Stela speaks about the new album “A Whole New Land” and more
We had an amazing chat with the vocalist from the symphonic metal band, Metalwings. Stela Atanasova talked with us about her career, the band and all the details of their new studio album “A Whole New Land” and much more.
You can watch the interview in the Youtube link below (in english), or read the interview transcribed below the video.
watch the interview below:
Playfonic: Welcome Stela here to Playfonic. I have known Metalwings since a long time when I saw in youtube the video for the song “Crying of the Sun” that has become very popular. I really enjoy it. And now you have a new album “A whole new land”. How did you start the band MetalWings. Why did you choose this name for the band? Tell us about the story of the band.
I created the band almost eleven years ago, here in Sophia, Bulgaria. And it’s a symphonic metal style with gothic elements also. In 2015 we released our first music video for the song “Crying of the sun”, which became so popular, and made us a little bit famous in the world.
And in the next year we released our ep called “Fallen Angel in the hell”. Two years later, we released our first studio album called “For All Beyond”.
And now just three weeks ago we released our second studio album called “A Whole New Land”.
About the band’s name, it’s because I wanted the band’s name to be something that shows the meaning and the feeling of music. I wanted to combine two elements in the name, like Metal and Wings. Something very strong, aggressive and something very gentle as the wings. That’s why I called the name MetalWings.
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Playfonic: What are the musical references for you and for the band? What are other styles or other artists that inspired you?
For me the styles that I love and listen to everyday, especially from symphonic metal, are bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation. For some of the guys in the band, I think it’s bands like Metallica or Dimmu Borgir, Dream Theater. We have very different music styles, but Metalwings unite us to make our music. Mostly my favorite music genres is our style and my favorite band is MetalWings of course.
Even with my references, we try to make our own music, not a kind of nightwish copy, just our own music. We want to leave something really important in the metal world.
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Playfonic: Tell us more about the new album “A Whole New Land”. Does it have a message, is it a concept album?
For the general idea for this album, it was a big step for our band. In many ways, we’ve changed, in the way we sound, in our sound. We started composing the tracks about two years ago, the idea was to make this turn slightly turn in our sound, and to make it harder and heavier. With more symphonic parts, gentle vocals, heavy guitars and very dynamic drums. And I think we did it. We achieved our goal.
There is a message, in every song there is a different story, but as a whole, all the songs are connected to the others. We talk about love, life, humanity and the world we live in now and all the problems we’ll have someday due to our actions now. The cover art of the album tells a message that all animals when they live in peace, there will be no boundaries in the world. This is our message. To live in peace and know that we all are very similar to each other. To live in peace and harmony.
And that’s why there is a little girl to represent the idea of innocence. The new beginning. A new chance for our world.
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Playfonic: You released a music video for the song “Monster in the Mirror”. What is this song about and how was it to produce the video?
It wasn’t very easy to produce the video, especially in the pandemic times here in Bulgaria. We filmed the video in September 2020. We chose this song for the video because it’s a very powerful combination for all the aspects of the album. It really combines the romantic, the smoothness, the tenderness and the aggression, which we put in every song in our album.
We wanted to show the world the most powerful song. And the story about it is love.
But what love becomes when you let another person control your dreams, your life. Especially everything in your life you enjoy. The story is all about love, the different sides of it.
Sometimes when we see a very beautiful couple’s story, we don’t see the hidden side of the story. It’s very difficult to find true love. Monster in the Mirror is our message to lost souls.
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Playfonic: The music video for “Crying of the Sun” achieved 29 million views on YouTube. It’s a success. What do you attribute this success for?
Thanks to this music video of “Crying of the Sun” the world knew about us. Maybe without it the world wouldn’t know about us. I thank all the fans for it.
This song was a great chance for our band to show that we are here, that we exist in Bulgaria. For independent bands like us, it’s a great chance to show something different for Bulgaria.
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Playfonic: When you say to show something different for Bulgaria, you mean that it is not common for people to listen to your music genre there?
We don’t have so many symphonic metal bands here in Bulgaria, unfortunately. There are a few of course, but we don’t have so many places to play live. That’s why we looks for going abroad, to some international tours. It’s our goal.
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Playfonic: You were trained as a classical singer. How was your beginning as a vocalist?
I started playing viola and piano when I was in school. After then I started to study in another music school, and moved to begin studying opera singing. And then I started my professional education to be a vocalist. A few years later, I created MetalWings. And since then I never stopped singing and I started to compose for the band.
I found myself and my strength to be the musician I am now just because MetalWings.
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Playfonic: When did you start to produce this new album “A Whole New Land”?
In the beginning of 2019. We had plans to release the album earlier, but because of the pandemic there was a delay.
It took about a year and a half to compose and produce all the songs. In September 2020, we entered the studio to record it.
The topic of the album is not the pandemic, because we started composing before it happened.
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Playfonic: Do you know some metal bands from Brazil?
Hum I know Sepultura and Angra.
Playfonic: What do you think about your press agency PR promotion?
Yeah, actually Mike is really a great and decent person. I really enjoy working with him, he supports us a lot.
Playfonic: How can people buy your merchandise?
They can buy it via our bandcamp page and on our website.
Playfonic: Is there something else that you want to share with us?
I just want to say that I’m so grateful for the invitation for this interview and you’re doing a great job. I really appreciate your support.
So if you’re looking for something fresh and new in the symphonic metal style, you can check our band.
Playfonic: What is symphonic metal for you?
It’s my life. It’s everything for me. It combines every good aspect of my soul.
Some people think that it is old school style, but I don’t think so. It’s a very beautiful style. And you can combine so many elements, metal, classic, gothic, power and progressive elements. It’s a place where we can evolve and grow as artists.
Playfonic: What are your plans for the future?
My first plan is to take some break to relax in the summer. And after that we will begin to make another music video of a song from the new album. Maybe for the Bulgarian song.
I have an idea to release instrumental versions of the songs. All orchestral tracks for the songs.
The main goal is to go on a tour, so this is our plan for the next few months. We’ll see.
Playfonic: I hope you have success with it. Thank you so much for giving us the interview.
Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Greetings from Bulgaria and all the guys from the band.
Thank you for reading our interview with Stela from Metalwings. We hope you enjoyed 🙂
