Chad Bowar: Tell us about the new album Dante XXI.
Derrick Green: We've been working on it for the past year now. The whole idea behind it is a soundtrack for the book The Divine Comedy where Dante takes a journey into hell and purgatory and paradise. We wrote the music to go along with the story, but updated it to the 21st. That's where the title comes from. A lot of things that were going on and that he was going through in that time period can be related to now and what we go through.
Were you familiar with the subject matter?
I was already familiar with it, I just had to pick up a copy of the book to refresh my memory. I'm a big fan of mythology and I know a lot about the bible, so the mix together was really interesting when I was growing up and read the book. It's even more fascinating re-reading it now and envisioning everything that was happening and creating a vibe with the music. There was a lot of research. Andreas and I also did a lot of research on Dante the person, even deeper than the book.
With your passionate fan base, sales of the book will probably go up when the album comes out.
That would be pretty cool, because it's a very interesting book and I think people will be more interested once they hear the music. We had orchestras come in and do certain parts in order to create a vibe. It's a very sinister album, just for the fact that the songs are grouped into hell, purgatory and paradise.
Did you record any additional material for b-sides or foreign releases or things like that?
We did a few things. We did "Screaming For Vengeance" for a Judas Priest tribute album. I'm not sure when it's coming out. We also did a Sick Of It All cover for another tribute album.
Who produced the album?
Our sound technician Stanley Sorus came in and we produced the album with him along with another co-producer who does a lot of films here in Brazil. Stanley knows how we are live and the sound we need to come through on a CD. Andre came in with the film side to create that cinematic vibe. It was the first time we had done that. We usually do most of the producing ourselves.
What's your recording process like?
We try to get as much as possible done before we get into the studio. There's always little things that we go through and change in the studio. Lyrics especially get changed in the studio all the time.
You switched labels a couple years ago. Are you satisfied with SPV?
I definitely think we are, just for the fact that we're able to do what we want to do. We have a lot of freedom. Another huge aspect is that we are able to own our music. I don't know if most people know that when you sign with most major labels they have you sign the rights to your music away. For us it's really important to have that. For me it's important. I think our previous label was pretty much built from taking a lot from most of the artists to build the label. We created this music, and we should have the right to own it.
