Over the years, there were many bands that could be characterized as lightning in a bottle, or a very precious gem worth finding, but I don't think any of these words come close to describing the magic of the Swiss heavy metal band Amethyst. Following the release of their debut EP "Rock Knights", they managed to become quite the attraction among the crazed fans of oldschool heavy metal in a very short time, and the positive feedback they got would not only strengthen their reputation, but it would also give a strong wind in the back, which would inspire the band to make their follow-up album even better. Speaking of their first full-length album, the critical reception of "Throw Down the Gauntlet" is going pretty great so far, and one can only imagine what's coming next after the album is officially released on September 27th, 2024. Not long after I had reviewed the album, I managed to get in touch with the band's guitarist and songwriter Yves Bradler, and in the meantime, we discussed about the overall excitement around the release of Throw Down the Gauntlet, alongside other subjects like the band's sound, their clever songwriting and the overall status of Amethyst in the heavy metal community. If you wish to know more about these Hard Rock/Heavy Metal knights in shining armour, I suggest that you join me as we dive deep into this entertaining journey.

Vladimir

Hi Yves, how are you doing brother?

I am doing quite well, how is it with you?

It's not bad. We're surviving these 40 degrees temperatures here in Eastern Europe, but we're managing.

Okay. We're quite okay as of now, with 21/22 degrees, it's alright.

Yeah, it's never bad when it's more up North. I was in Stockholm last month, and I said to all my friends that they don't know how lucky they are, because I wish we had 21-degree temperatures throughout the entire Summer.

Yeah, it would be. Like somewhere between 20 and 25 is always good.

Even though we are still a month away, is the excitement around the release of the new album still in the air?

From our perspective or the people's perspective?

Well, from your own perspective, since you already had a couple of reviews, with so much positive vibe going on in the meantime.

Yeah, definitely. We are all very much looking forward to unleash this beast for the general population if you will hahah.

This year will be blessed with the release of your upcoming first full-length album "Throw Down the Gauntlet", and I was very pleased with how the album turned out as a whole. It's a great expansion to your previous EP "Rock Knights", but it also provides more progressive and intricate songwriting which was executed with such style and finesse. Following the feedback that you received from your previous EP, how did the band take on the work for the first full-length album? What was it that you wanted to get the most out of the songwriting process?

That's a good question, but I think basically it's a continuation of what we've been doing, it's just new songs that we were writing. We're just writing the songs straight from our hearts, like what we feel and we know what we want to sound like and how to achieve that. When we write songs, we want to capture different moods or different feelings with the songs, they basically have a different message or a different feeling we want to convey, that's what we're aiming for. Of course, we took a bit more time to record the whole stuff and compared to the EP, we didn't record live this time, each instrument separately, the EP was basically a live rehearsal. Apart from the guitar solos, it's basically a live rehearsal. In the end it's just a continuation of what we always have been doing since the birth of this band and will be continuing to do, and what we love to do.

Considering how your previous EP "Rock Knights" performed so well back in 2022/2023, you really had so much to live up to, especially since it hyped up the fanbase to the point where you were put in a very challenging position. Was this task of working on the first full length album in any way surrounded with a sense of tension or were you able to handle it well altogether?

Well, I mean of course we had a certain success with the previous release, of course this in a way raises attention inevitably. Initially we were probably a bit more nervous, but then over the process and when we saw how it was evolving and how things were going, we calmed down a bit and thought that we should just do what we always do. In the end we are doing this for ourselves, this is like our vision of what hard rock and/or heavy metal needs to be like, or what we want to achieve with this music. If other people like it, all the better, but in the end, we're not aiming at being the world's biggest rockstar or anything like that, that's ridiculous anyway. We love it, we like it, and I hope so will other people, and we're quite optimistic in that regard.

It's great that you approach it in such a way that it's very balanced, because you are met with a sense of optimism, but it's not like you are trying to get one big shot at glory. You're still trying to do the best you can, but still, it needs to have something that people can grab onto in your music. From your personal perspective, what do you consider to be some of the notable improvements when comparing "Throw Down the Gauntlet" to your debut EP Rock Knights?

I think, especially with me, and also with the other guitarist Ramon, the songs we were writing for Amethyst, these are basically the first songs we were writing in our lifetime, and of course as songwriter, I think we have matured quite a lot over the past two years with something like this. Now we're really evolving and I think we know what we want to achieve and what we can achieve with the song, it's more focused when we write the song nowadays. The songs you are hearing on the EP, especially "Nighstranger" for example, was the first song ever written, we wrote that in one session. It was just like "let's try something" and that's basically what came out. It went very well, but you cannot count on this every time. I think we're a bit more focused and we know what sparks the songs, if there is a certain feeling or certain thought, we know how to convey that. That's I think a certain amount of maturity we have achieved as songwriters, it's something that we didn't have before, but other than that, it also captures a bit of nuances about what music we like, what we ourselves like to play or listen to. We pushed the boat a bit further in different directions, I think it's also a very notable difference in comparison to Rock Knight.

Speaking about maturing as a songwriter, one song which I consider to be a prime example of your excellent musicianship and songwriting is 'Queen of a Thousand Burning Hearts', because it's not only a great heavy metal song, but it's also an objectively well-written piece of music. What can you tell me about working specifically on this song?

Thank you. Well, it's actually very funny, because it was probably the song that came together the quickest, I mean we had some songs that we worked on for quite a while, but like I previously mentioned with "Nightstranger" from the Rock Knights EP, it was just the pieces that fell together, it was probably the most magic song to write, it just felt like that. I came up with the melodies and the riffs, and we played it together, like almost from the get-go and it just felt right, and we had to adjust a few minor things and it was very spontaneous. Not only does it contain the word "Heart" or "Hearts" in its title, but it's also the most heartfelt song if you will. It's still a mystery to me, I cannot really elaborate on the different stages of it, it just fell together almost in one piece, down like that.

The thing you mentioned before about sessions and how it all comes naturally, I love how there is such a good live feeling, not just how it's written or how it's recorded, but it just feels so right. There are so many qualities about your music that I could point out but I just don't know where to begin, because you have excellent hard and heavy songs that really shine in that 70's and 80's heavy metal glory, but you also have a very crystal clear and organic sound production. How did you guys manage to get that sound? Was it hard for you while trying to nail that right pitch?

Well, first and foremost thank you for your really kind words. When it comes to the sound, the mixing and mastering was done by our drummer El Do, but of course in pre-production we discussed the sound a bit further. On the very technical details you would have to ask him, but like the general direction with the sound was not too hard for us. When you mentioned that it has a very live feeling, that's actually what we are always aiming for, also in our rehearsals, we just set them up with the sound like it is a live show, and that's really something we want to capture, the live essence of it. Albeit not in Amethyst, but we've been playing and listening to this music for a long time, so we know what we want, how this music in our minds and in our ears has to sound like, and how to get that sound.

There are a lot of things that really compliment your music. Something that really stood out to me about your music are Freddy's vocals, because his vocal style is unique and it isn't very common in the world of traditional heavy metal, and in a lot of ways it reminded me of Francis Rossi of Status Quo, which is a quintessential band from my childhood. Was there an influence coming from there or is it merely coincidental?

In regards to Status Quo, funny that you mentioned, last week they played in my hometown, but unfortunately it was sold out, so I didn't get to see them, which I really regret, but it is what it is, I guess. When Freddy joined the band, he never sang before in a band, he is originally a drummer, and a very good one at that, but he just tried to sing and it felt pretty much right from the get-go, and over the course of the last two or three years, he has vastly improved on his vocals. If you compare his vocals now to what they were when they joined the band, this is really night and day. He just sings the way he's able to and the kind of heavy metal we play is not this fast high-octane stuff, it's a different kind of heavy metal, it's much more rooted in 70's rock than 80's metal. I think that also played an important part in the formation of his voice. I cannot say for sure if he modelled his voice after Francis Rossi, but I would not be too surprised if that was actually an influence on him.

When it comes to your band reputation, you are generally well received worldwide, especially around Europe and I think even South America, which is usually the case for many, but since you guys are from Switzerland, when somebody mentions your country, the overall recognition usually goes to bands like Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Coroner, Samael and Krokus. I am curious to know how your local metal scene treats you guys? Do they give you support and attention?

I can speak mainly for German-speaking Switzerland, because in that regard, I am sure that the French-speaking and Italian-speaking parts have their own scenes, but these scenes are not very well interconnected, so from our part it's much more oriented towards Germany. The scene is pretty small, but it's very good, it's a very active scene. New up and coming bands are based around this area, and most people are very enthusiastic when they hear it. We know when we play a show here, we know it's gonna be sold out or at least nearly sold out, no worries about that, and it's very well received.

It's wonderful to hear that because you are an up and coming band, when you already gain such momentum, it really starts to feel like overnight success, especially when you read the comments of all the oldschool metal fans. When they mention Amethyst as one of the crown jewels of traditional heavy metal, and over the course of two years, you guys have been more highly regarded than some of the other bands which have been overshadowed by your work, especially because it was just one EP, not even a full-length album. With your new album coming out, I can't imagine what's going to be the result of that, the overall success which could be expected.

Truth be told, we never expected this kind of success, I mean we were totally taken by surprise ourselves when Rock Knights was that well-received. Of course, we thought that some people might like it, but this success, nobody would have anticipated that in any way. So in regards to our upcoming full-length, to a certain degree, I know there are a lot of people that are eagerly awaiting it, but I hope it will be well-received as well. You never know this, but of course we hope so. We shall see. Optimistic as I said before.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the magic of Amethyst, how your music brings such sense of familiarity and nostalgia, because it has elements of various hard and heavy bands like Saxon, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Scorpions and Diamond Head to name few, but it's important to note that you are not replicating the works of notable classic heavy metal acts riff by riff or melody by melody, instead you can tell that the band really puts time and effort into crafting its sound. Was there an instance where people compared Amethyst to other popular heavy metal bands or do people generally just praise you for combining various ideas?

Actually, I think it's more of the latter, I mean of course there are bands we get compared to the most, like early Iron Maiden with Paul Di'Anno and Thin Lizzy, and there is no denying of this. I mean I will happily agree that these are indeed some of our main influences. Usually, people can hear a vast array of influences or bands, I think you noticed quite well that we're not trying to emulate a certain band. As much as we love Thin Lizzy, and as much as Thin Lizzy is an influence in our songs, we're not trying to sound exactly like Thin Lizzy, and that goes for every band. Of course, Saxon is like a huge influence, but we're not trying to become Saxon 2.0, because there is already a band called Saxon, and there is already Iron Maiden, there is no need for a second Iron Maiden, or second Saxon, but I think these are our influences and we like to form our own sound out of these influences. I would be super honoured if people in a few years would hear something by a different band and say "Wow, this sounds like Amethyst", I mean this would be like a super big honour. But that's what we're aiming for, these are our influences, we work with these influences, but we try to make our own sound out of that.

Don't be surprised if you become an influence to a heavy metal/hard rock band in a couple of years, I don't think any band would predict their future to that point where they see that a band is taking influences from them, it's usually that whole musical cycle spinning. Sometimes it comes full circle, when a big band takes an influence from another band, which was influenced by this bigger band. It's no surprise really.

Yeah, we shall see, I hope so. If we can ignite the spark in another person or group of people, I think this is worth so much, this is like one of the best things you can do in your life, if you can spark inspiration in other people.

Last question for today is: Are there any talks of doing shows around Europe to promote the new album?

For this year, there aren't many shows left actually, there are only two maybe, but we will spend the rest of the year to write new songs for our second album, which I hope we will finish in maybe next year, if things go well. With regards to shows, there are quite a lot of upcoming shows next year, basically a lot of different countries, so I am very much excited a lot, because we will visit countries we've never been before, or never played before at least, like Spain or Greece. With regards to tours, the typical tour, I can't say too much, certainly there is talks about this, but still, we have to see if we can manage to do a whole tour, but we certainly will play a lot of shows. We shall see what the future brings, but I am very much optimistic.

Thank you so much for doing this interview, Yves. It's been a pleasure talking to you and I am looking forward to the release of Throw Down The Gauntlet on September 27th. Best of luck to you and the rest of Amethyst. Are there any final words?

Thank you for having us for this interview, it was really a big pleasure for me as well, I think these were really good questions. I am always struggling for last words, but I would say "Up The Irons", hahaha!