The limited edition of "Blood of the saints" will feature the bonus-CD "The sacrilege symphony (and still the orchestra prays)", which contains a 26 minutes orchestral piece based on Powerwolf-songs. It was arrangend by russian Filmscore composer Dominic G. Joutsen, who previously worked for Movies, Computer Games and as well for Portugese metalband Heavenwood. Dominic and Matthew are talking about the creation of "The sacrilege symphony", what metal and classial music have in common:
Dominic, How was it for you to work with a Metal band as a classical composer?
And I'm always open to new possibilities and eager to expand my skills and knowledge; for that purpose collaborating with musicians from various styles and genres is one of the best ways. That is why I became involved with Powerwolf. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of metal music, but I can recognize good music when I hear it. I liked Powerwolf's tunefulness and energy which might have been not so much unlike my own sensibilities, so it felt only logical that we try and make something together.
Did you work with rock/metal bands before?
Only once, as it happens. I made symphonic arrangements for Portuguese metal band Heavenwood latest album (released earlier this year) 'Abyss Masterpiece'. Unlike what I have done for Powerwolf, it was orchestration of the songs proper, not the standalone orchestral versions. I must say that although Heavenwood's music is also metal, it's very different, so due to this and the nature of my work, it was a very different experience, than with Powerwolf.
Was it hard to transform Powerwolf´s music into classical arrangements?
Generally, making arrangements is very much the same as composing. The one crucial difference is the origin of primary musical ideas - when you compose you develop your own ideas, when you arrange you take someone else's. So, the first step I made was to deconstruct the song and, so to say, extract its basic ideas. After that I worked as I usually do, trying to make some decent music. Powerwolf melodies have proved to be quite appropriate for the orchestral setting, apparently, and thus a pleasure to work with. It wasn't always easy to have both parties - the band and myself - satisfied (which is normal for any collaboration), but we have managed it, and successfully too.
What do you think about the final result?
I'm very happy with it! The singing is fantastic too, so if there are any faults, they are all mine... I like that each song has somewhat of a double personality, representing both Powerwolf and myself. I would say that the songs are rather lush and spectacular, if it wasn't an immodest thing for me to say. I also hope that fans of Powerwolf and others, who may not be accustomed to orchestral music, could find a way to appreciate it better after all.
Matthew, how was to collaboration for you?
It was a fantastic experience and totally different from working with the band. It was thrilling to see the songs being re-arranged. In the beginning I had to learn that working on orchestral arrangements demands a different approach to putting things together, like, you can´t just double a rythm guitar to make it sound more powerful, you got to understand how an orchestra works and how the sound evolves from the single intrument groups. That was an exiting thing to learn.
How do you see the orchestral pieces compared to the original "metal"-Versions?
To me they are different songs, which are only based on the main themes of some Powerwolf tunes. For example "In blood we trust": Dominic deconstructed the song completely and came up with this intense arrangement that only sometimes reveals some aspects of original themes of the song as it is on "Lupus dei". I had goosebumps allover my body when I listened to it, it was pure magic. From the beginning on it wasn´t the concept of "The sacrilege symphony" to just transform metal songs into classical tunes, but to create some exiting new music based on our songs, and it was an honour and pleasure to cooperate with such a gifted and creative composer like Dominic on this project.
posted by WebmasterWell, so the time has come for the first Powerwolf videoclip to be revealed. Tomorrow at 11 a.m. the video will see the light of day in form of its internet premiere on metal-hammer.de. Feels strange in a way. Somehow like releasing an album, though it isn´t. And ironically as it is, the protagonists can´t even attend the jamboree. The clip will be revelaed while the wolves are killing time in the tourbus on their way to RockHarz Festival tomorrow. Well, there are worse reasons for not attending a premiere indeed. Hoewever, we´ll unroll an imaginary red carpet in the tourbus then, swaggering until the next highway bending reminds us to better sit down. However, have a peep at metal-hammer.de and enjoy the wolves revelling in fire, incense and altar wine.
posted by Matthew GreywolfOn a fine sunny weekend in May the time had come for the first video shooting in the wolves' history. Together with the fabulous Ambitious-Films-Team, an eight headed army of creative talent we set foot on holy ground once again: This time it was an old monastery church that got sanctified with metal music by the wolves. After two intense days on the set with almost no sleep at all we have learned to comprehend the moaning of actors, the prematurely aging of directors and the rings under the eyes of any camera assistent on the face of this earth. And we thought we had the right to lick our wounds after a 90-minutes liveshow... ;-). Apart from hard work it was a fantastic experience and we would like to thank all the Ambitious Films boys and girls, as well as Maja, Helen & Tanja, and last but not least the man who relentlessly worked his ass off behind the scenes long before the pack rolled in: Ralph Guthke.
Julia Baier from Ambitious Films took some briliant making of pictures, so enjoy these litte insights in a weekend full of madness, fog and fire.
Halleluja, it´s done!!!! After countless days and weeks of struggle we have just done the last mouseclick finalizing the mix for the last song a few minutes ago. Hard to believe the recording-crusade has come to an end - but holding the result in hands feels incredible. Due to a lack of words We just want to leave a shot insider to Mr. Dorn before heading off to Gothernburg's sticky fingers club for a major celebration (is there an epxression for like an aftershow party when having finished an album....? However, guess you get the picutre of whats going to happen now.... so Mr. Dorn, even if this meaningful line didn't make it to the album, here it finally is - and nothing is more true now than this: "Die Arbeit is getan, der Cognac steht bereit..." ;-).
After days of detail sound surgery and sorcery madness slowly takes over here at Studio Fredman. 2/3 of the songs are mixed by now and we can hardly keep from smiling from one ear to the other since this sounds fantastic. Besides hard work we had been involved in some more serious kötbullar massacres of course and even visited a systembolaget to get some real beer, which is kind of a challenge here in this beautiful country.
Actually the last rays of pale sunshine we´ve seen in the past four days was the sunset when crossing the Öresund bridge on our way to Sweden. But who the hell needs sunlight as long as there is metal in the night?
Arrived in Gothenburg/Sweden to mix the album at Studie Fredman with Fredrik Nordström. Had a long but convenient travel with a spledid odyssey through the last german gas stations before denmark to catch some actual metal literature in form of magazines. Now Kötbullar.!
Holy Father, get ready for the metalchoir! In this edition of the studio diary, the highpriest Attila Dorn guides about 20 acolytes to shout with him and praise the wolf!!
The last two days we spent recording classical choir parts for the album at Deutschherrenkapelle in Saarbrücken, a chapel from the 12th century. In total more than 40 men and women lent us their voices, talents and dedication, which was totally
amazing. We dare say we hardly had such stunning moments during any recordings yet. You can ...literally hear the atmosphere that made these two days a total blast.
We´ll post some more pictures and documentation soon, and for those who want to get a closer insight: Metal Hammer Germany was there to do a studio report, so be sure to read about it in one of the upcoming issues.
Ladies and Gentleman, here it is: the new diary !! This time the Highpriest of Heavy Metal himself,Attila Dorn, will give you a little insight of the vocal recordings. After the compulsive blessing of the studio he evokes with his blasphemic chant the demons of the night !! .
Another video from the studio. Lead guitars this time. A slightly exhausted Matthew talking about the progress of the recordings, tired hands and the importance of v-shaped guitars for the fate of mankind. Better believe it.
After another day of incredible dutch bum-bum-blasphemy the drumtracks for five more songs are done. More about where this blasphemy suddenly came from and where it leads to will be revealed when the time has come. For now, stay careful when invoking the spirits of your choice, have a scary night and keep your fingers crossed upside down everybody
Back at Kohlekeller Studios. We started tracking drums today, and it sounds way beyond our expectations. Even Attila paid a visit to sanctifiy this place, which should be a good omen for the work to be done during the next couple of days. Now getting high on holy water.
First 2 days of bass-invading are done. Seemingly the holy trinity (Harris, Burton and Cronos) is with me and make it sounding really illustrious... 3 Songs left for tomorrow and even if all hell breaks loose: I have to finish my part tomorrow and then it's up to Matt to invoke some leadguitar mayhem.... Stay tuned for more news and picutures...
I will now take a few days off from the studio to work out all the lead guitar stuff and purchase new incense. Next up it´s Charles´ turn to track low end for lucifer.
For me the new year started as the old one ended: shredding riffs all day. Hard work, especially when starting at 10 a.m. on new years day. Well, despite of the obvious hangover moaning we finally managed to get all the rythm Guitars tracked within just four days, which is record beating for the wolves and to be seen as a proof that the saints are with us on the making of this album.
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