A lifelong connection to the Gods and Goddesses and culture of the ancient world, annual visits to the temples and sacred places of Greece and Italy, and the longing for dramatic storytelling full of blood, sweat, and tears that have dried in the sands of time – this all came together for former NYHC-guitarist Gabby Abularach (CRO-MAGS, VOODOOCULT) with an awakening to tune his handmade flamenco guitar like an ancient Greek Lyra, and very soon he began writing the first melodies that would later become DEA VELATA’s songs. Inspired by ancient Greek and Roman music, the romantic period of classical music, Flamenco, Spanish classical music and symphonic metal, DEA VELATA began with writing purely acoustic music, but evolved into adding classical orchestral instruments as well as symphonic and folk metal. In early 2017, Gabby had only just begun delving into and studying the harmonics, mathematics, tunings, modes and aesthetics of ancient Greek and Roman music. In combination with Angela Hicks’ beguiling soprano voice, this makes for a pairing in a class by itself, nestling the listeners into the golden fleece of mythologic musicality that is DEA VELATA.
Based on the 1st Book of the Iliad by Homer, DEA VELATA’s second single PHEBEVS FVROR (Phebean Wrath), which is included on the upcoming album, tells the rescue story of the Trojan girl Chryseis from the abduction of the Greek King Agamemnon. Her father Chryses, the Trojan High Priest of Apollo, was insulted by Agamemnon when he had come to ransom her, so he prays to Apollo for help. Apollo, enraged at the offense to his priest and abduction of his daughter, punishes the Greeks, and assists Chryses in the rescue of his daughter Chryseis, resulting in nine days of massacres. In Greek mythology, Apollo is a versatile deity, not only the god of music, light, and poetry but also the one who punishes and destroys. This duality is theatrically and metaphorically expressed in the new music video for PHEBEVS FVROR. There, Angela brings the performing arts of ancient Rome and Greece to life – not only does she sing but also act in the video, slipping into the visual form of roles she sings about. We see dark warehouses, brawling gangsters, and fencing duels in contrast with Angela Hicks’ graceful performance as the pure, angelic figure, representing the natural fragile female beauty, which men fight over and because of which ancient empires have perished in the past. A lover of all things ancient and medieval, Angela embodies the spirit of this mythological and musical journey perfectly.
Get carried away by the video single PHEBEVS FVROR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ6REZ48OrY
Listen to PHEBEVS FVROR HERE:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/deavelata/phebevs-fvror
The band’s eponymous first album DEA VELATA will be released on October 16th, 2024. With eleven tracks, the brilliant ensemble intends to bring the sounds, consciousness and spirit of the ancient world back to life today. DEA VELATA’s sound is truly offering something unique, something new, something that heals the soul, exalts the spirit and which connects people to the beauty and magic of the classical world of antiquity. Italian poet Stefano Losi writes the lyrics, in the form of contemporary poetry in Imperial Latin, which are then being carefully carried on symphonic metal wings. “The lyrics and poetry provide a personal perspective on the existential unquietness inherent in the human condition, and all its concrete manifestations, from the deepest desperation to the purest love. They draw an imaginary connection with the lyrics of the Poetae Novi of the Ist Century, reemerging in my own poetry filtered by a clear contemporary sensitivity, redesigning the eternity of life, the timeless value of emotion”, says the talented lyricist.
DEA VELATA Album Tracklist
1. OBITVS
2. PHEBEVS FVROR
3. IMBER ARIDVS
4. VVLTVS
5. HIATVS
6. AMO
7. DAEMON (metal version)
8. EVANESCENS VESTALIS (acoustic/orchestral)
9. KORE (acoustic)
10. IMBER (acoustic)
11. DAEMON (acoustic remix)
The full album DEA VELATA will be released October 16th, 2024. On eleven tracks, it will feature contemporary poetry in Imperial Latin – all woven in a fabric of ancient Greek and Roman music with neo-classical coloring and threads of symphonic metal.
Listen to first single OBITVS:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/deavelata/obitvs
Watch the video single OBITVS on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s4QJtN-4ng
Met by high critical acclaim, the musical ensemble performed an exclusive 5 song acoustic set at Circulo de Bellas Artes in Spain on June 25th, where they premiered the OBITVS video. During a live performance by DEA VELATA you can expect a wide range of sound, from intimate classical, acoustic duets with Gabby and Angela, to full symphonic metal. The talented artists delve into genuine ancient music and bring it into life in a modern world – a combination, which sets them apart from other bands, and makes their live events an upscale experience, no less impressive or cathartic than a classical theater performance in ancient Rome. A live recording of the impressive performance has just been published, in a compilation with interviews, serving as a short documentary about the event, offering interesting insights and taking you along on their musical journey.
Enjoy DEA VELATA’s acoustic live performance at Ciculo de Bellas Artes HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_SVCHO6wJA
After the release of two singles, with another video single release and an album release pending, DEA VELATA will play an acoustic event at the United Nations in NYC on November 7th, 2024, and they plan on doing three other shows around that date in the NYC area. So stay tuned for more to come!
About DEA VELATA
The longing for the ancient narrative power and the fascination it is capable of arousing in us is resurfacing among critics and fans alike. And in the form of DEA VELATA, it has now reached music – at several different levels. First of all, with the very own instrumental hero’s journey of New York guitarist Gabby Abularach, who, as a trained classical and jazz guitarist with metal genes, refined the studio recordings and world tours of NYHC legends CRO-MAGS and later continued the same as a founding member of VOODOOCULT. In addition to these energetic wrecking balls, Gabby also brought his six-string magic to legendary recordings by the likes of CARLOS SANTANA, EVERLAST, KORN and JOHN SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION. His secret love, however, lies in the art of antiquity: Gabby, who over the years has increasingly specialized in filigree-sporty flamenco playing, often imagined what the musical underscoring of recited stories might have felt like in ancient times.
The explorative guitarist was in the middle of an ongoing phase of researching ancient Greek and Roman music when, in the summer of 2017, he met Stefano Losi, an Italian poet and visual artist also based in New York, who had just published a poetic work in Imperial Latin. Together, they began composing and pouring the many eureka moments of their musical and now also poetic journeys into material for an album unlike any other.
The British soprano Angela Hicks, who is also drawn to ancient music, joined the duo as the angelic voice of the work DEA VELATA, and not just in a figurative sense. Despite her young age, Angela can look back on an eventful career: She made her operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano under the direction of Thomas Guthrie and has subsequently appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Palace of Versailles, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Berliner Philharmonie and the Berlin State Opera, among others. She also made a guest appearance on the big screen alongside Emma Stone, Rachael Weisz and Oscar winner Olivia Coleman in the 2018 movie “The Favourite”.
The luscious guitar, which sometimes finely chisels an uplifting flamenco into the steps of a stage of epic breadth, sometimes strives towards the warm elegance of a harp and sometimes unfolds into the full weight of symphonic metal, is combined with an always respectfully discreet metal drumming (performed by Mike Podber) and a voice that resembles God’s rays on a Tuscan painting. And together they create a soundtrack that, behind closed eyes, lets Odysseus’ ship sail from a gentle lull into a mystical storm.
DEA VELATA online:
https://www.facebook.com/deavelataofficial
https://www.instagram.com/deavelataofficial/
https://www.youtube.com/@DEAVELATA
http://deavelata.bandcamp.com/
