LS - There is not a direct connection between the band' s name and the concept of the new album and there is not an overall message at all. We choose it for moniker because it represents for Strindberg what Inferno represents for us, a way to reach an higher level of comprehension...and also because it sounds well. Through this band's music I' m trying to comprehend myself as a man and as an artist. Inferno doesn't inspire me because it is inspiration itself...I mean that when I wrote the lyrics, especially for Arcane Knowledge Revealed, our first album, strange forces trapped within Strindberg's words came out to told me how to explain feelings lost inside that book, a sort of alchemy between me and his story; a pathway towards his private ‘inferno.’ Spiritual travelling and the eternal search of a reason for the ‘myth of existence’ is the engine that moves us all every single day of our life, so writing the lyrics for Ubi Secreta Colunt, as Strindberg wrote his monumental autobiographic book, fulfilled our thirst for inner-knowledge, maybe I'm a little more straight to comprehend my role in this world.

LH: One thing I wasn’t 100% sure of, was whether Le Mirage De L’Ideal in some way follows on from the first album, or whether this is again connected and based in some way upon the above mentioned subject. It certainly has the feel of a concept album, could you shed some light on this?

LS - Some people says that our concept, our lyrical orientation is based on occultism and alchemy but this is absolutely wrong: for the first album, as you say, we based the concept on Strindberg' s biographical opus Inferno that contains also themes of occultism but for the lyrics I focus my attention on his instable condition, the struggle he fight against himself. In fact Le Mirage De l' Ideal follows on that way: this time I've written the lyrics on the entire life and literary production of Charles Baudelaire. The perpetual search of the meaning of life and how can we reach that meaning is the ‘Ideal’. The word ‘Mirage’ came in my mind in a second time: this search is a spiritual journey that make us all pilgrims in a darkened labyrinth. This maze is the life and no one can reach the light during lifetime, in my opinion. So, I'm convinced that this wandering, during lifetime, is nothing but a mirage. We can comprehend the meaning of our existence only in the moment of death, when we are near to the end of our life. But, at the same time, this journey is real and concrete, 'cause we live, we cry, we laugh, we experience pain and we give pain to others....So you can read the title like as an ironic metaphor of our life.

LH: Depending on which way you look at it, there is either plenty of scope within the subject to bring out numerous albums and keep bringing out fresh ideas, or else this could be limited to only a couple of albums. I was wondering how far you plan to go with the project in sticking with Swedenborgian theory and related themes?

LS - I really don't know...first of all, the concept about Swedenborgian theory ends in our first album, maybe in the future I'll continue my researches and studies on his work, but just for myself and not to put them on lyrics for the band. I'm very interested in every kind of literature, especially from the XVIII century. Baudelaire' s operas was perfect to explain the concept of this record. But as I say before, I really don't know on what our next works will be based on because inspiration is pure only when it comes spontaneously...

LH: How much inspiration did you take from the other works, and how much of the music/lyrics/concept is your own interpretation of it?

LS - Baudelaire' s life and his books are the roots of my inspiration, the colours and the shades where my visions take form. Every song is inspired by a particular thought or phrase of Baudelaire’s writing: soon I'll post an exhaustive explanation about the lyrics of this album on our web page because it's too complicated and too long to be explained in an interview.

LH: As I mentioned, the album certainly feels like a concept album – there is that flow between tracks and the neat structure. Also there are strong feelings of tragedy and despair, madness and paranoia and even towards the end of the album quite a cosmic vibe to the music. Was this what you were aiming to put across in the music, and could you elaborate on how you achieved such a sound?

MZ – I love reverbed sound; I was a shoegazer before I discovered the shoegaze genre! I just built the sound only following my musical taste and sensibility. Some people has criticized the production because the sound is too much reverberated, but they ignore that this feature was totally intentional.

LH: I find the music very poignant; not least in the vocals and the mesmerising guitar work! Would you say that emotion is a key ingredient to your sound?

MZ - Basically music could be in two directions: emotional and moody or mathematical and technical. I’m inclined to the first direction, so my music it’s totally emotional before the technique.

LH: You are involved with a number of bands including Urna and Locus Mortis, who are perhaps the better known of your bands. How do you divide your time between your various projects, and do you need to be in a certain frame of mind to contribute to each respective project?

MZ - I have to admit that is a difficult choice, but I try to spend my time in the best way possible so I can find the time to dedicate to each project with the same attention. I hope that in future I can continue in this way, but our lives change rapidly so nothing can be excluded unfortunately.

LH: This also gives the impression that you are a highly creative and involved person within the scene. Aside from making music, do you have any other involvement such as on the production or artwork side of things?

MZ – Yes I love to take care of the production of my own work because I think is the better choice for a musician to make himself his own sound. The study at musical academy and the experience made with my band has permitted me to learn many thing about sound engineering and now I’ve extended the collaboration with other bands that ask me to mix their album. About the artwork, I’m not a professional graphic designer, I have made the Arcana Coelestia one with the help of LS but it was an exception. I’m really satisfied with it, I think it’s the best artwork that I ever had so far for my projects, maybe in future I can continue in this way, to assemble myself the booklet for my bands.

LH: How was the experience of recording the album in the studio? Was it a fairly quick process or did you take your time?

MZ – I record the album in my own studio, I hate to go in other studios because I hate to play instruments with other people that are present in the recording room. Basically I prefer to record in an intimate location taking all the time that I need to play the best I can for the recording. The recording process were very slow, like two guitar lines a day because I prefer to concentrate myself to few materials at a time and working in relaxed environment.

LH: There is alleged to be a cursed aura surrounding Strindberg’s work. Did you feel like you were cursed at any point when working on the project, and could you elaborate on this curse?

LS - Very interesting question. Well...This record was ready to be finished in June 2008 but many problems began since that month. First of all a very strong infection to my vocal chords; for six months I was completely unable to sing, even to speak in some days...a very frustrating situation because I was ready to record the vocals for the album and, simply, my voice wasn't there! In the early days of December 2008 I was completely recovered but a lot of problems was there waiting for me; just some examples, such as the roof of the house where I record the vocals that fell down after three days of raining, or a car crash that involved me the day before the recording session...and the list goes on! So, maybe I' m suffering the curse of the first album about Strindberg' s Inferno! In this case, I hope that Le Mirage De L' Ideal is my redemption...

LH: On ‘The Delirium’ there are some spoken passages, which are spoken in your native Italian. Could you explain what these spoken parts are about?

LS - The first part of the song introduces the listener to a particular scene, that the paint of Viktor Oliva on the booklet explains very well: a man (a poet in this case) who is trying to find inspiration, or simply himself, in a journey create by his own mind by using drugs and alcohol. I take inspiration for this first part of the song from Baudelaire' s book ‘Les Paradis Artificiels’. The lyrics in this first part sounds like a pray of a man who is really scared by is weakness. But in the second part of the song, where I recite Baudelaire's poem ‘Le Confiteor De L' Artiste’, he realize that his weakness is also his only way to elevate himself from the depths where human beings lies since the dawn of all times. But what is this weakness-strength? There in not an answer, not only one at least...This song, this lyrics, gave me the opportunity to explore some themes such as faith, devotion to nature and the birth of inspiration but...now I got more question about it than before! This is not a bad thing but if someone will find the lyrics of this one ‘incomplete’ is because this is just the beginning of a long journey and maybe the next album of Arcana Coelestia will be its second step.

LH: There are some amazing female vocals on ‘The Tragedy’ that I think fit the music well, and particularly as they are not particularly a main feature in your music. Who provides these vocals, and is she known from any other bands?

LS - A very good friend of mine, Francesca, provides these amazing vocals on ‘The Tragedy’ and she's not involved in the metal scene (whatever ‘metal scene’ really means...) or with other bands. When I listen to this song, now that the album is complete, I' m very proud of it. She gives to this song an ethereal aura that you can feel deeply inside yourself, like a strange sense of calm and purity among the deafening noise of chaos and uncertainty.

LH: Clearly you are influenced by doom/shoegaze acts some that spring to mind are Alcest, Esoteric and My Dying Bride, yet I would say you have a unique sound. Would you say you believe that a new band should have something new to contribute to a scene, or do you consider music to be purely about self-expression and that you shouldn’t try too hard to do something unique?

MZ – If a people listen music from few years it’s normal that there isn’t any interest about the renewal of the music, but for people like me that listen metal (and not only) from many, many years it’s normal to search for new sounds and evolving the genre, so I think it’s very important to contribute to the musical scene with new ideas. I like traditional bands that make honest music, but the bands that are really stunning for me are the bands that have an avant-gardistic attitude, a personal sound and merge new features to the traditional schemes.

LH: I can’t help but notice a lot of collaboration between various bands on ATMF. It seems like you’re all one big (un)happy family! I was wondering if you have any involvement with the running of the label, or else how did you come to sign with ATMF?

MZ – Yes we make a sort of ‘inner circle’ of old-school memory, hehe; we know them and them know us, so it’s natural to establish a useful cooperation between us, we work all together for a common aim. To answer to the second part of the question, not I’m not involved directly with ATMF, my collaboration it’s only external and it has nothing to do with internal questions of the label.

LH: The label have recently been subject to a certain amount of controversy, with a well-known UK magazine making claims that label mates Janvs are affiliated with right wing politics. I did notice that you had posted the incident on your MySpace blog with regards to the issue of censorship. Personally, whether or not you agree with their political standpoint, and whether the band even spoke about politics (which I don’t believe they even did), for a magazine claiming to be ‘extreme metal - no boundaries,’ to censor such views is, to me, absurd! I was wondering if you care to speak on the matter and give us your opinion on the issue.

MZ – I don’t know if all the press is subjected to political censorship, I don’t know so well this world to formulate a generic judgement about it. The episode regarding Janvs was really squalid because many famous bands (we all know what bands they are) with explicit Nazi apology had big pages on the magazine that you’ve named. The only difference is that these Nazi bands allow the magazine to sell many copies because they are famous, Janvs has not the same popularity so it was easier to apply censorship without loss. I think that this is a squalid calculation that should not exist on a magazine that have the arrogance to define themselves as extreme. It’s not my duty speaking about Janvs’ concept or to defend them, but reading the lyrics on the booklet I can’t absolutely define them as a NSBM band. Maybe they have suffered the censorship only because for the above-mentioned magazine their lyrics are high-cultured with serious intentions, while the other Nazi band that were hosted on the magazine pages are only innocuous clown that make Nazi propaganda only to provoke some narrow minded teen.. I can continue to speak more about it, but this argument is disgusting so I prefer to stop here.

LH: I don’t see any shows lined up at the moment, but I was wondering if you have any intention of doing a tour and in particular visiting the UK?

MZ – For now any live is programmed, maybe in future if we be able to assemble a decent line-up.

LH: Thanks for your time and all the best! Feel free to leave a parting message to our readers’.

MZ – Don’t follow trends but only personal needs. Best regards to all from Italy.

For more on the band check out http://www.myspace.com/arcanacoelestia
http://www.atmf.net/

Interviewed by Luci Herbert

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