KARMIC LINK

Karmic Link is a young group that comes from Sweden, but whose leader, Stathis Kassios , comes straight from Greece to Nightfall . The first effort of the combo, No Light Purpose Rather Invisible Darkness is a dark disc, but that her parent refuses to define Gothic and here he explains with ease.

Directed by Internet January 22, 2009.

Metalship :
Stathis, how did Karmic Link?

Stathis Kassios (keyboards): Around 2006 I decided I wanted to give life to all the material I had already made ​​up but really did not fit the style of the groups that I played ( Nightfall , System Shock ). It was a real brainstorm, which prompted me to put me to work quickly, with great excitement because I knew what might emerge from this experience. I also wanted to address political and social issues through music and this particular project, and a pessimistic philosophy, darker as shown in the artwork. Things were pretty good shot in the end, do not you think?

Metalship :
You seem to have the leadership of Karmic Link. How the group works?

I compose all the songs, I pre-produce everything in my studio at home, using my own equipment (hardware and software) and then I continue my work with musicians who add their personal value to the project. I’m the kind of person who likes to be in charge of every aspect of a group of production management, organizing everything at the same time. My group leader is an ideal course Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails .

Metalship :
Can we really talk about Goth Metal Karmic Link?

Put a label on Goth metal Karmic Link is something I would like to avoid to the extent that we definitely do not play the Goth metal. However, we can say that the music of Karmic Link is in some ways very dark or melancholy, so we can draw a parallel with music and gothic feel.

Metalship :
Just then a song like Devil Dance seem quite happy for the goth metal band, right?

I think my previous explanations answer this question, but I want to say that Devil’s Dance in particular is an instrumental that mixes different musical idioms. Far East and its magical music to the ways of power metal, prog, rock, metal … I would call this very energetic. In addition, how a person perceives or interprets a song sound like “sad” or “happy” is very subjective.

Metalship :
Your album is very short, is not a problem when the albums usually last an hour or more?

Well the duration of the album is deliberately short, quite the contrary, it follows the natural flow of inspiration. It is this inspiration that I specifically did not want to limit or extend more common for commercial reasons. Let us not forget that a young group facing budgetary constraints which means spending less time in the studio. A listener could very demanding course choose to listen to Dream Theater .

Metalship :
Do you have any other projects outside of Karmic Link?

I recently recorded all the keyboards and composed a few songs for the group of Swedish melodic death metal band System Shock and their third upcoming album. On my free time I work on a personal project ambient noise, industrial, called El Gran Orgo . My attention, however, focuses primarily on Karmic Link.

Metalship :
Have you heard the latest album Nightfall? What do you think? Are you nostalgic for this time of your life?

Yes of course I can still remember the days when I repeated the album Lyssa-Rural Gods and Astonishing Punishments with Nightfall as keyboardist session. It was just before the band’s drummer, George Kollias , do join Nile . I gained much experience playing with professional musicians also cheered, and I perform in front of crowds of people. I was a big fan of Nightfall before joining the group, philosophy and the original lyrics of the singer appealed to me much. Things have changed however, and life itself is changing; Karmic Link is my new art project even if the good times I miss them still.

Metalship :
This interview is over. Do you have something to say to the French public before invading our stages?

I would say “La Vie Boheme …” … hehe. My French is very bad but I hope to learn more when we come to concerts and meet our new fans! I also hope that people will enjoy our first album and try to find their own “Karmic Link” that will lead to a happy life and creative ways.

Interview link, click on the box below:

1° May you introduce yourself as a member of Karmic Link :

Hello and thank you for this interview and for your support. This is Stathis Kassios on behalf of Karmic Link.

2° Your new album is entitled “Esoterica”, why did you choose this tune?

Esoterica is the state where few people share information about something that they think is pretty important with high secrecy. According to our concept story there are only two personas sharing this esoteric state. The female protagonist Sandra (also featured in the album’s cover) who starts realizing her troubled life working as a news anchor in a giant media network, and the other male protagonist (her guardian angel?) who is helping her to learn the truth. Only two people in this story share the secrets that help them to escape their mental and body prisons towards liberation. Thus Esoterica is a general term to describe esoteric meanings and gatherings. It can also be used to look through big corporations where important meetings stay out of public knowledge or in political and religious institutions that hide pure truth from the outer world.

3° With the arrival of Evan Hensley, did you change something in your creating process for this album, or do you use the same “recipe” ?

It was the first time that I co-operated with a musician coming from the USA and it was a different and very creative experience overall. Evan brought his personal music influences and style and together we spent a lot of time discussing about the modern role of technology and the power of the modern media. We created an artificial story out of these discussions. The story is taking place in a not so distant future where the aforementioned powers play a great role in shaping the metropolis of the future. The music dressed the lyrics and the story, in a natural flow of simultaneous inspirational stages.

4° You create a concept album, may you tell us a little bit more about this concept, and what attract you in this concept ?

Even though I revealed some of the concept’s details in the previous answer I would like to add that this is not a typical concept story used to criticize technology or modern media in a typical almost cliché way. Esoterica is more of a self – realization trip into the complicated world of human psychology (soul?) which is affected by powers such as vast media information and technological impact. I would also like to give a hint and say that the lyrics for the track “This Affliction” are similar in content to the movie “Holy Mountain” by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

5° To know a little bit more about the album may you tell us some words about these songs (how did you create the music, what do the lyrics deal with, recording…):

- Cold
The female protagonist Sandra is driving her car to another day of job routine. While driving through the city’s highways to reach the media network she feels the coldness around her. The coldness of strangers and single individuals who are packed and isolated in their “metal” cabs. There is no human interaction only personal faceless struggle. Everybody is living in his own little world. She parks her car, she walks towards the company’s stuff elevator in order to access the high security building. She stands still in order for her eyes to be scanned to let her in. On air while telling the news she unexpectedly passes out and falls to the cold ground. The track “Cold” is when our story kicks off…

- Still
A progressed stage in our protagonist’s story. At this point in “Still” (which is my favorite Esoterica track by the way) Sandra has started realizing her present situation in relation to her past life and compares the two inevitably. She is calm sitting next to the ocean. The call of the nature heals her wounds. She hurts inside though because it’s very painful when somebody realizes the bitter truth…

- Twisting Patterns
A very personal angle talking about human relationships and experiences, sex partners, etc. parallel to twisting psychological patterns.

For all these songs I would like to add that I never sit down just to compose music. Somehow over the years I have learned to waiting patiently for my own personal muse to visit me and inspire me to create a new piece of music.

6° What is the song that you like to perform the most ?

Well, this song is not included in our second album “Esoterica” but in our debut album instead “No light but rather darkness visible”. Its title is “Devil’s Dance”. Somebody should dig this song in order to understand why it’s my favorite song when Karmic Link performs live. It’s also an instrumental track.

7° Where did you recorded the album? Why did you choose this place?
That was the most complicated and enjoyable part at the same time. Different recording territories like Sweden, Greece, USA. We recorded keyboards, drums and vocals in Athens. Bass, guitars and some spoken vocals in Sweden. Extra spoken vocals in USA. Because different nationalities were co-operated for this album we had the curse and the luxury to record different sources in different territories. Even though I endured some stress to organize all these album happenings in various times and places I admit that the outcome has satisfied everybody.

8° A special remembrance about the recording time?
During vocal recordings I had many short fights with Mina G. as regard to the production of the vocals. But this is more of a cultural thing when Greeks pick fights all the time. It’s not actually a quarrel so to speak. It’s more of a cultural thing or peculiarity as I said. Hehe…

9° Will you shoot a video clip? For which track?
I am not sure yet. Because of Youtube bands have the opportunity nowadays to generate their own promotional videos. Many of these videos as you may know attract thousands of viewers. Professional videos cost a lot and I would prefer to use the same budget to record another Karmic Link album. I can’t deny though that shooting a new video after the official video we shot for the track “Still here”, is not seriously messing with my mind. Any financial bail – out video package for Karmic Link anyone? Hehe…

10° A word you would like to add?

I would like to add the first prelude featured in the booklet of Esoterica which was written by Evan. It might trigger the reader of this interview to dive into the album’s world!

Prelude
June 19th, 2017;
Dear Mom,
I hope you will forgive me for taking so long to reply to your message. My life has been a wreck lately, and the stress of my job has really been getting to me. Fifteen years out of college and I have finally been promoted to anchor, but I had no idea about the amount of stress this position holds! One of the things they didn’t cover in those journalism classes. However, I know I have made the right decision and that I couldn’t go on chasing leads and filing stories forever. This promotion is a blessing, and despite the stress, I really appreciate Sean (one of the network exec’s… I told you about him, right?) for handpicking me from the rest of the reporters at the network. But life isn’t all about work, is it? Well, that’s what they say, but somehow I still find myself alone on the weekends – so to answer your question before you even ask it, sorry Mom, no new man in my life yet. Well, I need to be getting to the station; hope you’ll be able to watch me tonight!
Love,
Sandra
11° To end our interview we have a special question :
If you have the opportunity to choose between eternal life and to have the power to be in different places at the same time, what would you choose?

I know where you heading with this question… hehe… and my answer is: No I would never choose to be a L.O.S.T. character… I prefer watching the episodes instead of experiencing an uncertain eternal life or living at different places at the same time…
I am wondering though what Karmic Link does right now in a parallel universe!

Thanks for your answers
Best wishes

Thanks.

Full interview available in French too! Copy and paste!

http://lautremonde.radio.free.fr/interview.php?id=374