Zion
Zion is a powerful project
that has created -after many years of collecting ideas, riffs and inspiration
and thoroughly examining the concept behind the true story and real life
of Vlad Tepes Drakula- an amazing blackened opus of drama, magnificence,
power and absolute paranoia. Who doesn't know the historic figure of Vlad
Tepes? Well, now the time has come to listen to the ideal soundtrack of
his life and deeds... Let's see what Zion, the mainman behind this band
told us about this project.
1. HELLO AND CONGRATULATIONS ON “DRAKULA”!
GREAT PIECE OF MUSIC INDEED! HOWEVER I’D LIKE TO KNOW THE CREATOR’S POINT
OF VIEW. ARE YOU SATISFIED BY YOUR CREATION?
Our dearest and deepest greetings to you Christina
and “Behind The Veil” webzine, which for many years now maintains a high
level of quality and support to the local scene. Respect! Also, huge hails
to everyone who reads this interview! Thank you very much for your kind
words on “Drakula”. This release is thoroughly satisfactory in all levels,
and the same feeling is constantly expressed from the rest of the contributors
involved in its making. After all it’s such a recent and “fresh” creation
and we have all put our purest energy and imagination into it, so it’s
only logical that we’re all very enthusiastic about it.
2. PLEASE FIRST OF ALL GIVE US A SHORT BAND BIO
AND PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE UP. WHICH ARE YOUR AIMS WITH ZION?
The story begins somewhere in 1995, when the
name Zion starts to haunt my life and my dreams. That was the time we started
playing black metal, and soon after we decided to change the band’s name
to Crossover. In the year 2000 there was a cd release under the name “ZION”,
containing narration of my poems with music by Glaufx Garland. In the meantime
Crossover kept on moving forward and I wanted something extra for a concept
that was already growing in my mind by then. It was the story of Vlad Tepes
Drakula. We met with Polydeykis of Sacred Blood and we started musically
contemplating over the concept and potential shape of “Drakula”, while
myself and dedicated Crossover co-lyricist Marietta, prepared the lyrical
basis for it. Polydeykis had the help of Faethon from Sacred Blood on bass
guitars and I had Zoltan from Crossover by my side, supplying his merciless
pounding drum parts, and later on the contribution of Ifigeneia (Crossover)
on vocals. Following that, the very heavy Mike G. was added to the recipe
offering his lead guitar fingerwork, and then the Top - 2 keyboardists
in the country, Nick from Deviser and Bob Katsionis, put the icing on the
cake with their dark atmospheres. Finally, it was Aphazel (Ancient) who
spewed his Norwegian growls for the project. With this line-up we made
“Drakula” and we naturally expect a positive response, as it stands high
in levels of both composition and sound.
3. THE BAND COUNTS A LOT OF MEMBERS. SO, HOW EASY
IS THE SONGWRITING AND RECORDING SESSION FOR YOU? HOW DO YOU COMPOSE THE
SONGS?
The truth is that everything fell into place
relatively easy, because everyone worked with a strong sense of professionalism
and responsibility, as well as an elevated feeling of enjoyment while the
tracks were taking shape. All the people involved in “Drakula”, projected
their experienced nature in musical creation and it was an easy task to
comprehend the exact style and atmosphere of the concept. The songs initially
set off in the form of ideas inside the heads of Polydeykis and myself,
but we made it clear from the start that everyone involved would add their
personal touch, with the concept of Vlad Tepes Drakula always in mind.
In other words, there is a complete freedom of expression in “Drakula”,
and that appears to have worked very positively.
4. ALL OF YOU ARE INVOLVED IN OTHER BANDS AS WELL,
SO IS ZION A FULL TIME BAND OR A MERE PROJECT?
Zion is –at least for now- not a full time
band. Perhaps it will be in the future, after we consider all the offers
we get for it and then we’ll see what really happens. Let’s not forget
that “Drakula” is a promo cd release. If the right offer for collaboration
with a label occurs, then the idea is to proceed with a full length album
release. Still, the fact is that everybody is really busy working with
their bands at the moment (Ancient, Firewind, Imaginery, Snowblind, Deviser,
Crossover and Sacred Blood).
5. IF YOU WERE ASKED TO WRITE A REVIEW OF “DRAKULA”
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE? ARE YOU SATISFIED
BY THE FINAL RESULT OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE?
As you may understand, to try and give an
objective view on our own work is quite hard and futile. However, I would
generally say that “Drakula” is a dark, atmospheric and black epos. Nothing
more. As it has been stated before, we are 100% happy with the result,
and we wouldn’t change anything now. Maybe in the future, under a more
mature perspective we will spot some imperfections, but this will only
lead into adding something more and not really to change or take something
away from the present structure of the songs.
6. “DRAKULA” AS A STRONG, IMPOSING AND DARK ATMOSPHERE
SURROUNDING IT. HOW DID YOU ACHIEVE THAT? YOU USE SOME SAMPLES FROM PEOPLE
SPEAKING AND VARIOUS VOICES. WHERE ARE THEY TAKEN FROM?
The whole atmospheric feel of “Drakula” was
thoroughly undertaken by me personally and Tasos Karapapazoglou at Nemesis
Studios in Kavala. It took us some years to collect the right samples,
always trying to find the most natural sounds that would make the project
sound 100% realistic. Additionally, there were loads of our own recordings
of sounds from outdoor sessions in nearby forests, which were properly
processed. I am compelled to reveal more on this, at least not until a
potential full length future release.
7. YOU HAVE ZION, APHAZEL AND IFIGENEIA SINGING
ON THE ALBUM. WHY DO YOU HAVE 3 VOCALISTS AND WHAT “ROLE” DOES EACH ONE
OF THEM INTERPRET?
It would be very ‘tempting’ and easy to say
that each one of the three voices plays a specific role or character in
the narrative of the tracks, but to be honest this was not the case with
“Drakula”. The vocal parts have been made considering that apart from mine;
the voices of Aphazel and Ifigeneia have vocal ranges that I am really
fond of. Secondly, I believe that they are the most accurate ones to decipher
the desired drama with their lyricism, depth and roughness. I cannot think
of a better choice for the vocal parts.
8. WHAT’S THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART IN
YOUR MUSIC ACCORDING TO YOU? ARE THERE ANY ELEMENTS YOU’D LIKE TO EXPERIMENT
WITH OR ADD ON YOUR NEXT RELEASE?
I think the strongest parts in “Drakula” are
its dark and imposing atmosphere, which floats throughout this production,
Mike G.’s solos and last but not least the work of the two keyboardists,
which -for me- steal the show!!! Now, as far as the worst parts in “Drakula”
go, I really can’t find something, but I would urge you to ask me that
question again in the future. It’s very early in the life of “Drakula”
for me to spot something negative. Usually I find myself doing that a lot
later, and following some new release of either ZION or CROSSOVER. Nevertheless,
I already have some elements of “Drakula” in mind that I would like to
look more deeply into. I am quite keen on experimentation and keeping an
open-mind when making music anyway. The next release by ZION will naturally
take some time, after all “Drakula” is not officially completed, and the
full length release will feature more songs. Maybe the next work under
the name ZION will be something very different musically, just like the
first ZION was in 2000, and it is quite possible that the line-up will
be totally different too.
9. YOU ARE IN SEARCH OF A LABEL AND IN FACT, BASED
ON THE QUALITY OF YOUR ALBUM, I THINK IT WON’T BE HARD FOR YOU TO SIGN
A DEAL. SO, ARE YOU IN TOUCH WITH ANY LABELS AT THE MOMENT? WITH WHAT CRITERIA
WILL YOU SELECT THE RIGHT LABEL FOR YOU?
We are in touch with various labels at the
moment, mainly from outside Greece, and the main reason is that we’d like
to ensure a well-established world-wide distribution for “Drakula”. I want
to make clear that we have absolutely nothing against local labels (after
all we are with one for Crossover and we are totally happy!), we just feel
that with such an explosive line-up like the current one in ZION and the
quality put in this work, it’s only fair to ourselves to take the time
and select the best representation and promotion for “Drakula”, in order
to reach an as much wider audience as possible.
10. LYRIC-WISE THE ALBUM DEALS WITH TRANSYLVANIA
AND THE TRUE STORY OF VLAD TEPES DRACULA. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE TRUE STORY?
I MEAN WHICH WERE YOUR SOURCES AND PLEASE MENTION IT IN BRIEF FOR EVERYONE
TO KNOW…
The fiction about Count Drakula and his blood-thirsty
vampyric dimension has been exploited for centuries by all forms of art.
The icon of this unique & antisocial human-like creature is appealing
to many people, especially those who identify themselves with the dark
side and the feeling of not belonging to the widely acceptable status quo.
Beyond this fiction, Vlad Tepes Drakula was a real person who lived in
Transylvania and achieved a super-human victory against the Ottomans. We
went through a very large volume of bibliography on the subject and the
personality of Vlad Tepes, the Son of the Dragon, which in Romanian means
the son of the Devil. To give you a brief idea, the bibliography we examined
and studied ranges from “Vlad Drakula: The Dragon Prince” by M. Augustyn,
to numerous Bram Stoker books, to titles by P.C. Doherty, Jeanne Kalogridis,
Elizabeth Kostova, Robert Lory, Hanna Lutzen, Fred Saberhagen, Peter Tremayne,
Peter Haiming…etc…the list is endless.
11. WHERE THE LYRICS TAKEN FROM TEXTS OR DID YOU
ADAPT THE STORIES WRITING THEM IN THE PERSONAL ZION WAY?
The lyrics were all inspired by all the input
I had from researching on the subject, but were all written by myself and
Marietta Malta.
12. PLEASE TELL ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE COVER
ARTWORK. IS SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT. WHOSE ID EA WAS IT AND PLEASE DESCRIBE
IT FOR OUR READERS.
The cover artwork and general design supervision
of “Drakula” is made by Zila, the graphic artist also responsible for Crossover’s
“Dogma” and the forthcoming release of “Pythagorized” and the split 10”
with The Eternal Darkness, Nethescerial and Lord Impaler. Zila is a greatly
inspired and highly creative artist, whose work we trust 100%. Once again,
he’s spotted on with the overall concept on Vlad Tepes Drakula. He is another
person in a long line of collaborators, a dark collective of black alliances
that started off around “Crossover”.
13. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? YOU
ARE A HUGE BAND, SO HOW ARE YOU GOING TO “SOLVE” THIS PROBLEM?
For now, it’s quite impossible to arrange
for all these people to rehearse and perform “Drakula” live on stage. This
is a challenge that we all agree would be quite spectacular, but –to be
honest- it would only be something to work for only after the release of
a full length album. So, for the present time we can only fantasize about
it!!!
14. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAD THE MONEY TO SHOOT
AN EXPENSIVE VIDEO CLIP. SO, WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW
DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
I think visually the strongest song for a
video would be “Alone”, which deals with the time when Vlad returns from
the battlefield and finds out his beloved princess has just killed herself.
That’s exactly when he loses it, and dramatically the story peaks. I don’t
know exactly how this imaginary video would look like, but I think we’d
make sure the images matched the intensity of the song content.
15. WHAT EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS DO YOU WANT YOUR
MUSIC TO CREATE TO YOUR LISTENERS? DO YOU THINK YOU ACHIEVE TO CHANNEL
YOUR PERSONAL “ICONS” TO THOSE WHO LISTEN TO “DRAKULA”?
“Drakula” is –as I mentioned earlier- a melting
pot of self-expression by all the people involved, having the concept of
Vlad Tepes Drakula as a starting point. In this respect there is no real
intention to channel any particular emotions to the listener, in the sense
that nothing was written with the listener in mind…It’s a creation of musical
landscapes where the listener is left to imagine the story on his/her own.
Of course there is obviously a set of strong emotions of fear, anxiety,
love, revenge & betrayal present in the atmosphere of the songs, but
the listener is free to discover & interpret all that individually.
16. THANK YOU! ANYTHING LAST YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION
OR NOTE?
Thank you very much for this interview and
for your interest in Zion. We wish you all the best luck for you personally
and for “Behind the Veil”. Our email for contact is: [email protected]
and our website at the moment is the same with Crossover’s: www.thecrossover.net
Be prepared for the full-album release… and we hope to see you all soon
in our next live shows with Crossover. Keep the Black Flame alive! Vomit
the cocksuckin’ Holy Mother!!!
Christine Parastatidou
|