Good things come to those who wait! That’s probably what Jonathan Pellet said to himself. He is a singer and keyboardist from Switzerland. It took eight years from the first idea to the final foundation of Rage of Light. He was able to win singer Melissa Bonny and guitarist Noé Schüpbach as comrades-in-arms. One year later, the EP “Chasing A Reflection” was released on their own. Shortly after, the band was able to get a record deal with Napalm Records. The debut album “Imploder” was released through this label. RoL were on their way to the top. Then came the exciting year 2021 for the band. No, I’m not talking about Corona. Melissa left the band. With her successor Martyna Hałas, the follow-up album “Redemption” was released. Back to Roots, so to speak, again without the support of a record label. Band founder Jonathan answered my questions.
MHF: Hi, I’m Rainer and I write the Metalheads Forever Magazine. Thank you for letting me do this interview with you. How are you?
Jonathan: Really good thank you! Hope you’re doing good as well!
MHF: Yes, thanks.
More than ten thousand followers on Facebook speak for themselves. Nevertheless, please introduce yourselves briefly to everyone who doesn’t know you yet.
Jonathan: Rage Of Light is a trance metal / melodic death metal band from Switzerland. Well, now we’re not only from Switzerland as our new singer, Martyna, lives in The Netherlands… ?
MHF: It took eight years from the first idea to the forming the band. What made Jonathan Pellet wait so long?
Jonathan: I was playing and writing music in another band at that time. That took a lot of my time and energy so I did almost nothing for what would become later Rage Of Light. But the ideas were definitely here!
MHF: RoL’s sound incorporates different styles of music. How would you describe your music?
Jonathan: Martyna recently said something that describes it pretty well: imagine melodic death metal with progressive, symphonic, and djent influences. Then, add elements of trance and dubstep into the mixture.
MHF: You released the EP on your own. The debut album was released via Napalm Records. “Redemption” was again released without a label. Why did you decide to take this step?
Jonathan: Napalm is a busy label. They offered us to release our new album a long time in the future without any possibilities to release independent singles before that. We were a bit frustrated to not be able to do anything because of that so we decided to move forward without them. Releasing content regularly was always something important for us in the past, so even though it’s quite some job to release an album on our own, we’re happy with this decision.
MHF: In the introduction I already wrote that Melissa left you last year. How much does a leaving like that affect a band?
Jonathan: It’s obviously a big thing when it happens and there were a lot of uncertainties at that time regarding the fact that we’d be able to find someone to replace her, cause the shoes were big to fill. But it’s also nice because it’s a new start and we were super lucky to find Martyna. We immediately got along perfectly, on the personal and musical sides, so we couldn’t be happier!
MHF: You quickly found a new member in Martyna Hałas. Did you have to look for a successor for a long time?
Jonathan: No, it wasn’t really long. We received several offers from people and auditioned 5 singers. The whole process lasted something like a month.
MHF: How far was the new singer able to get involved in the production process of the album?
Jonathan: We really wanted someone with the ability to create great melodies and lyrics. That’s one of the things we immediately liked with Martyna. So she was definitely able to write her own vocal lines and lyrics.
MHF: Who is responsible for songwriting at Rage of Light? Is Jonathan the mastermind or are the songs written in collaboration?
Jonathan: For most of the songs, I write the music in the form of demos with all the instruments and ideas for the guitars but no vocal melodies. Noé changes or arranges the guitar parts, writes the solos, and Martyna writes all the vocal melodies and lyrics. I only wrote for a few songs vocal melodies ideas and lyrics.
MHF: How happy are you with “Redemption”? How were the reactions from the press and fans?
Jonathan: We’re really happy cause we feel that it’s definitely our most completed work. The chemistry that we developed the three of us can definitely be felt in this album, in my opinion. The reactions are awesome: we received really good reviews both from the press and the fans. Of course, some people who followed us more for Melissa than for our music regret her departure and like less “Redemption”, but the vast majority really enjoys our new album and Martyna’s work.
MHF: The two albums were sung by two different singers. Are the two albums also different musically?
Jonathan: They’re a bit different in the way that “Redemption” is maybe darker and more elaborate than “Imploder”. I think this album is more coherent even though the songs are quite different and explore a lot of different horizons. But it’s almost a concept album, even though it wasn’t thought like that in the beginning. “Imploder” was a bit more a patchwork from different songs that, for some of them, we had even released formerly.
MHF: Thank you again for this interview. Would you like to say something to your fans at the end?
Jonathan: Thanks a lot for your awesome support, your nice words, your encouragement, your gifts, … You all rock and we’re humbled to count you as supporters of our music! Thanks also Rainer for the interview! ?
Rage of Light are:
Jonathan Pellet – Vocals, Keyboards, Drum programming
Noé Schüpbach – Guitars, Bass
Martyna Hałas – Vocals
