Temperance: The Mother Earth's Embrace

With a little more than 3 years of existence, Temperance has already released their third album, which in addition to showing an even more cohesive and evolved soun, and maintaining a high quality standard, stands out as one of the great revelations of Italian Metal, dealing with the most contemporary tendencies of the style.     Versão em Português

Check out the conversation we had with Chiara Tricarico (singer), who told us a bit more about "The Earth Embraces Us All", what title gives us clues about the lyric's inspirations, dealing basically with the human being's relationship with the environment surrounding them.

RtM: Hi Chiara is a pleasure talk to you again about a new album. Congratulations to all for another beautiful album! The third full-length in four years, very cool! I remembered that I was kiddin with in an interview last year,  if you do not released a third album soon, the fans would think something was wrong! Ha Ha

Chiara Tricarico: Ahah, thank you...glad you like our new album!

RtM: And how are the expectations for receptiveness towards for this new album, and opportunities for concerts by more countries, conquering new territories for Temperance?

Chiara: Well, as usual, when we work on a new album, we do no ask ourselves what people may like, but we basically write songs for ourselves... anyway, we can’t wait to bring our music to many new countries!

"We have been evolving both as musicians and as human beings in the last years, and this fact has given us the chance to add many new elements to our music."

RtM: Would you tell us a little about the beautiful cover art, and the title of the album concept, "The Earth Embraces Us All".

Chiara: The cover is, again, by Gustavo Sazes...we like his art very much, so we asked again for his help to explicate what was running through our minds. The artwork basically shows the relationship between human beings and the environment surrounding them... this theme is recurrent throughout this album. Nature is described in many ways, both in a speculative and in an introspective point of view.

RtM: The band has been evolving and adding new things every album, and I’m stunning with the melodies and very cool oriental sounds, more progressive passages, as in the track "A Thousand Places," which opens the album. I would like you to talk a little about these new textures and elements, and sure, about this opening track.

Chiara: Yes, we have been evolving both as musicians and as human beings in the last years, and this fact has given us the chance to add many new elements to our music, which is like the mirror of our souls:for example, we have recorded an actual violin, bagpipes and soprano sax on this new album.
The opening track is one of the most complex and complete songs on the album... the central theme of the lyrics is this sort of wanderlust... in the last three years of live activity together we had the chance to visit many new places (a thousend places, I’d dare to say) and you can find a little taste of our experience in thin song.

RtM: The cool thing is that you are not afraid to experiment, having the ability to present innovations every album, and maintaining a very homogeneous sound. We have melodious tracks with Pop accent, some complex and progressive elements and more symphonic but all with Temperance’s personality. I believe that the experience and conviction of you, the band acquired a personality and maturity quickly. What do you have to say about this unity in the band, and the way for you to create and compose together?

Chiara: Since our very beginning, the main moving force for our band has been this hunger for music we all have... this is basically what has kept us together through the years and has given us the force and inspiration to always write new material in a very short time. And, yes, we are not afraid of experimenting new sounds!

RtM: The track "Unspoken Words" is one of my fav, and it ended up being the first video as well. I see "A Thousand Places" as a track that brings well the elements and shows the ability of the band to create catchy tunes, with many creativity. I'd like you to tell us more about this song, and about your choice for the video.

Chiara: “Unspoken words” is one of my fave track on the album as well... it has this folk taste which brings me so much energy. And the lyrics are about the fear we all have sometimes to explein our feelings to other people... this sometimes can bring human relationships to the point of no return... yes, the lack of communication is very dangerous: this song is basically an invitation not to keep feeelings for ourselves, but to say those “unspoken words”.

"The relationship between human beings and the environment surrounding them... this theme is recurrent throughout this album... in a speculative and in an introspective point of view."

RtM: Another song in my view stands out, is "Maschere" which is in Italian, sounding very beautiful. Was a way to thank and honor the Italian fans? And it must be something special singing and composing in your native language. Many bands like to use some typical and folk elements, and write songs in your mother language. Maybe you have to put some Tarantella in a song! ha ha ha

Chiara: Ahahah, actually we are not that familiar with “tarantella”  in the Italy area we are from, but.. .we can think about putting it in the next album, anyways!
Yes, writing lyrics in my native language was something completely new for me... since I have been studying opera singing for many years, singing in italian is nothing new for me... but the classical music world is something different from the mood of the song “Maschere”, and to compose lyrics is something very different from just singing them. It was a little bit challenging at first to switch my mind from english to italian, but I had the support of the rest of the band...and we all seem to like the result... also the audience seems to appreciate this song very much!

RtM: Nice! And the lyrics...
Chiara: The lyrics talk about the fact that we all should grasp the essence of situations and people surroundng us to really understand what’s going on. We all basically think we are forced to wear a mask sometimes, and sometimes situations seem very different if observed from an external point of view...in other words: not all that glitters is gold. The english translation for “Maschere” is, in facts, “Masks”.

RtM: Something that caught much my attention were tracks like "The Advice From a Caterpillar" (which has a very curious title) and "The Restless Ride," which are more longer tracks, with many changes of tempo and climates. The compositions surged this way naturally, or you thought in advance to create these longer issue? Remind me some Nightwish songs, which traditionally have longer themes, and with this way of soundtrack.
And, you could tell us a little more about the subject of the lyrics of these two songs.

Chiara: As usual, we did not planned anything in advance while working on this album, ahah. Everything was the usual “stream of inspiration” that you can basically find in all of our albums. “Advice from a caterpillar” is inspired by the novel “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carrol, while “The Restless Ride” is the only song which has lyrics written by Giulio on this album and they are about how humanity is neglecting our planet and only following greed.



Interview: Carlos Garcia

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