Eight Octaves: Tell us about your new album, “Throes of Fire”.
Neil Rego: “Throes of Fire” is ENTHRALL’s sophomore album, released on December 01 2011. It has been released worldwide via a prominent independent record label in Greece called METALFIGHTERS. “Throes of Fire” is a concept album. The story behind the songs revolves around the life of a fictitious individual, named ‘RAVEN’. Evil, torment, anguish, sympathy and sadness… emotions that RAVEN comes face to face with through the phases of his life. The songs have elements of Progressive, Power, Thrash and Groove; coalescing to give Metal fans a rapture of delight.
EO: How did you go about composing the songs?
Neil: I’m a multi-instrumentalist and that greatly helps to an extent. I come across a main riff for a song primarily while playing the guitar, but then again, weird conceptualization happens while playing the bass, keyboards and even the drums! I then transpose the ideas on a simple software like Melody Assistant or Acid Music Studio. Once the song is composed, I work on visualizing a story-telling concept for the song and complete it by penning the lyrics.
EO: What are your influences?
Neil: I’m a child of the 80’s. I grew up listening to artists such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Queen, Bon Jovi, A-ha, etc. My sight was exposed to Heavy Metal when I was about 5 years old, A cousin of mine introduced me to Iron Maiden’s album, “The Number of the Beast”. That was the first ever Metal track I heard. In the 90’s, there was Sepultura, Obituary, Metallica, Megadeth, Dream Theater and Rush. The band I truly adore and consider truly “kick ass” immortal is Pantera. “5 Minutes Alone” is my meditation number every morning.
EO: Tell us the significance of the name, “ENTHRALL” and “Throes of Fire”.
Neil: “ENTHRALL” signifies entertainment to the masses. “Throes Of Fire” signifies the struggles of man having a harrowing, agonizing life.
EO: How did you get a record label in Greece to help you out ?
Neil: I believe Europe is respectful towards all forms of Metal (it’s the birthplace of Metal, a’int it?!) When ENTHRALL was still a band, comprising of 5 prodigious members, the debut album was released in 2006. Offers did come through during the next couple of years, but most offers were dubious. Late 2008, METALFIGHTERS got to hear our album and were impressed by the musicianship and quality of Metal compositions that our progressive metal style brought forth. In 2009, ENTHRALL signed a contract with METALFIGHTERS. However, most members went on hiatus due to personal commitments, so I took up the reins of ENTHRALL’s metamorphosis into being a solo act and after painstakingly composing the entire album over a period of 2 years, METALFIGHTERS is now working in the distribution and promotion of the album worldwide.
EO: Do you compose and record all the music on your own? Who are the people that help you out?
Neil: Presently, I do compose all the music on my own. That being said, I was aptly aided on the album by stellar musicians: Suraj Dutt (guitarist for the band Verses), Varun Sood (drummer for the band Frequency), Max Warnby (guitarist for the Swedish band Tantara) and Pranav Murthy (Ex-ENTHRALL).
EO: Where else can we find your music and videos?
Neil: I’m currently working on getting distribution of the album in India and METALFIGHTERS will be opening the online portal for sale of the CD on their website soon. Meanwhile, people can listen to the tracks from the albums by visiting the following websites:
