From the beautiful town Budapest, here comes a band that promise to revive the old school genre named Symphonic Metal, by their name METEORA here is it the chat I had with their beautiful and very talented singer Noemi.
First of all, congratulations for your new creation, it’s one of a few that respect the standards of gothic metal with some orchestral influention, please tell us the story of the band, how it all start?
Noémi: Hello Everybody, and thank you very much, Ionutz, for your appreciative words, and for the opportunity.
Well, it’s always a bit difficult for me to tell, how the story of Meteora started in around 2010, because unfortunately I didn’t know the guys back then. I joined the band only in September 2015. Still, the guys told me a lot about the beginning. Actually, the band contained very young people, who were either at the end of high school or at the beginning of university, and played their favourite songs from so many metal bands they knew, such as Epica, Nightwish or Within Temptation. Now, from the founding members only Atilla Király (keyboard player, main songwriter) and Máté Fülöp (bass guitarist, growls) remain.
How will you described your new creations?
Noémi: In my opinion our last record, “Tragedy of Delusion” is more complex and compact material than our first one “Our Paradise”. It is true for both of them, that we are mostly playing with the contrast of the voice of mine and Máté’s growls, and mix it with symphonic, gothic, power, and sometimes death metal elements.
Is there good compositions or bad compositions on it? (in my opinion they aren’t)
Noémi: Thank you very much, we’re happy to hear that you liked the whole CD! In the band we all agree that “Stay Among Us” is one of the bests, maybe the most inspired song of “Tragedy of Delusion”. And as for me, I think maybe “Black Rose” was the song I didn’t feel perfectly.
Would you be so kind to explain what every song is all about?
Noémi: Maybe it’ll last a bit long, but I try it, of course.
The central topic of the album is delusion, deception and disinformation, in the aspect of both personal tragedies, and global issues, questions.
As for the first, the “My Reality” trilogy (Part I: “My Reality”, Part II: “Die, Live, Forgive”, Part III: ”Beautiful Oblivion”) is about a toxic relationship (not necessarily in a romantic sense) with someone, who lives by ignoring reality, refuses to face the facts, and it’s pretty demanding living with him. The last part of the trilogy brings the solution of this stress.
As for the global issues, there are songs on the album that include some not hidden political or social criticism, e.g. “Common Enemy”, which reflects on corruption we daily face, especially here in Central Europe; or “When Angels Fall”, which refers to the “metoo” movement started in 2017. The title track “Tragedy of Delusion” can be considered as a kind of synthesis song of the album: it combines the personal, political, social and even religious aspect of perceiving reality.
Beside the songs I mentioned, there are some more personal ones on the album, too, that are not part of the “My Reality” trilogy. “Black Rose” is for example a song about a hopeless love, where you only waste your feelings and your heart on the other, it can’t be fulfilled. Is that real love or only an illusion?
The lyrics of “Tag the Truth” expresses how hard it is not to lose contact with your own true self, the child inside with a pure soul, free from daily sorrow and dishonesty of adult life.
“Stay Among Us” tries to warn all of us, that we should be present in the “here and now” instead of running through our lives. And in the same time, “Memento Mori” tells that you can be great by human standards, you can conquer worlds, but in the end, you are just a man, too, and all men must die.
The productions is also very good, did you have good time in studio?
Noémi: Yes, definitely. The sound engineer, Béla Boros we worked with at Denevér Sound Sutdio is not only excellent in his job, but he also had some very useful insights as a producer aswell.
What can we expect from your new album, will be in the same line with your latest?
Noémi: Actually, we had plenty of time during the quarantine to work with some new idea. Although we can’t see clearly yet, how the next record will look like, as I can consider listening to the new works of Atilla, our main composer, it promises to be a mature and purposeful material. I wouldn’t say it’ll be definitely similar to our current new album…
What hobbies do you have except music, by the way your favorite musicians are?
Noémi: I have to mention that none of us is a professional musician, so music is our main “hobby”. We all have our civil profession aswell, Máté is for example an architect, Atilla is a dentist and I’m a biochemical engineer. We also have some other hobbies beside music, Máté is for example a member of a troupe aswell. Atilla and me have another hobby in common: we are a big fan of the Hungarian fantasy cardgame “M.A.G.U.S” and we take part in many competitions.
The cover illustration is interesting, who’s ideas were and the meaning?
Noémi: The album cover is the work of our dear and old friend István Lajcsák, who made the cover of our first LP “Our Paradise” aswell. The point of the picture is the opposite between what is above and beneath the surface of the water: everything is rotting and dead below, although the outside world seems to be perfect and beautiful. The girl symbolizes to be deceived, while the man with the mask is the deceptive himself.
In the end, you have the final word for all our readers…
Noémi: The most important thing is to always be yourself. There should always be a need inside of you to know reality as deep as possible. And in the meantime, music is for the joy of us, all of us. The Future is Symphonic!
Interview by Ionut Dimitriev
September 2020