Interviews About Albums: ILLUMINA A.D. - Days of Blood & Fire (2025)

Illumina A.D. rises from the empty spaces of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the wind carries the scent of creosote, and the land is sacred: blessed and cursed for hundreds of years. A female-fronted metal force, they fuse thrash-fueled ferocity with cinematic, fantasy-infused grandeur. Nepthisis’s voice soars and slashes, a siren guiding listeners through darkness and rebirth. Alexander Bane crafts molten riffs that sting and embrace, Justin Ennis wields searing leads, Justin Cavis hammers unstoppable rhythms, and Austin Von Hentschel anchors the sonic storm. Together, they create music that feels like a frontier funeral procession: heavy, relentless, and gothic in undertones, carrying audiences through shadowed landscapes of loss, fury, and transcendence.

1. Days of Blood and Fire originally launched exclusively on Bandcamp. What was the thinking behind that strategy, and what made you decide to bring it to all streaming platforms now?

We wanted the full album release to feel intimate, almost like inviting someone into a secret ceremony. Bandcamp let us share it directly with fans who’ve followed us for years, people who know the story behind the music and appreciate every shadow and note in the journey. Expanding to all platforms means anyone, anywhere, can step into the darkness with us. It’s about accessibility without losing that personal, handcrafted connection.

2. The album already pulled over 500K views on YouTube before its wider release. What did that early response tell you about how fans were connecting with the material?

It was electrifying and humbling. The sheer number of views, comments, and messages confirmed that people weren’t just hearing the music—they were feeling it. Fans told us the stories mirrored something in their lives: struggle, addiction, rebirth, darkness, beauty. It told us that our sound—a mix of thrash, cinematic melodies, and gothic storytelling—is reaching people hungry for something more than just music; they want an experience.

3. The video for “No One and Nothing” hit a lot of listeners hard, visually and emotionally. What sparked the concept behind that video and how hands-on were you during production?

“No One & Nothing” is about stripping down to nothing, letting go of identity and ego to become everything. We filmed all night long until sunrise in the high desert under a full moon, literally burying the former self in the ground. It was raw and liberating. We packed up our cinematography team at dawn, but every frame is us—Nepthisis, Alex, Ennis, Cavis, and Austin—committed to embodying that void and transformation. It wasn’t just a video—it was exorcism, art, and emotion fused together. We were all incredibly involved and dedicated to this process.

4. Days of Blood and Fire feels like it moves through themes of destruction, transformation, and rebirth. What personal or artistic experiences shaped that narrative arc?

This album is a map of our own survival. We’ve endured lineup upheavals, personal loss, and hiatuses. All of our deeply personal heaviness, intersected with fantasy-driven storytelling to create something both epic and intimate. The desert landscapes, the storms during video shoots, and the visceral experiences of our lives became the heartbeat of the record. It’s metal, yes, but it’s also ritual, catharsis, and reflection.

5. You described the album as a labor of love from writing to mixing to video production. Which phase was the most painful, and which was the most rewarding?

The most painful part was filming “Crystal Grave.” Three days of storms, lightning, pouring rain—physically, emotionally, spiritually exhausting. Yet, the most rewarding was seeing the album and videos come together as a cohesive universe. Watching Nepthisis embody these narratives, the band fully committing, seeing fans respond—it’s pure validation. Every hardship became part of the art.

6. Can you give a track-by-track breakdown of the album? What’s each song attempting to say or confront?

Track Listing:

1. “Incubi Intus” – The nightmares within, speaking to your fears and inner demons.

2. “Days of Blood and Fire” – Witnessing a rising up of those once persecuted. Flames consume you, yet you rise stronger, colder.

3. “Crystal Grave” – Falling to the abyss, seduced by darkness. It is loss, grief, and transformation embodied in sound and story.

4. “No One and Nothing” – Becoming everything through nothingness, stripping down to confront the void.

5. “Our Story’s End” – Toxic love, ruin, and the inescapable pull of destructive patterns.

6. “The Black Guardian” – Rage incarnate, vengeance as an unstoppable force.

7. “Ecdysis” – Instrumental metamorphosis, shedding the old self.

8. “Aperio” – Rebirth, the storm that shapes you—no mercy, no regret.

Each track is a chapter in a story of collapse and ascension, inviting the listener to journey with us through shadow and fire.

7. “Crystal Grave” made waves early as a lead single. Why was that one of the first songs you chose to reveal from the record?

“Crystal Grave” felt like the emotional core of the record, which is why it became one of the lead tracks we chose to share. Everything else on the album circles around that space. The song came out of a very real loss, the death of the biological mother of Alexander’s daughter, and the confusion and emotional fallout that comes with grief that doesn’t have clean answers. It gave us a way to exist inside that uncertainty instead of trying to explain it away.

Nepthisis steps into the role of a siren figure, not to rescue anyone, but to draw them deeper into the darkness so they’re forced to confront it. Musically, the song moves between crushing weight and moments that lift and breathe, reflecting how grief pulls you under and then reshapes you. Heavy and beautiful live side by side. That tension is central to Illumina A.D., which is why “Crystal Grave” carried so much of the album’s weight early on.

8. The album has a cinematic edge that sets it apart. Were you drawing inspiration from film or visual art while creating it?

Absolutely. Southwestern landscapes, storms, high-desert nights, and noir imagery shaped both the music and the videos. We choreograph music like scenes, each riff a camera angle, each beat a heartbeat. Our videos, like “No One and Nothing” and “Crystal Grave,” are extensions of the narrative—raw, immersive, unforgettable.

9. Did you go into this album with a defined sound, or did the sound reveal itself during the writing and recording process?

It revealed itself. We started with thrash aggression and cinematic ideas, but the emotions, personal grief, and stories shaped the music in ways we couldn’t predict. Nepthisis’ vocals became a narrative force, Justin Ennis’ leads cut through the weight with emotion, and Justin Cavis’ drumming propelled us like a storm that cannot be ignored. The album grew organically into a sound that is aggressive, melodic, cinematic, and unflinchingly honest.

10. What role did real-world events or personal battles play in shaping the record? Is this album rooted in fiction, reality, or both?

Personal grief, destructive cycles of love, the Southwestern desert, and our journey as a band all feed the record. “Crystal Grave” is a memorial and a reckoning. “No One and Nothing” is a literal and symbolic rebirth. We let life bleed into art unapologetically, and that rawness is part of the power. The album is rooted in reality, but has been taken into the realm of fiction and fantasy in many regards.

11. Who handled the album artwork, and what story is the imagery meant to tell about the world of Days of Blood & Fire?

We worked together with Mike D’Antonio from Killswitch Engage to create the album artwork for Days of Blood and Fire. The artwork is a reflection of the album’s dualities—destruction and rebirth, darkness and beauty, ritual and chaos. It’s Southwestern noir distilled into visual form, echoing the cinematic and narrative-driven world we’ve built.

12. The album title feels ritualistic. How did you arrive at the phrase “Days of Blood and Fire” and what does it mean to you internally?

The phrase “Days of Blood and Fire” came from our founding member, Alexander Bane. He was thinking about modern life through an old lens, almost a medieval way of naming what we’re living in now. It feels like we’re in an era defined by pressure, conflict, and intensity, where everything is constantly burning or bleeding in some way. You can see it in how people relate to each other. Mental illness, rage, anxiety, addiction, toxic cycles. All of that feels amplified by the times we’re in.

Blood and fire are not abstract ideas for us. They’re physical, unavoidable, and cleansing as much as they are destructive. That duality is at the core of the album. The title didn’t feel forced. It surfaced naturally out of the music, the losses, and the stories we were carrying. It’s about moving through chaos and coming out altered, not untouched, but still standing, still capable of light.

13. You’ve crossed the 500K combined view mark on YouTube already. At what point did you realize this album was resonating beyond your immediate circle?

When strangers from across the world began sending messages about how the songs and videos mirrored their own struggles—that’s when it hit. We knew this wasn’t just local—it was universal. It started to show up and shift people’s life experiences.

14. If you could perform this album front-to-back in one setting that would amplify what the music represents, where would it be and why?

A high desert plateau under a full moon, where the wind carries the storm clouds, and the audience feels both isolation and immersion. In a small chapel by candlelight, while the wind whips outside, everyone is masked for anonymity and to receive a sheer energetic impression.

15. If the album universe were a film, series, or graphic novel, who would direct it or illustrate it?

If this album universe became a film, series, or graphic novel, it would live somewhere between Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro. You’d have Tarantino’s raw, uncomfortable tension and sharp, human dialogue colliding with del Toro’s sense of myth, monsters, and emotional weight. Brutal moments would sit right next to beauty. Violence wouldn’t be clean or heroic, and the surreal would feel personal instead of decorative. It would move through cursed landscapes and intimate, damaged characters, where every scene feels deliberate and heavy, mirroring the music in the same way. Dark, cinematic, and unflinching.

16. Metal has evolved a lot in the last two decades. Where do you feel Days of Blood and Fire lands within today’s landscape?

It bridges thrash, cinematic prog, and melodic brutality. It’s narrative-driven yet visceral, a frontier funeral procession in sound. Aggression, beauty, gothic undertones, cinematic landscapes—this is Illumina A.D. carving its own lane.

17. What was the most unexpected fan reaction so far? Good, strange, or somewhere in between?

Fans sharing their own stories of grief and transformation after watching “Crystal Grave” was unexpectedly intimate. Some said it felt like the video mirrored experiences they had never shared with anyone. That vulnerability hit us hard—it reminds us why we do this.

18. Looking ahead, do you see Days of Blood and Fire as a standalone chapter or the beginning of an ongoing narrative?

It’s the first chapter of a saga. The story of Illumina A.D. is just beginning—there are more rituals, more darkness, more rebirths to come.

19. What do you want listeners to feel once the final track ends and silence hits?

Breathless, shaken, transformed. That moment when the storm is over and you realize something inside you has changed. Reflection, catharsis, and a need to move forward. A catalyst of change and acceptance of what is.

20. Anything the world hasn’t asked yet about this album that really should be asked?

“Will you go through the fire with us?” This album is more than music—it’s a journey, a ritual, a reckoning. We’re grateful to everyone stepping into this world with us. Sing along, feel the wind, the rain, the fire, and the grief.

A Final Note from Illumina A.D.:

We are deeply grateful to every listener, every fan, every person who has stepped into our world. This is cinematic metal with a story, a ritual, and an invitation. Days of Blood and Fire is alive because of you—share it, feel it, and let it transform you. Don’t forget—we’re hitting the road in February and March, and we’ll be representing New Mexico at the Wacken Metal Battle USA. The desert is calling, the storm is coming, and the siren is waiting.

2.1.26 Wacken Metal Battle USA - Austin TX

Regional Round Tour with RōZY and Deep Within

2.20 (Venue Change) World Famous Doll Hut, Anaheim, CA

2.21 The Redwood Bar, Los Angeles, CA

2.22 The Double Down Saloon, Las Vegas, NV

2.23 The Historic El Rey Theater, ABQ, NM

2.25 The 13th Floor, Austin, TX

2.26 BFE Rock Club, Houston, TX

2.27 Reno’s Chop Shop, Dallas, TX

2.28 The Redzone, Lubbock, TX

3.1 The Rockwell Event Center, Amarillo, TX

For fans of: Queensrÿche, Nightwish, Kreator, Behemoth, and cinematic, fantasy-infused metal that hits hard but leaves an echo.