Where do the Butterflies go to?

It’s hard not to notice that Krampus is working hard to become more and more popular in the folk-metalscene. After their first album ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and a large Paganfesttour, these guys and girl from Italy are working hard on a new album. Before, a few songs and a clip were released, but the band is quite vague about the details of the new album. About time to ask vocalist and main songwriter Filippo some questions!

Seeking completion
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. At first how are you all doing? Happy that the recordings are finished?
‘Hello! We’re doing great! We’re happy that we finished it but we can’t wait to do more!’
How did the writing and the recording session of the new album go? Was it any different than from the first album?
‘The writing was a long process, I took time for careful consideration after finishing Survival of the Fittest. I felt constrained in what we were doing and I strongly felt the need to expand our music and reach different styles. Early this year we worked a lot trying to explore the world outside our genre limits and it’s still an undergoing process. Recordings were also different this time. We had the chance to work with a legendary producer like Tommy Vetterli that taught us so many things. It was a blast to be able to learn from such an experienced musician and producer.’
Do you think it was harder to write the second album than the first? And if so, why was that?
‘It was definitely harder, When you step outside the strict guidelines of a genre like Folk-Metal you venture into a huge field of options and it’s at the same time thrilling and frightening.
After SOTF I strongly wanted to evolve our music and break all the rules, write what I love and experiment. There are so many different influences in the new songs, mostly outside strict “metal”.’
At the first album, you achieved a perfect balance between folk-metal and –core influences. The songs I’ve heard from the second album tend to be more –core, was this on purpose? And if so, why have you chosen this direction?
‘It was indeed on purpose but I wouldn’t say it’s just -core. Paralysis got indeed some strong second-gen metalcore influences but that’s just one of the many new things we tried. I wanted to write an album that was complete and to break the trend of the “one good single, 10 filler tracks” of the recent years. That was something we tried on SOTF as well but we knew we had so much more to say and play. The new album is gonna sound diverse and various. There are so many different influences, from alternative rock to hardcore punk to post-hardcore.’

Criticism
The lyrics on the first album were strong, criticizing modern society, will this come back on the second album as well, or have you chosen for different subjects to sing about?
‘On our first album we were more focused on that subject, the new album doesn’t have a “concept” behind it like SOTF had. Indeed I’ll keep writing lyrics on the society cause i believe that music is one of the strongest way of communication and there’s nothing better then using this power to have people think. But I also decided to take a step deeper into feelings and emotions, I strongly believe that one other huge role of music is to Help people going through hard times. I’ve been through a lot of shit during my life and music was always a light in the darkness for me. I want to help people with my music as others did for me when I was in need. I feel it’s like a duty for me as a musician.’
The style of the promo-pictures, website, etc. is a lot lighter than when you released the first album, is this also reflected on the music of the album itself?
‘Well, I would not say that the new material is going to be “softer” at all. There’ll be soft moments for sure because we never hid our love for melody but there are also some of the hardest hitting songs we ever had! We also shifted on the look because we felt that the Post-apocalyptic theme was the sign of Survival of the Fittest, we stepped forward on that as well. We try to keep evolving in every aspect of our artistic life.’

Video
You’ve released a video-clip for the song ‘Paralysis’ What was it like to do this? And in what way does the video connect with the song itself (theme, lyrics, etc.)?
We had once again the honor to work with Andrea Guarascio which did an amazing job on Kronos’ Heritage video-clip. This time was even better since we had the chance to work with so many walk-on actors, it was definitely a lot of fun!
This time we approached on a more “artistic” way instead of telling a story. The video is indeed related with the lyrics!
It’s all about visual feelings, pictures of emotions, going alongside the words of the song. The whole song is about the struggle to succeed, to achieve something in life and how it can haunt you and devour you in the process.
I wont go more on detail cause we wanted to viewers to “feel” the images with their own sensibility.

Revelations?
When will the album be released, and does it have a name yet?
‘We don’t have a release date or album title yet, We are still deep in the writing process. We are also looking around for a new label deal, to find the perfect partner to work with.
When it comes to writing songs, who does what? Is it a group process? Or is there one person who writes everything? And besides that, what are your most important influences or sources of inspiration when writing music?
‘I’m the main songwriter.
Influences are so wide…i listen to a lot of stuff! Post-hardcore, Alternative rock, Metalcore, post-rock but i also dig electronic music and some more mainstream stuff. I just like good music and I always love to try on new things. There’s nothing worst then fossilizing in music. Music is all about evolution as an art and i can’t believe how hard is for people to step into the unknown out of their own established taste
You’re originating from Italy, a country that isn’t well-known for its folkmetalbands. Do you think it’s easier, or harder when trying to break through when you’re originating from this country?
It’s indeed harder when you have zero support from medias and venues. Here every “hard” music never make it. There are interests to be kept safe from everything that is new so there’s not much you can do. Thankfully we live in the digital era so it’s easier to step out.’
On your website is stated that you’re working on something special, together with some beautiful pieces of artwork. Could you give the readers of folk-metal.nl a slight hint of what’s coming?
‘Well… you’ve seen butterflies on a picture haven’t you?
And the images definitely look like a comic.
Let’s say it’s gonna be a different approach on a lyric video ;)’

Is there anything you still want to say to your fans or to the readers of folk-metal.nl?
‘Thank you for checking us out and for this interview and also thanks to all our fans that keep supporting us , no matter what we try, no matter where we go. It’s great to not be alone when you venture into the unknown.’

By: Nick