Dear Albert hi. We didn't have to wait too long this time for a "Forsaken" release. However there is a long period between your official releases, "Evermore" and "Anima Mundi". We know some of the reasons, but would you like to point out the main ones according to you.

Let's not forget our 2002 MCD "Iconcoclast" which helped to re-launch the band in the international doom scene. Although we referred to it as a MCD, it runs for 35 minutes, which is close to the length most full-length albums have nowadays. But you're right; there was a long lull in the band between 1996's "Evermore" and our most recent releases on Golden Lake. The delay was due to a variety of reasons. First after "Evermore" we went through a lengthy soul-searching exercise as regards to which musical direction we wanted the band to take. This was quite an arduous exercise as there were different opinions in the band at the time. When the issue was settled, we were hit by Daniel's (guitarist 1993-2001) illness, which was obviously a huge blow to the band on all counts. Daniel fought courageously against his disease for about two whole years and sadly passed away early in 2001. Obviously during that time our main priority was supporting Daniel and not the band. He is still missed, both as a band member and as a friend, and serves as an inspiration for us all.

The press has embraced "Anima Mundi", but what's the general feedback that you have from the audience? Do you have specific aims for "Anima Mundi"?

From the gigs we've done so far to promote the album, I can tell you that the audience reaction to the album has been fantastic and sales have been very encouraging. With "Anima Mundi" we hope to continue to establish ourselves at the pinnacle of the doom metal scene worldwide. It's a small, tightly-knit scene, but the amount of quality bands in the doom scene is indeed astounding. For us to be finally acknowledged after all these years as a potent force within the genre that we are deeply committed to is enough recognition for our efforts. We are not interested in breaking through the mainstream or becoming the next big metal MTV stars, we've long abandoned such dreams of grandeur (and I'm not too sure whether we've ever had them!). We formed Forsaken to play doom metal and to gain respect for what we do. This is what has propelled the band through what could have been quite insurmountable difficulties and is still the major driving force behind us.

This time you move even closer to the epic doom metal idiom, as the two main bands of the genre, Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus, expressed it. Its obvious enough that you are returning to the roots of the band and what I want to ask you is this: do you think "Evermore" was an intermission?

Epic doom metal is what Forsaken set out to play right from our early days. This is amply clear in our incipient releases, that is, our 1991 debut demo "Requiem" and the 1993 7" "Virtues of Sanctity" (issued on the French label Arkham Productions). In spite of the various influences we drew into our music at the time, I think no-one can dispute that those were both epic doom metal releases. Yes, I certainly argue with you our first full-length CD "Evermore" (1996, Storm Records) was more of an interlude between those early releases and our recent albums on Golden Lake. Don't forget one thing. Between those early days and the release of "Iconoclast" we had gone through various turbulent periods in our line-ups, so the interlude can also be explained as the result of long periods of instability where we still did not find enough coherence between members in terms of the style of doom we wanted to pursue. There was quite a lot of experimentation still going on and this is amply clear on "Evermore". This said, that album certainly has its strong points and includes a number of great tracks in my opinion including "Season's End", "Winter Tears", "Madrigal" and "Sufferance". We don't disown the album or anything like that and in fact we're currently working on the possibility of re-releasing "Evermore" in limited digi-pack format with Golden Lake.

"Evermore" was quite different, due to this groovy touch that had, right (of course it had more elements apart from this)? How do you make up your minds for the direction of the band? Is it a spontaneous reflection of your feelings or a well thought decision?

Like I said, during that time there was a lot of experimentation with diverse styles within the genre, which in a way was also a reflection of the stuff we were listening to. For example, I remember still being enthralled by Sleep's debut release and this influence can be heard on the hippy groove we pick up on "Vertigo". On the other hand there's a strong Trouble and Obsessed vibe going on also, especially on the albums first three songs. "Evermore" can be seen as a very kaleidoscopic album, represented the various shades (or shapes!) of doom, from the more groovier stuff to some very strong epic and mournful doom as in "Season's End" and "Winter Tears". After the album was released though, we did sit back for some time and reflect on what direction we wanted Forsaken to take. This was also another trying and difficult time in the band as we had two factions each pulling the band in different directions. Finally, to cut the long story short, sense prevailed and we decided consciously to re-visit our natural epic doom metal oriented habitat and we recruited a new keyboard player (Mario Ellul) in 1998 to help us go further in this direction. By 1999 the foundations for the new direction were set and we had already built a strong new track list. Unfortunately, after Daniel's illness and eventual passing away it took us quite a long time to get back into the studio (nearly 3 years!) but finally we managed to do, even more so, as we felt that we owed it to Daniel to keep the flame burning!

Somehow we haven't heard any covers from you. Do you like covering songs and if yes which are your favorite songs that you cover?

We did in fact release a cover of "Neon Knights" for a Dio-era, Black Sabbath tribute released on Tom Blackwell's Mid West Metal Productions (USA), which also featured contributions from Memory Garden, Last Chapter and Mood (now Wall of Sleep) apart from several other bands. Our cover also includes a take on E5150 as an intro. It's quite a good cover really and is also Daniel's last ever outing in a studio so we're quite endeared to it. We have plans of issuing it as a bonus track on one of our forthcoming releases. Our live set also often includes covers from Ozzy era-Sabbath. Over the years we've done lots of Sabbath covers in our live gigs, including "Into the Void", "Children of the Grave", "Symptom of the Universe" and of course "Black Sabbath", the doom metal anthem of all time. We shall be doing another cover from a seminal doom metal band at the next HOA in Germany next July, but I shall not reveal it here…it'll be a surprise. As you may note we do enjoy doing covers, but at the end of the day we're not a cover band or anything like that so we always ensure that our live set is always primarily based on our numbers. The same applies for the studio. An album should be a showcase for the band's material rather than anything else.

We have talked a lot about the Maltese scene in the past. I know that it's hard to be from a small country. Do you think now, that Malta is becoming a member of the European Union, you will have more opportunities and you will be treated with more respect?

Being in the EU should definitely speed up the process of commuting to and fro Malta and the European mainland, as prior to May 1st traveling was hindered by lots of bureaucracy and all sorts of unnecessary red-tape. We're also looking forward for the possibility of the introduction of more flight operators offering flights at budget prices as you have in other European countries. Importing our own CD stock from the label should now also prove less costly and tiring as all trade barriers have been dismantled upon EU entry. On a similar tangible level, Malta's introduction into the Eurozone should also prove beneficial for us as we don't have to go through lots of red-tape when it comes to dealing with foreign currencies. Obviously, there is also the prospect of settling in another country, which is more open to metal so to speak. This should be the way forward for Maltese metal bands seeking to really establish themselves in Europe, however it's definitely not on the cards for us at this stage. As regards to whether we shall be treated with more respect now than before, I am convinced that such respect should not depend on one's country of origin, one's politics or so forth….at the end of the day it is the band's musical dexterity which should be the pivotal point to ensure standing in the international scene, and nothing else.

Would you like to describe shortly the cover of "Anima Mundi"? How important is the cover for a CD release?

The cover represents the themes the themes are broadly reflected in the album title – "Anima Mundi" (that is the soul or spirit of the earth). We define this as the duality of humankind's existence and the resultant synthesis from this duality. That is, humankind's existence is contingent upon birth (represented the artwork by the human figure) and death (depicted by a raven in flight). The synthesis of this process (on a symbolic level) is our music, which can be seen as a metaphor for the re-generation of the soul. I think an album should be attractive on all fronts. Obviously the music and lyrical content should have priority, but the packaging should also be given importance and it is an important selling point.

You seem to give great importance to the lyrics. It's crystal clear that they are dark and have a philosophical scent, but would you like to give us some more insight about the lyrics?

Each of the tracks explores the broad theme highlighted above. Let's consider "Sephiroth" and "The Eyes of Prometheus" as examples. Both deal with the lyrical persona's journey in a world captivated by solitude, isolation and the yearning for compassion. Unknowingly though and pushed by earthly and instinctual pressures, the persona ventures further into the depths of despair and depravity. "Kindred Veil" and "Carpe Diem" on the other hand are imbued with more optimism in an ambivalent way. The are introspective reflections by myself (in the case of "Kindred Veil") and Leo on "Carpe Diem" on the challenges which the band faced throughout recent years emphasizing the understanding that there is hope for the human spirit that even in the face of death. Some critics have identified a general lyrical concept running through the album. To be honest I found this quite an interesting observation. In fact though, we did not have any plans for an overall general concept while we were in the studio, we started to realize that some of the tracks had profound connections on both the lyrical and musical level, so you could say "Anima Mundi" has a subtle conceptual theme running through it which was gradually yet markedly revealed to us.

This is the second release with Golden Lake Productions. This means that you are satisfied with their work? If you were able to ask something from them, what would you ask them to provide you and support you?

Yeah, we're very satisfied with how things have worked out with the label and we've just signed another two-album deal with them, which should see two new albums released in January 05 and January 06. They've been very supportive on all fronts, particularly in relation to distribution and promotion. "Anima Mundi" is already in its second press and the album has also been licensed to another label, which shall be responsible for re-releasing it in Russia and the CIS states. Obviously, there are always areas for improvement, particularly as regards to support for touring and so on. We've started some discussions in this regard, but touring does not just depend on financial backing. As we all work full-time and have loads of other responsibilities, it is difficult to reconcile such matters with extensive touring. At this stage we are prioritizing some festival appearances abroad as it is both less costly and more effective as you're reaching out to many people at one go, while with touring there is always the risk of having lowly attended gigs. At the same time we have experienced touring before and we are looking forward for the possibility of touring again in the future.

I know that you have sent a lot of promos to many labels for a contract. Many of them rejected you, but did you have any feedback? Why didn't they want to sign with you? Was this correlated with the publicity of your musical genre?

When we sent out copies of our 2002 demo to different labels we received concrete interest from about 5 labels. Finally, the choice was between Golden Lake and another small label, but we opted for Golden Lake as they offered the most advantageous conditions and seemed most enthusiastic to sign the band. Generally, the feedback was quite positive and surprisingly most labels did in fact bother to reply to us, but signing an epic doom band was not on their cards at the time. I don't know whether the situation has changed for doom bands now with the current doom metal revival, but at the end of the day doom metal has a very limited appeal, and it is unlikely that it will develop into a mainstream metal trend or anything like that, so labels are not very enthusiastic to sign acts such as ourselves. It's a real pity that some very good doom bands are still unsigned, while several untalented acts jumping on the current trendy bandwagon get all sorts of exposure. At the same time this allows the possibility for doom to retain its authenticity and remain uncorrupted by mainstream business interests. God forbid if ever doom metal becomes the next trend. Knowing the people in the scene it's unlikely that this scenario will ever develop. However, I certainly hope that more underground metal labels with the right sort of mind set provide the necessary platform for those upcoming doom metal bands out there to at least find an appropriate avenue for their music.

I know very well that you recently have been performing duties of a journalist for a webzine. How hard is it for a musician to judge the scene through the eyes and the perspective of a journalist, if of course we can call web authors journalists?

I've recently started contributing some reviews and other articles to Monolith Webzine (Greece). As I've remarked elsewhere, I see this as another way of sharing my passion for doom metal with other like-minded souls. I have no problems with being as objective as possible, although as anything in life, one always has his or her own biases. It would be pretentious to claim otherwise. In fact I often restrict to reviewing stuff that I feel I'm informed about as otherwise I don't think I can ensure as objective a review as possible."

Doom Shall Rise festival tends to be a major event for the European doom metal scene. Would you like to give us your perspective for this kind of events?

I've been to both Doom Shall Rise festivals, the first one with the band as we were on the bill, and this year as a fan. Believe me both events shall be forever close to my heart and they were certainly unforgettable experiences. Every self-respecting doom fan should try to make it to such an event. It's an occasion for sharing one's passion for the music we all love so dearly, and moreover, it is the perfect opportunity to experience the genuinety and sincerity of the doom metal community!

Recently we have had a titan collision in Stockholm, with the gig of Candlemass and Trouble. If you were able to gather some bands for the biggest doom metal gig, which would they be?

Through the DSR fests I have been able to see some great doom bands including Count Raven, Penance, Revelation, While Heaven Wept and Thunderstorm so in part some of my dreams have already been fulfilled. However, I still long to see St Vitus, Pentagram, Trouble and Candlemass live although it looks like it's going to be difficult in the case of the latter as we now know that the Candlemass re-union shall not last any longer. Place of Skulls are another band I'm really keen on at the moments and I'd love to see them live, and of course, Krux. They'd be perfect for the occasion.

Now that no one talks about the relation between doom metal and stoner rock, do you think that all this literature has harmed doom metal or has it made it stronger and more "concise"?

I think this is quite a long-winded and exaggerated debate and is not really doing anything for the betterment of the doom metal scene. I don't tend to judge bands on their affiliation to one particular genre or another, but rather in terms of their own merit as a band. Although, I have my own preferences when it comes to doom, which basically revolve around the epic and the more classic doom metal idiom, I will not rule out a band because they've been labeled as a stoner act. Abdullah present a case in point. They're generally referred to act as stoner act, for God's sake even Pentagram have in some quarters; but this does not mean that they don't deserve respect and attention.

Ok, this is silly, but let me ask you. Are you aware that another band, Dionysus, has named their LP after "Anima Mundi"? If you had known it earlier would you have changed the title of the CD?

We always try to ensure that our titles are not used by any other band prior to releasing our material. However, there's so many bands out there that it's difficult to ensure some sort of control in this respect."

That's all Albert. I wish you all the best with "Anima Mundi". Take care.

Thanks to you Giannis and Alekos for this opportunity. I wish you all the best for Metal Perspective and life in general. Keep the flame burning!