Symphonic metal go getters METEORA have had a handful of content out, including their most recent album "Tragedy of Delusion". Keyboardist, composer and occasional vocalist Atilla Király, does the talking, about the band's plans and music.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The band was founded in the summer of 2010, but from the Founding Fathers only Máté and myself remain. We had a few line-up changes which made progression harder, but in 2013-14 we had a group which with we could record our first ever songs on our first EP ‘Price of Salvation’. Nowadays we rather look at it as a demo, as all of the songs on it were re-recorded for our first LP ‘Our Paradise’ to give them the treatment of a professional studio. Noémi joined us in 2015, and with that we could really focus on writing songs for the album, Csaba came in 2016 right before the recordings started, and we found Gábor in 2017, a few months after the release. The line-up has been constant since then, and it really allowed us to go to the next level as a band. We hit the studio again in 2019, and released our second album ‘Tragedy of Delusion’ in March 2020 through Nail Records as the bonus CD for that months Hammerworld Magazine.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
It was the idea of Máté. Before our first ever concert in 2011 we had no name, and had to come up with one for them to be able to make the flyers. Meteora, as the hills with the monasteries on top of them in Greece, means a quiet, peaceful place above the world for us. In music we can escape the problems of everyday life even if just for a while. Up there we can observe the world down below, and have a look inside ourselves as well.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
The band is based in Budapest, Hungary. We have a lot of talented bands here, but live music is not in its best shape nowadays. People tend to be really conservative in a musical taste, most only listen to metal that existed before I was even born, and refuse to open their minds for anything new. It is kinda like swimming up the current, but we are really hopeful along with our fellow musicians of the underground that we can change this standard. My personal favorite local band would be Subcortic, a dark metal band with great songs. We share the stage with them quite often, they are really great people as well.
4. How would you describe your style?
The short answer would be that we play symphonic metal.:) The longer one would go like this: We play metal music with power, gothic and death metal influences, accompanied by classical orchestrations and choirs. We use a three singer setup, Noémi is our lead singer, Máté does the grunting and I do clean vocals.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
The songs for ‘Our Paradise’ were written since the beginning of the band until 2016. This means a lot of different musicians worked on them, and all of them had some kind of influence on the songs, so overall the album is really diverse. Some say it is a strength, others feel like it makes it feel inconsistent. ‘Tragedy of Delusion’ on the other hand had a fix line-up, and so it became more coherent as a record. We upped the scales, making the orchestra bigger, the choirs were done by professional singers, and the drumming and ideas of Gábor opened new horizons for us. As for what you can expect, I would have to say classic symphonic metal from the heavier ones.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
We always have.:D Joking aside, we have just released ‘Tragedy of Delusion’ in March, just before COVID-19 hit Hungary. In lock down we couldn’t really progress with the musical side of the band, so we focused on promoting our new record. With the situation beginning to normalize we can proceed with the rehearsals, and we can start putting together new songs. I write most of the songs and have one almost ready for the band to start working with, hopefully it will hit hard.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
We had a few shows cancelled because of the lock down, our album release show on the 25th of April hurt the most, but we had it rescheduled with the same bands for the 22nd of August. We are cautious with organizing shows for the fall though, as the second wave could destroy those plans easily, we rather look at next Spring for a new tour.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
We recorded a video at home during the lock down for our cover of Linkin Parks ‘Numb’, it is at the editor and should be ready in 1-2 weeks. We also thought of having a second guitar player to make our live sound heavier, if anyone near Budapest would join we accept applications until the end of June. Of course we will start putting the ideas for our third album together, and want to play as many gigs as we can until we hit the studio again.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen to us on all major digital streaming services, buy the albums digitally, or as a physical copy directly from us. We have a few music videos up on YouTube as well, check those out to see what we can offer. A kick ass new T-shirt design is in the making as well, so check back regularly.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
That underground bands are worth checking out as well. :)
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