Monday, July 25, 2016

Martyrion Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

We are MARTYRION from Cologne and we play Melodic Death Metal in a post-apokalyptic style. The band was founded 2006, but there had been a lot of changes in sound and line-up to get to the actual point.


2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

The musical sound is a very atmospheric and vigorous melodic death metal. It carries away the listener to the postapocalyptic scenario in which our songs are set, even without hearing the lyrics. There are some parts where you can close your eyes and dream away but other parts that are pretty strong and build tension inside and make you want to bang your head and mosh. The variety and atmosphere are very unique and create a great symbiosis between the musical sound and the lyrical and dramaturgical content of the song.


3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

The main topic is humanity considered as a stain in all its variations. Allthough war and especially the use of atomic bombs is a part
in most of the lyrics, the human morality and ethics are always present. All in all you find the theme of a post-apokalyptic world in all of our lyrics.


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Martyrion'?

Many years ago, Jannik, Felix and a few former bandmembers were thinking about a name for the band.
At this time Jannik was dealing with the term "Martyr". Not because of religous reasons, but because of vested interest.
Because of that, he red about the term "Martyrion", which is a building or something on a place which is connected to the martyr.  For him, it seemed to fit in and they decided to name their band "Martyrion".


5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

It is hard to tell which were the "best" shows. There are many factors for a show to be good such as the organization, the audience or the other bands for example. Opening the last day of Metal.Frenzy Open Air was a very good and fun show to play. We arrived the night before and had a few drinks with the other bands and some of the festival visitors, while the rest of the band arrived late at night and we were very exhausted when we went up to stage. But the moment we started playing, it was like a switch has been flipped and all the exhaustion has vanished and it was a very fun show. Also everytime we played at MTC in our hometown Cologne it is a special atmosphere. Many of our friends can also visit those shows and everytime the atmosphere is on fire.

Our stage performance represents our post-apokalyptic themes, we bring a lot of action and the atmosphere from the songs on the stage.


6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

Of course we want to play as much as we can and in some new cities we never played to get some new fans. So after the release a few shows are planned, especially right at the release weekend, there will be a release-concert at MTC Cologne and on the next day we will play Field Invasion Festival. We are very excited to present our new songs to our fans an really lookinf forward to what will happen in the future. Of course some nice big shows and festivals in next summer would be perfect.


7.The new album was released on 'Boersma Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

The label is based in Essen and just started a few months ago. It is really cool helping each other getting "started" and see how the label is growing and working at the beginning. Also it is very familiar and some very cool bands are signed there as well.


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic death metal?

At our shows we got a lot of nice feedback. People really like our stage performance and our musical style. Unfortunately we never played aboard, we gonna change it! But also at some social media channels we got positive reactions to our music, for example from Canada oder Greece.


9.Are any of the band members also currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

Our Rhythm Guitarist and Bassist participate in another band together while Hendrik has yet a couple of other projects. Our singer is still part of a band from his former residence. Felix has a side project with a previous bandmember of Martyrion and Jannik lives himself out in a solo project from time to time. So besides Martyrion music is a big part of all our lives.


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

It is hard to say what will happen in the future. Of course we have our own musical style and we try to keep it like this. But there is always a development in our music, for example we try some more experiments and of course want to find something new.


11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

The gothenburg melodic death metal style influenced the band a lot, especially Dark Tranquillity. Also Insomnium, Trivium and Keep Of Kalessin
were and are an influence for Martyrion from time to time. All of us like these bands, but also other influences and bands are involved, besides Melodic Death Metal. For example Hendrik also likes very brutal and technical death metal, Felix is more into progressive metal and David also listens to some heavy metal, metalcore or alternative rock bands.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We have some normal interests like movies/series, video and table games. But also some cool things for example Jannik likes to build spaceships out of LEGO-bricks and reads fantasy novels, especially from the author "Bernhard Hennen", Marian plays lasertag, Felix is our sportsman and Hendrik builds guitars and bass guitars.


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Go to concerts, especially in small venues with cool new bands, support your local scene!

No comments:

Post a Comment