Crédit : Nat Enemede
AD INFINITUM has been busy since their creation back to 2018. After two albums, the band reveal the third chapter entitled: "Chapter III - Downfall"". Niklas Müller (drums) tells us more about the production and its concept around Egyptian culture :
To begin with, can you introduce AD INFINITUM? And how does the story of the band start? We are Melissa Bonny, Adrian Thessenvitz, Korbinian Benedict and me, Niklas Müller. Melissa initiated the Band as a solo project in the first place. Later she brought me into the Band. I contacted Adrian who I got to know a long time ago in a jazz camp when we were kids. Korbi replaced the first bassist Jonas Asplind, who had to leave the band due to health reasons.
How did you meet Melissa? Did you have the opportunity to collaborate together before the group was formed? I met Melissa on a tour with Serenity, we were both guest musicians. We had a very good time on stage every day on that tour, and when she asked me to become a member, I didn’t have to think twice.
Three albums in three years, we can say that you are inspired. How is the writing process between you? At first, it was completely remote, due to restrictions during COVID and due to the fact that we live quite apart. For “Chapter III” we gathered and had an amazing songwriting camp, which was the first time for us writing songs together while being in the same room. It was an insane experience, and I think you can hear that we had more time to focus on details and define our sound.
You trusted in Jacob Hansen again for the recording of this new album. We can say that he fits to your expectations and managed to define the sound of the band? Absolutely ! The work of Jacob is doing is outstanding, and during the recording and mixing sessions everything is perfect. The workflow, the communication, the musical and artistic aspect, we really love working with him.
I guess you had an evolution in your sounds and in the production process between your first, the second and this brand new one album? Definitely. On the first record we worked with a producer, but for the second and also the third we decided to do it on our own. It was a huge step , but it was the right one. It’s more personal, and I think we found our sound with “Chapter II” and “Chapter III”.
I imagine each of the members of AD INFINITUM come from different horizons? What are your main influences? We all are obviously into heavy music, but in detail everyone has a different taste. Which is good, because it creates diversity, which is very important. I think it is one of the advantage, that everybody listen to different kinds of music, because in the creative process you can feel inspirations coming from every corner of the musical world.
And of course, we can find various aspects in "Chapter III – Downfall”. How could you describe this album?It’s a summary of our (little) experience we gathered so far from ourselves as a band, maybe the most sophisticated one so far. We jumped deep into details, regarding sound design and arrangements.
We can find a collaboration on this new album with Chrigel Glanzmann (Eluveitie). How did it go? We played a few shows together with Eluveitie last summer, we had a really good time and got along very well. So we thought, why not? Important to mention, we got to know Jonas and Fabienne on our Album Release Show of Chapter II in Pratteln in 2021, when they supported us with Illumishade. Amazing people, amazing music. Check them out !
You had the occasion to "test" two singles from the new album “Chapter III – Downfall” on your last tour. What feedback did you receive? It was positive all the way, and we also enjoyed playing the songs live on stage. An amazing experience to play unreleased songs on stage.
What main theme are you talking about on this album? Our main topic is the ancient Egyptian culture, their cult of gods, their monuments and especially the biography of Cleopatra.
Even if you approach different sounds, globally, you fit in the Symphonic Metal scene. Can we say that this genre has evolved and modernized in the past years? It did, I think it went more modern with putting the symphonic element a bit in the back. But it depends on from band to band, from taste to taste, and everybody has a different taste. And this is a good thing, to keep it diverse and colorful.
As always, the production of your clips is very neat. On the latest release "From The Ashes" you play with fire. How did the shoot go? Thank you ! The shoot was amazing. We had a team of pyrotechnicians organized by video director Mirko Witzki, all of them did such an amazing job. We tried a lot of cool things, Melissa set her hand on fire, I set my cymbals on fire, it was just incredible.
For “Somewhere Better” I guess these are filmed images from your last tour with Amaranthe, Beyond the Black and Butcher Babies? And how did this tour go ? It was the first tour for us as a band, and it was absolutely amazing. All bands and crew members were super friendly and helpful. The audience in every venue was great, we could not have wished for a better kick off tour, especially after COVID.
For the video clip of "Seth", we find an oriental aspect. I suppose the clip fits with the theme of the song ? Absolutely, the song is named after the Egyptian god of Chaos and Destruction, we wanted to capture some elements here that fit the theme and the topic. Thanks again to Jenny Diehl from Feuerschwanz for helping us!
What are the upcoming plans after the release of the album? I imagine a tour and festivals will follow? We announced a bunch of festival dates like Maximum Rock, Masters of Rock, Leyendas Del Rock and Summer Breeze, maybe more will follow …
To conclude this interview, I leave you the last word : Thanks for listening to our music and following us on this amazing journey. We hope to see you soon on the road. Stay healthy !