The best ideas always attack us in the middle of the night at 3 AM – Interview with Nóra Sima, singer of Esperfall
Very good Rock and Metal bands keep coming from Hungary. Both in the past (Omega, Locomotiv GT, Skorpió, General, …) and in the present (Wisdom, Ann my Guard, Leecher, Dalriada). One of the new bands is Esperfall from the capital Budapest. Singer Nóra Sima answered my questions on behalf of the band.
MHF: Hi Nóra, I’m Rainer and I write for the Metalheads Forever Magazine. Thank you for letting me do this interview with you. How are you?
Nóra: Hello there, I’m good, thank you for chatting with me.
MHF: You are less known outside your home country. Please introduce the band briefly.
Nóra: We are a melodic metal band with harsh female and male vocals. We are active since 2016 and we started with more “feminine” clean vocals and slowly implemented the growling parts which give our music a huge contrast between angelic soaring clean vocals with some fragile lightness and the primal, brutal growling. We try to capture the volatility of human emotions through the lyrics and the music too which is composed in a grandiose, complex way with many layers.
MHF: You play Symphonic Metal, so in a genre that is already occupied by many other bands. How do you think Esperfall differ from other bands?
Nóra: We actually never considered ourselves a Symphonic Metal band. This label somehow just stuck with us. We consider our music more close to power or melodic death metal. We utilize no symphonic elements in our music.
MHF: I mentioned various Hungarian Rock bands in the introductory text. Are you in the tradition of the bands from the past? Are there any contacts between the currently active bands?
Nóra: It’s a very good question and a bit hard to answer because here in Hungary rock or metal is not a mainstream genre. It’s not a competition but more than an honour to carry the torch of the music scene here. We don’t exactly follow the footsteps of other artists but of course sharing the stage and being friends with other alternative bands is a fantastic feeling and getting along with like minded people in our underground scene here just helps us to keep going and work harder.
MHF: Which musicians or bands influence you in your work?
Nóra: We all have our favourites, all band members have a surprisingly different taste in music but Children of Bodom is definitely a band that has a special place in our hearts.
MHF: According to Encyclopaedia Metallum, the band’s formation dates back to 2016. After two EPs (2018, 2019), the debut album “Origins In Darkness” was not released until 2022. Was production delayed due to the Corona pandemic?
Nóra: The pandemic definitely took a toll on the production. Both our health and the recording possibilities were severely affected but we tried to get over all those obstacles we had and finish the album as soon as it was possible. Actually the album was finished in 2021, however we did not want to release it until the pandemic situation was completely over, so we had to wait another year with the release. However painting the cover and working on the visuals was a bit easier this way for me during the lockdown.
MHF: Is “Origins In Darkness” a concept album? What do the lyrics of the individual songs deal with?
Nóra: Origins In Darkness – Act I. is the first installation of a series of concept albums. Our goal is to tell a story of the inner journey that a tragedy or a chronic illness can ignite within us. It’s like telling the story of a grieving process. Where it starts, how it evolves, what we feel while we try to cope with the devastating situation and how we eventually learn, heal and ascend from the lowest low to normality and power. Origins In Darkness tells the story of the desperate start of facing the damage and loss.
MHF: How satisfied are you with this album? How were the reactions from the press and fans?
Nóra: I am very happy and grateful for the response of the fans and all the positive feedback from the press. We didn’t expect that this album will turn out so special but I think we found our real voice in the process in an intuitive way. The pandemic situation definitely escalated the sound of lurking darkness and honest tears in the studio which indeed makes this album special in my eyes because if people can relate to the songs and feel a lot of things then it is the power of music we managed to tap into.
MHF: Did you have the opportunity to present the new songs live in the meantime? Are there any shows planned outside your home country?
Nóra: We have shows at festivals and smaller venues here at home. The situation here in Eastern-Europe is sadly not ideal these days and we lost opportunities because of the devastating events going on. We hope we can expand our horizons soon.
MHF: Do you have any plans for the next album?
Nóra: We have shows at festivals and smaller venues here at home. The situation here in Eastern-Europe is sadly not ideal these days and we lost opportunities because of the devastating events going on. We hope we can expand our horizons soon.
MHF: How do you go about song writing? Do you have a main songwriter or are the songs written during the rehearsal sessions?
Nóra: There is always a main songwriter who comes up with the core elements and the sound of the songs. The arrangements happen later and of course everyone writes their own part. The best ideas always attack us in the middle of the night at 3 AM 🙂 When we start to rehearse a brand new song together for the first time it is a really exciting and inspiring event full of surprises.
MHF: Nóra, you switch between clear vocals and evil growls in the songs. How do you manage to reconcile these two opposing vocal styles?
Nóra: Thank you for this question, for a long time I truly believed that it’s not possible 🙂 I was classically trained for 10 years and didn’t believe even in the idea that I can do that even after musicals, Disney songs, pop songs, let alone operas! But I really felt being called to try and for my greatest surprise opera and growling didn’t feel as different as I expected so I was instantly hooked. I really love contrasts in vocals and feeling the tiny changes in my voicebox making such a huge difference in the crazy sounds I’m making in crazy ranges really inspired me to sound as versatile and feral as possible.
MHF: Thank you again for this interview. Would you like to say something to the fans at the end?
Nóra: Thank you and don’t forget to check out our new music video Nature of the Disease and follow us on our socials. Keep those horns up!
Esperfall are:
Nóra Sima – Vocals
Péter Wachal – Bass Guitar & Vocals
Zsombor Zathureczky – Keyboards
László Gábeli – Lead Guitar
Szabolcs Kerek – Rhythm Guitar
Attila Pécz – Drums
Discography:
A Leap of Faith EP 2018
The Leaf Legacy EP 2019
Retreat into Dreamland Single 2022
Origins in Darkness Album 2022
Social Media
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/esperfall/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/esperfallofficial/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoObSdLZlNl0IpR5iNkiVZA
