Left to right: Stelios Pavlou, Kostas Salomidis, Vangelis Yalamas
(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Kostas Salomidis, founder of Sorrows Path and of the now-ongoing Distorted Reflection, whose debut album Doom Rules Eternally was released earlier this year on Iron Shield Records.)
All of us come from traditional metal in many of its forms; thus, sometimes we publish here the stories of very clean singing bands, and it never hurt anyone (as far as I know). Although our readers are rather into Hellenic Black Metal, a well-known cultural phenomenon, today we have for you an example of Hellenic Doom, a rare thing in itself.
Distorted Reflection’s essence is rooted in the code of the first Greek epic doom band Sorrows Path, as its founder Kostas Salomidis left Sorrows Path two years ago in order to start something new and still traditional. As a result, Distorted Reflection’s first album Doom Rules Eternally serves as a good representative of traditional yet quite epic doom.
Kostas (guitars, vocals) joined his efforts together with Stelios Pavlou (drums) and Vangelis (bass, synths), but if it was a sort of declaration, he invited three guests to take part in the creation of this album, and one of them is the now 70-year-old Ross the Boss, Manowar’s original guitarist.
Now you know what to expect from Doom Rules Eternally, and I invite you to learn more through this interview with Kostas.
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Hi Kostas! How are you? What’s happening in Distorted Reflection? Doom Rules Eternally was released in February, so what do you do now?
Hello Aleksey! I am fine and I hope the same for you. This feels great talking to you and thank you for the honour of this interview with the established No Clean Singing webzine. The reactions about the new album are great. Reviews are better than ever, sales and radio airplay are the same. They generally exceed the limits of encouragement and reach the limits of excitement.
Foremost, Kostas, it’s said that you left your previous band Sorrows Path “for musical reasons just before they were about to start recording the fifth album”. What really happened back then? There’s no news from Sorrows Path’s side since then.
Distorted Reflection was formed back in August 2022 when I left Sorrows Path. I was the co-founder and guitarist for this band, one of most well-known metal bands in Greece. I have been out since 2022, but the decision was made within me at least several months before. There were musical differences of many kinds, especially with the older band members; we’d been together since the demos, so I felt it necessary to make a fresh start.
Fortunately, I managed to cooperate with all the great musicians that I had in mind for my new band Distorted Reflection, the really experienced bassist Vangelis Yalamas and drummer Stelios Pavlou. I also have vocal duties for the very first time, and we started to work and recorded our debut album in Fragile Studio.
How did you come to this decision to perform all vocals on your own? Did you sing before in other bands or projects?
Since I was 16 when I started playing music, I wanted to write complete songs, that is to say, music, lyrics and vocal melodies, when the style called for it. So I was always working on the background about my voice, and when it came time to be in a band where there was no singer, and at the same time I wanted to have a clear identity, I made this decision.
I thought about it a lot because there are some really great singers out there, but I knew I would definitely be true to myself. I mean, how many times after the departure of a singer from a band haven’t we all felt like we’re listening to another band? This risk does not exist for Distorted Reflection. Also, no one can feel your songs more than you… And when you want a guest in the future, you just ask! This is exactly how it happened with my favorite Greek voice, our Nicolas Leptos, that the great Bill Tsamis was the first of all to recognize his supreme gift!
How would you summarize your experience with Sorrows Path?
I formed the first Greek epic doom band back in 1993. That says it all. I feel really fortunate to do so with my fellow bandmate Takis Drakopoulos (RIP). Many bands suffer from such musical differences and are still oppressed on every level, which I find extremely sad. Mostly this happens when they get a lot of money from music. Now I feel the utmost relief and satisfaction for the new beginning with Distorted Reflection. Also a clear conscience, since I would never continue, even if one of those old Sorrows Path members that we spent so much together since the mid-’90s had left the band.
I know that you did your best to promote Sorrows Path back then. So can you tell that this idea paid off in the end? The band appeared in Greek Metal Hammer compilations, but did it really work?
If we consider that they became one of the best Greek metal bands, it totally paid off! Doom metal is a very unique style of metal but we really managed to stand out and get a lot of attention, even from non-genre listeners. The participation in a magazine with two covers and an original song is just something of all that we achieved. There were 4 official releases that were sold out from the band and several successful live performances in Greece and abroad that had the best feedback. I have my clear conscience that I really did the best to promote my songs and band. All the rest of the dedicated musicians on our mortal world would do exactly the same!
Distorted Reflection reminds me a lot of Sorrows Path, and it’s natural, as you performed guitars in both. Which factors formed your vision of such epic and powerful doom metal?
Considering the fact that Sorrows Path were preparing for the fifth album and I would be again the main songwriter, it is to be expected that there will be similarities. Songwriter in the sense of a composer who prepares music, lyrics, and vocal melodies, not just a series of guitar riffs that the whole band works on together, which is common in metal. The three main factors are epic, doom, and metal. They are enough if you also add a certain dose of Greek traditional music.
Doom Rules Eternally consists of nine heroic, epic tracks, but the album’s duration is 35 minutes. Did you aim to record such an old school compact album? How did it happen?
Thank you very much! There was no need for longer songs. This just comes from the heart and soul. We are also not a very slow or a progressive band, so yes, the result was closer to old school metal that we all adore!
Which qualities of doom metal did you seek to channel through these songs?
This is such a deep, meaningful, heavy, and eternal kind of music. That says it all… doom rules eternally!
How did you record these songs? I see that everything besides drums was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Vangelis. How tightly did you collaborate with him on these stages?
Our collaboration with our bassist Vangelis Yalamas at Fragile Studio was a very pleasant process and that is important. I had such a great time recording the album and I think that came through in the final result. Surprises were few because the producer was the same and the band was very experienced, paying attention to the smallest detail. The drums were recorded at CFN Recordings Studio by Dionysis Christodoulatos who also has a very close relationship with our drummer Stelios, since they have been playing together for many years in Sorrowful Angels.
Well, the album has a very… abstract artwork. Why did you choose it? Is it connected with the songs’ lyrics?
It was solely the idea of the great Swedish artist Tomas Arfert (Candlemass, Krux) who took over the entire visual part. This particular cover really made a huge impression and I think it captured the whole philosophy of Distorted Reflection in one image.
What kind of philosophy it is?
Without having a specific lyrical concept, the topics are about morality, respect, dignity, passion, and of course all of these connected to the father and master of us all, death, as the title of the album also indicates.
There are three guest musicians in Doom Rules Eternally: vocalist Nicholas Leptos (Arrayan Path, etc.) and two guitarists – Ross the Boss himself and Giannis Drolapas. How did you manage to get them on board?
Another big moment of the album was the three guests you mentioned! The pleasant process ended up with the acceptance of Nikolas Leptos, who is my favorite Greek metal singer, and also of Giannis Drolapas, my favorite Greek rock guitarist, teacher, and friend, to participate as guests on the album. Finally, the ultimate satisfaction came when Ross The Boss, the guitarist and founder of the top metal band of the ’80s, did the same.
We’re talking about three artists with huge personalities and because I’m a big fan of their work, they suited Distorted Reflection‘s music very well. Of course, I had a long-time contact with all of them and they knew about my previous work with Sorrows Path.
The album was released by the German label Iron Shield Records. Did this collaboration help you to get some extra gigs outside Greece?
I was completely satisfied with the cooperation and above all the honesty of this record label on the last two albums of Sorrows Path. They also loved the new stuff of Distorted Reflection so we just continued a fruitful cooperation. You will not see Distorted Reflection live. We will keep a low-profile attitude, making the decision of not performing live and not giving audio or video interviews.
Does it mean that you’ll focus on writing new songs as soon as possible?
The new songs are almost ready but we need to work on them as a band. We plan to start very soon about this! I also have a lot more songs and ideas that maybe we will edit and use in some future work. And I always keep on writing music and lyrics. This is the true spirit of an artist…
How do you see the modern Hellenic doom metal scene? Do new bands appear? Do old bands survive? I recalled again Wishdoom, and I see that it seems to be closed, and there’s nothing from Aeon Aphelion. However, I remember that there wasn’t much doom in both editions of the Doomed & Stoned in Hellas compilation anyway.
There is not a big doom metal scene in Greece. Of course, the things are much better from the ’90s when I formed the first epic doom metal band of the country. Then there were only doom death bands in Greece. I would not like to mention specific names, but in general the Greek scene is growing and I respect all genres!
What are your plans for Distorted Reflection for the rest of 2024?
There will be a lot of promotion about the new album. Hopefully, more metalheads will accept the new band and enjoy our stuff. The start was more than encouraging! We also already plan our upcoming release… the band is here to stay and the goal is consistent and quality releases.
Okay, thank you for the interview, Kostas! I think that we covered all the main questions. What else would you like to tell to our readers?
I totally agree… was great and we feel honoured on this! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this interview! Support us by buying merch. It’s the only way to keep listening to new works from the band you love!
Stay true to yourself and your people.
Doom Rules = D.R.
Distorted Reflection = D.R.
Eternally…