Scholomance have been around for a few years but are only now becoming a bit more widely recognized. With their new album, "The Immorality Murder", the band has once again pushed their limits and they are becoming a better band. Guitarist Scott Crinklaw and I discussed the band, the music scene, and the future.

Allan ‘Enigma’


First I would like to say thanks for giving me the time for this interview.

Thanks for featuring us!

For people unacquainted with your music, could you describe your music and tell us a little bit about the bands history?

Our music is hard to put a label on. It has elements of classical, progressive, death, black metal, and some weirder influences too. It's very technical, built in layers, and each instrument is usually doing something entirely different from the others. Maybe the closest comparison you could make would be Arcturus mixed with Meshuggah or something along those lines. Our lyrics are also quite complex and usually tell an ongoing story. The music should appeal to those who like more intellect in their metal and is designed to not just be an easy listen. We began in 1996 or so, and we continue to hold true to our original wish to create challenging metal. The CDs we have released are "A Treatise On Love", and our latest, "The Immortality Murder" double CD.

Why do you think it was your new album, "The Immortality Murder", that the band has become more widely recognized instead of with your previous album, "A Treatise On Love"?

I don't know. Are we more widely recognized now? It feels about the same to me. If we are indeed more recognized I'd attribute it to the better sound quality and packaging on the new CD. Plus having a double CD doesn't hurt either. I still think the first CD is very good, but the recording quality sucked. It had some excellent songs but most people aren't willing to check them out because it's not an expensive sounding production. If I could, I'd definitely re-record some of those songs. The new songs are much heavier overall and certainly more thought out in the classical sense. There's a lot more piano on the new CD and I think that appeals to people because we approached it in a very heavy sense. It wasn't the usual major keyed neoclassical stuff that people are used to. We feel that our music is also original and something different within the metal scene and I hope that is one of the biggest factors that draws people to us.

You have been with The End Records for a few years. Are you still glad to be apart of The End Records and how has the experience been?

Yeah, we've been with them from the start. Working with Andreas has always been pretty easy. It doesn't really feel like a label/business situation at all since I've been in touch with him for so long now. Lately the label has grown immensely so some things have changed a bit - some better, some worse. I'm pleased to now share the label with Arcturus, Green Carnation, and Winds. I have a lot of respect for the musicians in those bands and it is nice to have something in common with your label mates.

For a unique band like Scholomance, what is it that influences you and your band mates to create something so unique or become an experienced musician?

I don't understand why anyone would not want to be unique. There is no reason to simply blend in or follow the lead of another, in music or in life. Ultimate satisfaction is in creating something of your very own. If you also desire success outside of yourself, you must stand above the rest in what ways that you're able. In music, we feel you should never stagnate and settle for less than the best you're capable of. Always improve. Always progress. Results come with trial and difficulty and there is no reason to fear improving your abilities. Ability and experience are two different things. Experience comes with time and will come about naturally. It really cannot be rushed. In music, experience can easily outshine pure ability but if you have both, you're on the road to personal bliss. Music is probably the most beautiful form of expression. To fully express all the emotions within myself and my subjects, I've always felt that I need to have extensive musical knowledge and skill. Though some disagree a bit, I still have a very long way to go and will probably never be satisfied with what I attain.

Since you think that you always improve and progress, do you think Scholomance as a band will continue to push their own boundaries? It seems to me that a lot of progressive metal bands reach their goal with a progressive album, but then they quit pushing themselves.

Yeah, if we don't feel challenged anymore, we'll no doubt put the band to rest. We would like each album to be a bit different while still keeping some of our signature ingredients. We won't do anything like Ulver and suddenly switch to electronica, but I hope each CD will have its own identity. There's still a lot we can do with this band and many things we haven't even tried yet. I think it can only get better in the future.

With "The Immortality Murder", you released a second disk that was without vocals. What was the reasoning behind this?

We thought it would be cool for people who were into traditional prog and shred metal. It's also nice to have something to show people who aren't into metal at all. The piano instrumentals can appeal to those people especially. We're great fans of instrumental music so it seemed logical for us to try it. People seem to enjoy the instrumentals a lot.

Yeah. I think it's a nice thing to have to show people who aren't into metal, because it's always the vocals that turn people off. Do you think you'll do this with your next release also?

We might do it again. I've wanted to do some acoustic guitar instrumentals for a long time. We almost did an acoustic version of 'Virus: The Theft of Knowledge' this time, but it didn't turn out how we liked so we scrapped it. I'm sure you can expect some instrumental madness, even if we don't do a whole CD of it. This time the piano stuff was improvised for fun, but I think if we did more piano stuff we'd probably do some more intricate and thought out pieces.

If there was another band playing the same music you guys did, they probably wouldn't have chosen black metal vocals. Why did the band go with black metal vocals as opposed to another style?

We just like aggressive vocals and playing aggressive music. We're death metal fans from the start. Aggression has always been appealing in what we listen to and like. There are tons of prog bands out there with melodic, and usually badly performed, vocals. There are not many technical death metal bands in the world. With a more brutal style of music, you have fewer limits on what you can do creatively. Melodic vocals are more limiting in my opinion. The music must suit the vocalist and must be flowing enough to allow for longer sustained vocal lines. With music like ours that constantly changes time signatures and key changes, a real singer would have nightmares trying to do it all correctly and in key. You can bet we're not going to simplify our music for anything. It only gets more complicated.

If you found a singer that had the ability to perform to the music, would you ever think of using clean vocals?

No, we wouldn't. I'd consider it on one or two songs perhaps, but it would really need to fit in and have a purpose. Like I said, we're death metal fans and I think the music will only continue to get heavier and more complex. A full time melodic vocalist would probably only take away from the overall heaviness. Maybe if it was someone like Warrell Dane or Tim Aymar it'd work, but certainly not your Stratovarius or Hammerfall kind of vocals. That kind of vocalist who can stay in key and still sound pissed is something that's truly rare.

"The Immortality Murder" is a concept album. Could you give us some insight into the concept, and if there is, what is the relation with the album and the cover art?

The concept follows the thoughts, personal work and writing of a serial murderer. It continues where "A Treatise On Love" left off. There are many details in the lyrics that deal with psychology, sociology, religion, love, and mental affliction. I don't really like to go into step by step detail of what everything is because I always feel its best for people to have their own perceptions on poetry, prose, and music. The cover and booklet art is an extension of the story and adds some locations and faces to the story.

It seems like the lyrical concepts are important to the band. Who writes the lyrics? Do they have input from the entire band?

The lyrics are just as important as the music! I usually write the conceptual lyrics and Jimmy writes some of the other ones for the single songs. We write separately and pretty much let each other do our own thing. I generally think shared lyric writing is very confusing. When we have two people with their own ideas and equal but different writing technique, it just works better to do the lyrics on our own.

In the future do you plan to get a drummer to work on the album instead of programming them?

I would like to say that we plan to get a full time drummer, but we can't count on that happening. We are an extremely demanding group of guys and we have yet to find anyone who is willing to put forth the effort needed to be a drummer in this band. We need someone with both a brutal playing edge and finesse and mastery, most likely from jazz training. It would probably need to be someone with at least 10 years of constant practice and band experience.

It should be pretty hard to find a drummer to meet those standards, unless somebody from an established band wanted to join you guys. Do you ever plan on touring or performing live?

We have never been offered a decent tour. We do play live in our area of the country. It's not that often anymore due to work schedules and other obligations, but we still do it. We practice a lot so we are more than capable of pulling off most everything you hear on the albums note for note.

In the metal scene right now, what do you think is good?

Hmm, not a lot is good in the current metal scene. It's all pretty redundant right now. All the bands that were once good keep releasing the same album over and over. I think Nevermore are a good metal band who continue to improve. I enjoyed the new Arch Enemy CD, Winds, and the new Arcturus. I listen to the older bands like Death, Entombed, Forbidden, Malevolent Creation, Gorguts, Cynic & Meshuggah. Apart from that I'm listening to extreme, technical hardcore like Every Time I Die, Burnt By The Sun, Eighteen Visions, and Poison The Well.

What are your plans for the next release? Any ideas yet?

I have lots of ideas in my head. It should definitely be a concept to surpass the first two albums completely. It will be more unified and one of the most in depth and detailed concepts in the metal genre. It's a daunting task to begin putting things together because of the vision I have for it. Musically it's in the infant stages right now.

Well I would like to thank you for your time. Do you have any last comments for the fans?

I hope everyone checks out our latest CD! If you liked the first one, you'll definitely dig the new stuff! Thanks for the interview.

Email: XscholomanceX@aol.com
Scholomance HTML: http://www.angelfire.com/sc/scholomance/main.html
Scholomance Flash: http://www.theendrecords.com/html/scholomance.html

Marios Iliopoulos has to be one hell of a determined guy... After a not so pleasant break up of his original band Exhumation, he packs his bags, and with middle finger stuck outside the window he leaves Greece to find a better life in Sweden. There he forms a band comprised of some of the masterminds of the music world and with them creates a fantastic debut album "Sweet Vengeance." With Gus G. (Dream Evil, Mystic Prophecy) ripping the strings like there's no tomorrow, complimenting this rabid guitar assault he hires Per M Jensen (The Haunted) and Brice Laclercq on drums and bass respectively and with Tomas Lindberg (ex-At The Gates, now in The Great Deceiver & Lock Up) handling the screams he adds the clean vocals of Tom S. Englund (Evergrey) to inject some diversity into the mix. Regardless of Marios reassurance, will this be a real band or just a project we'll have to wait and see but in the mid-time enjoy the album and read what Marios has to say about band's status, its line up and future plans.

Chris


First of all can you tell me why did Exhumation split and what where you up to since then... Were you involved in any projects before starting Nightrage?

Exhumation split because of the totally unprofessional attitude of the other guys in the band. They saw the whole thing as a hobby and nothing else. A lot of times we were struggling to communicate, and I think I was the only serious guy in the band trying all the time to kick their asses. It was my idea to go and record our album in Sweden in order to have a professional sound, and it was again my idea to sign with labels from abroad just to have better promotion for the band. I felt pretty disappointed with the split of the band, but I realized that it was better for me in the end, because now I have the chance to play and work with professional and dedicated musicians. Nightrage is the only band I've been in after Exhumation split up.

Why did you leave Greece and move to Sweden? Was the music a deciding factor in your decision or did you have personal reasons?

The music was the most basic reason for me to leave my country and move to Sweden because I can tell you it's pretty limited to play metal in Greece. After all this experience I had with Exhumation, playing music for ten years, I realized that it was a dead end for me if I wanted to continue playing music. I don't think you can find serious and professional musicians in Greece. Most of them are more into other things, their personal lives as an example, and music doesn't count for them. I felt - as I told you before - tired and sad from all this negativity, so in order to build a new and powerful band with pros, I made the hard decision to leave everything behind me and move to Sweden.

How difficult was to form Nightrage and how did you persuade all those individuals to join your new project?

It was very difficult to find musicians here as well, because everybody already played with other bands. I approached a lot of guys here, but in the end, nothing really happened. I started to feel that Nightrage is a real band when I met my bass player, Brice. He is from France and he came here for the same reason: to play music, like me. We share the same vision and we have the same dreams. With Gus, he contributed leads to the album. We started this band together in the summer of 2000 in Greece. He helped all this time with the arranging of ideas. I approached Tomas Lindberg personally a lot of times before the recordings with the Nightrage demos, because I just felt that his voice fits with Nightrage a lot. With Per Möller Jensen and Tom S. Englund, Fredrik Nordström from Studio Fredman convinced them to play on the album.

Who was the hardest member to convince to join the band?

Nobody. Maybe Tomas Lindberg because I never got a reply from him during the demo days of Nightrage. Afterwards, it was just a simple phone call and all the guys were into it and ready to roll. Here things going really fast, [laughs]. There's no time for thinking.

I'm sure you are aware of it but with such "all-star" line up and with intense musical activities by each member how do you plan on keeping this crew alive and consequently not making a Nightrage a one album project?

Honestly, I never believed that I would work with all those great musicians on the album, but it just happened and I think it was a great beginning for Nightrage. The only stable guys in the band right now are me and Brice. Per and Tom were only sessions musicians for the album, and they are not going to play live gigs. As far as the schedules of Tomas and Gus allow them to play live shows and festivals, they will be there for us. Hopefully Tomas will be on the next Nightrage album. I can tell you that I consider Nightrage as real band and not a fucking project. So the only thing that we have to worry about now is to find a good drummer for the next album. I can take care of the clean vocals in the live shows and future recordings of Nightrage.

I've already read that Per M. Jensen will not be involved with the next album. Can you tell me why he's out of the band and who will replace him?

That was the deal we had with him from the beginning - to play a session only for the recording of our first album. He is so into his band, The Haunted. Something that we totally respect.

That brings another tough question about live performances and tours. How do you plan on taking Nightrage on a tour since more than half of the band members are heavily involved with their original bands' activities... and we all know no tours no success in this business?

Good question pal. We really like to share this music on stage with metal fans. This is one of our plans, to have more stable guys in the band and to be able to tour and play all the time. It's all about good scheduling. Tomas, he really liked our music and we have a cool friendship with him. We respect the fact that his main band is The Great Deceiver and we really get along together, so I have a good feeling that we will play together and we will have a blast together. As for the drummer spot, we tried a lot of guys recently and we are still looking for a good drummer. Something awesome is that I spoke with Nicholas Barker recently, and he told me he really liked our stuff and there's a chance that he could help us playing the drums live. We still keep contact, and we are looking forward to sharing the stage one day with him having a blast together.

Why "Sweet Vengeance"? Is this album a slap in a face to all the people that didn't believe in you and tried to make your life a living hell? I have this feeling that this album is very personal for you, how far am I from the truth?

I want to take this revenge, this goddamned vengeance, for some people that I used to call friends. I want to scream to their evil and miserable faces about how wrong and mean they were with me. They should look at themselves once and realize their own big faults. Shit, I don't believe how stupid and what assholes even your friends can be. I really wanted to say some things to certain people that I never have the chance to say. This is the truth man, and my vengeance will put their egos and their stupidity down.

Are the lyrics also very personal? What are the main topics you try to convey to the listener?

Yes, our lyrics are very personal and deep. We are dealing with the emptiness of the human existence. I'm talking about some things that hurt me in the past and made me feel desperate. It is a long and lonely trip to the inner and bitter emotions of a man when he is hurt by his past, when he is alone and he is searching for any light at the end of the tunnel. I want to show that if you really believe in your dreams and in yourself, you can do whatever you want. You guys out there: be careful. Life is hard. Always believe in your dreams and don't let anybody put you down. I think a lot of people can relate to situations like that. Nightrage is the light at the end of the tunnel. Is there any light at the end? You have to search it for yourself.

With guitar attack lead by Greeks how did you end up sounding so Swedish? Is it an effect of long time musical influences or was it planned from the beginning?

My influences are coming from a lot of different metal styles. I grew up listening to all those great '80s metal bands like Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate. I liked the Bay Area thrash metal and Florida death metal a lot. So what we are doing in Nightrage is trying to combine all those elements in our music in order to make them sound in perfect harmony. I also like hard rock and melodic rock music, and sometimes I like to add those cool sounds in our music. I dig also some cool Swedish bands At The Gates and Edge Of Sanity. You can hear all those influences in our album.

Melodic death metal was almost over-exploited by many bands for the last few years. What made you dive into this very competitive genre and what do you think makes Nightrage stand out over the rest of the competition?

The fact that we are honest in what we are doing. We don't want to imitate the sound of other well-known bands. We play music from the heart. I don't consider Nightrage the most original band in the world, but we try to be ourselves and we want to give the best feelings we could. I think we have a pretty cool guitar style with Gus, and we also want to be as metal as we can. We are fans of the music first, and we don't give a shit to sound cool and trendy, like other bands. We are worshipping '80s metal, and we are going to stay metal and play metal!

Very nice addition to your music is clean voice of Tom S. Englund from Evergrey. Whose idea was to add this type of vocals and why did you chose someone from progressive scene?

This was Fredrik's Nordström's idea to use Tom's voice. I was the singer in the demo days of Nightrage, and since my voice had the same sort of feelings, we tried him out, and the results were awesome. I think you can understand that Tom is singing because he has very unique voice, and he complements Tomas' aggressive vocals.

Your very first album is released by metal giant Century Media. How did you land this deal and are you satisfied with the work they've done for you so far?

I can tell you that the key for Nightrage to enter the studio was Fredrik again. This guy - whom I knew from the Exhumation days - liked our songs and our attitude a lot, and he let us record the album in his studio. Then he took care to find the right label for us. We sent the finished material to some well-known labels and immediately Century Media wanted to sign the band. They really liked the songs and the production. They showed this huge interest in the band from the first time they heard Nightrage. So far, everything is going extremely well with them. They are totally professional and they promote the band the right way. I'm very happy to work with such a professional label. This was the plan I had from the beginning.

Did you set any goals that you want to achieve with Nightrage in the future or is it simply a matter of having good time and doing what you love?

It's both, I guess. I want to be able to make some more killer albums in the future, and to have the chance to work with cool guys in the band. I want to have a good time, and to enjoy playing music altogether. We are not going to disappear. We will return with a second and better Nightrage album.

What are the near-time plans for Nightrage? Do you already write material for the new album? If so, please tell us about the musical direction.

It's very early right now and we don't have a single note written for the next album, [laughs]. I have to feel inspired to start to write music and lyrics again. I don't want to force it, it will come. Maybe something has to kick my ass to start to do something, and I hope the lyrics this time will have some more light in there.

Thank you for your time and answering my questions. The last word belongs to you...

Thank you very much for the support. We are looking forward to meeting you and playing in your country. I hope your readers will like our album. Keep on with the metal and always follow your dreams.