Ottone Pesante Interview

 

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Ottone Pesante is an instrumental, experimental trio with the following lineup: trumpet, trombone and drums.

We started the project almost 10 years ago with the idea to explore the possibilities to play as heavy as we can with our instruments. OP released 3 albums (Blasphemy Set In Stone, Apocalips, DoomooD), 2 EPs (Ottone Pesante, …and the Black Bells Rang) and one Split. We love to perform live and we played around 500 shows all over Europe. 

2.Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

Our musical style is always evolving. 

On this record we used different musical styles in order to make the listener perceive the concept behind the album. You can find some very heavy riffs tracks (Late Bronze, Sons Of Darkness, Teruwah) some more cinematic (Battle of Qadesh), something more orchestral (Men Kill) and others totally crazy (Slaughter, Seven). All these different styles of songs are melted together to make the listener understand the idea behind the project and this album. 

3.The band avoids the use of any traditional metal instruments but still maintains an aggressive style, can you tell us a little bit more about the decision behind using brass instruments?

We (Paolo and Francesco) started the band ‘cause we were (are) big metal fans but we play trumpet and trombone…we had the idea to combine these two passions and try to make heavy music with a totally strange lineup for this genre. After almost 10 years we’re still enjoying it a lot and we are full of ideas to work on. We’ve found that brass instruments works very well with effects and still maintains a very distinctive sonic character.

4.The lyrics on the new recording are a concept album, can you tell us a little bit more about the story you have covered with the new release?

Scrolls of War is the first chapter of a trilogy about the history of brass.

The concept of the album takes inspiration from a document dated I century AC found in Qumran (Palestine) found at the end of the ’40s of 20th century. In this document is written in a very precise way how the final battle between the army of the lights against the army of darkness will be. There are many references to how the battle will take place and how the brass instruments plays a fundamental role in accompanying it. We thought it was a sign of how history continues to repeat itself incessantly considering the lates war regarding the areas in which this document was found..

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

The artwork is made by Alessandro Canu, an italian artist who collaborated with some bands we know and we had immediately the idea to ask him for the cover art. We told him the concept behind this record and what came out was just great. We love that cover and it’s perfect for that record, It lets you fully get into the idea of ​​the album.

6.On the new album you also had a couple of quests, can you tell us a little bit more about who they are and also their contributions to the recording?

We have the honor to have 2 very special guest on this album: Lili Refrain and Shane Embury.

We always wanted to collaborate with Lili and on “Battle Of Qadesh” we found the right song to do it. The contribution of Lili is stunning and absolutely fundamental. 

Shane Embury appears on “Late Bronze Age Collapse” playing synths in a very unique way. We met him in 2016 during a festival in Italy (SoloMacello) and we immediately became friends. For this track we asked him if he wanted to add some strange and crazy sounds and he accepted. The result is just fantastic in our opinion. 

7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

One of our best show was at Brutal Assault 2022, we had a great audience on that particular event and it will always be in our hearts.

The live performance of OP is very intense: we really like to perform and we certainly don’t save energy when we do it.

8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

We’ll be on tour from the 17th of October

17/10 Lubjana (SLO)

18/10 Budapest (HU)

19/10 Ostrava (CZ)

20/10 Prague (CZ)

21/10 Plzeň (CZ)

22/10 Leipzig (DE)

23/10 Bischofswerda (DE)

24/10 Wroclaw (PL)

26/10 Urbino (IT)

21/11 Donaueschingen (DE)

22/11 Dour (BE)

23/11 Hilversum (NL)

24/11 TBA

25/11 Aachen (DE)

26/11 Rostock (DE)

27/11 Hamburg (DE)

28/11 Hildesheim (DE)

29/11 Kassel (DE)

30/11 Halle (DE)

9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of underground metal?

The reaction is usually pretty good, a lot of metal fans or even non metal fans like our music.

We make heavy music but in a different way, this allows even very different listeners to enjoy what we do.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We still don’t know exactly, we have many different ideas about it.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

OP music is influenced by the metal we listened to: from Messhuggah to Carcass, from Napalm Death to At The Gates, Katatonia…

We include different musical inspirations like avant-garde music, ambient, brass bands and electronic music too.

Nowadays: Colin Stetson, Liturgy, Gridlink, Ex-Eye, Sons of Kemet..

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

With OP we hope to inspire other musician to think outside of the box and create something never heard before.

Thanks a lot for this interview and for showing interest in our music, we really appreciate it!

www.ottonepesante.it