Artist: Ankor

Genre: Melodic Metal

Label: STF Records

Link: http://www.ankor.es/website/index.html

Band members:

Rosa de la Cruz – vocals
David Romeu – guitars, vocals
Fito Martínez – guitars, vocals
Julio A. López - bassguitar, vocals
Jordi Vidal – drums
Rubio (Javier Casanova) - keyboards



Time For Metal / Rene:
Hey Ankor! Greetings to Spain. I'm glad that you got the time for an interview with Time For Metal!

Ankor / David:
Yes, it’s a pleasure for us!


Time For Metal / Rene:
Our German readers perhaps haven't heard so much about you yet. Could you please introduce yourself to them?

Ankor / David:
We are a Spanish melodic metal band, from Barcelona. We’ve been playing music together since we were 14 and we really like the music world. We have recorded two albums. The first is in Spanish and it’s called ‘Al Fin Descansar’, and the other one in English, ‘My Own Angel’.


Time For Metal / Rene:
You've published your new album My Own Angel in October 2011, which already has found its way into my hands. What can you tell us about the feelingholding your first production in your hands and play it?

Ankor / David:
We feel very happy being able to express ourselves by means of this CD and people like you who are far away can enjoy our music too. It has taken us a lot of sacrifice and work but the result is absolutely rewarding.


Time For Metal / Rene:
The first impression is important for music, too. I think the My Own Angel cover artwork is really interesting. Does it have any bigger meaning? Actually it would be interesting to know, if the artist of the cover-artwork is one of your own or did you hire someone from outside the band?

Ankor / David:
The cover is an original idea of David, and then we contacted with Joel Marco, a great designer from Barcelona, and with our opinions, made this great work. We really love all the design. We think that in the world there is always a special person for each of us. Sometimes, these people are so far away from us, even not in this world, but always they send their strength and we can feel their love. When we think in that, it helps us to go on ahead in our lives. The angel on the cover is based on a true-life story in David's family. If you see the lyrics of 'My Own Angel' song, you will find the story of the characters that appears in the cover, and then you will understand that the angel is the spirit of the father, always in the son's mind, guiding his heart. A sad story, but with a lot of hope, explained by the mother.


Time For Metal / Rene:
Already, while playing the first songs, I heard you singing everything in English. On the predecessor Al Fi Descansar you actually used your mother tongue. What made you consider this and what have the reaction of your old fans been like?

Ankor / David:
We chose English because we think it is more musically in our style, and we hope to extend our music over the world, and it was more difficult in Spanish. Almost all of the old fans have liked the change and we are also very pleased with this.


Time For Metal / Rene:
Ankor counts six musicians with their own interests and imaginations each. How do you get to one result when composing and working on new songs? Or are you often at daggers drawn?

Ankor / David:
No, it’s very easy to work together because we’ve been friends since we were children. Each one has his own ideas but we bring them together to write the songs.


Time For Metal / Rene:
Our readers are quiet interested in the thoughts and inspirations behind the songs. Would you mind doing a little track-by-track review of your own songs to give them some understanding for your composations?

Ankor / David:
Our music is very energetic and melodic, and we want to transmit it through all our instruments, therefore we chose a powerful and energetic screams, like in Remaining, the first song.

Completely Frozen has a melodic chorus and powerful verses. It’s one of our most popular songs.

It Would Be Easier is a commercial song, the AOR theme of the album with male clean vocals too.

Awaiting Your Awakening is the most classical metal song.

No Matter What the happiest theme, like an anime song, with powerful synths.

My Own Angel is the ballad, very expressive lyrics. Maybe the best interpretation of Rosa in the album.

Pride is a 3x4 theme, directly and energetic, with a general message for all the women.

Reborn, the first song we composed for the album, in the lives shows is one of the hardest.

Against the Ground mixes again the clean vocals of Rosa with the screams, we think is the heaviest song.

Starting Over has a power metal chorus, but the intro and the verses have a more modern style, one of our favorite songs!


Time For Metal / Rene:
You are still standing at the beginning of your musical career. But do you still have any exciting moments to share with our readers?

Ankor / David:
One of our best moments was when Patric Ullaeus, the director of our two videos, agreed to shoot our first music video, because he has worked with the best bands in the world, like Arch Enemy, Within Temptation, In Flames, Europe… We couldn’t believe it! Another great moment for us happened short time ago, when we were in Sweden to shoot our second video and Patric appeared with Jake E, the lead singer of Amaranthe, to play the main role in the video.


Time For Metal / Rene:
Negative moments are not avoidable in the music business. Would you mind sharing some of those, too?

Ankor / David:
Luckily at the moment we haven’t really had any negative moments which are worth mentioning.


Time For Metal / Rene:
Many Germans do know Spain as a beautiful and warm vacation country, where one can just relax. But what about the metal scene? Is it more in the underground or do you have some big gigs?

Ankor / David:
Unfortunately it’s not as well known as in Germany, but there are big performances and the underground scene is full of great metal and rock bands.


Time For Metal / Rene:
As I said, four months have passed since the release of My Own Angel. Have you played some concerts with your material and are you planning a tour with
some gigs in Germany, too?

Ankor / David:
Yes, we have done some concerts in Spain and we are planning to go to Finland in June, but at the moment we have no concerts in Germany. We’d like to perform in Germany soon, stay tuned on our facebook profile just in case!



Time For Metal / Rene:
Do you work on your third release already? If yes, what can the listeners expect? Have you planned some changes or will you work in a similar way as before?

Ankor / David:
Yes, we are writing new songs and some of them are already finished. Before the release of the new album we will publish at least a new song. This time there won’t be such a big change because our style is now more defined and we are really pleased with it.


Time For Metal / Rene:
A question I ask quiet often and which I see as pretty important: to be on the internet is kind of a must for a band. Of course you are active on the
word wide web, too. But how do you think about it? Is the internet an important bridge between you and your fans?

Ankor / David:
Absolutely yes! We really like feeling close to our fans and being able to share with them daily. Internet has opened a lot of doors for us.


Time For Metal / Rene:
Last but not least: you have the opportunity to say something to your fans/our readers! I thank you very much for the interview and I wish you all the best for the future.

Ankor / David:
We invite them to listen to our music and to share their feelings with us. A lot of thanks for your time and we hope to see you really soon!