Interview

FALLEN SANCTUARY

A talk with (from L to R)

JAMES DEZARN (Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals / Additional Drums)

&

WILLIAM DEZARN (Vocals / Lead Guitar / Additional Bass)

(Questionnaire by STEFAN) 

METAL TO INFINITY

To all those on the hunt for a US Power Metal thrill undoubtedly should check out a band called Fallen Sanctuary. This formation contains of two members only just released a brilliant second album, actually the follow up to “Theories Of Ruin” entitled “Malevolent Symmetry”. Long time fiend and Metal To Infinity co-editor named Rico (aka Officer Nice) wrote down his thoughts on the new effort (check it out right HERE )– now it’s my turn to spread the word of FS during the next following interview. Due to William and James Dezarn were able to contribute - total appreciation is on my side.  

Q: Hello guys, before kicking of for real I’d like to send many ways of total dignity and appreciation with the end result of your new output “Malevolent Symmetry”. How’s life in the USA at the moment guys?

William Dezarn: First off, thank you and Rico for your kind words and support! It really means a lot to us! For us, things have fortunately been fine here in the States, but it has been getting a little crazy here over the last couple of years. People are worried about work and politics, but hopefully things will be getting back to normal soon. 

James Dezarn: Again thank you Stefan, and thanks to Rico for the great review!

Q: Two brothers making Metal music in a very attractive way, pure American styled. How did everything started? Feel free to introduce yourself one by one. 

JD: I play Lead Guitar and do some backing vocals. I have played Guitar for about 10 years now, and I also have about 22 years of drumming experience. 

WD: I started out playing bass back in the mid 90’s, but always had a passion for singing. I eventually took over as a singer in my first band, and later shifted from bass to guitar.

Q: Formed back in 2003 – what were the main ambitions you guys wanted to realize? 

JD: We felt it was time for a change. We had grown apart from the last band we were in, and wanted something different . So we thought it would be great to get back to our real passion for old-school metal. I gotta admit the first time we heard Nevermore and Iced Earth back around 2001 we were totally sucked in. That’s when we had a major moment of inspiration that guides us to this day.

Q: Besides Fallen Sanctuary – any other bands to announce both of you played with?  

JD: I have been in a few bands before this one, and William and I was in a band called Social Apathy from 1998 to 2001. We also had a side project going on for about a year with a guitarist from Social Apathy called Campaign Fear back in 2004.

Q: A few years ago, you’ve sent me Fallen Sanctuary’s full length debut album called “Theories Of Ruin” and I wrote the review of this piece with pleasure. Because of my optimism and undying faith in US Metal since a couple of decades, the album got a well deserved high rating. Can you remember the words I’ve wrote back then? 

WD: Oh yeah! The link to it is still on our website and has been there since it came out! I remember you were really excited about us! I also remember you compared us to a few bands we had never heard, or even heard of, before.

Q: What to tell on the world wide feedback on this great effort guys? I was very enthusiast but what about the reactions from other journalists? 

WD: Reviews are just now starting to come in, finally, and they have been really good! Other journalists have expressed a lot of excitement over what we’re doing and have been very encouraging.

Q: I always asking myself the questions: what’s the secret of a band with only two members making songs so exclusive fantastic. On your debut album “Theories Of Ruin” there was no doubt about the fact both of you were owners of outstanding skills. The making of a new song – how that goes in the Fallen Sanctuary camp?  

WD: We spend a lot of time playing around on guitar, trying to come up with riffs and ideas. We are really picky when it comes to riffs, so we throw a lot of stuff out, but when we hit on something that really sticks with us, we try to build on that. We might try to match it with other riffs we’ve had sitting around, or write all new stuff based on it. I usually try to come up with singing ideas around this time too, but not the lyrics.

We get an idea for the arrangement and develop the music out with drums and bass, and then get a recorded version of the music. We then use that to write the lyrics, which almost always comes last. At that point, we just try to refine the song, toying around with arrangements and connecting everything together.

Q: Impossible to work out all the used instruments during live gigs so Fallen Sanctuary have to be considered as a studio band. Is this way assuming right or wrong?

JD: That is a fair assumption, but that’s never really been our intention. We are planning on trying to get out and play as a 2-piece with pre-recorded drums and bass this year hopefully. We feel really good about it, we think we’ll be able to deliver more on stage than most would expect from 2 people, much like we do on our recordings.

Q: Never thought to recruit some other musicians? It’s not that you guys need someone else to get a better sound but it would make it easier to play for a live audience as well you know. 

JD: We have tried off and on to find people over the years, but it’s never worked out for long, for various reasons. It is difficult to find people who are really dedicated, and want to do this style, and are able to tour, and you can get along with, etc. For the last few years, we haven’t troubled ourselves over finding other people and have decided to just concentrate on what we already have going on between the 2 of us. We’re certainly open to finding other musicians and would like to have a full line-up one day, but we’re lucky enough to be able to carry on by ourselves. We’ll just cross that bridge when we get there.

Q: To go back to my thoughts on the “Theories Of Ruin” album, I still remember the fact I compared the vocal lines (for some reason) with Piledriver’s Gord Kirchin – based on the music, I’ve named bands like Eidolon, Syris, Eden’s Fall, Spirit Web as so called similar acts. Are you guys agree with this opinion? 

WD: I wouldn’t have immediately made the Gord connection myself, but I can see a similar approach in a few things I do, I guess. To be perfectly honest, we’re not very familiar with a lot of these bands, so it’s hard to say. We’re a fairly difficult band to compare since we do try and throw various things together, and the parts that go into it and their balances are fairly unique, I think.

Q: I'm sure you can look back on the debut effort with a very good feeling, right? 

WD: Absolutely! Of course, you can always look back on things you’ve done and wish this had been a little different or that you had or hadn’t done this or that, but we put our heart and soul into that album and it will always have a special place in our hearts. Theories of Ruin was a real landmark for us as musicians, and it always will be.

Q: Late 2010, the release of a second album became reality – entitled “Malevolent Symmetry” which ended up in my personal top 20 list for 2010 (also Officer Nice added this excellent CD a place to his own favourite 2010 list). Debut unleashed in 2005 – the new album saw daylight five years later on… what kept you busy during these years?

WD: We spent some time trying different things after Theories of Ruin, we had tried putting together a 3-piece with James on drums and me doing all of the guitar and vocals. We couldn’t keep anything together and we became disgruntled with the 3-piece idea anyway. We really love the two guitar thing, and one guitar just was not doing it for us. During that time, we recorded a demo, but weren’t really satisfied, so we didn’t push it.

Eventually, we decided to start over and go back to the arrangement we had during Theories of Ruin, and that we have now. We also started working on creating our own electronics/software business in recent times, so that slowed things down a bit as well. Too, doing everything yourself just takes longer.

Q: Can I ask for your own opinion regarding “Malevolent Symmetry”? 

JD: We’re really pleased with the new album! If everyone else likes the album as much as we do, then things should go quite well for us! In the past, we have always had to settle for what we could get in certain ways, but this time, we really felt in control of making everything work the way we wanted it to. We’re still a little wore out mentally from this last effort, but we’re already looking forward to the next one!

Q: This is a must have for all people hooked on the mighty forces of US Power Metal in general, isn’t it?

WD: That’s the plan! We certainly think it is, but that’s much more for others to decide than it is for us to decide. We can only keep the faith and spread the word.

Q: I also hear flammable Thrash Metal rhythms, really joyful and played in a very professional manner. In his review, Officer Nice even compared Fallen Sanctuary with US Thrash icons like Flotsam and Jetsam, Heathen and Forbidden. Speaking about a big compliment…

WD: Yeah, that’s great! Those are very powerful, professional bands and we strive for that too.

Q: To what type of bands you would like to compare this new album?

JD: That’s impossible for us to say. We don’t really think of ourselves in relation to other bands, at least stylistically. There also aren’t a ton of bands that live in the same general space that we do, so each one is pretty unique.

Q: On which subjects the lyric are based on? Why?

WD: This time around, we decided to do a concept album. That wasn’t the original idea though. We had thought about just writing a trilogy of songs, then we wanted to do more, then we just decided to go all the way. We have always been fascinated by science and technology, and over the years, we’ve also thought a lot about how things could go wrong.

The Malevolent Symmetry concept is a futuristic scenario we imagined about genetic engineering gone wrong, where people have been damaged by genetic sciences gone wrong over the course of decades. At a crisis point, a group called Prometheus steps forward with a way to fix all of these problems, but at a price no one is aware of until it’s too late. In their ‘fix’, there are also things to strip out genes that are responsible for rebelliousness and self-determination, in order to make the ‘commoners’ easier to control, forever. However, people do realize what’s going on before it’s too late, and rebellion follows.

The lyrics range through the story and ideas, and some of the lyrics are even from the perspective of the Prometheus group themselves. For example, ‘Prelude to Supremacy’ is from their perspective, as well as lyrics in the book that are in italics. We wanted to do that, because we felt seeing things from the bad guy’s perspective makes things even creepier.

Q: Musically wise, Fallen Sanctuary has grown a lot. Is this the final result of two guys living for Metal music while practising fingers to the bones? Otherwise, I can’t imagine something else for such a great pallet of skills guys!

WD: Music really is our passion and we try to structure our lives around playing it. We spent a lot of time and put a lot of work into this album, and we’re really proud of the results. Every time you do a new record, you grow. What’s funny is that after you do a big project and get used to hearing the result, you think you’ve grown so much from that, the next one is going to be so much easier! What really happens though, is that, while you have gotten better, you still have to put nearly as much work into the next one too! The difference is that, hopefully, for that amount of work, you will get so much more out of it.

Q: Another question that burns from deep within: how comes a very good band like Fallen Sanctuary haven’t reach a record deal so far. Which arguments you’d like to mention as main reason?

JD: That’s a difficult question. Maybe its because we haven’t had a full line-up so we could tour, the bigger labels seem to require it, but your guess is as good as mine.  

WD: We had been approached by a couple of start-up labels, but we obviously have a strong do-it-yourself mentality and didn’t really want to sign with a label that couldn’t do more for us than we could do for ourselves. Also, we feel like with the internet, a label isn’t an absolute necessity. That said, we wouldn’t mind being signed to the right label that really could do good things for us. We’ll just have to see what the future holds.

Q: Through your own minds – what’s the most remarkable difference between both albums “Theories Of Ruin” and “Malevolent Symmetry”?

WD: Malevolent Symmetry is heavier, darker, and more technical on average. We really wanted to nail it to the wall this time, and I think we really accomplished that! Too, we have both improved as musicians and songwriters, and I think the songs on this album are a bit more consistent with each other. There is still a good spread of tempos and moods though. Malevolent Symmetry is also a concept album, so that’s also an obvious difference too.

Q: US Metal music is way of living for me – as mentioned before, this type of music brings tons of unforgettable moments throughout more than thirty years. Refresh my mind to go back in time, more specifically from the very early 80s up until now, US Metal always deserved a special place in my heart and it always will forevermore. Speaking for yourselves, how deep is US Metal rooted and gimme a small list of favourite bands please.

JD: U.S. Metal and European Metal both are very important to us, but U.S. bands like Dio, Queensryche, Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and many others are the core inspiration of why I play music in the first place. If I never heard some of these bands back in the 80’s I don’t think I would still be playing music today.  I’m hooked for life. 

WD: Things were a little difficult for me, because I came of age in the 90’s, or as I like to refer to it, the Dark Times! Metal in the US, at least in the mainstream, was in pretty bad shape! About the only band that was still carrying the torch at the time was Pantera. Fortunately, Having James for a brother exposed me to a wealth of incredible 80’s metal from an early age, so I was a black sheep among my friends as a die-hard 80’s metalhead! I was completely in love with all bands he mentioned and more, and I still am.

Q: In which ways the promotion campaign of the new album goes on?

JD: Right now, we are just trying to get reviews and spread the word on the Internet. Soon we’ll buy some webzine advertising and maybe an ad here or there in some print magazines too.

Q: Can you give an address where US Metal maniacs can order Fallen Sanctuary stuff? Also bring on the price and payable methods to catch particular articles.

JD: The best way right now is to go to fallensanctuary.com and order our albums from there, he have set up a PayPal Shopping cart there. And hopefully soon, the new one will be available through some of the distributors in the U.S. and Europe we worked with in the past.

Q: Any idea so far on the feedback coming from Europe? What you feel about the European Metal scene actually? How’s your knowledge regarding our own Belgian Metal history?

JD: I’m not to familiar with the scene in Belgium in particular, but the scene in Europe as a whole is great! We always seem to go over better in Europe. The feedback we get is always better over there than it is here. 

WD: We’ve always received a lot of support from Belgium, and that has always been so cool! As for the European Metal scene, we are huge fans of a lot of European Metal bands. A lot of Europeans really love American Metal, but a lot of us really love European Metal just as much! I think there is a fantastic relationship there.

Q: I'm running outta questions so time to pack my bags and go guys. I'm really excited with your present on Metal To Infinity webzine. Bands like Fallen Sanctuary – we’re dying for so our support comes straight from the heart. Some final words before we drop down the curtain over this interview, go ahead… US Metal still reigns supreme!   

JD: Thank you for the kind words. I’d just like to say, to the metal masses - Go to our web site and buy a copy of this BEAST! And thanks again for all of your support. 

WD: Many thanks go out to all of the Belgian Metalheads that have been so great to us over the years, and to you guys at Metal To Infinity! Cheers!! 

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