Interview with Adrian Benegas, about his debut album – The Revenant
Adrian Benegas, from Tragul, is releasing his debut album as a producer, keyboardist and composer, in partnership with great singers. In November we will have his album called The Revenant.
We chatted with him to find out more details about this new music project of his career, and we asked him about the new songs, album theme, singers and more. Soon another heavy metal album will be released, stay tuned.
The Interview:
Playfonic: How did you come up with the idea of inviting artists: Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear); Hennin Basse (Firewind); Zuberoa Aznárez (Diabulus in Musica) and Herbie Langhans (Radiant) to compose your debut album?
Adrian: First, thank you for having me Leandro and Rullys, it’s a pleasure! Well, I always had on mind the idea of working with male singers, as some of the people may know, all my previous works were with female fronted metal bands and after releasing singles for 2 years with Tragul I decided to take a new adventure (parallel) and start working with a male singer. At the beginning the idea was to release a single with Ralf Scheepers only, something similar to Tragul but once I finished the production of the first single and posted news about it on the social media, some labels took awareness of it and offered me the chance to work on a full album so I started to evaluate artistic things about it and realized I needed some other singers to tell the “story” of “THE REVENANT”.
Playfonic: How was it for you to produce the album with artists from all over the world?
Adrian: Amazing, it was such a full experience! Everyday working with the guys was like a dream. I can’t be more satisfied and happier about “THE REVENANT”, you know, Ralf, Henning, Zube and Herbie are great people and artists, so all these months were full of learning, happiness and satisfaction. A true privilege!
Playfonic: We are looking forward to hearing the full album. What are your expectations about this project?
Adrian: I have the highest expectations; I am sure that you will discover a whole new “dimension” about my songwriting.
This album is the best work I’ve ever done without doubt, from music and arrangements to the lyrics. I am super excited about the release, and it’s a goal reached to have the chance to release it on physical format thanks to Pride and Joy Music (Germany) too. Musically this album is very rich, you will find elements from various metal styles such as Black Metal, Thrash, Heavy, Symphonic, a little bit of Rock, Power metal, all in included 😉 So, I feel this album is just perfect and it came in the perfect moment of my career!
Playfonic: A body in ruins. A tired and fragile face in the chaos. Behold, a triumphant bird of prey (eagle) springs up! Reaching for the light that rises through the darkness. A rebirth? A new path? New trajectory? Inner strength? We find these visuals on the beautiful cover of “The Revenant.” Tell us the concept and idea behind this art and its details.
Adrian: What a great question! It has a everything you’ve exposed here, you know, the whole concept of “THE REVENANT” from the name itself, it’s about inner spiritual realization so Carlos Fides (Brazilian artist) worked on this fantastic artwork based on this concept. I can say that it has a little bit inspiration on the alchemists’ symbolic work of transmuting the rock (ego/darkness) on pure gold (soul/light) and the whole album is about it, overcoming the darkness to finally free the light caught on our Ego leaving behind the “ruined/wasted self” to transform ourselves in true eagles.
Playfonic: Servants of the Death is the first single feat. Ralf Scheepers. How was the production process and what is the theme of the song?
Adrian: “Servants of the Death” is not only the first single but the opener of “THE REVENANT”. This song’s about the hidden demons that control us disguised on our own thoughts, you know, if you listen carefully and analyze all your thoughts you’ll realize that some of them are not coming directly from you… Inside ourselves there is a constant battle between darkness and light, so to start the inner emptying of our darkest desires, we should be careful of what we are thinking and feeling on every moment because there are some hungry “Servants of the Death” always stalking us to take advantage on any step we take. They never sleep, they’re never satisfied. So, if we live alert of our thoughts as the watchman in time of war, we discover ourselves constantly, and it means that we are aware of all our desires and ego and from that point it’s easier to start removing from ourselves all the “demons” that cause darkness in our life.
“Servants of the Death” was entirely produced by yours truly, mixed by Alberto Bravin and mastered by Maor Appelbaum. The artwork made by the guys of Digital Grief and the lyric video by a young Paraguayan artist called Santiago Cabrera. With the voice of Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), drums by the Paraguayan drummer Sebastian Ramirez, guitar and bass by Diego Bogarín (Tragul).
Lyric Video – Servants of the Death:
Playfonic: About the whole album, what is the main theme? How do you get inspired to write the lyrics?
Adrian: Self-realization. Inspired by the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri and the journey of an unredeemed man through its inner hell to finally free his Soul from all the sadness/darkness of his past lives.
That’s why the album starts very dark and it goes lighter as the story progresses. All the songs on “THE REVENANT” has a connection and it’s meant to be listened progressively to understand the full meaning of the album. It starts with Servants of the Death, then goes to Cadavria (A place where no dream could ever live), Face to Face (with the demon), The enemy within (the truth behind everything), Inferno (a little overview about the whole story), A change of heart (A ballad about the last moment of a man before the Sun rises again inside him), Carrier of the Sunlight (one of my favorites! 😉 No spoiler for this one), The light of my dreams (We never fight alone…) and finally The Revenant (where the new soul has born).
Playfonic: To the Brazilian fans, leave a message saying the reasons to listen to your album and follow your career in general.
Adrian: Well, there’s not a “why” but there’s a “you must”, haha! 😛 Just joking, well more than asking the fans and you to listen to my album I want to take this opportunity to express my thanks for the constant support! I feel very appreciated for all so THANK YOU, MUCHAS GRACIAS, MUITO OBRIGADO.
Spotify Adrian Benegas
Interview and art by:
Interview and Illustration by:
