Brazilian heavy metal act Age Of Artemis came to be a while back releasing their debut efforts and now their sophomore release "The Waking Hour" is upon them. Bassist Giovanni Sena discusses that album and the plans ahead.
1. What has Age Of Artemis been up to so far this year?
Giovanni Sena: Well we´re about to release our second album – The Waking Hour which will be released in Europe and the US by Power Prog, in Japan by King Records and Brazil by MS Metal Records and Rising Records next month.
2. Help us get to know a little bit more about the band. How did you meet and get started in metal? What’s your story?
Giovanni Sena: Well to make a long story short, it all started with our drummer, Pedro Senna, who decided to make a band with Gabriel Soto, which is one of our guitar players. As far as I know, everything had started with gathering some friends who wanted to make metal music together. They then recorded their first demo called Fields Of Ascension in 2008. To be honest, I have never heard this demo. I don't know why either haha. Anyway then there was some changes to the line-up and then they recorded their first debut album which would be Overcoming Limits. This time, Nathan Grego had already become their second guitar player. Next they had called Edu Falaschi (Ex Angra, Almah) to be the producer, I don't know what happened but two and a half weeks were taken to track all of the bass lines. Nathan Grego had called me asking me if I would track the bass for the album, after listening to the demo songs, I had became a member of the band. Then came Alirio Netto to track all of the voices. So the line-up was then complete, and Overcoming Limits was released and the rest is history.
3. Why did you want to go and call yourselves Age Of Artemis, who is Artemis?
Giovanni Sena: Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt. It's a strong name and it sounded great until a French singer asked for her rights for the name. We thought we were screwed because we were already known in the metal scene using this name. So we then decided to add the "Age Of" in order to keep using Artemis. So now we call ourselves "Age Of Artemis" with all of the legal rights included haha.
4. "The Waking Hour" is your second album, what was the recording process like for this release?
Giovanni Sena: It all started with a pre-production where Nathan Grego and I get together to write new material, sometimes Gabriel Soto and I do it at my home. When we're finished with the pre-production everything is emailed to everybody else and we all get prepared to track everyone's part. So we then went to São Paulo to track everything for us.
5. Is it hard for you to create new riffs and ideas for yourselves within the heavy metal scene/genre, since so much of the genre was established before?
Giovanni Sena: Well music has being cloned since the baroque period or even before that. There's nothing that's been hundred percent pure. We can include everything from the water you drink to races etc. Everything is a blending of something else. What you do is what you are. There is no way out. But this is what really matters the most. You do have something that comes from you even if there are a couple of "yous" around. Nowadays we don't get too worried about that subject. Of course there's a line that we must not cross but most of the time when the music comes it comes and we decide what to do with it from that point on.
6. How has the band’s sound evolved from your last release onto "The Waking Hour"?
Giovanni Sena: It sounds "cliche" but I think sound is more mature than before. This time everything was written to the music itself. There's shredding guitar solos, double bass drums, tapping bass techniques, all the vocal stuff as well, was all driven to the composition through the song writing process. If you pay close attention every minute there's something new coming to the songs, but I think it's something natural because as time passes by you it becomes an updated experience from person to person and helps you become better.
7. What inspired the album title? Is it a concept album?
Giovanni Sena: Even though there's some songs connected within a concept or a character "The Waking Hour" is not a concept album. We believe the world is changing, people's thoughts are changing. We're learning about things we don't know what they even are yet. Countries that you've never heard about now have evidence of something. This awakening which will lead us to somewhere is the main key to this whole album's ideal. Brazil for example is a young country and it seems that it's evolving so fast, that the people are getting sick of corruption and all that's happening around them. But yet at the same time they don't know what to do. But the first steps are already taken and they are thinking about it, so this summarizes the main idea of this album.
8. Who did you go with for producing this album, what is it about their style that worked so well for Age Of Artemis?
Giovanni Sena: This time Brendan Duffey and Adriano Daga were the producers. We recorded everything at the Norcal Studios in São Paulo where Brendan is the owner. It's important to know well enough of what you're doing and Brendan and Adriano knew that especially the place they worked. They knew how to adjust and take the best results from all of the equipment but at the same time Brendan had experienced working with so many metal bands that it's helped us with the right choice.
9. How about the artwork for this album, who was the one to create it and what does it represent or mean for this release?
Giovanni Sena: The amazing artwork was created by our Colombian friend Felipe Machado Franco. He's an expert when it comes to artwork covers. He's done artwork for bands like Blind Guardian, Rage, Iron Savior, and Jörn, the list goes on. The artwork shows the Amazon where the jungle represents the primal stage of men. Many people could consider this a third world problem but in fact, the Amazon is something that makes us rather unique and at the same time unites everyone. The scattered time machine within the jungle tells the character that it's time to wake up and time for a new cycle to start.
10. Can you discuss the single for "Broken Bridges" why was this song chosen as a single?
Giovanni Sena: Actually Broken Bridges was chosen by our executive producer who owners Power Prog, our label in Germany. Maybe he was thinking about something related to the market. But I can´t tell. I think it's a great track to start with.
11. What are your expectations for the CD?
Giovanni Sena: In a time where free downloading is the answer to some people, I think this album will overcome the sales of the previous one. FYI, the Brazilian copies of Overcoming Limits, which was our debut album, were sold out in six months within Brazil. So I´m pretty excited about this one. We've already got great reviews about the album, everybody who got the chance to listen to it, gave us a positive feedback telling that this album will be part of the Brazilian metal history. We have our fingers crossed.12. Will we be seeing a new music video for any of the songs including the single anytime soon?
Giovanni Sena: Yes, very soon. Unfortunately I cannot reveal which song yet.
13. What are your upcoming touring and show plans?
Giovanni Sena: We will tour in Chile next November and we are scheduling concerts within Brazil. We hope to tour in the US as soon as possible.
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