Swiss Symphonic Metal band Illumishade released their second album entitled Another Side of You on February 16th. The band’s singer Fabienne Ernie and guitarist Jonas Wolf took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about their latest album, their upcoming North American tour with Korpiklaani, their hopes for the band’s future, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: Your band, Illumishade released their second album entitled Another Side of You on February 16th, what can you tell fans about your latest release?
Wolf: You definitely should be prepared for a wild ride. This album packs a lot of different genres and flavors and colors into one big behemoth of music. We have 14 tracks for the inclined album listener if that suits you but also all of the songs I think are catchy themselves for you to just pick one at a time.
MER: How was the writing and recording process having this being your second album with the band?
Wolf: This album is definitely a team effort with every band member having a lot of influence on the songs. At the end of the day usually the songs come from Fabienne and myself.
Erni: I guess a big difference now compared to the first was also that after our debut, we basically just started writing songs for the sake of music, without having a full-length album in mind. Some of these songs ended up on the album. So Another Side of You feels more like a collection of songs coming together – whereas the first album was a concept album. Let’s see about the third one!
MER: How did it come about signing with Napalm Records?
Erni: They reached out to us at just the right moment. We were at a stage where we felt it was time to work together with a partner. Running a band involves much more than just making music.
MER: You’ve released three singles from the album so far, what kind of feedback have you been able to receive?
Wolf: The feedback has been very positive and sometimes quite overwhelming also on tour recently which made us really happy of course. I think people really enjoy that fresh breath of air we bring to the modern metal genre.
MER: You’ve had a busy touring schedule to start the year, how was that been going?
Wolf: Really great I have to say. We got to know Delain last year already because we played a few one-off shows with them and so the camaraderie was already there from day one and they are just a very nice bunch of people and we just had a great time really. And I think that musically the package worked really well for the crowds.
Erni: It was definitely a really good tour for us – growing together as a live-band and also reaching new people.
MER: Later this year, you’ll be touring North America with Korpiklaani and Visions of Atlantis, what are your expectations on the upcoming tour?
Wolf: Well we are just very excited to go to North America to play our music for these crowds over there because from our experience with Eluveitie we just know that these people are just very enthusiastic about heavy music.
Erni: They are! I look most forward to playing the new songs live, the energy from the crowd during the shows, talking with people after the show and hopefully a bit of sightseeing here and there!
MER: Is there anywhere you hope to play live that you haven’t yet?
Erni: I’d love to play somewhere in the North of Sweden surrounded by nature.
Wolf: I really hope that we get to play Japan one day since this is just one of my favorite places to visit and I’m just fascinated by Japanese culture and of course metal, especially European metal has a very high standing there.
MER: Who do you hope to tour with that you haven’t yet and why?
Wolf: My personal favorite band to tour with would be Dream Theater for quite obvious reasons. But I truly believe that we would make a great fit since Dream Theater’s music is a big influence on Illumishade at least partly. So I hope that they will do another tour where they actually take support bands in the future.
Erni: That would be amazing for sure. Or Within Temptation!
MER: What do you see as plans for you and your band after the North American tour?
Wolf: Will do two release shows in Switzerland in march together with Ad Infinitum, Lyrre and Voice Of Ruin. And we just announced a tour with Visions of Atlantis in fall going through Europe.
Erni: Definitely gonna be a packed year for us!
MER: What are some of the changes within the band you’ve noticed since the release of your first album in 2019?
Wolf: We’ve just really grown together in these past years. Everything’s kind of fallen into place I think.
Erni: Especially now after finally playing our first tour – it really does feel different if you get to play live – it feels like all the hard work is finally paying off!
MER: What are your hopes for your band’s future?
Wolf: We are just very happy with how things are at the moment and can’t wait to play all these shows and rock out with everyone that’s coming to these shows in the coming months.
Erni: And that our music will reach new people and resonate with them!
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