INTERVIEW: The Silent Rage

 

Genre: Melodic Power Metal

Country: Greece

Questions by: Nick Parastatidis

Answers by: Nikos Siglidis (Guitars)

Site: https://thesilentrage.com/

1. As founders of the Ghostlands&Ravenlands Festival, how do you balance your roles as organizers and performers? Has creating a festival changed the way you approach your own music on stage?

That is what we call a perfect symmetry. We manage to have a flow in the festival timelines and roles thanks to our amazing crew that handles everything with care in order to have time ourselves to be prepared as musicians for the stage performance. Nothing could change our approach for the stage, therefore we are even more eager to storm the stage.

2. Turning 20 years old as a band is a remarkable milestone. Looking back, which album, song, or performance do you feel most defined The Silent Rage, and why?

Pff that’s tough since we only have two albums hahaha. Therefore, if I had to pick two songs for the definition of The Silent Rage sound, that would might be “StormWarrior” from “The Deadliest Scourge” and “The Serpent Lord” from “Nuances Of Life” album. As a live performance, I would definitely pick our appearance at Release Athens 2022 festival, alongside with Sabaton, Blind Guardian, Epica& Enemy Of Reality. Don’t get me wrong, every live performance is great, indoors and outdoors Greece, playing with major bands or bands of our caliber, but yeah, Release Athens 2022 festival will be something really special in our hearts.

3. You’ve mentioned performing songs that haven’t been played live before. How do you decide which rare tracks to bring to life, and do these old songs evoke different emotions now compared to when you wrote them?

Oh man, definitely I would change a lot. First of all, I wish I could play better than the days they were composed hehehe. It’s nice that we will play songs that never performed live and with members that we never performed live together! That makes it unique on it’s own way. It’s good that the memories coming back to life and I cherish the moments in time playing those songs with the members we had on the line up.

4. Power metal often combines epic narratives with personal emotion. How do you find the balance between fantasy storytelling and reflecting real-life experiences in your lyrics?

It’s definitely a thin line between those two.Sometimes, personally speaking, I do separate them in order to keep the epic element on its own to tell the tale of something fantasy and sometimes to keep the line about things that happening in our lives. Such examples are for instance songs like “Storm Warrior” & “The Serpent Lord” are tales of fantasy and “Proselytize The Masses” & “Man In The Mirror” are real life struggling issues.

5. Over the years, your lineup changes have influenced your sound. If you could describe the “essence” of The Silent Rage in three musical or lyrical traits, what would they be?

Ι believe that our record label, Scarlet Records, described our sound as dark (Hellenic) power metal. I do believe that they got it right. We are not the typical power metal band like the ones that play euro-power for instance. We have many elements in our music. You can locate in our songs elements that comes over the thrash metal sound or the melodic death metal and that’s something that you have to be really focused to realize that. But yeah, Dark Hellenic Power Metal is definitely something that characterize us.

6. Greece has a rich history and mythology. How much does your cultural background influence your songwriting, and are there any myths or historical events you’ve been particularly inspired by in recent work?

Well, Nikos, the only related song to the Greek Mythology through the eyes of a character that lives through a video game is “The Right To Dream” from our debut album “The Deadliest Scourge”. As title says, the main character has to do with Kratos, the protagonist of video game series “God of War”. It has to do with his fight with the Greek Gods and his right to dream. The lyrics reflects perfectly to the whole idea. Go check the song, let yourself into the lyrics while listening it and… there you go!

7. You’ve collaborated with many guest musicians in the past. If you could invite any musician—living or deceased—to join you on stage at Ghostlands&Ravenlands, who would it be, and what would you play together?

Dreams are always nice but it’s not always easy to happen. So therefore, it would have been nice to have with us on stage Apollo Papathanasio (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Firewind), Yossi Sassi (Solo, ex-Orphaned Land), Vladimir Reshetnikov (Arkona), Harry Conklin (Jag Panzer, The Three Tremors), Stu Block (Into Eternity, ex-Iced Earth) & Bob Katsionis (Stray Gods, ex-Firewind) in order to perform the songs that they did participate. Who knows? Perhaps one day…

8. Festivals are more than music—they create communities. What kind of emotional or spiritual experience do you hope fans leave with after attending Ghostlands&Ravenlands?

Well said, festivals are communities and it’s like a gathering of a tribe. Music fans attend and they become one. There no boundaries, there’s only music, have fun and make memories. That’s what we would like to offer as a festival: create memories, smiles in the faces and the hope to return in the next edition.

9. The music industry has changed drastically in the past two decades. How do you navigate streaming, social media, and the shift from physical albums while staying true to your artistic vision?

The purchase of physical copies, either that’s a CD or a vinyl, still takes place. Streaming music in various platforms such as Spotify, Rokk, Tidal, Amazon etc., combined with the power that the social media platforms have, whether we like it or not, creates more opportunities to a band to sell a few more albums. It’s not like the old days when you where buying albums without hearing them and turn to be… rubbish!

10. When you think about the next generation of Greek and international power metal bands, what lessons or philosophies from The Silent Rage would you want them to carry forward?

Keep your eyes to the ground, work clever and you will get repaid, sooner or later. Everyone was to go highspeed on achievements but needs steps to pass. It’s not easy but in the end of the day, that has it’s own magic in this journey.

11. Looking forward, are there any musical styles, instruments, or thematic concepts that you haven’t explored yet but dream of experimenting with in upcoming releases?

“I began my life journey from the harbors of music, my destination port is unknown....”. That’s a strong quote by my friend Yossi Sassi. I believe it reflects everything that you want to hear as an answer.

12. Finally, if a new listener attends the festival and experiences your live set for the first time, what emotional journey or takeaway do you hope they have by the end of the night?

That he/she saw a band that needs his/her support ‘til the end of time.