Morpheus
Morpheus is a newcoming
band that has only a few years on its back and they haven't tried to make
any "serious" steps in the music business until very recently. The guys
that comprise Morpheus seem rather determined to make their dreams come
true. Moreover, they have a professional attitude toward their music and
of course there is music itself... black metal wrapped up in dark and seducive
aesthetics. Need I say more? I guess not! There is a whole interview awaiting
for you just below...
1.FIRST OF ALL COULD YOU BRIEF US ON THE BAND'S
HISTORY AND INTRODUCE THE CURRENT LINE - UP?
Morpheus were formed in 2001 in Alexandroupoli.
Rearrangements of the line-up, the music style of the group and live shows
were to follow, till January of 2004 when the "Delomelanicon" demo was
recorded at Nemesis Recording Studio in Kavala. The current line-up is:
Thanasis – vocals, Chris – guitars, Vasilis – guitars, Spyros – bass, Lakis
– keyboards, Mike – drums.
2.YOU BELONG TO THE MELODIC DEATH/BLACK METAL
BRANCH WHICH PROVES TO BE QUITE POPULAR LATELY. WHY? WHAT IS THAT PEOPLE
FIND SO APPEALING ACCORDING TO YOU?
Our music is an expression of our emotions.
It’s a result of melancholic, raging and dark thoughts that devour our
minds every single moment. That mix of musical style that we play combines
all of these and gives a dark and evil atmosphere, which we are sure that
many people out there feel the same.
3.YOU USE A GREAT DEAL OF KEYBOARDS, WHICH OFTEN
HAVE A FRONT OR AT LEAST BASIC ROLE IN YOUR COMPOSITIONS. WHAT DO YOU THINK
THEY ADD IN YOUR MUSIC?
The keyboards have a basic role to our compositions
like all the rest instruments. They are very expressive and they add a
unique emotional aura to the songs.
4.GIVE US SOME INFO REGARDING THE RECORDING SESSIONS.
I THINK THE SOUND IS A BIT DIM AND DULL. DO YOU AGREE? DID YOU WANT TO
DO IT THIS WAY OR WAS IT DUE TO LACK OF MONEY AND EXPERIENCE?
The recording sessions took place at Nemesis
Recording Studio in Kavala during 5 and 9 of January 2004. We’d like to
hail the producer Tasos Karapapazoglou for his excellent work! Well, we
were surprised when you wrote that the sound was like that. You are the
only one so far. Everyone says that the production is awesome, considering
that this is a “demo”. It was recorded at one of the best studios in Greece.
So we don’t agree with you. At some parts though, some mistakes are obvious
but this is a path no one can elude in a demo - CD. On the other hand maybe
your equalizer was flat when you were listening to the CD. We made this
demo to be heard loud and clear. Money never bothered us. After all, we
give this demo for free. And experience is gained by time; this doesn’t
mean that we have no experience at all!
5.COULD YOU NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS
AND ALBUMS? WHICH ARE THE ARTISTS THAT HAVE "CARVED" YOUR MUSICAL PATH?
It’s hard to mention so many bands that wrote
or are still writing history to the classic or extreme Metal. Each one
of us has different opinions based on our hearings. So we would need a
whole page and maybe more to mention all of them.
6.WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING TO? WHAT THINGS
INSPIRE YOU TO TALK ABOUT?
Lyrics are circling above the human existence
through a dark and rather catatonic view. Our own experiences take the
lead and invaginate the weaknesses of human nature as well as the internal
dark wanderings that each one of us meets at some time in his life. For
us, the world of dreams (as proposed by ancient god Morpheus), either majestic
and seductive or chaotic and infernal, will always be a means of completion.
7.PLEASE DESCRIBE THE COVER ARTWORK AND EXPLAIN
TO US HOW IT IS CONNECTED TO THE MUSIC AND LYRICS.
Well, to begin with, it’s obscure and shadowy
and it’s hard to make out what it shows. Even harder appears to be to find
out what it represents. Just like a glance in a dream. In this occasion,
it stands for a room recently and rather violently abandoned. A book lies
open...a glass of wine left to fall. The rest are part of the “Delomelanicon”
myth (…a book said to be written by Satan himself) by Arturo Perez Reverte.
This mysterious and versatile subject is the one we try to set to music.
8.HAVE YOU EVER PERFORMED LIVE? DO YOU HAVE ANY
PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK?
Well, as we previously mentioned some lives
have been performed by the band. Until now, eleven live appearances lie
behind us in northern Greece. We’d like to perform live in other locations
as well, in the rest of our country. Nothing is sure for future appearances
but we are currently looking forward to getting on stage this fall. We
are currently promoting our demo to various webzines and magazines to be
reviewed and it seems to be going pretty well so far.
9.HAVE YOU SENT THE DEMO TO ANY LABELS OR DO YOU
THINK YOU ARE NOT READY YET? IF YOU DID, WHICH WERE THEIR REACTIONS?
No, we haven’t thought about it yet. In the
meantime we are unsigned. Probably next year when we have a full-length
release, then we will try to find a home for Morpheus. The sure is that
we will aim reliable labels.
10.WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHICH
THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC?
We think that we can handle well a balance
between quality and raw sound. The worst parts of a band are to be discovered
by those who listen to its music.
11.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
There are many emotions combined into our
music varying from melancholy and rage to greatness and misery. We don’t
know which one is more obvious. This is up to you to find out. We are sure
that our music can match with many people’s emotions out there. Well about
a painting…I can’t think any better right now than our cover. It really
depicts what we originally meant to express.
12.WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK COULD BEST DESCRIBE
YOUR MUSIC?
Melancholy, mystery, darkness, vanity.
13.GIVE US SOME REASONS (BASED ON YOUR MUSIC OF
COURSE) WHY SHOULD THE METALLERS CHECK YOU OUT?
Because we are really into this kind of music
and we think we have something different to present in the Greek underground
scene through our music and our live performances.
14.WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND AFTER THE ANCIENT
GREEK GOD OF DREAMS? IS THERE A CONNECTION WITH YOUR MUSIC?
Morpheus symbolizes dreams and there are two
dimensions in this notion. The first one refers to the dreams literally.
It’s an enchanting world as much as mischievous and there is much to talk
about. The other dimension describes the dreams everyone of us fabricates
unconsciously in his mind, mostly in a gloomy perception.
15.THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE...
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to
introduce ourselves. We’d also like to thank all those who have supported
Morpheus so far! For those who now found us out you can obtain our demo
for free. You are only called to pay postal fees if necessary. You can
also download all of the tracks (full length!) at www.the-morpheus.com
Contact us for further info at [email protected]
or
P.O. Box 17554
P.C. 54009,
Thessaloniki
GREECE
Let Morpheus guide you…
Christine Parastatidou
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