EFFRONTERY is a quite promising Death Metal quintet hailing from Hungary. Their latest album "Seven Years of Agony" became huge and very perspective to be honest. Moreover, they are going to play at our local festival called UzhGoreRot in August. So I've asked Péter Lipák to share with us as many news as possible.
At the beginning of the year your second full-length album "Seven Years of Agony" was out. How's the response of the fans and media so far?
- We've got very good feedback from the media and from the fans as well. Apparently, the new album was easier to listen to than the previous one, "Mayfly". All the reviews highlighted our instrumental capabilities and songwriting skills. They also mentioned that we could easily fit in the top of the genre if the album had been released by a big record label. This refers to the quality of the recording and the sound, which we fully prepared ourselves, using our best knowledge. There were numerous downloads from our website, on the release day already hundreds obtained our music and it had good numbers on lots of torrent sites too.
In my opinion, in comparison with your debut album "Mayfly" (2012) the new tracks have less symphonic elements, no female vocals, but soundproduction- and songstructure-wise they display a way more extreme and dynamically raging musical mixture. Sure the melodic side is more than evident for your songs, but I hear more blasting drum parts for example. How do you see it? I know it's a bit early to ask, but in what direction will you proceed with the material for your next release?
- Indeed, the classical instruments got much less emphasis here, since I opted for a more metal-like record. And metal is done by guitars, so I used the strings just for undertones, where I felt it completes the music. So, which direction will we go next time? I already put together the material for the next album, but obviously these are raw demo versions, I still need to work a lot on them before they even get to the rehearsal room. Structurally, it will be like "SYoA", there will be some very fast, dynamic songs and mid-tempo melodic ones as well. I don't know if there will be any symphonic elements yet.
Both albums were released by your own efforts. Why is it so? Didn't you try to find a label to release your albums or you decided to control this process totally on your own?
- After the release, we sent the record to many places. Still, in terms of a record label, without any result for now. We don't give up, keep on trying. On the other hand, since none of the band members make a living from music, it's more convenient not to be committed. There are no deadlines to keep when we still would like to work on the material.
Your musical skills and level of technical preparedness are pretty imposing to me. Did anyone of the members graduate at some musical school or it was a natural result of conscious practice and multiple hours of sweat every single day?
- Except for Zsölt (vocals), all of us went to music school, I am glad to hear it can be spotted. But still, we try to avoid the usual conventions when composing. All of us practice a lot, and Zsölt has undergone a massive self-development by listening to lots and lots of death metal.
During the listening of "Seven Years of Agony" a few band-similarities came to my mind. First of all, GARDEN OF SHADOWS, because of the deep-growling manner of the vocal parts and ultra melodious guitar harmonies, then PSYCROPTIC and NILE due to the drumming patterns and some really fast guitar picking. How do you see this? Talk a little bit about your musical influences and name us some of your favorites.
- I'm not familiar with the works of PSYCROPTIC and GARDEN OF SHADOWS, but NILE is an obvious influence. We saw them on tour with their first album which was fresh and overwhelming. It's still my favourite record from them. We should also mention DEATH here, with capital letters, which determined my taste in music. There was only one album I could not really handle, "Spiritual Healing", but the others are 10/10 for me. Plus MORBID ANGEL, CARCASS, OPETH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, SLAYER and GUNS N' ROSES.
In April you played a few shows supporting VADER and IMMOLATION on their European leg of the tour. How many gigs in total you played with them? How was it to open before those monsters of Death Metal? Share your memories and experiences from that journey.
- We agreed in 3 gigs, but unfortunately one got cancelled due to snowstorm and traffic collision. The ones we played at were very good. We are talking about VADER and IMMO paired, so the circumstances were perfect. This was the first opportunity for the band to play outside of Hungary. People apparently liked our music. The bands were friendly and helpful. The members of IMMOLATION complimented us personally after our concert, it was a real honor. We enjoyed this experience a lot and we certainly would like to continue.
Regarding your live activities, where will you play this year, where can we catch EFFRONTERY live?
- For the moment, we have 2 gigs fixed for August, on 19th in Debrecen and on 26th in Uzhgorod. We are excited for both events, Debrecen is always great, and Uzhgorod is new for the band. We will play material from the new album on both concerts, for sure.
There was another recent trip of yours, quite important I would say, but along with GUTTED (where you play bass instead of guitar) to the state of Nevada. How was it to perform at Las Vegas Deathfest 2017? Tell us your personal impressions from visiting the United States and meeting/greeting Death Metal fans on the other side of the globe?
- It's a tremendous and unrepeatable experience to stand on the stage in Las Vegas. It released a lot of energy in us and seemingly it was contagious, the audience got very enthusiastic. It was a funny mixture, while death metal was blasting in the club, when you stepped out to Fremont street you could take pics with topless girls, casinos and bars were flashing everywhere. We also visited Grand Canyon, which is breathtaking. But who else got knocked off the tourist bus for alcohol consumption, if not us? 44 degrees in the shadow were a bit tough.
EFFRONTERY was formed back in 2001. Sixteen years are behind your backs. Two demos and two albums were successfully released. What are your plans for the near future, achievements you would definitely like to fulfill in the perspective of the time ahead?
- I have some backlog with the band's stuff for personal reasons, but surely, I try to speed up in the 2nd half of the year. Next step is releasing the video we already recorded. It's also produced on our own. I would like to prepare an EP from the songs before the 1st album, which were never released. Probably this will take place next year. And for sure, we will start to work on the songs for the 3rd album.
I hope you enjoyed answering my questions. Last profound thoughts are yours.
- Thank you for the interview, hope to see many of you at the festival.
