Riul Doamnei, Symphonic Black Metal band from Italy just released “A Christmas Carol”, a very special single based on Charles Dickens work, and featuring the singer of Cadaveria, while they are still working on their EP.
Please, find more information and video about this in here: http://lachrymachristizine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/news-riul-doamnei.html
Sadly some complicated matters happened recently and the EP didn't come out yet. For now they are focused on finishing it and touring, as you may read below. Lachryma Christi interviewed Federico, Riul Domanei's singer and also guitarist.
Your logo
is a bit peculiar. What does it represent?
Our logo combines two different elements, a Triquetra
and a Pentacle. The first one is an ancient symbol from pagan and Celtic cultures,
which is related to a triple female divinity and represents the three stages of
the Goddess: Crone, Mother and Maiden (Wisdom, Creation and Innocence). It’s
also connected to the cycles of life (Birth, Death & Reincarnation), to Past,
Present and Future as well, and only later was it assimilated and abused by the
Christians as a symbol of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The
Pentacle is one of the most ancient pagan symbols and appears in secret cults
and occult rituals since the Neolithic Era, traversing Sumerian, Egyptian and
Greek mythologies. In the modern age it finds many meanings and generally
claims the man’s refusal to submit to god, exalting Mother Nature’s power with
her five elements. All is closed in a circle, symbol of fertility.
“Then
the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had
seven heads and ten horns.
The woman was dressed
in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and
pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and
the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH.
I saw that the woman
was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony
to Jesus…” (Rev. 17.3-6).
Who did tell the devil is male?
What does
Riul Doamnei mean? It is Romanian, right?
Yes it is! It comes from an oral tradition of Arges region and it’s
connected to the escape of Vlad Tepes III (the well known Prince Impaler, later
worldwide famous as Dracula) from his castle, during his second reign, and the
suicide of his bride. In fact, according to the local tales, she preferred to
cast herself from the balcony and drown in the waters of Arges river rather
than being captured by the Muslim invaders. That section of the river has been
called “Riul Doamnei”, which means “River of the Princess”. The river flows
today near Poenari, at the feet of the castle ruins, which still stand on the
top of the hill.
Your new
website, launched earlier this year is very "mass" related. What is
the main concept behind that?
Our website follows the line of the icons and themes featured in our previous
release, “Fátima”.
A concept album based on the figure of the Holy Virgin and on many
topics of the Marian apparitions; starting from the occurrence in the city of
Fátima (Portugal, Oct. 1917), it analyses the process (or conspiracy!) that
drove the Catholic Church to absorb and assimilate the rising cult of the Holy
Virgin, later using and abusing it to recruit new acolytes for its own army.
Each song composes, lyrically but also musically, a piece of the mosaic, and
develops a different story like tales from the same gospel. The entire concept
is dominated by the character of a female figure with one name but two “souls”,
different sides of the same icon: the “white” Holy Virgin of Fátima and the
“black” Fourth Daughter, Fatima herself, the “shining one”, the only keeper of
the Islam Prophet’s Bloodline, Muhammad. So this album touches Muslim religion
taboos too, like the condition of the woman and her submissive role in
“society”. From the collective miracles and Church propaganda to women abuse
and the cruelty of the holy war, all the factors which have contributed to carving
a giant named Fátima.
So coming back to our website, it is all “mass” related with particular
intent.
What are
your lyrics about? What are your biggest influences?
Our lyrics, their themes, content and form change every time because we
choose to express ourselves through concept albums. So it depends on the main
subject and it’s strictly chained to the fact that we treat each of our
releases as a single case, although you could hook them up one to another.
The input can arrive suddenly and anywhere my attention is captured, all
the ideas come from a kind of a personal data processing that elaborates these inputs
and translates them into images, which then become names, places and stories.
And of course from personal interest and experiences too.
A funny example could be the idea for the song “Of Misery and the Final
Hope” (Fatima, 2011), for which a videoclip was released too. I do not often
watch TV but, when I rarely do, I like zapping. So at that time I stopped on a
program about Christian pilgrimages to the Marian sanctuaries and about how devotees
could be used to self-inflicted torture and forced to march on their knees to
offer their penitence to the Holy Virgin in order to obtain grace.
There are similar traditions in some of the southern regions of Italy,
where you can still attend the processions of the Flagellants, hooded penitents
that flagellate their own skin in a triumph of blood.
The music composing process involves the whole band and evolves adapting
the atmosphere and music itself to the concept we chase, by inserting ethnic
elements and influences from the collective imagery.
Riul
Doamnei grew very much and very quickly in the metal scene, what do you have to
say about this? Have you accomplished what you have intended to so far?
We did reach lots of goals during these past years, both from the studio
and live activity, accumulating amazing experiences and achieving steps we
didn’t think as possible, but of course we won’t stop growing, evolving and
kickin’ asses. Now all the music business is changed and if you’ve got
something to say and the right weapon to do it, everything is possible. As more
than one told before: “do it yourself” and be sure of the real results.
We’ve been working now for some years with our own studio project,
offering careful services to all those bands that are searching not only for a
place to record their stuff, but also for true interest in their cause and
experience in metal divisions, ‘cause we still believe in music and support the
great underground out there.
You are
currently working on a new EP, how is it going? Anything you want to share
with Lachryma Christi and your followers?
Yes, we’ve been working for the last eight months on our new EP.
Unfortunately, after we finished composing and arranging all songs and right before
the recording sessions, I was involved in a serious accident that took me three
months to recover. During my bed-forced crucifixion, all band members worked
very hard without losing any hope or time, so I was able to record the vocals
straight after my resurrection, my biggest thanks to them.
Our EP will soon be available in free digital download, meanwhile you
can find the complete lyric video version in streaming on our youtube official
channel.
There are many reasons behind this digital release, “A Christmas Carol”.
We’ve always wanted to give something for free to all our followers as a
special gift for their support during all these years. We have also stepped on
different sound paths and experimental approach, starting from the point that
this EP is an orchestral metal opera in eleven movements, a long suite based on
Charles Dickens’ classic novel.
Of course we made it in our way, including a sick imagery and a
desecrating disgust for Christmas, it isn’t just a ghost tale or a Christmas
tale, in fact we wanted to emphasize the human aspect of the story, the
solitude of old age, the regret about the loss of love and the failures, man’s
terror of dying alone and forgotten, and we chose to do it by painting the most
disgraceful images through the quotes of Ch. Dickens himself, using for 90% of
the lyrics the original parts from the novel. So the lyrics and music were
written, arranged and adapted at the same time in a kind of inverse process.
“A Christmas Carol” is a very dark and atmospheric experience and when
you start listening to it you feel like entering a journey, somehow. Similar to
a soundtrack or a musical for the blind, it trespasses the borders of many
styles to converge in an orchestral suite, mixing all those influences which
have been our trademark from the very beginning.
Atmosphere, violence, experimentation and one more touch of old school.
Also the production has been adapted to the concept, colder and rich in natural
sound, more like the nineties. This time we decided to work by ourselves on 90%
of the production, from the recording sessions to the mixing process.
We had also the honour to have a very special guest, the Italian female
metal icon Cadaveria, who’s featured on the fourth movement, “Once upon Loss,
Regret and Broken Promise”, with her amazing vocals.
“A Christmas Carol” will soon be available in free digital download on
our web channels.
So download it, put on your headphones and enter the journey, but be
careful, you may have to confront some of your own Ghosts…
What was
the band with who you enjoyed the most sharing a stage with? Why?
I think probably Rotting Christ, great band and dear friends.
We’ve shared many different experiences with them in the past 5 years
and we’re always very pleased to meet them, they still support and believe in
the underground and are very nice people too.
Sakis Tolis was featured on our latest full length “Fatima”.
We have also many friends in the Balkans area, like Krepuskul from
Romania, we had some tours together in the past and we’re very close friends.
I enjoy sharing the stage with every band that I like, but that doesn’t
mean I enjoy them down the stage too, sometimes it happens, for a lot of
reasons, lack of time is the main one!
What do
you mean when you describe Riul Doamnei as Extreme Symphonic Metal?
Simply because it best describes most of our tunes, there’s no
particular intent to enter this division, we simply play what we like and what
we are. We could start a never-ending discussion about the differences between
Extreme Symphonic Metal, Orchestral Death Metal, Symphonic Black Metal etc. Let
us just say that we don’t like to repeat ourselves or stagnate blindly on the
same formula. We like to change, evolve and to hazard maybe. To give you a
specific example, Fatima was more “extreme sympho”, A Christmas Carol is more
“sympho black”, but to us trying to describe our music with a slogan is not so
important...
When is a
new album supposed to come out?
We will start thinking about a new album straight after we’ve finished
pushing more on Fátima and live promotion of the new EP. But I’m sure we will
not resist the urge of starting another project as soon as possible.
We have some ideas, I can officially say that the title will include
only one word, as by common Riul Doamnei album tradition, and of course it will
be a concept one, but I can say no more about it.
By now we’re curious to see the media reaction to the new EP, although
we’ve already had great approval from our followers.
Apart
from new album project, what's in store for Riul Doamnei?
Beside promoting our new release and taking care of the recording
sessions of the next band in our studio project, we’re now focusing on the live
activity which will start in February. We’re currently planning some concerts
around Italy and an Eastern European tour with our friends and mates in Krepuskul,
that should cover the territories from Italy to the Balkans from the second
half of April, we’re also working on a special live set that will feature songs
from our latest three releases and a new visual concept.
Thanks to all our followers and Lachryma Christi!
And... Let the haunting begin…
Line up:
Federico D. B. - Voice/Guitar
Giorgio M. - Synthesizers
Maurizio S. - Lead Guitar
Fabrizio T. - Bass
Luca L. - Drums
Latest release:
Fátima (2011)
Read more in:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIUL-DOAMNEI/59023913710
http://www.riuldoamnei.it/
