Interview by Kris Peters
Their 2022 album Pirates ushered in a new era for Austrian symphonic metal band Visions Of Atlantis, seeing the powerful metal outfit explore new lyrical territory in embracing the pirate theme. The album was a resounding success, paving the way for an expansion of the sonic universe of the Jolly Roger in even more emphatic terms.
The pirates of VISIONS OF ATLANTIS are about to take listeners on their heaviest symphonic adventure yet with their new studio album, PIRATES II – ARMADA, set for release on July 5, 2024 via Napalm Records. A swashbuckling tale of menace on debauchery on the open seas, Pirates II - Armada is set to propel the band to even greater heights, reinforcing their growing status as rulers of the symphonic realm.
One half of the male/female vocal dynamic, Meek, joined HEAVY to dive deeper into the tale of the seven seas.
"Visions Of Atlantis is a symphonic metal band that was born in Austria but has become international now," he began, "because I'm from Italy and Clementine - which is the female singer - she is from France. Basically, it started as an Austrian project, but now we consider ourselves a fully European band. Right now I would say that we are holding the crown of symphonic… of the old school, classic symphonic metal. With so many other bands heading away from the genre, it seems like we are getting lonely (laughs). We need more symphonic metal bands around. It feels like the trend has gone away, but we still stick to what we believe in. If you like symphonic metal, then we are the band for you."
We ask how he is feeling about the impending release of Pirates II - Armada.
"Super, super excited," he smiled. "This has been the work of two years that is finally coming to life. In this moment we are super, super excited and looking forward to the feedback that we will receive. We put our heart and souls, as always, in preparing this new record and this is the hot moment and the hot months before the release. You don't really know. We write the music, we write what we feel. We write the emotions and put them down in songs and you never know what the feedback will be like. Now we are receiving the first ones from reviewers and interviewers, but at the end of the day the fans are the real judges and the ones who will tell the verdict about this entire thing (laughs)".
In the full interview, Meek tells how this album relates to and follows on from Pirates, the musical composition of the album, the claims that this is Visions Of Atlantis' heaviest outing to date, how to get a heavy sound from symphonic music, his transition into the role as vocalist over three albums, his dynamic with Clementine and the writing process that unites the two voices, touring plans and more.