Hail to ‘The Odes’! My first question concerns your lyrics on “Embossed Dream...” album. In the first act of this dream you say that “The total absence of light - IS “GOD”… and you don’t seem to be a satanic band, so tell me about your beliefs and the philosophy of living in this “haunted world’’…

- You are right, we don't have any relation with satanism. Atheism is the keyword of our philosophy. In general we believe that all religions (and gods) were created by humans for several reasons. For example during the ancient times, no one could understand how our universe was created. They didn't even know what the shape of earth is. So, for everything that they couldn't understand they would say that it was created by gods, or they would even name as gods things like the sun, the wind, the earth e.t.c.  Apart from these, an other reason (the most important) which justifies the existence of religions is that humans can't come to terms with the fact of mortality. They created god in order to gain eternal life. As for our lyrics, they are related with these topics (e.g. atheism) and most of the times they are metaphorical like the one you said. The word "light" symbolizes the freedom of will and the word "god" symbolizes all those who follow a religion.

What is the history behind the band’s name? Who and why came up with it?  What does this name mean to you? I think that the band’s name should reflect the psychological mood and the soul of the music, would you agree?

- I had the idea to name our band as “odes of ecstasy”. We wanted to find something that would describe our music in the best way by using just a few words, so i agree with you. I suppose this is the reason of naming a band.  In addition we wanted our name to be original. Back then we didn't know any band to have in it's name the word ode or ecstasy. Now, after some years of our group's birth, I just know one (Greek) band which has the word ode in it's name (CREATION’S ODE).

Thou hath placed a woman on the vocal throne, which is a quite ordinary thing nowadays. Whose idea was that? And why did you do it?  (I’m not critisizing, it sounds amasing).

- I don't remember who had the idea, but it was something we wanted from the very first months of our existence as a band. We did it because  we think they are creating a powerful contrast with the brutal vocals like the contrast between the keyboards and the distorted guitars. We don't have such vocals in order to follow any trend, because as you know the have a leading role in our music. What is more, we like a lot the sound of the soprano singing, so it was something we did without any hesitation.

Your ecstatic ode seemed to have taken influenses from such classical composers as Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi. Your guitar solos seemed to be influensed by IRON MAIDEN and HELLOWEEN, and there are some evil ‘Amorphic’ sounds. How did you manage to acheive that haunting sound of yours, and am I correct in naming your influenses?

- I think we have elements from many kinds of music, but I can't say that we are influenced by a specific band or artist. Of course our music is based on metal, but we also have elements from classical music, atmospheric-new age e.t.c. As for our sound, it is just the result of what we want to play. This was done spontaneously and not on purpose by following a specific plan.

I believe that you are friends with Maiden from MENTAL HOME, so what do you think of Russian metal scene, and Russian people as a whole?

- First of all I have to say that MENTAL HOME is really a great band. In my opinion they deserve to achieve a lot of success, because their music is very good. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to listen to any other Russian bands, although I know that there are also many other groups into metal music apart from MENTAL HOME. About Russia in general, here in Greece we read in our newspapers that things are very bad about your economy, but I can't tell how much of all these are true or not, because journalists very often exaggerate.

What does the “Vampire Hunters” epilogue featured on “Embossed Dream…” have to do with the rest of the lyrics on the this CD? I’m sorry, but I fail to see those connecting threads. Could you, please, make it clear?

- First of all you are right. The title "Vampire Hunters" has nothing to do with the lyrics of the other songs of the CD, but that's the reason we named it “Embossed Dream In Four Acts” and not in 5 or 6. Apart from  "Autumn’s Grief" and "Vampire Hunters" the other songs are related with each other because they are all referred to topics like death, religion e.t.c. "Autumn's Grief" is like an intro and "Vampire Hunters" is a cover we wanted to do, because we like a lot it's music (it doesn' t have any lyrics, but it's title doesn't make any impression to us). We don't believe that all the songs of a CD must be of the same mood. Probably in our next releases the songs will have more differences between them.

I've been to many doom / black metal shows and they don't leave an impression of being something amasing… Do you offer anything special on your gigs?

- Unfortunately we haven't played live yet, but for sure this is one of our first priorities for the near future. At the moment we are in the process of making a rehearsal studio for the band and when we finish it, we 'll start rehearsals in order to play live.

Do you play any ‘covers’ on your gigs?  If you do, then which songs do you cover and why? And if you don’t, then why not?

- As I said we haven't played live yet, but we do like to cover songs. The reason is that those we cover, we like them very much and at the same time we try to add elements from our music in order to make them sound a bit different from the original. Otherwise I don't think there is any point in covering a song. Apart from "Vampire Hunters" we also covered BLACK SABBATH’s "Paranoid" in our first official demo and we plan to cover other songs too.

There is poetry by Kostas Kariotakis after each act of the “Embossed Dream...” Why did you decide to use his poetry? Does it reflect your philosophical ideas?  Is the poetry just printed in the CD booklet or do you read it on your live shows or get it across to the fans in any other way?

- We added parts from some of his poems, because from his art spring the same emotions with those that can be felt from the listening of our songs. Of course his poems have a great artistic value in comparison with our "poor" lyrics. We used his poems only in the booklet of our CD.

In the CD booklet of "Embossed Dream..." you have a passage by Kostas Kariotakis beginning with the following words: "It's time I revealed my tragedy..." I understand the meaning of afore-sited passage, but would you like to explain it's links with the album's music and lyrics? Is the album dedicated to the victims of their own hesitations, who consider their existance to be a meaningless game?

- Being an atheist means that you understand that life was created just by pure luck and not by god, so there isn't any serious purpose why we are living. If you think this statement with your logic you will conclude that life is a meaningless game. The relation of these words with our lyrics is quite obvious. By the way, this passage is a part of the note that Kariotakis left just before committing suicide ("I am now ready for a dishonorable death"). Of course I don't agree with his choice, because even in a meaningless game as life, art (creativity) is a fine way of making it worth.

Have you got any ideas about what your next album is going to be alike music and lyrics wise?  Are you still going to use K. Kariotakis' poetry?  Will you share with us your ideas of the future creation…?

- We have many ideas about how our new songs must sound. I prefer them to have even more elements from classical music, our bassist wants us to add some funky rhythms e.t.c. So, it is difficult to say for sure how they are going to sound. Only after countless rehearsals we will be sure.  About the lyrics it depends from what we will be influenced and as for Kariotakis poetry I can't tell you right now, because we don't have any new lyrics written. Probably we are going to use the poems of an other poet.

I’m wondering if you would you tell me your last ode of Ecstasy…?

- It's a bit early for such a thing. Maybe in ten years from now when ODES OF ECSTASY will compose their requiem.
 

ODES OF ECSTASY contact –
Email: shrider@compulink.gr