We are joined by Germany’s Fatal Fire for this exclusive interview, where we dive into the background of the band and chat about their debut album, “Arson!”

TheNwothm: Hey there Fatal Fire! Can you first of all introduce each band member and where you are from?

Tim: Svenja is our vocalist. She thought for almost all her life that she couldn’t sing until she really tried to sing seriously, haha. She originally is from Bavaria (but she neither eats Weißwurst nor wears a Dirndl).

Dennis is our bassist, a super cool dude who is always funny, yet sometimes a bit confused. From Darmstadt area.

Valentyn is our guitarist. Actually, we need to say “was” our guitarist, because unfortunately he just left us due to his university studies. He lives in Darmstadt and is very classical music influenced.

Till is an old friend of mine. He is a beast at the drums, lives in Darmstadt and is a beer expert, haha.

And I, Tim, am the other guitarist and the founder of Fatal Fire. I love Thrash- and Power Metal. Originally from a beautiful part in Hessen, Germany, called Rheingau.

TheNwothm: You formed back in 2019! Can you tell us more about your formation?

Till: Tim has been writing these great Power Metal songs for years. So he wanted to put together a band to perform these songs, and as we were playing together in another band back then, he asked me if I liked to join. As a huge Speed- and Power Metal fan and knowing Tim being a great guitarist, of course I had to agree! Shortly after, Dennis joined on bass and Ivan as a second guitarist and we started rehearsing. When Svenja joined us in 2020 it first felt like a real band! During the pandemic Valentyn replaced Ivan and with this lineup we started playing live and recording in 2022. 

TheNwothm: And where did the band name come from?

Tim: We were looking for a name that fit the music. Everybody came up with a few ideas and then we voted. We had some epic names in my opinion, but we all agreed that Fatal Fire was perfect. Somehow it fits to our music, I think.

TheNwothm: You guys from Frankfurt, Hesse in Germany! What can you tell us about Frankfurt and the metal scene there?

Till: Actually, none of use lives directly in Frankfurt. We used to rehearse there for quite some time, but we all live in surrounding towns. So, we are not so much included in the Frankfurt Heavy Metal scene. But for sure we know many great Bands and both Heavy Metal Fans and Musicians! We are lucky, we have many touring bands doing shows in Frankfurt or one of the other cities in the metropole region so we get a lot of Heavy Metal here.

TheNwothm: If a metal fan was visiting Frankfurt for the first time, where would you recommend them to go to? Any decent rock or metal bars?

Till: As a Heavy Metal Fan in Frankfurt you should definitely go to the Speak Easy Metal Bar! It’s one of the oldest and most legendary Metal Bars in the region. If you like to attend some underground Metal Live Music you should go to the Ponyhof, the Elfer Bar, the Nachtleben or the Bett.

TheNwothm: Are there any great beers you would suggest trying while there? 

Till: You should definitely try Schlappeseppel, Darmstädter Braustübel or Faust Beer! None of these are brewed directly in Frankfurt, but in the surrounding Area where some of us live.

TheNwothm: The German heavy metal scene is absolutely thriving! With so many great bands coming from Germany do you have any personal favourites?

Dennis: Blind Guardian, by far. Each album is worth a listen and I can only recommend to listen every single one, if you somehow haven’t before. I certainly did.

Till: For me, it’s definitely Blind Guardian, one of the Bands which brought me into the whole Metal Thing! And of course we have some really nice Thrash Metal Bands, like Kreator, Tankard or Destruction, but also some really great Black Metal Bands like Dark Fortress.

Tim: These are great bands, indeed. I’d like to add Gamma Ray and Helloween, though. They definitely influenced our style.

TheNwothm: You guys formed back in 2019 but have only just released your debut album! What did you do in that time period? Were you mostly writing or performing?

Svenja: In the beginning, we thought it would take ages for our first gig to finally happen, because they all were delayed or cancelled. Then suddenly, when corona was quite over, we got to play more than 20 gigs until our release. Of course in this time we had a lot of other things to do: writing new songs and lyrics, organizing band stuff, and so on.

TheNwothm: Some of you were in other projects prior to Fatal Fire! Did any of those projects have an influence on the sound of the band?

Till: Tim and me used to play together in the Thrash-/Deathmetal Band “Fallen Temple” for some years. In terms of songwriting it’s something completely different, but I think you can definitely hear some Thrashmetal-Riffing and Drumming on “Arson”. And of course we knew, our playing would fit together very well.

TheNwothm: You guys are with M.D.D Records! Congratulations! How did the signing happen?

Svenja: We worked together with a promoter. First, he told us it wasn’t very promising to get a label deal as a newcomer band with a debut album. But we still tried it and in the end we had 3 offers and we actually got to choose who to work with.

TheNwothm: You literally just released your debut album “Arson!” How does that feel? 

Till: We had to wait for quite some time for the release date, so it feels like “finally”! But now it feels just great! We are really proud of this record. And really had a blast at our release Party, where we played all the songs live in the pub, where we played our very first show back in 2022. 

TheNwothm: Can you give us some background to the record? How did the writing and production go for the record?

Tim: The songs were finished quite a long time before we actually got to record them. As said before, I wrote one or two songs before I actually started a band. So we practiced and played them before a lot, too.

For the recording: Till finished his drumming super fast, in a few days. The other instruments weren’t a big problem neither, Valentyn recorded his own tracks at home due to a lack of time. We also recorded our solos like this as well. Svenja was in the studio for quite some days too, because we always had some cool ideas about what to do with the lyrics and with choruses. Unfortunately, our recordings sometimes got delayed due to schedule reasons. That’s why it took so long.

TheNwothm: What lyrical and musical themes does the new album explore?

Svenja: Some of the lyrics are about typical power metal themes, like killing the king (Kingslayer) or fantasy creatures like sirens (Sea of Damnation). In “Crossroads” someone is making a deal with a crossroads demon, “Meteorites” is meant to comfort you on your darkest days, “Ardent Wave” and “Destruction” tell you to keep going, whatever happens. In “Ashes Remain” you can hear the final thoughts of a witch before she is burned on a stake. I think “Dawn of Fate” has the most stereotyped lyrics. Of course it´s about a battle haha.

TheNwothm: Can you walk us through each of the album tracks and highlight some of your favourites?

Tim: Destruction: Our oldest song, still my favourite. It has cool riffing, a lot of twin guitar melodies, an epic chorus and a challenging solo, which is also one of my favourites.

Ashes Remain: This one is Svenjas favourite one. A pretty thrashy one, and always super energetic when we perform it live. Pretty exhausting too.

Dawn of Fate: The 2^nd oldest song here. If you compare the lyrics to the other ones, it’s pretty different, because I wrote the lyrics. The others are Svenjas lyrics. This song has a lot of two-voiced melodies in it.

Crossroads: It has a totally different pace. It’s more of a groovy but badass song, while the other ones are mostly speedy songs. You can hear some sick tom drumming by Till there.

Sea of Damnation: Pretty epic too, very Speed Metal influenced, but also with 2 breaks that include melody and shred solos.

Meteorites: It’s quite fast instrumental-wise but the vocals are “soft”. It gives you that “dreamy” feeling if you know what I like. Also a pretty long double guitar solo of course!

Kingslayer: It seems that this one is the fan favourite. It has really catchy vocal melodies and a huge long solo with two-voiced tapping, sweeping and twin guitar work. Also some gang shouts and extreme drumming. It’s definitely one of our favourites as well.

Ardent Wave: The most different song right here. It starts as a ballad and turns into an epic mid tempo song. Great vocals and another long guitar solo (one of my favourites as well).

TheNwothm: And for each band member which track did you find the most challenging to write/play?

Till: I have to say the drum recordings went surprisingly smooth and without any bigger difficulties. Playing live, “Kingslayer” is sometimes a little challenging, because we usually play it very early in the set, and it has these very long guitar solos, where I play a fast Ridecymbal Pattern. So when I was too lazy warming up, I sometimes have to feel the pain… 😉

Tim: The most exhausting one is Ashes Remain. It has really long high speed riffing without a break.

Svenja: To me the most difficult to sing is “Dawn of Fate” because I have to sing very low in the chorus. 

TheNwothm: The album depicts a possessed woman on a pyre wrapped in flames and a rib cage! Pretty killer idea! So where did that idea come from and who designed it?

Svenja: An artist from Poland designed the album cover. His name is Aleh Zielankievič It was inspired by a text passage of our song “Ashes Remain”. It says: “I am caged like the heart in my thorax”. The song is about a witch´s final thoughts before she is burned.

TheNwothm: We just spoke about your new album, but do you have any other musical plans for the rest of the year?

Till: We want to bring the Songs live on stage! We really like the fact, that finally some people in the audience already know the Songs and can sing along or bang their heads in time, haha. Tim has already written a bunch of new songs, we will rehearse and test live on stage. And as Valentyn unfortunately has left the band with our release party in March, we have to bring a new guy into the band.

TheNwothm: What are your touring plans looking like for the rest of 2024?

Tim: At the moment, we will play 12 concerts in 2024. There might be a few more in the end. We usually try to play 50% in our region and 50% further away.

You can always check out our tour dates on social media

TheNwothm: Where can fans buy your music and merch?

Tim: The easiest – and coolest – way would be to buy it at our concerts and get in touch with us! We are always happy to chat with people. Apart from that: our album “Arson” is available worldwide. You can get it or order it at many different places.

Merch is a bit more complicated – but you can still just contact us and we’ll send it to you.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FatalFireMetal

Bandcamp: https://fatalfiremetal.bandcamp.com/

TheNwothm: Is there any last words would you like to say to our readers?

Dennis: If you happen to be at one of our concerts, don‘t be shy and say hello. We are always happy to meet you, even for a short time.