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First of all, thank you very much for this interview, and
congratulations
 for
all the great works that you have done so far. Your 2007 release,
"Hell Destroyer", was an album rich of Christian allegories. Can you
briefly explain to our readers the concept behind those songs? What are
the main sources of inspiration for the lyrics?
Well I tried to follow revelations as much as I could and put some
conspiracy theory in there in heavy doses to bring a severe sense of
realism to the end times. I felt that I could open people’s eyes to what
could come and hopefully make some people question their lack of Faith
perhaps. I also wanted to entertain and educate at the same time, all
the while making God’s warriors look even more bad ass than anything
Satan could muster.
And now, some words about your sound. After "Hell Destroyer", many have
compared you to Judas Priest. Are they a point of reference for
you musically? What other bands inspire your sound?
Well since our first cd they have been comparing us to Priest. I love
the band and they are definitely a heavy influence but we loved many
bands through the 80’s that formulated what I call pure heavy metal. It
is the emotions and feelings that this sound invokes that is the real
attraction to being a performer and a metal fan. Other bands like
Maiden, Riot, Crimson Glory, Testament, Scorpions, Dokken, WASP, and
even musically King Diamond to a certain degree. The sound we have taken
is nothing new or innovative we have just put our own spin on it and
have tried to turn up the aggression a bit.
2009 is the year of "Science Of Annihilation". In my opinion it's
even better than "Hell Destroyer",
 spectacular,
almost perfect. I love all songs and the booklet is very detailed. But
there are no Christian themes this time. Why this choice? In addiction,
I must admit that the front cover initially perplexed me.
Well I knew I would be answering some of these questions one day. The
cover was a piece that was already done by our artist before we decided
to use it. It is definitely a bad ass metal cover but very sinister and
evil looking for sure. We took it as a scene from the HELL DESTROYER
universe and the fact that it combined science and mythology really
spoke to the overall theme of the record, so we decided to go with it.
we knew there would be a departure from direct Christian themes on this
cd as to just keep it fresh but the Christian message is littered
throughout the songs if you look closer. POWER OF A GOD is about
creation and the SOA trilogy at the end of the cd has the demi god, the
Spectre Of War meets God himself at the end of all existence. Also in
Operation Overlord there are some references but we wanted to include
some cliché metal themes in this one and really make a no holds barred
head banging metal cd.
"Science Of Annihilation" coincides with the new entry of the very
talented drummer Norm Leggio. How did this collaboration begin with him?
Well he has always been a great friend and an Icon in the San Diego
metal scene. When the job came up he was my first call and it just
worked out
 perfectly.
He was always a bro so there was no new break in feeling out period
which was cool and he brought a lot to the table. We knew we wanted to
increase the speed and power by implementing some thrash and blast beat
elements into the music. Norm is a wealth of knowledge of drumming and
metal in general, and that is also very helpful. Touring we have a blast
and it is just a laugh a minute with him it is really enjoyable. He put
the right drums together for SOA and it was definitely a key element to
making this our best release yet!
Are you satisfied with your popularity? I've seen on your MySpace
that you have appeared on several metal magazine covers.
Well you can never be happy with that and you have to always keep
pushing so no. but we are not in it for the popularity but rather the
enjoyment we have tearing it up live and seeing the look on people’s
faces after we play. We have built a massive reputation as a vicious,
second to none live act and we will continue to build on that until we
can really take full control of our metal genre!
The last May, I was honoured to see your performance at Elements of
Rock. Congratulations,
 you
were great and powerful. Was this the first participation in a Christian
metal festival for you? Was it a positive experience? I know that
Elements of Rock is a little festival, but the audience can be great and
hearty, what do you think?
I thought it was great and we were very grateful for being asked to play
and being treated so well. We really hope the festival was happy with
what we did and it was the highlight of the tour for us really. The
shows we play do not have to be huge to be enjoyed. We played in front
of 30 people in Prague on that run and it was one of the best shows for
us and we played the longest set as those people were in heaven and
really kept us rocking. Elements was our first Christian show but I
would love to do more. Everyone was so cool and the vibe was great!
Was it a problem to change the last song of your set list that day,
or was it a pleasure for you to play Christhammer, as the
audience had requested? Did you know that the idea to ask that song was
mine?
Ha! Cool! We knew we would have to break it out for the Elements fest
and
 what
better place to play it. I can vividly remember feeling goose bumps
as I sang some of the lines in that song. It was really cool but I asked
some people before we played about Metal Devil. I did a proper intro to
explain its’ place in the HELL DESTROYER mythos. Some people really love
the CHRISTHAMMER!
At the end of the show, you introduced the line-up, and jokingly you
said you were Rob Rock. What do you think of that great artist? Anyways,
I think your voice is very powerful. When I heard Planet crusher,
from "Science Of Annihilation", for the first time, I was very
surprised. My congratulations! Did you take lessons, or did you learn on
your own?
I was just with Rob in Atlanta at the Progpower fest and we hung out. He
is cool and I worked with him briefly with Roy Z on an album of his. I
learned on my own and do not warm up before a show. It has taken a while
to get where I am but I am singing better now than ever before. It is
cool as you can tell that I am getting better and using new techniques
with each album. The sky is the limit!
How do you live your Faith experience? Do you frequent a particular
church? And the other components of the band?
My Faith is personal and I do not frequent a particular church but go
from time to time to an all black church
 actually
which is awesome. I have had an experience with my wife where we both
witnessed what we think was now an angel. At first we thought it was a
ghost or spirit but we now are leaning towards angel. It was at night
and my wife awoke screaming which woke me only to be staring at it right
in the face from about 3 feet away. We both saw it and I jumped right
through it and it vanished. It was a life changing experience and God
has blessed me by providing empirical evidence of the afterlife. I tell
this story in all my interviews to convince people that may have a need
for more than just Faith alone to believe. I have seen this with another
witness and it is absolutely real so everyone needs to get straight with
the Lord!
What about your future projects?
Well we have a DVD coming out as well as our last 3 cds on vinyl which
we are all excited about! There will also be some sort of release in
2010 but a new cd might wait until 2011 even though we are well into the
writing and also the recording of it already! Lots of touring in 2010 so
come see us and see what all the hype is about we will not disappoint
you I promise!!!
Thanks again for this interview. Do you want leave a last message to
our reader?
Thanks to all the supporters and please stay in contact with us by the
following sites
www.cageheavymetal.com
www.myspace.com/cageheavymetal
www.twitter.com/cageheavymetal and facebook look under Cage
official page. Thanks and ALL FEAR THE HELL DESTROYER!!!
God bless you.
Daniele Fuligno
(with collaboration
of Christopher Warman)
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