Hi, first, thanks for answering this interview. And could you start it with a little biography of your group?
Thanks for your interest in Forsaken and for your concern in reviewing us and giving us a chance to express ourselves on your web-zine. Our present formation consists of myself Leo Stivala on vocals, Albert Bell on bass, Sean Vukovic on guitars, Simeon Gatt on drums and Mario Ellul on keyboards. We started in 1990 as progressive metallers Blind Alley but after a few line-up changes and a solid doom metal musical orientation we changed the band’s name to Forsaken. We played our first gig on Friday the 13th Sept 1991 and released our first demo REQUIEM in early 1992. This demo gave fruition to a relationship with a French label ARKHAM PRODS, which later released our first 12” e.p. called VIRTUES OF SANCTITY and later organised a tour for us through France and Spain. In 1995 a Maltese record label Storm Records released an all-Maltese metal compilation CD in which we contributed a song called Moondancer. A year later we signed a one album deal with Storm Recs. and EVERMORE was released in 1996. This album although being very well reviewed from the few contacts we had at the time Storm records did not promote it well and our relationship faded away. The band passed from very unstable times and split up for about 6 months due to musical differences and after this long break we decided to reform definitely concentrating on a pure dark epic doom metal and with the aim to release new material. We got in Mario Ellul on keyboards to add more atmosphere to our music and started writing new material but trouble was not over yet. Daniel Magri our long-standing guitarist was diagnosed with cancer and this meant another huge blow for the band. We recorded a Black Sabbath cover version of Neon Knights for a Sabbath MkII compilation called Dehumanized Witch released by an American label called Midwest Metal Recs. Sadly enough Daniel passed away on January 2001 and again Forsaken where in the middle of nowhere. We firmly decided that it was a make or break situation for us. We went in studio for a last effort. We recorded a 3 track demo simply named |DEMO 2002 sent only to labels and Golden lake offered to sign us for a mini c.d.. We signed to Golden Lake Prods and Iconoclast was released in late 2002. In February 2003 we played at the highly acclaimed Doom shall Rise Festival in Germany and later that year Golden Lake offered us an album deal which we eventually signed and Anima Mundi was released earlier this year. Last July we played in the Headbangers Open Air 7 Festival in Germany. Now we signed a 2-album deal with Golden Lake plus the re-release of Evermore due to next October.

Your new album “Anima Mundi” has just been released, how was it received by the fans & medias?
In Malta, metal fans are enthusiastic about releases by local bands. We have sold like 130 cds and maybe we can sell 20 T-shirts, which is ok taking into account the size of the country. People have got to know the songs really well infact you can hear them sing the lyrics during our gigs. As regards to local media there are only a couple of radio shows which play metal but coverage on magazines and newspapers is very limited.
Abroad the story is different. Golden Lake sold the first 1000 copies in merely 2 weeks and they have pressed a thousand more. Anima Mundi is distributed all around the world and lately it was also licensed in Russian and ex-Russian states. We have also received a lot of feedback from various radio stations playing a track or two from Anima Mundi in places like Canada, France and US. As regards to reviews we are really happy with the results, negative reviews on Anima Mundi are of a very small amount. One can check out the reviews on our official web site www.forsakenmalta.com.
How would you describe your music and what are your influences?
I describe our music as Dark Epic Doom Metal with a very progressive feel, which results from a lot of different influences from other forms of metal, which we lis

ten to. Our main influence is Black Sabbath. They created all that is metal especially doom. We are also very much influenced by the purveyors of doom metal namely Candlemass, St.Vitus, Pentagram, Trouble, Revelation and all the rest. Apart from doom other sub genres of metal, influence our music. Mentioning early heavy metal bands like Judas Priest, Saxon, Venom and Mercyful Fate/King Diamond. Thrash metal kings like Celtic Frost and Slayer influence us too. 70’s bands like Rainbow and Hawkwind also are an influence on us.
Would you like to describe shortly the cover of "Anima Mundi"? How important is the cover for the release of a CD?
The cover depicts a fiery soul symbolising humanity coming out from the earth breeding a raven, the bird symbolising death. The message behind it is the humanity is slowly building the process of killing itself materialistically and spiritually. Mankind has to realise that what we are destroying is our own habitat and belief.

Tell us about the song writing process, how do you proceed ?
It doesn’t always work the same way. Generally Sean or other members of the band come out with a set of riffs and as a whole unit we build the song together by introducing mid sections, atmospherics etc etc. Then I try to fit the lyrics in the song structure.
Sometimes we work it out the other way round. Albert or myself come out with a set of lyrics and everyone starts to fire out ideas that match the theme of the lyrical content. This can take longer to finish at times. We like to compose songs quite spontaneously, the most important thing is that they sound as heavy as possible.

 

What topics do your new texts deal with ? Where do you get inspiration from (litterature, dreams, personnel thoughts, everyday life…) ?
Basically we always deal with very introspective lyrics. We write about personal experiences and religion. Basically we try to expose our psychological behaviours towards various circumstances in our lives like moments of happiness, anger, pain and rebellion. We also write very mysterious lyrics as regards mysticism and spirituality. Albert tackles most of these concepts especially in his latest lyrical themes. He reads a lot and he is inspired a lot by his readings. I write about more direct personal views. Carpe Diem talks about our state of heart as regards Daniel’s passing away and conveys a message of courage to keep our music alive which is the best way to keep our dearest friend alive in out hearts.
Our new texts are darker than ever and there are also some strange lyrics. Albert wrote a song called THE GHOLEM, which talks about the wars in the Middle East but in very dark and doomy way.

This is the second release with Golden Lake Productions. Does it mean that you are satisfied with their work?
Yes definitely. From when we signed with these two Scottish brothers for the ICONOCLAST m.c.d. they have been very loyal and true to us. We have a solid relationship with Golden lake. These guys are very trustworthy and know what they are doing in the underground metal scene. Just check out other bands they have signed like The Enchanted. After the very encouraging sales from Anima Mundi we have been offered a two-album deal which we signed a few months ago. One to be released in 2005 and the other in 2006. There is a positve approach towards our music and towards the label. Respect is mutual so right now we are very happy working with them, not to forget their enthusiasm to re release our 1st album EVERMORE.

Malta isn’t particularly well known for its metal scene ? Are there other great groups like you ?
Here in Malta we have a very good metal scene. The most popular scenes are the Power Metal scene and the death Grind/hardcore scene. There are very few people who are really into the real doom metal like us. But we still have a very good attendance at our gigs. This is mainly due to the fact that we have been in the scene for 14 years now and there ar

e people who have been following us ever since.
Some great bands worth mentioning are Beheaded a brutal death grind band who have released 3 albums and are also signed. They have also toured abroad. Angel Blade, Angelcrypt and Stillborn are also good power metal bands worth checking. There are also atmospheric metallers |Weeping Silence featuring our keyboardist on guitars which can be checked out. They are to release their debut album very soon.

 

Looking at the Doom scene of today, where do you place Forsaken ?
This is a bit difficult to answer because we’ve been playing for a long time and our history has been an uphill struggle and for a 14 year existence 2 albums and an mcd are few but we are very happy with was is happening right now. These last few years have been the best ever for us, we are signed with a good label, played abroad twice, three releases on record and other projects to look forward to. Some call us veterans of the doom scene. Ok it could be but we are no Pentagram , Trouble or Candlemass. These are the true pervoyers of the doom scene. We started at the same time with bands like Mirror of Deception and Dawn of Winter. I place Forsaken there.
I really hope we remain going on strong for a longer period. The most important thing is that we keep releasing material and realise goals, which we can afford. You have to keep in mind that three of us are married and all of us have our day jobs and from Malta is it impossible to make a living from Doom Metal. But we sincerely believe in our music and strongly think that we are an important band in the underground doom metal scene. We have worked and are still working very hard for this.
A sweden death metal band is named “The Forsaken”, isn’t it a problem ?
No, not at all. First of all that band is called The Forsaken. Besides we’ve been there before. Now we got to know that there is a new band called |Forsaken in Germany. This doesn’t worry us at all. We shall keep the name and we are not going to waste time suing bands or changing the name or whatever. The most important thing is to still meet a play good doom metal….

 

And, to finish with, could you explain us, your vision of the “spirit of metal” ?
The spirit of Metal is the way every metal head feels when listening or playing heavy metal. Personally I believe that the true metal spirit has been in me from my early days listening to Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Saxon, Judas Priest and loads of other mertal bands. I still have the same vibe as before. Being in a band and especially being the vocalist and the frontman I must have the ability to transmit this spirit to the crowd. At least I try my best to do this. Metal has become a very important aspect in my life and although it does not come before my family and I have to organise my time for the band I strongly think that if I drop metal from my life there will be a void inside me for sure.
I look at metal very positively. I don’t like it when metal is used to glorify violence, gore, blasphemy and drug abuse. Playing in a doom metal band does not mean being a depressive fuck, it means being true to your metal roots and feel internal passion to really heavy atmospheric music. This is what unifies all doom bands.

Thanx for your precious time, last words are yours.
Thanks to you Kivan for you interest in Forsaken and for all your support. I wish you all the success with Spirit of Metal. I urge all of you readers of keep true to themselves and believe in metal in what ever form they enjoy because everyone has the right for his own opinion in the end of the day. I also encourage all to get hold of our releases. They are distributed all around Europe and stay tuned for the re release of our 1st album EVERMORE and something brand new is that Iconoclast and Anima Mundi are going to be released as a double vinyl by a German label called IMMORTAL VYNIL Records also very soon. So keep tuned and DOOM FOREVER ONWARDS