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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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BLACK MAJESTY
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Stevie Janevski
July 2005
http://www.blackmajesty.com
Limb Music Records is a big supporter of classical, heavy metal bands from all over the world. One of these groups is Black Majesty, a band that is based in Australia but have an international line-up. Their second album, "Silent Company" came out recently and it was just the right occasion to interrogate them a bit. Their guitarist, Stevie Janevski was kind enough to spend his time answering my questions.
Could you please tell our readers a little bit about Black Majesty's history?
Hi, it's Stevie Janevski – one of the guitarists from Australian melodic power metal band Black Majesty. Black Majesty is a five piece band from downunder Melbourne, Australia. The band was established in 2001 when our drummer Pavel Konvalinka (ex Kryptor/Leprocide) came out here from the Czech Republic to concentrate on the band. I guess we play a style of melodic power metal with much owed to some of our favourite bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Dio, Helloween, early Queensryche, Accept and early Dokken.
We've been together for about four and a half years. The band features John "Gio" Cavaliere on lead vocals, Hanny Mohamed and myself on guitars, Evan Harris on bass and Pavel Konvalinka on drums.
Why have you chosen to call the new album "Silent Company", does it mean anything special?
"Silent Company" is dedicated to our lead singer's father Salvatore Cavaliere who passed away during the recording of this album. The title is very special to us as we feel it represents a company/spirit watching over us. I know that's how John our singer sees things with dad. We see it as a positive thing – a positive side of after life.
Is there something that you're less pleased in connection with this album?
That's a tough question as the album is still so new to us. I guess we can always do with a bigger budget to make an album as is always the case but you have to stop somewhere. I think we're pretty happy all up....especially considering we got the opportunity to work with two first class producers on this album. We began recording the drums with Piet Sielck of Iron Savior in Germany to get the best possible start to the album. After laying down the drums we completed the album in Australia with our producer Endel Rivers.
How was the recording process?
The recording went rather well. This time around we got to roadtest more songs at live shows and demoed up each track before recording them properly. This allowed us to fine tune parts and get an overall feel for which songs worked better than others – we didn't get this opportunity on the debut "Sands Of Time" as we pretty much recorded everything really quick to meet our deadline.
The only thing that complicated things was the passing of John's father although I give the guy the utmost praise as he really wanted to finish his vocal parts in such a time of personal sadness. I think John really rose to the occasion as "Silent Company" shows he is a world class lead singer!
As I said earlier we started the album in Germany with Piet Sielck of Iron Savior. He is a great guy and we learnt heaps from him. I think the production comes across better on this album. We mastered the album at the Music Factory in Germany which also gives the album a better sound.
Who decides what kind of cover you should have?
Our artist Dirk Illing has designed both covers and we're really happy with the direction he has taken. Dirk has his own style and we like that. We like the idea of a similar theme running through our album covers and he understands that. We grew up on bands like Iron Maiden and Dio and love how their album covers are so identifiable from one to another and how they kind of tell a story. It's this similar way of thinking we have decided on for the Black Majesty art.
What is the metal scene like in Australia?
The great thing about Melbourne and Australia for that matter is that there seems to be quite a movement here for metal in general and enough room for everyone. Things are really picking up for Metal Downunder and it only helps the scene bond and become bigger. We have quite a close bond with many bands in Oz and support each other as often as possible.
Danny Cecati (ex-Pegazus vocalist/currently in Eyefear) demonstrates the closeness of the scene as he is cousins with our singer John Cavaliere. Danny actually sings a dual lead vocal with John on one of our songs "Guardian" (from the "Sands Of Time" album and on the digipack version of "Silent Company") which has to be one of the most awesome vocal duets around. Playing this song live always turns heads for its awesome vocal acrobatics!
Silvio Massaro of Vanishing Point is another friend of ours and he gets up to sing the song "Colliding Worlds" with us. Both Danny and Silvio are great singers in their own right.
There are so many great bands coming out of Australia that people all over the world are starting to get into which is great!
Are you famous in Melbourne? What is the relationship between Black Majesty and Vanishing Point?
Famous? I wouldn't call ourselves that although we're doing our best to build up our following in Australia and around the world for that matter. We've known the guys from Vanishing Point for ages. I actually knew some of the guys when they used to be called Eye. They're a bunch of great guys. Our singer John has been a real close friend of VP's singer Silvio for years also. John actually sang on the track "Surreal" on their "Tangled In Dream" album amnd Silvio sang on the song "Colliding Worlds" on our debut album. Both John and Silvio are regular guests at each other's live shows which is great for the scene. Both Black Majesty and Vanishing Point are actually going to play some shows together in the future so that should be a blast!
How many chances do you get to play live?
We actually just finished a small promo tour in Europe where we got to play places like the Headbangers Open Air in Germany, some of our own club shows and finished up as support to Edguy and Hammerfall in the Czech Republic. It was a great way for us to launch our new album "Silent Company". In Australia we play every two months or so whenever we're not recording. Melbourne and Sydney are often our main ports of call although we're really trying to get over to Adelaide this time around. The underage scene is thriving here also. We're getting set to play some underage gigs in the next coming months.
Is the start for an Australian metal band difficult (like in Middle-Europe)?
Australia is quite far way from Europe but I don't think that should get in the way of people being exposed to our music. I think we proved on our first album "Sands Of Time" that we can sell quite well and our recent promo trip to Europe showed us the hunger for our kind of music. I don't think too many metal heads are fussed about where a band lives as long as they come out with strong albums. It's all in the songs!
Is your birthplace Australia?
The other guitarist Hanny and myself were both born in Australia. Our lead singer John was born in Rome, Italy. He lived in Italy for quite awhile before moving to Australia to live. Finally our drummer Pavel lives in the Czech Republic. Pavel has lived there for most of his life. Pavel has spent about four years in Australia so far.
Who are some of your influences?
We all grew up on metal as kids. Most of us were into the classics such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc. We are also passionate about other stuff such as anything from hard rock bands like Dokken all the way through to heavier bands like Slayer etc. I think our influences are what make up the style we play and when all thrown in they make the original style we play.
As a kid, I really got into bands such as Van Halen, TNT and Dokken as all of these bands had awesome guitar players yet I also loved bands like Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Queensryche. I love twin harmonies and the idea of guitarists complimenting one other.
John our singer is a huge fan of singers like Dio, Coverdale, Tate, Dickinson, Kiske, and more recently Jorn.
What are you like doing besides playing to Metal? What are your hobbies?
Everyone has there own personal things they like doing outside of the band. I am a huge sport fan – especially watching Aussie Rules Footy – go Lions! I also get into drawing and creative art. Hanny the other guitarist is big on computers. He actually records all of our demos. Pavel lives for music...like most of us! And John enjoys getting up to mischief! LOL He is kind of the practical joker in the band and loves to touch things that don't belong to him! ....this can be especially funny when he breaks things accidentally that don't belong to him : ) ....a dangling clock on the Euro tour was a laugh!
What is the level that the band can reach? Conquer Europe or something?
Our aim is to make music for people to enjoy – that's what it's all about. Of course we'd love to sell lots of cds but our main goal is to write good songs for people to enjoy and connect with our audience. We've signed a five album deal with our label Limb Music Products so there's lots of time for people to get into our music. We'd love to play more shows in Europe and even get to places like America and Asia. Our new album has just been granted a local Japanese release which further puts us on the map!
Is there anything you would like to say to the Hungarian fans?
We appreciate everyone's support! We have had quite a few Hungarian people write us and say they enjoy our music which is awesome..... and for those people who are yet to hear us there's now two albums out there for people to take a chance on. We know we're a relatively new band and taking a chance on a new band like Black Majesty can sometimes be a gamble.....I kind of see this gamble as a good thing especially when a new find is something you may really get into and enjoy. People are welcome to check us out on the web at http://www.blackmajesty.com and our email contact is black_majesty@hotmail.com.
Thanks for the support!
Good luck with the new CD!
Cheers from downunder Australia
submitted by Csaba 28.07.2005
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