Euphonic Entropy: Chaos and balance between Art and Family.

Euphonic entropy: Chaos and balance between Art and Family. Diabulus in Musica new album was created in the middle of the arrival of the second son of Zuberoa Aznárez and Gorka Elso and the production of all the songs.

Zuberoa Aznárez, lead singer of the symphonic metal band “Diabvlvs in Mvsica”, talked to us about the band’s latest album, “Euphonic Entropy”. Its concepts, inspirations and more.

Zuberoa Aznárez is a singer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Spain. She started her musical career at the age of 8, studying music theory, flute and, later, classical singing. She is a specialist in rehabilitation and voice perfection in professional singing from the University of Alcalá (Madrid) and graduated in History and Art from the University of Navarra.

At the same time, she is the founder, composer and arranger of the symphonic metal band Diabulus in Musica, with whom she recorded five albums with orchestral compositions and arrangements on her own. These albums were released worldwide by the prestigious Metal Blade Records (USA) and Napalm Records (Austria). In both (record labels), the band won several awards and its voice was considered by critics as one of the best of its kind. Euphonic Entropy being his most recent work, released on February 14, 2020, and it is about this album that we talked about in this interview that you check, below:

Playfonic: Your latest album was just released on February 14, Euphonic Entropy. Tell us more details of the production and creative process to create it. Who writes the song compositions?

Thank you! I’m very glad you like it!
It is me the one who usually writes the songs. I do everything (voices, instruments and arrangements) and then I send the song to Gorka, so that he can listen with fresh ears and change what he considers. He sometimes changes the structure, adds or removes parts or just leave it as it is. Also, he does the last step, that is completing the orchestras and choirs. This way, I just write a small orchestral and choir template and I can focus on writing more songs while he finishes the arrangements.

Playfonic: In the song OTOI, it is used an old language in the lyrics. Is that language extinct as well as Latin? Or is it still spoken in some regions? And what is the importance of using languages other than English in music?

Basque language is one of the most ancient languages in Europe that is still spoken, but it is still minority as it is only spoken in seven small regions between France and Spain and even in these regions not everybody speaks it. These regions are nowadays bilingual, they speak Spanish and Basque (in the Spanish Basque regions) and French and Basque (in the French Basque regions). So, the Basque country is politically divided between France and Spain.

We have always tried to include some small parts in other languages that
are familiar to us apart from English, just because we have our own culture and music is universal. We also think each language has its particular sonority, so each one adds something special and different to the music. Ancient languages add this extra “mysterious” sound which perfectly fits our music too.

Playfonic: A face coming out of its shell, vertebrae supporting everything, and a dark veil covering all the elements. The cover seems to suggest a kind of metamorphosis. That something is being reborn, changing. What concepts are defined to compose the art
of Euphonic Entropy?

The cover was made by Stefan Heileman. He is a fantastic artist who
perfectly catches the essence of each album with only a few explanations. The cover is great and I think that can be interpreted in many ways. I love your interpretation! I have my own too and he never tells his own. I prefer it to be this way, so that each one can do his/her own reading, the same as with the lyrics.

I find there are elements that can be related to a new life, to the chaos and order of the universe, the beauty, the duality (which is something always present in our lyrics and band name) and there is also space for mystery, which is something we like too. It definitely fits perfect with the concept of this album: the chaos bringing something beautiful as it is the music and our new lives after being parents for the second time.

Playfonic: With this new album released, do you intend to go on tour? Is there anything defined for latin america? When are you coming to Brazil?

Going to Latin-America is something we are longing for since longtime, but unfortunately, we don’t know promoters there. Of course, if any of them gets in contact with us we will be more than happy to meet you all and play in your countries! For the moment we are trying to find a reliable booking agency that can help us booking some shows in Europe. We will also play a special show in November in our hometown.

Playfonic:For Diabulus in Musica fans who don’t live in Europe, how can they get the band’s official products?

The CD’s have been distributed worldwide, so I guess you should find them in your local stores. We are now planning the rest of the merch and it will be available through the store on our website: www.diabulusinmusica.com

Playfonic: The song Misfit’s Swing has a great message about not caring what people say and think, and also about the lack of respect and empathy in society. You empower listeners not to listen to criticism and do what they like. With the transcendental advance of social networks and the emergence of “virtual bulling”, what
advice do you give to young people (that stick to the judgments of society) to not lose their mental health? Tell us more about the message of that song.

Education on diversity, respect, equality… is the key and it’s our
responsibility to raise respectful and openminded future adults. We have grown in a time where the internet wasn’t still there, so our childhood has been very different from what it is being these days. The changes have been very fast and different new dangers have appeared too. Now we have to adapt, understand the new situation and do our best so that all the dangers of the net and children are more controlled. Anyway, bullying was there too before, even if it was probably easier to identify it.

I think it’s very important to have solid bounds with reality: our families, real friends and a steady environment. Working on self- esteem since children are small, lots of education and parental control. On the other hand, this is not only a problem of young people, as we see many cases of subdued, depressed or unsecure adults, too (probably because of happenings in their childhood, or not). Not only people with mental disorder neither, but no one likes to be the target of malicious criticism, the problem is that not everybody reacts the same way to them. Trolls are the ones who are showing their own lack of intelligence, of self- esteem, frustration… so their victims need to understand this and ignore them.

Playfonic: Although not a concept album, the songs fit perfectly, making the audience feel a strong affinity for the songs. Euphonic Entropy has great connection on its tracklist. How did you define the identity of this work?

It was something that flowed very natural. It is amazing to see how
quickly all the ideas emerged. The music and lyrics are clearly influenced by our new situation as parents of two little creatures. It has been the main source of inspiration. I think the overall energic feeling of the album perfectly represents our lives right now.

The feeling of rush you get when listening to it is probably the same we had when writing and recording this album with two little babies at our side haha But it turned out very powerful, and that “power” is also the feeling we got when we finished the recordings of the new album. The title itself reflects the content of the song very well, our personal race to find the balance in our lives as parents and artists. All this energy is the main connection between the songs I’d say.

Playfonic: For those who do not know your work, what song and/or album do you recommend listening to first?

That’s very personal and depends a lot on each one music taste. I think the last one is more what we are now, mature and modern, energic and grandiloquent, but if you like our music, it is interesting to see the evolution since our first album “Secrets” until the new one. Each one is the consequence of a moment of our lives, so each one is somehow special. I think that in all of our albums our main elements are present.

We have like five sides (or even more haha): the rough aggressive fast metal (Race to Equilibrium, Spoilt Vampire, From the embers…) the folky/ancient (Otoi, Maitagarri, Bane…), the soft (any of our ballads), the cinematic symphonic (In Quest of Sense, Hidden Reality, Ex Nihilo…) and the dark/weird/theatrical (Our last gloomy dance, Ring around dark fairies…, Encounter at Chronos…, ). There are songs that are pure on one of this sides and others where the mix of all is more or less evident. In short, depending on which side you like the most, you will find some favorite songs in each of the albums.

Promo pic for Diabulus in Musica by Nestor Photographer

Playfonic: Tell us a little about your experience of working with musician Adrian Benegas on Tragul project. The latest single “Suenõ Eterno” is an enchanting song that brings you into production, voice and on the flute. How was it to produce this song?

Adrian contacted me some years ago to record the vocals for his new Project “Tragul”. When I Iistened to his music and liked what I heard and I immediately accepted as I saw he was a working guy who had great ideas and did things in a professional way. From then on, we have been in contact and developed a close relationship. With the last song he wrote, “Sueño Eterno”, he proposed me to do also the mixing and mastering. Music production is something that I absolutely love so I’m grateful that he relied on me for this too.

Playfonic: We like to offer a space where the artist is free to exhibit his work. However, we often fail to ask all the pertinent and necessary questions. If there are any curiosities or important details you would like to mention and have not been asked. Please tell us here

The questions were perfect, thanks for the chance! I woud just add that, for those who apart from metal like ambient music in the vein of neo-folk/neo-classical, I have also a parallel project with my own name, Zuberoa Aznárez, in this style. If you are interested you can check all my music through the digital platforms or through my oficial website: www.zuberoaaznarez.com

Playfonic: Leave a message for your fans and readers of playfonic.

Thank you so much for all the support you bring us, it means a lot to us! We hope you like our new album and above all, that we can meet each other on the road!

Our thanks to the kind and talented Zuberoa Aznárez, who even with a busy schedule, gave us the privilege of this interview.

We hope you enjoyed. Follow Zuberoa Aznárez and Diabvlvs in Mvsica on social media and follow their music. If you liked this interview, share it on your social media, listen to Euphonic Entropy and leave your opinion at the bottom of the page. Bye!

Zuberoa Aznárez: Official site, instagram, facebook, youtube, twitter

Diabvlvs in Mvsica: Official site, instagram, facebook, youtube, twitter , Spotify