Between Parallel Worlds - Interview with Glenn Drover

Canada has seen some good bands develop over the years with the likes of some awesome Power, Thrash Metal acts such as, Razor, Sacrifice, DBC, Savage Steel, Annihilator, Anvil, and now Eidolon. Eidolon are not a new band as some of you may already think, in fact this band have been around since 1993 by brothers Shaun and Glenn Drover (Both of which are now in Megadeth), and with the release of their debut album 'Zero Hour', which to me is a cult classic, their best album of previous releases. Why? Well it was a self financed release which was so powerful in the production and song writing and the songs reminded me of Sanctuary/ Nevermore meets King Diamond. Not to also forget that Glenn was also the guitarist for King Diamond 'House Of God' album. Since the release of their debut album the band have continued to grow with each album. Their original former singer Brian recorded 4 albums with the band. Was later on replaced by Pat Mulock to the ranks before leaving after 2 albums. Now the band are back with a vengeance and harder than ever which doesn't surprise me with new vocalist Nils K Rue (Pagans Mind) to the ranks. 

The bands new album 'The Parallel Otherworld' released on Escapi Music, sees the band moving forward with a strong approach. I managed to have a chat with Glenn about the new album and how Nils became the new front man for the band. Here is was Glenn had to say.

Hi Glenn, damn bro, its been ages since we last spoke, it's good speak to you again. I'd like to start by asking you, looking back at the previous albums Brian on vocals, which would you say is you're favourite album and why? What about the least favourite? 

Well I would have to say that the 'Nightmare World' is probably the best album with Brian on vocals. I think it is because it is the most consistent album and it also features his strongest vocals. Before that on the debut album, there was some good stuff on their as well, but later on the music tended to head towards a more aggressive approach and he had to try to accommodate that and deliver it to an equal strength. On the 'Seven Spirits' album, I don't think we achieved that and on the 'Nightmare World' he stepped it up a bit, which he did a pretty decent job. I think there was a lot of good songs on that album and it was also our first album for Metal Blade, so we were excited about that."

Do you still see Brian? What about Chris you're old bass player? Also what about Slav, the 2nd guitarist on the debut album?

"As a matter of fact I just saw him a few nights ago. He has a band now with a guitarist who has a lot of influences from the European style of metal, the True Metal sound. The guitarist was looking for a singer that this time and Brian had just left our band, so I recommended Brain to him, as I thought his voice would be more adaptable for the guitarist work he was doing. So I played him the 'Nightmare World' album and he liked Brian's voice. The band are called '7th Reign' and they are finishing recording their debut album. As for Chris, he is playing Punk style of music now, kind of like The Ramones', it more of a fun thing for Chris. As for Slav, I didn't talk to him for years when he left the band, I think he was influenced by people who didn't know what they were talking about and I think its only been over the last few months that we have contacted each other. Everything is now cool between us. We may even do something together later on when I have the time."

"I believe that you're debut album was re-released as a bonus CD along side 'Apostles Of Defiance' through Metal Blade, tell me more about that please."

Well we decided to re-release it at some point, it was just a matter of time when we would release it again. I think it was the right choice to release ti with 'Apostles Of...' album as a extra CD for our fans. It has not been re-released for North America market yet but we will wait and see what happens."

You're 2nd album 'Seven Spirits' was re-released on Pulse Records who seemed to ripped you off, what went wrong there?

"Well we released that album our self's at the beginning, and then they offered to release it for us with bonus trax. There is talk about us re-releasing that but we are not sure they."

How did you hook up with you're 2nd front man Pat Mulock? Why did he also leave after only 2 albums? I personally didn't think his voice was powerful enough for you're music, but that's just my opinion.

"Well on a whole Pat had a much stronger voice than Brian had. I really liked what he did on those two albums, but what happened was there were personal things that weren't happening as well as live things too. So I think what happened was, so I think we did need somebody who has more diverse in terms of the reflection of the music. We tend to have a few things going on in our music, so we needed somebody who could do a great job with different dynamics. Pat is a great singer , but we need somebody who had more of a rang and now we have taken care of that once and for all."

What about the 2 albums that Pat recorded with you, which is you're favourite CD?

"Well I like them both, I like 'Coma Nations' for certain reasons but then again I also like 'Apostles of...' for other reasons too!! I think the 2nd album is more consistent album, but I think 'Coma Nation' has some songs that I feel were a big accomplishment for us."

Things were pretty slow for the band in finding a suitable label when first signing to Metal Blade, why do you think it took so long for you to sign to them?

"Well we are a band that have not tour much and I think it worked pretty quickly for us. We have been more of a recording band for pretty time we have been together. I think after we did the 1st album Horst from 'Heavy Order Was' played the CD to Metal Blade (Germany) and I think Mike from Metal Blade liked the debut album, but when it came to releasing the 'Seven Spirit' CD they we not as found as they were for the debut album. We thought the 2nd album was the 1 that would get us the deal, and it didn't and then we did the 'Nightmare World' and we sent that to Metal Blade and this time around they liked it."

In the end you parted ways with Metal Blade, what went wrong?

"I don't think anything went wrong, we signed a deal for 5 albums and we recorded just them for the label. I don't think we fit into their roster any more, I don't think that we fit into the style of bands that they have now on their label. We spoke to Ole Bang and asked him if he knew any labels that would be more suitable for our music. We do what we do and on our terms, so I really don't think we fitted in with their roster, we so parted. We are happy with those albums, but now it's time to move on!!"

So you now signed to Swedish label 'Escapi Music', how did that come about? Also what other labels are you signed to for America and Japan?

"We have signed for a 1 album deal and we will see what happens with this album. We have to do this in between Megadeth as we are so busy with them right now. Since we joined the band Shaun and myself it has changed our lives so we don't have the time to do the sings we use to do, which is fine as when we finish touring and recording we have the time to concentrate on Eidolon. Things with Escapi have been going really we so far, so it's just a matter of time to see if things work out for another record in the future. It was Ole who had mentioned them to us and he got the deal with 'Force Of Evil' & 'Candlemass', so it kind of came from there. We did this just before I joined Megadeth, and we wanted the album out in June 2005, but because Shaun and myself joined Megadeth things were put on hold. So we had to finish recording the album in between touring, that's why it didn't come out till 2006. Well Escapi Music have pretty much good distribution world-wide."

So how did you find out about Nil from Pagans Mind? He is a great singer and I wasn't sure how well he would adapt to your music.

"Well we knew we wouldn't be able to please everybody in finding the right choice of singer, but were do you go with a guy like this? He is an awesome singer!! He is pretty much 1 of the best, he is so varied and such a naturalist with his voice and very strong. The whole thing started when I heard his voice on the Pagans Mind CD's, I heard the 'Celestial Entrance' album & I wanted to do a project with him and we started talking about it, but when we let Pat go I knew Nil's would be the perfect replacement. I was talking to Nils about the project and in the end I told him that it would be much better if he could sing for Eidolon. He liked the idea of joining the band. We are all happy with what we have done in the past and to get a guy like this in the band was a blessing for us!! He can sing anything that we throw at him and he does it so well. He has added a new dimension to the band & style to a certain degree. I am so proud of this album and I'm sure the fans will think the same too.

Where was the album recorded? You're own studio as usual?

I am so happy with the production on this album as well, it has been something we have been trying to accomplish for some time now. This album was recorded in 3 studios actually. The drums were done in Sweden, the vocals were done in Norway and the rest was done at my studio. I mixed and mastered the album at my studio which I'm really happy about.  Nils sent his vocals files through a STP server through the net. I can't believe the overall sound of the album when u listen too it in today's world of computers. Before this I had always feared things would go wrong with computers. The drums were done in Pro-Tools and I had it to, so we decided to give it a try. I think the quality of the album speaks for its self."

I really couldn't figure out how well Nils vocals would sound in Eidolon, but to my amazement they turned out awesome!!

"Thanx Jase, I had a gut feeling that Nils would bring us to a new level and he did on this new album."

Moving on now Glenn, tell me a little bit about the title of the album, 'Parallel Otherworld', who came up with the title and were there any other titles that you were considering?

"Well Nils came up with the title, you see Nils was the one who wrote all the lyrics and all the song titles for the 1st time in the bands career. It has always been Shaun who has come up with the titles and lyrics for the band.  That is also another thing too, having somebody new in the band brings new ideas with them. He gave us a new dimension within the band. We did have some other titles for the album, but I can't remember them from the top of my head, but we do have 5 titles which are on my computer."

As we're talking about the new album, is there any songs that you particularly like or dislike and why?

"Well there is not 1 song on the new album that I dislike, to be completely honest I love every song on the album. I really happy with the way the songs, production and writings is on this album. I'm proud of all our albums, but this 1 is the best we have done to date."

What period of time did it take to record the album?

"Well we started to record the album in October of 2004 and finished in 2006."

Looking at the artwork for the album, it reminds me of the same guy who did the Alien & Celtic Frost covers, was it the same guy who did you're new album cover?

"No it wasn't the same guy who did the Alien cover, but I can see the resemblance for sure!! The new album cover was done by the same guy who did the last 4 albums, his name is Yan. He has done a few bands on Metal Blade and he started working with the band on the 'Nightmare World' album, with the guy with the chains etc... from that album onwards Shaun came up with the concepts and he would talk to Yan about his ideas and of course he would print some ideas that Shaun had talked about. I'm happy with the artwork, I think it is great!!"

Do you think the artwork been dark it has reflected on the music for the new album, making you guys sound heavier in some way or another?

"No I don't think it has really, We'll I guess it has some elements to it, but we didn't purposely make it out to be like that in any way I guess it just happened."

I noticed that this album also features a Mercyful Fate cover 'The Oath', it has really Nils vocals on that track? he sounds too close to King Diamond, it's awesome!! Also do you think that the song could of been a bonus track were you could of added another Eidolon song?

"Yes it is him, he is just incredible!! If you listen too Pagan's Mind cover song off 'At The Graves', which is also a sick version too, it's awesome!! Hew grew up on them and he can mold his voice around pretty much anything really. As for us having 'The Oath' as a bonus song, well not really we had enough material for the album already. If we recorded more songs we would of had about 70 minutes of music, were some of the trax wouldn't of made the album. So I think we did the right length of time for the album."

Moving on now, what does Dave from Megadeth think of you're music?

"Well we really don't talk about Eidolon to him. When we're in Megadeth we concentrate on them but when we're not doing Megadeth that's when we do our stuff. He's heard our stuff not I think he likes it."

How did you become part of Megadeth?

"It's a long story which I'll make brief, I was referred to Dave by somebody who thought I would make a suitable fit for the band. Dave had seen some of the footage of me from Wacken with Eidolon. So we went through a period of time chatting and getting to know one another. So I sent him 1 of our albums to check out which he liked. He later on asked him to record 2 songs by Megadeth, which were 'Hanger 18' & 'Wake Up Dead' on video, had he liked what he had seen and after a short time chatting I was asked to join the band. I have a 2 year old kid and I thought it would be stressful. That is why I left King Diamond, i just got married and I had a family on the way."

I guess you're almost done with recording the new Megadeth album right?

"Yeah pretty much so, all the music is done and Dave is doing the vocals right now which he should have finished in about 2 wks. It's a strong album which has a lot of the old material on there. The album will be released on Roadrunner Records this year. We are going to play some shows in Europe shortly & some festivals with Testament in August."

Will there be a promo video for Eidolon or DVD in the near future?

"I really don't know if we will release a promo video. I do have a lot of shows on video that we did with the band, like Wacken etc... All this stuff has old material with the older singers, so I'm not sure if it would be worth releasing without Nils."

Well Glenn, it's been great speaking to you again, it's a been a while. Regards to the band from me and best wishes with the band and Megadeth. |Do you have anything to add?

"Yeah thanx to our fans for their support, we hope you like the new album, also the new Megadeth. See you all on tour in the future. Thanx also for the interview Jase, hope we finally meet 1 day. Stay metal!!!"

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