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ANCIENT BARDS

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Niet zo heel lang geleden, bracht Ancient Bards uit Italië hun nagelnieuwe plaat "Origine" uit en het brein van ondergetekende ontplofte zowat! Wervelende melodieën, krachtige en intense nummers met meezingrefreinen én headbanger's ball momenten, deze plaat heeft het allemaal en meer! Ik vond dat de tijd meer dan rijp was om aan bassist Martino Garattoni wat vragen te stellen over deze nieuwe power metal symfonie. Hier kun je lezen wat hij te zeggen had: (interview in het Engels)

Written by Thomas

ANCIENT BARDS

Not that long ago, Ancient Bards from Italy unleashed their brand-new album "Origine" upon the world and the brain of yours truly went BAM! Soaring melodies, powerful and intense songs with sing- along choruses and headbanger's ball moments... this record has all of that and more! I deemed the time was right to ask bassplayer Martino Garattoni all about this new power metal symphony. Here's what he had to say: 

 

You folks have been around for a while, but could you for those who wouldn't know the band give us a short introduction?

Hi everyone! So, long story short: Ancient Bards is a female fronted metal band from Italy. Our genre could be defined like an 'epic power' sort of metal, we base everything on our 'soundtrack-like' orchestrations, to describe an epic saga that is the main story of our lyrics. Musically talking we try to create a good mix of our influences, powerful riffs, a bit of growls, fast kick drums and Sara's voice that is somehow different cause it come's more from an r'n'b/pop kind of approach.

 

 "Origine" is your fourth album so far. Do you think you have evolved as a band over the years?

Absolutely. Improving under every aspect is our main goal. The way we write, we play and how we tell our story is something that we try to expand on every detail, and seeing that we took a bit of a break before "Origine", I hope everyone can hear that evolution even more!

 

Unlike with its predecessor, I get the impression that at times "Origine" is more up-tempo and has more catchiness to it. Is this intentionally?

Not that much actually, our intention is to do what we like, to give the fans the best version of ourselves (in our opinion, of course). The tempo is based on what we're talking about, so the story leads the way. And if it comes out even catchier, that's a bonus! :)

 

Not too long ago, a videoclip for the song "Light", a ballad from the new album, was released. What made you pick this song in particular as the new single?

We really like how our ballads are coming out, we think they describe what we are as much as the 'more metal' tracks, so we always end up choosing the tracks that can give the listener a good example of what could suit the statement 'THIS is Ancient Bards'.

 

Do you mean to tour intensively to promote the album and if so, any idea with which other band(s)? Which regions will or would you like to play?

Well, difficult question! It's not totally up to us, sadly. We would like to tour much more than what we did in the past times, but that's something that comes only with finding good deals/agents/promoters, so we'll see. We have a lot of friends and bands we like a lot, long list of names, but of course we would just like the opportunity to support some good established band that can help us expand our fan base. Even if we would love to be everywhere, it's obviously more difficult to travel outside Europe, and one of the main things we would like to do is a U.S. tour. We know we have a lot of fans there and most of them showed up themselves supporting our crowdfunding campaign in an incredible way.

 

There is always a story as backbone for your albums. Where does the inspiration for both the music and lyrics come from?

Daniele is the main composer and writer. He's a huge fan of RPG video games like Final Fantasy, and that's mainly where his inspiration comes from. He's also an awesome soundtrack composer, and that fits so well to describe the story's he created. After that it's easy to write good riffs and expand the story as much as we like.

 

How is the future looking for Ancient Bards and what would you like to accomplish most in it?

We're planning things for the future albums, trying to schedule all the promotion that could help us grow a bit (or more hopefully). The main goal is obviously to be able to do this full-time, in order to give the fans more music and shows without any break!

 

I imagine the recording process for a record like "Origine" isn't over in a day. How much input in said process comes from everyone in the band?

We try to take the best from each one of us and put it at work. Everyone has its own different talent so that helps us optimize the way we deal with all the work around the album. Recording is just a small part of it actually, and it comes really easy, seeing that (fortunately) everyone here is an exceptional musician and we couldn't ask for better partners.

 

With so many power metal bands in Italy alone, is it hard to stand out as a band playing this particular subgenre? 

It doesn't seem that difficult, there's space for everyone and the fans seems to be used to like a lot of bands and not focus on just a few. The only problem seems to be to surpass that giant step that divides these kind of bands and the big ones, but maybe with some luck, one day :D

 

Your albums always have really cool artwork, which I love. Is this also very important for you?

It is indeed. Seeing that we want to describe an epic journey as good as possible, the music itself could be enough, but having also some good artwork helps a lot to give everyone the idea of what he/she's listening to, and dive themselves in the complete experience we try to deliver.

 

Anything left to add?

I wanna thank you guys at Hellspawn for the interview and, of course, all the supporters around the world that made "Origine" possible! We're still stoked from your reaction and can't wait to meet you all! 

 

Thomas

www.ancientbards.com 

 

 

 

 

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