Rockezine.com interview with Shining Fury on Feb 06, 2004

with Alessandro on Feb 06, 2004

The newcomer Italian power metal act, Shining Fury, got basically signed out of the blue by Metal Blade and have finally released their debut album, Last Sunrise. More than enough reason to have a talk with bassist Alessandro to find out more about this newest Italian offering.
		Because Last Sunrise is your debut album can you tell us what we can expect to hear? Well, I think I have to say you should expect a power metal album, but it`s not that simple. Yes, maybe the less trained ears will only hear power metal, but I hope with some more spins in the cd-player one will catch the many shades that there are on this album. I like, for example, the malicious bluesy touch of “Snake`s Game”, the ‘new metal’ strut of “Declaration Of A Cheat” or the thrashy way we play “Net Love”. In the end I think we realized an honest metal album, nothing new of course (WHO is new since 1982?), but we did our best to make good, bone-crushing songs.
		Shining Fury was founded pretty recently and you already have been signed to Metal Blade. First of all I would like to know a bit more about the background of the band and second, in what way did you convince Metal Blade you were the right band for them? All the members of Shining Fury have a lot of experience; we played in many bands here in Italy. Ross is the most popular (the oldest too, haha), he played in Death SS, in Labyrinth and Athena. He is the greatest metal head in the band! I played (and still play) in a prog band called Nightmarish and in a Led Zeppelin cover band, Tommy plays with me in Nightmarish (he is a great metal head too), Francesco sang in Athena and in a Deep Purple cover band. As you can see we are very different from another and it was not simple (even if metal is our first influence) to put together all our ideas the first few times we played in Shining Fury! But in the end I think we built a pretty decent sound. After we played together for a while we decided to record a promo CD and send it to some labels... after a while we received some answers, but Metal Blade did the best offer! At first we couldn`t believe it, then the contact between us and the label grew day by day and in the end we met to decide the best solution and to plan the whole work. We`re very happy and proud to have their attention!
		What bands have influenced your style the most, and what exactly sets Shining Fury apart from other bands in the scene? It`s very difficult to choose a single band as influence! We`re so different from another...I told you, even if metal is obviously our first influence. I like blues, soul and rock, Francesco loves funk and prog, Ross is an incredible metal head... It`s a very difficult question! Of course we pay great tribute to Iron Maiden, Helloween, Metallica and all the other masters of metal, but I think that`s a normal thing in this genre!
		When I listened to Last Sunrise I found the production rather old fashioned. Did you choose this sound intentionally, or was it a choice made by the producer? I don`t like the new productions of metal bands; I don`t like the perfect and aseptic sound that everybody wants! In my opinion nowadays, many bands have a similar sound and it`s sometimes very difficult to understand what band you`re listening to. We wanted a warmer sound, something more ‘rock and roll’... not an old fashioned production, but something closer to the feelings of the listener.
I don`t like the new productions of metal bands; I don`t like the perfect and aseptic sound that everybody wants!		In Italy power metal seems to be rather popular and time and time again new Italian power metal acts appear. What bands are in your opinion the most successful, and aren’t you afraid the market is getting too saturated? You`re right, here in Italy there are a lot of power metal bands! I think the most important ones are Labyrinth (the first two albums) and Rhapsody (the first album). Thanks to them Italian metal that had been in the underground for many years, has been discovered, and many bands reached a broader audience! I`m not afraid of that competition, if something is good sooner or later it will be appreciated. I hope so for Shining Fury too, haha!
		The name Shining Fury already hints at the type of music you play; how did you guys come up with the name and does it have a deeper meaning? Well, the name was born on a night when we were drinking in a pub. We needed a name and began a little discussion (kind of brain storming) about it: Shining Fury was the best result! (You can imagine what stupid names we created!!!)
		Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to read the lyrics of Last Sunrise. Is there a concept? And what are the lyrics about in general? No, there`s no concept behind our lyrics. They`re about everyday life, things that happen in the world and society, for example “Last Sunrise” is about a jetfighter pilot who drops bombs on innocent people (a very current theme today),”Net Love” is about internet relationships and “06050” is about women... No fantasy themes with knights, swords and dragons...
		Power metal and Fantasy go hand in hand and I sometimes wonder why bands can’t come up with something more original. Even a band like Rhapsody seems to have problems with cliché lyrics. What is your opinion on this topic and how does Shining Fury fit in? I think that if a musician could write a great fantasy concept he should be a writer, haha! I`m not a great fan of fantasy books (except the whole Tolkien series) but I guess that even in this genre the themes are limited! Sadly (as for all the subgenres) fantasy is a restricted ‘area’ and some new different elements like science fiction, which could be a new outlet, could estrange the story from the fantasy category. (Wow! I could be a literary critic haha!!!)
		What will we hear from Shining Fury in the future, and are you guys already working on your second album? Well, nothing is planned yet, but we hope to do a lot of gigs all over Europe and meet all the fans! We`re working on the second album and I think it could be very interesting! We hope to release it as soon as possible!
		Thanks a lot for this interview and I wish you all the luck with the release of Last Sunrise! Is there anything I forgot to ask? Thanks to you Frank, for the opportunity you gave us! I would like to thank all the people who bought the album and send us messages on our website http://www.shiningfury.com! Thank you very much guys!
		(Frank van de Voorde)