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 ARMORED BARDSHeathen Foray is probably the best band that comes from Black Bards records. Their music in same time posses the unlimited energy, aggression but yet each song is melodic and harmonic in one way or another. There was no doubt that these Austrians have Pagan background in their lyrical approach. ''Armored Bards'' is their second effort releases though Black Bards Records. This effort is a well done piece of work so I didn't miss the chance to do the interview and introduce our readers with these Pagan Austrians.
Hi there! As a matter of fact ''Armored Bards'' is your 2nd full-length and your music is a kind of mixture between melodic and harmonic passages and brutal and fast riffing. So, how would you like to present Heathen Foray to our readers? I actually like what you said there: “melodic and harmonic passages with brutal and fast riffing”. I think that describes our music quite good. Well, we love melodic metal with melodies that go right into your ears and won't come out for a couple of days. Nevertheless, we are a Heavy Metal band and therefore we play heavy music. We describe our style as “Pagan Battle Metal” because we mostly work with Lyrics that deal with our ancestral past here in Austria. However, we are not using any additional instruments like flutes, violins or any of that crap. We do all melodies with our guitars. Also, it will be very welcome if you can say a word or two about the starting of the band and present your both albums to our readers. If I am not so wrong you are coming from Austria, the land which is known for such a groups as Summoning, Abigor or Belphegor. I can recall that any band from your country has even tried to perform similar metal music. I first had the idea for the band in the summer of 2005. I just quit playing in my former band “Plethora” and came up with some cool song ideas. I then decided to find me some musicians to form a real band around those songs. In spring 2006 we had written enough songs and started playing live in local clubs. In 2008 we recorded the songs and sent it out to record labels. 2009 brought us a record deal with Black Bards in Germany and we started touring and playing bigger shows (e.g Paganfest, Heidenfest, Raganrök Festival etc.). We went on tour three times in the last two years with bands like Battelore, Nomans Land, Adorend Brood, Obsucirty and Negura Bunget. In September 2010 we released our second album “Armored Bards”. As for your second question, I wouldn't say that there are no bands that play the music we play in Austria. I think they are just not as well known as we are today. Check out Interregnum for example. During the checking of your latest album ''Armored Bards'' I easily linked your music with the latest two efforts from Amon Amarth. They are also playing this kind of Pagan Metal with a solid Death Metal base and with melodic approach. So, I guess that you are pretty inspirited by Amon Amarth. Actually we are not. A lot of people are telling us that the new album sounds quite like Amon Amarth and we always think “What album did they listen to?”. I have to admit that there are similarities when it comes to the vocals. But musically? I think the music is far away from Amon Amarth. Sure it's heavy and all...but I would say that we play more technical and more melodic stuff. If you want to compare our music to some other band, I would say that Wintersun, Ensiferum and old Children of Bodom would be a better match. But, anyhow, your music has a quality to offer, there are such interesting dose of riffs, catchy melodies and even brilliant harmonies and passages. Some of the songs are indeed very well composed and written. So, it seems that you are pretty into this so called Swedish Metal scene. So, do you listen to any other band from Sweden as (early) In Flames or Dark Tranquility? Thanks for the complement. We really put a lot of afford into our songwriting process. However, I am not very influenced by bands from Sweden. I love Hammerfall but I am not a big fan of In Flames or Dark Tranquility. I also wouldn't count any of these bands as an influence. If you can choose with which bands you would like to tour? Btw, it will be useful if you can tell us are you active when it comes to performing live? There are so many bands out there we would love to tour with. I think Turisas would be a good match. You mentioned “Amon Amarth” before...maybe we would do well with them on tour. And yes, we are very active when it comes to playing live. We played over 20 live shows last year and want to keep this level up for 2011. Can you compare your first two records that you have released so far? What is the difference between ''Armored Bards'' and your debut full-length ''The Passage''? I think “Armored Bards” is more of a whole than “The Passage” was. The songs for the first album were composed over a period of nearly 3 years and “Armored Bards” was basically done in 8 months which is a good thing when it comes to a “concise” level of composition across all songs. Additionally, “Armored Bards” sound more mature. We all got better as musicians and songwriters and I think you can hear this. The production is also a step better than on album number one. Nevertheless, I love both albums. Why and how did you name the band ''Heathen Foray''? Was that after the track from Falkenbach? Yes, the lyrics of the Falkenbach-Song inspired me to move the band in a more historic and pagan direction when it comes to lyrics. We didn't decide right away to use it as a band name. However, nobody came up with a name that was right for us, so we decided to name us after this song.  How did you end on Black Bards Records? To be completely honest it was, more or less, pretty unknown label to me, but I've suddenly noticed them few months ago in various magazines with their advertisements. Do you personally like so bands from your label? Well, we sent them our album and they liked it. So we sat down and worked out a contract that was fair to both sides. The label itself is around quite a long time in Germany. In the last two years they really boosted their artist roster and started to organize festivals and such. We are quite happy with them. I really like Adorned Brood and Nothgard. They are both on the same label and we also played live together. They also great people to hang out with! I really like your cover artworks especially the one that was used for the debut release. But, did you take this cover from somewhere or it was originally done for your music? Really? Most people tend to like the new one more. I also like the dark feeling of the first one. We work with professional artists that supply us with these artworks. Sometimes we take a look at the stuff that they already did and if we see something that is to our liking we take it. We can also bring our own ideas to them and they develop the idea together with us. And for the end what can you tell us about the future plans when it comes to Heathen Foray? Since this is the end of our first chat I would like to wish you all the best until our next meeting! Our future plans are to to keep on gigging with our new album during 2011. After that we will return to the studio to record album number 3. For everybody who is interested in our live activities, check our website www.heathenforay.com for dates, music samples and links to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Answers by Jürgen |
PUBLISHED ISSUESMETAL SOUND #mpu vorbereitung |
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