INTERVIEW: Chronolyth - The guitarist Alex Nisiriou speaks out (ENGLISH)

Chronolyth is the australian band formed in 2011 with 2 headlining Australian tours, festival appearances, 3 music videos, multiple singles and a critically acclaimed debut album in their bag. "We're proud to say that everything we've achieved has been self-funded, released and promoted to date. With the exception of the most important element; the fans!"

What kind of influences have inspired your sound?

Anything from Metallica, In Flames, DevilDriver, Iron Maiden and anything in between.

We have formed a signature blend of groove-orientated melody, often compared to the groove metal and melodic death metal sub-genres. We've taken the American groove, mashed it with a European melody and put an Australian spin on the end. Several of us are influenced by black metal, symphonic music and genres outside of metal too.

Your debut lead single "Bitter Reflection" was released in november 2012. How was the response to that and what happened after the release?

With the debut single an underground following across Australia, several European countries and even the U.S grew fast. This encouraged us to hit the road and promote it with an Australian tour before entering the studio to record our debut album.

What's the story of the band?

The band was formed in 2011 by Alex Nisiriou and Hamish McSorley but has been through a heavy line-up change as well as a change of name due to copyright issues before todays set up/line up. The current line-up was introduced under the name 'Chronolyth' in 2012.

Best way to handle touring?

We like to work as a group and keep the moral high. It's important to keep your complaints to yourself and tough it out when possible. Look out for each other, take some personal space and get your game face on when it's time to hit the stage. Prepare some music that varies from what you play as you will want a break from this, if any music at all. YouTube is great entertainment!

Your first album "Sovereign" was released in Dec 2013. How would you describe the album?

The entire album follows a lyrical theme of corruption, power and authority which may range between topics including politics, religion, personal struggles and so forth. Many of the song topics are open to the listener's interpretation as to what they are directly referring to. The response across the globe has been phenomenal! It's overwhelming to know that people on the other side of the world are so into our music, let alone within our own country.

I (Alex) wrote and arranged most of the music on the new album, along with Hamish (vocals) who wrote all the lyrics and two of the tracks. Ben (guitars) co-wrote two of the songs with me which added to the variety.

Anything you want to share with us about the recording process?

We had 10 days of studio time booked to record the entire record, however we had to extend our time by a couple of extra days to get the best result possible. It was a pleasure to work with Nik Carpenter (Aversions Crown, ROME) and Zeuss (Hatebreed, Whitechapel) to convert the live energy into an equally powerful studio product. The result is a critically acclaimed debut album which we are very happy about.

Live vs studio?

While we enjoy the studio time, live is where we feel most at home. Our show feeds from the energy of the crowd, which feeds back from us. It's like a rebounding energy system. Expect a lot of head banging, circle pits and sweat.

What's going on right now?

We're currently on the road for our Sovereignty Australian Tour 2014 which consists of 27 dates across the country. Each show is exceeding our expectations with fans constantly surprising us with their loyalty. This tour is definitely the highlight of the band's history to date. Naturally, we have the largest fan base at home here in Australia, but that could change at any time. We will have a new music video out in the near future and we hope to make it overseas very soon… As to where, we'll let the fans speak for us!

Also, we just got announced to perform at Soundwave Festival in Australia which will be great!

How about make it oversea and to Sweden?

Sweden just so happens to be on the top of my touring list. We're good friends with Deals Death and they've shared a few of the underground Swedish bands with us. We're also big fans of Swedish bands In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates and loads more.

Sounds great, you're fans of several Gothenburg based bands so I hope to see you here soon then. You are very welcome and thank you so much for sharing the Chronolyth story!

WRITER: Cathrin Linné (cathrin.linne@rockbladet.se)
INTERVIEWED: Alex Nisiriou / Chronolyth
I COOPERATION WITH: CaughtByCat.com

BAND FACTS – CHRONOLYTH

MEMBERS
Hamish McSorley – Vocals
Alex Nisiriou – Guitars
Jimmy Barrett – Bass
Ben Constable – Guitars
Michael Gee – Drums

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CHRONOLYTH at Spotify

<a href="http://open.spotify.com/album/3hfhTNo2WHVWjH1jj0xriV">Chronolyth – Sovereign</a>