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POEM is a four-piece progressive rock/metal group based in Athens, and was formed at 2006. The lineup passed through some changes over the years. POEM constitutes by:

George Prokopiou (vocals/guitar)

Laurence Bergstrom (lead guitar)

Stratos Haidos (bass)

Stavros Rigos (drums)

With a wide range of influences and love for experimentation, POEM embarked on a sound adventure defining their personal style from the very first songs. The four members have various musical backgrounds which they bring into the studio and rehearsals, creating music that none of them could compose alone. They like to experiment with different sounds and rhythms, so jamming freely is a liberating process for each member separately and also a very unifying process for the band. In December 2008 POEM recorded their debut album “The Great Secret Show”, which the Metal Hammer of Greece characterized as, “The best Greek debut album since ’00s and one of the 10 best albums of the Greek metal scene ever released”. As a result they caught the eye of several record companies and ended up signing with the Greek label “Dromos music” for a June 2009 release. Their style of music can be classified as both progressive and alternative rock, with alternative metal undertones.

Poem have been invited to open the concerts for some huge artists and bands of the metal scene, such as Ozzy Osbourne, Pain of Salvation, Paradise Lost, Burst, Mekong Delta, Cilice, Rotting Christ, among others, and also to participate in many festivals in Greece and in other European countries, they became quickly one of the best rock live acts.

At the moment, the band has recorded the follow-up album titled as “Skein Syndrome”

The new single of the band , „Passive Observer“, and its video you can see here.

More information about POEM can be found here or on the Facebook page of the band.

 

May you, please, describe yourself and your music in few words?

Hi! We are POEM, from Athens and we exist since 2006. More specific, we are George, Laurence, Stratos and Stavros and we like to play music!  Our genre can be categorized as Progressive, Alternative Metal with some Grunge Metal elements.

First release of your new single and video „Passive Observer“ from your upcoming album „Skein Syndrome“ came out this month, and you are looking forward for a new album after a long period of silence, nearly 8 years. How did you come to this decision?

After the release of our first album in 2009 the lineup passed through some changes. The first member that had to leave the band was the drummer and few months later the bass player. So we had to restart the engine again and again. When Stavros (drums) and Stratos (bass) joined the band, we started creating the „Skein Syndrome“ material, together with our former guitarist George Anagnostou and our vocalist George Prokopiou. Somewhere along the way, George Anagnostou had to also leave the band for personal reasons, so in 2014 we started looking for a new guitar player and we found Laurence, which was easy since we were friends already! However, we had to make a new start once again! In addition, we knew that we had lost much time, so we needed someone to organize our next steps, that’s why we started cooperating with Ria who really helped us to recover soon. After that, we came in contact with Intromental Management and Lars Larsen and after a hard working period we are now ready for the release of our new album with ViciSolum Productions on the 18th of March.

„Passive Observer“ presents more progressive and complex sound, it grows a lot like the modern progressive tendencies, Leprous for Is this a direction you seek to develop in?

We create our music through the procedure of jamming which is a very liberating process, because each one of us has different musical backgrounds, so when we get into the rehearsal room, everyone brings in a piece of  himself. That creation process includes experimenting with different sounds and rhythmic patterns; it gives us the opportunity not to stay attached to the “rules” and to experiment with more complex sounds. The result of this is that we create music that none of us could compose on his own. So, no, we don’t seek for any specific musical direction to develop in, we jam freely, and we create music that we like.

Your new album „Skein Syndrome“ is coming out on 18th of March through the Swedish label ViciSolum Productions. What may we expect? Will you strictly follow „Passive Observer“ line or we can expect a new variety of styles and influences?

No, for sure prepare yourselves for various sound experiences!  Every song has its own character, but all together they compose the „Skein Syndrome“ concept!

What is the main idea and story you want to tell us through „Skein Syndrome“?

„Skein Syndrome“ is expresses mostly the vanity of humanity. That somewhere along the way we lost our goal as human beings. That after we are born we live our lives attached to the materials, and the more we seek for the matter, the more we wrap ourselves with this skein that controls our past, present and future and the more we destroy everything that’s pure and simple. And we only discover the purpose of our existence when we grow old, just before death. At this point „Skein Syndrome“ has two trails, the optimistic and the pessimistic. After the end, the listener is free to receive what he prefers. Either the humanity regrets and understands, or dies as lived – in vanity.

Who is the „Passive Observer“? How someone would come to the state of a passive observer and why would they remain in this state?

The “Passive Observer” is each one of us. How the injustice rules the world, people getting killed, starved, raped and we just accept it, observing the tragic reality from a safe distance, by not being able or by not wanting to do anything about it. Until of course the problem knocks our own door.

You have changed your lead guitar and your most recent member is Laurence Bergström. May this change be considered a significant change for the band? Might it be one of the reasons for you to go into harder sound?

Laurence is a great musician and we are very lucky to have him on board! He brings his musical background into the rehearsal room, which of course is more or less different from our former guitarist George Anagnostou. For sure, we can’t bind for the future, but we know that we will create music that we like, by not necessarily following the same rules or being attached to the same patterns.

All of you have really impressive musical background and a big diversity of previous musical experience, starting classical music, variety of instruments, jazz and of course, different rock and metal How this is affecting your music. Who is the composer among you?

 We compose the music all together through jamming and this is a very unifying process. If someone has an idea, he brings it into the studio and we develop it. We really enjoy the different musical backgrounds because we leave ourselves go and we allow the music to take us where it wants to take us!

Your previous album, „The Great Secret Show“, has lots of different influences, even each single piece has its own. Would you consider that this variety is your identity or you are in a search of it?

Yes we could say that maybe that’s our identity. More certainly we don’t search for any identity. Our goal is to create music that we like and that’s our only rule.

The cover of „Skein Syndrome“ and the related art are really interesting, it represents social related issues, I believe. Could you, please, tell us what is it representing and who is its creator?

The cover and the whole artwork which you’ll see on the 18th of March, is related with each of the songs and with the title “Skein Syndrome”. The cover shows an old man, wrapped into a huge skein, trying to understand what the hell happened to his life! He tries to find a way to be released from his prison, maybe he’ll find it, maybe not. Who knows?

The creator of the artwork is Stavros Rigos, who’s also the drummer of our band.

„The Great Secret Show“ was selected as one of the best Greek albums How do you feel about this high appreciation?

It’s a huge honor! And it will be an even bigger honor to see Skein Syndrome be as much appreciated as the great secret show has been.

Last year you opened for Leprous show in Greece, previously you opened for Opeth. What are your impressions as a part of such significant events?

Again we feel honored! Of course we must thank our manager Lars for that and especially for Opeth we must thank DiDi Music as well! Opeth is a band we admire since we were very young, so it was a fantastic experience to share the stage with them! Also Leprous is a band that has managed to stand in the music industry world, by depending just on their talent, their attitude and their hard work. It was also an honor for us to play with them! We would like to add that in the past we played with Ozzy Ozbourne (2010), Pain of Salvation (2007), Paradise Lost (2009), among others. Also, honored!

Your upcoming tour list is still empty? Can we expect to see you here, in Bulgaria? What is your message to Metal Hangar 18 fans?

For our future events we are in contact with our manager Lars and soon enough you’ll know our plans! It would be great to play in Bulgaria – it will be our first time performing there! Few years ago we played at Rockstadt Extreme Festival in Romania and we met there so many people from Bulgaria and we were impressed by their attitude! So, Metal Hangar 18 fans we‘re looking forward to meeting you soon!!!!

Thank you!