AGATHODAIMON
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 22nd April 2009.
Agathodaimon are a dark metal outfit from Germany. They play a melodic yet shredding music that nods to the sound of Children Of Bodom and Cradle Of Filth. The only thing they really miss is a name with three words and an 'of' in the middle. Agathodaimon sounds much harder and cooler though so we don't care!
Founding member, co-singer and guitarist, Sathonys, answers questions on behalf of the band.
Hello Sir, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions for the Rock Realms Interrogation section. Hope you and the guys are all well?
Sathonys: Yes, we are! We are happy that we finally released PHOENIX, it took a while, but now we’re back and in good shape again.
How would you describe the sound of Agathodaimon to someone who hasn't heard you before?
Sathonys: Oh damn. I’d say, we mix a lot of styles, like Black, Death, Thrash, Heavy and maybe some gothic influences, and we try not to limit ourselves in the way of songwriting. One important aspect is a certain dark atmosphere the music should inherit, we also try to have some artistic progression in our music, and we like to experiment a little here and there, hehe.
How did the band's name come about?
Sathonys: Well, it took quite a while until I found a name that I thought could fit the band. I think I discovered it in an encyclopedia for the occult, and studied some other stuff concerning this name afterwards. This could fill a few pages on its own, but I’ll try to keep it short. The name derives from ancient Greece, and we mostly refer to the so-called riddle of the Agathodaimon, of which it is said that the one who’s able to solve it would be initiated to the wisdom of the gods. As this riddle was held in ancient greek language which nowadays isn’t spoken anymore, no one is sure how to translate it correctly, so it will remain unsolved. But you can always try- and to us, it’s a symbol to strive for perfection, knowing that real perfection never can be reached, though you should aim for it.
Phoenix is your fifth full album. How do you think your sound has developed through the various releases?
Sathonys: Well, PHOENIX is a very melodic album, it’s probably the best one concerning musicianship we did so far. This makes it less extreme than the previous albums, but it’s very mature and we really worked our ass off this time. We put a lot of effort into it, especially the new members did a great job and we’re looking forward to writing some songs for the upcoming, next album!
Did you have a good feeling about Phoenix as you were recording it?
Sathonys: Haha, personally speaking, I always have mixed feelings when we record new songs. When I look back at our second demo, we weren’t sure whether we should record "Banner Of Blasphemy“ which I meanwhile consider as one of the best songs, simply because we weren’t sure if it’s good enough.
Sometimes you need to get some distance from your own songs, especially when you've heard them a thousand times in different versions and pre-recordings.
What is your favourite moment on the new album... or is it all brilliant?
Sathonys: Hm, the moment I enjoy most is the piano-part in "Decline“, it’s got a very dark and sinister atmosphere.
The production on Phoenix is particularly good. Did you spend a lot of time working on that?
Sathonys: To be honest, yes. We worked again at the Kohlekeller Studio with Kohle as engineer (he took care of our last 2 albums as well), and we’re more than broke now, haha! But it was worth it.
Who originally influenced the sound of Agathodaimon?
Sathonys: Tough question. If you write an article, who influenced you originally? I bet it’s quite hard to reduce this to a few names. The first bands I listened to were Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Slayer, later Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Entombed and then bands like Emperor. But I don’t know how this influenced our sound - especially as everybody in the band is involved into songwriting, and everybody got other influences, hehe.
How did the band get together?
Sathonys: Initially, through some adverts I put into magazines. Matthias, our former drummer, and I were looking for additional musicians and got in touch Vlad, our romanian vocalist, and Marko, our bass player. After a few months, we felt the need for a second guitarist and found Hyperion. Soon after, we recorded our first demo "Carpe Noctem“ in 1996, and the rest is history ;)
Is there anyone else in the music industry you'd really love to work with?
Sathonys: Well, when it comes to wishful thinking and other musicians, I’d say Kerry King, Chris Reifert, Ihsahn, Steve Harris, Tom Warrior and ICS Vortex. Concerning producers, I’d name Colin Richardson, Neil Kernon, Andy Wallace and Rick Rubin.
What's it like getting a song featured in a Hollywood movie?
Sathonys: Haha, you’re speaking of "Alone In The Dark“, actually the song wasn’t even featured in the movie, I think there’s only 2-3 songs of this soundtrack that can be heard in the final movie. And you know what? I’m quite happy, as the movie really sucks! It’s made by Uwe Boll, who already produced some of the worst movies ever. When we first heard that we could do a song for the soundtrack, we were quite enthusiastic as the cast sounded cool, Christian Slater and so on. But when I heard that Uwe Boll would produce this movie, I know it would become a disaster, hehe. Nevertheless, we think the song we did is too good to be limited to the American soundtrack version, so we put it as bonus track in the original and a new version onto the new album.
What has been your favourite gig so far, both from the stage and from the audience?
Sathonys: Hm, best stage in my opinion has the Planet Music in Wien (not too big, but with enough room to move around, great light and sound), but when it comes to the audience, I think the response we had in Slovenia a few years ago was the best one.
What has been the highlight of your career?
Sathonys: I don’t know what I should mention here, because there have been many great moments. The first gigs, the first studio recordings, of course those are always very special. Playing certain festivals like Wacken or Wave Gotik Treffen was also awesome, also the first tour in a nightliner, together with Dismember or Children Of Bodom. It’s rarely getting boring, hehe.
If you were trapped on a desert island with a solar powered CD player, what five albums would you want there with you?
Sathonys: Oh damn… I’d probably choose these here: Iron Maiden – Live After Death, Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime, King Diamond – Abigail, Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse and Morbid Angel – Altars Of Madness. I wouldn’t need Agathodaimon albums, as I’ve heard all songs a thousand times and know them inside out ;)
If you could have one other person there, who would they be?
Sathonys: Well, my girlfriend. She might read this here, hehe.
Do any of you have side projects you think the Rock Realms readers might be interested in?
Sathonys: No, at the moment there’s no time to spend for other projects, Agathodaimon is too important and time-intensive.
Anything else you want to plug?
Sathonys: I’d like to invite everyone to check some of the new songs on our myspace-page. We always enjoy getting some feedback, and as I mentioned, we spent a lot of time working on the songs, we think it was worth it - and we hope you’ll enjoy them.
What are you up to once you've finished answering these questions?
Sathonys: It’s already late after midnight, so I've got to go to bed of course. One of the disadvantages of the internet is that you have to write your fingers off when it comes to interviews - much less phone interviews are done nowadays, and this causes much more work for those poor musicians who answer these, hehe.
The new Agathodaimon album is out now and available in all reputable retailers. Some of the dodgy ones may stock it too. Check out the review on Rock Realms here for further details...
http://www.myspace.com/agathodaimon
