Irish artist Bambie Thug will be in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with the song Doomsday blue, in which she battles her inner demons and overcomes her personal devil at the end of the act. It proves that songs with extreme metal influences can sometimes appeal to an audience of millions.
Axamenta’s music is also deeply rooted in extreme metal, but on their new EP Spires it is put into a warm bath of pure and very melodic vocal harmonies, film music and a kind of rock opera. The songs have influences from Pink Floyd, among others, and can therefore appeal to a much wider audience than just metalheads.
No smoking, no drinking
But the extreme vocals of Peter Meynckens from Heist-op-den-Berg continue to play a leading role. “For those rough vocals I push air out from my stomach, in a way that is comfortable for myself,” says Peter. “I used to receive guidance from a singing coach for my breathing, for example, and that is really necessary if you want to continue doing this singing technique for a long time. As far as I’m concerned, an unhealthy lifestyle is definitely out of the question: I don’t smoke, hardly drink alcohol and give my voice a lot of rest between singing parts. Although I also sing along to this kind of music in the car. Other people in traffic may sometimes look strange, but that is not a problem.”
Twice at Graspop
Axamenta himself also took a long time off. The previous album Ever-arch-I-tech-ture dates back to 2006, and the group broke up in 2008. The highlights of their career included the two performances at Graspop in 2005 and 2006. “But during the corona crisis we got back together and started writing songs together again,” says guitarist Sven Deckers from Antwerp. “The lyrics of our new EP, which will be released on streaming services on June 7, are about a fictional English priest who feels guilty about the death of his younger brother. That brother suffered from epileptic seizures. His parents thought this was the work of the devil. Ultimately, the younger brother flees and drowns. The priest is nearby at the time, but allows his brother to drown so that he would not suffer further. For the rest of his life he has enormous guilt and is tormented by his demons.”
Axamenta has no plans to perform for the time being. The band members are too busy with their professional lives. The new single will be released on Friday Synopsis. That is, as the title suggests, a short version of the seven songs on the EP Spire to stand. So it is not a separate song on that EP, but a summary of all the songs in one new song.
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