Articles by "Cerebrum"
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Progressive technical death metallers Cerebrum have released their newest album called "Cosmic Enigma" so Mike and Jim discusses this all new release.


1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Cerebrum, and how long the band has been together.

MIKE: I m Mike and I m the guitar player of Cerebrum.

JIM: My name is Jim and i am the guitarist - vocalist of the  band.

2. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there?Are there any local bands you could recommend?

JIM: We are based in Athens/ Greece, and yes we have a big scene and a good one i think…Well the problem is that the bands are so many and I can’t mention them all ..hehe,so I will say only my favorite which is Sickening Horror! They play also progressive death metal  and they are more of our taste.

MIKE: As Jim said the scene is getting bigger and better every day.So many bands that I cant choose any of them without forgetting others...So just search and you wont be disappointed.

3. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?

JIM: The lyrics are abstract. Of course we have a concept which is about human , dreams , nature , the development of our selves, and the general meaning is that you must observe everything, develop, and have your own mind, don’t let them get into you.. DO NOT listen to everything.

MIKE: By abstract we mean that it doesn't have a specific subject except from some exceptions...I think that they can be translated in many different ways.It will not be necessarily what I had in mind , but this freedom to interpret according to your imagination I think is better.

4. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?

MIKE: There are many bands we listen to from death metal to to jazz-rock and 70s prog rock some of them are Death, Watchtower, Gentle Giant, Atheist, Nocturnus , Morbid Angel , King Crimson, Toxik...Guitar players like Allan Holdsworth,Frank Gambale,Shawn Lane...and many more.

5. Is there any story or concept behind the Cosmic Enigma title?

JIM: It relates to the albums artwork .It's a design Mike made and it appears in the CDs tray card..Its an "enigma " ,a cryptex it's a combination of signs and numbers which has the answer inside of it haha.

6. Select two songs from Cosmic Enigma and what inspired the lyrics.

MIKE: Self  regenerate is the story of the human who can reach his zero level and reborn from his ashes like the phoenix. The point is that we  must have the mental strength  to develop and reborn when we are down. I believe that some times is necessary to  fall in order to rise again Phobos manipulation is exactly what the title says. The use of fear in peoples mind in order to be able to have them all controlled and unable to do something different from what is ''expected''. These 2 songs are the exceptions we talked about before.

7. Who produced Cosmic Enigma and what was it like working with them?

JIM: We did as we are both sound engineers and we have our own home studio. The good thing about it ,is that we knew exactly what we wanted and how to do it.. I hope you like the final result.

MIKE: Knowing what we want doesn't mean of course that we didn't spent many hours trying different things in order to achieve the best result.

8. Who did the cover art for Cosmic Enigma and how much input did you have on it?

JIM: We worked again with Michal Loranc know as "Xaay" . It's a plesure to work with him again .He is one of the best in what he does and the fact that he has worked with bands like Behemoth, Nile, Kamelot and Necrophagist, is not accidental.

MIKE: We worked close with Michal and gave our ideas in every step of the creation...We told him what we wanted and started from there.. So if you also add what Jim said about the design in the tray,i think that we had an important input on the artwork.

9. How does Spectral Extravagance compare and differ to Cosmic Enigma? How has the sound evolved between them?

MIKE: I think its a natural development and it is a more mature album.Both musically and production wise it is an improvement. Its also much more technical although in first listen or if you don't pay much attention it may not seem so.


10. What are your expectations for the CD?

JIM: I would like to sell 1 million copies the first month of its release haha. I am kidding of course .The only think I want is that the fans like the music.

MIKE: And by that,maybe some more people will listen to our music and hopefully find something they like.

11. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?

MIKE: The music...that's what its all about. And that he enjoyed what he listened to.

JIM: Remember  to listen to it again..The "problem" with technical music is that you have to listen it many times to get into it. I hope they do and travel with it ...

12. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?

JIM: At the moment we rehearse for some shows  here in Greece, and we hope to make a European tour before the years end.

MIKE: And maybe do something in Japan as our label is Japanese and in the US where we seem to have many good friends that support us...

13. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?

You can listen and check the news at :

https://www.facebook.com/pages/CEREBRUM-OFFICIAL/213184332066830
www.reverbnation.com/cerebrumofficial
www.myspace.com/cerebrum

and you can find all our merch here:

http://cerebrum.bigcartel.com/

14. Any final words of wisdom?

MIKE: Thank you for the interview and support!Hope you enjoy the album!

JIM: Just be your selves have your own mind listen to a lot of good a lot of music and read more!
12:12 PM
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Greek technical death metal outfit CEREBRUM features George Kollias of NILE, and now have their second full length "Cosmic Enigma" available, which follows what their debut full length "Spectral Extravagance" left behind. With that said, this follow-up release takes a whole another approach and step into the next direction for Cerebrum, showcasing their continued talents in a whole new way and improvement. Having had songs from instrumental to growling vocals to even fast pacing riffs and drum attics, Cerebrum provides a range of musical aspects on this release, having each song be nothing alike. Thus, this is one of those releases that showcases the band's growth and trait between releases and themselves.
12:40 PM
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The guys of Cerebrum spoke to me recently about the band's formation, their latest album, along with everything else thrown in between to keep the conversation rolling without any need for a break. Catch all the fun exposure below.

1. What type of band are you?

Our label describes our sound as a monstrous collision between old-school technical ethics and state-of-the-art sonics. We like that.

2. Tell us the brief history of your band.

Cerebrum was formed in Athens/Greece around 2002 by Mike Papadopoulos and Jim Touras. Apollon Zygomalas joined in the same year as the lead singer.We released a demo in 2005 and in 2007 we recorded our debut album 'Spectral Extravagance' .On early 2009 we signed a deal with Czech label Lacerated Enemy records and here we are now with the release of the album.

3. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

Well, our music influences vary alot and include '70s progressive/psychedelic rock, rock n roll, jazz rock, fusion, ambient, folk and of course thrash and death metal ,amongst many other things. Now, the non-musical influences are much much more. Everyday life is our biggest influence..and then you have energy & the universe, and nature, and the animals, and books and dreams and mainly everything around us,within us and above us.

4. What are your dreams and goals?

From the beginning of our creation, we were 3 friends with the same visions and thoughts:to create a band and play the music we like.Since then, energy seems to flow so well within the squad leading us to the present times with the release of our record. We're soon to perform live shows in Greece and Europe and we've already created 90% of the 2nd album, so you could say we are already living our dream with this whole thing! so let's see how things'll roll, hehe!



5. Who writes the songs, what are they about?

Music is written by Mike and Jim.Lyrics are written by Apollon and through them he represents our cosmotheory on life itself based on human values and ethics, our universe and mother nature, perception and reality, altered states of consciousness, dreams and the spirit realm.

6. What's your opinion of our President?

Haha....Well,he's just like the rest of the US presidents-a puppet on a string,manipulated by the men behind the curtains.And what's your opinion of the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and 33rd degree free masons?

7. How do you promote your band and shows?

Our label makes the promotion and is soon to arrange a European tour for us. There are also plans for some shows here in Greece in the next couple of months.

8. Describe your show, visual and musically.

Well,we never performed live before,since we didn't had a drummer.Our gigs in Greece are gonna be our first shows ever and we're really looking forward to go out there and transmit some astral sick vibes for you.

9. What do you think about downloading music online?

Well,what can you do about it.It's the future and it's now. Eventually it's a good thing, a thing of sharing and exchanging information.Especially when searching on old rare albums that are out of stock etc. We're all record collectors and still buy music, but it's the new generations that are gonna get used to another way of living, forgetting soon all there is about cassette,vinyl and CDs.

10. What's your outlook on the record industry today?

It's a sick industry, as most of the industries nowadays..It lacks people with good taste I think.Only some small descent labels seem to manage good, while most of the big ones only care about promoting 'cheap' commercial shit and making millions of dollars, manipulating their artists.But that system is soon to change.



11. What's your claim to fame?

Well, normally bands that deserved fame never got it, and vice versa so you cant really claim or expect anything. We just play the music we like and if someones digs it, we're so happy and grateful,that's it!

12. Tell us a story about a day in your life.

There are alot of stories to tell.

13. What inspires you to do what you do?

Our love for music and the miracle of life. This crazy surreal world and reality we live in, this whole universal energy and laws of it, the Oneness in all and the order through chaos.It's so amazing..

14. What advice would you give to fellow bands?

Well we don't think we are in the position of giving advice to anyone. But Being honest with yourselves, chasing your dreams, respecting and loving whatever you do, really helps a lot!

15. What are some of your pet peeves?

Can't think something that really annoy us.Maybe that we don't want anyone to tell us what to do and interfere with our music. haha

16. How does music affect you and the world around you?

Its one of the most important, if not the most important thing in our lives.Creating ,listening and traveling through music is what gives us the energy to go on.

17. What's new in the recording of your music?

As we told you,the second album is almost ready.We hope to release it somewhere within '10.



18. What are the biggest obstacles for bands?

If you don't play commercial music then the biggest problem is to be heard.And the music industry of course, haha.

19. What's the best and worst thing about playing clubs/venues?

There is no bad thing about playing your music in front of people wherever possible,clubs arenas whatever.

20. Tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.

There are plans for several shows here in Greece and an European tour at the end of 2009.We are also trying to arrange something for the Us too. If you like our music or progressive music in general, we think you ll have a good time.geia mas

21. Any last words?

Thank you very much for the interview,hope you all enjoy the album! viva
1:11 PM

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