it show and how is it connected to the album title and lyrics?
The artwork is a Marco Palombelli work! We preferred to use something original and different from the standard death metal covers. We think that the best characteristic of this artwork is its originality and we want to keep it this way! The cover isn’t linked specifically with the lyrics; it’s more connected with the name and the concept of the band itself. CHAOS PLAGUE has a meaning that takes its roots in Nietzche's philosophy; Chaos is seen as a primitive and limitless force that can destroy everything or that can be bridled to reach the condition of Overhuman. Only a few men in human kind can do this and, as a sort of chosen people, they’re hated and isolated, as they would be plagued. What you see in the cover is a reinterpretation of the episode of the human transfiguration into the Overhuman, in the book called “Thus Spake Zarathustra”, when the Snake is bitten and the Human rises among men as an Overhuman. This is Marco’s reinterpretation! A very strange and beautiful drawing!
11. Have you got any plans for live shows or even a tour? How easy is it for you to play your songs live? Do you have to be in a certain state of mind in order to create the right atmosphere and feeling?
Unfortunately not… it’s quite difficult to get some live shows here in Italy. It’s very hard for pubs to organize mid level events (with a little cachet for bands or only a repayment for the travel). Even bureaucracy is a problem. We hope that, after having recorded a full-length album, we will have more opportunities to play live. We are even going to try to conquer foreign audiences! We’re not a “theatrical” band, we prefer a CANNIBAL CORPSE attitude: to go on stage and tear down the walls!!
12. Have you made any video clips? With YouTube I think videos have started becoming a necessity for bands again. How helpful is the Internet?
We have some live clips, made in amateur quality. A professional video is “on the checklist” but at the present time we’ve to invest on other important things.
13. What kind of feedback have you received thus far? Can you mention a comment, be it positive or negative, serious or funny, that impressed you?
Well, up to now we’ve only received positive feedbacks and every review was quite good, 7.5 is the most frequent vote. The recent collaboration with an Italian instruments brand (SiC Instruments, directed by the talented lutist Simone Calabrese) is a great honor for us!
In a recent review we’ve read about the bass sound, defined clumsy and drunk… very strange, don’t you think?!?
14. What do you want people to think when they listen to CHAOS PLAGUE?
We want to shake people who listen to our work; we want to light up their emotions of fury, introspection, rage and reflection! It’s a journey, a dream, even with nightmare elements!
15. How are things in the Italian metal scene? How difficult is it for a band from over there to stand out and become famous abroad?
It’s very difficult! Metal in this country is seen as a foreign prerogative and only a few Italian bands are really considered in their own nation: only the greatest international names are truly followed and supported. The underground scene is alive, overpopulated, but alive... the problem is the lack of support! Pubs cannot pay live shows because they don’t earn money with underground band concerts and cover or tribute bands saturate the stages! People prefer to hear IRON MAIDEN’s tracks, maybe played by a not so skilled band, than the brand new songs of a local one! We play a very complex and rare kind of music and this makes things so much complicated: our genre is difficult to render.
Consider this: we will do everything we can to rise above the underground and become a professional band! We want to leave our mark on the Italian metal history!
16. Thank you! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for this space and the interest for our work, we will keep feeding our passion because music is the supreme art that can communicate with mankind in the deepest way! We’ll keep playing music that comes from our passion because it's part of ourselves!! When you listen to our EP is impossible not to feel it!!!
“In Death We Trust!”
Christine Parastatidou
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