Interview: TEMTRIS

I had the pleasure to interview Genevieve Rodda, the vocalist of the Australian heavy metal band Temtris. The Aussies have released their 7^th album Khaos Divine this spring, also the second album released via Wormholedeath Records, an album which I really like, and in my opinion, it sounds way heavier than previous releases.

Greetings Genevieve, is my pleasure having this interview with you! You have just returned from the European tour, where you performed with Temtris in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, how did the tour go?
Hello Carla, Thanks for your time. Yes we just arrived back this week from our first overseas tour of the UK and Europe. We had an absolute blast playing for new fans and people who checked us out for the first time. Every show was very special and we met such amazing people.

I’d have liked to see you live, maybe you will tour again over Europe soon and let’s hope by then will catch you live somewhere…
We are already planning on going back next year if we can make it happen. So yes, it would be great to play for you also!

You’re still promoting your latest album Khaos Divine, which is the second album to be released with Wormholedeath Records. How is the public responding to the album, both on social media and during the live shows?
Our latest album Khaos Divine is still receiving a lot of love from fans. Woke up this morning to a message from a fan that came to our show in Germany and they had bought the new album. They said it had not left their CD player since they first put it on as they are enjoying the music so much. The songs are also going down live very well. Nothing better than seeing fans enjoying the music we have written.

Khaos Divine is definitely way heavier and more powerful than the previous album Ritual Warfare, in my opinion, do you agree with this?
We deliberately wrote a darker-themed album this time. Ritual Warfare was more speed-based. The tracks off Khaos Divine are heavy and full of wicked riffs.

What’s the concept behind Khaos Divine?
Khaos Divine is a world run by the wealthy. You are offered an almost eternal life by taking a drug, but this involves giving away your freedoms and working continuously. Is this really the living when you become a slave and cannot truly enjoy life?

What are your next plans, are you working already on a new album?
We have started talking about writing the next album. Temtris likes to have a theme or a concept in mind to kick off the process. Once we have decided a direction to go with, we will start writing.

Let’s talk a bit about the metal scene in your country, Australia. Probably, people would say there aren’t so many bands coming from there, I know a few names, with great music, of course, like yours. How do you see the metal scene in AUS and how’d you place Temtris in the scene?
The metal scene is quite spread out here. I find a lot of the different genres do not always support each other as much as they used to when I first started playing. We do not have as many venues anymore for bands to play in sadly either. Temtris has established itself in the scene here with our fan base and are always working on growing it as much as possible. We do love our metal family here in Australia!

Also, as a female metal singer, do you feel in any way ”sexualized” or do you feel that sometimes, you don’t belong here, ”only men can do it”? This is a topic with ups and downs opinions if you ask me when it comes to female metal singers…
I think the women in the scene decide if they want to be seen that way. If you promote yourself in a sexualized fashion then you will be seen that way. I prefer to go with the strong female presence and look. Here in Australia, there were not and still are not many females in the scene. It has grown though from when I first started.

More, the ”women in metal”, which sometimes as I noticed is labeled more as a genre, what’s your view on this as well?
I think that if people want to give it a name that’s fine. I know a lot of metalheads that like female-fronted bands. But it does also put you in a “box” of what people expect you to sound like. I’ve had many people assume I sing symphonic metal just because I am a female singer.  That can be frustrating!

I’d like to ask how it is working with Wormholedeath within a second collaboration.
Wormholedeath has been a fantastic company to work with. Temtris crew believes we have reached a whole new market of fans. The work ethic is amazing from Carlo and Nat and we look forward to continuing with them for our future releases.

Thanks a lot for your time Genevieve, again was my pleasure to have this conversation with you. Cheers and rock on!
Thank you, Carla, hope we get back to Europe to play you a show. Horns up, Genevieve!

https://www.facebook.com/Temtris/