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 SPRINGTIME GLOOMIf you are not aware of the Italian band The Foreshadowing and you are into doomy side of Metal, you are missing a lot. The boys have just unleashed their second offering „Oionos“ and Francesco Sosto (keyboards, back vocals) was very kind to explain to us every possible aspect of his group, so I think that I should waste no more words as this interview is very informative and it will help you to enter the world of The Foreshadowing. Read on and enjoy!
Hello and greetings from Serbia! How are you these days? Hi! we’re excited and looking forward our second album release, it has been a long time, but at least it’s worth it! The most important thing about The Foreshadowing is the release of your second offering „Oionos“! I will try to present the album with your help the best I can, so tell me at the very beginning how are the members of the band satisfied with it? It’s a very good job, we find it very superior to Days of Nothing. We care a lot for guitars sound and wanted them very thick and powerful ’cause our main idea was to give a more obscure and claustrophobic atmosphere to this album. As well as the keyboards, much more present and massive compared to our previous album. It has also been a good idea to insert many samples to give much more emphasis to the album concept. On the whole we’re very satisfied of the final result. I have been listening to „Oionos“ for a couple of days, and my initial impression is that it took The Foreshadowing to the next level; the arrangement work is much more varied and the album is deeper than your debut. Your thoughts on this and comments on compositional work...? Our main idea was to make a second album which wasn’t a copy of the first one. According to the tracks structure, Days of Nothing was more balanced and immediate, whereas Oionos is more dynamic and aggressive and shows often changes of tempo.  I feel that the album is a bit more on the doomy side than your previous, especially the names like My Dying Bride or Draconian spring to mind, and especially the profound keyboard work contrasted to ultra heavy and impressive guitars deepened the sound. Your thoughts on this... That’s right! And futhermore I would say that we’ve been inspired in particular by Neurosis and Swans music. We think works like „The great annihilator“ and „Enemy of the sun“ has been important for the making of OIONOS. And I would quote Radiohead in addiction, this to make clear that we surely wanted our sound to be faithful to a gothic doom sound recalling exactly bands like MDB and Draconian, but in the same time we wanted to find different arrangement solutions coming from other acts which are no longer doom metal bands, just like Radiohead. Your debut „Days of Nothing" had sort of concept story, is that the case with „Oionos“? I am very interested to find out about your themes on new album, since I don't have the lyrics yet (only promo)... Apocalypse is the main theme in OIONOS as well as in our previous work, the difference is that in DON it was apocalypse in the strict sense of the word, in the biblical meaning, just to make things clear. In OIONOS is apocalypse created by the man to destroy himself. In DON the tragedy is about to come, here the scenery is post-apocalyptic and the survivors are the main characters. They are not men, but objects, and their bodies are unmoving, cold and naked. They often think of the past that was and don’t see any future. This is, in brief, what the album is about. In addition there are some lyrics dealing with other matters like Outsiders, which sums up this 5 years we spent with the band from our “earlies” till now or Survivors’ Sleep, which, beyond the metaphor of those who came out alive from apocalypse is our remark and critic on all religions in general. In connection to my previous question, reveal to us the meaning of the actual word „Oionos“... Oionos means: “vulture”, “bird of prey” but also “bird of omen”. It was the name for vultures the ancient greeks watched to foresee the future. We have chosen it because we imagined a greek word as the album title. And to conclude the thematical story of the album – Seth from Septic Flesh has done the cover art again. Tell us something more about that side of the release (I must say that I dig the cover a lot!) I'm pleased to hear this from you! It's very hypnotical! I like the idea of an old man with staring eyes, I don't know, there's something like unrest in that deep glance, as he would warn us and say «Watch out, you lost souls! Something's about to come!» The album is going to be released on Cyclone Empire. Tell me, how are you satisfied with them so far? I would also like to know why did you leave Candlelight, weren’t they satified with „Days of Nothing“ and vice versa? When we started our experience with Candlelight, it seemed there were all the makings of. But after Days of Nothing release our relationship has brought no good effect, for some reason our relationship didn't seem to work, therefore we decided to take a look around and try to find another label. As for Cyclone Empire, well, I must say we've very satisfied about our cooperation so far, the guys are very cool and friendly, and of course we hope it will continue this way even after Oionos release! You have recorded and mixed "Oionos" with Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre) again (so I guess that he is good buddy of yours, right?) and the mastering was done in Finnvox, so the release is blessed with very strong sound! Tell us something more about that process... That’s true, Giuseppe is a close friend of The Foreshadowing, and it’s not a case if we’ve chosen as our personal sound engineer during our live performances too. Well, it took a month for the recording and mixing of the album. It was a really hard job, because this was our second album and made more claims, but we were totally satisfied of the results. One very notable feature on „Oionos“ is the cover song of Sting, namely „Russians“, which turned out very effective! I know that you have played it live, so how did you decide to make your own version of this hit? "Russians" has got a mood which is very close to OIONOS: the fear-and the perception-of an imminent atomic holocaust (in cold war between Russia and Usa); and in these days, due to republics that still claim to possess arsenal of nuclear weapons or that are developing that kind of technology, this issue is dramatically topical. We're always too close to midnight on the doomsday clock. One of the things that give The Foreshadowing strong identity is vocal of Marco, very original IMHO. But I am curious - have you ever thought about using growls as I feel that they would fit nicely in some parts? Marco used indeed to alternate clean vocals and growl when he was involved into his project How Like a Winter. The fact that he doesn't use growls with The Foreshadowing is due to stylistic choices we decided all together in common. We have a preference for melody, that's why we decided to use exclusively clean vocals for our music. Also I would like to go back to the very beginning and to ask you – how did the idea of forming The Foreshadowing came to be? I know that you were members of very respected bands like Klimt 1918, How Like A Winter... wasn’t that enough to you? Playing with the bands we were involved in has enriched a lot and we must say thanks to them, but except for Marco who was founder and leader of How Like a Winter , everyone of us weren't completely satisfied with the role they played inside thier bands. We wished a band where anyone could say his piece, and this is the very first rule of The Foreshadowing. I will get very personal now – I have been in Trieste and Venezia last summer and I truly fell in love with Italy, I am even thinking about relocating there for a while. So can you give me some general advices about living in your homeland? By the way, I didn't like your beer very much but the wine is to die for :) I don't like it too and it's even expensive! I'll tell you what: if you come to Italy, just come as a tourist 'cause it's wonderful and it's worth it, as you already should know, but if you're planning to come and establish there, just leave it, it's too much trouble. To continue on a personal note – The Foreshadowing played on ill-fated Legacy Fest in Serbia. I know that the story about it was a bit weird, so can you tell us how did you get here? Also I would love to hear your impressions about Serbia! And by the way, my buddy Dragan told me to say "hi" to you (he shared a hostel with you during the fest, maybe you remember him) :) Well, it's a very long story...at first we were asked to partake at a festival in Nis called Adria Rock Festival, which was exactly in the same period where it was held Legacy Festival. One day we received a mail on our myspace from a serbian journalist, who warned us Adria Rock Festival to be a fake! Actually we were already suspicious with the promoters because we were trying to keep in touch with them but we get no reply. Therefore, in order to save the flights we took in advance to Belgrad, we decided to ask Legacy promoter to play there, and fortunately our request was satisfied. It has been a stressful experience but it was worth it because we share the same stage with great acts as Testament and Obituary. What about Serbia? I liked the people very much, they got lots of similarities with the italians, by the way give our best to Dragan, we remember very well of him, we spent a good time together in that hostel! So that would be all for now, until next time – I wish you the best of luck with „Oionos“ and hope to see you here again! Arrivederci! Thanks a lot, man, see you soon. Ciao! Interview done by Trifunovic Slobodan |
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