Interview with Steel Messiah' member Marius Röntgen

Steel Messiah is a German heavy metal band whose killer debut EP, "Of Laser and Lightning", was previously reviewed. Now I'd like to present a interview that I recently conducted with band member Marius Röntgen. 

Andy-Would you please introduce yourself and tell me how Steel Messiah first came together. 

Marius-I am Marius, the singer and bass-guitarist of Steel Messiah. We came together from quite different genres. I was playing with Kai and our old drummer Daniel since 2012 in Mandatory Suicide (a band that never really moved on due to the fact that our line-up constantly changed). Marcus and I played in the band Laser. In that band we first got the idea for some of our up coming songs. Songs like "Fast and Sharp" and  "Motorcycle Maniac" were first formed there. These songs were then finished within Steel Messiah. After Julian (our old guitarist) left Mandatory Suicide in 2015 we asked Marcus to join us. He did because Laser was falling apart...in fact our drummer was moving away to study somewhere else. So we formed Steel Messiah. In the Spring of 2016 Daniel left the band because of personal time issues and then Moritz joined. Since then we have been playing with our current line-up. 

Andy-Who are your influences? 

Marius-We have got a lot of different influences that shape our personal style. Everyone of us has a different direction based on heavy metal. Kai and Moritz prefer some of the more modern stuff while Marcus and I tend to listen to old-school rock and metal. Bands that really tend to influence us are Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, Motörhead, and a lot of other older groups. 

Andy-Those are three bands that I happen to love! Especially Motörhead!! Steel Messiah is such a cool name for a heavy metal band. How did you guys settle on that? 

Marius-Actually we don't have a cool story for this. In 2015 we were looking for a fitting name because we has finally agreed on making heavy metal in the style that we do now. "Struck by Lightning" was the only complete song at that point that we had and we just brainstormed a lot of band names. It's difficult to find a band name that's not already used. So we came up with Steel Messiah. 

Andy-Well, like I said I think it's cool. So, how have your fans reacted to the new EP? 

Marius-I think we have had no really negative voices concerning our EP. Everybody we showed it to so far has really liked...although a few people complained that the sound could have been better. But as a band we are quite happy with the result. 

Andy-Speaking of it's sound, "Of Laser and Lightning" has a really cool vintage feel to it. Was that your goal heading into the studio? 

Marius-Absolutely not. We just wanted to achieve the sound that would best fit the songs. We had no real intention to produce music that would hit one specific corner of a genre. We wrote the songs that everybody was happy. Because of our different tastes that was not a easy task. We worked very closely with Robin to get the most authentic sound we could out of the songs.

Andy-Speaking of which, Robin Szekely recorded and mixed your album. Was that somebody that you knew? How did you make the connection? 

Marius-Robin has been a friend of mine for quite some time. Before Steel Messiah I sang and played bass in the death metal band Furcate. My lead guitarist Armin knew Robin and we planned to create a little death/black metal project with just the 3 of us. Robin records a lot of his writings at home and has quite a bit of experience in recording. He sometimes helps us out with mixing or advising the sound guy on how we have to sound. We are really thankful for his support! 

Andy-As I alluded to earlier I really enjoyed the sound of your EP so I think it's a great partnership. Changing gears a bit here, but how would you describe your band to someone who had never heard Steel Messiah before? 

Marius-I think I would describe ourselves as traditional heavy metal with a lot of high pitched vocals. If you like this idea then you might want to check us out. 

Andy-From what I read your EP was limited to only 100 CD copies. Do you have any plans to re-issue it? 

Marius-We limited it to 100 copies because it made no sense to create more. We are a very small band. We are working on increasing our range. We only have limited financial resources and we still didn't sell all of our EPs. If we run out and the people are still interested in buying them we will release some new ones. 

Andy-I'm kind of surprised that there are still copies left. Especially given how cool the EP is. Weird. But anyway, who are some of the bands that you've played with? 

Marius-The biggest act we played with were the awesome Steelwing from Sweden. It was a great experience for us to play with an international act and they were pretty nice to us. We had a lot of nice conversations with them and they seemed to like our show. Other bands we played with are local acts. Big thanks go out to Spitfire and Mutoniatus who helped us out at our release gig. Also thanks to Demons Dream as they gave us the chance to play our first festival (Chainbreaker 2016). Other bands we had a blast with were Eisenhauer, Ruynor, Human Thrash Mashine, Cyrence, Chaossphere, Burkhartsvinter and a few more. I hope that everyone I forgot about will not be mad at me (haha). 

Andy-What's the next move for Steel Messiah? What does 2017 hold in store for your band? 

Marius-Right now we are hard at work on our first album which we want to record in summer 2017. We are also working on our live show and on our outfits so there will be quite a bit to look forward to.

Andy- I let artists have the last say. Care to add anything? Final thoughts or words of inspiration? 

Marius-Support the underground and stay heavy!

Andy-That I will Marius. And to our readers I would like to encourage all of you to do the same. Let's all work together to make 2017 the best year ever for all thing metal!!

For more information on Steel Messiah be sure to check out the group's Facebook page.

Steel Messiah-Of Laser and Lightning

Self-Release/Independent
2016

Steel Messiah is a (somewhat-new) four-piece heavy metal/speed metal band from Germany that lists Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, and Motörhead as just a few of it's influences. Active since the year 2014, with this EPIC 5-track EP serving as the group's first studio offering, Steel Messiah is based in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg and lead by wicked bassist/vocalist Marius Röntgen (Furcate). The talented lot of lead guitarist Marcus Gläser, rhythm guitarist Kai Wagne, and drummer Moritz Nothhelfer round things out for this young but impressively-skilled quartet whose lead singer (Marius Röntgen) almost sounds as if he could Germany's answer to Rob Halford! Or maybe he's just Rob's long lost cousin? Either way, Marius Röntgen hits all the high notes on this must-hear EP!! Other than the obvious nod of appreciation towards all things Rob Halford* (both Judas Priest and his solo project Halford) and the one song "Fast n' Sharp" (which has moments where early Metallica and Megadeth come to mind!) this up-and-coming band draws a chunk of it's sound from cult heavy/power metal acts like Exxplorer, Jag Panzer, Medieval Steel, Liege Lord, Powerlord, Malice, Warlord, and Deadly Blessing. Of the five tracks on the band's solid debut EP, "Dr. Steel", "Fast n' Sharp", and "Motorcycle Maniac" would be my fave moments, but really you can't go wrong with any of the vintage metal-tinged numbers on this 23 minute plus recording. Speaking of which, "Of Laser and Lightning" would be primarily geared towards fans of classic metal and eighties metal. Because of the way in which these songs were written, performed, and then ultimately recorded it is abundantly clear that these four young and hungry musicians proudly wave the banner that is true heavy metal. More than anything, Steel Messiah's -track debut plays as if it is a love letter to the earlier metal bands that helped pave a way for today's scene. Unlike some other paint-by-number retro-revivalists, Steel Messiah plays as if they were actually there, back in the early to mid-eighties and performing for their peers who were also in new and exciting metal bands! As "Struck by Lightning" kicks things off for this choice EP you can almost picture yourself back in the day when clubs were small but jammed packed with fellow metalheads who were there to hear new metal bands for the first time. Long before you-tube and iTunes sometimes the only chance that   you might get to hear a band's music was to actually go and see them live. I am well aware that it is a cliche statement on mine, but all the same, "Of Laser and Lightning" could have almost been passed around the scene via tape trading! That's have rich this highly-recommended EP is and how far it's roots go!! And since this is only the group's first release they are bound to only get better with time. One can only imagine how good a full-length release would be from this German heavy/speed metal band! Let's hope they get that chance. In the meantime be sure to check out the group's Facebook page for more information on the band and this headbanging recording! 

*Because of those simply-righteous Rob Halford-like vocals the songs "Dr. Steel" and "Motorcycle Maniac" sound like they could have been ripped right from Judas Priest's "Painkiller"!