ADIMIRON: THE METALSUCKS INTERVIEW
This past January, at the suggestion of Axl and Vinnie, we MS staffers did a little foraging for some promising upcoming metal releases in 2012, and in my travels I stumbled across a swingin’ Italian band by the name of Adimiron. I did a little write up for their most recent release, K2, and a few days later I was talking to their management. It always does my heart good to give a little plug to a hardworking band, especially one I think a lot of people will dig. I recently asked bassist Maurizio Villeato and guitarist Alessandro Castelli some questions about their new release, their upcoming tour with Suffocation, and the Italian metal scene as a whole. Our chat, after the break.
Shanbomb: I have a hard time figuring out the Italian metal scene; there is obviously a very active and enthusiastic community in your country, but unlike many other European metal scenes there doesn’t seem to be any kind of signature sound in place. I don’t think I’ve heard a single Italian metal or hardcore band that sounds anything like the next.
Maurizio Villeato: Thanks for all the good words. The Italian metal scene is full of talented bands but we have to work more than our European co-workers to reach a good level of visibility. For Adimiron this is not a problem; we work hard every day because we love our job.
K2 is Adimiron’s third release. For those who are just discovering you now, how would you say that it varies from or builds upon your past releases?
Alessandro Castelli: I think K2 is different from the past releases because of two main reasons: the musical maturity achieved from all the members of the band, and the necessity to create an album built to be performed on stage. I still consider our first release Burning Souls (2004) to be a good death metal album, but being a debut album it could be seen as immature in some aspects despite the great success it had. When Reality Wakes Up (2009), on the contrary, was produced ten years after the birth of the band, but in a period not so good for tours and gigs. K2 seems to have an edge over all the past releases.
There is a concept in place with this record. Could you speak a little on that?
A.C.: The entire album is built on the physical and metaphysical journey of a man looking for his inner self, a spiritual research on the real values of existence and the secret of life. Even if it’s a violent album, more musically extreme and raging than the others, the message contained in this one is positive: there aren’t messages of death, failures of human life or anything like that; the aim of the album is to make the listener understand that if you face all of your problems in the best way you can, you’ll get the right answers.
I feel that. These days it’s very hard to do something completely new; most metal bands in some way or another have very visible influences in their sounds. In my experience some see being compared to other prominent acts as a compliment while others take it as an insult — like they’re being reduced to a mix of this and that without any identity of their own. There are some bands I am very clearly reminded of in Adimiron’s sound, but there seems to be a core sound in place.
M.V.: Yes, Adimiron is not the band today as we were some years ago, considered as a valid entity in the European metal scene but with too many influences in their sound. With the composition of K2, we’ve finally reached a proper sound due to improvement as musicians, but mostly thanks to the strong connection between us. I can say that K2 represents the beginning of a new era for us, in which we all know what this band can do as a collective and make the best choices for our careers, future compositions, and tours.
One element of your sound that I think both distinguishes you and invites comparisons are Andrea Spinelli’s vocals. The two singers that come most readily to mind are Joe Duplantier on the harsher side and Mikael Akerfeldt in the softer sections. That’s hardly a negative as I would say they’re two of the more unique singers in progressive metal today. It’s really interesting to hear such a diverse range of timbres and moods from a single vocalist.
M.V.: Being versatile is the trademark of Andrea. Thanks to this skill we’ve always known we could count on different solutions proposed by him. Moreover, I have to say that all of us have versatility as an asset because of different musical studies we’ve made over these years, classical for me and jazz-fusion for our drummer Federico Maragoni. As long as we’ll be able to use this skill, Adimiron’s sound will evolve every day in several ways.
Also on the vocal front, the album features a guest performance from Dave Padden of Annihilator. How did you come to work with such a respected member of the thrash community?
M.V.: In 2010 we supported Annihilator for two or three weeks around Europe during the Total Annihilation Tour; before a show in Germany, all of Adimiron’s members were talking with Dave about music, and he told us that he used to sing in a more extreme way with another of his bands in Canada. We asked him if he was available to record one of our songs, and he accepted with enthusiasm. I’ve always being a fan of Dave; I already knew he was a great guitarist and an awesome singer. Nevertheless I was speechless the first time I heard his performance for “The Whisperer.” Dave adds that touch of brutality we needed for the song.
Yeah, the contrast between his barks and Andrea’s intonated yelling on that track is awesome. Which other songs are you excited about on the new release? The track that most immediately caught my attention from the samples and the one that drove me to originally write about you guys on MetalSucks was “Where Nothing Changes” — a lot of neat stylistic switch-ups in that song.
M.V.: As a bass player of course one of the songs I prefer to play is” Where Nothing Changes” for the bass-drum arrangement, but I like ”Vertical Limit” too because for to me it’s the most technical song on the album. During the recording sessions, I enjoyed playing on “Passenger” because I used a fretless bass for the first part of the song; it helped me to reach the right mood for the track. Anyway, each song has something in particular that makes the track unique, for a listener or as a performer.
K2 is a challenging listen that doesn’t provide much in the way of instant hooks or concessions to standard song structure, but it seems to really unfold over multiple listens. How did the writing process come together for this release?
A.C.: We developed all lyrical and instrumental material in a parallel way in order to give the right mood to the tracks. We always start a new composition from a guitar riff, and than we arrange bass and drum parts. Meanwhile Andrea works on lyrics and vocals and when we get a well-done structure we are ready to record pre-production to find possible mistakes in the arrangement. This method helps us to put our feelings into our music.
What are your plans right now for supporting K2?
A.C.: In March we’ll join Suffocation and Cattle Decapitation for the “Reborn of Death Tour 2012” around Europe and then we’ll start the “Triumvirhate Tour 2012” as a headliner all around Europe, in which we’ll play the entire K2 supported by two other Italian bands. We are also preparing something for summer, but you’ll have more news next month. Anyway, our hope is to reach the USA as soon as possible in order to bring our music to the other side of the ocean.
Awesome. I look forward to it! Which bands would you be most eager to tour with in the future?
M.V.: I think it is important to tour with bands that have something in common with us, to have a common audience. Until recently we toured also with bands a bit different from us, such as Vader or Gorgoroth; even if there is always something to learn from these great bands, when we played with Textures or Meshuggah we had the possibility to play in front of the right audience that seems to appreciate our performances a lot more.
Textures and Meshuggah would be beastly. Here’s hoping I can see that lineup! Thank you for your time and best of luck!
A.C.: Thanks to MetalSucks for the space given to us to let the American audience know this Italian band. We all hope to be in the USA with Adimiron. In the meantime give our new album a chance, buy it or download it, it doesn’t really matter! See you on the road guys, peace and respect!
-BS
K2 is slated for an early spring release in the U.S. For more information on Adimiron and K2 visit http://www.adimiron.org/.
