1. Can you update us with what is going on with Opera IX these days and when we can expect new material?
1 Our 20th anniversary dvd, we concentrated on the production of the follow up to Anphisben. We decided to take a little more time, also as we are coming up to the 20th anniversary of Opera IX we wanted to recover some old material left out in the past such as the re-printing of the first demo’s and the DVD, which I can assure took up a lot of time, we had to recover a lot of material which often wasn’t in our possession. Right now, in these autumn months we are concluding the pre-production of our next album, I can say it will be the ‘darkest’ album of the history of Opera IX, and this will conclude the trilogy that started with Maleventum, the main theme will still be witchcraft, however, this time it will all be in a medieval setting.
2. Were did you come up with the idea for the band name?
2 Opera IX was born to represent an emotional form of what we wanted to project esoterically in the music, a part from living a symphonic aspect straight from the beginning it is necessary to analyze the first letter of Opera, which means ‘creation, or the plasmation whilst the ‘nine’ assumes directly an ‘occult’ connection, with our name we wanted to bring to the real world the sensations that we get from other worlds, those that exist out of the material realm
3. What direction is the new material heading into?
3I can say that the next job will be very dark, symphonic and more direct…if I had to describe it to you in pictures I’d direct you to a book by author Umberto Eco, The name of the rose… We are recording everything in my Occultum studios and I am taking maniacal care of every detail, until it matches exactly what we want we will not publish the material, but we still need to see which label to work with, unfortunately this is still to be determined.
4. What are some of the best live shows that you have played so far?
4After twenty years of Opera IX career is difficult to quantify the best, certainly the public in response to Romania and the tour dates in Mexico but I remember with pleasure the first major live in Italy in 1995 and also along with Absu ... moments were very intense with occult friendship.....
5. According to the Metal Archives the band is currently unsigned, what kind of label are you looking for?
5. We are looking for a label that can help us to reach the maximum of our possibilities, and most importantly that they don’t treat us only as a historical band that can sell a few thousand extra copies from their roster..Up to now the band has only helped others earn money and has not been valued to the maximum of its possibilities…we’ll see!
6. Are there any plans for a U.S tour?
6. Maybe! It’s years that we’ve been trying to organise to come to the USA, but unfortunately we have not been able to collaborate with a serious promoter, we had contact with a few large festivals over the last few years, such as the Milwaukee metal fest and the Monster of Madness Metal festival in Galveston but at the end of the day we didn’t conclude anything, we hope to get there in the near future.
7. What are your main influences music wise or non music wise?
7. Our main musical influences are to be compared to the 80’s extreme metal, bands such as Celtic Frost, Bathory, Mercyfull Fate, but also antique music, medieval and classic have brought us inspiration.
Surely our religious interests towards Paganism and Occultism has been inspirational for our symphonies…I admit that most times my references don’t come from my mind, but from the whispers of ancient spirits…
8. What are you listening to nowadays and what would you recommend?
8. Hope not to let you down but lately I’m only listening to Opera IX, this question comes at a time when we are composing and therefore, as in past years, I close myself in the studio only with Opera IX. I can certainly recommend some albums I was listening to up to a short time ago, Absu…..geniuses, it’s as if they have awoken from a 10 year hibernation and continued with that same musical dimension from their past. I was also impressed by the latest Gorgoroth, I find Infernus has returned to the origins of the band, they have all my respect.
9. How would you describe the band's approach to paganism and occultism?
9. Occultism and most of all Paganism are a great source of life for our band, personally I am very much involved in the neo-pagan movement, both myself and all my family. A part from being interested in Paganism for the search of historical origins and traditions of our ancestors, it gave me a clear path for contact with the divine, which for the traditions I follow has a large connection with celtic sciamanism. With this I have found a way of life that matches my nature, where the mysteries of life are celebrated in direct contact with nature, that can be Mother healer or the dark destroyer..it’s fascinating and overall I am my own pastor… The analysis of this spiritual path often connects me with magical and esoterical practices, that project me through the ‘worlds’ and from there I listen to the echo’s that I bring back and transform into music with the Opera IX
10. What are some good books or films that you would recommend?
10. Lately I have not seen films that have caught my attention, I remain on the classics such as the series of ‘Conan the barbarian’ or better the 13th warrior, to which I tie up the book written following the film ‘eaters of death’, this for the more epic theme. Another book on my table is ‘the spirit of the trees’ by Fred Hageneher, along with ‘fire in the head’ by Tom Cowan and ‘I Benandanti’ by Carlo Ginzburg. But I actually have more than 300 texts all on witchcraft and European Paganism…it’s difficult to draw up a list of my favourites. One day I will also finish the book I’ve been writing over the last 5 years, this talks about modern Druidism.
11. How does your home country react to your music, would you say that your best fans are in Italy or would you say they are in other countries?
11.Your never prophet’s at home…at least this is the case in Italy, which pays more attention to music from abroad, therefore I can say the majority of fans are not in Italy.
12. Any final words?
12. My last words are for you, who I thank for this interesting interview, spread our name as much as possible in the USA and sooner or later we will bring our witchcraft to you too…that’s a promise!
13. Thanks for the interview?
13 May the anciet Gods be with you!
www.operaix.it
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