The Band: Holy Martyr
Country: Italy
Answers by:
Ivano Spiga (guitar)
To talk about HOLY MARTYR is to talk about
epic, true feeling, heavy metal, faith & fight. With their new album “Darkness
Shall Prevail” coming in March they are confirmed as of the bands carrying
higher the flag of Epic Heavy Metal in the international arena. We have been
enough lucky, once again, as we have talked directly to the boss and
mastermind, Ivano Spiga. And you know what? Talking to him, you just have the sensation
that everything is smooth and real, as when you listen to his guitar tabs. Enjoy
this epic interview!
Hello Ivano and congratulations for your new
album, out in March 3rd, and your back to full activity
Hola
hermano, muchas gracias. We are like a volcano…sooner or later it will erupt
again, in our case a new album and new tracks are ready to be unleashed.
It has
been 5 years of silence since your last work, Invincible, what happened, or
didn’t happen, during those last years?
After the
release of Invincible we have made only gigs and live promotion, especially
during 2011 and 2012. During 2013 the band ceased any kind of activity, due to
logistic problems. Actually half of the band is splitted between Milan and the rest in the center of
Italy/Rome. It was really hard during the first years of distance,
unfortunately some members of the previous albums decided to left, so, a lot of
time passed to find other replacements. The only thing that never ceased was
the composition of new stuff…and the interest that the band still receives
after this silence. So, here we are again to battle.
Absolutely, your legacy is still very alive. Holy
Martyr is an Italian band that takes feeling and emotions into their songs from
beginning to the end. We are happy to confirm that this has not changed an inch
with your new album “Darkness Shall Prevail”
Well…i
think the same. Nice that you have noticed this. In every song i try to put all
the feelings and emotions, especially when i’m really involved on the themes of
the lyrics. I really wanted to stay with the same spirit of the previous
albums, so there is definitely a great part of my soul on this album. Darkness
Shall Prevail is a work to thanks our fans, to say to them that we are still
alive and kickin’ and we love ‘em. I always write something that i like very
much, i dot it for myself because i love to create songs. The best thing for an
artist is to discover that people like what he do with a lot of passion and
love. This is priceless i think.
There are two new faces in your line-up, a new
guitarist and a new drummer. How did they enter Holy Martyr’s world and how
have they contributed to your new album?
The new
drummer is Stefano Lepidi from the city of l’Aquila. I work in this city and started to
seek a new replacement. The right guy behind the drums is very important for a
band, because he creates the rhythm section. Stefano was the first choice and
the best drummer for Holy Martyr, not only he is a very technical musician, but
he listens old school Heavy Metal and he was a fan of the band! His style is
really different from our previous drummer, powerful but centered also on
technical grooves and intricated passages. He added something new to the band,
he is very inspired from Mrark Zonder from Warlord. Paolo Roberto Simoni was
the final choice for the second guitar, he is a very talented and precise
musician, with a great touch for melodies on solos. It is exactly what i was
searching as a replacement for Eros Melis, we always had that kind 70’s, 80’s
feel, i didn’t want something too modern. Both those guys have refined in the
best possible way a fresh songwriting, we still sound the same band but we are
a better version of Holy Martyr.
How long have you worked in the new songs and
how as the process?

This time
was very very hard! Everything centered on Tolkien themes, with vocal lines and
words fitted perfectly with the atmosphere of the music. I think i have made the
impossible and reached one of my top works as a composer…but it was
tremendously heavy and difficult. English is not my native tongue and there is
always the risk to appear too childish.
Another change in “Darkness Shall Prevail” are
the lyrics, as you pointed out. You leave aside classic cultures from the past,
like Greeks or Romans, and you walk into the universe created by J.R.R.
Tolkien, right? What is it all about?
I am a
Tolkien fanatic and i really wanted to write something about his works. But you
know…especially at the end of the 90’s, every band was writing music based on
fantasy themes. This is the reason because i choose a different way for Holy
Martyr, with ancient History and warfare. I always thought about something
different from the other bands and from our past albums, Invincible is another
example of our way to be more original and not a copy cat.
So, to
write about Tolkien was the best choice in the best moment. We as an Epic Metal
band, have showed that we can play really Epic and inspired music…so there’s no
dubt, the world of Tolkien is very Epic and huge…Holy Martyr can sing also
about Tolkien perfectly, without resulting uninspired and similar to other
bands that did the same.
“Darkness Shall Prevail” delivers nine songs
charged of heavy epic tunes, as we said before, but I can appreciate also a
doomy taste on the songs, like they have grown darker and more enigmatic
I think the
same, so this is the reason on choosing the title of the album. Tolkien themes
are really dark and obscure, you can find on his books light and a lot of
darkness. This dark feeling was a natural way to describe his atmosphere
throughout the album. Old school Epic Metal was really dark and doomy, Holy
Martyr instead, more on the heroic, melancholic, solemn approach. It was a new
kind of feeling in the band, very spontaneous, which didn’t changed our style. I’m
happy you liked it, it was necessary to switch a bit on the dark side, due to
the lyrics and the general atmosphere.
Yes, the Holy Martyr’s spirit is there, all the
way. As it is also the tremendous voice from Alex Mereu. Well, I think if you
have listened to that kind of deep voice before you cannot think about another
vocalist for Holy Martyr’s sound
I think the
same as you again haha! As I said before…the new stuff is different from the
past, different even from our last album, but everyone that know the band can
clearly admit that we are the same band, with the same style. It was my goal,
to sound fresh and similar to ourselves…believe me it’s not so easy!!! As you
said, Alex voice is amazing, he has done a great job on this album. He always
sings different on every song, adding a trademark in the band’s style.
After three
albums i know very well his vocal range, so we fit with each other perfectly,
me with the songwriting and Alex with his powerful voice. We are like the salt
on a steak. I don’t want to say that the part of Nicola Pirroni on bass and the
rest of the guys was less important, but Alex is someone that really forge this
spirit, I stay behind the rest like a movie director haha!
A great couple you are, indeed. I would also
like to underline your great work on guitars, Ivano, another trade mark in your sound, you
build riffs and solos at slow fire with a great feeling
Thank you
very much!!!I think I’ve said a lot of me in the previous questions…i’m not the
greatest guitarist or composer in the world…my only luck is to be always
inspired and creative. I know my limits and i know what i wanna do, in a very
simple and clear way that surprise everyone. Lots of guitar players more
technical than me always ask “how do you do this? how can you write that?”. The
answer is…i don’t know, i’m only a creative luck!
And that is very important, the feeling, you
have it and it is a gift. My favorite song is the last in the record, Born Of
Hope, it’s the perfect end for the album with its faster pace and the great
epic solo
I like it a
lot. Every album from the band has the typical headbanging song. I like that we
can find this track at the end of the album, not in the middle or as an opener.
It’s unusual…it’s like to say…the album is ended, calm down…but no, ok let’s
bang the fuckin head again! I decided to put it as a closer, to give the
finishing blow to the listener. After this song you want to listen again the
whole album, in a never ending circle, we can find a lot of different songs,
Born Of Hope was necessary to complete this circle. It was taken from an
independent movie with the same title, you can find it on you tube for free.
Awesome. The cover art fits perfectly with your
music and the tradition of your previous three albums
Again i
think the same as you.This is a paint based on my idea of defeat and darkness
contained in the music, i wanted something rooted in the past, very simple,
very effective. I don’t like many actual artworks, with a lot of computer
graphics and no soul. You can find similarities with the artworks from early
Omen and Manowar i think. Also our previous albums are in the same style, we
try to be original without incredible paintings, sometimes simple things are
the best way to express a concept.
The epic heavy metal is a subgenre where you
have more space to innovate or develop new ideas, compared to other styles,
something we can appreciate in the evolution of your albums
Yes i
agree, i love this kind of Heavy Metal…you can switch from different themes and
different approaches in the music, from aggression to melancholy to great
heroic hymns. The evolution of our albums, are the prove that you can still
sound fresh and original, without sounding boring and recycling your own ideas.
It’s not for everyone i think, we are again lucky to do this.
We can consider Holy Martyr as on the most
influential bands in the epic heavy metal in Italy right now, so the
fans will be happy to hear again from you, right?
I don’t
know…i think that we are also influential (maybe) also outside Italy. We have gained a lot of fans
here…but the majority are from other countries, especially in Greece, Germany…and also Spain. There are still people from
different places, that still follow us after our first demo in 2003 and can’t
wait to listen the new album. This kind of faith for me is astonishing…i used
to have such expectations only for big bands!
I suppose you are planning tour dates around Europe and maybe other continents as well,
right? Will we be lucky to see you in Spain?
I don’t
know…at the moment the first gig will be in Athens with Cirith Ungol, during Up The
Hammers Festival…can’t wait. We would like to play everywhere, we’ll see what
will happen.
We have
played two times in Spain, but we miss here since 2009. We
love Spain, we are like brothers. In the case of Holy
Martyr twin brothers, because the band was born in Sardinia, which was part of Aragona in the
past centuries, we still have some words and traditions taken from Spain.
Cirith Ungol & Holy Martyr wow! That is a
must come for every fan, hopefully you will record a dvd or something. Thank
you very much for your attention and we hope to see you soon, if you wish to
add something…
Thanks for
the great review and the nice interview. We really hope to play in Spain for a Heavy Metal night de puta
madre!
Ivano Spiga
Hahahaha, big Ivano,
eres un tío cojonudo!