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BACK
NIGHTRAGE
The tale of two singers
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
Not all supergroups work. Sometimes there is too
much talent within the band and it’s quite hard for the talent
to pool together, other times there just isn’t enough chemistry.
But when supergroups work, they are dynamite.
Enter Nightrage, a power melodic death metal act that consists of
lead guitarist/songwriter Marios Iliopoulos (ex-Exhumation), Dream
Evil guitarist Gus G, ex-At the Gates screamer Tomas Lindberg (Evergrey’s
singer Tom S. Englund provides the clean vocals), bassist Brice
Leclercq and drummer Per M. Jensen (The Haunted). A great lineup
indeed, but does it work? The answer is yes, and as Mario Iliopoulos
explains, Nightrage was something that needed to be done or this
Greek would have gone mad.
"This was a very important thing for me. My old band had just
broken up and I was unsure of what to do. Gus was kicking my ass
and telling me that I should come to Sweden and work on Nightrage
and try to get it to come together. I mean, I now had no other plans
seeing as Exhumation had broken up. So I moved to Sweden to start
over," he explains. "It was definitely the right thing
to do. I like Sweden a lot more and the metal music scene is much
better than back in Greece. Here it feels like a family—I never
felt that back home. I’m glad I left."
Was it hard adjusting to the new culture?
"Oh yeah," he sighs. "I mean, I left my family, job
and friends behind to move to Sweden to make this all happen and
I did struggle, but I never gave up when it came to Nightrage because
deep down I believed in it and knew it would happen. When you struggle
for something for a long time you get stronger and more determined
to see it happen and/or take shape."
So with a thirst for metal music and lots of good ideas in tow,
Nightrage took shape and soon Iliopoulos was in Studio Fredman with
producer Fredrik Nordström to work on the debut, Sweet Vengeance
(on Century Media). As if things weren’t going well enough
for him already, he also was able to get Tomas Lindberg and Tom
S. Englund. How did you manage to get these two versatile singers
to sing on the same album?
"Well, when I first moved to Sweden I always knew that I wanted
to work with Tomas Lindberg, so I tracked him down and sent him
some of my ideas to see what he thought. It had been about two years
later that we were working on the album and were about to record
when I contacted him again to see if he’d sing and he was very
interested. He had remembered me giving him the demo and wanted
to be a part of this. It was great to hear that."
He continues, "So he came down to the studio and was really
into it. I think he liked the variety and melodic angle of it and
has told us he is proud of what he did on Sweet Vengeance."
Was it as easy to snag Englund?
"Actually, he happened to just be a session singer for the
band and came in during the recording process."
Really? You’d never know that by hearing the album.
"It goes like this…" Iliopoulos pauses. "I was
the original singer doing all the clean vocals for the album while
Tomas was doing heavy vocals, but after the initial recording of
the songs Century Media didn’t really like the vocals and said
they sounded too similar to Tomas’s, which I could see. So
I called up Tom S. Englund to come down and do the vocals. He came
down and really got into the part and sang much better than I did
when delivering the vocal lines. This whole thing with Tom singing
on the record happened quickly and I am glad we were able to get
him or the record would have turned out much differently."
It is a great record. You are lucky.
Responds Iliopoulos, "I feel very lucky to have this record
done and sound like this. If you play this record back to back with
the demos, it sounds brilliant. I am so excited that I was able
to get a good sound for Nightrage with the guitars, the drums and
the vocals. The guitars are just so heavy as well, but work well
with the tight rhythm section.
Variety also seems to run rampant on the new Nightrage record, pulling
sounds from hard rock, ’80s metal and even classic death metal.
"I want a lot of variety," points out the guitarist. "Music
nowadays seems to follow one set style and not really showcase some
originality. Nightrage has been very keen on drawing elements of
metal and hard rock and trying to fuse together a sound we can call
our own. I know a lot of bands out there go out and try to blow
everyone away with their intensity or killer production, but Nightrage
is more about assembling songs that show who we are. Fast or slow.
Heavy or melodic. It doesn’t matter because with our approach
people know it is a Nightrage song; it’s just that we are going
about it on many different levels throughout Sweet Vengeance.
"I have no regrets about anything that we did or how we assembled
this album," he says. "This was something I had to do
and I would spend another five years making this album if I had
to. Luck was on my side and everything fell into place. I hope the
next album will be just as exciting to do!"
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