Hi Sakis, I’m glad to have you on Grande Rock webzine. I do think that your new album, “The Great Destroyer”, is your most complete work to date. Great job!
S: Thank you so much. It means a lot to us. We always try (and hope) for the best, but you never really know until it leaves our hands and gets out there.
Hence do tell us what has happened these 4 years between your previous release and the new one?
S: Obviously the biggest thing of these last 4 years was the pandemic. Hopefully things are now returning to a semblance of normalcy. Thanks to our brave new connected world, we were able to communicate and write our music without having to meet IRL. Of course, because our guitarist and drummer, Kosta Vreto and Stergios Kourou, are also members of Wardrum, “Mavericks” took precedence. “Mavericks” was released in 2021, and if you haven’t heard it yet, you should because it’s a fantastic album. Then we we started working on “The Great Destroyer”, which was finished in February 2023 and released in May.
I read that “The Great Destroyer” was written concurrently with the previous album “Skeleton Keyes”. Is that right, and what’s the backstory?
S: Yes. As a matter of fact, when “Skeleton Keys” was released, “The Great Destroyer” was already written, as was the follow up, which we hope to start recording soon! Since Horizon’s End were inactive for a rather long period of time, a lot of material has been accumulated which can now see the light of day.
Which are the music similarities and differences between your new album and the previous one?
S: We’re playing, more or less, in the same style of progressive metal as our previous album, maybe with more power metal and symphonic elements. The main difference is that we consciously tried to write more compact and streamlined songs with shorter durations and catchy choruses. Of course there are solos and instrumental passages and odd meters, but the main goal was to write songs rather than progressive epic suites.
Have you had to make any changes to your recording or writing process due to the pandemic?
S: Not really, actually the pandemic enabled us by giving us more time for the pre-production, so no drastic changes were needed during the recordings.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while recording this album? Did you try any new techniques or approaches?
S: As far as the recording is concerned, everything went smoothly. Mixing it had its challenges because a lot of songs have dense orchestration with a lot of orchestral sounds plus other layers (guitars, choirs etc.), so we had a difficult time having each element in its proper place sonically. One thing that we decided early and helped us was to not have thick heavy rhythm guitars, so as to not cover a lot of the sonic spectrum. This meant that we had to sacrifice some heaviness from the overall sound, but then again I don’t believe that people listen to our music for its heaviness.
What does the album title “The Great Destroyer” declare?
S: “The Great Destroyer” is War. Historically, it’s been supported that war is a necessity and an unavoidable expression of human traits but, at least to me, war is nothing more than an excuse of the powerful to perpetuate their dominance. It only gives birth to death and destruction and I don’t think I’ll ever justify it.
Please give us a hint about each track…
S: “Damage”: Probably the most typical progressive metal song of the album.
“Last to Succumb”: The one with the catchy chorus.
“The Trail of Notes”: This was originally an orchestral piece and owns a lot to Queen and Danny Elfman.
“Another War”: A song of two parts, the first half is aggressive while the second is mellow.
“Catalyst of Fear”: It could be a typical prog song, but for the extended use of piano and orchestral sounds.
“They Will Rise Again”: This is the most heavy and shortest song of the album with an extra bit of neoclassical shredding.
“Nightmares”: Another song that uses symphonic elements (choirs, strings, piano), I’ve been told it has a Rhapsody vibe!
“The Parade” This is a synth-heavy song with a lot of Tangerine Dream inspired sounds, plus an atypical structure (no chorus or solos).
“Voices from the Sea”: This is probably the most typical Horizon’s End song and the only one that could easily have been in our previous album.
“Postcards from War”: The longest and probably the most important song of the album which is why we chose it as the first video.
As far as I know, the bass player Kostas Scandalis and you (Sakis Bandis) are responsible the album’s production and mixing. Kostas also took care of the mastering. Are you completely satisfied with the final result? Do you prefer to have the full control of your albums’ sound in general?
S: Yes, we are satisfied with the final result and, since we had a crystal clear view of how we wanted it to sound, it was good to have full control. That said, I don’t dismiss working with a producer outside the band. This can bring different things to the table and maybe enrich our music. But let’s not forget that we self-finance the production, so there are monetary issues to consider. Would an external producer make that much of a difference to justify the cost? I really cannot tell.
Once again you released the album via Steel Gallery Records. Are you totally satisfied with the label? Will you ever consider working with a bigger record company at some point or not?
S: There is a friendship with Kostas Athanasoglou, owner of Steel Gallery records that goes back almost thirty years now. Our cooperation has never been anything other than great. We certainly would love to have our music reach even more people, but it isn’t our main goal. If working with a bigger record company would ensure us the same freedom we now enjoy, we would certainly consider it, but we have to be realistic about these things, because our music doesn’t have much commercial appeal.
Do you believe “The Great Destroyer” will bring new fans to the band’s camp? Is this the album that will push you to the next level?
S: We certainly hope so. We hope to gain new fans that will look forward to our future endeavors but we also hope for people to discover our previous albums. We are really proud of our body of work and we’d love to have people listen to it despite their age.
What are your expectations from the new album and what do you wish to achieve with Horizon’s End over the next years?
S: As I said, we hope to reach new fans but it isn’t really our goal. Regardless of the number of listeners, we hope people to appreciate our compositions, the performance, and the different layers of our material. One can hope that one’s craft, love and attention to detail will be acknowledged. For the future, there is a lot of material already written and we’re optimistic that we’ll release it in less time than it took us in the past.
Do you plan to give any live shows to support & promote the new album?
S: Unfortunately, this incarnation of Horizon’s End is strictly a studio one. We’re not that young anymore, we all have families and day jobs, so time is limited. We had to decide if we should allocate our time between writing and recording new material or rehearsing for possible lives since there’s no time for both. We felt that creating new music is what we really wanted.
How would you describe the music style of your band to someone who has never heard of you?
S: It’s a type of progressive metal that gives emphasis to melodies and musicality rather than technicality. If I had to name a few names, the obvious ones would be Shadow Gallery and Fates Warning, but a lot of different things can find their way into our music from jazz to classical to progressive rock to AOR, even from thrash.
It’s time for our “Strange Questions”!!! How did you come up with the name Horizon’s End initially?
S: I think it came from Horizon’s End founder and original guitarist Chris Kostas, an amazing musician I should add. But that was before me joining the band. I believe for a short time the name of the band was “Astral Gods” before the guys ended up with the much more subtle “Horizon’s End”.
What are those things that you do not like in the music industry nowadays?
S: I hate the use of the word consume in regards to music. Music cannot be consumed like food for example, it’s not like we listened to it and then it turns to shit, and it’s still there for everyone to enjoy it. The use of the verb consume hides different coronations behind it that I’m completely against. In the same spirit, I really dislike the tendency for single songs as opposed to albums. I’m really an album guy and I want to sit and enjoy an album from start to finish, preferably while also reading the lyrics. This, in the age of one-minute Instagram and Tik-Tok videos, seems more and more like a lost art.
Are “social media” a “compulsory part” of music biz these days or bands, artists & labels can do without them as well?
S: They are a necessity, I don’t see how anyone can promote their music without using social media. As long as they’re just a tool and not an end goal, I’m fine with it. I think it’s great to have a platform where artists and fans can communicate. What I don’t like is when people don’t respect the boundaries, sometimes people hide behind the safety of anonymity and harass others.
What do you think about the “downloading & streaming issue” of our time? Do you prefer the streaming services more or not?
S: I’m old school, so I personally prefer the physical product, but I definitely see the appeal of streaming. Having the totality of music just clicks away from you is amazing, but also a bit frightening. What’s happening is that we’ve been spoiled by so many choices. I remember, when I had access to a limited number of albums, I could delve deeper now I’m afraid we have a superficial connection with the music we listen to.
Fill in the phrase… “Prog Metal wouldn’t have evolved the way it did, if it hadn’t been for…”
S: Dream Theater. They weren’t the first prog metal band, one can even argue that they are not even the best one, but they probably have reached more people than all other prog metal bands combined and they have influenced more bands and musicians than anyone else in the genre.
Which are the Top 3 Prog Metal albums of all time according to you?
S: I’ll go for the standards here, Dream Theater – “Images and Words”, Shadow Gallery – “Carved in Stone” and Fates Warning – “Perfect Symmetry”, the last one because it has one of my favorite songs ever, “At Fates Hands”.
Put together the best prog metal line-up of all time. Who plays what?
S: I’ll have Baard Kolstad on drums, Geddy Lee on bass, John Petrucci on guitars, Finn Zierler on synths and Michael Kiske on vocals. I don’t know what kind of music these individuals would produce, but it would surely be something interesting.
Which is the most underrated musician/band of all time?
S: Shadow Gallery are definitely not as big as they deserve, to me they should be as big as Dream Theater. There are also many bands with a one or two albums discography that have produced masterpieces that unfortunately no one knows, two that come to mind are Koyaanisqatsy with their 2000 “From the Yearning to Burst the Perpetual Circle” and Bride Adorned’s 2004 “Blessed Stillness?”.
Which is that band that you’d like to be part of (any time & era)?
S: Dream Theater, but I don’t have the chops, or Genesis from 1970 to 1978. But a dream job would be keyboardist for Iron Maiden circ. “Seventh Son”, my favorite band in their best album plus the synths are very easy to play!
Which do you consider to be the best male & female vocalist in rock/metal history?
S: I love Michael Kiske’s voice, but you really have to acknowledge the phenomenon that is Bruce Dickinson. For female vocalist my personal favorite is Marcela Bovio from Streams of Passion.
If you had the opportunity to invite any musician, living or dead, to play on your album whom would you choose and why?
S: There are really so many! Allan Holdsworth, Guthrie Govan, Jens Johansson, Hiromi Uehara, Andre Matos, Roy Khan, Steve Harris, there are literally hundreds of names I could recite and still I would forget someone. This reminds me that I’m so jealous of Arjen Lucassen who has this opportunity (and deservedly so!).
If you had the chance to travel in time… where would you choose to go? To the past or the future and why?
S: Most likely to the future, which despite our efforts to the contrary, I’m still optimistic about.
What are your thoughts on A.I.? It appears to have taken over the world in every part of our life over the last few months, and this is just the beginning. What are your thoughts on the AI-created music?
S: I’m not an expert, but this so-called A.I. is nothing more than a glorified search machine that combines the results into something that can be passed as new. Of course there will come a time that A.I. will show creativity and original thought similar to humans but I believe that this is still far ahead in the future. So, I don’t think that contemporary A.I.-created music can stand a chance against music created by humans, with the exemption probably of utility music like underscores or what we call “elevator music”.
That’s it for now Sakis, thank you for talking with Grande Rock. Say anything you feel like saying before we close. Take care!
S: Thank you so much for the chance to talk. I’d like to close by saying to listen to as much music as possible, one can only benefit from it.