Italian Rhapsody Of Fire just released their newest album "Glory For Salvation" and I think that with this record they go back to some old traditions that I missed on the last album a little bit (review here). I had the chance to talk with main man / composer and keyboardist / pianist Alex Staropoli via Skype about the album, line-up changes, influences and some other stuff like a sci-fi movie project where he was involved into. Have fun and enjoy the interview. Thanks again for a nice chat Alex!

Michael

Hi Alex, how are you doing?

Fine, thanks!

You have just released your new Rhapsody Of Fire album "Glory For Salvation". I have the feeling that you wanted to go back to more epic and slightly heavier music than on "The Eighth Mountain" which was, in my opinion, slightly more ballad heavy. Would you agree with this?

It's not that every time I start writing an album, I say I want to go into a certain direction. First of all, you have to know that I compose by myself and if I feel confident with the stuff or like the idea, I just finish the song at all. But in this heavy metal band I work together with Roby De Micheli, our guitar player. He sends me MP3, guitar riffs and parts and folders of things that he writes and when we meet, we discuss that together and I am always excited about hearing some guitar riffs because I like good riffs and also parts that are rhythmically challenging for me to create an orchestration. So, it always depends on what he is saying to me. You cannot decide 100% how the album is going to sound- you just know that you want to create a good album and maybe that you want to use some specific instruments like I chose for some specific songs. Based on that you go on and build this story and every song after song and part by part and at the end you end up with something that you could never imagine.

So, it was a process that you didn't know where it would end?

In some parts of it. Actually, I like this because it is kind of a surprising element to it and if you add the mix to this, especially in the case of Glory For Salvation – and I always have to say that the mix that Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann did is incredible – it's another level. You're not only happy as a composer but also that your songs were treated in the right way. The album is created with some confidence and programming, but I like the idea that until the end we don't know how it would sound or it would be in its entirety.

You sent MP3 around while recording the album because you live in England right now. When did you move to London?

I moved to London more than 4 years ago. Normally I travel a lot to Trieste, my hometown in Italy so I met with Roby, and we recorded the guitars but in the last two years it was kind of impossible. For me it was possible to move in the summer 2020 when all borders were open again so I could fly there and meet with Giacomo (Voli; M.) to record the vocals, choirs and all the solo instruments we had. I was lucky because all came as planned but for the guitars, I had to ask Roby to record them on his own and he would send me the files and we were working by distance. This was fine because everything was decided already.

That's what I wanted to know – how was it to send all the stuff around digitally and not to meet in the studio for a "real" recording?

Well, normally it's not the entire band in the studio, we never did that. We always do things separately. Actually, the first part in the writing process is to compose the songs from start to finish. For Glory For Salvation, it was also this way and for The Eighth Mountain I already had real guitars in my demo version. Some guitars that he sent me as demo versions I used for the record and it's always nice to have the real instruments such as guitars. You can use samples for drums or bass just to compose. It is nice to have real guitars to have the power and this stereophonic energy. It really doesn't matter too much that we didn't meet because we are constantly in touch, every day. But of course, I would like to do the next record when we are together. It's a nice challenge for me because I like to work one on one.

Nevertheless, the keyboards are quite dominant in comparison to the guitars…

Ha-ha, some people just said the opposite (laughs)!!

Ha-ha, well I've listened to it a lot of times and also read it in another review and I have to say it's really quite dominant.

Yes, the keyboards and the orchestration are dominant but yet the mix is very fine and clear, and you can hear everything properly of course. If you compare the volume level of our guitars in the mix to other heavy metal bands like Meshuggah it is a different approach. If you mix the drums, bass and guitars like this, what you do want after this is recording some nice vocals and maybe you have some keyboards or samples. I mean it's impossible to have this kind of American full metal sound and on top you have 200 tracks of orchestra. You can do that, but you have to balance everything the way that everything is hearable in every situation, like on headphones or speakers. In the end it's always a matter of compromise.

What I find quite remarkable is that on "Glory For Salvation" the classical parts you composed in the past are missing. How did it come to this?

I always had in mind to do that, but I haven't done it yet. I like what we did in the past and many other bands also did this, so this is probably the reason I decided to remain more original and to do just my own thing, but I am listening to a lot of different classical composers from the late 19th century that inspired my film-music and there is some material that is incredible. Sometimes I lose myself into listening to that but then, if you want to incorporate this into heavy metal it's more difficult. You have songs that never end, and you cannot compress all these parts into three minutes and at the end it's like I go on more traditional. But I have the feeling that I want to do something with a grander classical theme, and I want to do this on the next album. I already wrote down these notes.

And another element that I miss a lot is the very epic narrated words. Did you cancel this because nobody can replace Christopher Lee's voice?

Well, believe me or not, the Christopher Lee theme was a coincidence because Roby and I were discussing doing this Nephilim saga. At some point, Neil Johnson, my friend and movie director based in L.A. who did a lot of our videos during our career told me that he had this Christopher Lee narration he recorded separately for one of his movies. He said that I can check it out and if I like it, I could use it. And he was talking about Nephilim’s in it. I said that it was incredible and that we would of course use it. It was nothing I made up and it was incredible to have this short narration and we were very proud to use this as the very last sentence that was produced from him. In Glory For Salvation, Giacomo insisted on doing a narration and I was not sure about it and then I created the music for it and I was convinced and really liked it and it's descriptive. It's not Christopher Lee but it's the singer of our band and it's okay.

When you look on your homepage, you can see a trailer of "Rogue Warrior – Robot Fighter" for which you wrote the soundtrack. How did you get to this? I have to confess that I never heard anything about the movie. Are there any other projects you are involved in?

Ha-ha, I wish. It is a sci-fi movie which was done by Neil Johnson, who gave me the Christopher Lee narration. We were discussing this for many years and sooner or later he would give me a soundtrack to do. So, I did it and it was one of the best experiences I had in my life. What I do normally with Rhapsody Of Fire is to connect to my memories, to my being. I have loved nature for all of my life, I love mountains, forests, all these elements are inside me and I like movies and soundtracks. So, when I write for Rhapsody Of Fire I tend to imagine grand landscapes and fantasy epic scenes but when you have the real footage, it's like a gift because you don't have to imagine anything (laughs). It's already there and you just have to write the music. It was a total excitement to do this. I did it in eight weeks. Within this time, I wrote everything, and I love to listen to it. Even now after 5 years, I think "wow, what the fuck…?". I wish I could do more of this.

Which movies are your favorite?

Oh well, Lord of the Rings is still one of the best movies I saw that is still in my heart, also because we worked with Christopher Lee, of course. That is an emotional part of it (laughs). But there are also a lot of fantastic series. I wouldn't put Game of Thrones on the same level but it's a good one. Maybe a little too much soap opera and what I like to see is the fantasy and epic world. Years ago, fantasy music or fantasy metal nobody was interested in. But in reality, it's always nice to watch something that is not usual for this world. It brings you to some epic tales and fantasy worlds and with this new technology every cheap series looks fantastic (laughs) and that's nice.

What would you say is the biggest difference between the new record and the last ones?

In some ways, Glory For Salvation is – don't take my words for granted – a bit more commercial, in a way more accessible and I liked the idea of working with a lot of different choirs, harmonies and vocal melodies adding layers of these things. For me it sounds vocally interesting, and many songs have a very positive vibe attached to it and I think it's a first step. The Eighth Mountain was the beginning and at some point, I asked what I am going to do after that. Now the question is what I am going to do after Glory For Salvation. You always think that you reach some high bar but then you want to do better, and you do better every time in my humble view (laughs). I think it's an interesting album and also the fact that we included the ballad in two different languages make it more interesting and appealing and this time we also did a bonus track, which is the version of 'Chains Of Destiny' sung in Japanese. We did that already for 'Rain Of Fury' for the Japanese market, and this song was released on the EP I'll Be Your Hero, also the bonus track in Japanese. So, we always like to challenge Giacomo with new lyrics and keep him doing it, singing in English, Italian, Spanish, French and Japanese.

Hm, Japanese, wow!!

Yeah, that's easy to do. It is one of the easiest because once you learn the sounds you hear you can go. German would be a bit more difficult.

What are the biggest musical inspirations for you to compose the songs? And what else influences you to compose an album?

The influence that I have is Rhapsody Of Fire. The music that I do is so specific. You still can explore a few grounds, but it has to be epic or fantasy, sometimes it has to be dramatic in minor keys and sometimes major and happy. The music is so specific – in a way it makes you special, in another way it traps you as a composer, but this is what we like to do. If I listen to other metal bands, it musically doesn't match with what I do so it's more classical or film music. At the end when I start to compose, I don't really have a reference and I am not specifically inspired from some music.

The story is a continuation of "The Eighth Mountain" on which you started telling the "Nephilim's Empire Saga". Can you tell me any more details about the lyrics?

Well, my main goal is to write the music and Roby made me some proposals about the Nephilim’s Saga and after some discussions we said let's do this because the music needs some message. What we did in the past, the fans loved it and this message is carried by the music, which is really important, but my priority is to write the music and I take care that we have all the music first. After this Roby instructs Giacomo to write the lyrics and possible song titles. He knows the story already, but they discuss it together and then Giacomo writes all the lyrics. I don't have to say so much in the lyrics as long as there aren't some words that I don't like, and I have to say something about the titles of course but it was really more Giacomo’s work. For the Glory For Salvation album the hero opens his eyes and realizes the reality around him. He understands that he has to fight with all his power and strength to accomplish his goals. It's a story about having a second chance and in a way, we liked the idea of delivering this message also to the listener. Making them realize that every one of us has a second chance if we work hard for it. I know it sounds simplistic but sometimes the simple things can be relevant for a person’s life.

Rhapsody Of Fire had a lot of member changes in the past. For this album you got a new drummer, Paolo Marchesich. What were the reasons for that?

I have known Paolo since the time when we did some auditions and actually Manuel and Paolo were on the same level. I was not sure who to pick because everybody was so great. We also had another guy from the UK, Michael Brush, I mean we had so many incredible drummers and, in the end, I picked Manuel maybe because we always wanted to keep on with the tradition of having a German drummer. Manuel is a great guy but at some point, he wanted to do something different. I still had the video that Paolo sent me, and I went through it and thought that this guy is amazing. Paolo is a great drummer, and he is a friend of Roby and Alessandro. They already played together in another band and so I thought that this would be the best thing. Everybody is from the same town, I don't have to write in English in the group chat, it's great and I'm really happy with that.

If I may ask, do you think that a reunion with Luca Turilli is a possible option for the future?

Laughs. We separated ways because we wanted to go separate ways and do different things. It wasn't a decision that was made within one night. It was a process that was slowly cooking; we always kept working on, putting the music and the fans first but at some point when the saga was over – with From Chaos To Eternity – we said "okay, let's change something" because at that point, the dynamic that was there in the beginning was missing and you had to push harder to make things happen and we didn't want to do that to ourselves. So, at some point we said "okay, let's go separate ways". Of course, Fabio was not happy because it was a surprise for him but in the end, it was very hard to work together, especially with Fabio. Nothing bad to say about him but the friction was there every single day. Sometimes talent doesn’t justify the way you want to live your life and when it's too much, it's too much. It's great what we did but now when I think about the line-up, everybody is so sweet and easy to work with. I am the leader of the band, but I am not commanding anyone. I want everybody to be happy first of all. Giacomo is a great guy, he is so positive, and he wants to do the best, he is very humble, and I love to work with people around me who make me feel good. But coming back to your question, I cannot say yes or no but the feeling is not right also because there is a lot of confusion with these names. When we split, we decided that I keep Rhapsody Of Fire and Luca goes on with another Rhapsody band and he eventually changed this many times so this created some confusion but we know that he likes to move stuff around but I went on with Rhapsody Of Fire, with the same brand, doing the music we love to do, keep it constant, keep it steady and this is what I like to do. And then the question is who is going to be in the band? I don't want to go into details, but I don't think this is really going to happen at any time soon. This would confuse the fans. There were some talks to do this reunion but when Luca and we met in person and we discussed, there were no common grounds on anything so we could not reach any agreement. In the end it was impossible and business-wise it was wrong, it was anyway too early.

What are the plans for the next months if there is some possibility to make plans with the 4th wave just swapping around the globe and the new mutation?

We have thirteen shows in Europe, and we would love to do it but it seems that there are some difficulties right now. A lot of bands postpone their tours – Nightwish just postponed it, Ozzy Osbourne postponed it again – it's really like a pain in the ass…. We wanted to come back and play our shows but the restrictions in some countries disrupt the whole schedule. It's difficult to have fluid routing. From now we keep the tour on and maybe there will be a miracle happening. From now, every day is confirmed but we'll see.

Do you have some closing words to our readers?

We are very happy that Glory For Salvation is out now and we couldn't feel more excited. Of course, we would feel more excited to play the songs live and this will definitely happen in the future. We cross our fingers that the tour is going to happen and I'm already working on new songs.

Want to watch Lucifer's show for free with two friends and still socialize with the band backstage? It's simple: just bring a coffin to the show venue, and your entrance will be guaranteed, as revealed by vocalist Johanna Sadonis in the following interview. The band, completed by Martin Nordin (guitar), Linus Björklund (guitar), Harald Göthblad (bass), and Nicke Andersson, leader of The Hellacopters and Johanna's husband, acting as a drummer, returns to Brazil for shows in Rio de Janeiro (10/05), São Paulo (10/06) and Belo Horizonte (10/08). The tour promotes "Lucifer V", the fifth studio album, released in January and already mentioned by Johanna as her favorite in the discography. The conversation, however, goes beyond these topics, including reflections on musical influences, examples, and legacy.

Marcelo Vieira

How do you feel about returning to Brazil with the "Satanic Panic Tour"?

Well, I'm very excited. Can't wait to get away from Swedish coldness because now the summer is over. So for the past two days, it's been kind of like starting to get freezing. So I'm like, fuck yeah, let's get back to Brazil.

What are your expectations for the shows?

It's funny because journalists always ask me that and I never know what to say. And I talked to Nika about this. I'm like, what do you answer to that? So what are your expectations? I'm going to throw the question right back to you.

Well, I'm expecting a full-energy concert. We're mixing songs from the five albums. Maybe a little surprise here and there.

Okay. Lucifer will make sure to deliver. [Risos.]

What was your experience playing in Brazil for the first time? What memories stand out from that experience?

Yes. Well, we had a great time because we had some extra days in Brazil. So not only did we play to a really fun crowd because people in Latin America are a lot more outgoing and passionate when they go to shows. So it's more fun as a band to play because you actually communicate with your feelings. When you play in Germany or in Holland or something, people can be very stiff and reserved and they don't show so much. Sometimes you have an audience that's like this and it sucks when you're the band. So it's nice to have people who are like, yeah, fuck yeah. So that was one nice experience. The other one was when I was sitting on the beach drinking out of a coconut. That was awesome. And I want to repeat that.

What is your routine like during a tour? What do you enjoy doing in the cities you visit when you're not on stage?

I usually try to see a cemetery, like maybe some nice church or something. I try to eat local food like I try to find out what's a good place to eat. That's very traditional. I do want to see something that's, you know, that's like an important site or something culturally interesting. So I get to take home a memory, you know, of, yeah, like a cool place. I love old buildings and structures. But sometimes, you know, it kind of sucks when you don't have time to do that. When you have like a short schedule, like, for example, in the beginning of the Latin America tour, you know, we go to Buenos Aires. And then after the show, we sleep for three hours. We get up at four in the morning. We fly to Chile. Then we do the same thing. And then you can't see anything. And that kind of sucks. You kind of look out of the airplane window and it's like, oh, beautiful mountains. You know, then you take the taxi from the airport to the hotel. And so you don't see so much, you know, usually, you go out for dinner or you have lunch in the day or something. If you're lucky, then the venue is close to something cool. So you can walk around a little bit. That's why I love it when we have some off days. And I think we have some off days in Brazil this time again.

The latest Lucifer album was released in January this year. How do you assess the sonic evolution of Lucifer from the band's early days to "Lucifer V"? What elements do you think have remained consistent, and which have evolved?

Well, the first album was way more doom. It was a straight-on doom album with a little bit of 70 psychedelic influences. But I would say it was like 80 percent doom metal. Then changed band members and Nick came into the band and we started writing. It became a lot more. Doom started to shrink as a part. It's still there, but not as much as the other stuff that is more like 70s heavy rock stuff. You have some heavy metal influences. You have some soul even in there. Proto metal stuff. It's very it's a lot of different stuff that we listen to that kind of flows into the music. And. I don't think Lucifer changed crazy much, but it's really funny. Like I saw the other day on YouTube, there was a video where somebody was rating our albums. And then I looked at the comments and it was kind of funny because everybody had a different opinion. Somebody said, no, this album is more doom, but this album is more 70s. But then another person said the exact opposite. And one person said this album is a lot more dark than that one. And then another person thought, no, that one is more pop, and that one is more dark. So super confusing. And I think it's because we didn't change a lot, but we always have these ingredients. Like it's a little bit you have a pop element with the songwriting, but it is metal. It is doom. It is 70s rock. It's all these elements. But in different proportions, they move around. I would say, though, that the last album Lucifer 5 is in my eyes, probably if somebody said, which album shall I start with? I'd say, yes, start with Lucifer 5. It's my favorite album of all stuff.

Recurring themes in Lucifer's lyrics, such as occultism and spirituality, continue to be present in "Lucifer V". Are there any other specific themes that you explored more deeply in this album?

I would say in general, all the lyrics are really coming from the heart. So they're like really sincere. It's a lot of personal stories. So, you know, it could be that I had a horrible relationship with somebody, an ex-boyfriend, a really good friend of mine. All this will go into the songs always in Lucifer. But maybe on the last album, because I feel that it goes a little bit deeper into my heart somehow. Maybe it's because when you learn to write songs, maybe you get, hopefully, you get a little bit better every time. It's like, you know, you build a chair with wood and hopefully when you do the fifth chair, you kind of, you know, it's like better than the first one that you tried. And so it is with songwriting, I think, I hope. So maybe one just learns to express yourself better, you know. And maybe it's also when you get older that maybe you don't give a fuck so much anymore what other people think if you let out all these emotions. I think maybe it gets easier to suffer publicly.

My favorite moment on the album happens to be the single 'Maculate Heart.' What's the story behind this song?

That is really funny because in Lucifer I have written all the lyrics except for Maculate Heart. That's the only lyric another person has written and that was Nicke. And I have written the title because he wanted to name the song Bring It On. And I'm like, no, that's too simple. It's not morbid enough. I'm going to call it Maculate Heart because it's a word game because it's the immaculate heart. Right. So, of course, Lucifer being a cheeky motherfucker, I had to twist that around. But, yeah, I think Nicke wrote that lyric about, yeah, kind of like, you know, defiant, like a rebel. Like, come on, you know, if you want to fuck with me, bring it on. You know, this bullshit at me. And sometimes, you know, life throws you like obstacles and all kinds of horrible things. And sometimes it feels like really difficult because everything has like obstacles and stuff. I think that's what he meant.

You've mentioned the importance of analog recording for capturing the "life" of the music. How does this choice align with your overall vision for the band's sound?

Well, I think what it is, is we are not a fan of super modernized production. Because a lot of people, you know, a lot of rock and metal bands nowadays use computers to do a lot of work for them. Or to make the production sound very streamlined and very plastic and very like perfect. But I'm a music fan. And what I want to get out of music is I want to feel that that person who sings that song and who plays that guitar has been really going through it. You know, and they feel what they sing about and what they play about. And I think you hear that better in an old-school production because you sometimes hear little flaws and little noises. And it just sounds more organic and more human. And that's why, you know, all this like new AI bullshit. I mean, I see that obviously AI is practical for other work fields. But I think for creative things, you can't reproduce human emotions. That computer will have never suffered through that heartache or that death of somebody, you know. And like if you're a music fan, I mean, isn't it great if you hear a song and you kind of almost think, oh, wow, the song fits exactly to what I'm going through right now. But if an AI program has spit that song out, then you don't feel connected to that, you know, because it's not real. So I think, you know, that translates to that kind of live recording in the studio because, yeah, it's organic.

How do you ensure that the band's visual presentation complements and enhances the live musical experience?

I don't know if it enhances or if it makes it worse. [Risos.]

Are there any specific visual elements or concepts that you find particularly powerful?

Yeah, I mean, on the last tour in Europe, we had I bought a coffin, a real one, I bought it for myself. It's great because now Nico doesn't have to buy one when I die. Well, you never know, you know, like being in an airplane crash or something. Oh, shit. I shouldn't say that. OK, but it's actually cool with a coffin on stage because I'm somebody I'm kind of insecure. I don't I know it doesn't look like it, but I am actually a shy person. And when you only have a microphone and you don't have a guitar to hide behind, you sometimes feel a little bit. Insecure, I mean, I bet if I would I don't know, are you in a band or something?

I used to play the guitar in a band.

Ok, but if I only give you a microphone and then you're all of a sudden in the middle of a stage with the fucking microphone and you have to entertain everybody, it can be not so nice. So the coffin, I realize is great because I get to because a lot of songs are about people. So I get to play with a coffin like I can be like sing to the coffin. I can sit down on the coffin. I can cry in the coffin. I can, you know, have a glass of wine and cheer. It's like it gives me something to play with. So I actually love that. And people are always a little bit like because I usually put it in front of the stage in front of me. So people like want to touch it and stuff, you know, I think. And everybody can relate to what it symbolizes, you know. So I'm a little bit sad that when we come to Brazil now I won't have a coffin. So shout out to all you morbid coffin owners. If you bring a coffin to the show, I put you plus two friends on the guest list. You can get so much and you can hang out with me if you want to.

You've often talked about your major musical influences, but which more obscure, lesser-known bands inspired you in creating Lucifer's sound?

Lesser known. I mean. It's so many different things that we love, you know, it's like I mean, first of all, we all kind of grew up in the 90s with extreme music. Extreme metal like death metal and black metal and doom and all that stuff. And then I was a huge dancing fan when I was a teenager and I still am. But then there were also other things that I loved. Like, do you know Dead Can Dance? It's like it's like kind of from the 80s and 90s and it's kind of like spiritual. It almost sounds OK if I hate the word world music because I think it sounds like some sort of occult music. They made their own language when they sang and it sounds so dark sometimes. There's like some things, you know, or there was a Greek band called Aphrodite's Child that I thought was really cool. There's like different things. It could even be like a movie soundtrack, you know, and then it can be something that everybody knows, you know. And for me, even I love Type O Negative, you know when I was a teenager. And yeah, but underground stuff, I mean. Since it comes from so many different corners, there are obscure rock bands, you know, like Blood Rock. From the 70s or. Yeah, where to start? It's a million bands.

What are the biggest challenges and greatest pleasures of being the frontwoman of a heavy metal band?

OK, it's sometimes difficult to be a woman in a band because sometimes you get treated differently and that can be a good thing. You can take advantage of it or it can be a bad thing. So, yeah, I would say the worst thing is when you get not treated equally to guys when you get treated in a way where people maybe think. Ah, because she's a chick in the band, that means her husband probably does everything in the music. You know, when you when they don't take you seriously, they kind of assume that because I'm a woman and I have blonde hair or whatever, that I'm like a bimbo or something. And that is annoying. That's the worst part. Good part. Is there a good part? I don't know. Oh, yeah. Another annoying part is that as a woman, I always, of course, for the shows put on makeup and stuff. And it's sometimes annoying, like that the guys, they don't have to do that. They just like they just comb their hair and that's it.

Do you consider yourself a role model for other women who want to pursue a career in music?

I never thought about myself being a role model because I always felt like I was nobody, you know. But I know that I look up to other women who came before me that are women in music. You know, I'm a big fan of like I love the Runaways, Patti Smith, Blondie, you know, like there's so many girl schools. There are so many cool bands with girls in them. L7, The Donnas and stuff. I love all these bands. I'm just a music fan. So I never thought about myself being a role model. Like I said, I'm nobody. But if anybody if it motivates another girl that is like getting into rock and stuff. And if it motivates another girl to think, oh, she's doing that, then maybe I can also do that. Then that's really cool.

What album changed your life?

Danzig 3, How the Gods Kill.

What is your favorite song of all time?

Favorite song of all time? Yeah, many, many. But okay, here's one of the many favorite songs that I have. Whiter Shade of Pale, Rokoharum. Because it's it sounds very nice. But if you understand the lyrics, it's very, very morbid. And so that kind of captures some sort of morbid beauty that I am very interested in.

How would you like Lucifer to be remembered in the history of rock?

Well, if like two people remember Lucifer, then that's awesome.

What legacy do you, Johanna, hope to leave with your music?

Wow, these are all questions I never thought about. Because I, like I said, I really always feel like I'm like, you know, like you, I'm like a music fan. That's it. I have no idea what to say to that. Hopefully, we didn't make the albums all in vain. You know, I hope that maybe. Like I said, I hope that two people will still listen.