I had the chance to interview founding member and guitarist/vocals Zachary Sabean for Toronto, Ontario band AGE OF ATHENA. Their debut album GATE TO OBLIVION will be released December 17th. They have a lyric video (see at bottom of page) of their first single Dance With The Devil. The band is a mix of their influences of American hardcore and European Symphonic Metal.
Thanks for answering some questions for me today. First off tell us how the band got together?
For sure Blake! Thank you for taking the time to chat!
Nathan and I linked up in university through some mutual friends and just hit it off right away. We started jamming and writing some songs together! A year later we found Helen and Michael on Kijiji believe it or not! There’s a lot more talent than you would think on Kijiji. It’s proven to be a great place to find band mates!
In the bands bio it says your band combines your love of metal core and symphonic metal. Did the whole band like both genres or did some members bring one genre and other members the other genre and you just all learned to love it together?
I’m definitely a metal core guy – I’ve loved metalcore for as long as I can remember! That’s why our songs are very guitar heavy and have the more aggressive riffy / chuggy sounds. Nathan is the big symphonic metal guy – he adds so many large and lush orchestrations on top of the songs which takes everything to the next level. Helen and Michael don’t listen to much metal core or symphonic metal actually, but the fact that everyone listens to different genres and different bands is the reason why plenty of unique flavours creep into our music.
Who are some of your main influences in bands and in guitarists?
Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold), Slash (Guns N’ Roses), and Yngwie Malmsteen are my top 3 guitarists of all time. All of them are innovators and push the guitar in directions it hasn’t quite gone before. Not only do they shred, but their solos are equally melodic and memorable – key word memorable. When writing, I am always trying to create a solo that listeners can hum, sing, and air guitar along to. These three guitarists do just that while creating something fresh and new.
Your band’s debut album GATE TO OBLIVION is being release December 17th of this year. Assuming you were writing and recording this album during Covid, Did Covid inspire any of the lyrics on the album?
Well actually, we were really lucky – our music was already written and recorded before the pandemic started so we got to spend a lot of time collaborating face to face. During the lockdowns we focused on making the other aspects of the album perfect, like choosing a great artist to design our album artwork and creating a game plan for promoting the album. This being said, a lot of the lyrics and themes were written about pretty rough times in our lives, whether it be struggling with mental health or issues in personal relationships. While reading our lyrics you’ll see that a lot of them can definitely be applicable to how we’ve all been feeling the last year and a half.
Introduce the rest of the band?
There are four members of our group. We have Helen as our powerhouse on vocals, Nathan who is a magician with the keyboard, and Michael our drummer – I’d like to see if you can find anyone with faster hands and feet! And of course, I’m Zach, and I tear it up on guitar.
When you started the band did you always vision having a female vocalist, or did it all just come about with meeting Helen?
There wasn’t really a preference for male or female, but naturally with our music being in a more symphonic style, Helen’s voice fits just right and compliments the music incredibly well! Her clean and haunting vocals really contrast the screamed vocals I laid down on this album. Together I think we have created something for everyone – heavier sounding vocals for our metal enthusiasts, and smooth and melodic clean vocals for listeners looking for something a bit lighter.
What was the writing process for your debut album? Was it a total group effort or are there one or two main lyric or music composers for the songs?
Nathan and I wrote the music for the album before we connected with Helen and Michael. What I’ve always admired about Nathan’s writing is that he has a way of taking a simple melody and turning it into something grand. He and I really look to each other when writing to bounce ideas and get each other’s opinions. When Helen joined, she made lyric writing look easy! She hammered out the killer lyrics on the album so quickly! Along the way Nathan and I jammed with other musicians in the early writing sessions so their contributions can be found in the written credits. Having had a few outside influences is another factor that gives our music different unique directions.
Do you have any plans in place yet for touring in support of your debut release?
No plans for touring as of yet, but in 2022 we’re hoping to get back out there and do what we love best – perform. We are looking forward to a time where we can look down at the audience and some of them will be singing our lyrics back to us. That is an ultimate goal of ours.
If the band could tour with any bands, who would you choose?
That’s such a hard question as there are so many great groups out there! It would be amazing to tour with some other female fronted acts – bands like EPICA, Arch Enemy, In This Moment, The Agonist, and newcomers Spiritbox, would all be a great opportunity for us. These bands are some of our favourite(s) in Age of Athena, and we would be stoked to get the chance to play with any of them! We would also like to connect with some more local metal or symphonic metal bands – that way we can network, spend time with like-minded musicians and learn from one another.
What were the most challenging aspects of making this album?
Probably tracking the guitars. You know how it goes – when you practice alone in the basement, you’re a Rockstar! But when it’s time to hit record… yikes! We wrote a lot of intricate, fast and complex guitar lines, and I just wanted to be sure that I did them justice on the album (even if it took 150 takes)!
Was the cover art your idea? Or the bands idea? Or the idea of the artist?
Helen came up with the vision for the artwork. She wrote down a list of ideas she had based on the main messages and concepts in our album. We sent those over to our incredibly talented artist Pierre-Alain. Soon after, he sent back the image you see now – it’s phenomenal! We love the colour and the detail he put into it. Every time you look at the cover you notice something different – there is such an attention to detail that we couldn’t even have imagined.
You have a lyric video for the first single off the album, Dance With The Devil. Is there another video coming out with the release or soon after the release of the album?
Of course! We are eager to share not only our music with you but ourselves! We’re about to shoot a video for our next single Together We Fall. We had a blast writing and recording this song and we can’t wait to get the video out as soon as it’s ready! Look out for it soon after our album release!
Your debut is ready to release next month. Do you have any personal favourite tracks on the album?
It’s hard to pick just one, but if I had to narrow down a favourite it would have to be Dance With the Devil. It’s got everything in a song I want – it’s high energy, has edgy guitar riffing, a super melodic large chorus, screaming vocals, and a minute long section of alternating guitar / keyboard solos! When a friend and I first came up with the introduction guitar melody, we knew we had created something awesome. Two other contenders for my top spot are Together We Fall and Burn Down the Sun. What’s interesting is that all of us in AoA have different favourites throughout the album, and we all seem to like the songs that match our different musical tastes. There’s something for everyone on Gate to Oblivion!
What are some of your favourite albums of all time?
This is an easy one for me! Avenged Sevenfold’s Nightmare, Guns N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction, Iron Maiden’s The Number of The Beast, and Lady Gaga’s The Fame / The Fame Monster. I know that last one is a bit of a swerve. Great song writing, great production, great singers, and in most cases (sorry Lady Gaga) great guitar playing are my go to’s when listening to an album. My picks are often regarded as their greatest offerings, and for good reason – memorable song writing stands the test of time! These are albums that I have taken with me throughout different stages of my life and inspire me when playing guitar and writing music.
Thanks for your time. I wish you and the band all the best with the release of your album next month.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, Blake! I’m glad we got to finally connect. We are so excited to share our music with you and your readers. Cheers!
***Interview by Blake Mossey