With:	Antti Railio [Vocals]
Conducted by:	Malcolm
Published:	05.10.2004
Band profile:	Celesty

- Let's start with a presentation; there might be readers that don't know so much about you guys, so we start the interview this way.

Hello, I am Antti the singer of Celesty and I will be answering your questions today

Celesty was formed 1998 in a town called Seinäjoki in Finland. First line-up was totally different than today, only Ari Katajamäki and Jere Luokkamäki are left from those days. I myself joined the band last winter few weeks before Going to studio to do my first record with the Celesty guys! Our old singer
Kimmo Perämäki decided to go separated ways, but all of us are good friends with Kimmo! There is more of our history in our webpage http://www.celesty.net






- You have quite newly released your second album, "Legacy of Hate", what kind of feedback have you had for "Legacy"? Is it better than for "Reign"?

Well the feedback has been really good, we self were surprised how good reviews and feedback's we have had! Thanks to you all! Well the feedback has been a bit better than for "Reign". People have noticed that we truly have accomplished our own style of music and sound! But there are still some who say that we would sound like "Strato" or "Sonata"...We ourselves don't see the resemblance!?

- And it's a concept album; can you tell us some about the concept? It's the second part of the story from "Reign", right?

Yes it's a concept album, and the Story in "Legacy" continues more or less where "Reign" ended few years have passed though from the "Reign" times... And now shit really hit's the fan! But you have to buy the album to now what happens in it! We won't tell anything The story will continue in next album.


- What kind of thinking went into the part 1 & 2 of Legacy of Hate? How long did it take to put together the pieces of such a classic epic song? How come you make it into two parts instead of one massive opus?

Hmm well I must say I cannot answer to that, because I was not on the band at the time the song's was made! But I guess that this was an experiment of testing the bands "limits" because it is very hard to create such a epic song (2 parts over 20 minutes) and I think it works well!!! I really like the song, and we have had very good reviews about this also. So I guess we succeeded in this.

- You also change singer from the first album, how much did that infect you in song writing? I mean their voices isn't really so alike each other's.

Well I don't think it had an effect what so ever to the song writing because the songs were finished at the time I joined the band! But I asked this from the main composers of the band, Jere and Tapani and they said that next album will be easier to make because we have Antti as an singer and the songs can be made to his voice, and for his scale. So the vocal parts should be much better, even they are quite good in this album also




- What influences for song writing and composing do you guys have?

Well I guess influences have been taken little from here and there, and from the band's who have influenced us in the way that we have decided to do this kind of music! But I would say bands like, Rhapsody, Manowar, Helloween, Gamma Ray. Our music is a mix of those bands I would say

- Power Metal is very usual today, and many are looking down on it, so how come that you really started playing Power Metal? I mean, what did you feel that you have that others were missing?

Well first of all I don't think many of us metal addict's look down on Power Metal it has just from some reason drifted to a state that people think it is very usual. Maybe people look down on power metal because we do thing's the way we like, and are not afraid to tell tales of Fantasy some might think it would be some how "childish" well if you think that you should probably try it yourself, it is not that easy to write power metal and be some kind of different from the other bands, or to write lyrics in a form of a story.... from our view we have our own unique sound and touch to the music that probably some other band lack! And many of the reviewers have also noticed this different kind of approach to Power that we have. The sound is quite different than with other power bands.

- What do you think of the Finnish metal scene? I mean Finland is one of the world leading metal countries today.

Well I think the Finnish metal scene is more alive than ever!! More and more great band's pup up all the time!!! Like there's no stopping it, I guess we have just born with metal in our veins and steel on our pants?! hahaha....

- What are your thoughts about Downloading music? It's a big subject within the Music industry right now.

Yes the subject is like everything it has it's two sides! In the other hand it's good that people have unlimited resources to discover new music and so on... but it also can take something from the band. But our opinion is that we are so young band now so we think it is better than someone downloads the song and probably likes it and then buys the album. Because if he doesn't hear about the band why would he buy the album? Now he downloads few songs and thinks "wow...this is cool" and buys the album. Or other way is that if someone REALLY doesn't have the money for the album, and wont buy it anyway, and then downloads it, he just becomes a fan of the band, and this is important I think. But as we always say WE DONT DO THIS FOR THE MONEY! Maybe it would be cool someday to live by doing this, but let's wait.... But if you really feel the urge to download music from the net of your favourite band's or you don't have the money to buy the album, then come to the gig's and support the band in other ways if you like them to continue doing it!

- How does the future for Celesty look like? Are you going on any tours? Any festival? Or will it only be some concert in Finland?

The future seems more promising than ewer! We just got a new "manager" who will work for our benefit in ways of us getting more gigs and to make us more known! And I have a feeling we will visit some other countries besides Finland in the near future!!!




- Anything planed for a successor to "Legacy of Hate"? Or is it to early?

Hmm there's something planned all right and I promise you it will blow your heads of and bounce it around the street!!!! But you will find out more after some time! We don't want to spoil anything just wait

- Is there something you want to add? Something I might have forgotten to ask?

Well if anyone has something they would want to ask us personally I suggest you to visit our site www.celesty.net. WE WILL ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS! by email or in guestbook or in forum.... We have our e-mail addresses there and there are samples from our albums as well. For those who has not heard from us before! Check it out there's lots and lots of information there, forum and a guest book to send your regard's!!!
See you all in our gigs in some near far future!!!

- Thanks a lot for taking some time to answer my questions. Good luck in the
future with Celesty, I hope to hear much greatness from you guys!

Thank you, CELESTY hails all metalheads! STAY METAL!

Cheers! ~Antti~