Interview with Monica Possel, singer of the band Hamen
Symphonic Metal of Brazil. Meet the band Hamen. Vocalist Monica Possel told us about the message, her references and how André Matos influenced her as a singer.
Appeared in 2013, Hamen’s sound draws on influences from the world and European symphonic metal, such as After Forever, Nightwish, Epica, Within Temptation and others. With the weight of a good metal, along with the beautiful, exciting and super-tuned lyrical vocal of vocalist Monica Possel. Also featuring clean, throaty male vocals, which are of the highest quality. 🤟😍🎵 According to the singer, the band believes that music is a talent that needs purpose, made to be shared.
The first EP, Altar, was released in 2015 with four tracks.
The debut album is Unreflected Mirror, released in 2018. We at Playfonic hear and highly recommend, work of the highest quality and most importantly, made in our country Brazil. So let’s super support and value guys!
With you, Monica Possel (Hamen):
Playfonic: Where did the decision to form a symphonic metal band come from? Tell us a little about your story.
Monica: Hello everyone, first thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in this interview with you. It is very important for us independent bands to have the support of the media as well as yours.
The decision to form a band was born of my desire as a teenager. I was already studying music and classical singing and was very fond of opera and heavy metal. I saw in major bands like Nightwish and After Forever my target to be followed, but as I still didn’t pay my bills, I left that dream aside. Although at that time I assembled the embryo of what today is Hamen. (The EP Winter “Altar” was composed at that time).
Playfonic: What is the origin of the word Hamen?
Monica: The word Hamen is a poetic license from the Hebrew word “Amen.” Although the name is biblical, our band has no Christian purpose.
We appropriate this word for what it means to us. At the time, when we set up the band, the desire to set up a band was very big, and as we had achieved this feat, we associated this name with this desire, because it is confirmation to someone’s desire. And so it was done, confirmed the desire to start a band.
Playfonic: What bands / artists are the references in Hamen’s musical construction?
Monica: Wow, there’s a lot of reference in Hamen’s sound. As we have varied backgrounds, this helps us to compose songs more and more fully and integrated with our tastes and styles.
Basically our references are in Symphonic Metal and Power Metal, but it doesn’t stop there. Our bassist and talented producer, Matheus Maia is very inspired by great composers such as Hans Zimmer, John Williams, J.S. Bach and others. In addition, our virtuoso guitarist, Cadu Puccini has a lot of reference in country, instrumental and renowned musicians like Steve Morse and Michael Romeo.
Already our violent drummer, Gabriel Pedroso has great references of progressive, death metal. That way we make up a very varied and unique Hamen arrangement. My influences are also in the great singers like Floor Jansen, Tarja Turunen, besides Maria Callas and Montserrat Caballé, in the scholar.
And in male singers like Jorn Lande, Russell Allen, Dio and Coverdale. For composing I always try to look for influences of various styles and crossover dynamics, with vocal drives and lyric singing for example.
Playfonic: On July 14, 2019, the Unreflected Mirror album release concert took place. Tell us a little about how were the preparations and expectations of this special moment.
Monica: We were very excited about the show. It was the first time the band in the new lineup played together. Since two band members live in Brasilia and two in Santa Catarina, which makes joining the band a bit complicated due to logistics.
But in the end it all worked out. What before we had just recorded the album and playing separately, now we get together and play the songs in the same sync we had when composing the album from a distance. In just 3 rehearsals we were able to extract our talent and give our best to the audience that was present, which after all went beyond our expected, new fans, people very interested in our sound and raw material.
I was very happy with everything that happened. And we were even more excited to play together. We are already preparing new shows for our fans.
Playfonic: What themes and messages does the Unreflected Mirror album talk about?
Monica: The album U.M. It is a story. We used to call that the U.M album is a series with several chapters, where each song we are presenting the characters.
It has a trilogy that is Invasive Feelings and that is from it that our second album will be formed, in the continuation of the story of the character of this trilogy. The lyrics of the album were composed by me and it was inspired by science fiction, parallel worlds, portals and everything other than nerds and symphonic and power metal fans like a lot… 🙂 The lyrics and concept were very much about my inspiration from Arthur C. Clarke, who is the author of the bestseller “2001, a Space Odyssey”.
Playfonic: A galaxy and an empire on fire. Wars and a moonlight. Moons and ships. A mirror dividing different situations without reflection. What is the concept of art from Unreflected Mirror album?
Monica: How cool this detailed question, nobody has not asked us such a question. I am happy for the care and affection with our work.
So, in response, the concept of album art is exactly the concept of the album lyrics. Where space war represents a world and the same war is happening in the parallel world that is Earth.
War represents chaos, all living in a globalized world, looking at themselves and not seeing the world around them. That is the power of the machine, not knowing where it will go.
And the mirror, well, it can be a portal or a way out of it all … there’s a spoiler for our next album for Playfonic readers … lol 🙂
Playfonic: You recently went out at the 16th Imperative music collection, along with 40 bands from around the world, such as Visions of Atlantis and Hangar. How does it feel to see your work reach bigger flights like this?
Monica: We are very happy with this opportunity. Participating in the Imperative Music collection brought us a lot of international recognition, as the Collection is launched by major labels in Europe and Asia as Nuclear Blast for example.
One of the acknowledgments is that we get into European playlists like Belgian Metal Schredder, further confirming our band’s potential for the world. We are really very happy.
Playfonic: On the album Unreflected Mirror, you released a trilogy entitled Invasive Feelings (Intimate Future, Lost Feelings, My True Freedom). Each part has very dense and deep content. Tell us about the message drawn by the songs.
Monica: Wow, this trilogy, the writing of the lyrics, was really very deep for me. For it is something I have inspired from experiences of my life as well as from others around me.
The writing phase for me is a peak of creativity. I always try to gather as much of my other activities as I can to dive deep into my being and extract as much poetry and art as I can. And I can say that this trilogy was yes, something very deep and dense from the whole album.
-> Invasive Feelings, as the name implies, are all overrun with feelings, and in the trilogy I wanted to play a character in the stages of his life, from his childhood and adolescence, through his youth to adulthood. Where in childhood, the feelings are invaded by the family figure, while in youth the feelings are invaded by love and relationships and in adulthood, the feelings are invaded by themselves, where they see that everything that lived, is not about you really and really are that other person you’ve met right now and who out of pride no longer cares about the opinions of others and where you are and what you are living.
As I said, in the next album we will continue this trilogy, because in this adult phase that you are in, there are no real feelings … anyway, there is a lot out there yet. 🙂
Playfonic: One of the biggest names in Brazilian metal left us. André Matos represented our music around the world, building an imposing credibility. You claimed to be his fan and shared a beautiful tribute on your social media. How did André Matos’s trajectory contribute to the formation of your and the band’s musical identity?
Monica:
Wow, I’m a big fan of Andre Matos, since I was a teenager, when I decided to sing Metal, which I follow and admire for his talent as a composer and especially as a singer.
Andre Matos’ death marked a lot for me, I found myself bored in the corners, as if a family member of mine had died. I was surprised how much I really liked and admired him. It was really a shock to me. The least I could do was record a video with a simple tribute to the great talent he was and will be forever. Carry on I remember it was a song that I’ve always wanted to sing it, and I’ve always put it as a potential study song for myself and knowing that after many years of studying I can interpret it satisfactorily for me, is exciting. And Fairy Tale, I recorded for being a grand composition, with various nuances, lyrical vocals, and mainly the use of the belting technique.
We even have a backstage story with Andre Matos, how much he influenced his own brand. In one of our compositions, there is a part of my vocal which in the recording studio we call “Andre Matos part” because he was the one who spread this way of singing around. (If anyone finds it, I’ll be happy to hear from my social networks) ☺
This video Monica recorded in honor of André Matos
Playfonic: Leave a message for Playfonic readers and Hamen fans.
Monica:
I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this interview with Playfonic. Congratulations on being a Symphonic Metal-focused media that we know isn’t very prominent in the Metal world.
I am also glad to hear that our band, our music, has touched you deeply to the point of giving us this extremely careful and loving interview. Thank you very much even in my name and in the name of the whole band. For our fans and readers, listen to our band on Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, listen to our new album “Unreflected Mirror”. We are also publishing new materials on our Youtube channel and also Instagram.
If you want to see us live in your city, ask us for your local producers and help another band independent of the national metal scene.
Also, follow our Facebook to get our Merchans as autographed physical CDs. Thank you very much again. It’s a pleasure to be part of it all. A hug and see you around at the shows. Long live the metal o/
