"We thought about doing a night strip show for the ladies in Bulgaria!"

Guitarist and band founder Martin Wickler a.k.a. Sathonys presents the new line-up of the German melodic black metal sextet Agathodaimon, the upcoming studio album "Phoenix", and the participation at the 20 Years Nuclear Blast Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria on November 3, 2007...

Vassil Varbanov: Sathonys, hello!

Sathonys: Hi there!

V. V.: You know we're gonna talk about your upcoming first ever show in Bulgaria, but before asking you about Agathodaimon live, could you please tell us when should we expect your new album?

S.: I hope we'll finish the recordings early next year. We really took a long time for this album to work on, because we had some line-up changes and troubles... Even I was about quitting the band at one time, because I was a little fed up with everything. The chemistry in the band wasn't as good as it has been in the early days. Now, with the new line-up, it really feels like it's worth fighting again and releasing new songs. The work is going pretty ok, and we hope to release the album early next year.

V. V.: Does this mean the last few years have been the worst period in Agathodaimon's history? We know that in the past you had some other serious problems, when your Romanian vocalist in those days couldn't return to Germany...

S.: Even with the troubles we had with our old singer Vlad, there was always a good vibe in the band. We've always had trouble and we've never been a band with much luck, but we felt comfortable with Agathodaimon, our gigs, our songs... However, the troubles that recently occurred with the music business and some other members that are now gone... It seems as if your batteries go down and you just need to recharge... I think with the new members we've got again the good energy and good chemistry in the band, therefore to me it makes sense to continue and try to deliver the best record we've done so far.

V. V.: Could you please introduce the new Agathodaimon members?

S.: We've got Jonas Iscariot on vocals. He's a good friend of mine, I've known him for quite some time now and I'm very happy he made it into the band, as he's got a very good capability of singing and he's very motivated. The other new member is Jan Jansohn on guitar. He's currently studying music and is very skillful, and he's really into live playing. Then there's our keyboarder Felix Walzer, who's probably already known as he's with us since our latest album, "Serpent's Embrace" (2004)... And last year we got Till on bass guitar.

V. V.: Your new album's working title is "Phoenix". Are you going to keep it?

S.: We're quite sure we'll keep it. It's got several meanings. First of all, it's been almost four years since the release of our latest album, which is a long time, so we just had in mind to state we're back from the ashes.

V. V.: Let's focus on your upcoming visit to Bulgaria. Do you know any people from our country?

S.: I've been in touch with some people there for quite a while. I always was sad that we never made it to Bulgaria to play there so far - as far as I know, many bands have difficulties in getting there, as it's quite a distance and usually it makes real sense to bands that draw a lot of people. In our position it just wouldn't make sense, because probably not many people know us there, so now it's a great opportunity to play at the 20 Years Nuclear Blast Festival in Sofia with all those other great bands.

V. V.: What should we expect from Agathodaimon's live show on November 3?

S.: We thought about a night strip show for the ladies, ha-ha! No, seriously - we try to do an energized live show, as we always feel the music we do, so we try to express the emotions we have during the songs. I think for our first concert in Bulgaria we still have an impression to make, so we'll just try to put on a good live show with a lot of movement, headbanging and everything. Hopefully people will like it.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock