Interviews About Albums: Kilter/Andromeda Anarchia/Growlers Choir/SEVEN)SUNS - La Suspendida (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the  Metal bands Kilter/Andromeda Anarchia/Growlers Choir and SEVEN)SUNS  to ask questions about their collaborative album "La Suspendida". 

1. What can you say about this new EP/CD?

There is so much to say! This double album is the first jazz-metal opera in history. Several groups or entities participated in this opera: The New York jazz-metal trio Kilter composed the music, author William Berger wrote the lyrics (the libretto, as it is an opera), Swiss singer Andromeda Anarchia plays the role of Maria-Elena, the Growlers Choir from Montreal represents the choir of the dead, and the string quartet SEVEN)SUNS.

2. What is the meaning of the EP/CD name?

"La Suspendida" is the name of this opera; it represents the state of the protagonist Maria-Elena, who is literally between two worlds. But more broadly, it's an allegory that concerns us all: we are all more or less suspended between two worlds, as immigrants, or when ill, or between two professional lives. That's why we insist on the term Jazz-Metal: even the sound of the music is somehow suspended!

3. Which one is the composer of the CD/EP?

Kilter is the composing entity of the opera. Specifically, Ed Rosenberg III, Laurent David, and Kenny Grohowski are the composers.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

It's a challenging exercise, as there are 17 different parts, but I would say "Arguments At The Gates Of Death," the moment when Maria Elena and the choir of the dead argue about her willingness to stay in limbo!

5. Is there a special message in this EP/CD? If there is what it is?

I've mentioned it before, but to summarize the theme, this opera is a way of saying, "It's OK to die," whether it's our own death, the acceptance of the death of our loved ones, and also our tendency to want to keep them alive in some way, sometimes obsessively.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

Here are the lyrics of "Song Of the Countess." It's a pause in the argument section, where Maria-Elena explains to the choir of the dead where Dr. Tanzler's obsession with her comes from, and especially what parallels are drawn between the doctor's necrophilic act and our literary references.

Song of the Countess

The Goddess of Love is a fraud and a bitch Ruling the world as a whore divine

With a thousand faces and a name for each And I am her slave, as you, Sir, are mine She’s Venus, Ishtar, Freia, Rati

But worse than you know – she’s also a thief She makes people want what’s not theirs to take And lust for those things that only bring grief:

Caligula fucked his old granny

And Xerxes fell in lust with a tree Pasiphaë chose a bull as a stud,

To name but the worst from antiquity.

All may refuse and reject her decree

Yet all are controlled by her sway;

They may well object or they might agree All that results is that all will obey.

Now I bring you a gift from the Goddess,

Something that’s never before even been. Won’t you be pleased to be forced to commit An awesomely twisted original sin?

We’re sending to you a passion unique A lust more perverse than a bull or a tree... You’ll love a woman who doesn’t exist Yet owned by a mistress who’s yet to be.

We’ve probed your most secret dreams And according to these we’ll craft her

And her flesh will be yours to love Forever and ever, then evermore after

Now I bring you a gift from the Goddess Something that’s never before even been. Won’t you be pleased to be forced to commit An awesomely twisted original sin? And her flesh will be yours to love Forever and ever, then evermore after...

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

Several operas influenced us, such as Wozzek, Peter Grimes, or Madame Butterfly, but also other bands like Meshuggah or Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

We would like to thank the entire team of musicians who worked hard to record this double album!

8. Something to add?

Yes, it's important to note that this opera project exists in two forms on Silent Pendulum Records: as a double vinyl album and CD for the complete version with 17 tracks featuring the full band, and also as an EP under the name Kilter "The Suspended Woman," which includes trio versions of 9 tracks from the opera with 2 songs sung by Andromeda Anarchia.