Hi there, first of all congratulations for your newest album. What is the latest news from the camp of Distorted?

Before answering all questions, I would to introduce myself and Distorted to the readers. Hi everyone my name is Miri Milman - I'm the female vocalist of Distorted.
Raffael Mor - vocals, Guitars
Guy Shalom - bass
Benny Zohar - lead guitars
Matan Shmueli - drums
And we are an oriental melodic death/doom metal band from Israel.

Thank you, it is very exciting for us to finally release our debut album "Memorial", a moment that we have been waiting for too long. The album was released in Israel on 13th March Via NMC records (Israel) and was released in Europe on 2nd May via Bad Reputation Records (France).

Tell us few things and if there are a story behind your name and why you choose it?

This question always brings out funny memories. In 1998 we started as "Distorted Minds" and had no reason or ideal behind that name we just felt like Distorted minded people but after our first show that year, when this name appeared in Hebrew on the poster we decided that it was too funny so we kicked out the "minds".

After that, we thought to add something more "interesting" to the name so we tried to add 3 dots "Distorted…" It is very unnecessary to say that it didn't worked out, so since 1999 we are just Distorted with no other decorations.

We just feel that this name suits us and our music. We all come from different musical backgrounds and the combination between us is kinda Distorted but it works for us...

As I remember, you had recorded first your album and then you find a label, do you believe that now days this is the common procedure in order to be more easy to find a label?

Yes, I believe so. Nowadays, things work in a different way. The music business has totally changed since the internet. Labels are more interested in making money than caring about music since most of the people prefer to download music than buying it. Labels do not take any risks anymore so they prefer to sign bands that have already invested their own money in producing an album and are responsible for their own publicity, that way the label won't lose a lot of money in advertising or recordings. But its not working like that in every case, some bands get really lucky and some not.

For those who don't know anything about Distorted, could you please tell us few things about the music direction of the band?

Distorted music is a bit hard to describe. It combines a lot of music styles such as: death metal, doom, dark, a bit of gothic, oriental, heavy and more… The listeners could really hear big Middle Eastern influences on our music, but yet we choose to combine it with a lot of influences. This variety in our music most definitely comes from our personal musical taste, every band member has its own preference and together we create something undefined called Distorted.

Our first album is very hard to define musically because it took us more than 4 years to write all the songs, and we changed a lot through those years, to consolidate a certain character to our songs and to find a unique sound that will fit us and our music - this process is very hard to do and it takes along time. I‘m sure that on our next album we will be more fixed on our style and it will be more easy to know how our sound should sound like.

So far how is the reaction from the press and the fans for your album?

So far we got a lot of good reviews and good responses from people all over the world who really like our music.

Every day we get a lot of emails from fans saying that they can really understand the issues we wrote about in our music and they can really hear the origin of our music and where we come from and it is very excited for us to know that people can finally share this album with us.

We really hope that this album will reach the hands of a lot of people and that people could really connect to its theme.

Miri, you are also a part of the famous Orphaned Land, do you believe that this could push a little bit Distorted too?

Distorted and Orphaned Land have an old family history, we are good friends for along time now, so when I joined them for a couple of shows it felt very naturally. We connected very good on stage and rehearsals was very easy because I already knew their materials. I believe that OL opened a lot of doors for Israeli bands that are now trying to get their recognition in the world wide metal scene and because of their big success people all over the world are now more interested of hearing more bands coming out of Israel, so yes I think OL has helped a bit to every band here in Israel.

All we know that the past months your country, Israel, had done a war. Do you want to say something for this? Do you agree with the position of your government?

I don't usually talk about politics. I think the best way is to leave it to the politicians. I'm just glad that this war is over for now, ‘cause it took a lot of precious lives and a lot of people lost their houses. It was a very hard period for everyone and I'm just glad that it is behind us.

What are your future plans in order to support your release?

As we speak we are working on our first European tour that will probably occur in the winter of 2007. Due to the war we had lately, a lot of concerts had been cancelled and a lot of planning were postponed, so now that our minds are more clear we can start making some preparations and work with full power on getting this album more known all over the world.

Have you already started to have ideas for new songs?

Yes, we already have 3 new songs ready for our next album. The next album is going to be a concept album so we have already thought very carefully about the theme and how it will progress through the songs order. We wish that we would be able to get this album done by next year.

If I come to a show of Distorted, what I will see?

First of all you will see 4 guys and one girl head banging their ass off on stage! You will see a good live performance with fast beating rhythms and heavy distortions combines with emotional melodies all wrapped up with Distorted energies!

Could you please tell us few things about the lyrics theme?

"Memorial" main theme is pain and personal loss. Each and one of us had lost a close friend or a relevant. Sickness or bombings attacks in Israel, Wars or even traffics accidents, break ups… anything that has to do with personal pain and painful memories. The lyrics represent pain and you can mostly understand it and feel it by the sad melodies in our songs.

If I push the play button on your CD player, what I will hear?

Well, you will hear a lot of stuff, but if you will push it this year you will hear alot of Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Soilwork and Arch Enemy.

Usually I'm a person that like to listen to a lot of different varied music styles, i love music in every form. I love to listen to other singers and sometimes even learn from them and I'm also a person that really gets effected by seasons. Each season has its music. On winter time I listen a lot to doom metal bands and mostly dark music with sad lyrics. On Summer time I listen a lot to metal core and death metal, so you see, it depends on my moods. sometimes I also love to listen to music that isn't metal like Spanish music or ambient, its beautiful.

How do you see the metal scene in your country?

I think that we have a wonderful scene today although it isn't that big - it is special! People are really devoted to music and they are really crazy when they like a band. Before 2002 (after the 90's) we could say that the metal scene in Israel was quite dead. There were no metal events no festivals or nothing that could have indicated that this scene will ever become alive again.

At first when we started to play concerts, we had only 5-10 people in the crowd, but today our scene is bigger than ever! It has been awaken from its deep sleep, and it's amazing to see the differences in each concert. Every time I see new faces. and its making me feel very happy to see this good progress.

Thank you very much for your time and I wish you all the best in your music career.

Thank you Antonis, for supporting us and our music and thank you - the readers for your time in reading this article, we really hope to come and play in Greece some day.