 Having previously been located around the Worksop / Birmingham area, Symphonic Metallers Aonia are now more or less based in Sheffield. The 'Experimental Symphonic' crew won their Metal 2 The Masses regional heats and laid waste on the fields of Derbyshire. Aonia spoke to GMA about their rise, playing Bloodstock and how sexism is STILL an issue to-date.  (on sexism) "big balls is what makes us... we have balls we wear them on our chest that are held in by our corsets." How did Aonia form and what does the band name mean? "A long time ago in a galaxy far away, James's band and my band split up, so his remnants and my remnants got together and made Aonia. There were a whole load of line-up changes and in 2016 we finally stabilized with the addition of drummer David Byrne and bassist Matt Black, but the biggest change happened in 2013 with the addition of Joanne Kay Robinson on vocalist, because it brought us into a whole sort of new genre and with Tim Hall coming on Keyboards as well gave the music a much wider dimension. As for the name of the band it refers to the place near Helicon mountain where the muses dwell. Which is pretentious but kind of sweet, like us. When we were trying to find interesting words in the dictionary, we didn't get past 'A', we just gave up and went 'Aaaa.... Aonia' that'll do. To be honest I'm surprised we got to 'ao', we could have been called 'Abyssinia'." Is it easy or difficult to create music, especially when there are effectively seven different elements to contend with? "You have no idea (all laugh), it's just time consuming more than anything else, but the nice part about having seven elements to a band, and we don't have one songwriter, someone will come up with an idea but it's the whole band that puts it together. Which means we have an original sound, we have a sound that really we don't get compared to, but there's no one element that really separates us and makes the other bands sound the same as us, we have an original sound because of that and it works. It takes time, there's a lot of arguing (all laugh). I think it's a really creative conversation we have over a couple of chords or lines, eventually over seven minutes... forty minutes arguing over a chord. When I say seven, we don't actually listen to him (Przemek). I suppose that makes it more interesting, considering how overloaded and over-saturated the Symphonic Metal genre has become? "Well that's why we say we're not symphonic, we're symphonic to a certain extent and the keyboards are an important element in the band, but we have a very progressive rock basis to the band as well - do you know some of our sound links more to Iron Maiden than it does to Dream Theater, than Dream Theater to Nightwish; we have Dream Theater elements in it as well, we have a lot of elements in it, we have good musicians in the band and we like to show that as well, we have two fantastic female-fronted vocalists, we try and get all of the elements into the songs". Speaking of having two female-fronted vocalists in Joanne and Melissa, do you feel sexism in metal still exists or has it lessened over the years? "Well it's about 3-4 years ago, we were playing a local pub and somebody tried to pull my corset down whilst I was on stage, I would say sexism is still very rampant. I've seen comments like 'oh female-fronted metal is pop with heavier guitars', I've heard people say 'oh I won't go see a band if they're female fronted', 'I won't go to see a band if there's a girl in' and then you do also get sexism the other way round. I've got a friend called Kris who's a bassist in FireSky and her band is excluded from a lot of female-fronted stuff ,because she only does backing vocals and that's wrong as well, so Joanne do you want to wade in with your experiences? Yeah I mean we get a lot of 'pull your corset down', I've not had as severe as that but I would like to say we've probably got bigger balls than most of the boys in the band so yeah (all laugh), big balls is what makes us... (just say testicles - you do have something bigger than us but it's not balls), we have balls we wear them on our chest that are held in by our corsets. In which case, they are a lot bigger! We've had a lot people say 'you're not really my type of thing' but after the gig have said 'f*****g hell, that was absolutely amazing I didn't think I was going to like you', when they say it's female then Operatic Metal comes to the fore and judgements are made, but as soon as they've seen us live then their opinions have changed. Can I just say when she says 'f**k she's spelt it 'phuq'... apologies for my language, another problem with the sexism is that people don't think about what they're listening to, they're just watching or looking at a picture - seeing the picture and seeing as girl in it makes them think they won't want to go see that band, this is stupid because we're not actors playing in movies, we're musicians playing music; listen to the band first and then see what they look like, what they sound like is more important than what they look like."  The Diamond Engineering Building, University of Sheffield / Source: New Steel Construction It's cliche but don't judge a book by it's cover; what are your thoughts on the term female-fronted metal? "Absolutely! Although we have a good cover (all laugh). Female-fronted is not a genre, it's a gender. It's a description, the band is female-fronted, they don't say the band is male-fronted. I think a lot people use it as an excuse for a deterrent, like I say it's a label... wow.... you said that? I did. Got 'an excuse for a deterrent', yeah it's good I like that. Well it is. Like you say a lot people in metal are very male-orientated and soon as they hear the word 'female', they kind of switch off... I've been guilty of that myself but through experience, through being in a band it's opened my mind to a lot of new things. Hopefully we can change other people's perceptions too." Surely playing Bloodstock is the biggest thing to happen to the band? "So far absolutely, we know we're good enough to get to this stage because we believe in ourselves, but it's still an unbelievable experience - when they call our name out it was still that kind of speechless feeling... I wouldn't believe it until we had done it. I've been in the music business since I was about 15, so that's what 10 years? I've been playing for 35 years and it's by the far the biggest and best gig I've ever done and that's before I've played." Are there any greetings / thank you's that you wish to send out to people? "All the fans that have been loyally to us, all the new fans... they're our Aonia family. Mary Berry, my inspiration. Thanks for all the baking! Simon Hall, Simon Cliffe and Rob Bannister from Bloodstock. Our amazing PR lady called Angel." http://www.facebook.com/aoniauk
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 The Heretic Order are a horror-inspired Heavy Metal band dwelling in the mass graveyards of London, this year they performed at the revered and internationally-attended Metal festival, Bloodstock Open Air. They also released their second album this year, 'Evil Rising', guitarist Count Marcel La Vey stopped all cremation proceedings for the day and spoke to GMA about the band's haunting history, ghoulish gear and paranormal performances... OK enough with the horror-style puns.  "In the UK there's plenty of bands that are amazing, they just don't get the chances that they should" What does the band name The Heretic Order mean? Tell us the band's history. "Well it's the order... (you've put me on the spot there aha), it's basically the order where the four of us connect, we're the heretics. We've been around for about four years, the kind of music we do has a kinda classic metal feel to it but it's modernised, it's got an old-school feel to it but we keep it modern. We like the occult, history and so all the lyrics are about that kind of stuff, it's all dark subject-orientated. Funny enough our influences include the headliners tonight (Judas Priest) as well as Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, etc, so it's dual guitars playing off each other, we get heavy and doomy but we also have our small songs as well, there's a lot of variation in the music." How was it to play at Bloodstock this year, what are the emotions in the camp like? "We're excited to play, it's not for a few hours yet and have only just got here, settling in and are looking forward to the show" (any nerves?) "Not yet, simply because of the rush we had to get here, just getting over that; it was a nightmare to get here... so hopefully the rain doesn't spoil the rest of the day for us." Who is the go-to band member if anyone has any issues or problems? "We're all pretty good with each other to be honest, we don't really have the one person to go to you know what I mean? We all have the same feelings towards each other and are comfortable with one another, so there's no one particular person." With the vast amount of international bands playing at Bloodstock, are you surprised at metal's global spread? "Nah, not surprised at all as music comes from all over the place and like any market it's usually dominated by one or two countries, one of them being America but you go anywhere in Europe; even in the UK there's plenty of bands that are amazing, they just don't get the chances that they should. Metal is all over the world, you just got to have the people to put it out there for everyone else or if you're very keen you can go find them yourself - there's plenty of bands I want to see that can't make it to the UK, so whenever we travel to their countries we try and see them, and they do the same (for us)." What (if any) challenges does the London Metal scene face right now? "London has a lot of bands who want to play and get noticed, so there's a lot of competition in London, the trends are the same for us as probably across the country - you see it often in every festival (rock or metal), that every year the styles of metal are different. A few years back Megadeth played and now this year we have Judas Priest, it changes... but yeah London is quite tough, it's always the way it has been down there." Do you feel Brexit will have an impact (good or bad) on British Metal bands? "It's going to make travelling across Europe a lot harder, we're just going to have to play it by ear and see how it all ends up, it's not going to be easy getting to Europe or to come in to the UK. We're not looking forward to it, but we'll find a way; it's the way it always goes, you want to go do something or get something done, you want to play or get your music heard, you have to find a way to do it and it's always been like that".  City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, London You supported Soulfly, what was it like playing alongside the legend that is Max Cavelera? "The guy's a legend, what can you say? He's got his family travelling with him, playing with him, the guy just has to open his mouth and the crowd reacts to anything he says. So it was great, we said a quick hello and all of that, great guys in a great band - it was a great night to play but also to watch the band." Do you feel Social Media is still as relevant for bands, or is it overused? "Unfortunately it still has to be there, I say unfortunately because I'm not great on it but it's got to be done, it's part of the business so you have to do what other bands are doing, and get noticed doing it in a different way. Social Media is here to stay for a while longer. There's bands who of course will use it differently, different people equals different tastes, but for myself I think there are bands who do too much of it - I might like certain bands but I find myself just swiping through their stuff because I know they're going to have something else up in the next couple of hours again, or whatever, you can always go back and look. But it can also turn people off, so you got to be careful and play it right and hope you're doing it right." After Bloodstock what plans do you have for the rest of the year leading into 2019? "We have a tour that we're trying to line-up, we got a few dates sorted out so we're trying to finish that for September / October. We're organizing a European tour for the beginning of next year and working on new songs. We've just released our second album "Evil Rising" back in June, but we're already working on our next album so whenever we get the chance, we're basically working on new music and tour dates." Summarise Bloodstock in two words, and explain why. Any greetings you wish to send out? "'Real festival' - why I say real is because I like going to metal festivals and this one is the only one I really do feel is a metal festival; other festivals I have been to, they have some metal bands... I don't know maybe it's just my taste is changing - the atmosphere here is a different thing and whoever I speak to who has been to Bloodstock has said the same thing; Bloodstock is unique and hopefully they keep it that way. Just to the usual people they know who they are, I won't mention any names but I just want to thank the people in advance who will come to see us - make some noise for us when we see you tonight." https://www.facebook.com/thehereticorder  Essex is known for many things, some of them and some bad. It's metal scene is one of the good things and then there's TOWIE (The Only Way Is Essex) which is the worst thing to happen since My Chemical Romance being classed as a metal band. But focusing on the metal scene, it's had the likes of Tides of Virtue, Forged In Black, Sanctorum, Dismanibus, etc grace the fertile soil from Southend and Colchester respectively. However when one speaks of Basildon, one thinks of Depeche Mode, chavs, Basildon Bond paper, Denise Van Outen., etc, and now there is Raze The Void. GMA caught up with the Essex mob to find out how they fared with Bloodstock, the Essex Metal scene, debut EP and plans ahead.  Credits to Down The Barrel. "the title itself 'Obsolescence' covers what the current state of the world really is; the system is obsolete" Raze The Void has only been going a year, were you all in previous bands prior? How did Raze The Void come to be? "We have all been playing together for around with each other for 15 years nearly and just managed to get together and start a band from that after realising we all wanted to start playing and touring and seeing the world. RTV literally came from out of a dustbin a few years before we started playing the scene." The Essex Metal scene seems to be a little quiet at the moment, could you tell us the current state of the scene? "From Essex, apart from it being quiet, to really. There are some amazing acts in and around Essex, but you just have to sift through the venues and have a look out there and see for yourself." Having played Bloodstock, what was your experience like? How did you end up winning a slot? What advice could you give Metal 2 The Masses bands next year who are vying for a slot? "Bloodstock and everyone who we met from it and regarding it were amazing, very supportive and the feedback from everyone and all the reviews have been awesome and extremely positive. For anyone out there who is going to go into it; be serious but have fun. If you believe what you do it the best thing you do, you have fun doing it and you all have fun playing with each then do it, go for it, be the best band you can band! If you doubt anything you say or do or if you're not professional enough or not having enough fun, the crowd will sniff you and not like what they are smelling. They are as much a part of you as you are of them, so be there with them, get them involved. That okay?" As a band are you worried at the lack of local venues with only Chelmsford's The Asylum, Southend's Chinnerys, Harlow's The Square and the Colchester Arts Centre being the sole main ones? "It's not a worry when you can book outside of Essex and in fact, to just book in Essex, from experience, people then just seem to feel like that they will miss that one and go to another one as it's only up the road or whatever. Bra chin out into other places and leaving home has not only proved well for us, but is something that everyone should do and we in fact recommend. The live music scene is dieting but it's not dead."  Outside of music, what other hobbies or interests do you have? "We all work full time and between that and the band; writing, playing, re-writing and down time there isn't a lot between, but some of use do things like cycling, rock climbing, wind surfing, extreme ironing; mainly physical activities. We are all very involved in quizzes and chess and some of us have other music projects going. We are generally very busy." Tell us more about your debut EP, where was it recorded? What does the title mean? "We recorded the EP with one of the most talented and hard working men we have ever worked with who we honestly consider family now, a man named Dan Kerr or Avenue studios; absolute genius! The EP and from that flowing into the upcoming album is all conceptional, revolving around human error, greed, the rising of the underground movement, corruption and the title itself 'Obsolescence' covers what the current state of the world really is; the system is obsolete." What plans do you have for the year ahead? Are there any greetings you wish to send out? "The album is being written literally as this being typed out to you....now. We will continue gigging and getting the RTV name out there to people and then launching the new album along with more media stuff and hopefully some new merch. It's all going UP! Shout out to Quimby, everyone who has helped us get this far, turned up and sung along with us, Nick Plews, Bob from Club 85, Ross, Phil and the boys for all their support and love and physical moves and to Neil- we hope you recover soon. " https://www.facebook.com/RazeTheVoid/  Forged In Black are arguably the best thing to come out of Southend since the expansion of London Southend Airport, Phil Jupitus' career taking off and of course (dare we say it) Busted. Forged In Black were originally called Merciless Fail and it was under their former name that they secured a slot on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Festival 2012. Forward on a year and Merciless Fail changed their name to Forged In Black after their first EP 'Forged In Black'. Since 2013 Forged In Black have released 1 album - Forged In Black (2013) and 3 EP's, The Tide (2013), Fear Reflecting Fear (2016) and Sinner Sanctorum (2017). Chris 'Stoz' Storozynsk gave GMA the low down on their past success, the current state of the Essex Metal scene, touring plans and their new music video 'Pay The Price'.... be prepared to be Forged In Black.  "The song ['Pay The Price] has an anti-war theme... a concern that world leaders are not thinking of the consequences of their actions." Forged In Black has not stopped working since your Bloodstock appearance, will we see you back at Bloodstock next year? "Hi GMA, Stoz here, and good to speak to you again. We had a fantastic time at Bloodstock 2012 after winning the Metal to the Masses competition. We’d love to return at some point on a bigger stage with our music, and are looking to book up quite a few festivals throughout Europe in 2018 alongside the release of our new album, which we are currently writing. We have just released our newest EP “Sinner Sanctorum” which is available to download on iTunes or purchase via our social media channels." You just released your new music video 'Pay The Price', what has the reception been like? "The reception has been great, lots of people liking and sharing on social media, it was a very well produced video and really hammers the song home. We have released two music videos for songs on our new “Sinner Sanctorum” EP which can be viewed on YouTube and our social media pages." Are you worried about being perceived as politically motivated with this video? "Well, not really. The song has an anti-war theme yes, and a concern that world leaders are not thinking of the consequences of their actions. It’s my observation of the current state of affairs. We have written many songs now about many different themes." Andy Pilkington (Very Metal) created the video, what was it like approaching him? Does the video reflect the song's meaning? "Andy has done a fantastic job on the video and we are all very proud of the result. Our management team put us in contact with Andy and we are glad he had space in his very busy diary to fit us in and work with us on it."  It seems that things are going your way a lot lately, where do you see Forged In Black in 5 years time? "Well I'm sure we will still be forging away on new music and our live shows, but ultimately a record deal would be nice." The Essex metal scene doesn't appear to be as pro-active in recent times, what are your thoughts on this? "Yes unfortunately the Essex scene seems quieter then others, I think because of venues closing and the lack of new young promoters putting shows on, but that is understandable in this current financial climate. There are still some great musicians and bands coming out of Essex though and the talent is still well and truly there waiting for a light to shine on it." Will you be doing a UK tour in late 2017 / early 2018, are you looking to play abroad? "We are currently writing for the new album, which we will be recording in April 2018 and is being produced by Romesh Dodangoda, so all hands are on deck to write some great new stuff, which we’d love to show off in the UK and Europe." Since Tim Chandler left last year, will you look to recruit another guitarist or stick as a four-piece. "Well Tim actually left I think about 2 years ago, and since then we recruited the talents of one fine Mr Chris Bone, who is on our new release “Sinner Sanctorum” and has been playing live with us for some time." 'Sinner Sanctorum' EP is out now https://www.facebook.com/forgedinblacks/  "We knew Bloodstock is the UK’s biggest Metal festival, how could that not be special?" How does it feel to be part of M2TM? Was this your first time in the competition? "When we found out that we were going to be a part of M2TM it gave us a new drive! We thought we wouldn’t even get into the competition let alone make it to the quarter (quinter) finals as we’ve done. We’re loving it, it feels wicked to be apart of it and gives us a chance to get more involved with metal scene and see what other bands are out there." How did imperium come about? And was it plain sailing? "It definitely wasn’t plain sailing to begin with, for a long time we went without a vocalist and bassist and we would just meet up and write songs without any goals in mind other then to enjoy playing fast heavy metal. We were constantly on the lookout for new members but there just seemed to be no one around that wanted to play our style of metal, eventually we had a few auditions but they just weren’t what we were looking for. Ben our vocalist used to watch us jam in the early days as we have known each other from school, we never thought to try him out on vocals at the time and it wasn’t until a while after when we had some auditions going on Ben said he’d try it out!, and he ended up being a perfect match considering never singing before! Last year in September we played our first gig and now we have a new bass player that has stepped the band up again! The momentum keeps building for us and we love it" What makes M2TM and bloodstock so special? Have you been to BOA before? "We knew Bloodstock is the UK’s biggest Metal festival, how could that not be special? M2TM gives bands like us, that no ones heard of, a massive chance at playing and mixing with some of metal’s finest. It’s the most mind blowing thing that could happen to us or any other band in this competition! A few of us have been before and love the vibe, we are mega keen to go together as a band a witness!!" What is your local scene like? (name venues, record stores, bands etc) "Our local scene is limited, sucks to be fair, the best venue is the Fighting Cocks in Kingston near us... great when it's busy but dead when it's dead! Banquet Records in Kingston is a cool record store and we have a few wicked bands knocking about but its dominated by this new screamo metal..... everyone is fantastic at the instruments but I feel like I'm watching football everyone's trying to be the star man! Just do your bit in the band a create something the world will want to hear forever! Not forget.... or to hope they forget." Are you surprised by metal’s global spread? What (If any) bands from outside of the america’s and Europe have you heard of? "Honestly there are some unreal bands out there. That's like not believing in aliens. Australian and Asian metal is seriously dark! I couldn't tell you many by name however as it just isn't our bag. But we know they exist!" What plans does imperium have for the year ahead? "At this point we are fully focused on M2TM and aiming to go as far as we can and we see no reason why we can’t go all the way. Other than that we will continue playing live shows in and around London and have plans in motion to get some of our songs recorded at Powerhouse Studios in Addlestone! Then spread this devastation like warm knife of chocolate butter on a golden brown piece of toast. only to be eaten up by the metal heads, digested and then shat out further onto the rest of the world that doesn't even want to know!" Metal. https://www.facebook.com/ImperiumSound/  Photo Credit: Daniella Beswick Photography
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