Please describe the new album musically and lyrically?

We knew we wanted a step up in every department from Laws of Motion, our debut album released on Lion a few years ago, so a lot of work went into making sure the tracks met every requirement whilst trying to keep our signature sound.  Building from the reviews and comments we received with from Laws, we wanted to keep the strong riffs and big choruses but focusing a lot more on vocal melodies, adding depth and vocal layers, while keeping technical elements that prog fans always love. We also knew we had to get better production and cleaner more powerful sound….and we got exactly that thanks to DGM’s mastermind Simone Mularoni and the team at Domination Studios. The artwork helped inspire the main lyrical themes of the album which step away from the darkness of the debut and tend to focus on the future of civilisation, culture and society repeating the mistakes of the past. We drew inspiration from the work of some of our favourite authors like McCarthy and China Miéville to create an album with a common theme but it is not a concept album.

if you had to choose one artist (I know this is hard) but if we had to say "recommended for fans of XXXX" who would that be?

We believe this album will be perfect for fans of Seventh Wonder, DGM, Circus Maximus, Aspera, Spheric Universe Experience, Pagan’s Mind, Pyramaze or Anubis Gate. We are also huge fans of the 90s prog metal scene, bands like Vanden Plas, Symphony X, Ivory tower, Avalon etc so I am sure fans of these bands will enjoy listening to INERTIA.

how does it differ from previous album?

Inertia is definitely a huge step up with regards to production and song maturity but yet it also seems like a natural step in the right direction and a seamless transition from the debut, which received such a multitude of plaudits from the reviews and press it inspired us to push ourselves further.  I think for the debut we were still finding our identity whereas INERTIA has found it for us. We have tried with this album to really work on each song structure and core melodies to embed our signature orchestral and technical interludes into the songs themselves. The album feels more melodic and powerful as whole than Laws of Motion.

What was the goal with making this album?

With INERTIA, our goal was to really improve in every aspect and hopefully create a product that people will really enjoy not only listening to but on the artwork side as well. We are all from the pre-digital music era when buying an album was much more than the music itself, it was about discovering a band and its universe and although we knew we would go for a digital release with Lion Music (who supported us from the beginning), we wanted to include in the package a full colour booklet with lyrics, additional pictures, recording credits etc. We worked with Alex at Mayhem Project Design who worked with many artists we love like Pyramaze to design a very bright and colourful artwork that really complement the music. Of course, we also wanted to create an album that we would want to listen to ourselves 😊



Any specific influences towards music or lyric subject?

We did not want to create a concept album but we wanted rather to introduce a common theme through the lyrics, which is summarised by the album title. Inertia has a very dual meaning: in everyday life, it implies rigidity (of a system for example) or inaction…while in physics it is more described as an unstoppable force that requires external force to be stopped. We took this duality of meaning and played with it during these 11 tracks, looking at how characters (real or inspired by authors) dealt with this. The track Nothing Stays the Same is based on the City and the City by Miéville and looks into the duality in the main character actions – on one side he is blocked by the rigidity of the police system, on the other side events he is trying to stop leads to an unstoppable conclusion. We love to write lyrics with a few levels of interpretation but that’s our little bonus, our job is to focus on the music first and foremost!


how long did it take to make this album?

Too long, we were victims of our own making due to the fact we wanted it to be perfect. The vocals took the longest as we kept changing lines, harmonies, adding/removing layers. Finding the right sound was also a problem and we benefitted immensely from Simo’s help and advice during the recording process. Simo was in charge of the mixing/mastering steps but gave us a lot of production advices as we recorded through various studios over the best of 2 years. Way too long...but worth the effort as we are extremely pleased with how the songs turned out.

what has the different musicians contributed to the result?

Over the years we have found quite a good formula that seems to work for us. Joe brings the main lyrical theme and overall structure and the first job is to create the rhythmic patterns, adding bass/drums to the idea. We then often enrich/modify the structure to start shaping a full song, adding orchestral elements, rough vocal lines, space for keys/guitars or bass solos etc. Once the full structure feels good, we all work on vocal melodies together and often one member will feel inspired by the track to put down the lyrics. We then “lock” the demos before recording and try not to bring too many new things during the recording process which is often hard! Compared to Laws of Motion, we worked much more as a team this time and it felt that the tracks just naturally progressed, quite rapidly in fact!
 



Vocals - Ludo Desa
Guitars - Joe McGurk
Drums - Kevin Deplanche
Bass - David Deplanche

production and recording credits:

Album produced and recorded by Opposing Motion.

Mixed and Mastered by Simone MULARONI at DOMINATION Studios, San Marino, 18-30th June 2017.

Vocals recorded at PnF (Fagnières, France) and CSD studios (Troyes, France)

Cover art and layout design by Mayhem Project Design

Photos by Alejandro inchauste at Ayayu Photography

official websites, facebook and so...:

www.opposingmotionband.co.uk
www.facebook.com/opposingmotion


 

 
AVAILABLE IN DIGITAL FORMATS FROM ITUNES, APPLE MUSIC, AMAZON, SPOTIFY ETC ON MARCH 23