Interview with Eye Beyond Sight, March 2012

Not all our readers are familiar with Eye Beyond Sight, can you please introduce the band to our readers?

Hi to everyone!
Eye Beyond Sight was established in 2003. In the first two years there were some changes as with the members, as with the vision of the band. In 2005 new vocalist joined the band and after some months new bass player and drummer. With these changes the complete line up was made that is working nowadays as well. The first release Dies Ad Quem was recorded in 2007 in MD studio Hungary. The band played many shows in the following years like with Hungarian Moby Dick, Bloody Roots, and many others. In 2009 we had a chance to be the support band of Sepultura on their show in Šala (SK). Recently we recorded our second release „The Sun And The Flood“. In the meantime we played several shows  like on Metalfest Open Air Hungary 2011, Estonia-Finland tour 2011 etc.

‘The Sun and the Flood’ is your second album, what is the biggest difference between your debut album and this new one? 

One of the main difference is the sound, and that 80% of the material for the debut album was done when new members joined the band so they did not cooperate as much on writing songs. 

The album was already released about a year ago, what made Massacre Records decide to release it world-wide? 

Well this is a good question, maybe it should be addressed to Massacre Records. We sent out our new record to many record labels and Massacre was one of those who responded. Their distribution channel is very good, their signed bands, and their team is very professional.  There is no doubt that many metal bands will use the opportunity to sign with them. So did we. 

Who is responsible for the song-writing in the band, or is it a group process? 

Well there is some songs that was made by all of us but mainly the songwriters are the guitarists. 

How big is heavy metal at the moment in Slovakia?

In our country considering the size and the number of inhabitants is average. As well the scene is going through some changes but I think it is on its best way to get recover, thanks to groups that fully support and promote Slovak metal bands.  (MetalExpress, Gothoom Productions, etc) 

By which bands is EBS influenced musically? 

Sepultura, Slayer, Death, Pantera, Machine Head, Biohazard, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Moby Dick, Pokolgép, Vader ……and many more as well new bands on the scene. 

I wrote that it is a kind of mix between Grave and Sepultura, can you live with that comparison? 

Yes,   We were compared to many bands , and of course if somebody hear us first time he tries to compare our songs and find out what our music is similar to.  We played with Sepultura in 2009 and they are really friendly guys we had a great time with them.

I have seen many front covers of CD’s, but I have to say that this one is one of the most ugliest I have seen, what is the idea behind it? 

Heheh – we always knew that our guitarist is ugly! Our guitarist Doki is on the cover. We like this cover  for the rage it presents and as well our lyrics that states we are not familiar with many things that are happening now. You know, we never faced till an opinion that said this cover is an average. We heard just somebody really liked it or not so maybe this is a point that grabs your attention. Will you take a closer look to the cd that seems to have the worst cover you have ever seen? 

‘The Sun and the Flood’, what does the band want to express with this title?

Well it was mainly a spontaneous decision. After considering the general meaning of the lyrics that are written about the “good” and the “bad” , it can be explained that the sun is the one that is giving the life, the one that feeds the nature, and the flood- that can ruin this in a very short period of time. Well, everybody can explain it to himself on several way´s but the relevance cannot be overlooked. 

Now that the band has a deal with Massacre Records, are there plans to tour through Europe this Summer?                

Sure we want to play as many shows as possible. Cannot say details about that right now cause we don’t have a confirmed tour but we are working on and hope people will see us on tour as soon as possible. 

What were the reactions on your album so far, from the press and the fans? 

We already have a couple of reviews as firstly the record was published by Edge Records Hungary. The record always managed to get an average of 75-80% rating which is not that bad at all.The fans really like the new album we had just positive reactions, from the press we received as well positive and negative reactions. But overall we think that till now the reactions on the new record are more positive. 

Do the lyrics have a certain message in them? 

Yes the message are the nowadays, current social happenings etc.  . We want to teach people to read between the lines, in other words, to have an additional “eye beyond sight” ( hehe) that allows to see more alternatives and solutions than the media tells to them. Clearly, we want people to think! 

What 5 metal albums should every die-hard metal fan have in his collection? 

Sepultura – Beneath the Remains

Death – Symbolic

Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss

Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power

Machine Head – Through the Ashes of Empires 

What is the most impressive or weird thing that happened during one of your live gigs?

As we had some tours, it will be really a long discussion to go through all the funny and interesting situations. I will come up with the Estonia and Finland tour 2011. Briefly, as usual in a amateur band there are no truck buses that we can use for touring, no roadies etc. We managed to get a van, packed all the stuff and start the tour. The first show was in Tallin where we arrivedafter 27 hours ride. The club was in the center and they had no parking lot so we needed to park the car aprox. 200 meters from the club. We were tired had no shower but the adrenaline on the show was so perfect that we really enjoyed the show.  After the show our car was robbed and the front window near the driver was smashed. Some of us were so drunk at that time that we thought we could speak Estonian. After long waiting for the cops and then the following negotiations we spent the night on Tallin´s police department, giving explanations till morning. We needed to catch our fairy to Helsinki that started around 6 am.  Here we did not sleep for 2 days and without a shower we were so stinky that with anybody whom we made a contact we needed to keep distance .Everywhere was glass in the car, but we finallywere on the fairy with broken car window and needed to find the exact type of window glass in Helsinky, and find  a service where they install it during a waittime as well, otherwise we could not finish the tour. Finally we did and went to our accommodation where we get drunk with Otto-Psychoparalysis. I have to mention thatespecially that day it was all day raining, so the Police officer from the Criminal department gave us a bigger carry bag for which, we are really thankful but it didn't help us anything at all. Anyway, he was a really nice looking older guy and during our hearing he fell asleep and started to snore. At this time we did not know what to do. We were in the office 2x2 square meter, stinky and drunk and the Police officer from the Criminal department snored in front of us. Well it was a really weird situation. 

Anything else you want to share with our readers? 

Interviewed by Reinier de Vries