Rising symphonic metal band ELVELLON is set to release their second album, Ascending in Synergy, on May 17, 2024! The ten track offering marks the outfit’s Napalm Records debut, and is the successor to their highly acclaimed 2018 album Until Dawn and 2015 EP Spellbound. The official music video for the track “Born From Hope” from Until Dawn has reached 1.3M views on YouTube, and the EP version of the song has more than 2.5M Spotify streams. Dubbed as “heroes of tomorrow” by Metal Hammer Germany, ELVELLON has performed at several festival stages both internationally, such as RockHarz Festival, M’era Luna and Rock Fest Barcelona to name a few, and has shared the stage with significant bands in the scene such as VISIONS OF ATLANTIS.
Teen Art Out: What inspired the theme and concept behind your new album, “Ascending in Synergy”?
Nele: We started writing our new album when the pandemic started. We worked on the instrumentals first and afterwards I started getting visions for the lyrics of each song more and more. During the pandemic I noticed how out of touch and literally quarantined everybody was. What came with that was that I noticed how out of touch everybody is with themselves as well and what consequences that implies. I myself started working hard on finding a way to get through to myself again. I felt the urge to give this world a positive album. And this is really what Ascending In Synergy is inspired by. It’s an invitation for the listeners to get back in touch, feeling seen, feeling heard, having a hopefully safe place to resort to.
Teen Art Out: What was the significance of signing with Napalm Records for this album?
Jan: The label plays an important role on many levels. Maybe the most significant impact of being with Napalm Records is the increased public attention. When your band is signed by a big label, naturally more people will notice your releases. Additionally, the PR professionals at Napalm are a great support in managing all the incoming interview requests and similar things.
Teen Art Out: How do you feel about the response to your singles “A Vagabond’s Heart” and “My Forever Endeavour” so far?
Jan: The feedback we’ve received – whether it’s Youtube comments, direct messages or emails – has been extremely positive. It feels amazing to get such great responses from “old fans” and people who have just discovered us alike.
Teen Art Out: What song is the closest to your heart at this moment?
Gilbert: When we recently started rehearsing for our release show, it quickly became clear that the song “Ocean Of Treason” was a lot of fun to play. Of course, that influences the general opinion a lot and I would say that we are celebrating it the most right now.
Teen Art Out: What can fans expect from the rest of the tracks on “Ascending in Synergy”?
Gilbert: I would say that we offer a broad spectrum of very different songs. On the one hand, we have songs like “The Aeon Tree”, which is our longest track to date with a playing time of over 9 minutes and takes the dreamlike quality we are known for to the extreme. On the other hand we have some very heavy songs like the just mentioned “Ocean Of Treason” or “Into The Vortex”. We already had a heavier song on our debut album with “The Puppeteer” but the new songs in this direction are much more consequent and darker. We are sure that there will be something for everyone.
Teen Art Out: In what way do You feel you have had to push yourselves with this record?
Gilbert: This might sound weird since we’ve been working on this record for 6 years, but we’ve really tried to hurry up and optimize our songwriting process so that we can get to a result that doesn’t feel rushed. One of the effects of this endeavor is that we have divided the lyrics between us. So now the lyrics of most of the songs are written by Nele, 3 songs by Martin our drummer and one song I wrote myself.
Teen Art Out: How do you feel being the one to put out a symphonic metal record, remembering the ones you used to listen to growing up?
Gilbert: That feels very good! We make the kind of music I wish there was more of these days. I don’t listen to that much metal anymore, but the symphonic metal of the early 2000s really appealed to me back then and I’m very happy that we’ve had some success with this form of the genre.
Teen Art Out: Is there something most people don’t realize about being in band?
Gilbert: I think above all how much time and therefore sacrifice it takes to keep a band running at a professional level. We all still have a normal job and everything we do for the band we do in our spare time and that’s very hard because your personal life suffers a lot. Maintaining a functioning relationship on your own is difficult and I would like to express my admiration for all partners of musicians.
Teen Art Out: What was a moment when you realizez you were “famous”?
Gilbert: I don’t have the feeling at all that we are “famous”. But of course there have been a few moments when you realize that you’ve already achieved something. Especially at the beginning of our history so far. For example, when you no longer know the people who comment on your pictures on Facebook in private. Or our concert at M’era Luna in 2015 was also a very sublime moment for us. We hadn’t played in front of such a large audience before. It’s a great feeling, but also a new one. You can immediately feel that the band is getting “bigger”.
Teen Art Out: If ELVELLON could be the soundtrack for any movie, which movie would you choose?
Gilbert: Good question, I don’t think I would really want to hear metal music as a soundtrack for a film. You would have to make a film specifically for that. There have been several music films like this in the past. Some better, some worse. But to answer the question: I could imagine that with a film like “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
Teen Art Out: What is your biggest motivation to keep going?
Gilbert: The answer to this question is a very personal one. I don’t know how exactly I can or want to answer this. For me, making music is an outlet, a reason for being, something by which I define myself. Even the little bit of success that we are able to enjoy makes me very happy and gives me the feeling that I am worth something more. That might sound a bit dramatic or sad, but I can assure you that I’m fine 😀 Music is simply very essential for me and my life.
Teen Art Out: What’s the most unusual place you’ve found inspiration for your music?
Gilbert: Good question. We draw inspiration from many things and probably each of us would answer a little differently. I also get mine from computer games, but I don’t think I’m alone anymore 😀
Teen Art Out: Who in the band is the most likely to get lost on tour
Gilbert: That’s probably me 😀 I can sometimes party excessively and often I’m a bit confused 😀 Luckily it hasn’t happened yet, but that can still change
Teen Art Out: Who in the band has the strangest or most surprising hobby?
Jan: That could possibly be me 🙂 Not really strange, but most people are surprised when I tell them that I have a 40m² vegetable garden. I have to admit it’s pretty much wilderness at the moment because due to all the band related stuff I don’t have enough time left. However, I’m planning to revive it and plant my own tomatoes, carrots, beans, etc. again.