Konquest is a band that lives and breathes heavy metal—raw, melodic, and defiantly true to its roots. Since emerging in 2019, they’ve delivered riff-heavy anthems, earned a growing cult following, and kept things refreshingly DIY along the way. With a love for classic sounds and a few unexpected twists, Konquest isn’t just keeping the flame alive—they’re having a hell of a time doing it. We caught up with them to talk about how it all began, what drives their music, and what’s coming next.

Interview

TheNwothm: Let’s kick things off nice and simple—can you introduce Konquest to those who may not have heard your music yet? Who’s in the band, and where are you guys based?

K: Hi there! We are a traditional heavy metal band from a little everywhere in Italy. No, wait, from only two parts of Italy at the moment: 3 members from Prato/Firenze (Alex -guitar and vocals-, Giulio -bass-, Giuliano -Drums-) and the other one from Bologna (Matt -guitar-) 

TheNwothm: Now, every band has its origin story. How did you guys come together, and where did the name Konquest come from?

K: Konquest was born in December 2019 from an Alex idea (me), I’ve always been into metal since I was very young but never had the opportunity to put up a proper band since that time. The moniker is obviously a tribute to one of my favourite bands Heavy Load and their release ‘Metal Conquest’, but it can be also a reference to one of my favourite video games ever, Mortal Kombat. Who knows!

After I released the first Demo, the mighty Bart Gabriel from Iron Oxide Records came to me saying that I wanted to release a full album, then it came the occasion to play as a full band and after some line up changes here we are! Konquest is basically a one man band in studio when it comes to composing music and lyrics, but we can rock the stage like a proper band when we want! Eheheh. 

TheNwothm: Prato, Tuscany—it sounds like a picturesque place to start a heavy metal band. How has your home city and the Italian music scene shaped your journey?

K: Prato doesn’t offer too much opportunities to play this genre. Not at all. It’s quite a boring and normal city where nothing happens, speaking about music. But luckily we have cities near here like Firenze and Bologna that offers many places to play metal. And don’t forget that Firenze gave birth to two of the greatest heavy metal bands in Italy: Strana Officina and Sabotage.

TheNwothm: Italy has such a rich history and culture—from art to opera, and of course, metal. Do you think there’s something uniquely Italian about your sound or lyrical themes?

K: I don’t really thing so, our main inspiration are the English and Swedish heavy metal (and also pop). Maybe my English pronunciation is the only Italian thing in the band sound.

TheNwothm: Have your surroundings, or even old myths and regional history, ever crept into your songwriting?

K: Not very much to be honest, I’m into history things but not THAT much. The only historical stuff I put up in Konquest is an old roman dinivity, the two-faced Janus on the cover of Time And Tyranny that looks at the past and the future.

TheNwothm: Let’s walk through your releases. Your first release was “Demo 2020”—what was the energy like recording that, and what message did you want to put out with those early tracks?

K: The songs on that demo were all I had written at that time, and my initial idea were not to make a full length right away, but to put out some demos when I wanted to do, as a side project to my other bands. Basically they were what I wanted to express for a while aside my non-metal bands. And they’ve turned up great even though they were recorded almost entirely at home.

TheNwothm: Then came “The Night Goes On” in 2021. What did that album represent for you as a debut full-length, and how did it set the tone for the band’s identity?

K: It was definitely a continuation of what the demo was and what the initial Konquest idea was: a solid tribute to heavy metal and Heavy Load above all. But I think the things had changed right now, even though many defined us as the ‘italian Heavy Load’, what an honour! I’m very attached to this album, it was the beginning of an adventure that is bringing me a lot of satisfaction, especially because it takes me around the world with people I love.

TheNwothm: In 2022, you followed it up with “Time and Tyranny,” which received quite a bit of praise. What were you exploring thematically and musically with that record?

K: The main theme behind Time And Tyranny is, (even if unwanted) in fact, the time. Time And Tyranny as a song is about time that passes and leaves no survivors, the Traveller is about an hypothetical time traveller and the final Warrior From a Future World is about that time traveller who came into this world to save us from some saboteur of time. Some kind of comic character. You can see him on the back of the CD or vinyl. Other songs aren’t about anything in particular, the lyrics are often something that I put there depending on the music. But now I’ve changed my way to work on lyrics.

TheNwothm: Can you tell us some of your favourite tracks from that record and why?

K: Maybe is Warrior From A Future World, it represents the Konquest’s style at his best, in my opinion.

TheNwothm: Most recently, you released a cover of “Heavy Artillery” by Tank in 2024. Why that song, and how did you approach reinterpreting it in your own style?

K: Because Tank is one of the best NWOBHM in the world, obviously! Eheheh. For me and for all of us in the band they’re one of the biggest influences and we wanted to pay tribute to Algy Ward in the best way possible.

TheNwothm: What’s something about being in Konquest that might surprise people—maybe a weird studio ritual or a band in-joke?

K: Oh yes, there is one in particular! Once on Facebook one commented above a post about us, out of the blue: ‘’people say that Konquest are an hardcore punk band under disguise’’. What does it mean? And why say it like it’s a bad thing? Ahahah! This thing always made us burst up laughing imagining that we, like Lupin III, take off our masks and reveal other faces! Maybe it’s only a ‘’boomer metalhead’’ thing. Metalheads often discriminate Hardcore Punk and Punk in general. But we all are into hardcore punk indeed, and two of us play in hardcore punk bands so yes, we are Punk too!

TheNwothm: Outside of music, what are you guys into? Books, films, food, video games, medieval sword duelling?

K: Medieval sword duelling would be cool but we didn’t receive a proper training, ahahah! We are all into reading, watching all kind of stuff (with Twin Peaks and The Office preferences -we even use the ‘The Office’ theme as a gig intro once ahahah!-) and playing all kind of videogames (old and new): Wukong, Cuphead, Resident Evil, GTA, Super Mario and the mightiest of all: Crash Bandicoot. Yes, if Konquest would change its themes surely would talk about Crash Bandicoot.

TheNwothm: I understand you are about to start recording the next conquest record! What teasers can you give our readers?

K: It will be quite different from the other releases, there are sooo many new influences on the new album. Some of hard ‘n heavy too, big choruses, a veeeeery little bit of progressive, but classic heavy too. There won’t be much Heavy Load-like or Epic stuff, I think this album will be more ‘’personal’’ (as personal as Heavy Metal can be these days). Evolution is a good thing, I can’t do the same music all my life.

TheNwothm: Touring is a huge part of any band’s life. Are there any tour dates, cities, or countries you’re aiming to hit soon?

K: We always did some weekend out abroad like 2 or 3 days playing at nice festivals, but never had the idea for planning a tour. Since we don’t have a booking agency it’s also hard to organise a tour by ourself, but we never know, maybe one day it will happen. 

TheNwothm: If Konquest could tour with any band in history, past or present, who’s getting the call?

K: Iron Maiden obviously. Will they answer this call? Let’s ask Rod Smallwood.

TheNwothm: How can our readers buy your music and merch?

K: On Bandcamp, and at our gigs for sure!

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?

K: HEAVY METAL TO THE WORLD!

Bandcamp: https://konquest.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_konquest_