Rockezine.com interview with Ephel Duath on Sep 30, 2003

with Davide Tiso on Sep 30, 2003

One of today’s most interesting and creative bands must be Ephel Duath from Italy. Their blend of extreme metal and jazz is refreshing and intelligent. Check out the intriguing words of band leader Davide Tiso.
		Please introduce Ephel Duath to our readers Ephel Duath started as a duo (Giuliano, vocals, guitar and synths and me, Davide, guitar) in 1998, in the same year we published our only demo called Opera, musically influenced by the black metal of the Scandinavian scene (Emperor, Limbonic Art). The demo brought us to the attention of the newly founded Italian label Code666, that directed us to record our debut album Phormula, released in the summer of 2000. The album, in comparison to the demo is an enormous step forward, especially in improving our technical abilities.
		Just in that promising moment, Giuliano decides to quit music, putting Ephel Duath`s career at risk, but thanks to the code7 agency (a branch of Code666)we closed a deal with Elitist Earache. In 2001 they re-release Phormula in a new version called Rephormula with the addition of two crazy electro-noise remixes and three compositions from our demo, and now we are back with a new line up and a brand new album: The Painter`s Palette.
		A question you have probably been asked many times. What does the band name mean? Ephel Duath means "mountains of shadow" and is taken from Tolkien`s mythology.
		You`re from Italy, better known for its traditional metal, than for adventurous jazz/metal. Is there a scene in Italy for Ephel Duath`s music? The Italian extreme metal scene is really various and this could be considered the trademark of our bands. There isn`t a strong concentration but instead a larger spectrum of different musical inputs, so, for this reason, I think that this describes Ephel Duath`s background best. I suggest the work of the following bands:
		Void Of Silence (on Code666), apocalyptical noise ambient doom, with a incredible deep and negative attitude. Now featuring the vocalist of Primordial. Aborym (on Code666), alien industrial black metal, really disturbing and evil, featuring the great Attila from Tormentor. Klimt 1918 (on My Kingdom Music from Italy), a dark, new wave band with a very melancholic attitude. Natron (on Holy Records from France) and Undertakes(Nocturnal Music from Italy), two different perspectives on brutal death, GF93 (on Copro from UK) and Mothercare (Urlo Music from Italy) for a personal and catchy vision on new metal. Zu (I don`t remember the label), an incredible crazy jazz grind trio (bass, drum and sax) in the vain of Naked City, produced by Steve Albini.
		How would you explain your music? Simple, I don`t want to explain it...My music does not have a particular message, but is "only" a pure transposition of who I am: a person full of contrasts, with a lot of different negative sides, bizarre, nervous and cynical.
		You have a more literal approach to jazz than bands like Dillinger Escape Plan. Less grinding more clean. Do you have more of a jazz background than a metal back ground? As the main composer of the band I can tell you that my background is metal all the way, I have to admit that I`m not into jazz. I usually don`t listen to anything from this genre and the jazz influences present in my work are without doubt something unconscious, emphasized by our talented and versatile rythme section. Our drummer, Davide Piovesan is a 48 year old jazz/prog/blues musician, the bass player, Fabio Fecchio has a funk/pop/fusion background, our screamer Lucio Lorusso George has a typical hardcore approach and Davide Tolomei, the clean vocalist, has a rock, grunge, stoner and avantgarde background. So, The Painter`s Palette is an ambitious work composed by five different personalities, who have worked together with the largest cohesion possible yet still maintaining their musical peculiarity.
		The title of your latest album, The Painters Palette hits the mark. You use all these tonal colors and influences to create your work of art. Is Ephel Duath just a band or do you venture into other art forms as well? The Painter`s Palette tries to be a sublimation of the free interpretations and colours that are, in my opinion, a perfect way to symbolize this desire: have you ever noticed how many various and curious effects the view on the same colour has on different sensibilities? During the compositions, I have fused our music with pigments and, to fully expose myself, I translated it into the titles, but not to guide you: this is the reason for the white & black artwork. So, nine rays of the colour that you are searching for in our composition, try to hit you, as you absorb them with the largest perception possible, and you will completely sense our work.
		So, I chose these colours in combination with the songs following my senses, and not with a rational search. In my lyrics you can find terms from the visual art and paintings that have been used to create a closer connection with the concept around The Painter`s Palette. A lot of the images that are present in my words are fused with an artistic attitude that better defines my personality, but it can also be cosidered as sort of a tribute to the mysterious being of the painter.
		How important are your lyrics? What I mean is with a sound so full of things happening you kinda lose focus on the lyrics. Do they play a big part in the Ephel Duath concept? The words that live in the minds of the band have to be considered fundamental to enter into Ephel Duath`s dimension. My lyrics contain a lot of negative inputs captured by my personal life and filtered through images that I try to make poetic to open them to all possible interpretations and to bring the reader in a more active position. I give you some examples: in "The Other`s Touch", in order to express a sense of emptiness, I write: "View is overturning to this internal abyss when my witherd leaves are burning and mirrors have nothing to reflect". In "Ironical Communion" I try to express the will to use irony as an escape from my paranoic and circular thoughts, I write: "Grow to a physical essence and heavily walk on this leaving mosaic called pain/ I can hear the breath of every dowel: my demon`s are waiting."
		Sometimes the images used are also very direct and cutting, for example in "Ruins" in order to express the difficulties that I face being in contact with a lot of people or the sudden sense of fury that guides my mind in determinated moments of pain I write: "And in poor seconds the filthy figures surronding became obstacles (....) Intoxicated eyes, madly, are searching for the obscure calm, but the partial blindess doesn`t relieve and viscid words are shoves to the fury: my hostile guide". My lyrics have a strong lenitive power on me, permitting myself to better understand some aspects of my ego, and sometimes it works...
		Music to you doesn`t seem to have any limits. In that sense you are not making it easy for your audience. Kinda makes me think that Ephel Duath fans are die hard fans? Yes, a typical Ephel Duath fan could probably be considered a sort of die-hard follower. One of the most interesting factors is to notice the artistic taste of the fan growing with the band`s music, in this way they are prepared for every choice the band makes, without any sort of limit or restriction. Their expectations can be considered more sophisticated and open minded.
		What struck me in your sound is that you manage to make something complex sound almost catchy with strong melodies. Is this a must for Ephel Duath or does it happen naturally? The complex structures of the songs, the frequent change of atmosphere and tempo but also the strong and melancholic melodies are typical for our sound and it is a sort of trademark that the band has had since the beginning. On our albums you`ll find a lot of musical input that can`t be perceived with a single listening, that need a very concentrated state of mind to be captured. Also, for this reason our work will continue to live with the passing of time. I want to underline that we don`t want to shock anyone with complex or articulated passages, they are born this way, I`m only trying to express myself following my instinct and my spontaneity. I`m probably not able to compose simple music, but I have to admit that with the experience I`ve understood that it`s better to "remove" than "insert" and at the moment I`m trying to offer my band a more essential attitude.
		At the beginning of our career our songs were really full of thousands of notes that were probably creating too many levels to listen to. Now I`m a little bit more direct, focusing my attention on less but effective arrangements, and for the next album I`m working to emphasize this, but always with Ephel Duath`s parameters in mind! We want to maintain one of the most important characteristics of our sound: the sense of the controlled chaos we create.
		Song writing seems to be an innovative proces for Ephel Duath. How does it work for the band? Jams? Improvisations? Our songs are born from my guitar lines that constitute a sort of architectural skeleton, in a second phase I jam with the rhytmic section, trying to find the right and personal support. So, for the first approach to the songs we work as a trio, after this we insert the vocals. The last dowel are the electro-noise contributions from our producer Paso and, eventually, other instruments (the trumpets for example). So, I have to admit that an Ephel Duath composition takes a lot of time and discussions! One of the most important things for such a complex musical attitude are the arrangements, that we try to study in every detail to fuse togheter the numerous riffs that are present in our songs. These are rich of sudden changes in direction, different atmospheres and tempo. We have to work hard not to create the effect of a collage of different ideas, but instead offer a well balanced composition with various moods.
		What are your ambitions as a band? Our ambitions are to continue to offer competitive studio work and to become a good live band with a frequent possibility to play in different countries.
		In many reviews and on the website of your record company the term black metal is used frequently. I personally don`t think the black metal influences, especially on your last album play such a big role in your sound.
		Are you growing away from the extreme metal more and more? Black Metal is a genre that we have musically touched in our past (I`m talking about our demo Opera, and our first album Phormula on Code666 and re-released by Elitist/Earache under the name Rephormula). During the writing of The Painter`s Palette I was searching for a more violent and sophisticated approach. For the new album I will continue this objective: but I can`t say that we are growing away from extreme metal.
		What or who influenced you? The changing of my life. The new album is infact a deeply and painful inner search that I`ve tried to develop through music and words.
		Any bands we should check out, according to you? I suggest you listen to Manes, Cult of Luna, Zu, Void Of Silence and the upcoming albums of Radiation4 and Necrophagist!
		Any tour plans for the near future? At the moment there isn`t a tour planned, but there is a good possibility we will play around Europe during this autumn and winter. We are currently playing here in Italy supporting important bands like Entombed or Lacuna Coil. The 24th of June we played at the Upstairs @ The Garage in London with Mistress and Desolation and the 5th of July we took part in the Quart Festival in Norway with bands like Massive Attack, Queens of The Stone Age, Red Harvest, Cult Of Luna and many others, and the 8th of August we`ve played at the "Brutal Assault Festival" in Czech Republic featuring Malevolent Creation, Hollentron, Necrophagist, Novembre and so on. Really incredible experiences!!
		Famous last words... Thanks a lot for the support, for other information or to download videos and music visit www.ephelduath.net
(Marc Lochs)