Marcelo Barbosa's interview @ Rock Overdose (Greece)!

The original link: http://www.rockoverdose.gr/news_details.php?id=7282.
It's also available in Greek!

Rock Overdose: Welcome to Rockoverdose.gr! So, a new album is ready to be released. Tell us some things about this new stuff and what we have to expect?

Marcelo: This is our third album, the second as a band since the first Almah CD was a solo project of Edu Falaschi, Angra’s singer. During this time the band became more mature and we believe that in this particular album we could finally find our inner voice. The songs are heavier but also technical and with catchy melodies, mainly on the chorus. We are really proud of the results and anxious to hear the opinion of the audience.

Rock Overdose: How would you describe us this album with the previous?

Marcelo: I think that Almah’s songwriting formula, If I could call it like that, is based on the triad power, technique and melody. We all are technical musicians and some of us are really into progressive music, so it’s impossible to be too far from it. Beside this, the guitar riffs are really powerfull and we are using seven stringed guitars, so everything sounds heavier. Edu normally is in charge of the melodies and he is pretty good on it. Every song has melodies that we start to sing along after the first audition.



Rock Overdose: You think that it was good for the band that Angra was behind Almah in some way?

Marcelo: In certain way it was good, in other it wans’t. Pretty much like everything in life. It was good because it opened some doors in record labels, TVs, magazines and producers. But Angra is a big band and of course, sometimes we had to wait for a free space on their schedule so we could work with Almah. This is the bad part.

Rock Overdose: How about lives? Do you have something on your plans?

Marcelo: We’re playing live in Brazil for one month right now and I think we have more eight or ten concerts confirmed until the end of this year. This is good because in Brazil we have a good audience and the concerts are doing great. Some of them are with Sepultura, and we played twice with Machine Head too. It’s great to have a chance to play with those guys.

Rock Overdose: Who is responsible for the composing and lyrics part of the albums?

Marcelo: We did all the compositions together but Edu started the majority of them. He bought the initial ideas and we made the arrangements, instrumental sections or a new part that wans’t there together. The lyrics were done by Edu and Felipe.

Rock Overdose: What’s the main inspiration of the lyrics part?

Marcelo: In this album we agreed to talk about real life. About things that are in our ordinary days. Some of them have a personal feel but some are just about life facts.

Rock Overdose: How would you describe Almah with three words?

Marcelo: I told this in another question. Power, technique and melody.

Rock Overdose: How much in your opinion internet can help bands nowadays?

Marcelo: Internet is great to help promoting bands. You can be directly in contact with your fans and youtube is a fantastic tool to see how the bands are live, and promote video clips. The problem is that a lot of the material that pops there are with bad quality so it can show something that isn’t the truth. Once again, internet is just a tool. It can be good or bad depending on how you use it.

Rock Overdose: What’s your opinion about Greece and Greek people?

Marcelo: I don’t know personally a lot of Greek people but Greece is one the places in the world that I’m sure I will visit in the future. I do love arts in general and history so; I think that is mandatory to anyone who loves these fields to know Greece. Beside this, I do read a lot about philosophy and of course I’m quite familiar with the work of some Greek philosophers, mainly Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. I think these are the Greek people that I know and I do love them… LOL
You know, there’s a coincidence in this question. The entire Motion concept is based on moving on and trying to be better every day, things like that. When we were talking about this, I brought an Heraclitus’ quote that is: “You cannot step into the same river, for fresh waters are ever flowing on to you.” These words are written on the CD folder and also inspired the lyrics of Living and Drifting, one of the best songs of this CD in my opinion.

Rock Overdose: Is there something else you would like to announce, before we end this interview?

Marcelo: I would like to thank you for the space and interest in our work. Hopefully, soon we will be back in Europe with the whole band do some concerts and I’m looking forward to see everyone there. All the best!

Rock Overdose: Thank you for your time, we wish you the best!