Macaria Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Marco - Guitar: We formed back in 2009 as Folkentroll, the initial sound was a Folk Metal similar to Finntroll and Korpiklaani, bands we used to enjoy at that time. Afterwards the name has changed in “Macaria”, that in the apulian folklore means “curse sent by a witch or a person associated with evil entities.”
Our musical style is Folk Death Metal with a strong symphonic component, growl vocals and clean choirs. We try to mix ideas from different musical styles, often unusual in the metal purpose.
The band was born due to our passion for folk metal, but during years it is evolved with ourselves.


2.Recently you have released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Marco - Guitar: There are a lot of different styles in the album, the main components are folk, symphonic and death metal, but you can also find clean choirs, progressive riffs and unusual influences like swing. Despite this, we looked for a personal and recognizable sound that we like to define “grotesque”.


3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Marco - Guitar: The lyrics are based on a story written by myself. It is an allegorical criticism of the society and it talks about a puppet coming to life in the middle of the theatrical act it was used for. Suddenly all the strings it was tied to tear off and, from a situation of slavery and unconsciousness, the puppet is tossed in the absolute freedom. All that will influence its perception of the world it sees.
The various song lyrics explore his point of view about topics like the education that is imposed on us, religion, the condition of middle class workers and politics that divide us.


4.Originally the band was known as 'Folkentroll', what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Macaria'?

Davide - Guitar: The name change was caused by a will of detachment from the folk metal scene of that period, to build, without any constriction, a more personal sound and something more artistically satisfying. We chose the name “Macaria” because it has a particular meaning in our region (in our dialect it means “witchcraft”, “spell”, “sorcery”), but in the meantime it doesn't suggest a musical genre, as instead “Folkentroll” did.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Davide - Guitar: As Macaria we played some cool shows in Italy: Rivarolo Music Camp, Beerstruction and Spongstock VIII are examples. In our stage performances we focus on the execution and the audience entertainment. We do like to stage our album, wearing steampunk clothes, giving a theatrical taste to everything.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Davide - Guitar: We’re working on it. Now we’re starting to plan events in Apulia and probably we'll have some shows in other parts of Italy. Maybe we could have chances to be part of some mini tour abroad.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of folk and death metal?

Davide - Guitar: We had some nice reviews from different websites and we had a particular interest from the Latin America zone. A reviewer wrote this about our album: “You don’t have to listen to the album twice to like it. You do have to listen five times to come to love it”. We do appreciate it and we hope that our future listeners will think the same. Our style is not a classic folk metal, so we have two points here: people that expects us to be similar to other famous artists will be a little disappointed, instead the ones that are looking for something different and unconventional will meet their match.

8.Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

Marco - Guitar: Actually only Luca (our drummer) is involved in Dreker, a thrash metal band. In the past years almost all of us were involved in other projects, I played guitar in a black/death band until the last year, but unfortunately it did not go ahead.
Me, Federico (keyboards) and Davide (guitar) often collaborate with a classical music teacher that needs support for her events.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Marco - Guitar: So often our tendency is to experience new sounds, so we will continue on this path, but we also have to wait for the audience’s feedback on the current album, in order to know how moving for the future. If the style of the concept album that we proposed will seem to work, maybe there will be another concept.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Davide - Guitar: Our major influences are Finntroll, Kalmah, Devin Townsend and Wintersun. Anyway these four names are only the tip of the iceberg, because every member listens to different musical styles even so far from metal, smoothing the sound of the band. Nowadays I personally listen to David Bowie, Gorillaz, Destrage, Opeth, Tears for Fears, Pendulum and more.

Marco - Guitar: We listen to a lot of different musical styles, everyone in the band has different influences and we try to use this variety as an advantage for the band. I currently jump from a genre to another, day by day, and I listen to Strapping Young Lad, Wintersun, Pantera, Igorrr, Decapitated, The Dear Hunter, Infected Mushroom, Those Poor Bastards and many others.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Davide - Guitar: We have different interests apart from music. I like coding and creating software; Lorenzo uses to improve himself in his hobbies like woodworking, iron working, welding, mechanics and land cultivation; Luca De Marco loves reading books and playing video games; Luca Casto usually plays five-a-side football, reading comics or watching cooking programs on tv (even if he knows nothing about it); Federico considers music his own real hobby, indeed.

Marco - Guitar: The main interests, common to all members of the band, are food and beer. Tons of pasta were consumed during the creation of this album.
Other interests are watching movies and tv series, going to the gym, practicing martial arts.

12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Davide - Guitar: We'd like to thank you for the opportunity and the chance of this interview and the readers for their attention. If you want, you can support the band following us on Facebook ( ), ordering a copy of “A Strings’ Dramedy” from http://bit.ly/2e88hRR and you can also discover more about Macaria on the official website: . Bye!

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Macaria/A Strings Dramedy/Revalve Records/2016 CD Review

  Macaria  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of   folk  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "A  Strings  Dramedy"  which  was  released  by Revalve  Records.

  Record  player  sounds  along  with  some  folk  instruments  start  off  the  album  along  with  the  atmosphere  of  a  horror  movie  and  the  music  also  gets  very  symphonic  at  times  and  after  the  intro  the  music  also  starts  getting  more  heavy  and  melodic  while  also  mixing  it  in  with  the  symphonic  and  folk  music  elements.

  Most  of  the  vocals  are  death  metal  growls  while  clean  singing  pagan  vocals  are  also  used  at  times    and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  operatic  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  Elements  of  the  more  melodic  and  symphonic  sound  of  melodic  black/pagan  black  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats and  a  later  track  also  introduces  acoustic  guitars  onto  the  album  while  a  later  song  also  brings  in  back  up  shouts  and  they  also  bring  in  an  symphonic  instrumental  before  closing  the  album  with  2  heavy  tracks  that  also  include  vocals.

  Macaria  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  folk,  symphonic,  pagan  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Macaria  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  folk,  pagan  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Puppets  Theater"  "The  Hidden  Filth"  "Midday  Strangers"  and  "The  Knot  Of  Wills".  8  out  of  10.

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