Interview Interrogation: Flames At Sunrise (Spain)

Spain has always had a decent metal scene manifesting in itself, with a handful of bands going on to establish international recognition. But what about it's Metalcore sect? It's hard to think of Metalcore existing in the Iberian nation, but it's bands like Flames At Sunrise who make it known - their infectious blend of Metalcore, Post-Hardcore, Nu Metal and Heavy Metal all come together to create a sound that is truly modern yet truly distinct as it cannot be easily classified as any one genre.

Having signed to Wormholedeath in support of their debut album "Born In Embers", this ten-legged rampaging bull needs to be tamed and thus it was right for GMA to give Flames At Sunrise a right grilling interrogation.

"In Spain, most media attention goes to the greatest hits of the 80's and 90's and to the new stars of programmes such as Operación Triunfo."

For those who have not heard of Flames At Sunrise, could you please give us a brief history of the band?

     "We are a metal band from Barcelona who formed in 2011. We always wanted to bring our personal visions of music, based on our influences from different modern metal styles, and create a new message from the sound experimentation.

     After 3 years on the stage, we released our first EP called “Never Coming Home”. This EP contains 4 songs: “Never Coming Home”, “Take It Down” and “Bitch” (with a video-clip for each one), and “Grievance”.

     The release of "Born In Embers" came out with two video-clips: “III Faces” and “Ark Flesh”, and a lot of good news. The first one is that “III Faces” got more than 1,000 visits in less than 12 hours and is proposed as one of the best Spanish video clips in 2017 by “METAL ESPAÑOL"


How does it feel to sign with Wormholedeath? What is the support for Catalonian / Spanish Metal bands generally?; do you prefer to be referred as Catalonian?

     "We are very proud to have signed with Wormholedeath and it’s a real pleasure to work with people who take our project as seriously as we do. We really hope we grow up together.

     About the support, is something a bit hard to talk about. There’s a real fan base who support a lot of projects in the underground, but, obviously, metal is not a mainstream in our country, or at least, not modern metal. But we try to stay optimistic and work so hard to offer something special to everyone who wants to listen to us a few minutes.

     We don’t really mind nationalities. Is up to everyone consider where they came from, and where the want to belong. We belong to our music and to every place where we play it."


How would you describe your sound, sounds like you have elements of Nu Metal, Post-Hardcore, Metalcore and Heavy Metal in your music.

     "We tried a lot to put a genre to our music, but it got no sense. Everyone in the band got their own influences and their own way to understand music and work with it. We just try to put all of our ideas together and get to an agreement. Maybe is the time to kill all those genres in metal and talk about something more global. We like to call our music capsule core because we like Dragon Ball and ‘cause it contents a lot of different kind of genres in a song."


What challenges as a band have you had to face thus far and as musicians personally?

     "As a band we still struggle with the Spanish metal tradition of the eighties. It's hard to get a new audience to listen to your songs and get involved, but little by little we are seeing results.

     Each one of us has had problems dedicating ourselves to music, bearing in mind that we cannot live professionally from it yet. But we are still training as musicians and trying to expand our knowledge to become self-sufficient as a band."

Barcelona Cathedral / source: Spain Attractions

What does the song title 'Ill Faces' mean? Did you have any ideas to put forward for the music video itself?

     "'III faces' refers to a Japanese proverb that speaks about the three faces that each person has inside them: the first is the one you show to the world; the second is the one you show to your friends and family; and the third is the one you only know and defines who you really are. Thus, in the music video we try to expose the three faces of a character and how the real one, the one that defines you, drags you and ends up showing itself."


Will you go on tour in support of your debut album? What was reception like for the album?

     "Yes. We’re going to be touring in Spain and some places in Europe in the next few months. The reception of our album was better than we expected. We knew we were releasing an album with strange ideas and we didn't know how the public would react, but we were surprised by the wide acceptance of a single like 'III faces'."


Would you say the overall Spanish Metal scene has had more attention drawn towards it over the last decade or so?

     "We don’t think so. In Spain, most of the media attention goes to the greatest hits of the 80's and 90's and to the new stars of programmes such as Operación Triunfo. The metal scene continues to be nourished by old groups and tributes, but little by little it opens up to new experiences."


What plans do you have for the rest of the year?

     "We’re going to be touring and we’re going to be working on some new things that, with luck, you’ll be able to hear and see in September of this year. Thank you very much for the interview!"