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Phoebus the Knight is an interesting power metal group that brings elements of magic and fantasy, along with influences from metal to classical music, tying everything together cohesively in a beautiful and fantastical story. We had a conversation with Axel (vocalist and main lyricist) and Adrien (composer and guitarist).
Alright, for a good start to this interview, tell us a little bit about your musical background and about Phoebus the Knight.
Axel: I studied at the conservatory of the 16th district in Paris before preferring to continue studying with Valérie Maucourt for Lyrical/clean singing and Adeline Bellart for Scream. I wanted a more personalized follow-up for the exploration of my voice without remaining confined to the lyrical so I continued working on my voice by myself and also with my fellow singers companions from the band Noémie Allet and Adrien Djouadou from time to time.
I started the project in January 2019 solo with a tribute vocal EP called “The Legacy of the Iron Queens”.
The base of the band was created when Adrien Djouadou joined the project in June 2019. We wrote / composed respectively the album “Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror” in March 2020. The other members arrived little by little until January 2021 with the launch of our Crowdfunding. Then we released our first EP “The Last Guardian” on June 21, 2022, played our first concert on September 28, 2022. Finally we released our first album “Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror” on January 30, 2023 then our second EP “The Cursed Lord” on June 21, 2023. The second album is almost finished being composed and incredible new things are coming this fall.
Adrien D.: I studied classical guitar and electric guitar and obtained my diplomas at the Conservatory of Avignon. I then studied opera singing at the Conservatory of the 10th district of Paris, obtained another diploma there, and went to the HEMU of Lausanne to continue my studies. I started to work professionally as an opera singer during those years. I recently get my master’s degree in opera singing and I continue my career. During all those years (since my 13) I always had bands in which I played and sang, and I wrote the whole music. That’s how I learned to write music by myself. Singing a lot of opera was what taught me how to write for an orchestra and that’s what I love in our band: being able to combine my passions for metal and classical music. The other musicians of the band being Noémie Allet (bass/vocals), Adrien Guingal (guitar) and Guillaume Remih are all great musicians and we are very lucky to have them with us!
What is the origin of the name “Phoebus the Knight” and what does it mean? I think it’s an excellent name for a power metal band, because it sounds epic and majestic, while evoking the atmosphere of old romances.
Axel: Phoebus means “solar god” or “light bearer” in Greek. We wanted this character to transmit the values of the Alchemists, the elevation of humankind physically, intellectually, and spiritually. He’s a knight, so he’s sworn to protect the weak.
You put your musical influences ranging from classic metal to progressive rock. How do you combine these different styles in the band? Listening carefully, I can find many references to death metal in some of the riffs and even classical operas.
Adrien D. : The musical influences we agreed with Axel as guidance for the music of the band at the beginning were Nightwish, Epica, Rhapsody, Fairyland, Cradle of Filth, Dream Theater and Powerwolf to name a few. But those bands were chosen to give a direction because I think that we don’t resemble them so much even if we can hear some similarities from time to time. For the death metal influences, I love extreme music like black, death and thrash metal so it comes naturally in the music. Axel likes also a lot the heaviest symphonic bands so it worked out well!
For the classical parts, Mozart, Bach, Puccini, Wagner, Fauré, Saint-Saëns or Debussy are some of my favorite composers. To combine the whole thing, I honestly don’t think so much. Things comes naturally together in my head after I read the lyrics Axel sent me. Then I just must go to my computer and write and record what I heard.
Axel: Of course, Tolkien is the author I refer to the most in the work, but not only. I was greatly influenced by Alejandro Jodorowsky, François Froideval and obviously Olivier Ledroit.
Please tell us a bit about the concept of the stories you create in your songs about the Knights of Heliopolis (curiosity: here in Brazil, we have a place where poor people live also called Heliopolis).
Axel: Phoebus is a member of the Knights of Heliopolis, an order of alchemists sworn to protect the weak and uplift humanity. Heliopolis refers to the Egyptian city of the same name meaning in Greek “the city of light”.
Adrien D. : I didn’t knew that fact about Brazil. I’m curious to know why it bears that name and will look for information!
The knights of Heliopolis are alchemists that are protecting humankind behind the scenes during ages. The story we are telling happens during our human History, but most of humankind is not aware of the existence of the magical world influencing the human world. So, in the Phoebusverse, historical facts are melted with high fantasy. In our releases, we see the knights fighting a dark entity called the Beast that triggered the French Revolution for an unknown purpose. Our last EP is a side story where we see the knights fighting against Gilles de Rais who turned to black magic and demonology.
A thing that really draws my attention in your music is the use of classical music elements in a very organic way, much more than I normally get to hear in many symphonic metal bands, because the “classical” part is not there just to garnish the music but is matched with the guitars and other instruments. How did you come up with this result?
Adrien D. : I appreciate your comment about the music ! Thank you! I really wanted that the word symphonic would mean something in our music. I believe symphonic elements are the strongest to present a lore and a universe to the public while also bringing dramaturgy and beauty. I work with the band being part of the orchestra and not two separate entities. The guitars, bass and drums are all part of the big architecture I try to create for each song. In the end the metal band is there to bring power to the music and complement what the orchestra is doing, so I would say guitars are not the stars of the music except for the solos.
I’d really like to talk about the vocals. For a power metal band, I love that you guys don’t use extremely high-pitched voices all the time and go towards a lower pitched voice, including some very strong gutturals in some songs. How was this set of voices planned to sound so nice?
Adrien D: As for the set of voices, we’re very lucky to be not one, but three singers in the band. Indeed, Noémie is a professional singer and vocal coach and vocalist for the band Hartlight and I am also a pro vocal coach as well as a pro opera singer as I said before. Axel wanted us to use our voices to embodied different characters in the story as it brings more colors to the vocal palette and more diversity of voices for the different characters. Axel plays mostly Phoebus and the Beast and he uses the screams and growl more for the Beast to embody this evil side. Noémie and I play our characters of knights of Heliopolis that are friends of Phoebus, but also other characters. For example, in “The Fall of Baraz Dûm” from our first EP, Noémie plays Sigrid, dwarf princess of the fortress of Baraz Dûm and I play the king of the dwarfs. We all think that it gives also a sonic opening to have several voices with occasional lead passages taken by us and more coherence for our concept.
The fact that Axel has a bass voice is also a great and original take on the Power Metal genre as it is very rare. I believe it gives another point of view on the word “Power” with something majestic and grounded.
Axel: Thank you very much! I see my voice as an instrument that I must constantly explore to have the widest possible palette of vocal colors. I am currently working on a brand-new vocal technique, the results of which you will be able to see in the future!
Adrien D. : I know which technique Axel is referring to and when we’ll use it in a song, I’m sure it will surprise everyone !
How important are live performances for the band? What do you want to transmit to the public with your shows? I ask because I think how difficult it is to perform so many different parts at the same time in concerts, because there are so many instruments, signature changes, and other stuff.
Axel: More than anything else, we want to tell a story of the knights of Heliopolis! The more resources we have, the more costumes there will be and artists on stage to tell it.
Adrien D. : We really want the people travel elsewhere, far from the problems of life to enjoy a beautiful and empowering moment with us! Musically, let’s be honest, we work with a sampled orchestra that I programmed because we don’t have yet the money to have a real one, so I guess it’s not so complicated to play our music on stage, to be honest with you. We’re all musicians who know what to do! I think that’s okay! We take a lot of pleasure and joy in our live performances!
Me, during my whole teenage years as a geek and RPG player, I spent years listening to a lot of power metal and symphonic metal, but as time went by, I put it aside because I was more interested in experimental music bands, including a lot of avant-garde and noise. However, I always appreciate bands with great ideas like Phoebus the Knight, which recalls me that time when I could pretend to slay dragons while listening to Rhapsody of Fire. How do you see the scene for power metal and symphonic metal? Do you think there is any space for innovation and good new bands?
Axel: To be in a metal band is to do a five-man marathon and move forward at the same pace. We have all chosen to sacrifice a lot to participate in this adventure. But it would be impossible for us to live otherwise. We will fight until the end to make our music known and to be able to live from it.
Adrien D. : We relate so much ! We’re all geeks in the band that love role playing games! We tend to think our music is also really dedicated to people like you and us.
About the scene, I tend to focus on our music more than the scene around us. In other words, I listen more to old bands than new ones because my tastes are not very modern-oriented. But I really love bands like Whispered or Fairyland for the not so new bands that are presenting personal music! For the new bands you have names like Exanimis or Etwas doing a very interesting work. Projects like Love Anarchy or Ben Sebastian are also full of incredible ideas. For now all those bands are yet to be well-known, but they deserve to be !
We here are a Brazilian site and I always like to ask if you know or like any Brazilian bands. If yes, could you recommend some?
Adrien D. : I won’t be very original but Angra is, of course, a reference. I also recommend Tierramystica that is doing a great job combining metal and Andean music !
I want to thank you very much for the time and the interview. This is the space to leave a message to our readers. Let’s go.
Adrien D.: Thank you so much for this great interview! We thank all the people following us and interested in our music!
Axel: Thank you so much for the time you have given us, brave knight! May the One bless you. Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror!
Related Links
https://www.facebook.com/phoebus.the.knight/
https://www.instagram.com/phoebus_the_knight/