LYFTHRASYR - Aggreash

Black / Death metallers Lyfthrasyr, are a new, upcoming band from Germany. Recently they released their second full length album called "The Recent Foresight". The vocalist and bass player of the band, Aggreash talked to Metalzone.gr and Vasilis Mazaris for everything concerning Lyfthrasyr. Just scroll down your mouse and enjoy this interview!  \r\n

\r\nMetalzone: Hello there! This is Vassilis of Metalzone.gr. It’s my pleasure to support new bands and especially bands with talent! So, let’s start this interview with a small bio of Lyfthrasyr in order to inform the Greek readers about this band!
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\r\nAggreash: Hi Vassilis, thanks a lot for this interview request! Lyfthrasyr was born in 2002 when I recorded some songs by myself to find good and motivated musicians for playing live. It took some time, but these were finally found in Insorior (guitars) and Mathar (drums) back in 2004. From this moment, things started pretty quickly: Our first concerts in 2004, the first album "The Final Resurrection" and a record-deal with German label twilight-Vertrieb in 2005, a nice festival season in 2006 and the second album "The Recent Foresight" as well as the first European tour with Kataklysm, Behemoth and Aborted in 2007. Currently, Lyfthrasyr consists of three members: Insorior (guitars), Skytorian (drums) and me on bass, keyboards and vocals. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: On November 30th your new album has been released via Twilight Vertrieb. What’s the response so far? Maybe it’s too early to say something like that, but are you happy with the result?
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\r\nAggreash: We’re definitely very pleased with the sound on "The Recent Foresight" regarding songs and production. The press and promotion reactions have also been very good and we’re satisfied with these as well. But up to now, we can’t tell anything about the selling success and the responses from the none-promotional listeners themselves, since we don’t know anything about statistics so far. Fortunately, tendencies show that we improved a lot comparing to the debut "The Final Resurrection", but you never know without any numbers.  \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: "Recent Foresight" is mixed by Fredrik Nordstrom and mastered by Bjorn Engelmann. These guys are very popular in the Metal scene and of course they are very busy... How was your co-operation? I mean, how easy is for them to co-operate with a new band? Is there anything that you would like to be different?
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\r\nAggreash: It was a really good cooperation. In both studios we were treated like people who know what they want and I guess we are, since we self-produced the debut "The Final Resurrection" completely - except the mastering. We were even allowed to use Fredrik Nordström’s equipment in the evenings to finish some tracks we weren’t able to finish before entering the studio. That’s absolutely nothing to be taken for granted and we highly appreciated it! So, they seem to be also pretty experienced in working with new bands and I think, most of the new bands aren’t so different in their behaviour and knowledge compared to the big and well-known bands. The things we’d like to be different are really small and more into the details. There are always some aspects you’re not completely satisfied with, otherwise you would have nothing to improve next time. But we wouldn’t like to have anything changed of the production features.
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\r\nMetalzone: Are there any differences between the debut album and this one? To be honest, I think that this album is more into Death Metal than The Final Resurrection. \r\n

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\r\nAggreash: That’s true, but we extended our influences in general, I’d say: Melodic black metal with a proper death metal edge and a classical but also electronically inspired keyboard. We’re pretty proud of this mixture and will try to become even more innovative and independent with the next release. But the step from the debut "The Final Resurrection" to "The Recent Foresight" has been pretty big either and we definitely made it in the right direction: The death metal influences make the songs sounding very modern, the keyboards are used a little less but fit much better in the arrangement this way and finally the sound of Studio Fredman is as aggressive and also modern as a sound could be! \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: I saw that you describe your music as "A new generation of Black Metal". You think that Lyfthrasyr is a band which is away from the typical style of the extreme music and they have create something different? \r\n

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\r\nAggreash: Well, a first question could be: Is there anything you can do really different nowadays? There are so many bands creating good and also very interesting music, but nearly everything could be heared anywhere else earlier. Of course, we try to create something new and different, but there are still some steps to go on which we’re working currently. "The Recent Foresight" was a big step forward comparing it to "The Final Resurrection", which wasn’t bad either, but less interesting and independent. Let’s see how big the step will be from "The Recent Foresight" to our next album.  \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: Could you please tell us the main influences of the band? How would you describe the music in the Recent Foresight?
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\r\nAggreash: Formerly, there have been pretty big influences by Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, but my personal taste changed a little in the meantime and now on "The Recent Foresight" there are more influences of bands like Rammstein, movie soundtracks or even Machine Head. Especially Rammstein had an extensive effect for the new songs with their staccato riffing, the electronical and often very experimental keyboards as well as arrangements getting straight to the point. This could also be a pretty good description for "The Recent Foresight" extended by dominant and weird drumming, versatile extreme vocals and many piano parts.
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell us a few things about the lyrics. Is it an important part for the band?
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\r\nAggreash: There is a common base for all the lyrics on "The Recent Foresight". It’s all about the weakness of human character nowadays and also in former times. Many people say, that current problems like beeing power-obsessed as one extremum or apathetic as the other are based upon our conditions nowadays. I don’t think so. Many of our "current" problems appeared pretty similarly some time ago, resulting from human vices and negative characters. So, the message is to find a moderate way through these two extreme positions of self-overestimation and dissipation or rather irresponsibility and apathy. With everyone working hard on himself, many problems could be solved without any search for a specific solution. \r\n

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\r\nThe lyrics’ importance increased from the last album to "The Recent Foresight". I spent a lot of time to write them and included some interesting material, but I still prefer writing and performing music compared to writing about thoughts. So yes, they do play an important role, but the music is still more important for me. In every song I compose, first the music gets finished, then the lyrics are written and will be fitted into the song structure.
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\r\nMetalzone: Which are your expectations concerning the new album and the band in general? \r\n

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\r\nAggreash: We don’t expect too much but have some dreams and some of them already went true when we were able to play a - from our point of view - pretty big tour with Behemoth, Kataklysm and Aborted in fall 2007 and made a professional production with "The Recent Foresight" involving some really famous metal studio guys with Fredrik Nordström and Björn Engelmann. We expect to become a little more well-known with this. \r\n

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\r\nFinally, we want to participate in some of the big metal festivals like Wacken or Graspop as a last big dream - not expectation. And if that’s not possible with the new album, it may be with the next. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: Is there a tour or something? As it is known, you were on tour with Kataklysm, Behemoth and Aborted. Is there something special to mention about this tour? \r\n

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\r\nAggreash: The tour with Kataklysm, Behemoth and Aborted was a great experience and a substantial progress for the band and ourselves. Many venues were sold-out and we had a fantastic time with the other band members, the tour organizers and many people we met in all the countries we travelled to. We realized very much, that this is what it’s all about: Having fun instead of trying to force success without any easy-going. The concerts and the crowd were great and the time beside the stage was almost as good as on stage. It was definitely not the last tour for us, but unfortunately, we didn’t get a good offer for another tour in the first half of 2008. Currently, we’re checking offers for fall/winter 2008 and I’m pretty sure, that this will work out. \r\n

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\r\nThanks for this interview. Take your time to have a listen to "The Recent Foresight" and we’ll do our best to perform in Greece one day! \r\n

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\r\nVasilis Mazaris \r\n

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