One
of the finest debut releases this year has to be Flashback Of Anger's
'Splinters Of Life'. Today we catch up with these new young guns
in the progressive world to find out more about the band, it's members
and it's music.
MM -
Firstly
would you like to start by introducing the band to us.
FoA -
Hi
everybody, we are a power-prog melodic metal band from Florence. We were
born on June 2003 due to the initiative of Antonio and Matteo, after a
couple of years we had the actual line-up with a new guitar player and a
new keyboard player that could help Alessio in his job. The first guitar
player (Alberto) is still working with us writing lyrics and he wrote
the concept of Splinters of Life too, our debut album recorded at the
High Gain Recording Studio in Hamburg by Dirk Schlächter (Gamma Ray).
The
name "Flashback of Anger" relates to some past experiences
that comes in your head with a mood of anger. "Flashback of
Anger" is a revenge, a victory, it's the energy that comes from
this kind of thoughts and that is turned into music balancing strength
and grace..
MM - When
first putting the band together did you always envisage it would be a
Progressive Melodic Metal band from the beginning?
FoA
- You
know at the very beginning we started playing very "classic"
metal: Metallica, Iron Maiden, and so on. When Alessio joined the band
we had the chance to use his talent composing that kind of music, but we
followed a natural path.
MM - What
are the bands influences? Who
inspires you and who do you wish to become as big as?
FoA -
Several
influences: basically from classic music and from metal in general.
Someone compares us to great band such as Shadow Gallery and Dream
Theatre for our music style. Anyway, we try to make our music as
personal as we can but obviously our backgrounds and our tastes come
out.
MM
-
The
bands debut release ‘Splinters Of Life’ is a great album, are you as
a band pleased by the way it has turned out?
FoA
- We're
very happy. We're having great reviews all over Europe, we have a debut
album spreads worldwide. Working with Dirk and LMP is such a great
honour. We're enjoying this moment but we're still working hard to grow
up.
MM
- How
long did the album take to put together from the initial concept to the
final finished album?
FoA -
To write down
the concept, music, lyrics and record the album, about a couple of
years. Meanwhile we had some dead period such as the Gamma Ray Hellish
Rock Tour were Dirk and Alessio played, so the mixing and postproduction
stuffs were delayed. We waited some month to find the right label, too.
Finally almost three years.
MM - I
love the likes of ‘A Void Within Me’ and ‘Splinters of Life’ but
are there any tracks which you are particularly proud of and why those
particular tracks?
FoA - We're
proud of the whole album. Everyone has his favourite track to play, but
we worked so hard on that album that every song is linked to the next
one as a mosaic. If you look at just one single piece of it you won't
have the same emotion of looking at the whole mosaic.
MM
-
What
is your main inspiration for your songs, is it a matter of art
reflecting life?
FoA - We
try to focus on a topic. For Splinters of Life we have this onyricon
story living between dream and reality, a mental break-out from the
hardest things that happen in a life of a human being. Every song is a
chapter of the story of Sebastian that is living all the range of
emotions even if he's a young man. When you have an idea for a song you
try to create a good music and a clear lyric to make it getting out, it
could be a social problem, something really happens, a mood, or whatever
we want.
MM -
Is
it a band effort when it comes to song writing or does one particular
band member write most of the material?
FoA - Alessio
write the biggest part of the melodic material. On this material each
member suggests something and works on his part to make it sounds
better. Antonio writes the drums line, Francesco the bass one, Giulio
his solo and so on, but the structure of the song is given by Alessio.
MM -
What
has been the reaction from the rock media towards the album and the band
so far?
FoA - Simply
wonderful. Great reviews. We didn't expect that.
MM -
The
band have only been around a relatively short time but to date what’s
been the bands biggest achievement so far?
FoA - Well
we recorded in a studio with Gamma Ray helping us and giving advices, we
played at the Evolution Festival '07 with Virgin Steele, Sebastian Bach,
Nevermore, Kamelot and many others... and we are 6 friends having fun
together playing their music. What else?
MM
- The
band like most bands today have had some line-up changes since you
started back in 2003. How
have these changes affected the band and are you stronger because of
them?
FoA -
Alberto,
our first guitar player, had to leave Italy to study in France, so
Giulio joined the band, but he's still working with us writing concept
and lyrics. Emanuele joined the band to help Alessio playing keyboards
as the result of a stronger impact on stage.
MM
-
Have
you started working on the next album or is it too soon to think about
this yet?
FoA - We
have almost 4 songs ready and some more almost finished. We're working
hard and we really love the new songs, same flashback style but more
mature. We think to be able to record something on next autumn.
MM
- 13
The album had a strong production team behind it with Arne
Lakenmacher, as well as Dirk Schlächter and Kai Hansen, how was it
working with these guys?
FoA - Fantastic.
Their advices are precious as gold for us. Lovely professional people.
We're still having a friendly relationship and we were so lucky working
with them. We had fun and the result is great. Dirk appears in some
additional choirs in the track "Flashback of Anger" too.
MM - What
does the future hold for the band?
Any tour plans or festival dates later in the year?
FoA - We're
waiting for some answers. But I really can't say anything. Hope to talk
to you again with some hot big news ehehehehe.
MM -
Finally
do the band have any words for your fans and our readers out there?
FoA - We
want to thanks everyone to have read this interview and we suggest you
all to listen to our cd. Of course a special thanks to whom is going to
buy it. We hope to see you at some gig and to meet you on my space! See
you!
MM
-
We'd like to thank the
band for taking the time out to chat with us today and look forward to
seeing them out on the road some time soon *fingers crossed*. If
you haven't had a chance to catch their new album yet then be sure to
check out their website - www.myspace.com/flashbackfoanger
. |