Hi Jim! Glad to have you on Grande Rock! You didn’t waste any time, releasing a new album, “Gone with the Devil”, under a new label, Metal Blade, this time around. That makes three albums under three different labels. It kind of shows the band’s gradual growth, step by step. What do you think?
J: It’s great pleasure to be also in Grande Rock and talkin’ with you. Yeah, Yoth Iria is a fairly new band, so our evolution is quite normal. We started out with more underground labels and ended up with Metal Blade Records, the oldest and biggest independent label in the metal genre. As you know, we are a very active band and I am at the forefront of it.
You said that you entered the studio “with the clear intention of creating a landmark album”. What was intended by the statement that was made?
J: I don’t agree with that interpretation now, as the next album will be even better! Seriously now. Every artist strives to become better through evolution. Music combines the spirit, the soul, the body, and the individual’s full range of endurance across many situations. Therefore, my view is that “Gone with the Devil” is resilient to future demands because it’s free from barriers and dogmatic musical norms. So, I can call it like a landmark album. But let the history be the judge of that.
Which are the music similarities and differences between your new album and the previous ones?
J: You can discern the mark of our avatar, Yoth Iria, in all our 3 albums. With the new album, however, we traveled further and experimented with self-awareness. We grounded firmly in traditional metal as well as traditional ethnic sounds. But extreme sounds are here too, as are gothic, classic rock and punk. “Gone with the Devil” is the traces of a life into this marvelous music.
What inspired the overall lyrical theme of the album?
J: The children’s revolution-like those Reborn Lucifers. We are the penultimate generation that failed, despite our good intentions. For thousands of years, our political systems and our religions have failed. What Heraclitus said around the fifth century BC is more relevant than ever. Let’s go and hover those teenagers, and let the world belong to children.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while recording this album?
J: The main challenge is making everything sound better and better, while ensuring that the sound is modern and looks to the future while respecting the past.
How did you approach songwriting for this album? Did you have a specific goal or message in mind?
J: I think many of my answers above address your question. But the goal might simply be encapsulated in the phrase: “Let’s play metal”.
How do you feel this album represents your growth as a band?
J: Each of our albums represents an evolution, though not necessarily a coming-of-age or a maturing process. Why do I say this? I consider “Gone with the Devil” a return to childhood and a personal catharsis. Beyond a certain point, no one is completely innocent. So, I say let’s start over and live with love for whatever time we have left on earth. Otherwise, it will sweep us right off our feet an hour early!
What does the album title “Gone with the Devil” declare? Are there any hidden messages behind it?
J: The album title can have multiple interpretations. It swept us right off our feet or dare to live with a free spirit and a free soul. Devil has been blamed for a multitude of evils, yet he possesses no authority whatsoever. I absolve this maligned entity of guilt.
Give us a hint about each track (just a line)…
J: “Dare to Rebel”: The title describes it all!
“Woven Spells of a Demon”: My dedication to Clive Barker and his novel Waveworld.
“The Blind Eye of Antichrist”: Children of the earth, I shield your fragile song.
“I, Totem”: A tribute to Mother Earth and its creatures.
“3am”: The second part of “Blind Eye of Antichrist” trilogy.
“Give ‘Em My Beautiful Hell”: My respect and blessings to Witchfynde for years of inspiration!
“Once in a Blue Moon”: The closing part of “Blind Eye of Antichrist” trilogy.
“Blessed Be He Who Enters”: The end is the new beginning.
“The End of the Known Civilization”: Civilizations meet their dooms. The paradox.
“Harut, Government, Fallen”: The story about Harut, Marut (Government), the trial of test for humanity regarding the knowledge of magic.
You close with “Harut, Government, Fallen”. Harut is not Greek, he’s Qur’anic, one of the fallen angels sent to Babylon. After an album critiquing Christian power structures, why end on an Islamic fallen angel paired with the word “Government”?
J: You know, their love for humanity stood in opposition to an egomaniacal and likewise imperfect creator – the Ruler. We must not confuse the creator of the universe with the creator of man. I wanted to clear up this misunderstanding, and the story of Harut-Government-Fallen gave me the impetus.
The album was produced by your guitarists, Nick Perlepe and Naberius. You also collaborated with the renowned Lawrence Mackrory (Paradise Lost, Meshuggah and Katatonia, etc.) on the mixing. I think the sound is massive and your best produced album to date. What do you think?
J: Yeah, the production is really good, and Lawrence is a very experienced and hard-working sound engineer and producer. The final product speaks for itself. Don’t forget about Symbolic studio, it’s really well organized with the best equipment and outstanding operators.
Why did you decide to include a sample of the Serbian Orthodox Choir performing Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović’s “Pobedna Pesma” in “The Blind Eye of the Antichrist”?
J: We like it and it matched the paradox we wanted to convey.
As I can see on your official website, you have a full schedule of live shows during the summer. Are live shows part of the Yoth Iria dynamic?
J: We are very active and there is a lot of demand for us. That in itself means we are a good band to see live.
What can fans expect from your live shows in support of this new album?
J: We give our best and all our energy to every show, and we become one with our fans.
Why is there a different singer on stage than in the studio? Does HE not like performing live, or is it something else?
J: We started with Orestis as a live singer and we share a special chemistry and friendship with him. In some specific shows you can see HE as well.
Time for our “Strange Questions”!!! Is Yoth Iria a personal guardian “between good and evil” according to you?
J: Yoth Iria is a dynamic energy that radiates at a very high vibration. One might dispute it, yet still accept the spoiled canned food served to them, simply because they cannot align themselves with those angelic-demonic levels. Yoth Iria is a spectral-level consciousness like Lucifer or Michael. It’s definitely not that developed when compared to the universe’s balancing mechanism, but it exhibits very rapid development and autonomy. Yoth Iria is always ready to help anyone, because he’s an inexhaustible source of energy. Yoth Iria’s help to me is really invaluable, and before long, will be a subject of discussion and reflection. The first meeting often fails to reveal its true magnitude.
Which of the Seven Deadly Sins do you think is more likely to condemn someone in the afterlife?
J: Greed probably, but nothing compared to sexual perversion. Pedophiles, abusers of women, rapists are the most repulsive things I can conceive of. It’s even difficult for me to think about it.
If you could be someone else (man, woman, fictional character, historical figure) who would you chose to be and why?
J: Without second thought, Jason the Argonaut. I connected with this character from a very young age. I must have read the “The Argonautica” by Apollonius of Rhodes over a hundred times, and I still do. Along with the Iliad, my absolute favorite epic.
Which is the most underrated musician/band of all time?
J: I think the British hard and heavy metallers Demon deserve to be a bigger band, given the quality of their music.
Which are the best 3 Black Metal albums of all time according to you?
J: It has changed quite a few times over the years, but now I will say: Bathory – “Under the Sign of the Black Mark”, Dissection – “Storm of the Light Bane” & Satyricon – “Nemesis Divina”.
Which is the composer/songwriter who influenced metal music the most?
J: I will vote for Tony Iommi.
Which do you consider to be the best male & female vocalist in metal history?
J: Male absolutely Ozzy. I don’t have any special female singer I like mostly. I like some but nothing special.
Which is the record you wish you had written and why?
J: Nice question. Maybe most of Ozzy Osbourne’s albums. With a heavy heart, I will choose “The Ultimate Sin”. It had a huge impact on my age of 16. During a difficult adolescence, it helped a lot.
Which is that band that you’d like to be part of (any time & era)?
J: UFO??? Lol, why not?!
Were you obliged to give just one album to extraterrestrials that would represent the whole human music, which album would it be and from which band/artist?
J: Let give em “Shout at the Devil”, or maybe “Gone with the Devi”? Need to think about it.
What are your thoughts on AI? It appears to have taken over every part of our lives in recent years, and we are heading towards a point where we won’t be able to control it. What are your thoughts on the AI-generated music?
J: Really hard question. I could never have imagined that something like this would exist. It’s a human achievement that might turn against humanity. It seems that science has a plan linked to something, perhaps conspiratorial. Of course, I can realize that everyday life is a kind of conspiracy-one of our own making.
If you had the chance to travel in time… where would you choose to go? To the past or the future and why?
J: To the past. I would really love to go to the age of the dinosaurs.
That’s all for now Jim. Thank you very much for talking to Grande Rock. Wish you the best for the future to come. Take care dude!
J: Thanks so much for the great hospitality to your magazine and the great interview. I really enjoyed it. I also thank the people who will read this.
