Dark Empire – Tides Of Melodic Metal
Long Island's Dark Empire are a rising force in the US metal scene, the band – the brainchild of young guitar virtuoso Matt Moliti, has just released it's long awaitied sophomore release, "Humanity Dethroned", and they seem poised to take their brand of Power / Thrash / Prog Metal to the masses. While most band members are from the US, vocalist Jens Carlsson (Persuader, Savage Circus) is a native of Sweden, something which might complicate things for the band. In honor of the new release, we spoke with mastermind Moliti about the band, it's new album, and their future.
Hey Matt! I'd like to start with the band's new album – Humanity Dethroned. First- what's the situation with the album's release?
It was released May 5th for North America and Europe, via Killzone Records. You can order the album on our MySpace.
Why did you chose to sign with Killzone Records for it?
Killzone approached us after our performance at the Texas Madfest festival. What attracted us to them was that they seemed to "get" us better than a lot of other people within the scene. They recognize that our sound is pretty broad and could appeal to a lot of different kinds of metal fans and they wanted to promote us as such.
How would you describe the album in comparison with your last release – Distant Tides?
Writing Humanity Dethroned was definitely way more focused than writing Distant Tides. I know what I want the band to sound like now, and you can hear that there is a definite direction in the music. So I think we’re finally coming into our own with this one. Sonically, its a lot heavier, more thrash and death influence in the riff writing, and also a bit more progressive as well.
The band is an international one, how did do the long-distance recording of the album?
Well the only person in the band who is not in the US is Jens, and it went rather smoothly. I send him the tracks with all of my melodies already written and he just interprets them his way, adds all the vocal layering, and sends it back. I’d say he stays 90% to the melodies I write, especially the choruses, and the other 10% are little changes he makes to better suit his singing or the song.
In what ways do you think that way of working effects the band and it's music?
Well it definitely cuts down the collaboration process. What I get back from him is what I get back, you know? It’d be nice to work more on the vocal melodies back and forth before the final recordings take place.
Now to you, how did you start out playing guitar? Who were your biggest influences when starting out?
I started playing when I was about 13, and at first I wasn’t into metal at all. My initial inspirations to pick up guitar were 70s prog rock bands like Pink Floyd, Rush, and Genesis. So the guys from those bands, especially David Gilmour from Pink Floyd were my first early influences. I think it was beneficial for my playing to not have to start out trying to shred. The first few years were coping guys like Gilmour and Lifeson, which is nothing about speed and all about phrasing and feeling. So I already had all that down when I started practicing the more technical stuff.
Was Dark Empire your first musician project?
Yeah, aside from a band I had in high school and some guys I’d jam with at college, this is the first professional endeavor.
For a young guitarist to create such a strong line-up as you did for Distant Tides is surprising, how did you gather all those talented individuals for the album?
Well, with Jens it was just a matter of emailing him, asking him if he wanted to sing on this album I was working on. He told me he was interested and to send over the demos. He liked what he heard and that was that. Everyone else I had already known just from networking, friends of friends kind of stuff.
One thing I liked about the album, was that usually "shredders" tend to show-off relentlessly in their music (a-la Malmsteen), but your playing in the album fit in with the music, without trying to overpower it, was that something you did intentionally when playing?
Yeah. To be honest, I really don’t like most instrumental rock or metal. I never got big into all the Shrapnel records guys, except for Paul Gilbert and Jason Becker, but that was because they also wrote good songs and were in good bands, not just for their chops. All the guitarists that I really like play in bands that are song and vocal oriented. Don’t get me wrong, I obviously love that kind of guitar playing, but it has to be musical to me, and it has to serve the song. I’d rather listen to a great band with an ok guitarist than some shred guy wanking off. To be called a "shredder" is a double edged sword, because on one hand it means that you’ve reached an admirable level of proficiency on guitar, but on the other hand its often linked to guys who just care about showing off. If someone wants to call me that I’ll take it as a compliment, though.
Just some tips for the aspiring guitarists reading this, how do you reach the level of playing you did in such as early age? Is it practice, the right teachers, the right influences?
Theres no substitute for practicing. Thats really it. And not just noodling around, even though thats fun too. Really focused practice with a goal in mind, and putting in that time every day. Having a good teacher who can show you what you want to learn is great, I’m a teacher myself, but you can learn quite a bit on your own as well.
You studied in Berklee college, what is it about studying there that turned out such illustrious guitarists as John Petrucci and Al Di Meola?
From my experience there, I would say the school is the product of who went there, not the other way around. I mean, its a great environment for a musician to be in since the only thing you’re doing all day is music, but just simply being there isn’t going to magically turn you into a great musician. The great musicians who came out of Berklee would have been great regardless of if they had gone there or not.
Back to the band, your music is pretty hard to categorize, a combination of power, prog and thrash, what was it you were aiming for with it's music?
I just wanna write good, kick ass, heavy metal music, I don’t give a shit about what genre it is. People want to be able to throw something into a category, and thats fine, they can call it whatever they want. I’m influenced by a lot of things, and I don’t shut any of it out when I write. Thats probably why we’re not easily pigeonholed.
Since the band members live so far from each other, what's the situation with it from a touring point of view?
The same situation is with any band, I think. Finding a promoter that wants to fork over the cash to put us on the road.
Finally, any word on what do 2008 holds for the band?
Promoting Humanity Dethroned, hopefully doing some shows this summer and fall in support of it, and then I’ll probably start working on the 3rd album sometime towards the end of this year.
