I had the pleasure to interview Grazia, the vocalist of the Italian metal band Conspiracy Of Blackness, who discussed the new Pain Therapy, also, the Italians have inked a record deal with Wormholedeath Records in order to release the album. Have a read below.
Greetings Grazia, nice talking with you, how is everything going? First of all, I can’t wait to see and meet you soon in Florence at Wormholedeath Fest II! I’ll be there!
Hi dear Carla, I’m happy to be here with you! I’m fine, super pumped, and ready for Florence. We can not wait to be there! For us, it will be a real pleasure to meet you!
Mentioning Wormholedeath, you have signed with the label in order to release your new album Pain Therapy. What’s the album story?
The album was born around 2018, Pain Therapy was a profound and very important work for us. This album was born from disappointment, from the need to denounce everything that damages the human soul and destroys the world. Every song is a story, seen or experienced on our skin! Initially, I, Antonio and Antares (ex-bassist) worked on it, and then Alessandro (ex-drummer) joined. We wanted to create an unusual album, with sounds created and sampled by us, without big guitar solos. During this journey, we were searching for ourselves… I could say that this album is an introspective journey, but not only that. It talks about current issues, the pain of loneliness, the anxiety of judgment, the anger of injustice, and the awareness of not being understood by others, each piece creates a dense network of feelings that connects all the tracks. Pain Therapy wants to sincerely describe this society’s indifference towards the weakest. Its aim is to move souls, highlighting everything that the individual has to face in everyday life, desperately trying to find the right cure.
Indeed, the album describes so well what I actually feel and think every day! “Welcome Death” is one of my favorite songs on the album, as well the video is amazing! Very soon you are going to release another video, what other plans do you have next regarding Pain Therapy?
I’m so happy to know that “Welcome Death” is your favorite song! We have a strong desire to bring our music everywhere. The video clip of the two songs “Oblivion/Rise’’ will be released very soon, we can’t wait to publish this video directed by Raoul Noise together with NovaRoleFilm. Pain Therapy will continue to accompany us throughout 2024.
I really like your musical style, from metal to rock, with symphonic and gothic elements, how do you manage to approach COB’s sound and musical direction?
I love experimenting, the voice is a wonderful instrument that helps to fully express emotions and sensations. I studied opera singing for six years and now I am studying Contemporary singing. I would like to start studying Growl and Scream again, I think it’s important to be prepared for everything! I love using different vocal styles because, in my opinion, they enrich each song with particular nuances. Together with COB, I can freely express myself and my creativity!
Are you already thinking about the next album, are you already working on this?
Together with the band, we are already working on the new album, new sounds and experiments will characterize this journey. However, COB‘s soul will remain the same, dark and rebellious!
Besides the show in Florence, are you planning more shows or a tour for next year?
Of course, after Florence, we will have a date in Milan and a date in Turin. We are scheduling the next Italian tour dates. We can’t wait to take our music on the road!
Let’s get a little back to the past… When you formed as a band, you went under the name of COBRA (Conspiracy of Blackness And Relative Aftermath), years later you officially changed it to Conspiracy Of Blackness. What’s the reason behind the band’s name change?
The band was born in 2008 as COBRA with male vocals playing classic heavy metal. Initially, we kept the name and made it an acronym: “COBRA- Conspiracy Of Blackness And Relative Aftermath”. With this lineup, we recorded our first self-titled album. When, in 2018/19, we entered the studio to work on Pain Therapy, we felt the need to re-new ourselves so we chose to shorten that long name transforming it into Conspiracy Of Blackness. From 2008 to today there have been many changes in the lineup, because when you want to seriously carry out a project you have to find the right people, making music is not just fun. The line-up that composed and recorded Pain Therapy was very balanced, we didn’t separate for personal reasons but for reasons of force majeure.
As an Italian metal band, how would you place Conspiracy Of Blackness in the Italian metal scene and what’s your opinion on today’s metal scene from Italy? Do you think it is growing, it evolved?
The metal scene here in Italy is quite lively and widespread, there are many bands that play metal and subgenres. Unfortunately, there are no longer many venues where bands can play, after Covid the situation has gotten worse. Furthermore, it is unfortunate that here in Italy there are a few venues where bands with unreleased music can still play, unfortunately, more space is given to cover or tribute bands. We, COB, are trying to make our way in this panorama, we have our following but we intend to expand our borders by bringing the music of Conspiracy Of Blackness outside of Italy.
Now Grazia, as a female metal singer, have you ever felt sexualized? This is a question that I asked other female singers (or playing other instruments) during my interviews. Unfortunately, sometimes females in a metal band are seen as presenting a ”sexual” image, and their success is because of that. How do you see this?
In my opinion, I think women in the metal scene voluntarily decide to be seen that way. Everyone has their own style and way of being. Freedom always first of all! If you present yourself to the public in a sexualized way, you will unfortunately be seen that way, it is absolutely not right but people will do it. I repeat, how we show ourselves on social media or on stage is a very personal decision based on our own way of being and our own style. It is absolutely not fair to judge someone else by just looking at appearance. Personally, I prefer to have a darker and simpler look with a strong presence on stage. I have never felt sexualized but judged in another sense. In 2023 there are still prejudices about metal bands with female vocals and for me this is absurd! I’m lucky because I work with wonderful, respectful guys who appreciate me and respect my work.
What you said is also true. Recently I saw a post on my Facebook profile shared by a female singer, in which she shared some of the comments she received from random people, rude comments obviously, it was something like ”When will you come strip in a club too?”, just because of the way the singer uses to dress on stage. I was like ”Damn, the world we live in”…
Unfortunately, people tend to judge and be highly disrespectful! I think that no one should injure another person’s freedom. Each of us must express himself, the world is full of colors and nuances, and this is wonderful! No human being should feel better than anyone else. Each of us has his own personality and has the right to express it to the fullest! Our journey is so short on this earth, we only have one opportunity to be fully ourselves…
That was all Grazia and thanks a lot for your time having this interview, it was my pleasure, and see you very soon! Cin!
Thank you Carla for your time, it was a pleasure talking to you! See you at the Florence Tattoo Convention!
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