OCTOBER 12th 2023
OLYMP EXCLUSIVE
Metaltitans own, Metal Mom Rita had the opportunity to chat with Sebastian Tölle, guitarist and vocalist of the German 80's old schoolers influence, mixed with classic speed metal, the band is "OLYMP". Since 2018, OLYMP strives to reach the heights of Olympus and the metal gods with stage experience and epic sound. They have a new release coming this year, and with the exclusive, you can read more about the band, and their upcoming release.
MT: Tell us about how you came to form the band.
Well, we play together now for about 12 years. Olymp started out in 2018 as a side project from our former band Moral Hazard, a female fronted Heavy Metal band. We loved our sound from the beginning on and when Mascha left Moral Hazard in 2019 it was totally clear for us to move on with Olymp.
MT: The name Olymp, how did you choose that name?
We started by jamming around in our rehearsal room and composing the first songs. By that time we didn’t yet have a name but of course we were on search for one. From our experience with Moral Hazard we wanted a short and easy name as we often had problems to explain the name and its pronunciation. We just finished composing a song called “The Messenger”, a song about the legend of Pheidippides, the inspiration for the marathon race. This ancient Greek story inspired us to choose a Greek Mythology theme, which fits well to our raw and unpolished sound. So we came up with the name Olymp, the German word for Olympus, home of the Olympian gods.
MT: Your band members, tell us how each came to be in the band . . .
Even before Moral Hazard Sebastian and Dommi played together in a punk band called The Assault. After The Assault split up, Dommi and Sebastian rented a rehearsal room to start something new, eventually resulting in Olymp.
Dommi and Sebastian knew Armin already from school time. Shortly after renting the rehearsal room, Dommi bumped into Armin and told him about the idea to start a new band, maybe some alcoholic thrash metal like Tankard. Armin was quite enthusiastic about this idea and so he joined Sebastian and Dommi.
While searching for a bassist Armin suggested André Möbius . Prior to Moral Hazard Armin and André both played in Crustcore bands each. From that time they knew each other and fortunately André was very keen on playing the bass. The entering of André kicked off a great friendship of us four.
MT: You have a new album about to be released in CD and Vinyl format to be released Oct 13th, "Hades", how did you come up with that name?
Hades is actually only the name of our first Single and the first song of the album. The album itself is self-titled. However the gate to Hades plays a prominent role in the cover artwork and we like the interpretation that we finally reached the underworld, Hades, with the release of our album, haha.
MT: Who designed the album cover, and did you give the artist some ideas to work with?
The artwork was designed by Giulia Schmidt-Kaiser. Yes, we gave her some ideas with a rough sketch which already included the side kicks you can find in the artwork. For example you can find some references to the album songs like Icarus or Atlantis, the city of gods. You can also guess our favourite beer by looking closely to the artwork. We’re very glad that Giulia created this awesome artwork which by far exceeded all our expectations.
MT: You have 8 tracks on this album, do you yourself have a favourite, and if so why that one?
1. Hades
2. Death And Glory
3. Icarus
4. Hero
5. City Of Gods
6. Pandora
7. Fire And Fury
8. Metal Priest
Oh that’s a tough questions. We love all songs but if you’d ask each band member separately it would probably be a head-to-head race between Icarus and City Of Gods. Both songs are quite versatile and they are so much fun to play. Especially the ending of City Of Gods creates such a good feeling. Not rarely we look at each other after playing this song and someone’s just shouting a loud “fuck yeah!”, haha.
MT: Do you have anyone band or person who had an influence on you growing up ?
Well, it’s more music in general. Of course bands like Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Purple and thrash bands like Slayer and Exodus have a huge influence on us. But in the end it’s about music. It can define and express your mood at the same time and as a whole we can’t pin it down to just one person or band.
MT: Was it a long time from writing the lyrics to putting it in final form?
It depends from what point of view you look at it. Typically, the lyrics are written after the music is finished. Usually the band associates a specific feeling with the sound of the song. We try to capture this feeling with the lyrics, usually by an ancient Greek story. Sometimes the story and the lyrics are found and done within a few hours and sometimes it takes day, weeks or even months to put the lyrics in its final form. That’s how it is with creativity but in the end you have to like what you’re doing and so you shouldn’t be satisfied with half-OK lyrics when singing.
MT: Where there any issues along the way?
Besides Covid-19 which hit us all, the biggest issue was time. The album is completely DIY, we did the records by ourselves and Sebastian did the mixing and mastering. With family and work it took us over a year from the first record to the last record. But we did it and we’re very proud of it.
MT: Who writes the lyrics and where does the inspiration come from?
Sebastian writes the lyrics. His main inspiration is already the mentioned feeling associated with the music of the song. But of course Greek mythology plays a major role. There are so many great stories and strong characters, representing perfectly bright and dark sides of humans. Just perfect for metal!
MT: Does everyone do their own blast beats, riffs or is it done for them and they learn their parts?
We create our songs together in our rehearsal room. The start of writing a song is usually just some jamming around until someone comes up with an idea or a riff. One leads to another by jamming around to that riff and we often come up with a rough framework quickly. The following process is about polishing and working on solos etc. This usually takes some time, at least a couple of rehearsals.
MT: What happens for you guys once the album is released, do you plan on touring ?
Yet, no concrete tour is planned but we’re planning to play some concerts next year in order to promote our album. Also, we’ve already started working on songs for a second album. So there’s more to come from us!
MT: What made you choose the heavy/speed metal?
We didn’t choose heavy or speed metal, the metal chose us! Haha! But honestly, we really didn’t think about playing a specific genre. Of course, we have our influences but we don’t copy any specific style, sound or look. Actually, the influences within the band are wide spread, from Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin over Maiden, Priest to 80ies thrash and even Queen and Punk. We think you can hear that with our unique raw and powerful sound.
MT: Tell us about the band, as I for one, had not heard of you before, so tell us about yourselves.
Olymp is raw and powerful heavy metal with a hint of speed and thrash metal. Listen to us or Hades will get you!
MT: What have you found to be the best part of being in OLYMP ?
Making people happy by creating music while just having an awesome time (and some beers…). That’s the real thing and it wouldn’t be possible without all the dedicated metalheads out there. So thank you very much for supporting us!
Thank you so much for doing this interview with us here at Metaltitans, we wish you much success with your new album.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OlympMetal/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/olympheavymetal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olympheavymetal/
Words, views and opinions expressed in answers are those of the authors and do not reflect necessarily the official position, attitude or position of đ đđ§đđđ đđŚđŚđđđ ᴳᴸᴟᴎᴏᴸ