Shade Empire – 17-12-2011

Interview with: Shade Empire
By: Sabine van Gameren

This night at Metalorgy Shade Empire was on the bill. The band have not really done much lately, or at least anything that is visible for their fans, so it was interesting to speak shortly with them to see if we could find out some more.

The band formed in 1999 in Kuopio and did a couple of demo’s until the release of their debut album in 2004 got out. After that two more albums came out and after that it went silent around them. Many fans have gathered in front of the door and while I arrived some were scanting their name. “Today is a show to let people know we are still alive” they tell. Obviously welcome as the fans seem not to have forgotten about this band yet. When starting about what is coming up for these guys, they share with us that they will enter the studio in Februari. Any concrete information about when this album will be released is not really given by the guys who seem to have troubles in making clear what their fans can expect. “It is going to be massive” is something we keep on falling back to, which does not really enlighten our imagination. It is not that the band does not have any idea of what it will be as they tell their material is ready to be recorded, it is just not easy to put it into words yet. “Everything is ready, we are just waiting for the final touch. We just have to put it all together in the studio, it is pretty hard to explain what will come out of it”, they comment. Perhaps it is just subject of change and are they still searching for what the total outcome will look like, but the band is at least clear about one thing: “The story continues where it ended. It’s gonna be more symphonic, loads of symphonic elements”. This statement brings us a little closer to what the band will come with.

The reason the band has a hard time to speak of what that album will be like comes to light also. The band claims they have a quite unique sound “It is going to be something you have not heard before, at least… in Finland” they tell. Later on they tell that Sceptic Flesh comes closest to what they are talking about.
While talking about what to expect it comes clear that there are many styles mixed into their sound, some like Black Metal but could also be found in a Jazz concert so when questioning them at what sort of event we would find the guys in the crowd while they are visiting a concert/festival there comes the answer it would probably Metalorgy, showing us that this festival is one that unites them. That being said they tell also that tonight is actually the first time in about two or three years that they met again, a night before the event they saw each other at the rehearsal space but that’s it. Of course that made us curious in how these guys got together as they seem to be quite different persons and the answer lies far in the past when the guys were attending the same school. “We grew up together” they said.
Knowing this all and realizing that there may not be much more to find out about them at this point , it was time to set them free and get ready for the show. As soon as they have their album released we’ll try to question the guys some more, but for now we are happy to get to know them a little more.

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