«Dette er svært tett opp til noe som kunne ha vært utgitt på slutten av 80-tallet, hvor amerikansk metal var i skuddet og hvor band som Lizzy Borden og andre regjerte. Athrox ligger litt her, litt Crimson Glory, litt Maiden, litt klassisk greie om du skjønner.» Dette er sakset fra anmeldelsen min av bandets siste utgivelse, og vi snakker altså om klassisk metal. jeg fikk fatt i bandet for en god tid siden, men av uante grunner ble intervjuet sendt men ikke oppdaget, derfor litt sent – men bedre sent enn alltid :).

Bandbilde. fotograf: Ukjent

I really like your kind of metal, it wasn’t all retro-like and political correctness, it in fact mirrored the metalscene as it was back then. What kind of inspirations do you have?

«Hi to all readers! We take inspiration from the classic 80’ heavy metal bands in which we add the aggressive sound of thrash metal. We try to make our music yet recognizable to the listener.»

And age wise? Are you young dudes? You don’t look very old ;), so I guess you didn’t discover metal in the golden age? 

«Our band embraces different ages, from 31 of Lobo (bass) to 21 of Frank (rhythm guitar). We have so different kind of inspiration and style which you can find in Are You Alive?«

What I usually feel is that Italian bands are plenty, and the real good bands are few. You’re one of the few :). Do you share my attitude towards the italian scene? I do get a lot of music from your country, but it is far between the real good releases.

«Thanks a lot! We think there are many valid bands in our country, unfortunately they are not advertised properly and the Italian music culture doesn’t help us! There are a lot of prejudices to the Italian metal but we don’t believe this.»

I did ask you about musical inspiration, what kind of bands do reviewers and fans usually mention when trying to pinpoint Athrox?

«When we receive reviews they say we are near to Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Artillery, Flotsam & Jetsam, Helloween… Someone says we are Heavy, other says we are thrash, power or prog! Who will be right?»

Doesn’t matter, great music is great music :).

Les min anmeldelse HER
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I red you use thrash elements in your music, I do hear it, but I didn’t necessary get it until I picked it up. What thrash bands do you like, and how important is the thrash movement for you as a band? 

«The instrumental composition and the sounds are of thrash inspiration, but our singer is classic heavy metal. This allow us to embrace heavy metal fans from thrash to classic heavy. Our thrash inspiration are Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Pantera and many others.»

The album was a treat for an oldie like myself, with both great vocals and strong songs. Do the songs come easy? Jamming together, building music with passion and heart? Or is it a matter of hard work, trail and error, several versions and ideas before the final result is captured?

«Thank you, we believe that the voice of Ian is perfect for our sound. We write songs from the heart, we try to write our emotions in music so we don’t write for show our music talent or impossible techniques, we search the perfect sound for all the songs although it takes several time.»

What kind of lyrical fundament do you have? If any? What message do Athrox have? 

«Are You Alive? is a concept album that deals problems that afflict humanity: the war, in which children suffer the greatest consequences; the advent of new mass media, which have enslave every free thoughts; the indifference of people and, when they will face the last judgement, will not count what we’ve gained in monetary terms, but what we’ve done in our lives. The album invites you to enjoy what nature and life give us before it’s too late Are You Alive? is just that, a rhetorical question that we send to people, all people slave of this corrupt society.»

The cover, I don’t know, I felt it was a tad amateurish, sorry for being honest. But that aside, what does it tell us? The title, Are You Alive?, the image of the city street?

«It was made by the talented artist Francesca Osaki who made all of our graphics. The result achieved is just what we expected, because we want to represent the decadence of the modern society and the standardization of people which no longer have the free though and they follow what media says. This is the essence of the title and the cover.»

How did you meet? The members? Were you friends from a long time, or did you meet up through an add or some search mission in order to start a band?

«The lead guitar Syro and the drummer Aroon played together since 2008 with other projects, as the vocalist Ian and the bass Lobo. The band was born from an idea of Syro and Aroon, then joins the band Frank, Lobo and Ian. We became friends in a short time, the band is not just music but much more.»

Red Cat, how come you got a deal with Alice and this label? 

«We met Alice through a competition in which we participated. We have proposed our work and she loved it, so did this collaboration.»

Is it the usual story, despite being on a label, that the band probably will make no money, rather face a loss? Or is Athrox a fortunate bunch being able to secure som cash from metalizing?

«We are not among the lucky ones. Having a band that has ambitions is very expensive and not sure we sail in gold. But we will give it all to draw out our music.»

Almost at the end, and I nearly forgot to ask about the band name. We have a great and strange band here in Norway, named Atrox, but what do AtHrox mean?

«We think that the name of the band must be unique so who want to search Athrox, it must find us! The origin of the name is a compromise of our lyrics meaning and our music style.»

Thanks a lot for stopping by and promoting your stuff here at Heavymetal.no. If you have any last words, heres your opportunity to get it all out 🙂 Links, cry for help, credit to someone important to the band etc.

«We thank you for the space you have granted us. Hopefully it will be another step to know and appreciate our music across borders. We will record our second video soon, while in the meantime you can watch our first single End of Days. If you want you can also visit our Facebook page

 to stay informed about upcoming news.»