by Kenneth Morton

Fireangel is the sixth magnum opus from Germany's premier power / thrash metal band Mystic Prophecy. A devastating work of musical and poetic artistry, we recently conducted an interview with founder RD Liapakis to find out more about this tremendous band. Read on to learn more about the apocalyptic fireangels of metal...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Mystic Prophecy and how long the band has been together.
Hello crazy US metalheads! My name is Roberto Dimitri Liapakis and I am the vocalist and the main founder / songwriter of the band. The band has been together since 2000 with our first release that was Vengeance. Since then we had three album releases via Nuclear Blast Records and three album releases via Massacre Records. The band has made numerous live appearances through the years on tours with Deathangel, Nightwish, Rage, Primal Fear and many big European festival appearnances such as WACKEN OPEN AIR, BANG YOUR HEAD, EARTHSHAKER, METALCAMP etc.

You have three new members on Fireangel who weren't on your previous CD. How frustrating has it been to replace members? How did it feel when Martin Albrecht especially announced his intentions to leave, since he was there from the beginning?
Yes, it's true. The old members had to step aside due to family and business reasons and the new members are Constantine (on lead guitar), Connie Andreska (bass), and Stefan Dittrich (drums). As you probably know and I think everyone knows that when you mix music with work or family, things may get a little bit difficult to make time and have everything done! It's really difficult indeed to try to catch up with everything! Martin Albrecht became for his 3rd time a father and he had to dedicate to his baby and family at that point! Martin Grimm needed to focus more on his work and by that it meant that he had to work three weeks back to back every month, so it was really difficult to make music and rehearse with the band! Also, Mathias Straub decided to study at the law school and devote himself to his studies!

Under this circumstances the band had to find new members so it would continue it's course! It wasn't easy for me to find equal and even better replacements because the old members weren't random people that you can find in every corner!! First of all, I have noticed Constantine since he was playing in Nightrage and I made the production of his other band (DESCENDING) as well and when I heard his talent, I immediately asked if he would like to join Mystic Prophecy!! And that's the way it was! He is one of the biggest upcoming talents and in a few years, he will be one of the best guitarist upon the planet if he will continue like that!! But he is a good songwriter as well and you can hear that on the three songs that we wrote together!! Father Save Me + Fireangel + Forever Betrayed!!

Secondly, Connie our new bassist managed to impress me among 20 other bass players because he didn't even only manage to play excellent bass on the tracks, but to sing second vocal lines on the songs as well!! He is an awesome all-rounded talent!! He can play the bass-the guitar-sings absolutely fabulous and he is an amazing songwriter! The song Across The Gates Of Hell - we wrote it together and there you can see his songwriting skill!!

Stefan our new drummer is with the band since the Satanic Curses Tour and he bacame part of the band since then!! Personally, I didn't searched for the best musicians to replace the former members in Mystic, but the right musicians that fit to the music of the band!!

Is there any story or concept behind the Fireangel title and how does this one compare to your previous releases?
There is actually a small concept behind the Fireangel album, but the whole album in general is about several subjects! I write generally about things that concern us every single day like war, starvation, unjustice, the environment and so on...

On the Fireangel subject, everyone and each of us lives as an angel of fire. He comes to life, destroys whatever is around him and then he dies and becomes dust. Many people speak about the apocalypse. I believe that the apocalypse started the very first day man appeared on the planet. We are born to destroy the environment we live in, and that's why I think about that every single one of us is a small apocalyptic fireangel...

With Fireangel being your sixth CD, did you ever think you'd make it this far with Mystic Prophecy?
Actually you can never predict such things or expect something like this to happen when you are in the music business, because everything in this scene has it's ups and it's downs. But,one thing is for sure - our fans made us reach this level and we would have never made it if it wasn't for them! The Mystic Prophecy fans are one of the most devoted and dedicated fans in the whole metal scene as we speak. So, to thank them we will continue to deliver uncompromising-pure-fucking-heavy-metal with all that we got! Thank you for the support guys!!

How surprised were you to find that Fireangel has made it onto the German charts?
We were actually really happier than ever and excited as hell to enter the German charts and once again we would like to thank our fans that love us so much and bought the new CD like crazy from the record stores during the first week..!!

Have you ever played here in the States or do you plan on coming over in the future?
We haven't played so far in the States but it would be a dream come true for us to play for our US fans and I hope that it will be really soon!!

What do you think of your work with Valley's Eve, and do you still keep in touch with any of the with any of the members?
When we first began with Valley's Eve and we released 2 albums we were actually on our way to be one of the most hot and upcoming prog metal bands of Germany. We have released three really strong albums so far, but at the moment I have to say that the band has been on the ice for a while because I have been way too busy working with Mystic Prophecy, with productions in the studio and with other bands as well. Sometime I believe that we are going to release another album in the near future. I still have contact with the guys from the band, but I don't believe that they will actually appear on the new album because they have stopped playing music.

What did you think of Dennis Ekdahl from Raise Hell's work in your band and do you still keep in touch with him? He was definitely an interesting choice for your first drummer.
Dennis was introduced to me from Gus G. and he was a fantastic person and character and phenomenal drummer as well - but sometime we lost his tracks and we didn't even know where he was so, I had to look for another drummer for the band. Sometime afterwards we met again and now we are in contact again - it was a really great experience to play music with such a great drummer and personallity as well!

With your guitarist Markus Pohl also being in Symphorce, would you or he ever want to do a tour with both bands on the same bill?
I think that it would be a really cool idea but we haven't talked about it so far! Also it would be really cool to tour with Constantine's other band Descending or Connie's Evidence One! Who knows what's next in the future!

Are you involved with any other projects outside of Mystic Prophecy?
At this period I would like to give my voice only to Mystic Prophecy - but, I'm preparing a project that when it's gonna turn out so hot I believe that it will be spreaded very quickly everywhere! Sorry but I can't tell you more on this subject... I hope you understand... :)

You produced the last few Mystic Prophecy releases. Would you ever want to produce other bands in the future?
Of course! That's my job in the first place, a producer! Everybody's welcome!

What is your favorite German beer and why?
I don't drink beer and in general I don't drink alcohol... ok, I know that this might sound a little bit anti-metal but that's the way it is...! By the way, I always hear good words from other musicians for the Paulaner beer!

Do you still keep in touch with Gus G and did he leave Mystic Prophecy on good terms?
Of course we still keep in touch! We are very friends and we have a very good contact and we actually exchange a lot of phonecalls...! There were no hard feelings when Gus left, it's quite understandable I think that when a man has a dream he has to follow until the end and even go as far as he can reach! And that's the dream that Gus had... ;-)

What's up next for Mystic Prophecy?
At this moment we are looking for a tour package to promote the Fireangel CD as far as possible and to play in the first place for our long devoted fans that they keep supporting us for so many years! In a few months we will be announcing which tour we will perform and which festivals we will perform in 2010.

Any messages for metal fans here in the Los Angeles area?
We would like very much to get to Los Angeles and in the US, but still we didn't have the chance! Whenever you want to we are willing to get there in no time,hahahaha!!!! A very big THANK YOU to all our fans in the US!! Without you, Mystic Prophecy would never be in the position and level that it is right now! THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN!!

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!
The pleasure is all mine! Thank you and take care! Greetings from the cold Germany.

Mystic Prophecy links

Mystic Prophecy on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for Mystic Prophecy!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

Counter