Thanks to Panos Karabelas from OBSCURUS REX!
Recorded by Milady Noise
Querétaro, México @ 2023.10.27
Edited por Milady Noise
Querétaro, México @ 2024.01.05
#Metal from #Athens #Greece OBSCURUS REX - Stand Up And Be Counted (2023) #InnerFire @Obscurus_Rex
OBSCURUS REX - Stand Up And Be Counted (2023)
Tracklist:
01. IT
02. Your Enemy Tonight
03. 4 Justice
04. Red
Release Date: March 28th, 2023
All Lyrics, Music & Arrangements by Panos Karabelas, except “Red” Music by Karabelas/Xanthakis
Produced, Engineered, Mixed & Mastered by Dimitris Sakkas at Dimons Studios
https://www.facebook.com/DimonsStudios
Co-produced by Panos Karabelas
Artwork by Sevi Spanou
https://www.facebook.com/sevispanousales
OBSCURUS REX is a Metal band formed by bassist Panos Karabelas in 2021 in Athens, Greece.
"Our debut EP, 'Stand Up and Be Counted', is quite simply the result of devotion and determination; the need to make our stand and share our music to as many people and as far as humanly possible.
While 'Stand Up and Be Counted' is not a concept EP per se, there is one subtly recurring subject: Inner Fire. The fire that burns inside us (and burns us inside…) in every form, whether it is inspiration, passion, revenge or desperation.
In this madhouse that our modern world is, and despite our internal firestorms, we all must somehow find the strength to stand up, speak our mind and with a steady pace move forward!
'Stand Up and Be Counted' is not only Obscurus Rex’s introduction to the world, but it is also an open invitation to everyone truly alive inside, to walk with us with no compromises whatsoever!".- OBSCURUS REX
OBSCURUS REX Line-Up:
Manos Xanthakis – Vocals
Constantinos Mavroyannis - Guitar
Panos Karabelas – Bass
Dimitris Sakkas – Drums
More about OBSCURUS REX:
https://www.facebook.com/obscurusrex/
https://obscurusrex.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/Obscurus_Rex
https://www.instagram.com/obscurus_rex/
https://www.youtube.com/@UC477jhteBxCRisMiFrTJ0tQ
HOLY NOISE
http://www.holynoise.com
#Metal #GrindCore #DeathMetal #BlackMetal #HeavyMetal #OldSchool #ThrashMetal
#Review #Reviews #Reseña #Reseñas #promoonline #Band #bands #metalband #metalbands #UNDERGROUND #HOLYNOISE #Shorts #YoutubeShorts
Recorded by Milady Noise
Querétaro, México @ 2023.10.27
Edited por Milady Noise
Querétaro, México @ 2024.01.05
#Metal from #Athens #Greece OBSCURUS REX - Stand Up And Be Counted (2023) #InnerFire @Obscurus_Rex
OBSCURUS REX - Stand Up And Be Counted (2023)
Tracklist:
01. IT
02. Your Enemy Tonight
03. 4 Justice
04. Red
Release Date: March 28th, 2023
All Lyrics, Music & Arrangements by Panos Karabelas, except “Red” Music by Karabelas/Xanthakis
Produced, Engineered, Mixed & Mastered by Dimitris Sakkas at Dimons Studios
https://www.facebook.com/DimonsStudios
Co-produced by Panos Karabelas
Artwork by Sevi Spanou
https://www.facebook.com/sevispanousales
OBSCURUS REX is a Metal band formed by bassist Panos Karabelas in 2021 in Athens, Greece.
"Our debut EP, 'Stand Up and Be Counted', is quite simply the result of devotion and determination; the need to make our stand and share our music to as many people and as far as humanly possible.
While 'Stand Up and Be Counted' is not a concept EP per se, there is one subtly recurring subject: Inner Fire. The fire that burns inside us (and burns us inside…) in every form, whether it is inspiration, passion, revenge or desperation.
In this madhouse that our modern world is, and despite our internal firestorms, we all must somehow find the strength to stand up, speak our mind and with a steady pace move forward!
'Stand Up and Be Counted' is not only Obscurus Rex’s introduction to the world, but it is also an open invitation to everyone truly alive inside, to walk with us with no compromises whatsoever!".- OBSCURUS REX
OBSCURUS REX Line-Up:
Manos Xanthakis – Vocals
Constantinos Mavroyannis - Guitar
Panos Karabelas – Bass
Dimitris Sakkas – Drums
More about OBSCURUS REX:
https://www.facebook.com/obscurusrex/
https://obscurusrex.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/Obscurus_Rex
https://www.instagram.com/obscurus_rex/
https://www.youtube.com/@UC477jhteBxCRisMiFrTJ0tQ
HOLY NOISE
http://www.holynoise.com
#Metal #GrindCore #DeathMetal #BlackMetal #HeavyMetal #OldSchool #ThrashMetal
#Review #Reviews #Reseña #Reseñas #promoonline #Band #bands #metalband #metalbands #UNDERGROUND #HOLYNOISE #Shorts #YoutubeShorts
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00If we try to play things that we think people will like, then we're not honest with ourselves
00:22and with the people.
00:23We do what we do and whoever likes what we do is going to follow us.
00:33I am Panos Karabelas from Obscurus Rex from Greece and we started in 2021.
00:42It started as a personal project of mine with some friends.
00:51As the whole project went on, we became a band practically.
00:57The first person I recruited was my friend, my producer, who is also a drummer, Dimitris
01:08Sakas.
01:09He is behind many projects like choreography, horror, ectoplasma, mainly black metal.
01:28That's why it was so easy for him to play drums in a more heavy metal band, which is
01:36not as demanding as a black metal band with blast beats and all that.
01:43So that was the first person that was recruited.
01:46Practically what I said was that, look, I really need a drummer here and he's the best
01:54drummer that I know personally.
01:58Very stable drummer, very fast, as I'm sure you've heard, and he really liked the songs.
02:12He liked what songs I had written, so it was, as he told me, not a really difficult choice.
02:22In the beginning, it was a project, so I already knew that he didn't have enough time
02:32because he's a producer, he has many projects, so he didn't have time for live concerts.
02:41So we just recorded the EP and then we found the guitar player, Timonas, Timon Alex, and
02:56he was the next person that was recruited.
02:58He played the guitars, it's Konstantinos Mavrogiannis on guitars, Frank Tiritafilou, guitars again,
03:08me, Panos Karabelas on bass, and then I recruited Manos, Manos Xanthakis, in the vocals.
03:18He's also the vocalist of Alpha State and Ocean Seds, which is a progressive band.
03:26That's a really interesting thing about Manos, that he doesn't separate, he doesn't see each
03:34project in a different way.
03:35He gives 100% to everything.
03:39I don't know how he does it, but it's effective.
03:43It works.
03:44It works for him, so I'm cool with that.
03:47I don't care if the members of my band are in other projects, I don't mind that.
03:54We're musicians and we play for our pleasure.
03:57We need to express ourselves and I'm totally cool with that.
04:02He's totally cool with that, so, no problem.
04:07It's a bit difficult to say exactly what kind of genre we play, because as we say on our
04:15website, our influences are obvious.
04:20You can see our influences, you can understand them, you can say, okay, this and that.
04:26But the final alloy, the final metal that we produce has a sound of its own, because
04:36we have a little bit different influences, like Soundgarden, Tycho Negative, Maiden and
04:47Queenstrike, for example.
04:51The final outcome is nothing specifically like that, not Tycho Negative and it's not
04:58Maiden and it's not Queenstrike, but it's a weird connection of everything.
05:07Based on what people tell us, it sounds good.
05:11I think we'll go on like this, although I have to say that when I write songs, I never
05:20try to write something specific.
05:22I never try to say, okay, now I'm going to write something that sounds like this or something
05:28that sounds like that.
05:30So it's whatever comes out.
05:33I just write what I think sounds good and that's it.
05:37I don't try to write any specific style, I don't even know if I can do it, to be honest.
05:42I just write whatever I think sounds good and then I look at the final outcome and say,
05:50okay, what did I do?
05:54Manos always says that every time I play a new song to him, he says, that doesn't sound
06:01like anything.
06:02Again, how do you do it?
06:04I don't know.
06:09I think this is one of the most important weapons that we have, that we have something
06:15that it sounds familiar, but nothing, like nothing specific.
06:22So you can hear, you can say that, okay, you have Maiden as an influence, but it's not
06:30Maiden that you play and you have Megadeth as an influence, but it's not Megadeth either
06:37or Sabbath or Type O Negative or Soundgarden or Dancing.
06:44So I think it works well.
06:49Let's hope others believe so as well.
06:54It's not a concept EP, but it addresses the fire that burns us and burns us inside in
07:06many different ways, whether it is inspiration, which is the first song, it talks about inspiration.
07:16The second is about passion.
07:19The third is about the revenge and the third is about the desperation.
07:25And there are different fires that burn us and this is why the sleeve has a burning person
07:35basically.
07:36I had some like six songs, no, five songs.
07:42I chose three and the rest will go to in the album, which is coming next.
07:51And then I had to write one more song while we were recording.
07:58I came up with just one more and I said, okay, this fits well.
08:02It's for justice, the third song.
08:06So yes, we were recording, once we finished, we're good to go.
08:15The very first thing I had in mind when I started this EP, Stand Up and Be Counted,
08:20was that I needed some songs really well played and recorded so that I would manage to find
08:28members for my band.
08:30But I found the members before I finished the EP.
08:34So that worked well quite fast, so that was okay.
08:38I started with drums with Dimitris Sakkas and then bass and right there is when I found
08:47Kimonos and when we finished the guitars, I found Manos.
08:52So just when we were ready to record the vocals and I didn't know what to do, I didn't have
08:56a vocalist back then, I found Manos and I was like, okay, perfect.
09:02So the timing was perfect and just like that, we were a band.
09:06So that was 2021 and the personal project became a band project.
09:13I had already come up with a name, so the timing was perfect.
09:21And of course, we had the COVID and the pandemic and other personal issues that everyone had
09:30because it came, this project was, the timing when I found the people was perfect, but we
09:41all had serious personal problems.
09:44It took a lot of determination to make it a reality, to finish it.
09:52And that's why we're really proud of it.
09:54It was recorded in Dimitris Sakkas' studios, Demon Studios, as it's called, in Athens,
10:01in Athens, yes.
10:02It was the perfect environment because we were isolated, totally focused on what we
10:09were doing.
10:11That was, and Dimitris has a way to bring out the best of everyone.
10:20I thought I was playing well, the bass, I was like, okay, I nailed it.
10:26Oh yes.
10:27And he said, nope, again.
10:29I was like, okay.
10:31And he was right.
10:32Every time he was right.
10:34And then he did the mixing and mastering as well.
10:39That was awesome.
10:40The recording part was something like four months, a bit more than four months.
10:48And mixing was like a month, five to six months, everything.
10:53From the first note we played to the final cut.
10:59In the meantime, I was working with our graphic designer for the sleeve and everything, for
11:09the logo and all that.
11:11So I had to do some things almost simultaneously.
11:20And once we finished that, we didn't have a record company.
11:25So it's an independent, it's a self-release, we did everything.
11:30So I had to find the right company to actually cut the CDs because I wanted the CD.
11:37I didn't want the project to be just digital, just a bandcamp.
11:42I am a big fan of having the actual copy, you know, this is it, the final.
11:50I'm a big fan of being able to hold your music in your hands.
11:57And I wish we could actually release it in vinyl, but that was a bit too expensive for
12:04the time being.
12:06So that was the next stage, to find a company to cut the CDs and then we released it.
12:13I had to work with a web designer for the website and all that.
12:17It was a very tiring experience, but very rewarding.
12:24It's the kind of experience, it's like this whole process, it's like raising a child.
12:33And it's difficult, but it's awesome.
12:37It's great.
12:38So that's why we're doing this.
12:40It's not just writing music, it's preparing everything.
12:43The details in the sleeve, the booklet, that's perfect.
12:52I understand how easy it is to have everything in a small mp3, 2000 songs.
12:59It's convenient.
13:01But where's the magic in that?
13:03I want to be able to open the booklet and read the lyrics and look at the sleeve and
13:10the details.
13:12And you cannot have that with digital music.
13:18It's less personal.
13:25I have the CD in my car, so it's empty.
13:30And this is the booklet here.
13:35That's a small introduction.
13:37And then the lyrics.
13:45And the credits here.
13:48And this is the whole thing.
13:53Well, we have a media kit, and we try to send it to as many people around the world
14:04as humanly possible, which is very difficult.
14:08And Manos, our vocalist, our singer, has helped a lot in this, because he is so dedicated
14:17in finding web radios and websites, and so we try to send it everywhere.
14:28If you don't have a manager or a company to promote you, there's no other way, if you
14:34think about it.
14:35You have to do everything yourself, which is okay.
14:37The feedback from our EP is really good.
14:42And I like the fact that they write certain things they like the most, or things they
14:54don't like so much, because that's how we improve.
14:58Because we take notice of what we've done well, and what maybe we could improve, and
15:07we focus on the best quality of work we can do.
15:15I think the reviews are a bit better than I thought, to be honest.
15:24A couple of reviews said that that's a very, very good way to introduce yourself to the
15:33world, which I thought was quite good, actually.
15:36Another reviewer said that we hold the banner of metal proudly in Greece, and I said, yes,
15:44that's nice.
15:46The last comment about holding the banner of metal in Greece, that was really nice,
15:52actually, because this is more or less what we have in mind.
15:57We don't try to please anyone.
16:01We do what we do, and whoever likes what we do is going to follow us.
16:05If someone doesn't like it, fine, we're cool with that, but we're not going to adjust ourselves
16:12to any trend to make our sound more marketing-friendly or something like that.
16:23We don't care about that.
16:25We just care about doing what we do.
16:29We say who we are, and whoever wants to follow us, good.
16:36We will try and find, we'll seek and find our own audience.
16:43We're not going to imitate anyone, just to pleasure any reviewer, for example, or what's
16:53fashionable or not fashionable, we don't care about that.
16:56It wouldn't be honest otherwise.
16:58If we try to play things that we think people will like, then we're not honest with ourselves
17:07and with the people, because people will respect you when they will feel that you're honest,
17:17first of all, with your own feelings.
17:22If you try to see what's popular and then try and play what is popular, then who is
17:31yourself?
17:32Who is your real image?
17:35What is your own sound?
17:37And we don't want to do that.
17:39The third song, which is about revenge, it's For Justice.
17:43We were thinking which song to start first, and we thought that For Justice was the best
17:52introduction for a first video, so that's how we started.
17:58To be honest, it was the first time that we made any...
18:00I haven't made any lyric video or video clip ever, that's never happened.
18:07So, we were testing the waters, as they say, we were trying to see...
18:16And I think for a lyric video, it worked well.
18:20It was my idea, along with Kaimakamis.
18:23It goes along with the lyrics of the song, more or less.
18:27We tried to make this, which is not very easy, because a lyric video doesn't have...
18:32You don't have many options, it's not like a real video with actors and stuff like that.
18:37So, we tried to portray the whole idea of revenge in the lyric video, and I think it
18:45worked well.
18:46The director and the designer of the lyric video is Kaimakamis from the Night Watchers.
18:54That's his group of designers, and he did a good job.
19:02It's quite a challenge to make a good video.
19:07It's not as easy as people may think.
19:13We need to make sure that the torch passes on to the younger generations, to new bands,
19:25because unfortunately, in the following years, most of our favorite bands maybe will be...
19:36Will call today, so we need to pass the torch, so we need to support local bands, and this
19:45is a crucial, I think, message for everyone, because that's the only way that our favorite
19:56music is going to survive.
19:59If we don't do that, if we don't go to gigs and even buy merchandise, then I'm afraid
20:10we will go deep underground, as a general, and that's not a good thing.
20:17If we want to see future in our music, I'm really worried about the future of our music,
20:26of metal in general, worldwide.
20:29There's so much talent out there, but unfortunately, the way the whole music industry is approaching
20:45our music, not ours, Obscurus Rex, ours in general, head metal, and all different subcategories
20:53of general, I think it's not helping.
20:58Once upon a time, you see bands like Maiden signing in record companies like EMI, huge
21:06multinational companies.
21:09You don't see that anymore, not in new bands.
21:12Of course, the old bands, like Metallica, Maiden, Megadeth, of course, they have huge
21:16contracts with multinational companies, but new bands find it much more difficult to have
21:30a breakthrough.
21:31Not because they're not good enough, but simply because people just won't listen, and I mean
21:37people in the music industry.
21:42That reminds me of what Frank Zappa had said about how the music industry evolved, because
21:49back in the 60s, you had people who didn't know anything about progressive music and
21:54experimental music, but they were willing to give it a shot, right?
22:00And then you have younger people who know all about it, and they think they know better.
22:04They think they know everything, and they are going to dictate to bands what to play.
22:10So there's no room for new stuff or experimental stuff, for example.
22:15So once upon a time, you had bands like Pink Floyd, for example, with 20-minute songs,
22:23and there were record companies willing to take a risk and release these songs.
22:28You don't have this anymore, not to that extent, at least.
22:33And I don't know, let's see where it goes.
22:41Almost everything has been played.
22:43You cannot reinvent the wheel in music or in heavy metal music, so you need to experiment
22:53more maybe, combine many different ideas, but the question is, are there record companies
23:02willing to take the risk with you as a band and move forward and promote this kind of
23:12music, or are they just willing to play it safe, make some money, and that's that?
23:22I don't claim that I have the answer, but I'm not very optimistic, to be honest.
23:29We'll see.
23:30We'll see.
23:31We'll see.
23:32Now, arenas and other places where you can play, they ask to take a percentage from the
23:45merchandise.
23:46So the money left for younger bands to take and then produce their next album and do whatever
23:57they have to do is less and less and less.
24:03It's not...
24:08That's why I'm saying that I'm afraid that we will go deep underground.
24:14We have, of course, the digital era and Spotify and all that, but in Spotify you need something
24:24like one million views to get ten bucks.
24:31You can't rely on that to survive, and I don't like talking about money, because we do what
24:37we do out of love for what we do, but on the other hand, if you want to have enough time
24:48to invest, to write songs, then the budget that you have in your hands is important.
25:00It's an important factor.
25:02So everything is connected like a chain.
25:05It's like we're on a crossroads right now.
25:08It could go well or not, so we'll see.
25:15We have started pre-production for our first full-length LP, and hopefully we'll start
25:26recording somewhere in the beginning of 2024.
25:37I cannot give you any release date, it's very early, but we have most of the songs written
25:44and we're about to start rehearsing more thoroughly now, and then go to the recording sessions.
25:55So yes, we're about to release our first full-length LP album, and we'll see how it goes.
26:09We have learned a lot from the first experience of the EP, and we're going to correct quite
26:16a few areas that could improve, so it's a learning process, it never ends.
26:26So I think it will be great.
26:30For everyone watching, we're Obscure Effects, and I think the right message we should give
26:37is that everyone should support new bands, because there's a lot of talent out there.
26:47I'm not talking about us, generally speaking, there's a lot of talent out there, many bands
26:51that deserve more attention.
26:55And if we really care about the future of heavy metal and this genre in general, I think
27:03we need to make sure that we support new bands.
27:09As far as we're concerned, many good things are coming.
27:16We're going to release a video, a new album, and we'll see you out there live with gigs,
27:27as many gigs as humanly possible, and hopefully something in Europe as well, but we can't
27:35say anything about that yet.
27:37You can buy Stand Up and Be Counted, our first EP, our debut EP, from Bandcamp, and you
27:46can see all our websites and channel and social media from Obscurusrex.com, which is our website,
27:56and from there you can go to Bandcamp and everywhere else, and keep in touch.
28:04Merchandise and everything is on the way.
28:10This is Panos Karabelas from Obscurusrex, this is Underground, this is Holy Noise.
28:26This day it is here!