Interview with Female Fronted Metal’s rising stars Silent Opera.

Planetmosh tracked down Symphonic/Gothic Metal’s Italian young guns Silent Opera on the back of the release of their storming album ‘Immortal Beauty’ to talk about all things past, present and future.

AS A BAND YOU’VE BEEN AROUND SINCE 2007, HOW DID THE BAND FORM?

Silent Opera was born as a symphonic metal band,with visual influences. Our concerts are meant to offer a great show, on both visual and audio sides: we don’t just sing songs,we use costume,create scenographies to make a real representation of every song, so that every fan at the concert can be fully involved.

About the band, the line ups changed a few times but the set up now is pretty cool, and we’re confident that it’s the right one.

THE ITALIAN METAL SCENE HAS ALWAYS BEEN PRETTY STRONG, WERE THERE ANY ‘HOMEGROWN’ BANDS THAT INFLUENCED YOU?

This kind of Metal isn’t that popular in Italy, and I don’t get why! I think it’s pretty awesome.

About the bands that influenced us, I must mention Rhapsody Of Fire, pioneers of Symphonic Metal, and they also happen to be our neighbours ! Our styles then diversified but everything was born from them.

WAS IT ALWAYS YOUR INTENTION TO CREATE A SYMPHONIC METAL SOUND, OR WERE THERE OTHER STYLES YOU WERE EXPERIMENTING WITH?

Yes it was, when I created the band I had in mind the path it had to follow, obviously the style has changed somewhat and become refined, also the path has become more and more precise.

YOUR FIRST RELEASE WAS A WELL RECEIVED DEMO, HOW SATISFYING WAS IT TO GET YOUR MUSIC OUT AND INTO THE PUBLIC EYE?

Seeing our demo get so much positive feedback has been very satisfying for all of us, and it’s due to a great motivation on our part to work hard and finally get to release a full length album with a worldwide release!

THE LATEST ALBUM ‘IMMORTAL BEAUTY’ HAS AN ALMOST CONCEPTUAL FEEL TO IT, HOW LONG DID THE WRITING PROCESS TAKE, AND WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT?

The whole cd is based on peoples darker sides, such as peoples wish to remain young and beautiful forever, and the obsessive use of masks to hide who we really are, those are the personal subjects we wanted to talk about, through a story we created to be able to represent everything at it’s best.

THE ALBUM HAS MANY STAND OUT TRACKS, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THE SONG ‘LILIUM’ AS THE TRACK FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEO CLIP?

‘Lilium’is the essence of the whole story. It talks about the birth and death of the immortality concept. ‘Lilium’ fits the subject very well, so it was the natural choice, and we think it’s a good track to represent us in a videoclip.

HOW CONSCIOUS HAS THE BAND BEEN IN MAINTAINING IT’S DIVERSE STYLE? THE ALBUM HAS REALLY FAST TEMPO TRACKS SUCH AS ‘SELENE’ BUT ALSO SWITCHES TO TOUCHING BALLADS LIKE ‘FAREWELL’.

Every song talks about something, and it requests a particular style to express its story.

Different kinds of sounds have been chosen for the purpose to better fit every context but the cd at the end follows what is essentially the Silent Opera style.

YOU’VE RECENTLY GONE THROUGH A LINE-UP CHANGE WITH NEW VOCALIST ARIA JOINING THE FOLD, HOW DID YOU FIND HER AND WHAT CONVINCED YOU THAT SHE WAS THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?

Unfortunately we have been caught in a bad situation during the album promotion but among  many potential new singers we fortunately found Aria. She’s been areal surprise with her enthusiasm, aptitude and commitment. We had no doubt she was going to be our new singer, and we are really proud and happy that she’s now part of the band.

HAVE YOU BEGUN TO THINK ABOUT WRITING NEW MATERIAL YET WITH ARIA’S VOCAL IN MIND?

Absolutely ! We have already started writing new songs for Aria, they’ll be part of our new album. We are hoping to be back in the recording studio before the end of the year and release it around Spring 2013.

ARE YOU PLANNING ANY LIVE SHOWS OR EVEN A FULL TOUR IN THE NEAR FUTURE?

Yes, we are going to promote the album through new live shows that will be announced in the next few weeks.

FINALLY, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE BAND DEVELOP MUSICALLY, AND WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM THE BAND IN THE FUTURE?

We are already working on new ideas for the next album, with changes and new developments. The new cd will be faster, more aggressive. Still Symphonic but with new influences.

You can continue to follow us on www.silentopera.it or www.facebook.com/silentoperaitaly to keep updated and to let us know what you think!

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND WE WISH YOU ALL THE SUCCESS WITH YOUR FUTURE PROJECT.

 

 

 

About Simon Bower

Rock/Metal junkie living in beautiful Anglesey.Love live music and have a musical taste which can go from Cannibal Corpse to Kate Bush in the blink of an eye.