Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

FURY ‘N GRACE are one of Italy’s most interesting metal realities of the last few years, although the band has been steadily going for about 17 years. Their new opus, “Diabolism of Conversation” is the masterpiece of eccentric genius, and with the addition of Deathmaster of DoomSword on vocals, Fury’n’Grace push themselves and the listener to new boundaries. Fury’n’Grace call their new album their “exorcism of reality”.

Last week I had a chance to interview Christian Grillo (bass) and Matteo Carnio (guitar), please join our conversation…

Hi Chris and Matteo, and welcome to Metal Shock Finland! How are you doing today?

Christian: Hello Tarja, We’re fine, thanks. I enjoy the arrival of winter in the middle of nowhere here in “Maremma”. (Editor’s note: one area in Tuscany)

Fury ‘n Grace are playing for 17 years … tell me a little bit of early years and who are you today? and why “Fury ‘n Grace”?

Christian: The Fury N Grace was born from an idea of Matteo Carnio and A.D. Vecchio exactly 17 years ago. Since then the band has undergone structural upheavals, meta pathophysiological traumas, clashed with the daily injustices of life… producers, labels, users, climate, economic and social changes, and all this leads us to today, after the turnover of some members and two unreleased albums, today the formation sees myself on bass, Matteo Carnio on guitar, Emiliano “Kiske” “Wrathlord” Bertossi on drums, and Deathmaster on vocals.

Your debut album “Tales Of The Grotesque and Arabesque” was released in 2007 and just recently came out your new “Diabolism of Conversation” on Underground Symphony … what are the main differences of these 2 albums?

Christian: “Tales of …” was the long-awaited debut, filled with the feelings and experiences of which I mentioned earlier, and it still retains the semblance of revenge, of liberation and brought with it some musical and emotional aftermaths of the past. “Diabolism of Conversation” is separated from the recent past and it projects into the more remote times, to childhood nightmares, the ghosts. It’s a sublime corollary of spectra.

I read from your bio that the album is for you an “exorcism of reality” … why this definition?

Matteo: Some band members have a difficult relationship with the reality, with everyday life. Lets put it this way: the creation of this album has been a kind of analysis, a form of therapy, a challenge with ourselves, a struggle with the demonic aspects that the reality can take. Hence the need of an exorcism.

Christian: Contrary to what one might think, the album does not escape from the reality. It’s just the opposite: in reality we enter voluntarily, from time to time, to feed what awaits us beyond the threshold.

From many reviews I’ve read, comes out particularly a phrase that this album seems “almost inaccessible” … how do you respond to this presumption?

Christian: The album is extremely accessible. Of course, it’s not an album that you can listen absentmindedly while e.g. dusting shelves or working in the office – unless you are predisposed to a certain kind of sound. The album asks attention, dedication, commitment. The music is an extremely serious question, and the idea that it would be a common good, like water or air, horrifies me. You can not propose music adapting it to the capabilities – it is the will – hearing of others.

How the songs and lyrics have seen the daylight? is it a concept album? at least you could think so from the title “Diabolism of Conversation” … and what are your “instructions” to listen to it?

Matteo: We, Christian and I, prepare the individual fragments, demos and ideas. We assemble these ideas according to various combinations and arrange it all with the help of Kiske Wrathlord – often contorting and contradicting the initial ideas. At this point, it’s the song itself that dictates its code, requires a certain treatment, and certain images through the lyrics. I would not call it a concept albums. It seems too simplistic. As human beings, we are a mess. Let’s reiterate it in our works, then. If you do not want to fool yourself around, it’s fundamental to accept your unsystematic way of doing: a concept album denies all that and wants to tell a story with a meaning, a moral and even a happy ending. As if you’d never need to die. Our lives are the sum of senseless movements of the body. Why don’t we learn to say this also aesthetically? Here is a good tip for a better appreciation of this album: let’s stop rationalizing the delirium that each of us embodies. Just embrace it.

Your arrangements are particular and they create an atmosphere that can be anything between hell and heaven, between life and death … is it something you sought, or does it arise spontaneously?

Matteo: We try to arrange the material in an interesting and effective way. That’s all. What we want to hear from these tracks is the immediate reflection of our personalities, and not our intention to conquer the music world. A frenzy which does not concern us, but it seems to be a very common way to see these things.

Christian: “Sought” and “spontaneous” are two sides of the same coin. You can not search beyond your own spontaneity. The search itself is spontaneity. Spontaneous is one’s own free will.

To whom, and what kind of audience the album is directed?

Matteo: To sensitive people, I’d say. To those who love certain aggressive sounds and do not disdain evanescent and ghostly atmospheres. To those who has understood that you can safely talk with the ghosts.

Is there something that you want to tell me about the studio sessions?

Matteo: Among the prestigious guests who honored us with their presence, we forgot to mention in the credits a wonderful army of moths that gnawed the walls of the studio, while they followed our work with loving care.

Christian: The drama of Peter Steele’s death that permeated the period. And all the periods that will follow.

You have as guest singer Deathmaster from DoomSword … how the collaboration had its start?

Matteo: The possibility of having him as singer for the album, was so obvious that no one even thought about it. As in “The Purloined Letter” by Poe. The letter is there, under the eyes of everybody, but for this reason it is impossible to notice. One night Kiske Wrathlord suggested it, abruptly, just like that. After having listened to some passages from the Deathmaster pre-production he agreed to deal with it. His work on Diabolism is brilliant. Theophanic.

Speaking of sounds, they are sometimes very psychedelic and nightmarish, with a macabre sense of humor … but is it possible to give any definitions to your genre?

Matteo: It’s ‘possible, yes, but not interesting. It seems like a shortcut to sleeping minds. For consumers. People who has read labels and has stopped to enjoy and that are too busy to catalog their mp3 archives.

Christian: The less you join heavy metal, the more you will be dangerously close to the truth.

How you thought to support the album? and do you have something new in mind for the future?

Matteo: We’re writing new material, yes. For now we have completed three tracks. Meanwhile, the promotion goes through the internet, waiting for the first concerts in 2012.

How and where we can bye your album? and what about live shows, where we can see you on stage?

Matteo: The album is available on the website of our label http://www.undergroundsymphony.it, eBay, on CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and in the best record stores. Or you can contact us directly. For the first live shows you’ll have to wait late winter.

Where you’d like to see you in 5 years from now?

Christian: Musically speaking, surrounded by new, horrifying material. Personally I have not the slightest idea.

Matteo: As a band, our impulse is to produce continuously new material, publish it, offer it live. I suppose that in 5 years we will be in the process of recording the fourth album, or something. Personally I avoid to lend to this monstrous play. It frightens me when I think of the future. I am horrified when I think about the past.

Speaking of the music scenes in Italy, how do you see them and if you could change it somehow, what would you do?

Matteo: I detest it. It’s insignificant and, unfortunately, very noisy. Fortunately we have nothing to do with it. And why to improve the conditions of a form of slavery?

Christian: The only thing that interests me about the Italian scenes, is to understand when the short circuit that occurred in the 70’s, has thrown us directly into the abyss.

Now the last question … how would you like to conclude this interview?

Matteo: With a scream.

Christian: Thanking you Tarja for the opportunity granted to us and saying “hello” to all the readers of MSF. We’re really close to you!

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

Fury’n’Grace DIABOLISM OF CONVERSATION – MACABRO Trailer