THEOCRACY – Interview with Matt

American progressive power/thrash metal band THEOCRACY have just released their new effort – ''Mirror of Souls''. This was a perfect moment to make an interview with the leader of the band Matt. Honestly I have never known that they are from Athens in Georgia (United States), before the interview I thought that they are from Athens in Greece. Small mistake…

Hi Matt! I hope you are doing fine. At the beginning of our interview I have to admit that your new record “Mirror of Souls” made my few recent weeks really pleasant.

Thank you very much! That’s a nice thing to hear.

Tell me how is the reaction to „Mirror of Souls”? I must confess that I haven’t seen yet any other reviews of your new album. First of all, how did the fans react?

It’s actually been mindblowingly positive. I thought the fans we had from the first album would like it, and they have, but I really didn’t expect the reviews to be so overwhelmingly good. I thought with such a long title track–and people’s short attention spans these days–people wouldn’t give it enough time and listens for it to sink in. But so far I’ve been very pleasantly surprised.

The record is available throughout the world, most propably many people, friends as well as foes, have already said something about it. Did any of those opinions, even negative ones, had remarkable impact on you, or lead you to reflection?

Well, aside from just being happy and surprised about how positive the press reactions have been, I’ve heard from some fans about how deeply the lyrics affected them and made them want to change their paths and refocus their lives, so that’s incredible.

You know, honestly I have to say that at least in my country such music, like yours in THEOCRACY practically doesn’t get any support. How is this in Greece?

I wouldn’t know, because we’re actually from Athens, Georgia in the U.S., haha! But it’s the same here in America; it’s really hard to get much support for what we do. If it’s not trendy or on the radio, a lot of people don’t care.

Is Theocracy popular in your country? Unfortunalely I know only few Greek metal groups with Rotting Christ at the forefront. So how Theocracy as a metal band finds its’ place in a home scene?

We’re definitely not well-known here. Even beyond the musical tastes of the U.S. as a whole, where we’re from is a college town with almost no Metal scene (at least not for melodic Metal like us). I think one key, and something we’re going to concentrate very hard on in this new year, is to present people with a live show that blows them away. We want to get to the point where we’re so good live that people feel like they have to come see us, and bring their friends!

You know, I wrote this in my review lately but now I’ve got the opportunity to ask you. In my opinion, you are like the european answer to Iced Earth, or maybe even to Imagika. I don’t know how to describe it explicitly, but while hearing “Mirror of Souls” I had many times this impression. It’s a good power metal in which appears suitable dose of agression and progression.

Thank you! Obviously we’re not European, so maybe that impression makes more sense now, but those are some big bands and I appreciate the compliment. I can definitely see what you’re saying, although I think for example Iced Earth is more thrashy than we are, and we have better melodies. But we definitely have that edge in a lot of the stuff we do.

Tell us more about composing process for this album, if you could. Did you write the whole thing by yourself? Did the rest of the band help you, added something from themselves or wanted to change something proposed by you? Previous album was done completely by you, so I’m curious if this time you did the same thing.

I wrote most if it by myself again, but Jon and Shawn definitely helped with the arrangements and co-wrote certain sections with me. It worked well, and I think in the future the other guys will probably feel more and more confident to bring in their own ideas.

How can you rate contemporary power metal scene? There is USA where power more embedded in thrash does really fine, and in Europe as we all know Sweden and Germany lead the way. Which “school” of playing suits you better? I bet it is the American one.

I like a blend, actually. Melody is my main thing, and I think a lot of the American stuff can be too monotone and boring. But sometimes the European stuff can get so singsongy that there’s no power or aggression to it. We try to strike a balance, and have the riffs and the power and the sharp edges, but never at the expense of the melody. We try to achieve songs that are memorable after one listen, but take several more listens to fully reveal themselves. It’s a delicate balance.

Actually when we are talking about what inspires you, maybe you could present you top 5, well maybe top 10 of all time when it comes to music albums.

Oh wow…I could think and debate forever about that! Well, Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime is the easy number one (though Rage for Order is almost tied with it for me). After that, some Metallica, probably Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets. Dream Theater’s Awake, Edguy’s Mandrake, Megadeth’s Rust in Peace, something by Fates Warning (Parallels or A Pleasant Shade of Gray, probably), some Maiden (impossible to choose one album), probably Silence by Sonata Arctica, Isolate by Circus Maximus, Neal Morse’s One…it’s impossible for me to put these in order. It’s also very difficult for me to choose one album by bands with several albums I love almost equally. But that should at least give you an idea, haha!

Apart from that… I know that you often admit to believe in God. So should we perceive the Theocracy (the name itself is connected to religion) as a christian band? Do you want to pass some unique values because of the fact of playing in such a band?

Yes, we are a Christian band. If we make people think about Christ in a way that is separate from man’s concept of religion, then that’s a pretty cool thing. We don’t beat people over the head with any kind of message, and people can enjoy the music no matter what they believe. But at the same time, we don’t shy away from what we stand for like a lot of bands seem to these days.

Religion is quite a troublesome topic in music, especially in metal. What is your attitude towards presenting this subject in lyrics. As it is generally known, there is more of God offenders or open enemies of church in metal than their followers. A genre which could be clearly named christian – is metalcore. Complete lack of ideology, a lot of bands showing their attachment to God. And power? Could it have a particular message for people?

I think it just depends on the way you approach it and how you make your presentation. Trying to force anyone into a set of beliefs is ridiculous, and will never work. But everyone has emotions, and everyone has a viewpoint or a bias that comes through when they write. So all you can do is honestly write about what you’re going through, the way you see things, things on your mind, and so forth. That’s what I try to do. I think that resonates a lot more than someone saying, “You need to believe this and this and this!!” People are attracted to honesty, and turned off by self-righteousness or pushiness.

Thanks for the interview! Last word as usual belongs to you. Take care and see you on the Polish ground.

Thank you so much to Metal Centre and to the Polish Theocracy fans! We hope you enjoy Mirror of Souls and hope to see you face to face one day!