INTERVIEW: ACHELOUS (GREECE)

Greek Hoplites of steel Achelous are a band that need no introduction! They are killing it with their take on Epic heavy metal and destroying local stages and beyond! Get ready to be ‘powerbombed” with this exclusive interview!

TheNwothm: Hello there! First and foremost, could you please introduce the band? Who are the members, and where do you hail from?

A: Hi!!! Achelous are hailing from Athens Greece, we play Epic Metal and we have released 3 albums and 2 EPs. The band consists of Chris Achelous on Bass, Chris Kappas on vocals, George Mavrommatis and Haris Dinos on guitars and Yannis Roussis on drums 

TheNwothm: The band came together back in 2011. Could you share more about how the band formed and reminisce about those early days?

A: Back in 2011 there wasn’t a band. It was a project from Chris A but in a more atmospheric and extreme sound. Me and Chris A were close friends and when he asked me to sing in his 3rd demo I just didn’t think twice! We changed the musical style into something more traditional (because of my voice) and Achelous as a band were born … again!

TheNwothm: How did you choose the band Achelous?

A: Achelous is a river that passes from the lands of Chris A ancestors. It was also an ancient Greek River God. 

TheNwothm: You hail from Athens, Greece! What insights can you offer about your country’s rich culture and heritage, as well as its vibrant metal scene, which I’ve heard is quite exceptional?

A: You know that the past years Greece has to offer some of the most intense and amazing metal bands. Triumpher, Crimson Fire and Sacred Outcry are a few that have made an international impact. There are also some more unknown gems here so I guess that year after year Greek scene will be bigger and bigger.

TheNwothm: Between 2011 and 2014 you put our three demos “…a moment of silence” followed by “Al Iskandar” and a third with the same name which I presume was as second part? Can you tell us about these demos and some of the highlight tracks for you! 

A: As I told you above the first two demos were in a different musical style than the todays version of Achelous. It was a solo project of Chris A. The third demo was the first collaboration of us two and the change in musical direction to a more Epic Metal path. But we used a lot of those early ideas in some of our EPs and albums later on.

TheNwothm: So can each of you tell us a bit about yourselves? Are you all originally from Athens or elsewhere?

A: We are born and raised in Athens. But as long as our heritage we all come from different places. 

TheNwothm: And if someone was looking for you where would they typically find you? For instance in a bar at the gym etc

A: Aaa that’s a great question. Chris A and George use some of their time to the gym. Yannis spend his time with his family, Harris and his girlfriend are always in an escape room and I spend my time between my daughter, my girlfriend and my friends. But at the end we all like a cold beer so you can also look for us in a rock bar! 

TheNwothm: Your EP “The Cold Winds of Olympus” was released in 2015. Could you share the inspiration behind this work and what it meant for the band at that time?

A: At that time there weren’t any band. It was me Chris A and our then guitarist Stelios. We had some songs we didn’t want to release another demo so we decided that we needed the produce something better. Thus, we entered the studio and produced our first official work. The songs were composed before 2015 and we were very happy with the work we have done at the time. This one really introduced us to the Greek Metal scene.

TheNwothm: In 2016, you released the single “The Chrizmak Hell (Zmak Pro Wrestling Theme)”. What prompted the band to create a wrestling theme, and how was the response from your audience?

A: Ooohhh that a great story to tell!!! Me and Chris A are huge pro wrestling fans. We met through pro wrestling years ago and we used to watch WWE, ECW, TNA and many more wrestling promotions! I used to know Petros Polychronidis (the presenter of the Greek version of The Wheel Of Fortune TV game) who is a great wrestling fan. We used to watch pro wrestling together with a wrestling fan club. So, when he managed to create ZMAK promotion he asked me if we could make a theme for one of his shows! Therefore, as huge wrestling fans we took the opportunity to make The Chrizmak Hell as a single and a video clip (full with the wrestlers of the promotion)! I also stared in one of the shows and got my ass kicked (lol!!!) because I was the bad guy (the heel as we say in the pro wrestling terminology!)

TheNwothm: Who would you say are your favourite wrestlers are and if you were a wrestler what would be your finishing move?

My favourite wrestlers are Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rey Mysterio, the Dudley Boyz, Kevin Owens, CM Punk and Tommy Dreamer! I used to love Ring of Honor and i was watching the rise of amazing wrestlers like CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), El Generico (Samy Zayn), Brian Danielson (Daniel Bryan), Tyler Black (Seth Rollins) among others. I also watched more hardcore wrestlers like the Necrobutcher or the Briscoe Brothers. Chris A loves Bret Hart and Raven! My finishing move would be something extreme like a powerbomb through a flaming table!!!! Hell Yeah!!!

TheNwothm: What are you all currently listening to and are any of these artists or bands big influences? 

A: The band has a wide area of influences. We all listen to different kinds of metal music. Chris A loves Black Metal (he also has a Black Metal project called Oath Of Hermon) but he is also into Sleaze Rock, Haris likes not only traditional but also more modern stuff, George is into Death Metal and Yannis even though he likes Death Metal and he is also into a Death Metal band called Obduktion he also likes melodic rock. My preferences lie between traditional classic Heavy/Power/Epic Metal and Hard n Heavy/Melodic Rock. So, you can take all these influences blend them together, pass them through the “Achelous” filter and you get our own version of Epic Metal.

TheNwothm: “Macedon” your full-length album from 2018, seems to evoke historical and cultural themes. Can you elaborate on the concept behind this album and how it reflects your artistic vision?

A: Macedon was our first full length album. It was our first step in order to establish our selves into the Greek metal scene. It got some amazing reviews, and it gave us the strength to continue. Its concept was Alexander The Great campaign into the east. Me and Chris A were in a trip to Vergina tombs and while we were at the museum the idea hit us to make an album that it will have to do with the whole expedition of Alexander to the east. Actually, the first melodies came to Chris A while we were watching the tombs. Thus, we worked the next 2 years composing the songs and another year recording it.

Unfortunately, we had some troubles with the rest of the band so we decided to let them go and me and Chris A found new members. Yannis was a long friend of ours who helped the band in a couple of shows when we didn’t have a drummer, so he tagged along immediately. We were also very fortunate to find George who is not only an exceptional guitarist and musician but also a fantastic person. He rerecorded all the guitar parts in only 1 week and also composed new solos for them! Finally, Haris came along and the line up was complete! 

TheNwothm: How did you land your signing with No Remorse Records and how have they helped you to progress as a band? 

A: When we were recording “Icewind Chronicles” I went to their shop to buy some records and Andreas asked me how the recordings were going. I said that they were going fine, and we were almost at the end. So, he asked me if we had a label for the album and if we were interested in signing with them. That was really cool for us because No Remorse have some amazing bands in their roster. The helped us very much with the promotion and the distribution of our albums in order our brand to become bigger.

TheNwothm: What can you tell us about your compilation appearance “Blood” on Power Feast Vol. IV (Mass Dementia, 2023, 2CD) and how did it come about? 

A: Powerfeast collections were my favourite tapes back in the early 90s!!! The first compilation tape was the trigger to start listening to Greek scene. Actually, I took part in one of them with my previous band Reflection. So, I was so glad when Chris contacted me after so many years and said to me that he was thinking on making a new compilation!!! He didn’t have to ask for a song!!! Achelous were into the compilation without even asking for it lol!!!

TheNwothm: “Northern Winds”, your EP from 2021, suggests a shift in thematic focus. What influenced this change, and how does this work differ from your previous releases?

A: When the coronavirus pandemic struck, we were already started working on Icewind Chronicles. The plan was to release the album back in 2021 for the 10-year anniversary of the band. But as the whole situation was so bad and we couldn’t go out on tour to promote it we thought it would be better if we wait for a year for things to settle. So, we had our first single ready (Northern Winds), we made a different arrangement for The River God (from Al Iskandar demo) and added 3 live songs from our gigs in Greece and abroad and gave it as an anniversary gift for our fans. It was a three-way collaboration with Legions Fanzine (which was released with the cd as a gift), our first label Metal Fighters Records and Achelous. This one was sold out from the presale and helped us promote the album which came out a year later. 

TheNwothm: Moving away from your music for a moment I want to know that if I was a metalhead visiting Athens and wanted to have a beer, where would you recommend going to and what should I try?

A: Aaa … that’s the easiest question ever!!! Athens has many rock and metal bars in many areas. My favourite is En Vivo in Peristeri (in the western suburbs) an amazing place where we perform our press conferences for our albums. If you are lucky, you could also watch a gig from local bands! In the center of Athens there is Old Boy and Dream Quest with some great DJs, there is also Rainbow in Gazi and for more classic stuff you can go to Le Roi. There are many more in all areas of Athens so if anyone wants to come, he has to have a strong stomach visiting and drinking in all of them!!! 

TheNwothm: And what Green bands would you recommend looking out for? Any stand out acts?

A: Triumpher and Sacred Outcry are the hottest bands right now in the more classic area of Metal. I would also recommend Crimson Fire who just came back from their European tour with Suicidal Angels. If you like your classic metal slower and doomier you have to listen to Doomocracy one of the greatest Epic Doom Metal bands in Europe right now (If you love Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Sorcerer etc check them out). There are so many … Charon’s Claw, Valiant Sentinel … 

TheNwothm: Ok moving on it seems you have been very busy the past few years putting out two albums in a row! You put out “The Icewind Chronicles” in 2022 followed your brand new album “Tower of High Sorcery!” What can you tell us about each of the albums, how they compare and did you work with the same people for both?

A: Icewind Chronicles was a huge step forward from us. We decided that we needed to evolve so we added many more influences in our music. The easiest thing to do would be to make a second Macedon album! But we had many things in our minds, and we wanted to add more stuff so we decided to move a step forward. That thing also happened with Tower of High Sorcery. We believe that Epic Metal doesn’t come in the forms of some bands. Take for example Manowar and Warlord. They are both Epic Metal but also so different! Add Omen and Manilla Road. All of them are Epic Metal but their music is totally different. So we believe that if you use all your influences in order to tell a story with your music then you will have a successful Epic Metal album. Both albums were recorded by Stathis Pavlantis in his studio (like all previous Achelous albums and EPs) and we are 100% happy about it. 

TheNwothm: If you were to highlight your favourite tracks from both albums what ones would you say? Are there any you would direct first time listeners of Achelous to?

A: This is always a hard question because our songs are like our children. You can’t chose … I love them all the same. Some days I chose one some other day I chose another. If somebody would like to introduce himself to Achelous I would say that he should listen to the albums as a whole. If not its like reading some chapters from a book and don’t read some others. You don’t get the whole picture.

TheNwothm: Considering you have a rich discography how would you say you have evolved since the early days of the band?

A: I believe we have evolved a lot. If you listen to the first EP (The cold winds of Olympus) and the new album the progress is apparent! We evolved not only as musicians but also as persons.

TheNwothm: Looking forward, what are your live plans for 2024? Any big tours or shows coming up?

A: We are in the middle of our first leg of the Tour Of High Sorcery. We already performed at the amazing Open The Gates Festival in Cyprus along side awesome bands like Domine, Triumpher, Solitary Sabred, Arrayan Path, RUST X and many more, we then returned to Athens to a packed Temple Club for the live presentation of our new album and then we went to Patra to perform for our friends there who were really crazy!!! Right now, we are preparing to go to Croatia, Serbia (with our Serbian friends Claymorean), Romania and Hungary and finally at the first of June we end the tour in Hamburg Germany performing at Tidefest with the our Doom Metal brothers Servants To The Tide!!

TheNwothm: And where can fans buy your music and merch?

A: You can contact us in our social media pages (facebook, Instagram etc) for almost anything. You can also contact in our mail (achelousbandgr@gmail.com)

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?

Thank you so much for this amazing interview! I hope your readers will enjoy it! Metal on!!!