Having recently signed to Ascendance Records here in the UK, French band Akphaezya have just released their first album, Anthology II playing a mix of what they call 'Eklektic Metal.' I caught up with guitarist and lyricist Stephan H. to talk about their first release.

Why did you decide to make a concept album rather than a typical straight forward cd?
I always loved concept albums because of their possibilities. So, I wanted Akphaezya to be an entire project. Another thing is that even while you're talking about the life of the characters, you can talk about real subjects or social problems as adoption, religion, nature etc. so it's also a good way to claim our ideas with some parallels.

Where did the idea 'Akphaezya' come from and what made you want to create music about it? I began to think about the main story, then the history of that world and wrote the entire concept. With this other world created, all types of music were required. I already saw that it would be difficult, especially for the vocal lines and the lyrics. (The lyrics have to follow the whole story of Akphaezya, but also to be a short story during the song. And the vocal lines have to be respected to be musical.) Difficult, but possible.

So this big project stimulated me. I needed musicians to make it live, and it began a real band, because they gave a big part of themselves into Akphaezya.

The new album Akphaezya is supposed to take the listener on a journey using lyrics, sound and visual effects. What kind of journey do you want to take them on?

A kind of book, but where music gives the different colours, feelings etc... And the few images or the style of the artwork are a little path to show in what direction your imagination has to travel.

What do you think makes you different to other female fronted bands that are around at the moment?

For us, "female fronted metal" in not a musical style. We play Metal, or Rock... But we don't play with Nehl Aëlin because she's a woman, but because she is very talented. So all this band can't be compared. I sincerely think music is not a competition.

How did you start the band?

Akphaezya was my own project, I only wanted to record a demo. My first idea was to ask musicians to help. As I said, each person gave a part of themselves to Akphaezya. It wasn't only my project anymore but a real band with four persons who make the music.

I first asked Nehl and then Loïc. They liked the idea of mixing musical styles. We played together: Akphaezya began to be. Stephane Béguier joined us some weeks later. In fact, we were already friends before Akphaezya, so it was good to play all together.

Were you involved with any other musical projects before Akphaezya?

Yes we had some little band but nothing important. Now some members plays also in other bands :
Nehl Aëlin has her solo project (named the same : Nehl Aëlin) and will released her 3rd album soon.
Loic plays Batucada music.
Stephane Béguier plays the bass in a big jazz band. He also sings in two metal bands : 168 red keys and Za Pirats (a funny little thrash/death band).

I plays the guitars in Za Piratz and will begin a new band soon with my girlfriend who is a great singer

. There are so many different influences on Anthology II, do you plan to keep the same sound on all the Anthology albums or will the sound change with each album and also as this album is based on the concept of Akphaezya, is this what influences your sound and style or do you take influence from other bands and artists - if so who are your main influences?

In a way, we found our style which is a manner to compose and a certain sound. Akphaezya will stay Akphaezya since we'll never have musical limit. But the result won't ever be the same because of what require the story and what we want to play.

So yes the story of Akphaezya influences what we play, but Akphaezya is firstly a musical band, and music is the more important point !

We listened to a lot of bands that influenced us : Opeth, Machine head, Death, Pantera, Metallica, Mr Bungle, RATM, Slayer, Arch enemy, S.o.a.d., Pain of salvation, Dream Theater, Carcass, Anathema, Tool, Sepultura, Brutal Truth, Arcturus. So the main metal bands... And other styles : LedZep, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Tori Amos, Björk, Jazz music, Classical music, World Music (Rabih Abou Khalil, Batucada.), Movie music (Danny Elfman), or even Hip-hop (Eminem, CypressHill, Iam). Each style of music has its good artists !

What kind of response have you had since releasing the new album?
It's really cool to share our music and to discover that a lot of people like it ! Great ! Great ! Great ! We received good and enthusiastic reviews in Germany, Greece, and France. It just begins in England. It has been a long work and a big part of us that we gave on that album...So it's really a dream !

Of course, we also read a few really bad reviews, but it proves that Akphaezya : You love, or hate ! Ahahha.

Do you have any touring plans?
Yes, we'll certainly have some dates with Unexpect in France, around October. I don't know if there will be some English gigs... We hope so !

Interview for Unfashionable Creatures by Laura Kelly, July 2008

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