Caelestia is an extreme symphonic metal band, initially formed in April 2012 by Mexican-born singer/songwriter Dimitra Talamantes-Vintsou and bassist/composer Nikos Palivos. The band have recently released their latest album Thanatopsis via EMP/SPV (2017), and have taken time out to tell us a little about the title and composition…
The name Thanatopsis was conceived by our singer Dimi. It combines the words “Thanatos” (“death” in Greek) and “Opsis” (“face” in Greek), thus literally meaning “The Face Of Death”. Dimi is responsible for writing the album lyrics and the titles of the tracks.
Our composition process involved the exchange of ideas between Nikos and Vassilis. The tracking of the album started in October 2016, at Bombtrack Studios-Athens, with renowned sound engineer Michalis Meleteas.
Apart from electric instruments, there were also several acoustic instruments used in the album (e.g “Dancing With The Demons” includes a Persian saz and mandolin). The mixing/mastering was done by Mr. Fredrik Nordstrom of Fredman Studios. The aggressiveness and clarity of the famous “Gothenburg Sound” is of course prominent in the final outcome.
Another interesting fact about the album involves the guest performers: when we got in touch with Jason Bittner (Overkill, Shadows Fall), he was quite excited about adding his American-style extreme drumming to a Scandinavian-death metal sounding track (“Martyrs”). The outcome was something indeed unique.
As a band we can say that “We will always find weaknesses and flaws, and we will always focus on overcoming them, and becoming stronger”.
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