 Hi there. Congratulations to this great mighty Metal Battle that you call your new album. Please describe the reactions so far.
Thank you very much for your compliments, reactions to the album were great. After 4 albums there is an obvious ongoing dispute on which album is the best of our discography, but I have to say that the average review mark for MNWLO is higher than LBC or RTH, and I didn’t read any negative review so far, but then again, the album is barely out a month
Let's talk about the music first. I think "My name will live on" is heavier and more complex than "Let battle commence", where you showed your deep reverence for the warriors of the past. Now it sounds as if you ride along with them straight into battle. Would you agree? Or where are the differences in your opinion?
MNWLO is a more mature album, and it is certainly just a little bit less aggressive than LBC was. The thing is that we didn’t want to repeat ourselves, and at the same time we wanted to stay true to ourselves. We wanted to get closer to our heavy metal roots, without creating a “resound the horn 2” so we experimented new ways to develop our sound. It was a tough research but a successful one in our opinion! We knew that if we went even further than LBC in aggression then we wouldn’t be playing heavy metal anymore, and we didn’t want that at all. DoomSword are very proud of playing classic heavy metal with a strong epic vein, that’s what we do and will do.
The DoomSword riffing has always been great. But it has improved again. How?
I have been working on our riffing for the last few years, and tried to write stuff that would sound DoomSword but at the same time more interesting, something that would cause interest and would require a lot of listening sessions to discover the real depth of our music. Also, Sacred Heart and The Forger worked hard on their parts and on the arrangements, introducing for example the 7 string guitar in our music.
 I would like to ask a few questions about the lyrics. With "Death of Ferdia", "Sword of light" and "The great horn" you have at least three songs which deal with Celtic mythology. Correct?
Correct. “Death of Ferdia” is dedicated to the legendary characters of Cuchullain and Ferdia, “Sword of Light” is dedicated to the legend of the sword which rules the destiny of man, that became ultimately known (after a Welsh re-elaboration) as Excalibur, but that originates in the Irish myths. “The Great Horn” certainly deals with Ireland and Irish myths, but I don’t want to give everything away, as its meaning is far deeper than just the account of a myth. It’s up to the listeners to see it full real meaning.
Is "Days of high adventure" your tribute to the heroes of Sword and Sorcery literature?
It is indeed, well spotted! Not many noticed that, which sounded very obvious to me instead, seeing as we mention Conan, Arthur, Elric and the Lord of the Rings in one song…
The battle of Gergovia is an interesting choice as a subject for an Italian band who sympathizes with barbarian folk. Please comment!
True, we sympathize with the gauls, but it wouldn’t be true to say that we do not sympathize for the romans. We rather provide an alternative point of view of historical facts, as we did for LBC, when we commented the Danish invasion of England from the point of view of the Vikings.
The region where DoomSword hail from, called Lombardy, has been conquered and inhabited by all sorts of folks. Originally the Celts (Insubri), which we celebrated in the song “Once Glorious”, then the Romans, then the Scandinavian tribe of the Langbards or Longobards (from where Lombardy comes from) conquered it, so our culture is the result of all these populations and their heritage, and we do want to celebrate it in our own particular way.
 Which is YOUR favorite song from the album and why?
Probably “Death of Ferdia”, because I think it has the most mature structure in the album and very attractive melodies. It’s a complete song, with acoustic parts and a great solo, a typically melancholic and epic verse, an aggressive and war-like chorus and a glorious finale. In fact, I might say it’s our best song to date.
The album cover fits into the series of DoomSword covers. How did you find it?
I received a book as a present which analyses Caesar’s Gallic Wars and war campaign which has this painting on the cover, and I fell literally in love with it. We then researched the painting and contacted the museum in France (museum Crozatier) to use the painting.
How would you describe your music?
Classic heavy metal with a strong epic vein. I suppose that’s what people normally call Epic Metal.
 Are there some lately released CDs that you like to listen to at home? Or do you prefer the Old School stuff only?
I recently listened a lot to the last Wotan album, “Epos”, which is in my opinion even better than their debut “Carmina Barbarica”. Also, Holy Martyr’s “Still at war” has span in my cd-player for quite a while before I decided to take it out to put Wotan in…
Atlantean Kodex “Pnakotic Demos” is very good, I think they’re a very promising band.
But yeah, mostly I listen to old stuff. Manilla Road’s “Mark of the beast” is on top of my playlist at the moment, and there’s no week in which I didn’t listen to some Omen or Warlord or Cirith Ungol or some underground 80s metal.
I like the rather dark Gjallarhorn album very much. Will there be another one?
Yes. I recently started working on a few ideas.
Your sound is quiet unique today. Do you know young bands who may be able to follow you?
I know Icy Steel say of themselves that they are very much inspired by DoomSword, although I didn’t have the opportunity to listen to their album carefully yet so I couldn’t really say. I don’t know if DoomSword are the kind of band that generates “disciples”…
 Please tell us something about further Live activities.
We have three gigs planned so far:
27th October - Milan – with Wotan
22nd December – Swordbrothers Festival (headliners)
8th April – Keep It True X
We are looking forward seeing you in Germany. Best whishes to you all. Any last words?
Thank you very much to Metalglory. We know you always supported us and we are very grateful for that. See you at our gigs, Stay metal!
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