Exclusive Interview: Ethereal Realm talk “Enter The Realm”!

It’s time to join the quest with Sydney Australian’s Ethereal Realm, a band who specialise in a unique fusing of Power, Traditional and Thrash Metal with in your face guitar solos, heroic storytelling vocals and a spine crushing rhythmic prowess. Wearing their influences upon their sleeves, the band are hungry to make a mark on Planet Metal and to that end, debut EP “Enter The Realm” is a fine display of their offerings. So before you venture forth to check that one out if you haven’t already, here’s an interview with the band about all that is going on in their part of the Globe…

How have you found the reaction to “Enter The Realm“ so far?

TNT: “Mostly positive which is definitely a good sign. Until the release of this EP we were only able to get feedback from friends & other patrons who came to our gigs, who saw us live. So it has been good to see feedback & interest coming in from places like Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Hungary, India etc. Would love the reach to extend further to other continents so as to get further feedback & exposure but for now we’re content that the reactions have been constructive & some even better than we thought”

If we’re the product of our genes and influences, what is in your genes and who are the influences that helped create Ethereal Realm?

TNT: “Safe to say that heavy metal is def in our genes haha. That and raw Power & Passion. The 5 of us have a few bands like Maiden, Priest, Sabbath etc that we all love & have
influenced us but we also have varied musical backgrounds & different journeys that have greatly influenced our tastes. For instance I am very much influenced by bands like Avantasia, Blind Guardian, Kamelot etc while Rob is heavily influenced by Dream Theater, Leon anything traditional heavy metal, Jim & Sam brings in the Thrash & Metalcore influences. Put them all in this melting pot & Ethereal Realm is born”

The record represents a journey through an intriguing blend of Power Metal, Thrash and Traditional genres; which of those sub-genres of Metal do you consider to be the biggest influence on your writing style? If you had the opportunity to tour with DragonForce, Metallica or Iron Maiden to expose yourself to just one of those genres audiences, which would you choose and why?

TNT: “Well this is a tough one hey? While it would be amazing to tour with any of these heavy hitters, I reckon it would have to be Maiden. Maiden has influenced the 5 of us in every aspect of the game. Maiden has been part of our lives for the past 20 years or more! Bruce is an amazing singer & just an incredible frontman who I look upto. Leons solos are very reminiscent of Maiden. But when it comes to writing lyrics, I would say I am very influenced by Power Metal bands like Avantasia, Ayreon, Blind Guardian, Symphony X etc, as there is a driving force in this genre to always tell a story. And with ER, we are musicians who love telling a tale”

Jim: “Yeah it would have to be Maiden. They are metal gods! Without them, a lot of bands much like DragonForce and Metallica either wouldn’t exist or sound vastly different. They have influenced generations of musicians and will continue to do so well after they call it a day. I think you would be hard pressed to find any metal/rock musician that doesn’t know how to play the opening riffs to either The Trooper, 2 Minutes to Midnight or Run To The Hills”

Guest appearances have been all the rage for a while now in terms of getting your name out there. If the opportunity arose, who would you like to bring into the studio to cut a track with you and why?

Jim: “For me, It would have to be either Hansi Kursh or Rob Halford. Halford is obvious, the guy just brings fire to anything he touches. Hansi on the other hand, I consider him in my top 3 metal singers of all time (1. Dio – RIP, 2. Lande, 3. Kursh). The way he layers vocals and sings with tasteful dissonance between verses would magically pair with T and make for a song that absolutely slaps”

Australia has been long spoken about as being a hotbed of talent. How has the local scene in Sydney helped inspire you?

TNT: “Australia def has a lot of raw underground talent waiting to be unleashed. The fact that we are so far away from the rest of the world, we understand why many of the bands can’t travel all the way here. But we are influenced by many of these bands as mentioned earlier and many bands in Sydney have even started up just so friends of the band can just go to a gig haha. While we don’t have many venues in Sydney that are exclusive to heavy music, the ones we do have like Frankies Pizza & Crowbar are definitely institutions for the heavy metal scene & metalheads show up in hordes here to support their religion. If that’s not inspiring I dunno what is. Could even write a song bout this one day haha”

What’s next for Ethereal Realm?

TNT: “Would be amazing to be able to do an EP tour & possibly play interstate gigs or even festivals. Now that we have an EP out, take whatever we have learnt from that experience, from the songwriting, the recording, the mixing & mastering, the release, the reviews & curate our first album to be a better & bigger experience for both the band & the listeners alike”

Jim: “I definitely want to keep the hype going and our name front of mind. For now, we plant seeds for bigger and better opportunities over the coming year and continue on the path to glory. I think throwing in a cheeky tour in between writing the rest of our debut album would be also pretty sweet to keep everything fresh and exciting for us and our fans”

“Enter The Realm” by Ethereal Realm is out now and available over at bandcamp.