The latest album from the Austrian symphonic power metal band Dragony is Hic Svnt Dracones. Vocalist Siegfried Samer fills us in on some lineup changes, the new record, touring and other topics.
Chad Bowar: How did your newest members, guitarist Mat Plekhanov and drummer Chris Auckenthaler, come to join the band?
Siegfried Samer: In both cases it was a matter of life just changing for our previous members Andreas and Frederic. Andi moved away from Vienna due to a new job and also started his own family, so there was not enough time left to keep up with a band like Dragony. And something similar happened with Frederic as well, as personal and job issues kept him from being available for the band.
We were lucky to find Mat, who was already working with us behind the scenes on the previous album <em, and Chris played some shows with us last summer, including our Mexico tour in October 2023, and since the chemistry between them and us was great, we invited them to join the band as new permanent members.
How did the songwriting process for Hic Svnt Dracones compare to your previous albums?
The songwriting process was pretty similar to our previous albums in that one of us, usually either me, Mat or Manuel, would come up with a basic idea for a song, and then I’d work on it together in the studio with our producer Frank, to finish the whole arrangement and do the pre-production. Then, everyone would go on to record their parts, orchestration is added where it’s needed, and then the whole thing goes off to mix and mastering.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Definitely meeting our deadlines! (laughs) We needed to finish all recordings by the end of February in order to have enough time for mix and mastering, so that was quite a challenge – which also led to our friend Roland Navratil (ex-Edenbridge, ex-Sirenia) recording the drums for us and not Chris, as at the time, our drummer Frederic’s future in the band was still uncertain.
You’ve worked with producer Frank Pitters on all your albums. What is it about his style that works so well with the band?
We like that he really “gets” what Dragony is all about, which is classic European power metal, and as of late mixed with some more contemporary modern power metal as well. He has a penchant for good song structures and usually complements my songwriting style very well, which is focused on catchy lead vocal melodies and basic harmonies, and Frank will then add a few wrinkles and fine touches to the songs in order to spice them up.
How did Jacob Hansen come to mix and master the record?
That was really a last-minute change so to speak, as originally we had planned to work together with Seeb Levermann from Orden Ogan again, who had already mixed and mastered our previous album. But Seeb was working on his own band’s album at the time and they were also going on tour, so mixing our album on the side would have been a bit tricky. So luckily, Jacob Hansen was available on short notice, and as you know he’s one of the premier sound engineers in the metal scene today, so he also did a fantastic job with our album.
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
I think after the pandemic and the recent geo-political changes, inflation hit all walks of life – but especially when it comes to producing an album and all the things that come with that like songwriting, pre-production, recording, mixing and mastering, but also artwork, videos and merchandise; everything just got a lot more expensive since the release of our previous album, so it was quite a challenge to finance the production of the album this time. But between the support from our label, a crowdfunding campaign and also some funding from Austrian music support institutions, we were able to pull it off thankfully.
What’s the album’s concept?
Just as with our previous album Viribus Unitis, we once again take an “alternate history” approach for the concept of the album, but the journey this time goes into the late 16th century, to the times of British privateers like Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake, and the intended colonization of the North American continent by the British. It focuses on the mysterious “Lost Colony” of Roanoke Island in today’s North Carolina, but in our version of the story, the British colonists vanish as they are spirited away in a Jules-Verne-like twist to a “land forgotten by time” where dinosaurs (so: dragons!) still live, but where they also encounter Viking tribes who had experienced a similar journey over thousand years before. Finally, both British colonists and Viking warriors are confronted with the events of the Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods in Norse mythology.
All in all, you could say that with this concept, we wanted to combine all of the currently most popular clichés and tropes of power metal like pirates, Vikings, Norse mythology and also dinosaurs on one album and create “The Most Power Metal” album of the year!
How did Bjorn from Ye Banished Privateers and Ambre from Xandria’s appearances come about, and what did they add to the album?
I’ve actually known Silent Jim from Ye Banished Privateers for some time, we also did a lot of streaming on Twitch together during the pandemic, and we also played some shows together with the Privateers over the years. Björn was always super nice, and when it became clear that we would need someone to play accordion for some of the new songs, it was a natural choice to ask him.
The same goes for Ambre from Xandria, really, as I’ve known Ambre for a long time already, even from the times before she joined Xandria as their new singer. So when Xandria came back with her on vocals, we started discussing some ideas about possible cooperation some time down the road, and this time things worked out and she added a really fantastic performance to the song “Dreamchasers.”
How has your sound evolved from Viribus Unitis?
I think that both on a songwriting level, individual performance level and production level, Hic Svnt Dracones is another step up from Viribus Unitis, which many already consider our best album until now. I think we were able to top that one this time, and I’m sure that a lot of the new songs will find a permanent spot in our live setlists going forward!
How did you come to sign with SPV/Steamhammer?
We were already signed with Napalm Records for Viribus Unitis, and since SPV has been part of the Napalm family for several years now since Napalm purchased them, Napalm decided to take the option for another album with Dragony, but both labels decided together that we’d be a better fit for SPV, which I tend to agree with, as our sound is a bit more “old school” than that of a lot of bands that are currently signed to Napalm proper. So far, the experience with SPV has been great and we look forward to working with them in the future!
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
Of course we hope that it sells even better than Viribus Unitis, as this will decide if and when we will be able to start production on a new album again! As I mentioned, the costs of production have gone up insanely due to the inflation, so for a smaller band like us who is not regularly headlining festivals or playing big headline tours, making all those expenses back is quite challenging. And of course we’re also hoping for some chart entries, so we hope that a lot of people go ahead and pre-order the album to help us with that, haha!
How were the video shoots for “Beyond The Rainbow Bridge” and “Twilight Of The Gods”?
Those were super fun – we did both shoots with our friend Tamas Künsztler, who really put in a lot of effort to make us look good. We also had a great location for the shoot of “Beyond The Rainbow Bridge.” It’s the castle ruin in Pottendorf, which is about a forty minute drive outside of Vienna, in Lower Austria. Playing in the abandoned courtyard of the house was really amazing, especially since we could capture those shots with a drone, which adds a feeling of surrealism to the video I think.
And the shoot for “Twilight of the Gods” was also fun, even though it was a bit more exhausting, as we were working with some water/rain elements, and had to do a bunch of takes while getting a lot of water showered into our faces, definitely a different kind of experience!
You have a few shows coming up. What are your tour plans for 2025?
We are currently working on more tour dates for 2025, we just confirmed a two-week European tour as special guest for Serious Black in March, we have a few festival shows coming up, and are of course always interested in additional bookings, as we really want to take our new album on the road, something we were not really able to do for Viribus Unitis right after its release, as it released in the middle of the pandemic and live shows were not really a thing back then unfortunately.
With five albums under your belt now, how challenging is it to put together a set list?
Very! Because of course we want to showcase as many of the new songs as possible in order to get people interested in the new album, and because we think those are some of the best suitable songs for live we have so far; on the other hand, you also want to keep your long-time fans happy by playing some of the classics, or even some deep cuts from older albums which have rarely been played live. So for the coming shows, we’ve decided to add some tracks from previous albums which we’ve never played live to the set as well, just to keep things fresh and interesting. But of course some band classics like “Lords of the Hunt” or “If It Bleeds We Can Kill It” will be in our live sets forever, I think!
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
In general, we’re pretty much a band of geeks – so we like things like video games, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic The Gathering and all other sorts of nerdy stuff! I personally also enjoy going to the gym as I’ve discovered weights training as basically the only type of sport I really like, haha!
What’s currently in your heavy musical rotation?
The new Myrath album “Karma”, as well as always some Beast in Black and Battle Beast for workouts at the gym!
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
We hope that the fans out there really enjoy our new album “Hic Svnt Dracones” as much as we do, and that we can meet a lot of them out on the road at the upcoming live shows! Stay glorious!
(interview published October 10, 2024)
