A: Hi Ralf! Your web site starts with the writing "If you go to hell you will be there forever", what does that mean?
R: That's actually a line by Mat (Sinner – A.M), he refers to all these people in metal bands that deal too much in Satanism and all that stuff, he just wanted to remind people that dealing too much in that stuff can harm you, we mostly write about personal things, fantasy, Sci-Fi and such, and we try not to take things too seriously, unlike certain bands.
A. You recently returned from some festivals, which ones did you do, and how where they?
R: We did shows in south America and in Europe before that, now we have some time off, we do festivals mostly during the weekend, but through the week we're pretty much free, this year we didn’t do Wacken, because the promoters like to do different bands each year, but we have a festival in Slovenia later, where they book us every year!
A: Did you do any other large-scale festivals?
R: Yea, the biggest is probably Bang Your Head festival.
A: Tom (The guitarist- A.M) has been in and out of the band, why has he left and then returned?
R: Tom left during the second album because he had health problems, he had a medical condition with his heart, and he had problems at work, and so he decided to leave, it was not a fight or anything, he also lives far from the rest of the band, so it was difficult for him to work with us, but then he re-joined, and it was like he never left, we did some shows and he immediately fit again,
We really missed his style of riff writing, and it's good that he's back!
A. You’ve released a video for the track "The Healer" which will also be a part of a new film's soundtrack, tell us about that.
R. The idea came from a Dutch producer, we heard the song and thought of a story, he contacted Mat, and now its going to be in this movie, which I haven't seen or heard anything about!
A. What is the meaning of the album's title, Devils Ground, is this again, a satanic/religious reference?
R: The title refers to the same idea as in the beginning of this site, the danger in making too much fuss, and worshiping the devil,
A: Are the band members religious?
R: Mat is, and some reporters asked him about The Healer and the title, if he meant them in a religious context, but I don’t think he did exactly, they just sort of fit together.
A: The eagle has become the band's mascot, like Maiden's Eddy, who thought it up originally, and what does it represent?
R: The eagle came up when we did the first album it represents power, freedom, and aggression, and I think it’s a very metal thing, it also looks great on album covers and t-shirts, so I think it turned out well…
A: does the idea for each cover come from the band, or from the cover artist?
P: We get the original idea ourselves, and then turn it to the artist, who thinks up the drawing itself, it's mostly his work, just about 90%, since we don’t intervene too much in his work.
A: the album has two tracks with the word Metal in them, the first one is Metal Is Forever. Which deals with the love for the genre, and the other is Of Metal, which is more of a Sci-Fi story, from where do you take the ideas for the lyrics, and does the crowd and listeners respond more to tracks that deal in the music itself, something that Manowar do a lot?
P: It's not planned at first, we just bring on ideas to the studio, each his own, and it melts together to an album, now, some songs are more Sci-Fi oriented, and some, deal in the music and the fans, the track Metal Is Forever really does well in shows, and the fans respond to it, and that's something that is very metal to me, the fierce loyalty that metal bands have, but the track succeeds because of the melody too, the music, it’s the combination of all these elements that make it a good track.
A: The new album tends to use a lot of Sci-Fi images, where you influenced more by that this time, and what mediums are you influenced from?
R: Well, I don’t really have too much time to read, so its mostly Mat that does the reading, but we all bring in ideas, from fantasy if not from books, or from films.
A: You’ve been the vocalist of two known bands, Tyran' Pace and Gamma ray, how did you originally start out as a vocalist, and which vocalists influenced you the most?
R: I've been in a couple of other bands before Tyran' Pace, I started out in high school, where I also played guitar, I'm not that good, just rhythm, no lead, but now I can use that to write my own music, anyway, I started to develop my vocal style back then,
A: According to your high vocal pitch, you listened to a lot of Judas Priest.
R: Of course, but not only them, a lot of Accept, Manowar, using the high pitch voice is called "Belting", and I just worked a lot on that, many metal vocalists do it, Judas is just one band out of many that do that, its just something which is very metal, anyway, I never tried to copy anyone, its just that whenever you do metal, you'll always sound like someone who came before you, you just have to be original.
A: How did you come in contact with Mat?
R: well, I Left Gamma Ray at 94, and back then I was a candidate for Judas Priest, I was never asked to audition, but it was understood I had a good chance, and then they just took on the new vocalist, didn’t say a word, I just read about it, and of course, was pretty down, thought about being out of the scene for a while, but then I did some choir vocals for Mat, and he came up to me and asked of I would like to work on some track, we did, and sent them to JVC Records in Japan, the guys there kept in touch with me since my Gamma Ray days, and wanted to do something with me, so they immediately signed us, and when we turned to Europe, there was a huge race after us, we eventually signed with Nuclear Blast, and we're happy with them ever since!
A: the first album sounds very Judas Priest-like.
P: Yea, we heard that a lot, and it's quite true, it wasn’t intentional, it just turned out that way,
A: But you developed a unique, different style later on.
P: Yea, but we still get the Judas comparisons, as I said; it's just the way we write, even though the first album really did sound a lot like them.
A: Both bands, Gamma Ray and Primal Fear have a strong character within the band, Kai in Gamma and Mat in Primal, what where the creation processes in Gammy with Kai, and what is the process within Primal?
R: In Gamma Kai wrote 90% of the material, he kind of came to the studio with all of the material already written, he already had his own studio, and the other band members had nothing, so it was his show, but in Primal it’s a group thing, we all write, we all contribute.
A: An unrelated question, but I often wondered, it seems that with every year you are more pumped up, physically, back in the gamma days you weren't quite as big, when did you start working out, and from what reason?
R: Well, I'm actually not as pumped up now, not much time, with my kid and all…
I started to work out in 89', but it didn’t really show in Gamma, but s I had more time to do it, I became more in shape, its just lately that I didn’t have much time, bit I keep in shape anyway, its good for the live shows…
A: You've sung in several other bands and projects, such as Therion and Ayreon, are there any more guest appearances we can expect from you?
R: I don't think so, I prefer to concentrate on Primal Fear, so I wont be recognized us a freelancer, that something that Sotto (Y. Malmsteen Ex-singer – A.M) did, and its way, and that's great for him, but I rather be a one-band singer, I'm not saying I wont do it anymore, if the right offer comes along, I'll see, as they say – never say never!
A: What are the band's plans for the near future, any rest in the horizon?
R: Well, now is a kind of a rest, but afterwards we're going to start work on a new album, so it won't be too quite!
That's it, thanks for talking to us!
Alon Miasnikov
