Please tell us a few words about the new release, about the music on it as a whole or a few words on each track in part. How are you happy with the final release?
Misty Tales is the first full-length album our band has ever made, therefore it is very special to us. The songs are typical Emerald Shine's music, so, besides fantasy lyrics, a listener can expect a lot of metal, a harp, violin, fipple flutes and tin whistles, male and female vocals, some choirs, some growls... a bit of everything. :) There are heavy passages as well as calm acoustic ones, and of course some prog elements, strange keys and rhythms, because that's exactly what we enjoy playing. :) 
We are happy and proud to have created our debut album successfully and we are mostly satisfied with the result. Of course, there are also things to improve, which will be our challenge for a future album.

How would you describe/label the music on it? Does it sounds like anything we might have heard before?
Actually, I hope not! We try not to sound like a particular famous band... We want to sound just like Emerald Shine. I believe, thanks to our line-up with some non-metal instruments, we managed to sound quite original on the new album. :) 
The music could be described as fantasy metal. :) OK, if an "official" subgenre had to be chosen, it could be folk metal or symphonic metal; however, none of these describes exactly what our music sounds like. One just needs to listen to it to know, really! :-D 

Where was it recorded and how much time did it take you to record it? Any interesting stories from the recording/producing the material?
It was recorded in three Czech studios, called Bomb Jack, GM and Dark Sight. Plus, some instruments we have recorded at home: the guitars, bassguitar and harp. The recording process took around three months, from May to July 2018. Then there was some time for additional editing, mixing and mastering, creating the physical CDs... And on November 9 2018, the album was out. 
Stories... We get along very well as bandmates, so the recording process itself was quite harmonic. No big drama. :-D But in the following phase, there was some delay of the mixing and mastering, caused by serious health problems. The release date and release party event had already been set and it was not sure we would have the CDs on time... In the end, we had the physical CDs in our hands literally one day before the release date. So... We were lucky in the end. :)

What can you tell us about the cover artwork? Is there a link between the artwork and the lyrics? What are the topics of your lyrics?
The album was made by a young Czech graphic designer known as Morgana La Fay. She was inspired by the music and lyrics when creating it, so there is certainly a connection. 
Misty Tales is a conceptual album inspired by Tolkien's elves, but with a story taking place nowadays. It deals with these questions: If the elves were real and if they met today's people, what would they tell us? And what could we learn from them? Would people listen to them?
Morgana made two pictures, each representing one possible answer to the last question. The "good forest spirit" on the green coverart symbolizes the harmony and friendship of elves and people. Inside the digipack, there is the other picture, "evil forest spirit" with red eyes, symbolizing the other option – people did not listen to the elves, the harmony and friendship was lost and it all resulted in war and suffering.
It is only up to us, people, to choose.
 
What do you expect to gain through this release? What are the band's aims at the moment?
We expected to gain some good sounding recordings which would please our musician hearts :), and hopefully also new fans, plus some attention from promoters, media... And it seems to have worked. With the new album representing our band, we managed to get to somewhat bigger festivals, to get first chances to perform abroad, to get noticed by more zines... And that all is great.
At the moment, our aims are: to create some more videos for Misty Tales songs, to compose new material and release a new album within a few years, and to perform in as many new places as possible to spread our music. :)   

Is there a special format the material is released in? Or is it released in multiple formats? How many copies were pressed?
The album has been released on CD in digipack with booklet and on online streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music etc. Exactly 518 copies of the CD were made. :)

Where and how will you promote this new release?
We are promoting the album on social media, in webzines and magazines and, of course, at concerts. We have made two music videos (one of them became successful in a Czech TV video chart, becoming a finalist of the year 2018) and a lyric video so far. Our music has also been played in some Czech radios. 

Where can we order it from?  
The easiest way is to contact the band directly, on social media or via e-mail emerald.shine.band@gmail.com – you can order a CD and also some more merch that we offer, including hand drawn T-shirts made by our violinist. All our merch can be seen in the highlights on our Instagram (@emeraldshineband) or in this Facebook gallery: https://www.facebook.com/pg/emeraldshineofficial/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2191020074505125
The CD can also be ordered from Metalgate e-shop on the following link: https://www.metalgate-eshop.com/EMERALD-SHINE-Misty-Tales-d533.htm

April 2019