Project: Roenwolfe returns after eight years with one of the best metal albums of the year. Metal Nuovo has the honor of talking to the person responsible for all this, Alicia Cordisco …
Alicia, congratulations on your new album with Project:
Roenwolfe. Personally, I rank it among the best albums of the year.
Why did it take you eight whole years to release it?
''Thank you for the kind words! I'm so thrilled you loved the
album and rank it so highly. It took quite a long time because
originally after we released the debut album in 2013, I had time to
balance multiple different bands—I released four albums that year!
However, I was playing in Judicator at the time, and Judicator was
fortunate to start really taking off in success and popularity and
productivity, and my time commitment to it increased so much that I
couldn't really do P:RW anymore. I attempted to stay in touch, and
Patrick was doing a live band without me at the time, but it just
wasn't working out. I bowed out, and then Patrick had his second son
Roen and decided to put the band to rest. We always knew if we had
it in us again to do the next album, we would, and in 2017 I managed
to come up with the beginnings of what would be 'Edge of Saturn'
and we started playing around with the idea of doing a different band
with it so we could make music together again. By the time I
released Judicator's fourth album 'The Last Emperor' I had a little bit
of a break that I could work more on this album, and it quickly
became apparent it was another P:RW album. In 2019, we made the
decision to do the album right, use all our experience and resources
to make it as best as possible, and formally resurrect the band
because it seemed the planets—at least Saturn—had aligned.''
What is the response of the people with your new album and I
would like you to tell me if you are planning to promote the album
with a tour.
''The response has been great! People seem to love that the
band has its own sound and presents a much more aggressive and
thrash laced approach to US power metal. It's not just Judicator part
II and feels distinctly different while being identifiably my work (or
so I'm told!) and I really appreciate those comments. P:RW is really
an 'upstart' band and doesn't have much of a following yet, but it's
great to see some people have followed me from Judicator, and even
some people from back in 2013 who loved the first album, all seem
to be thrilled that the band has continued and upped our game and
will be pushing things going forward. It's great motivation and
payoff and I hope many more people hear this album in years to
come as it has been a spark for so many more songs and albums to
come. As far as touring, that isn't a possibility for us right now but
we are open to festivals and will be playing at least one US festival
in 2022 that will be announced soon. It will be my first time playing
with P:RW since 2014!''
Roenwolfe. Personally, I rank it among the best albums of the year.
Why did it take you eight whole years to release it?
''Thank you for the kind words! I'm so thrilled you loved the
album and rank it so highly. It took quite a long time because
originally after we released the debut album in 2013, I had time to
balance multiple different bands—I released four albums that year!
However, I was playing in Judicator at the time, and Judicator was
fortunate to start really taking off in success and popularity and
productivity, and my time commitment to it increased so much that I
couldn't really do P:RW anymore. I attempted to stay in touch, and
Patrick was doing a live band without me at the time, but it just
wasn't working out. I bowed out, and then Patrick had his second son
Roen and decided to put the band to rest. We always knew if we had
it in us again to do the next album, we would, and in 2017 I managed
to come up with the beginnings of what would be 'Edge of Saturn'
and we started playing around with the idea of doing a different band
with it so we could make music together again. By the time I
released Judicator's fourth album 'The Last Emperor' I had a little bit
of a break that I could work more on this album, and it quickly
became apparent it was another P:RW album. In 2019, we made the
decision to do the album right, use all our experience and resources
to make it as best as possible, and formally resurrect the band
because it seemed the planets—at least Saturn—had aligned.''
What is the response of the people with your new album and I
would like you to tell me if you are planning to promote the album
with a tour.
''The response has been great! People seem to love that the
band has its own sound and presents a much more aggressive and
thrash laced approach to US power metal. It's not just Judicator part
II and feels distinctly different while being identifiably my work (or
so I'm told!) and I really appreciate those comments. P:RW is really
an 'upstart' band and doesn't have much of a following yet, but it's
great to see some people have followed me from Judicator, and even
some people from back in 2013 who loved the first album, all seem
to be thrilled that the band has continued and upped our game and
will be pushing things going forward. It's great motivation and
payoff and I hope many more people hear this album in years to
come as it has been a spark for so many more songs and albums to
come. As far as touring, that isn't a possibility for us right now but
we are open to festivals and will be playing at least one US festival
in 2022 that will be announced soon. It will be my first time playing
with P:RW since 2014!''
I understand that there is a concept behind the lyrical content of the
album. Can you tell us some things about that?
''Absolutely. It's not a concept album but we have several
recurring themes and topics in our music from our demo up through
this album. The primary one is what we call our “Saturn Saga”
which started with 'Split the Rings of Saturn' on our first album and
is covered in the album art and title track of this album. It is a
cosmic horror story about humanity fleeing Earth and its dystopia to
unlock new energy, knowledge, and power found in the rings of
Saturn. But what seemed like a new beginning unleashes something
terrible. We have at least three more songs planned for the Saturn
Saga and the next one will appear on our third album that we are
recording right now. Other topics we covered on the album are
different bits of literature like the Witcher, Dan Simmons, HP
Lovecraft, and Frankenstein. And of course, we always like to throw
down on progressive politics, so I made sure to throw in an antifascist burner in 'Of Mice and Strawmen' and we also do some
personal songs like my song “Aeternum Vale' which is a song I
wrote for my dog Dakota who passed away a couple years ago. We
probably won't ever do full concept albums, but these interlinking
stories kind of like Iron Savior does will continue.''
In the album one can hear elements from the melodic American
power metal to speed / thrash, how do you manage and combine so
many genres together?
''I try not to limit myself, though I will usually choose
certain techniques, tones, and moods I want to pull from for a
particular album. I listen to a lot of different music—right now my
rotation is Flotsam and Jetsam, Taylor Swift, Lamb of God, Manilla
Road, Battleroar, Jessie Frye, and Alice in Chains, so I've always got
a diverse list of influences to pull from. In PRW's case I wanted it to
feel like a power/thrash band but not be afraid to have the music pull
from any given metal genre at any given time. There's thrash, death,
doom, black, heavy, etc metal riffs all over the place, but they all fall
into the same tonalities and moods of P:RW's music so I try to
funnel all influences into what I think the band 'should' sound like.''
I would definitely like to mention the incredible vocals of
the amazing Patrick Hoyt Parris, but also your awesome
performances, here I would like to tell you that if I did not do
my research on this, I would not understand that two singers
sing because of the similarity, how did you do that?
''Thank you for giving him some love! Patrick actually does
all the lead vocals on the album except the bonus track 'The
Dreaming God' which is Lux Edwards (Soulmass, Ex-Seven
Kingdoms) on death metal vocals. I just did some gang vocals on
track 7 with some of our friends. I did lead vocals on two songs on
our debut album, but I have really stepped away from singing lead
since thrash vocals are hard on my voice and I don't ever practice, so
I did not end up doing any lead vocals on this album and we decided
to go a more purely melodic route minus the bonus track. And
Patrick really is an incredible and unique singer. He is like Warrel
Dane, Jon Olivia, and John Arch all wrapped into one! He is really
stretching his skillset on the stuff we are working on for album 3 and
I think he is going to blow even more people away when that drops.''
Knowing your preference for vinyl, is there a chance to
see Project: Roenwolfe on vinyl? Its timi limit makes it
perfectly capable of vinyl.
''I do prefer vinyl yes! I wrote this album
intentionally to fit perfectly on one LP and I think 45
minutes is about the perfect length for an album and intend
to make all our future albums roughly in that range,
especially so vinyl pressing can easily be done. I am really
pushing to get this album done on vinyl, I am hoping a
previous partner from my time in Judicator may be willing
to do it, but I understand this band does not have the same
pull as Judicator so it's a higher risk—we certainly can't do
it ourselves but I remain hopeful! And if not this album,
then maybe a re-release in the future, or our next albums. It
is certainly a goal though! I love having my music on wax.''
What inspires you to create your music?
''Self expression is the big one. As a woman of
transgender experience, I lived most of my life closeted
and struggling with identity—unsure of who I was or how
to present myself to the world. Heavy metal and guitar and
playing music were the one thing I had where I could be
absolutely sure I was expressing myself authentically.
Even when life or myself didn't make sense, the music
always did. It's always like tapping into an effortless, pure
part of myself that just flows and makes sense in a way
other parts of my life never have. That feeling is why I
love writing songs and making albums—and seeing the
response to that is like being seen myself. It's really
wonderful!''
''Self expression is the big one. As a woman of
transgender experience, I lived most of my life closeted
and struggling with identity—unsure of who I was or how
to present myself to the world. Heavy metal and guitar and
playing music were the one thing I had where I could be
absolutely sure I was expressing myself authentically.
Even when life or myself didn't make sense, the music
always did. It's always like tapping into an effortless, pure
part of myself that just flows and makes sense in a way
other parts of my life never have. That feeling is why I
love writing songs and making albums—and seeing the
response to that is like being seen myself. It's really
wonderful!''
What are your next steps in promoting the album?
''Right now we are doing interviews as much as
possible to try to get the word out about the album!
Festivals next year will be a big help as well and we are
hoping to have professional live audio/video of some of
that to be able to push the material further. In the
meantime we are also working on the next album, some
playthrough videos, and more!''
I would like you to tell me about your very beautiful
cover, who is responsible for its creation and what is
its meaning?
''Samuel Nelson of Stigma Art made the album art
and he did an absolutely amazing job—it is hand painted.
It truly brought the vision to life. The art is Lovecraftian
and cosmic-horror inspired, meant to represent the terrors
the travelers in Edge of Saturn discover in the beautiful
planet's rings. You can see their twisted forms worshipping
at a monolith with Saturn's beauty looking down on them.
We plan to use Samuel again in the future!''
Which metal albums have you prefer so far for
2021?
''My favorite albums from this year so far are
Gojira, Flotsam & Jetsam, Artillery, Soen, Paladine,
Herzel, Nightmarr, Drakkar, Silver Talon, and as of today
hearing it the first time the mighty Helloween's self titled
album!''
How would you like the band's fans to remember
you after 20, 30 years …?
''I would love to be remembered as a prolific
musician and memorable guitarist and songwriter in this
band and my previous work in Judicator. I've got 7
powerish metal albums under my belt so far, and I'm so
proud of the listeners they've gotten. I hope to build that
legacy further and be someone that inspires others to pick
up an axe and write their own verse in the great book of
heavy metal.''
What are the first metal albums you listened to
that influenced your music career?
''When I was young the first metal albums I got
were Metallica's …and Justice for All, Dragonforce (then
Dragonheart) Valley of the Damned demo, Opeth's
Blackwater Park, and Symphony X's The Odyssey. From
there I really dove deep into classic and underground
thrash and started getting into stuff like Kreator, Sodom,
Heathen, Razor, Artillery, Znowhite, etc, and it was all
downhill into a life of heavy metal from there!''
Alicia thank you very much for the interview, I
wish you every success with your new album, the
epilogue is yours …
''Thank you so much for the great interview and continued
support! Hope you all enjoy 'Edge of Saturn' and keep watch
because the next one won't be far behind!''
2021?
''My favorite albums from this year so far are
Gojira, Flotsam & Jetsam, Artillery, Soen, Paladine,
Herzel, Nightmarr, Drakkar, Silver Talon, and as of today
hearing it the first time the mighty Helloween's self titled
album!''
How would you like the band's fans to remember
you after 20, 30 years …?
''I would love to be remembered as a prolific
musician and memorable guitarist and songwriter in this
band and my previous work in Judicator. I've got 7
powerish metal albums under my belt so far, and I'm so
proud of the listeners they've gotten. I hope to build that
legacy further and be someone that inspires others to pick
up an axe and write their own verse in the great book of
heavy metal.''
What are the first metal albums you listened to
that influenced your music career?
''When I was young the first metal albums I got
were Metallica's …and Justice for All, Dragonforce (then
Dragonheart) Valley of the Damned demo, Opeth's
Blackwater Park, and Symphony X's The Odyssey. From
there I really dove deep into classic and underground
thrash and started getting into stuff like Kreator, Sodom,
Heathen, Razor, Artillery, Znowhite, etc, and it was all
downhill into a life of heavy metal from there!''
Alicia thank you very much for the interview, I
wish you every success with your new album, the
epilogue is yours …
''Thank you so much for the great interview and continued
support! Hope you all enjoy 'Edge of Saturn' and keep watch
because the next one won't be far behind!''
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