Drummer Peter Slammer on the early days of the band: “Aquilla was built from the ashes of a previous, garage thrash metal band, which also functioned as a training ground for rehearsals, songwriting, playing live shows, and everything that a band has to master. The founding stone of Aquilla has always been the love for old-fashioned heavy metal and speed metal. Our initial movement was heavily inspired by bands known under the banner of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, with groups like Skull Fist, Enforcer, Riot, Randy, and Angel Witch among many others.  Throughout the years of Aquilla’s existence, we played numerous gigs across Poland and co-operated with many local promoters like Black Silesia Productions, WiniaryBookings, First Wave Only, or Helicon Metal Promotions. We got the chance to take part in a few festivals like Trveheim Festival as well as claim the second prize at the Wacken Metal Battle in 2024. We also organized and played two international tours across Poland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

Shortly after forming the band, a blend of science fiction and 80s aesthetics became our main theme. Every detail of our endeavor, from lyrics to stage performance, is connected by the original lore inspired by both old-school and current movies such as »2001: Space Odyssey«, »Dune«, »Alien«, »Blade Runner« or »Interstellar«. We want to show the audience a futuristic story of mankind that left Earth and ventured through the unknown united in a mission to find a new place to live long and prosper. To highlight and present our vision accurately, Aquilla puts a great effort to deliver full of energy, and the 80s nostalgia live shows.”

After a few singles and EPs, Aquilla issued their debut album »Mankind’s Odyssey« in 2022. Peter Slammer elaborates: “Aye, »Mankind’s Odyssey« was another milestone that we reached – a professional recording session in a more renown studio, not a mid-range befriended one. It was another field experience and a hard lesson on how to prepare, and what should be done prior to such a session. This kind of experience cannot be learned from the book or from a friend. You have to go to a studio with a demanding engineer and get your skills tested for the first time, so you can avoid rookie mistakes in the future. We believe we learned our lesson, as we achieved much more, and with better efficiency, while recording »Sentinels Of New Dawn«.”

“Most of our achievements wouldn’t have been possible without our constant drive for improvement and our active search for new opportunities,” continues the drummer. “That was exactly the case with High Roller: once we had the final master of the new album ready, we reached out to Steffen and his team to see if they’d be interested in collaborating on its release. It was incredibly satisfying to receive a positive response and begin yet another exciting chapter in our journey – especially since High Roller has worked with some of the most successful New Wave bands like Enforcer and Hitten, while still championing legendary pioneers such as Medieval Steel, Manilla Road, or Glacier.”

Regarding Aquilla’s new album »Sentinels Of New Dawn«, Slammer beams: “It’s a huge step for Aquilla in every aspect. Looking back, the production process of »Mankind’s Odyssey« was not well thought out. We didn’t have a clear vision of the final sound of the album, and we had no experience of such long and demanding recording sessions. In the end, we produced a good-sounding album, but we did not feel it was entirely the right direction for the band’s sound as it felt too robotic-like. However, it was a tremendous opportunity to learn how to approach our next big recording sessions!
The real change began once we started composing songs for »Sentinels Of New Dawn«. The new compositions were meant to lean a bit more towards old-school classics while being both forceful and epic, so every instrumental and drum part was written with this goal in mind. Moreover, a particular attention was brought to samples, synths, and choirs, to create vivid soundscapes on the album. Production-wise, we purposefully searched for studios with large, spacious rooms which allowed instruments to sound wide. The record was supposed to sound a lot more organic than »Mankind’s Odyssey« while retaining the high-budget quality. During the process, we did our best to keep editing necessity to a minimum and not to overproduce tracks.”

“There is an existing lore within our songs,” explains Peter Slammer what the lyrical concept of Aquilla is all about. “We are all enthusiasts of both classic and modern sci-fi creations, and thus our music tells a story of mankind’s last remaining survivors who decide to settle on a distant planet called Yvad’déra. The previous album was where that concept was fully developed and is continued on this record. The story picks up some time after the previous one. The titular New Dawn is what humans called this new era of their history on the planet, where hundreds of settlements were established, and different fractions arose, fractions that aren’t necessarily friendly towards each other. So we have mad space pirates (‘Plunder And Steel’), crazy berserk-like mercenaries (‘Battalion 31’) or technological overlords (‘Technocrat’s Tyranny’). And everyone fights each other, just like in real life. This was also quite a challenge for Captain Paradox as a lyricist – joining in to a band that has this type of pre-established lore. Catching up with the story and adjusting the writing approach were necessary, so it would fit the concept, as both »Sentinels Of New Dawn« and »Mankind’s Odyssey« are pretty much concept albums. The lore itself isn’t that strict really, apart from the general concept of mankind on a distant planet, so it leaves a lot of room for imagination, creativity and open interpretations for the audience as well.”

For me, one of the outstanding songs on the record is “Plunder And Steel”. This got a bit of a NWOBHM vibe going, I’d say, in the direction of Jon Derverill era Tygers Of Pan Tang, with some great twin lead guitar harmonies and a fantastic chorus. “The history of this song began with a chorus riff,” says Aquilla’s drummer. “We wanted to create a powerful riff that would not be fast, but melodic and rhythmic. In comparison to other compositions like ‘The Curse Of Mercurion’ or ‘The Prophet’, ‘Plunder And Steel’ is entirely different.

At first, it might feel like a simple song, but the longer you listen to it, the more musical motives you notice, and that’s why we had plenty of problems with finishing it, to be honest. We believe it may be the one that took us the most time and effort to shape the final form. We wanted to make it both catchy and musically interesting, so we decided to divide it into two parts – regular form with verses and choruses and an instrumental part with an extra chorus at the end. As you noticed, the chorus is the catchy moment that is meant to truly engage the audience during the show and let the people be a part of the song with us. The instrumental part is much more dynamic, because of the tempo change. We wanted to make solo and guitar harmonies as melodic as possible and to keep that old school, Maiden-like vibe. We aim for this melody to resonate in audience heads for a long time, and by that, make them join our crew!”

Apart from the NWOBHM, classic 80s metal from Sweden is a big inspiration for Aquilla: “For the entire band, Sweden is obviously a gigantic, bottomless vault of great acts, from old-school underground one-album wonders to absolute metal giants. Starting with icons like Heavy Load, Candlemass and Bathory that, without a doubt, are among some of the most epic sounding bands of all time. We did our best to incorporate that vibe into our music as much as possible to make the sound more dignified, but without making it pompous, of course. On the other hand, there is also a strong representation of influences from the most recent stars. Enforcer inspires us with their musical evolution and development over the years, each album has a different sound, atmosphere and unique composition, with so many catchy hits. Ambush is another great example of a band with amazing melodies, gang vocals and consistent vision. On the other hand, Tyrann that raw, wild energy to the table, along with pure dedication to the old school and tradition. There are also hidden gems like Sorcerer, who were this forgotten epic doom metal band with only one compilation of demos released once.”

One of Aquilla’s trademarks are the big background choruses, making the songs sounding pretty epic. Peter Slammer agrees: “We think Aquilla has evolved a bit in regard to choruses and background vocals with this album. On »Mankind’s Odyssey« they weren’t as emphasized as on this one. For tracks like ‘Plunder And Steel’ or “Creed Of Fire” the vision was to give the chorus a bit of an Exodus-esque vibe, with a touch of Running Wild. Another thing that, we thought was missing in Aquilla so far, was a big riff/melody that the audience could sing along on our live shows, kinda like the closing riff from Accept’s ‘Princess Of The Dawn’. And that’s how ‘Battalion 31’ was brought to life. Even prior to the recording, we already knew that the final riff was suitable for the choir part, as we had already tested it at our shows. There was this one show in Denmark where we played this tune and the crowd picked up that melody instantly, even though they never heard it before. It was amazing. The group vocals are present all over the album, and we think they have elevated our material in the best way possible. Some of the ideas came spontaneously during the actual recording sessions, like the choir part in the middle of ‘Technocrat’s Tyranny’. In the end, it gave the song a bit of a Bathory vibe, which is another interesting addition in our opinion.”

One of the most epic tunes on the album possibly is “The Prophet”, a great number, with some interesting twists and turns, building up from a slow beginning … very interesting song structure, fantastic songwriting. One of the key songs on the record? “This was another case of ‘what could be added’ that hasn’t been done in Aquilla before,” says the drummer. “We are all a die-hard Iron Maiden militia, yet there are also prog-rock fans among us. Those inspirations led to the idea that we could use a big, long suite, with multiple subsections, tempo changes and unusual arrangements. Tracks like ‘Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’ or Manilla Road’s ‘Dreams Of Eschaton’ served as big inspirations, for sure, but one might just as well list any of the long epics from Rush or early Genesis here. Early stuff from Kansas, like ‘Death Of Mother Nature Suite’ or ‘Incomudro (Hymn To The Atman)’ played a big part as well in shaping brains in terms of writing long, epic tunes. We are particularly happy with the opening section, where Captain Paradox played on this instrument called bağlama. It gave a bit of a middle eastern vibe to the whole thing. It’s also an important track lyric-wise, as it tells a story of the titular prophet who foresees an upcoming war and catastrophe. So basically, it’s a tease for what’s gonna happen on the next album. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

“Sentinel’s Fate” is kind of an outro, does this lead over to the next album or is it just a closer of the current record? According to Peter Slammer, it does: “Since the previous record ended with an instrumental piece, we thought we might do a similar thing for this one. The idea was to give it a bit of a movie-like feel, like ‘the album ends, but the story isn’t, there will be more to come… so TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!’ It was also a chance to venture into a bit of John Carpenter/Vangelis territory. Initially, we wanted to add some voice-over to it, like a dialogue between two squad leaders on the planet, but then we thought it works better this way and the person listening can imagine whatever they feel, get out their own vibe or story from it. This way, it became an open ending – unique for each individual listener.”

Aquilla contributed to the compilation »Europe Against Bloodshed In Ukraine« in 2022. How important was that for them as a band? “As a band from a country which borders Ukraine, we couldn’t stay indifferent to this unifying gesture, when our friend, Per, shared the idea with us,” explains Peter Slammer the reasoning behind that. “We have many friends who are deeply affected by Russia’s ongoing military aggression. Apart from encouraging people on our social media channels to take part in collections, and organizing one ourselves, we wanted to show our support with our music as well.”

MATTHIAS MADER

TRACK LISTING:
01 The Chronicles
02 Creed of Fire
03 Plunder & Steel
04 Mountains of Black Sleep
05 Battalion 31
06 The Curse of Mercurion
07 Technocrat’s Tyranny
08 Bound to Be King
09 The Prophet
10 Sentinel’s Fate

LINE-UP:
Captain Paradox – Main & Gang Vocals, Synths, Bağlama
Kris Invader – Lead Guitars & Gang Vocals
Jaspar De Phaser – Lead Guitars, Gang Vocals & 12-string Guitars
Hippie Banzai – Bass, Backing & Gang Vocals, Samples, SFX
Pete Slammer – Drums, Gang Vocals, Samples & SFX

ON-LINE:
Official Website
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Aquilla @HRR