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?
We have just released, “Ανέγνων, Έγνων, Κατέγνων”, our debut album which includes 12 tracks. In each track we have guests from the Metal underground scene (mainly the Greek scene), people like Sakis of Rotting Christ, the Magus of Necromantia, Stefan of Varathron, Efthimis of Nightfall, Christos of SepticFlesh, Petros from Nordor, Yannis from Diviner, Peteris from Skyforger, Zion from Crossover, George from Deviser, Kostas from Karma Violens and many more people that found my work interesting or just worthy of participating. The lyrics are in ancient Greek/Hellenic and the lyrical theme is “the Roots of Science and Atheism in Ancient Greece”. Inside the album you can listen some instruments that have never used before in Metal (or Black Metal) genre, like Pontian Lyra, Greek Islands Tsabouna, Creatan Laouto, Tzouras, Harmonica and Thracean Gaida. The design is an amazing work, a leather and silk, 52 page book shaped deluxe edition casing. The booklet was designed by Astrous of RA_Designs, and the most important part, the sound, was mixed and mastered by Mixmaster Athanasios “ OGrego” Karapanos, rsulting in a extremely heavy, brutal and excellent sound. The tracks vary musically from Classic Heavy/Thrash to Stoner, Death , Industrial , Folk, all through a “first wave black metal meets old school hardcore/thrashcore” prism. There are many different music elements inside every track, for example the 5th song has a mix of Operetic/Byzantine voice with Black Metal vocals, the 7th track has some electronic/industrial elements mixed with old school death/thrash, the 9th track has clean vocals and has elements of thrash, heavy and even old school Greek 90ies rock, the 10th is a straightforward first wave Black Metal track with some never heard before folk instruments such as the Pontian Lyra, the 11th song is hymn to classic Greek Black/Death Metal, the 6th is a brutal death/black track, the 8th a stoner/black mix, and the list goes on.

How would you describe/label the music on it? Does it sounds like anything we might have heard before?
As I mentioned above every track is different, but all tracks are filtered through a “first wave black metal meets old school hardcore/thrashcore” prism. We like to call our music BlackMetalCore or BlackCore Metal but as we always say, Do NOT be confused, ΩΝ is not some kid’s metalcore or nu metal emo band. When I say Core I mean the old school hardcore/punk genre of Black Flag, Discharge, old Life of Agony, Corrosion of Conformity, Agnostic Front, Madball, Ναυτία, Αντίδραση, Χαοτικό Τέλος, Ολέθριο Ρήγμα, Γενιά του Χάους, Panx Romana and industrial/thrashcore bands like Pantera, old Machine Head, Fear Factory, Exploited, D.R.I., S.O.D., mixed with the Black Metal of Rotting Christ, Varathron, Necromantia, Master’s Hammer, Inquisition, Bathory, Root and Blasphemy but with the song variety of Faith No More.
We know that many Metalheads will see the “Core” next to the “Black Metal” genre and will be suspicious, that is why we clarify the above.
I don’t think anything else like this exists out there, and this is one of the reasons I created this album. I should also mention that except the music, the physical 52 page deluxe leather and silk casing release is a very important part of the album as it includes a really big booklet with a lot of info about the band and the tracks, and the history behind them, and I consider it to be the second half of the album in importance, the first half being the music of course.

Where was it recorded and how much time did it take you to record it? Any interesting stories from the recording/producing the material?
The album was recorded in various studios and places, some parts were recorded in Devasoundz Studios in Athens, some in Soundflake Studios, Athens, some in Emerald’s Studios, Komotini, some in Made in Hell Studios, Athens and some in Militant Atheist Studios.
I consider myself as a Metalhead first and then as a musician. I made an album that I wanted to listen to and enjoy as a Metalhead. Also the recording sessions gave me the opportunity to meet and communicate with all these people whose music I admired for so long. This was one of the best experiences of my life I must admit. The experience I gained, the beers we had, the conversations, the advises, the help they gave me and the feeling of Metal unity are unforgettable, and, of course the final result, the album we created.

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 artwork was created by Astrous of RA_Design. As you can imagine, he did A LOT of work there,and an amazing work I must say. The cover was created under my guidance because I wanted it to depict a specific subject, the annihilation that the Ancient Greek civilization suffered from religions, and especially christianity. It shows a statue of Epicurus, an ancient Greek Philosopher, gagged and vandalized, with his eyes carved out and blood running from the eyeholes. Behind him are several destroyed ancient Greek temple columns, I think the reason is obvious again. Epicurus was chosen because in my opinion, he represents the best part of Ancient Greek Philosophy, he said some things never heard before, and of course he was “accused” of being an Atheist from the religious fanatics of his time, but mainly later, by the christian sect which burnt his books. Only a few pages from three of his writings remain. Yet enough to show us how important and different he was. The title of the album is from a famous quote of Emperor Julian the Great ( Apostate for the christian sect). When christians tried to proselytize him, they gave him some christian scripts to read. When he read them he gave them back to them and he replied “Ανέγνων, Έγνων, Κατέγνων” (Aneghnon, Eghnon, Kateghnon) which translates as “ I read, I understood, I condemned”, meaning that he read the scripts, he understood the meaning , that's why he rejected it. He also wrote many philosophical masterpieces, one of them was entitled “Κατά Γαλιλαίων” (“Kata Galileon” meaning “Against Christians”), one of the first books criticizing christianity, in which he explained why he didn’t like this strange new crazy sect. Of course it was burnt some years later, when the christians took over, but fortunately some parts were saved.

What do you expect to gain through this release? What are the band's aims at the moment?
I expect for this album to add something new to the Hellenic Metal scene, to become a small classic cult release, like one of these releases that I heard when I was young and gave me incentive to write my own music, to inspire and give knowledge to whoever is willing to learn and be taught.

Is there a special format the material is released in? Or is it released in multiple formats? How many copies were pressed?
The album is only released in a high quality special deluxe 52 page book shaped edition with a leather casing and silk print. It is limited to 300 copies. If we re-release the album, it will probably be in a similar casing, but slightly different because we want the first 300 to be unique. There are no plans of releasing it on a normal casing CD, and there are plans for an LP release in the distant future.

Where and how will you promote this new release?
Since we are not a live band, it is impossible for us to promote our music through live concerts. We rely on interviews , reviews and mainly digital promotion even for the physical copies of our album. We are not restricted to Greece for promotion, that is why the whole 52 page booklet, except the lyrics, is in English, and even the lyrics have English rough translations and explanations. This album is aimed to the whole world and all countries.

Where can we order it from?
To listen to us visit:
Our Official blogspot: https://omegani.blogspot.com/
Our Official facebok: https://www.facebook.com/blackcoremetal/
Our Official bandcamp: https://omegani.bandcamp.com/

To buy our new album visit:
Alcyone Records Official site: https://www.alcyonerecords.com/
Alcyone Records Official facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alcyonerecords/
Alcyone Records Offical ΩΝ bandcamp: https://anegnonegnonkategnon.bandcamp.com/

Our friends and partners:
Our Mixmaster Thanos “Ogrego” Karapanos: https://www.facebook.com/ogregomixmaster/

Videos:
 Our latest videoclip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6VreKSiRsk

January 2020