Review Fix Exclusive: Shadow Realm’s Con Koutsouliotas Talks ‘War of the Archons’

Review Fix chats with Shadow Realm’s Con Koutsouliotas, who discusses their new album, “War of the Archons.”

Review Fix: How did you guys get together?

Con Koutsouliotas: I had heard our vocalist Torsha on a session recording my friend did. It was a low key recording for his community. As soon as I heard his voice I saw a vision for a future band. That band would become SHADOW REALM.  The bass player and guitarist of Shadow Realm also played in a black Death Metal Band with me called OATH OF DAMNATION. Matt is a great guitarist, I would even go so far as to say world standard, and Pahl is a super solid bass player and great guitarist-vocalist in his own right. On keys we have Tim who has a classical and metal background and is an ex-scientist, we knew Tim from other local bands but as a drummer though. I basically got Torshas number from the studio, I called him having never ever met him and asked to join my new project with the before mentioned musicians. I told him my vision, which was to have a classical metal band with elements of thrash, progressive metal and whatever else we thought sounded good.  I told him the other musicians are very strong and we would kick ass as a team if he joined in. He said yes. It was a phone call that I am very glad to have made. I had a good feeling about the band. This was in 2012

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Koutsouliotas: I (the Drummer) and Matt the guitarist write 95% of the music together. We jam and sing parts to each other, discuss how they can be arranged, what kind of part should follow or precede it etc. We film a lot of these interactions so as to have a reference. Another technique we like to use is a spontaneous Jam. I will count in the tempo when the whole band is present and improvise a song on the spot as a band – we sometimes get the main themes of a song this way – Matt and I will later refine the ideas. Torsha will jam vocal parts over the music, or we will tell him what kind of melody we hear over certain parts of the songs and to give them a try. Lyrically we have used poems with permission, or Torsha or Matt will write the lyrics.

Review Fix: What do you think makes this band special?

Koutsouliotas: The 2 big weapons we have are our vocalist and guitarist! I, (Con) believe them to be world class and push the extreme ends of their instruments to their limits, yet still being very musical. That combined with great Keyboards and Solid bass make us stand out on that alone. The thing that really separates us is the Songwriting. We have lots of different influences and years of playing, and you can hear that in the songs.

Review Fix: How would you describe your style?

Koutsouliotas: We like to describe ourselves as classic/thrash/prog metal. Some say we have elements of Power Metal too. We don’t totally feel the whole Power Metal Vibe as we think we are a bit more harder edged and harsher, but are fine if people think that. Some people have said we are Ronnie James Dio meets Forbidden. Both are very big influences on us. I love prog music, thrash, black death metal and have a large background in Jazz. Tim loves classical music and bands like Nevermore etc. Matt is a massive forbidden fan. He also loves Franks Gambale, Al Di Meola, Vinnie Moore and Slayer hahaha. Pahl has a broad range of influences in Metal from Classic to Death Metal. Torsha is a massive Dio, Halford, Tony Martin, Bruce Dickenson and Bobby Blitz fan

Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?

Koutsouliotas: We want to use this album WAR OF THE ARCHONS to help us get known more than anything. We want to be on a good label for the next release, we do all the marketing, sales etc ourselves at the moment. We are looking to get a distribution deal for the album though. Still going through that process at the moment.

Review Fix: What’s the standout song? Is there a story behind it?

Koutsouliotas: Satanic Twin is a standout song I believe, It has technical parts but not too technical. It has progressive elements and a classic metal vibe too. It uses all these things but not in an unmusical way. We are all about staying musical. Music to us is not a sport, it is still an art. The song was written as a jam, pretty spontaneous really. 90% was created in the 1st 30 mins of jamming. The lyrics also represent the good and bad in everyone, no one is perfect. We have a film clip for this song on YouTube.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Koutsouliotas: We already have the material for the next couple of albums written except for vocals and lyrics. Matt and I and used to writing together has been doing it now in two bands. I think by the time we hit the studio we should have another 4 songs written.

Also, we will be heading interstate this year for a couple of shows at a time, no long stretches planned as yet. We are working on getting an Asian tour lined up for the end of 2018 early 2019. Asia is very close to Australia and easier to get to. Australia is a very large country with very few cities. It is a difficult place to make the touring life work, unlike the USA or Europe where there is a very large city or town usually within 3 to 5 hours driving time. We have as I like to call ‘The Tyranny of Remoteness or Isolation”. I want to get back to Japan and China to play. We also would love to visit Europe at some point. We would be everywhere but the only thing stopping us is money. As said earlier we will be supporting Overkill and Ross The Boss from Manowar.