Art Of Disorder imponerte meg med sin progressive metal, der jeg bestemte meg for å sjekke litt rundt bandet. Jeg fikk tak i gitarist Zoltán, hiv deg på og bli kjent med en nytt band. Albumet ‘Awakening Of The Prophet’ kom ut for litt tilbake, og er et konseptalbum.

Welcome to Heavymetal.no, life’s good?

«Yes! Our first album has been released, and it received very positive feedback both in Hungary and abroad, so we’re rehearsing regularly and have started writing new songs. We’re also looking for opportunities to perform live.»

Art Of Disorder@Facebook

Art Of Disorder, the name, what is the idea behind this? Just a cool name, or something more profound?

«We had serious difficulties choosing a name — we definitely wanted something that would reflect the band well, as well as our lyrics (which always tell stories about real-life issues). Fortunately, the world we live in today gave us plenty of inspiration.»

Six years ish from the band started out to the debut album. I read you had some issues filling the drum throne, was this the main reason?

«The recordings weren’t complicated because of lineup changes, but — like with many other bands — primarily due to the financial aspect, and secondly because of our vision and how we wanted the songs to sound. We weren’t exactly easy to work with, since we had a very clear idea of how we wanted the songs to come across — the atmosphere, the sound, everything.

Once the guitar/bass/vocals combo was solid, we had to write drums, effects, and other elements to fit each track. That took time and effort, and it was a slow process to shape everything into a cohesive sound.»

Metalscene in Hungary

The metal scene in Hungary, what is it like? I can’t say I get too many requests or albums from your country, but perhaps it is a vital and strong local/national scene?

«Hungary has its share of solid metal bands, no doubt — even if only a few have broken through internationally. One of our missions is to change that. We want to carve out our place and drag Hungary onto the global metal map, where it belongs.»

And other Hungarian bands we need to know about?

«If I had to name other Hungarian bands, I’d definitely mention Stardust and Special Providence — both are great examples of successful acts coming out of Hungary.»

Concept album

Concept album, but I didn’t get what the concept was about. Would you be so kind to tell us the fast-food version?

«The story is about a scientist who discovers an approaching asteroid that’s on a collision course with Earth. He reports it to the proper authorities, but the leadership decides to keep it a secret, informing only a selected ‘elite’ circle about the impending end.

This privileged group, having prepared in secret, escapes the planet, leaving most of humanity behind to face destruction. As a reward, they take the scientist with them to a colony on a distant planet. However, over time he begins to realize that many more people could have been saved, but selfishness once again triumphed. When he speaks up and voices his doubts, he’s silenced and condemned. meanwhile, he can’t come to terms with his own conscience and slowly begins to lose his mind. The twist: in the end, he destroys everything. The deeper message is what truly matters — and we believe that if you reflect on it, it becomes clear. But we felt we had to wrap it in a certain narrative setting; we didn’t want to express it too directly.»

And why a concept album? And is this something that always was the plan?

«The core theme and storyline came together fairly quickly — we wanted to hide the very real problems surrounding all of us behind a kind of futuristic narrative. Musically, we aimed to reinforce that concept and build the right atmosphere to match this dystopian tale.»

Les anmeldelsen/read the review HER.

Production and musical inspiration

The production is smooth and at the same time it’s decent hard edged. What kind of inspirations do you have regarding sound? Any reference albums used during the recording process?

«Of course, we listened to albums by our favorite bands to see what they did and how they balanced things — we used multiple references. For example, when dialing in the high–low frequency balance, at one point we looked at Dream Theater’s latest record. But we didn’t stick to any one specific album. In the end, we decided to just squeeze the maximum out of what we had — and in the process, we learned a lot, mostly from our own mistakes.»

Musical inspiration, what bands and artists are the foundation on why you sound the way you do?

«Since we all came from different musical backgrounds, we started playing together without really knowing each other. Everyone had their own idea of what kind of music they wanted to create.

Attila (vocals) is into melodic rock songs, Bence (drums) prefers heavier, more technical stuff, and Tamás (bass) came from a classical music background.2

What surprised us was that even during the first rehearsals, a shared sound started to emerge — one that worked for all of us musically. We’ve stuck to that ever since, because it just clicked.»

Living in Hungary

What is it like to live in Hungary? I know the country has had a democratically backslide the recent years, anything affecting you as individuals or musicians? Are there limitations on what you can do, say, promote with the band? Or is it a free country for you to live your life 100%?

«Life around us has been, for a long time, something between strange, sad, and shameful. The decline of democracy affects everyone — not just in music, but across the board.

The world has taken a dark turn, and our lyrics reflect that, though in a more subtle way. In a country where the music industry basically doesn’t exist, and where the present feels like a distorted echo of the past, there are no real limits — because nothing is truly regulated. Friends can do whatever they want, even musically.

The internet has been a huge help for us in this regard — our music has reached places we never could’ve imagined, and no one can censor that.

Here at home, we’re just trying to make our voice heard in the middle of nothing.»

Live

Do you play a lot of gigs, and is it easy to get gigs within Hungary? And have you done any gigs abroad? Your music is of high quality, so it isn’t hard to picture Art of Disorder on an international stage, perhaps on a progressive festival.

«We haven’t played live yet — putting the album together was our main focus until now.
At the moment, we’re rehearsing a lot, and we’re planning to start playing shows in the fall. We’re happy to play anywhere we can bring our music to a live audience. A gig abroad would be a dream come true for all of us.

We have a feeling Norway would really like us :).»

What do you know about Norway, music and otherwise? Any favourite bands?

«I still listen to TNT to this day — Tony Harnell and Ronni Le Tekrø are huge favorites of mine.

Bence is really into the Mayhem–Burzum–Darkthrone scene, while one of Attila’s favorite vocalists and biggest inspirations is Roy Khan. As we all know, Norway and the rest of Northern Europe are hotbeds for this kind of music.

None of us have been there yet (except Attila, who’s been to Sweden twice), but we’d love to learn more about the culture and the region.»

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions, good luck with Art of Disorder! And any final words, links to the band, merch, hate , love, here is a great place to leave whatever :):

«Thank you so much for the opportunity — we truly hope we’ll get the chance to work together again in some form.Our merch is available online via Bandcamp, and for anyone interested in updates or news, follow us on Facebook and YouTube.

And if there’s a Norwegian promoter out there who thinks our music could light up the stage — don’t hesitate to reach out to us! :)»