ORPHEUS OMEGA’s CHRIS THEMELCO Talks New Album and Perth STORMRIDER Appearance

Chris Themelco of ORPHEUS OMEGA recently caught up with Marco to discuss their upcoming appearance at Perth’s STORMRIDER HEAVY METAL FESTIVAL and their new album Emberglow.

DS: Hey, Chris, thanks heaps for meeting with me. How are you doing today? 

C: I'm good, I’m good. How are you doing?

DS: Yeah, good, thank you. Alright, you'll be returning to Perth for night 2 of Stormrider Festival, taking place on August 23 and 24 at Amplifier Bar. Excited to be making your way back to Perth? 

C: Absolutely. It's the one place we can't get to enough, like most bands, so every time we get to come back is always awesome. Because I feel like it's usually, every release that we might get to go once, maybe twice if we're lucky. And I guess the good side of that is we get to come back with something new each time. So I think the Perth crowd reaction is a really good litmus test for where we're at as a band as well, so we love it. We get to catch up with a bunch of friends that we have over there as well. So it's just always such a good party. I love the vibes over in Perth, so yeah.

DS: Hell yeah, can't wait to see you guys. Your new album, Emberglow, was just released on July 24. Congratulations. And what a great album it is.

C: Thank you.

DS: How has the response been?

C: Thank you so much. Better than expected, if I'm honest. The album was written in the throes of lockdowns, especially as Melbourne-ites, which we knew way too well. We wrote the whole thing sort of over Zoom and back and forth and whatnot. So it got finished realistically in like 2022-ish by the time it was all said and done. And then we had the idea to do the Portraits EP. So then that was on the back burner, then we were label shopping and then I wanted to remix the album because I'm an idiot; I did that, then we got the label and now that it's come out, I feel like we've been excited about it, but it feels old to us in a strange way, right? So having it come out and we're like re-experiencing the excitement of the album through everyone else. And it's been great because I think my favourite comment from people is, “oh, look, don't take this in a bad way. And like, it's not meant to be offensive, but like, this is easily your best album.” And I'm like, “why would I take that offensively?” So it's like, that's the goal every album, right? Like you want every album to be the one where everyone goes, “that's the best one.” You are always trying to improve. You never write an album going, “I hope this one sucks more than the last year.” Like it's not the goal. So the response has sort of really reinvigorated our love for the album, which we poured so much into. But I think we poured so much into it that we may have left so much on the table of ourselves that we needed to step away from it as well. So now that it's out, it's just like, this is awesome. Like the response we're getting is how we felt when we were writing it. So I'm just, I just can't wait to play shows and Perth is literally the first- technically the first show of this album cycle. So I can't wait, we’re chuffed.

DS: That's awesome. Were there any differences in the writing or recording process this time around?

C: Yeah, we kind of did a lot different on purpose, which was cool. We toyed around with a few different tunings on ‘Wear your Sins’, which you'll hear across the album. And that was very intentional per song. Whereas on this album, every song we wrote or every time we started putting riffs together before we went too far into the writing process, we actually tried different tunings for that sort of main motif of the song. And then we wrote around either the vocal melody or the guitar melody, whichever came first, and wrote the rest of the song for the tuning that felt the best for that main part of the song. So for example, the opening track, We Were Kings, Kes came to us with that. I think it might have been in B at the time and I remember just being like, this sucks in B, but I reckon it'll sound sick lower. Kes was a bit like, okay, and then I tried it in G# and it was like, oh shit, like this is heavy, you know, like this feels good and it still sounds really melodic. Like it's such a melodic song but because that main motif was written and then we moved it to G#. That verse riff, it's almost like a little bit djenty, if a melodic death metal band wrote a djenty riff, that's it's got that vibe to it. And I don't think we would have written that riff if it wasn't in G# that we started writing. So that sort of informed a lot of the writing, which was really cool. Something we haven't done before to that nth degree.

We had Thomas "Plec" Johansson produce the album with us. So we spent like, it was about six or seven hours a night for five or six nights across like Facebook video with our Cubases connected with the whole band over, living at my house for the week doing pre-production. Like it was pretty, it was pretty intense. We got a lot of external people to help out, Andy Gillion helped with vocal tracking. Ryan Huthnance helped with guitar tracking. And there's obviously way more people to thank in that regard. But yeah, we really just wanted to make this the most collaborative album we could. And I think it's come out way better for it. So yeah, definitely different to what we normally do. And yeah, scrapped a few songs, rejigged a few songs, like it was just- we weren't married to anything. And that, I think, is the first time we've done that to this degree. We just were like, no, we just want to write songs, we just want to write good songs. And if the song isn't good, if we don't all agree this rocks, then we're just not doing it. It's getting thrown away. And I think we got to the point where we came up with 10 songs that we can listen back to and go, there's no filler on this at all. There's definitely going to be songs that people like more than the others. And that's awesome because we've already seen an array of like, my favourite song is this or whatever it might be, and they're all very different. You know, you've got so many different people's brands of metal that they enjoy most that definitely allocate themselves to certain songs and I think the tuning thing has something to do with it. Obviously, there's some heavier songs on there. There's some way more melodic songs in there like there’s Star Maps, Marionette, Emberglow. Then you've got like Bound to Apathy, Kings and Collector and stuff like that. And then everything in between. So it was definitely an album written without, I would say, without purpose in the sense that we didn't care what was going to happen once it was out, we just wrote it for us. And during lockdowns, we didn't like, like almost every other band, we didn't know if we were ever going to do this again. So it was very different, very different writing process from every other album.

DS: It's always very interesting how every band does things differently. Have you guys been playing any of the new tracks live yet? And how have they gone down?

C: Yeah, we toyed- and this was like a couple of years ago when it wasn't even really the final live version of the song- we played The Tangle on a secret, on a sort of pop-up show that we did without announcing anything and played it last and had a whole bunch of people just be like, “What was that? And where the hell, what is this on?” And we were like, yeah, this isn't out yet. This isn't on anything. We didn't even, you know, no one knew there was an album coming. This was like before Portraits. And we only played that once and that was, that was sick. But that was like a very one off post-COVID, we just wanted to play it, you know, we just finished recording it. And then obviously when we went to Japan, we started workshopping the title track, Emberglow. So that was a big deal. And that went down so well. So we were like, okay, this is a good sign, this is good.

So having that work out live, having The Tangle work out really well live, really just sort of propelled us into being like, “okay, we think these are going to go well live. We think this album is going to translate the way we're hoping it does.” And we've been workshopping a lot of the songs at prac and which ones are going to work best for what gigs and we do a tour, which, you know, we'd hope to do an album release tour, a full one, not just the one off shows and all that sort of thing. We would like to change things up and maybe have different styles on different nights, you know, one night might be more heavy focused, one might be more melodic and just, you know, make it fun for the crowd. So the two that we've played live are Emberglow and The Tangle and they went really, really well. So I can't wait to, you know, play more of them. And I can say that there's going to be more of them in the set for Perth, so we're really excited to do that. You know, like I said, it's new for us as well in that sense. The live side is always what gets us going. So we've got a new lighting show programmed, rig thing, that weighs a metric ton, but we bring it with us everywhere. We've got a new keyboardist, obviously, got the new uniforms. Every year we've got so much stuff that just adds to the live show and we just can't wait to have that match the music, so I'm really excited for that part of it.

DS: Wicked. The new album's artwork by Niklas Sundin is awesome. Can you explain the concept behind it?

C: So I would say it's probably my favourite artwork of all of our releases. And I mean, personally for myself, I think all of our artworks are actually freaking incredible. Like we've worked with such talented artists on all of the art. So like, you know, it's nice to say that as a fan instead of just like something I wrote or whatever, it's like this artwork we got from people we really respect and love their work. And every single one of them has really represented the albums quite well. With this one we hit up Niklas well, well before we even considered the album. We just, I don't know, we, we sort of knew where we were heading vibe wise as a band. And we're just like, let's get Niklas back because we had Tristan do Portraits and Wear your Sins and he killed them. Nailed it. And Niklas did Partum Vita Mortem. We felt like we were sort of after something that was more up Niklas’ way with this one. And then we approached him with it and, you know, we've known him for ages. He was like, “Yep, super keen, let's go.” It’s my favourite story because he sent us two concepts that he'd been working on. We sent him some lyrics, couple of concepts for the album itself. You know, it's not a concept album, but there's, you know, there's some themes through it that I think people have picked up on, which is great. And he was like, “Okay, cool. I'll get to it.” And he sent us like two, not similar, but like similar styled covers that he was like, “Here's where I'm thinking.” And he sent them through and we looked at them as a band and we're like, these are really good. Like this is definitely like his style with the darkness that we're going for in the vibe. Wasn't quite sold on it just yet, but we're like, yeah, this is cool. This is in the right direction. And that night, like 2am, he sends us a like follow up email and just goes, “hmm, I sent you those two, but here's this third one. This is really different, so you may not like it at all. But I was just like listening to a couple of the songs and reading some of the lyrics and I just let this sort of come out. Let me know what you think.” And that was like a 90% finished version of the one we got. And we fell in love with it immediately because we just looked at it like that's the album.

The cool thing about it and why- sort of an aside here, why I'm stoked that we're doing this as a vinyl as well, like why we're pushing the vinyl so much is because this artwork in person looks incredible. And there's so much detail to it that like on a CD or on a little Spotify thing or whatever, you just miss out so much of what's going on in the detail. So, you know, you've got this basically massive all encompassing like cloud wave of darkness and villainy and like, you know, this just absolute monster of a creature on one side. And then you've just got this little bit of bright light of a character. There's no discernible details. It's just the outline of this, this tiny force of light that's trying its best against basically unstoppable odds and whatnot. And it's just it for me, this is exactly how I felt writing the lyrics. Like I'm looking at the artwork and it just feels like that's exactly what I felt inside when I was writing it and he just nailed it. He just did something that I felt was not only just incredible in general, like for what we looked at and suited the album, but something that he doesn't really do style wise, like if you look closely at the details, it's a Niklas Sundin artwork, but from a macro level, it doesn't even look like something he's done before. So we felt pretty privileged that we'd gotten something that he did just off, you know, with no preconceived ideas. He just went with what he was feeling and that really matched how we felt about the album. So I think for me, that's one of the biggest triumphs of the album. That artwork, I just love so much like I think it's the kind of thing I want to get blown up and have in my house somewhere.  

There's some artwork in albums that I love from bands, like something like Ritual from The Black Dahlia Murder. That artwork, I just love so much. And there's just a few artworks across all the bands that I love that I look at and I just think to myself, this could not be more perfect. And so, it's one of those things that I feel like we got that, you know, we got that for our album. I think that's just really special. So that's how that came about. I know that’s a really long winded answer, but it's really special to me. So I do enjoy talking about that part for sure.

DS: It's seriously the best feeling when an artist nails your vision as well. And you're just so happy with what's come together. So that's awesome

C: Because they can never really know what it was like or what you're trying to put forward as a band.

DS: Of course.

C: You know, you guys are like this group of people that are like mind melded in a time capsule to do this one thing and you're basically getting an external person to go, “can you please visually represent this ethereal thing that doesn't really exist outside of like our minds?” And then when they nail it, you just go, “shit, that is so good.” And yeah, we got that with this one. Yeah, I mean, I think we got pretty lucky with all the other ones being like spot on to what we expected, if that makes sense. But this one was more of a spot on to what we didn't expect.

DS: Yeah, that's sick. You guys recently toured Japan with Scar Symmetry. How was that?

C: Yeah, Scar Symmetry and Persefone. And I say that because we love Persefone so much as well. Just both bands are incredible and wonderful, wonderful dudes to tour with. The tour was sick. Like it was the second time we played with Scar Symmetry and I've been a fan of that band for like 20 years or something like that. Pretty much since Pitchback Progress, which was maybe 2004- I can’t even remember, it was a long time ago. But, you know, getting to play with them twice, the first time was more just like a ‘holy shit’. We were playing Japan for the first time with Omnium Gathering as well. It was more of just like a culture shock in a good way kind of thing. This time, I think we really got to enjoy the process and I felt more like this time around because we had the full lineup. Last time, João was injured, the poor dude when we went over. So we had to play with backing track rhythm guitars and we just, you know, we were having some like- I was a bit unwell. It was one of those times where we just sort of, we're like, we just need to get it done. And this time around, we really felt like we brought our A-game. So I didn't feel as much like we were supporting two other bands. I felt like we're really part of the tour and that's a really good feeling. And I feel like we earned our spot on it if that makes sense. The crowd response was sick. I think we were very respectful of being a touring band. I think something not a lot of people get to see behind the scenes is like how gigs are actually running stuff. You know, how efficient you need to be to make sure that soundcheck happens and other things like that. So it was just, it was such a good chill process for like almost the entire time. And we got to catch up with people we met last time and make new friends and, you know, we had three new members in the band effectively who've never toured overseas with us. Last time we went over it was basically the most recent members who left, was Kes and João. And so Matt and I were the only ones who'd been to Japan before. And so we had Luke, Leon and Campbell touring overseas in a band for the first time. And I felt like I got to relive my first time going overseas in a band by watching their reactions. Like the first thing they got to sign, they were just like, “what, why are people wanting us to sign things here?” Getting to do that for an hour straight after a show and them just being like, “what is happening?” And I'm like, “welcome.” This is the cool part, it's like, it's the payoff of all the hard work, right? Like we did the hard things, we practiced our asses off, we put the good live show on, we played as tight as we could and we put everything that we have into it and here's the response, right? This is how people react to these things when- I don't want to say when it's done well- but when it resonates, you know, when everything comes together and that thing hits you and you go, who the hell are these guys? This is sick. When that happens to you, it's really weird because it only ever happens to you from a fan perspective. So going over to Japan for a second time, I think we built so much more on what we had the first time. And it was just the best experience. Japan, I mean, Japan's incredible. I could talk all night about Japan, so I won't, but like, it's just the best place. And yeah, like I'm already like, when can we go back? Cause I'd like to go back now, please. It's like, it's so awesome. Yeah, just an awesome tour.

DS: All right. And finally, is there anything you'd like to say to your Perth fans before the upcoming show?

C: Get excited for what I think is by far our best live show. Like, I feel like every band always does “this is the best album, blah, blah, blah.” And like, it's so awkward cause you're like- but I really do think that. And if it helps, I feel like the response has reflected that we feel that way. So if anything, this is the first time we've ever kicked a tour off in Perth. It's the first time we've kicked an album off in Perth. So I'm excited for being able to go ‘this is the first place we got to play on this album cycle’, that's awesome. So I can't wait. Get ready for an awesome show. And it's, it's Stormrider's anniversary. It's a two night deal. It's going to be amazing. So I mean, the lineup on both nights is nuts. So I'm actually trying to fly in the night earlier. Some of the other guys can't get work off, whereas I'm like, I'm going to try to maybe just work from Perth that day so I can come up for both nights. Yeah, it's going to be sick. I mean, we can't wait. We're just grinding at the band prac to make sure we can put the best show on we can.

DS: Wicked. Well, thanks so much, Chris. And I'll see you in Perth.

C: Awesome dude. Thank you so much and I'll see you in a few weeks.

Stormrider Heavy Metal Festival 10 Year Anniversary
2 huge nights of Heavy Metal
Friday August 23 & Saturday August 24
Amplifier - 393 Murray Street Perth
Get your tickets now - https://stormridertouring.com/events
A limited number of discounted Weekend Tickets are on sale now while they last!

Night 1 - August 23 from 7pm
Chaos Divine
Hybrid Nightmares (VIC) - Woeful Inertia album launch
Black Majesty (VIC) - Celebrating over 20 years of Power Metal
Wrath of Fenrir
Undeniable - Debut Performance

Night 2 - August 24 from 6pm
Silent Knight
Orpheus Omega (VIC) - Emberglow album launch
Elm Street (VIC) - The Great Tribulation album launch
Buried Shallow
Woewarden
VANTA