Italian power metal mainstays Kaledon are hot off the release of their tenth album Carnagus: Emperor Of The Darkness. Seeing as how we at The Metal Observer thought so highly of it, now seemed like the best time to catch up with lead guitarist, Alex Mele, to ask a few questions about the new release…
Greetings Kaledon! The Metal Observer here! First of all, thank you so much for an outstanding album in Carnagus: Emperor Of The Darkness. We’re really happy with it, but how do you feel as a band? Are you pleased with the result?
Hi there and thank you for this opportunity! Of course we love Carnagus… Probably our best album ever…I definitely love it.
You’re well known for including fantasy storylines in your albums. What can you tell us about Carnagus? Is it a new story, or a continuation of a previous saga?
There are the same facts narrated in the Legend Of The Forgotten Reign (Chapter 1 to Chapter 6), but this time from Carnagus point of view. This is the third album that we made this way, after Altor: The King’s Blacksmith, and Antillius: The King Of The Light. Of course we walk through the character’s entire life. From his birth until his death…so there are new facts never narrated before.
In terms of storytelling, what are your fantasy influences? Tolkien seems to be an obvious one, but I won’t jump to conclusions. Which authors inspire you?
Nobody believed me when I said that, I have read Lord of the Rings etc after I wrote my story! I have to admit that I’m not a great reader so, believe it or not…it is everything born from my imagination, hahahaha!
Did the characters in the story of Carnagus influence the songwriting at all? “The Evil Witch” was a standout track for me, but did other characters affect how the songs turned out?
Absolutely yes… Every Kaledon song follows emotions and feelings of the story and of the characters: If we have a love lyric, you’ll find a ballad; If we have an epic and fantasy lyric, you’ll find a Manowar song, hahahaha. In this case we have dark and evil lyrics so you find heavier and hardest material. This is our philosophy.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqwILLm_9xU]
“Telepathic Messages” features James Mills of UK groove metallers Hostile. How did that come about? Are you a fan of the band? Or have you worked with them previously?
Yeaaahh! We made an UK and Ireland tour in 2013 with them together with Lordi, and then one other tour in 2016 around UK and Italy. So James was my first idea for this role!
The inclusion of harsh vocals added an extra dimension to Carnagus… Would you be interested in featuring more on future releases?
Yes … When we’ll do other albums about evil characters …you’ll find for sure other voices like that.
The overall sound is also heavier. Some riffs border on thrash/death metal territory! Was this a conscious decision, or just a natural evolution?
It was absolutely conscious. …As I said before, the music follows the character therefore … when we decided to make the album on Carnagus … I immediately bought a 7-string guitar and wrote the entire album on it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOf-_LyOOHs]
Kaledon has had multiple vocalists over the years, but in our opinion Michele is the best yet. As a relative newcomer, how has he settled in? And how does he deal with singing the older material?
We met Michele through his other band, Overturs. After the auditions we soon found very good feelings with him and he became the permanent singer. He has exploited his musical background, consisting of bands like Iced Earth, Gamma Ray, Helloween etc., to re-adapt the old material to his style. It did not make sense to redo the old songs identical to the original … because now the singer is him, and we want his style.
If you had to describe each band member in a few words, how would that sound?
Michele (vocals): Elegance and willfulness
Tommy (guitars): Essential and indispensable
Paolo L (bass/vocals): A granite wall of sound
Paolo C (keyboards): Prepared and competent
Manuele (Drums): A fucking war machine
Myself (guitars): Precise and determined
Carnagus: Emperor Of The Darkness is your tenth album. Did you feel a milestone like that deserved something special? Or is this just another Kaledon, screw the landmark number?!
You should tell me this! Hahahaha! No seriously … in this precise moment it is just another Kaledon’s album. The time will tell us if this album is more than a simple album or not … who knows. hehehehe.
Do you have any tours of special live shows planned soon?
We don’t have any tour planned right now. … We are working on it.
Are there any tracks on the new album that you’re sure will become live favourites?
In the next shows, we’ll play “The Beginning Of The Night”, “Eyes Without Life”, “Evil Witch”, “The Two Bailouts” and “Evil Beheaded” … maybe these are my favorites in this moment.
If you were to choose one band to support Kaledon (and it could be anyone!) who would you choose?
Ooh Jesus…I really love Hostile so… maybe I’ll ask them again! Hahaha
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions! We can’t wait to hear Carnagus: Emperor Of The Darkness on the road. Until then, we will keep the CD spinning – good look with all your future endeavors! Anything else you’d like to say…?
Many thanks to you all and yes…we can’t wait to go on the road with the new songs and spread alla round the world. I would like to say that…it is very important to know that piracy is not a victimless crime so please guys…understand that illegal file sharing are KILLING the music.
Many thanks – stay metal \m/
Larry – The Metal Observer
See you on the road
– Alex Mele
Carnagus: Emperor Of The Darkness is out now via Sleaszy Rider Records!
