Interview Cellador |
||||
|
||||
|
Can you speak to us about your album called " Enter Deception " ? That is most definitely something I can do!! We are CELLADOR, a hyperspeed melodic power/speed/heavy metal band from Omaha, Nebraska in the Midwest USA. We play catchy bombastic power metal European style but incorporate extra elements into our music such as high thrashy tempo's, blast beats, heavy guitars, powerful vocals, in an attempt to show our non-power metal influences such as thrash and death but yet still being undeniably a power metal band. We are a young band between the ages of 17-23 formed in Summer 2004. We signed to Metal Blade in the Summer of 2005 and spent the Fall of 2005 writing and composing a bunch of supersonic melodic power metal tracks for our debut album. In the Winter of 2005/early 2006 we recorded our debut record "ENTER DECEPTION" at Mana Recording Studios in Flordia under death metal producer Erik Rutan. We like to think of "ENTER DECEPTION" as a ruthless, relentless, uncompromising record thats raw, powerful, honest, energetic, and above all extremely catchy We as Americans have never had a power metal scene here due to the lack of interest in the states, and in this record we wanted to create a sound that could open the door for power metal here in the USA by fusing styles and elements that can bridge people into power/melodic metal but also showing a heavily European influenced sound that comes from the many bands we have loved and were inspired by in the past.
Most of CELLADOR's music and lyrics were composed by myself (Chris Petersen) but many parts were assisted by other members of the band. It really depended on the situation and time frame, as some of these songs were written much earlier and some were written right before entering the studio. Traditionally myself as a songwriter I compose most of my songs by first jamming with the band and coming up with "main riffs" or significant guitar parts that would define what type of song we were creating. I would take these main riffs and begin working around them. I would first come up with a verse and chorus, originally just thinking of the chord progression but then adding detail and riffs for the chord progression to make it more defined and interesting. Once I have a solid verse, bridge, and chorus, I try to think up a solo section, generally being the chord progression first with the leads coming later. Once I have all the rythm understood I take the ideas to my home "studio" and record a rough version. I think of drum parts and sequence them with a computer program and record rythm guitar and bass. Sometimes the drum parts would come first even before there was music for it. I would go over the recordings several times for a period of time trying to edit or add and change parts to improve the rythm of the song. After I have a solid version I go over and think of leads and also solo's that would fit the song well. Once I have all this done I then go over it again with a guitar and play over the verses and choruses to try and come up with a solid vocal melody for the song. Once I have a completely editted, solid recording of all the parts of the song I then begin writing lyrics. At first I usually just think of words and phrases that fit the vocal melody well then I go back through what I have written many times editting and changing parts to make the lyrics fit a common theme or idea. Once this is all completed I then bring the finished song to the band members and get their input and suggestions and change what is necessary. At this time I also have our vocalist Michael Gremio then record a rough demo of the vocals over the song so he has an understanding of the vocal melodies. Once all this is done and agreed upon by the band we practice it over and over until everyone knows it! This has generally been the way the songs were written, some were more intimate meaning I did them start to finish on my own at home, others were more cooperative and were written all in the rehearsel room with the band.
The lyrics on ENTER DECEPTION have a common theme that largely focuses on the self and one's true nature and right to free thought. We knew that its a widely known stereotype for power metal bands to write lyrics based on fantasy or sci-fi concepts, so on this record we wanted to avoid these topics to try and express something more personal and more significant with our listeners. For the most part all the lyrics are about being yourself and not being subject to outside influences but rather realizing your true self and personal strength from within. A lot of the lyrics talk about personal realizations and personal discovery and achievement. We wanted to be positive with a lot of the lyrics, because just as fantasy lyrics are cliche for power metal angry depressing lyrics are just as cliche for metal in general.
When I first started playing guitar I was mainly into thrash and extreme bands like Megadeth, Testament, Metallica, Pantera, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, etc. Later on I found out about Melodic death metal which introduced me to much of the European Metal scene and also bridged me into power metal. I think nowadays with CELLADOR our biggest influences are bands like Helloween, Iron Maiden, Edguy, Slayer, Dark Moor, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Angra, Yngwie, Megadeth, etc. We are all different in our own specfic influences, like Dave Dahir our drummer is a bigger fan of death metal than a lot us, Michael Gremio our singer likes many Modern American Metal bands, Bill and Val like a lot of 80's rock like Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, KISS, etc.
The artwork was done by a French Artist named Jean Pascal Fournier. He has done about 100 covers for various metal bands all around the world. We have been a huge fan of his artwork for years and took the first oppurtunity to work with him when we had the chance. We as a band always agreed that our first album would definitely need to be a painting, as we were not big fans of computer generated covers and we hated covers with photos on them. In addition to the cover of our album he also did our logo as well. We are very happy with what he did for our album and think it suits the title "ENTER DECEPTION" very well!!
Its very hard for me to say. When I think about it at first some specific songs definitely come to mind like A Sign Far Beyond and Wakening, but I think this may be because these 2 songs are newer, more recently written and I think I only like them more because I've heard the other older songs so many more times! The song "Seen Through Time" I guess could be a little special because it was one of the first songs I wrote for CELLADOR. Back in the day when the band first formed we had all these other songs, none of which we play anymore except Seen Through Time. I think it was the highlight of the original batch of songs I wrote and although its a lot different now and has been changed up since way back then I think its special because it was the only song on this album that was composed back when I was a teenager.
Hmm this is EXTREMELY tough but I can probably list my 10 favorite, in NO PARTICULAR ORDER: MEGADETH "Rust In Peace" HELLOWEEN "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1" HELLOWEEN "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2" SLAYER "Reign In Blood" QUEENSRYCHE "Operation Mindcrime" DISSECTION "Storm of the Lights Bane" IN FLAMES "Whoracle" DARK MOOR "Gates of Oblivion" EDGUY "Theater of Salvation" IRON MAIDEN "Powerslave"
Well I still believe the European Metal scene is the strongest in terms of the quality of bands that are putting albums out. Although many of my favorite power and melodic death metal bands are becoming more mainstream and releasing more watered down "mature" records I still find them much more interesting than most American bands, MOST is the keyword here. One thing I can definitely say is that the American metal scene is most definitely on the uprise in terms of quality of its bands and the general following. With the rise of the metalcore scene here pushing aside the desolate NU-metal scene I think many kids have become interested in heavy technical bands again and with the oversaturation of the metalcore scene here more and more kids are turning to metal bands, both melodic and brutal. Many of these so called "emocore" bands are definitely incorporating more metal influences and many of these bands are very good and raise my spirits about the scene here. I definitely am very positive and optimistic about the metal scene on an international spectrum and am anxious to see how things pan out in the next couple of years.
I am not involved with any other serious projects except for CELLADOR at the moment. I think its still too early to divert any of my extra time and attention to anything but CELLADOR and do not plan on taking on any other projects anytime soon. I do know Bill Hudson our other guitar player has a side project called The Supremacy which is an international band sort to say with members/former members of Aquaria, After Forever, Helloween, etc.
We will have some USA dates later this Summer. We are working on securing a deal with a very well known American Management/Booking Team and once its set in stone there will be many good things to come for the band!! There has already been talks with Metal Blade about travelling to Europe and Japan for ENTER DECEPTION, since its so European sounding they believe it has a good chance in these places. We do not know for sure when it will happen, probably later this year or in early 2007. If we go to Europe there's no doubt in my mind that we will visit France!!
Well we are all slobbering drunks so pretty much every show or even every Saturday night is a new story for us!! Where should I start? Right off the top of my head when we played the New England Metal and Hardcore festival up in Boston we thought "hey! this is our first real metal festival we've played! lets get really drunk really early!" Yea then later that night Bill gets escorted out of the venue by the cops and Mike our singer ends up blacking outside the venue right in front of the main doors, and had to be hauled into a van. Lots of photographers took pics of him passed out and you can still see some of them online at http://www.returntothepit.com
An infinity of thanks to Metal Choc radio show for giving new and fledgling bands like CELLADOR a chance to be exposed through an interview such as this!! To all those reading, be sure to check out ENTER DECEPTION when it comes out in late June. I can assure you this album is NOT your everyday power metal CD, its done by a new generation with unique elements and ideas incorporated. See what the buzz is about, check it out!! For all metal fans, not just power metal fans!!
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
