Metal Anarchy

Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to up and coming bands that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have an exclusive Q&A with Guile from the folk metal band Drenaï.

METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?

GUILE: In fact, each member of the band have several influences: one likes NWOBHM and rap, one likes Irish and Celtic music, one likes technical and jazz… I am keen on Metal (in general but Death and Black symphonic especially) and orchestral music but I listen to every kind of music. For I am the main composer (with Ben, who plays the bass), I try to melt all the ideas to make something that sounds unique and please everyone in the band. People/listeners can find what they are used to listen to, but the most seasoned musicians may dig in our tracks to find the “easter eggs” we put in our music (for those who follow our career since our beginning), whose goal is to sound easy and approachable in a way, but complex at the same time for the one who’s used to look for leitmotivs like in a Wagner’s opera.

METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?

GUILE: This EP, “Nadirs”, is kinda special in our discography. It’s a kind of bet, for we usually play in a folk-death metal genre and this EP is full acoustic. It is still Drenaï and its way of composing, but with no distorted sound. Our work is based on British author David Gemmell’s books and the universe he painted and planted into heroic fantasy. “Nadirs” is a sort of epic tale that you can listen to reading his books simultaneously. Diego (our singer) is the narrator of this tale while everyone in the band had something to record (his/her usual instrument, an unusual instrument, a choir part). This EP has something special too: we have appealed to many guests, playing in others bands or musical formations, playing folkloric instruments (that we are not able to play wink emoticon ) so as to sound more genuine and fit to the universe our lyrics try to translate. This EP deals with the advent of one of Gemmell’s main characters, Nosta, raised in the steppes our the Nadir land, who is to become Nosta Khan, one of most the powerful shaman and power broker of the drenan lands. Furthermore, this EP is announcing our next LP (we’re actually working on, already composed and at the state of rehearsing): some themes will be used again and deepened in our next opus (which will be worth listening to, of course slightsmile emoticon ).

METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?

GUILE: Fun and having a good time with our shows, but not only watching musicians playing music: we incarnate one or several characters on stage and have a lot of interaction with the audience during role-play parts. Diego is Druss (Gemmell’s main character), Martial (our flute player) is the voice of the demon haunting Druss’ battle axe “Snaga”, Greg (our lead/rhythmic guitar player) is one of Druss’ soldier, Adelia (our keyboard player) incarnates Rowena (and another role for the next LP), Ben is Bodasen, I (Guile, other lead/rhythmic guitar player) play either Sieben or Nosta Khan (depending on the setlist we first determined before our gigs)… And without forgetting our drummer and percussionist, Simon, who can’t really play play on stage because he’s behind his drums XD. The audience can listen to music but also be involved in scenery.

METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?

GUILE: Playing or having played in many countries (yours, for instance XD). We don’t tend to become stars, win a Grammy or something like that, but being broadcasted everywhere possible could be great, so as to share our music with a perpetually growing amount of people, to touch the listeners’ souls, to have them traveling with us in our musical world…