Interview with Broken Fate's Tobias John Bänteli

Late last month I reviewed Broken Fate's latest EP, 2012's "Rising to the Dream". Now I'd like to present to all of you a brief interview that I had the pleasure of conducting with the group's founder, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Tobias John Bänteli. You can read my review of this Swiss act's EP below (as per usual) and be sure to head over to Broken Fate's Facebook page after you're finished ready this interview and "like them" so that you can keep up with the band and follow the progress of their upcoming release. Enjoy!

 

Andy-First off I'd like to thank you for taking the time to chat with us. With a new album in the works I'd imagine that things are pretty busy in your camp these days. How is that coming along?

Tobias John Bänteli (Tobi)-We will be recording the new album in April 2014 in the Musicfactory Studio in Kempten (Germany) with Rd Liapakis (Mystic Prophecy).

Andy-Your 2012 EP, "Rising to the Dream", covered a lot of ground style-wise. Can we expect more of the same from your upcoming album? Will there be as much diversity on it as the EP? While I totally dug the track "Fate" it does seem to come from out of left-field  a bit!

Tobi-Yes, we will continue with our style, but will also follow up with a ballade similar to “Fate”.

Andy-You guys have on other LP in your back-catalog besides the EP. What would you say has changed from your debut album to this point? What areas have you grown in and are their areas that you'd like to improve on?
 

Tobi-We have found our style and sound. For us it is modern Thrash Metal. We are getting better daily as is the quality of our song-writing. I will just have to learn to write songs with a shorter duration.

Tobi taking charge live on stage!

 

Andy-To my ears Broken Fate, sound-wise, almost comes off as a cross between thrash metal and heavy rock and your past cover song choices (from Metallica to Nickleback) certainly seems to attest to that. Are all four of you guys so open-minded, music-wise, or was that just the main vision of the band and everyone just got on board with it?

Tobi-We will be always be influenced by various bands such as Metallica and Nickelback and at the same time cultivate our own style and bring everything together under the Broken Fate sound.

Andy-Are there any working titles for the new disc that you can share with us?

Tobi-Some titles have already been locked such as “Your Night”, “Freedom”, “Take you away”, “No chance for you”, “Liberate” and “Bridge between”. Additional songs are still in the writing process.

Andy-Besides the new album what does 2014 have in store for Broken Fate?

Tobi-We anticipate that the new album will be released in June 2014. We presently don’t know through which label because we are still on the look-out for label or distributor.


Andy-I'll leave you guys with the last word. Is there anything we didn't cover that you'd like to share?

Tobi-In 2014 our first performances in Slovakia, the Czech Republic , Germany, Italy and France will take place. Towards the end of 2014 we hope to write an EP with the songs that didn’t make it to the album. One of our present main goals is to close a deal with a record company.
Look at Facebook and the web to us. we need your support
 
Broken Fat's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/brokenfate6

Review of "Rising to the Dream":
http://metalmark.blogspot.com/search?q=Broken+Fate-Rising+to+the+Dream

Broken Fate-Rising to the Dream

Self-Release/Independent
2012

Formed in 2007 by Tobias John Bänteli (vocals and guitars) and Alessandro de Cicco (drums), the Swiss act known as Broken Fate offer up their latest release, the "Rising to the Dream" EP. Produced by V.O. Pulver at "Little Creek" studio in Gelterkinden (CH), the recording's intro, the ("Ride The Lightning"/"Master Of Puppets") Metallica-like "Rise", sets the mood early on for what ends up being a strong and remarkably memorable release. Guitarist/backing-vocalist Roman Leeser and bassist Dario Stutz (bass) round out this Swiss four-piece out and with a new album slated for release in 2014 this EP is a great way to get acquainted with what just might end up being your new favorite metal band! Now wait, hear me out as I realize that's a pretty bold statement! When you first look at Broken Fate and hear that they would be considered "modern metal" most people would stop there. You'd be missing out though as the only thing really modern about this four-piece is their approach to song-writing. I'll cover that a bit further down, but for now let's see where these gentlemen started out. Early on the group covered songs from the likes of Metallica, Nickelback and Fear Factory, but with others influences such as Slipknot, Killswitch Engage
Anthrax, Testament, Shinedown, Pantera and Devildriver serving as the building blocks to Broken Fate's sound this is one "modern metal band" that sure seems as if it knows what it's doing. Don't stress about the Nickleback and Shinedown reference points as Broken Fate cranks out high-velocity thrash metal more then anything else. Those thrash influences (Metallica, Anthrax and Testament) obviously make for one release that easily tips the scales towards the heavier side of things and, other then "Fate", I'd wager that "Rising to the Dream" would find itself sitting quite comfortably in most modern day thrash collections. If you didn't know about the Nickleback covers or the Shinedown influence, and if you didn't play someone the cut "Fate" (which, despite leaning more towards a heavier version of modern rock radio is actually a pretty cool tune!), then you could almost chalk this one up as simply modern thrash and no one would be the wiser. The interesting thing is that the technical aspects of this EP showcase a band that seems well-versed in "And Justice For All..." era Metallica, or even one that remembers how sweet old Metallica and Megadeth albums used to be when the melodic solos would kick in, while the actual "modern metal" is only modern because (as previously mentioned) it adapts the appeal of (later period) hard rock and heavy metal song-writing towards it's own goals. The thrash here is actually forged from the playbooks of more modern hard rock and heavy metal acts which means that Broken Fate puts more of an emphasis on creating actual "songs" instead of just crazy and over-the-top moments of frenzy that plague a lot of today's retro-thrashers. With their hearts filled to overflowing with love for the classics (everyone from Metallica to Pantera) the guys in Broken Fate seem as if they assemble their songs as if they are a rock group trapped in the body of a thrash band! So these cuts actually rock! It might all sound strange on paper, but Broken Fate are the best of both words. They are heavy and menacing with a thrash sound right out of the mid-to-late eighties/early nineties while they also incorporate modern radio rock better ideas and the greatness of older hard rock/heavy metal. Broken Fate is how "modern metal" should sound. This Swiss act is  my new drug of choice and I'll be keeping an eye out for upcoming new album!