Domain
with Axel Ritt on Feb 28, 2005


You are in the business for quite some time now. How do you think the (melodic) metal scene has changed during the last couple of years?
I think it´s getting better! The last decade was horrible, the Grunge-hype was that ridiculous, I can’t explain. The only problem today is that most of the new bands don´t spend too much time on extending their technical abilities, but trust in studio technique. This means that their productions are very “big”, but if you give them only an acoustic guitar, they´re not able to entertain you.

What is the biggest difference between Domain 1987-1992 and Domain 2001-2004? Will the fans of the first hour be pleased with your latest release?
Yes, I think they will. The typical trademarks are still alive in our music, but the band became straighter, harder and better than ever. The first reactions are very encouraging, critics and fans are much more into this album than I could ever have expected.

You’ve released four albums since 2001, which means one album every year! One simple question: How do you do it?
Well, even if it sounds exaggerated, but I´m working about 90 hours a week, so there´s a lot of time to write, arrange and produce new songs. Some people call me a workoholic, but for me, it´s my natural way of living. Learn as much as you can and always look for the next challenge in life.


Could you give some insight in the writing process? What does the writing of a song start with? Did you concider the concept as a blessing or a curse during the writing process?
Our singer Carsten came up with the idea of a concept album 2 years ago. At first, I wasn’t a big fan of the idea of a concept album, because in my view, most of the concept albums I´ve heard, always have songs on the albums, that are really boring, because they only make sense within the story, but not as a single song. But we managed to have a look at the songs as a single entity, so the idea was born.
It was the first time in my life that I was confronted with the challenge of composing the score for a complete story. First of all, I knew that for such a concept, you have to take care of both sides of the story. On the one hand, the composer has to be able to reach new musical horizons, while combining the single chapters by working with new arrangements and new harmonic constructions within the song structures. On the other hand, I wanted to have songs, where every song has to stand out and "work" on its own and not only together with the other chapters of the story.
Secondly, I had the chance of making a long time secret wish come true. For many years, I wanted to raise the harmonic possibilities of a classical five piece metal band to a new level. When our singer Carsten came up with the concept of Last Days Of Utopia, I saw the chance of optimising this intention by arranging symphonic elements added to the typical Domain tunes.
The musical potential blew me away! It was incredible how many variations of styles, sounds, frequencies and dynamics these symphonic sounds are able to realize. It was heaven and hell at the same time. Everytime I felt satisfied with the result of a string ensemble, for example, the next day I had more and (in my opinion) better suggestions, and I started to arrange it all over again. So, 3 months of hard work, only to arrange the symphonic parts of the record.
All in all, it almost took one year from the first thoughts of the project until the last note had been recorded and mixed. Lots of discussions, lots of planning and tens of thousands of notes later the deed was done, and to be honest, I´m very proud of the result ;-) The only wish I have is that the listener will have similar or maybe even the same emotions and feelings while listening to this record as we had while we were creating it.

Which of the tracks took most time writing and recording?
“On Stormy Seas” (read the explanation above)

What are your expectations of the album?
To show the fans that a band can raise their creativity up to a new level, without losing their roots.


What is the biggest compliment you read concerning your latest album and what is the biggest bullocks?
Biggest compliment: 10 out of 10 points (without any words in the review!)
Biggest bullocks: “Too much low-mid range frequencies in the mastering”

What are your personal favorites on the album and of course why?
 This is “On Stormy Seas”. To get a storm to sound like a storm is not as easy as it may seem. "Thunder And Lighting"-stuff is like bread and butter for a Metal band, it’s very easy to wave the banner of the drummer`s double bass, but to let a storm grow, maybe in the night, starting with a light wind, tiny little raindrops on your window, let it grow slowly, becoming bigger and fiercer, into an all-destroying hurricane, smashing the ship and forcing people to fight for their lives, to get these emotions into a song, that was a great challenge for me. The arrangements became the most difficult ones, likewise it’s the longest song I’ve ever written for Domain. It’s almost Progressive Rock, but I thought this would be the only way to let this chapter sound as it had to.

I like the sound of the album, a lot. Who was responsible for the production?
 I was. I´ve produced the previous 4 albums as well ;-) Never change a running system ;-)

  Looking at your discography I noticed that the cover of the new album is quite different from al the previous album. Who disigned the cover of Last Days Of Utopia?
It shows the fourth chapter of our story, when our hero saw the golden city for the very first time. It´s a painting from Jason Juta in England, that he painted exclusively for our cover.


Last Days Of Utopia is the first release on Limb Music. Why did you chose this label to release the album? (and why did you leave Point Music)
Because of the advancement of our style into Symphonic-Epic-Metal, LMP was our first choice. We had seven offers from different companies, but based on the experiences with Rhapsody, we thought LMP would be the best solution for our career.

I read on your website that you are planning a European tour in April/May with Mob Rules. Are there any dates you can arleady confirm? Will I be able to see you guys rock The Netherlands?
Unfortunately not the Netherlands, but we will do the following shows:
Oldenburg/Germany - April 29th 2005 - "Charly`s"
Verviers/Belgium - April 30th 2005 - "Spirit of 66"
Aalen/Germany - May 1st 2005 - "Rock It"
Munich/Germany - May 2nd 2005 - "Garage"
Frankfurt/Germany - May 3rd 2005 - "Sinkkasten"
Heidelberg/Germany - May 4th 2005 - "Schwimmbad Music Club"
Eloyes/France - May 5th 2005 - "Espace Culturell"
Pratteln/Switzerland - May 6th 2005 - "Z7"
Wetzikon/Switzerland - May 7th 2005 - "Kulturfabrik"
Bremen/Germany - May 21st 2005 - "Tivoli/Aladin"

Looking at your private cd collection, which album makes you blush in shame?
 Cinderella – “Night Songs”. Those were the Eighties my friend ;-), but to be honest, their second album was pretty good.

  Anything else you’d like to share?
We will do our best to entertain you! Keep the metal alive!
Axel “Ironfinger” Ritt

(Geert Oldenmenger)

© Rockezine.com Feb 28, 2005, viewed 653 times since 666
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