Crossover
In view of the upcoming
Crossover album that will bear the title "Pythagorized" we thought it was
necessary to offer you a new interview with the band that would cast light
to their new endeavor and would offer us more insight on their goals. In
the meantime keep an eye on "Pythagorized", you're gonna love it!!!!
1. HELLO ZION! HOW ARE THINGS GOING IN CROSSOVER’S
CAMP? WANT TO SHARE THE LATEST BAND NEWS WITH US?
Hail Christina & Behind the Veil! Crossover
just came back from a very successful headline gig at An Club in Athens
(Sunday 26th Nov), which actually had a mini-festival feeling, with another
four bands playing: Unholy Ritual, Code of Silence, Sabbah Navahthani (CY),
Devathorn, and a unique opening set for us by Glafx Viridian which blew
our heads away! All the bands were fucking excellent to say the least,
and the mix of styles proved to be perfect. The attendance was great and
we are all so grateful to all the people who came down to An Club that
night to make this event a black celebration like the ones we are always
blissful to experience, but since we were the ones organizing the particular
gig, extra fuckin’ hails to you all!!! Two weeks before that (12th Nov)
we played with Enshadowed, supporting Dark Funeral (SWE), so you can imagine
how great we all feel after these two fantastic nights in the capital in
such a short period…all hail Athens!
In the meantime our new record is still undergoing
its final mixes and it is a matter of time before it will show its ragged
teeth to the hungry public! Last but not least, I’d like to mention that
our gig-virus is alive and kicking as we play one more show next week (Friday
15th Dec) in our hometown Alexandroupoli –a rare event-, together with
SIVA SIX, Overgarven and Turris Spectrum.
2. FEW ARE THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE LISTENED TO “PYTHAGORIZED”.
SO LET’S SAY I WASN’T ONE OF THEM. COULD YOU REVIEW IT AS OBJECTIVELY AS
POSSIBLE?
“Pythagorized” combines everything Crossover
have done before and takes it to new inconceivable levels! At the same
time when finished, some amazing steps of innovation taken in the sound
and composition of the tracks will become more than obvious. As you may
have already figured out it is impossible for me to describe it objectively!
3. THE COPY I HAVE IN MY HANDS HAS ONLY GOT 4
SONGS, SO COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME ALL THE TRACK TITLES AND ANY OTHER INFORMATION
YOU FIND NECESSARY OR INTERESTING?
Some information about the new album is already
posted in the band’s website (www.thecrossover.net).
The promo-cd you have in your hands was made exclusively for you and it
contains four of the strongest moments of the album in a pre-production
stage, but you get the general idea. The tracks are: Blind, Hatred, Samos
and To Amasi of Egypt. Please refer to the website and myspace page (www.myspace.com/crossover66)
for more info as it becomes available.
4. YOU ARE STILL FULLY WORKING ON THE ALBUM, SO
IT’S HARD TO FIND ANY FLAWS OR CORRECTLY EVALUATE YOUR EFFORT. HOWEVER,
I’D LIKE TO KNOW, WHICH ACCORDING TO YOU ARE ITS WEAK AND ITS POWERFUL
POINTS.
You are right to say this…we are all very
enthusiastic about the final shape the new material is taking. It’s weakest
point would be that the album is somewhat so complex hence extremely time
consuming in the making, so it will be ready a little bit later than expected.
But as the old saying goes: “Good stuff takes time…”!!!
Its powerful points are everything about the
guitar riffs, the vocal lines, the drum parts, the production sound, the
orchestral arrangements, the artwork…basically everything about it! Nevertheless
it’s really difficult to describe in words what the final cut will sound
like…and I feel its no good me saying that the new album is a cross between
Dimmu Borgir and Slipknot…, so you just have to wait to hear it yourself!
5. YOU HAVE AN OLD FASHIONED SOUND AND YET YOU
MANAGE TO CREATE COMPOSITIONS THAT BREATHE FRESH AIR TO THE SCENE. HOW
CAN THESE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS BE COMPATIBLE?
Again this is something the name of the band
represents and a philosophy all of us share in this process of expressing
ourselves by the medium of music. Bringing down limits and combining styles
and sounds that excite us and speak to our hearts, is something that comes
out naturally and everything this band is always about.
6. FROM THE SONGS I’VE LISTENED TO, I REALIZED
THAT YOUR NEW ALBUM IS VERY COMPLEX AND MULTI-LAYERED. ACTUALLY IT’S LIKE
LISTENING TO A DIFFERENT ALBUM WITH EVERY SONG. I MEAN THEY SOUND LIKE
CROSSOVER AND YET THEY ARE SO DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER… WHY?
There is both a sonic and a lyrical concept
in this album. The way we perceive these two sides of the “Pythagorized”
concept has produced tracks that may take a different direction but at
the same time maintain a common atmosphere and lust for the extreme sound!
7. IF YOU COMPARED YOUR NEW ALBUM TO THE PREVIOUS
CROSSOVER RELEASES WHICH ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES YOU
CAN UNDERLINE?
Every Crossover album has an atmosphere, a
character that is like a musical photograph of the band in each different
stage it possesses in time. It happens that in all three albums there have
been changes in the line up, but that never stops Crossover in maintaining
the consistency in delivering extreme metal compositions and taking on
the road to play live in almost every occasion!
8. WHAT AMAZES ME IS THAT YOU’VE MANAGED IN ALL
YOUR RELEASES TO CREATE A POWERFUL AND CLEAR PRODUCTION. HAVE YOU GOT A
SAY IN THE FINAL RESULT OR IS IT THE WORK OF THE PRODUCER HIMSELF?
We always strive for the best sound we can
achieve. The sound that brings out the best of the songs and creates the
atmosphere we want to create for the specific concept of each release.
The production is a process we get involved with and we enjoy that. The
producer is always someone who knows his job well, but works always in
close interaction with the band to achieve the desired result. Needless
to say, for “Pythagorized” the sound production is painstakingly undertaken
by Illusionaire and our guitar & keyboards master MichayeL, who is
also the main responsible behind the new compositions, so nothing is lost
from the specific sound we want for the album.
9. YOU HAVE MANY GUEST APPEARANCES IN “PYTHAGORIZED”.
WHY? HOW DID THESE COLLABORATIONS HAPPEN AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ALL
THIS?
All the people who contributed in “Pythagorized”
with guest vocal or other appearances (e.g. Nick from Deviser, responsible
for the outro piece), are people who are our friends and we enjoy working
with them. At the same time they are excellent musicians so it feels great
to have them add their distinctive touch to our record. We are really proud
of their input and we feel they definitely add to the diversity of the
album.
10. LYRICS ARE A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF CROSSOVER.
ACTUALLY I THINK THEY ARE EQUAL TO THE MUSIC. SO TELL US IN DETAIL THE
MAIN TOPICS THIS ALBUM REVOLVES AROUND.
The topics of “Pythagorized” revolve around
the paths Pythagoras –the well known Greek mathematician- walked in his
life. He was a man of a restless mind and a constant drive for innovation
with maths and music as his main weapons. Just like Iannis Xenakis did
in more contemporary times, Pythagoras combined mathematics and music analyzing
the language of nature in essence, and exploring their common codes. A
very inspiring concept that fits perfectly with the tight metronomics of
the new tracks.
11. WHEN ARE YOU MOST PRODUCTIVE? WHICH ARE THOSE
FEELINGS THAT OVERWHELM WHEN YOU WRITE MUSIC OR LYRICS? HERE I’D ALSO LIKE
YOU TO TELL ME WHAT EMOTIONS YOU THINK YOUR MUSIC CREATES TO YOUR FANS…
The emotions our music creates to our fans
are beyond our control. We just hope they are positive ones…in a deep &
heavy kind of way. The kind of emotions that drive someone into fields
of blissful melancholy and creative depression. There is a dark positivity
which touches our hearts whenever the band is rehearsing, writing or performing
live in front of an audience. It is a state of catharsis, and this is our
most productive state of mind.
12. I SUPPOSE THE DIFFERENT VOCAL LINES “PLAY”
DIFFERENT ROLES AS WELL. WHAT DOES EACH ONE OF THEM STAND FOR? YOU’VE ALSO
GOT SOME RECITATIONS. WHAT’S THEIR POINT?
Utilizing different ranges of tone and brutality
as well as the use of recitations adds to the theatrical expression possibilities
of the music, which are limitless anyway. Every element is there for a
reason and everything is combined and arranged carefully and firmly, to
produce the final atmosphere of the track equally projecting both the aggression
& melody of the music and the story the lyrics have to say.
13. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE COVER ARTWORK.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT? CAN YOU UNDERLINE ITS CONNECTION WITH THE LYRICS?
Zila is once again responsible for our general
artwork and layout and we are all really happy and proud to have him ‘dress’
our music with his amazing aesthetics. The concept of the album was studied
carefully by him and he then came up with a viciously beautiful set of
visions and arrangements for the cd booklet, the way the new band logo
looks now, even the poster for our upcoming gigs and also the blending
of the band photographs (once again by our fantastic artist/photographer
Adonis-Digilight).
14. YOU ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE BEST GREEK
EXTREME METAL BANDS. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? WHICH DO YOU THINK ARE THE
ELEMENTS THAT RENDERED YOU THIS SPECIFIC TITLE?
We are interested in no such titles. We just
love playing the music we play and we enjoy and treasure the interaction
we have with the people who like our music and who come to see us play
live, perhaps headbang to it, or even come talk to us afterwards, and generally
showing their appreciation.
15. YOU ARE A HIGHLY ACTIVE LIVE BAND. WHAT’S
IN STORE FOR US? HAVE YOU STARTED BOOKING SHOWS OR ARE YOU WAITING FOR
THE ALBUM TO BE RELEASED TO MAKE YOUR MOVES?
We hugely enjoy playing live as you have correctly
noticed already! We haven’t really stopped for the last year or so and
it feels fuckin’ great! I think the last two gigs in Athens, supporting
Dark Funeral and the headliner show, were two of the best experiences we
had. And it’s great to play alongside with so many great other bands too.
The only other upcoming one we have scheduled now is a ‘homecoming’ gig
in Alexandroupoli, a place we rarely play which will together with none
other than mighty Siva Six, and –also local- Overgarven, plus Turris Spectrum
from Xanthi. It will be a very special night.
16. WHAT’S THE IDEAL TITLE FOR THIS INTERVIEW?
A TITLE THAT COULD SUM UP THE WHOLE CROSSOVER ESSENCE…
Here’s some ideas…
RESTLESS WICKED BLACK GREEKS!
NO REST FOR THE WICKED!
MOTHER NORTH RISING AGAIN!
SATAN’S LITTLE HELPERS STRIKE BACK!
U choose!
17. WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST OR FUNNIEST QUESTION YOU’VE
EVER BEEN ASKED?
…I guess that would be this one!!!
18. IF YOU HAD THE MONEY TO SHOOT AN EXPENSIVE
VIDEO CLIP, WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE
IT TO BE?
We still want to do a clip for ‘Narcotic Love’
and we did have some plans for that in the recent past that did not materialize.
We’re in open negotiations with any video artist that could create something
suitable and also extraordinary at the same time (…since we hypothetically
have all the money we need!)…so anyone brave enough out there, get in touch!
From “Pythagorized” we’d like to do a video
for ‘Blind’. It is such a powerful song and a video would certainly take
it further into heights of unthinkable dark intensity!
Making the video is a long creative process
which involves close co-operation with the film creator, so it is impossible
to predict the way the final video would look like.
19. …AND SINCE WE TALK ABOUT SUCH THINGS. HAS
ANYTHING FUNNY OR WEIRD HAPPENED TO YOU?
We had an interview taken live in a TV studio
of a local TV channel a while ago and it was a nice but weird experience.
It’s always like that when clashing with the ‘politically correct’, family
orientated programs and media. It was really funny to see the hosts of
the program being pleasantly shocked by the fact that we don’t carry battle
axes with us every day, that we’re no drug addicts, that we don’t perform
satanic rituals every other night or the fact that we are actually normal
educated human beings with normal jobs (not to mention a lawyer and a doctor
among us) and that we are not the scapegoat for what ‘menace to society’
would be, but free thinking individuals who like to express themselves
with no social or cultural taboos and generally keeping an open mind.
20. BY THE WAY WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE ZION CAMP?
ANY NEWS FROM THAT FIELD?
Due to the preparations for “Pythagorized”
the Zion project is somewhat on hold at the moment. At the same time I
never stop making plans in my head about it so, watch this space!
21. THANK YOU! ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION
HERE THAT WOULD BE OF ANY INTEREST TO YOUR FANS?
Christine Parastatidou
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