An interview with Adamantis
An interview with Adamantis
AD AND FATE
What inspired the formation of the band?
Jeff T: A Craigslist ad, and a whole lot of coincidence! When I moved back to Boston in 2016, Ashley (Caval, former singer) and I put an ad up looking for bandmates. Evgeny responded based on our shared musical interests,, and it turned out he and Javier were already jamming together in a space just down the street from my then apartment! I also recognized his name from a Facebook group where he had posted some of his previous band’s old demos. That same Facebook group came into play years later in meeting Cody — We knew of each other previously, but didn’t realize we lived an hour or so apart!
Javier: Evgeny and I met in an absolutely non-metal related Spanish BBQ in Cambridge (MA). We realized they had been part of the underground metal scene in Madrid back in the late 90s and early 2000s and knew lots of people in common, but had never met each other there. We started jamming and decided to post a Craigslist ad looking for bandmates, and from here the story merges with Jeff’s.
Evgeny: I grew up as a metalhead in the 90’s in Madrid (Spain) and played drums in several metal underground bands before my day job as scientist made me move to Boston. I soon started to dream about building another metal band here. In the beginning I was just jamming on my own at the practice space, then by coincidence met Javi (who after these 4 years in the band has become one of my best friends), we started jamming and placed that Craiglist ad – which was almost identical to the one Jeff posted! I replied to Jeff’s ad and the rest is history.
Why do you write the music that you do?
Jeff T: This style is my first musical love, you can say. It’s the reason I started playing guitar to begin with, truthfully. I’ve wanted to make a power metal album in this vein for probably half my life.
Cody: Ever since first hearing Iron Maiden and becoming completely enamored with them I knew I wanted to write music like that too. That eventually turned into a love of power metal as well.
Javier: My musical origins are deeply rooted in classic heavy metal, but my musical interests departed from those roots a while back and are now closer to more symphonic (some people will call it prog) rock and metal. I’m thus the mid tempo guy of the band, and I try to build my songs around melody rather than power.
Evgeny: I always wanted to capture the drumming style of arguably the best time for power metal – the one pioneered by German heavy metal bands in the 90s. This style is very fun to play — it tends to be very melodic but fast and powerful at the same time. To improve my style I trained for a year with Thomen “the Omen” Stauch (ex-Blind Guardian). I even playa double-kick drumset tuned similarly to Thomen’s in order to try to achieve the same depth and power!
Stark: I have always been a fan of metal growing up. The first time I heard Iron Maiden was the day I knew I loved this genre and had to start singing and playing this style. Over the years, many bands have influenced my vocal style, first Queensryche, Dream Theater and Helloween, and then later on, Evergrey, Kamelot and Blind Guardian. I finally got to the point I really wanted to be as good as I could possibly be singing in this genre and ended up taking vocal lessons under Pamela Moore, who is most known for her role as Sister Mary on the Queensryche album Operation Mindcrime.
STYLE
STYLE
Why do you write the music that you do?
Jeff T: This style is my first musical love, you can say. It’s the reason I started playing guitar to begin with, truthfully. I’ve wanted to make a power metal album in this vein for probably half my life.
Cody: Ever since first hearing Iron Maiden and becoming completely enamored with them I knew I wanted to write music like that too. That eventually turned into a love of power metal as well.
Javier: My musical origins are deeply rooted in classic heavy metal, but my musical interests departed from those roots a while back and are now closer to more symphonic (some people will call it prog) rock and metal. I’m thus the mid tempo guy of the band, and I try to build my songs around melody rather than power.
Evgeny: I always wanted to capture the drumming style of arguably the best time for power metal – the one pioneered by German heavy metal bands in the 90s. This style is very fun to play — it tends to be very melodic but fast and powerful at the same time. To improve my style I trained for a year with Thomen “the Omen” Stauch (ex-Blind Guardian). I even playa double-kick drumset tuned similarly to Thomen’s in order to try to achieve the same depth and power!
Stark: I have always been a fan of metal growing up. The first time I heard Iron Maiden was the day I knew I loved this genre and had to start singing and playing this style. Over the years, many bands have influenced my vocal style, first Queensryche, Dream Theater and Helloween, and then later on, Evergrey, Kamelot and Blind Guardian. I finally got to the point I really wanted to be as good as I could possibly be singing in this genre and ended up taking vocal lessons under Pamela Moore, who is most known for her role as Sister Mary on the Queensryche album Operation Mindcrime.
FAR FLUNG
How did you approach writing Far Flung Realm?
Jeff T: We usually flesh out our ideas individually at home, and then bring them to the band to arrange as a group. Some of these songs have come a long way from their original versions, and are several years old at this point!
For the overall concept, it was really important for us to have a diversity of songs in terms of style/presentation — We keyed in on the atmosphere of a journey pretty early on, and ran with it from there.
Cody: I’ve done my own solo thing for a number of years, so it was a change to write as part of a group. I had to take each band members playing preference and the existing style into account. My writing style up to that point was more proggy, so it was different to try to write more straight forward.
Bringing a song to the band and having everyone collaborate upon it was a new thing for me as well, something that I feel elevated the songs in a way that I couldn’t imagine on my own.
Javier: Getting back to the diversity Jeff mentions, it’s conception was an organic process, since we all share the heavy metal roots, but have very diverse musical preferences. This has led to a very honest album that has a deep and strong classical heavy metal root that branches into diverse but (hopefully!) consistent musical styles through the album. There’s a piece of each of us in it.
Evgeny: I only wrote one song, but it is a very special song for me, since it was a collaboration with my brother Vladimir. “The Siege of Arkona” reflects my love for all things epic and heathen. In fact, as a result of this collaboration I created a parallel project with Vladimir called “Chronica Sclavorum” where we develop further the epic sound of Siege and continue focusing on Slavic heathenry and myth.
Stark: Well, the songs I contributed to, I would listen to the instrumentation and come up with some melody ideas. I love writing vocal melodies and the one thing that seems to come natural. Once I have that basic idea set, I then would listen to the songs and close my eyes to help visualize what the song feels and the image that comes to mind. From there, I put pen to paper from the vision or story the songs give me.
Which song on the album do you most want listeners to check out?
Javier: Go check out the whole album! And listen to it several times. I think it is one of those albums that grow the more you listen to them.
Cody: If I may be so vain, I’d go with Second Sight. It’s probably the best song I’ve ever written and each band member contributed ideas that molded the final product into something special.
Evgeny: ‘The Siege of Arkona’ is written as a hymn and it will be a must in all our live shows, so you’d better learn the lyrics!
Stark: All of them naturally. We put a lot in each song and I feel it is tough to choose one, but if I had to, I would say the one that really gets my blood pumping is Fire and Brimstone.
Jeff T: I would say Voron (The Ravensong), the album closer. I think it’s the most transformed song from when we first started working on it, has a great dramatic arc to it, and a little bit of everything we do musically.
ALL
ALL
Which song on the album do you most want listeners to check out?
Javier: Go check out the whole album! And listen to it several times. I think it is one of those albums that grow the more you listen to them.
Cody: If I may be so vain, I’d go with Second Sight. It’s probably the best song I’ve ever written and each band member contributed ideas that molded the final product into something special.
Evgeny: ‘The Siege of Arkona’ is written as a hymn and it will be a must in all our live shows, so you’d better learn the lyrics!
Stark: All of them naturally. We put a lot in each song and I feel it is tough to choose one, but if I had to, I would say the one that really gets my blood pumping is Fire and Brimstone.
Jeff T: I would say Voron (The Ravensong), the album closer. I think it’s the most transformed song from when we first started working on it, has a great dramatic arc to it, and a little bit of everything we do musically.
WRITE
What plans do you have for the future?
Jeff T: We’ve started demoing for a post album single release that will probably turn up next year – It’s a very epic arrangement of an old folk tune that Evgeny proposed. We’re going to pull in a few friends to help us out with this one.
Cody and Stark: Hopefully play some shows once it’s safe to do so! Likely writing more material until then.
Evgeny: echoing Jeff and Cody, we will be writing and arranging new material, but hope to hit the live stage arenas across the world as soon as possible! We would love to play some festivals.
Stark: What the other guys said, write new material and hopefully be able to make noise live all around the world for the metal fans out there in the not so distant future and when safe to do so.