SEPTICFLESH Guitarist: 'An Orchestra Is A Big Weapon For Us; It's Our Fifth Member'

Metal Wani's Carla Morton conducted an interview with guitarist Christos Antoniou of Greek symphonic death metallers SEPTICFLESH prior to the band's March 31 concert at Quantic Pub 2 in Bucharest, Romania. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the response to SEPTICFLESH's 2017 studio album, "Codex Omega":

Christos: "It might sound cliché, but for us, 'Codex' is the best album that we've done up until now. The press and the feedback from the fans is great. The press, as I said, everyone says that it's a great album for us and we're really happy about it. And, it also makes us even stronger to create something new, the successor to 'Codex Omega'."

On performing live with an orchestra this past February in Mexico:

Christos: "It was a great feeling, although it was hectic. It was a lot of work. I had a lot of anxiety about it, but at the end, everything was great. When you have to deal with so many people, like the orchestra people, you need to be focused, you need to be dedicated, you need to be organized in order to make this project, to [bring it to life]. It was an amazing feeling, for sure it's our best moment live, hopefully until the next one. It was a great show. Three thousand [and] two hundred people. It was sold out; many people were outside. It was an amazing venue, very imposing. It was a dream that came true. Hopefully we are going to have more chances to present our work live with an orchestra. Maybe in Europe, you never know."

On signing to Nuclear Blast after being with Season Of Mist for over a decade:

Christos: "Season Of Mist was a great help for us. Michael [Berberian] the owner, is like family to us, but you reach a moment where you need to go a step forward. We had the offer from the best label in metal. You cannot say no. It's a big opportunity for us to present our work to a wider audience. We will keep the connection with Season Of Mist. They might release things from us from the past, but we are really enthusiastic about the [deal] with Nuclear Blast. As I said, it's the top label and we are really looking forward to releasing an album with them."

On whether SEPTICFLESH will release a new studio album in 2019:

Christos: "No. When we return, we will compose new material and hopefully we can release it in 2020. We shall see. It's things we have to talk with the label and the management to see what the best options are for us."

On what type of musical direction SEPTICFLESH's next studio album will take:

Christos: "We are a symphonic band, established as a symphonic metal band. We will try as always, to create something interesting, something new that compares with our previous releases and to create a fresh sound. You cannot change your style radically, but a good album is always a good album. If you don't repeat yourself, then you are on a good path. We have always this competition with 'Communion', 'The Great Mass', 'Titan' and now 'Codex Omega'. It works in our favor. It's going to be a tough task to [top] 'Codex Omega', but I'm very optimistic."

On the evolution of SEPTICFLESH's sound and whether they've influenced other bands:

Christos: "It's great to hear something like that, that our music has influenced some bands. Since the beginning, we always had some symphonic elements, but this element was very distinctive and very dominant on the second period of SEPTICFLESH, which was after 'Communion'. An orchestra is a big weapon for us; it's our fifth member. It's part of our music and the evolution, it's big since the beginning, not only in sound, but also in the composition. In the beginning up until 'Communion', we used MIDI, but now we have the chance and the budget to use real orchestras."

"Codex Omega" was the first SEPTICFLESH album to feature former DECAPITATED drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner. Months of hard work and experimentation crafted the disc and resulted in 10 compositions of dark sonic bliss. The effort was helmed by acclaimed metal producer Jens Bogren (OPETH, AMON AMARTH, KREATOR).