Carmen: Thank you, I am glad you like Fabula Magna! Mats (our drummer), Fabi (our keyboarder), Jo (our lead guitarrist) and me have been making music together with Coronatus for several years now and I feel that we grow together as a team more and more with each album, which brings our music on in a natural way. In addition to that, this time we tried to bring more diversity to the album as well as more pagan metal elements in our bombast metal sound.

LH: Could you tell us about the recording process for this album? Did you record all the instruments together, or did you lay down the vocal tracks afterwards?

Carmen: No, every instrument is recorded separately, which is the usual way nowadays. Our drummer started and then we played the guitars, afterwards the bass and the keyboard and at the end the vocals (both solo and choirs). By the way, when we enter the studio, the songwriting process has already been finished, whereas many other bands try out lots of things only in the studio.

LH: Do you all contribute equally to the writing process, or are some more involved in the process of writing the lyrics and music than others?

Carmen: Most of us are involved in the songwriting process, which is very important for us and also different to lots of other bands, who often have one main songwriter. About half of the lyrics as well as the majority of the arrangement of the solo and choir vocals are my work, but the guys lay just as many efforts in the music, so we feel that the contribution of everyone of our songwriters is equally important.

LH: There is a fantasy vibe to the music – I re-visited Porta a few weeks ago and my partner’s response was that it’s like something straight out of LOTR! I also understand that you are very much interested in folklore and get a lot of inspiration from books. Could you talk a bit more about this?

Carmen: Sounds as if you like the stuff from our second album, Porta Obscura, too, although we do not sing about orks and elves etc. I guess you mean Cast My Spell and Der Vierte Reiter (the horserider of death). For our current album, Fabula Magna, we searched legends from Germany and all over the world. We had already heard about some of the legends and were eager to learn more about this topic. In addition to existing sagas we invented some stories on our own, e.g. Kristallklares Wasser about a romance between water and fire. Two songs have lyrics from poems which also fit in the context: Flying By (Alone), originally by E.A. Poe, and Est Carmen... about the importance of songs to people.

LH: There is a religious feel to the music in places, for example the introduction to Tantalos with the male choir which also fits in with the cover art for this album. To what extent are you inspired by religious imagery, and do any of you have a religious background where such an interest stems from?

Carmen: We are generally interested in what people believe in or have believed in and what is important to them – love, life, death, force majeure... E.g. Tantalos is about a king in Greek mythology who invites the Gods for a macabre dinner. On our second album, Porta Obscura, we actually had more religious topics, e.g. Am Kreuz about a crucification and Exitus about an excorcism.

LH: There is one track that does sound a bit like the odd one out on the album, which is the last track, Josy. I personally love this track, and was wondering what the idea was behind the song – it actually sounds like a cover!

Carmen: Josy is also a story which we made up: It plays in the 1920s, the time of the prohibition in the USA. A nightclub dancer disappeared and her friend, a waitress, is looking for her and will in fact find her at the end of the song... Our drummer Mats came up with the lyrical and musical idea. The music was 100% made by Coronatus indeed!

LH: I particularly like Lisa’s vocal performance on the track. To me it has quite a raunchy burlesque/jazz theatre sound and so it didn’t surprise me to read that she has some background in musicals. Is it possible she could bring some more of this influence into the band on the next album (I know it’s a bit early to be talking about this yet!)?

Carmen: Lisa is quite a young singer with 19 years only and at this young age it is not clear yet what path she will take.

LH: I mentioned already in my review that I think Lisa Lasch is an excellent replacement and has a strong vocal style that works well beside your own operatic vocals, though also her style is very similar to her predecessor. Did you deliberately look for someone with a similar voice to Ada, or did you have an open mind during the audition process?

Carmen: As I sing the classical vocals, we always look for a second singer which is a good counterpart, namely having a rock voice. Due to the singing technique used in the rock style, the range and sound of the voice is similar.

LH: Lisa is the third vocalist you’ve worked with since you joined Coronatus. Does it make it difficult for you to really progress with your sound when you have to bring in new vocalists, and also do you expect that Lisa is here to stay?

Carmen: Up to now we have had a new rock singer on each album – it is well possible that this trend will continue! I always see it as a chance to bring further freshness in the band and I love to write and adjust singing lines especially for a certain singer.

LH: It’s sometimes easy to imagine the soprano singer being a real perfectionist and wanting everything to go her way, so I must ask – are you difficult to work with? ;)

Carmen: Haha, maybe you should have posed this question to the guys of the band. But well, I am not the boss of Coronatus, only one of the members, nevertheless the other ones have not fired me yet, have they?

LH: You have worked with other bands, for example, you did a guest appearance on the last Brainstorm album. Do you hope to do more collaborations with other metal bands, and are there any on the horizon right now? Are there any bands in particular you would like to work with?

Carmen: The Brainstorm album I sang was Liquid Monster and it was great fun. I also sang on the album Zwei Seelen from Illuminate, who are known in the German darkwave scene. Through the internet and when we play at festivals, like the Metal Female Voices Fest in Belgium 2009, I get in touch with other bands, but I do not like crossing my bridges before I come to them.

LH: You have performed as a soloist in various choirs prior to joining Coronatus, and I am guessing you trained as a soprano from a young age and have more of a classical background. I was wondering how you first started listening to metal and in particular how you came to bring the two styles together? Were there any other bands or vocalists that particularly inspired you in the beginning?

Carmen: How funny, most people think I started with classical music first! It was the other way around, though. I always sang and was active in music, but when I started listening to metal as a teenager in the middle of the 90s and loved bands like Doro, Theatre of Tragedy and later also Nightwish, I decided to learn singing very thoroughly and so I ended up in the classical studies. These days I never thought about a contrast between classical singing and metal, as there are high and melodic vocals in power metal, too!

LH: I was interested to read that you played the guitar in one of your previous bands Fangorn. Do you still play, and do you think it ever likely that you will play the guitar again either within Coronatus or in another “side” band?

Carmen: Yes, I was an e-guitarrist in bands before I became a singer in bands. It was also in the middle of the 90s that I started learning the guitar and played it with Fangorn and Mighty D. With Coronatus, I sometimes played the second guitar live, but quit playing it when my daughter was born in 2008. I am happy that we have a new second guitarrist with Coronatus now: Aria Keramati Noori from Iran.

LH: At the moment the only tour dates I can see listed on your website are in Germany. Do you have any plans to visit the UK?

Carmen: It is difficult for concert organisers to pay us the travel costs for long distances. But maybe we are lucky and can play at the next Femme Metal festival? Put in a word for us :-)

For more on the band check out http://www.myspace.com/coronatus

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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