THE GREAT TRACKLISTING

The release of SEPTICFLESH’s new opus “The Great Mass” is now two months ahead! After the cover artwork of the jewel case edition last week, it is time to unveil the tracklisting of the Greek demons’ new masterpiece:

The Vampire from Nazareth A Great Mass of Death Pyramid God Five-Pointed Star Oceans of Grey The Undead Keep Dreaming Rising Apocalypse Mad Architect Therianthropy

The second part of the studio story is an interview with guitarist / composer Christos Antoniou, conducted by Hard Rock Mag editor Sven Letourneur.

PART II – Writing and recording of the orchestral parts

Christos, you worked on all the orchestral parts and arrangements of course. Why did you choose to work with the Orchestra of Prague again?
With “Communion” they did an excellent job and their interpretation on the new album is amazing. I know them, they know me very well and I can say, although it’s still very early, that they will perform also for our next album in the future.

Were they the same musicians that already recorded the classical parts for “Communion”? Do you know what they think of the final result of this album? Are they interested in what Septicfesh sounds like once everything is mixed, as classically trained musicians, do they appreciate your music even during the metal parts?
A majority of them were already on the “Communion” album. But we used more people especially for the brass section: we had eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones and two tubas. The sound is massive. Of course we added some more players like a boy soprano and a harpsichord player for the colour. The boy soprano especially added a really dark atmosphere in the new album. The orchestra musicians haven’t listened to the result yet as we are in the mastering process but I’m sure they will like it. There are nearly 130 people, but I think the majority of them will not really be interested in Septicflesh. As you understand, they record every day, but I saw some metal fans in the percussion section and they will definitely buy the record. Some of them might not understand that it was for a metal album as they only listen to the click in the recordings and they don’t hear the metal parts. They do an excellent work and I consider them as our fifth member. I don’t expect that everybody will like or understand our music, at the end of the day their interpretation is what counts.

How did you start working on the first orchestral ideas? Did you work on some songs starting from the metal ideas and adding symphonic parts to it or the other way around mainly?
I followed a different approach than on “Communion”. Back then I orchestrated many metal riffs, but this time I composed the majority of the orchestral parts in the first place. Then Seth, Sotiris and Fotis added their ideas on top of the orchestra. I started composition on March (2010) and I had many ideas for the orchestra. During the summer I was working a lot on orchestrations, 17 hours per day non stop. But the result is really great, I’m really satisfied with the material. I composed on the piano and then I orchestrated both on paper and notation software.

When did the actual orchestra recordings happen and how much time did they need?
It took four days. As the orchestra was really big, we separated the recordings in families: first strings-woodwinds, then brass-percussion, then choir and at the end the boy soprano, the harpsichord and the piano. It was a hectic work since many people were involved but the producer and the contractor were very organized in order to have the sessions running smooth. Everything is on score, I write everything with a lot of information and they just perform what is on their music sheets. Unless there is an improvisation section, which was rare on the scores.