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We talked with Luca from Altair. He told us a bit from the band, how is the Italian Metal scene and more. Altair started as a Power Metal banda, but now it flirts more with the Prog Metal. The new album “Descending: A Devilish Comedy” shows a new approach for the band. See below the chat we had with him.
GroundCast: To warm up, could you tell a bit of the band’s journey to the people that maybe do not know you?
Luca: Hi Groundcast! Fine, there’s not much to say for real, we’re power-prog metal band which debuted in 2013 with a first full length called Lost Eden.
We played in clubs and festival all around Italy, sometimes sharing the stage with important artists like Freedom Call, Fabio Lione, Trick or Treat, Kaledon, Vanexa, Sabotage and in an open air festival in Kiev with Blind Guardian and Rotting Christ.
In October 2016 after some changes of musical style and line-up, we recorded at Domination Studio with Simone Mularoni the second full lenght, called “Descending: A Devilish Comedy”.
Descending present a much modern and heavy sound totally different from the first works of the band.
It’s a concept album who runs through the circles of hell, which exist only in our minds, where all the fears, vices, virtues and the dark side of the human kind are showed in the form of a theatre comedy!
GroundCast: What are your influences?
Luca: We have so many influences, acquired during our band’s experience. Starting from the first album, i can name bands as Helloween and Gamma Ray, Edguy and Avantasia, but i can say in this second album we’re more confident to confirm that Symphony X and Masterplan helped us a lot to create a new sound.
GroundCast: You released in 2013 the CD Lost Eden and now in 2017 you will release Descending: A Devilish Comedy? What does changed in the band in this period?
Luca: We fell in many band’s issues! We had to find a new drummer and a new guitarist in that period, cause the drummer didn’t fit properly the technic and precision needed for the band, and a guitarist left because of different musical tastes and, for this reason, composition went ahead really slowly . Luckely on 2014, we foundt a real stable line-up with a good drummer and a good guitarist, and in one year and half, we finished to compose the new album and back to recording studio!
GroundCast: Talk a bit about the new release, what the fans can expect with this new CD?
Luca: I’m almost sure they can hear the different sound style (or maybe, i hope), because we almost abandoned the cheesy happy power metal that was part of the first album, to cover a bigger marketplace. Fans of prog metal and of more “evil” metal sound, will find a spot for them on this album!
GroundCast: You play Power Metal and I do not need to say that one of the most famous band from Italy is Power Metal (and yes, I talk about the Rhapsody of Fire). How do you try to sound Power Metal, but still step out from the Rhapsody of Fire sphere?
Luca: It’s not only the sound that distinguish us from Rhapsody of Fire (and other Power Metal bands from Italy). Also lyrics are different: while Rhapsody and companions try to build something that revolves around any fantasy opera, we prefer to create allegories beetween feelings and fears.
GroundCast: How do you start the process of a new album, do you first think in a story you’d like to tell and then make songs over it or the other way around or even another different way?
Luca: Usually i start first to compose the instrumental part (yeah, i’m the master composer of the band, and this is a bad work, haha!), and after that we decide to compose the lyrics or the vocals. Bu always the heavy guitar riffing at first!
GroundCast: I believe that the cover art is something extremely important for the band, do you have a favorite artist to make the album covers or the two releases have different artists you worked with?
Luca: Yes, the cover is really really important for the impact. We do not have a preference about artists who make covers, also because there are plenty of not known artists who make great and stunning works! So, up the underground always! And for that, our release have two different not known artists!
GroundCast: I have to ask about this, the band’s name Altair, does it come from the game series Assassin’s Creed or have any other reason and what does the name means to the band?
Luca: That was a gigantic pain in the ass for us. Hahaha! Well, we got the name from the star Altair, that is one the fastest stars on our galaxy (“fastest” and “power metal” is a great combination, right?), and we chose that name in the old summer of 2008. After some months, the first Assassin’s Creed seen the light, but we decided to keep the same name, and fuck it!
GroundCast: We are in the internet era and you know how easy it is to download something. Even countries like Germany – that is strict with downloading – lots of people make it (and lots of get a punishment for this too). What do you think about it, this “free” share that the internet became and about the streaming services like Spotify?
If they get to buy the entire album, where’s the problem? But many, don’t do it. We just accept the fact, but we won’t to surrender to it. We’ll keep ALWAYS pushing our music to the top!
GroundCast: How is the metal scene in Italy?
Luca: That’s the question that every Italian hate to answer, haha! Fine, we think we’re part of a national scene for sure, but we didn’t feel good in it. Italy is not a real supporter of underground music, we just worship big bands and pillars of metal, but the curiosity to discover new potential good bands, is really poor.
GroundCast: What are the plans for the band’s future?
Luca: We are preparing a lot of interesting things, most of them for the end of this summer!
GroundCast: Are you involved in any other projects that you’d like to share?
We’re not going to tell anything. A surprise, it’s still a surprise! Hahaha!
GroundCast: Thank you so much for the interview. Now you can say something to our readers.
Luca: Thanks to Groundcast for this intereview! We’re so fuckin happy that the album is having a lot of good reviews, and we hope also people will enjoy it. We spent so much time behind it and the best way to prove that our work is good, is to see happy faces on our fans! Keep in touch guys!