Updated: 06/24/02

If you count yourself as a fan of Lacuna Coil or Tristania, then 7th Moon should be a required addition to your CD collection. Based out of Spain, 7th Moon features the amazing vocal talent of Sonia Carles and a group of excellent musicians. Their latest relase Alter Alma is unforgettable and could very well become a genre favorite if given half a chance. The music is depressive yet inspired, and should impress the gothic metal masses all over the world. Here is an e-mail interview I conducted with vocalist Sonia Carles...

Highwire Daze: Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in 7th Moon, and how long the band has been together. 

Sonia Carles: Hi to all the readers of Highwire Daze! This is Sonia, the vocalist of the band 7th Moon. For those who've never heard of us before, weīre a Spanish band that was born back in 1996 with only two of its members Carlos (Guitarist) and Sergio (bassist) as at the beginning it was just a project to start creating music for joy. But a little time later, they thought about creating something more serious as a band and then Oriol (Drummer) and Albert (Keyboards) joined 7th Moon. Sergio, Oriol and Albert were already friends and partners in music (they three played in the same band) so they knew their tastes very well… Jordi (Cellist) and me were the last ones in landing on, so it really was in 1998 when we formed the real line-up of the band.  

HD:   Describe the music of 7th Moon to someone who has never heard it before. 

Sonia: Itīs always difficult to describe a music style and moreover when it has many different influences as itīs our case. We all have played in other bands before and were pretty different from one another and thatīs something that can be clearly heard in our stuff. 7th Moon performs a mixture of Doom Metal with a slight Gothic touch but also with a good dose of strength and powerful compositions but always open to our personal influences that come from Soul, Jazz or even Pop. 

HD:  What is the metal scene like in Barcelona and throughout the rest of Spain? 

Sonia: Honestly speaking, the Spanish metal scene is practically nothing. There are many tradicional Heavy Metal bands that are just known within the country, some Black Metal, Death Metal or even Doom Metal bands, but not much well known out of our frontiers... Nevertheless weīre much lucky to live in a city like Barcelona, as we have the opportunity to attend many gigs that other Spanish cities canīt.  

HD:What is the idea behind the album title Alter Alma? 

Sonia: We wanted the title to have sense and relation to the lyrics of the album, theyīre all connected somehow with the beyond and express a bit the dark side we all have but not always dare to show. We were searching for a short and direct title for the album and thought about the idea of making it in Spanish just to give our work a small Spanish touch, although Alter Alma is finally a mixture of Spanish and Latin languages. Alter in Latin and Alma in Spanish. Its translation in English would be something like "The other soul" We think itīs a nice name that leaves a door open for the listener to interpret the meaning by his own -- although itīs strongly connected to the lyrics and artwork. 

HD:Where do you get the idea for some of the lyrics on the album? 

Sonia: The idea comes from whatever, sometimes you already have an idea of a small part but donīt know how to develop it, other times your get inspired by a certain instrumental part and the whole story comes to your mind...well of those hidden parts of your mind. There are thousands of ways to write a song and in my case I try to take much care on the lyrics as I think theyīre a important part. I know that in this scene somehow the lyrics are not given the importance they should and in the other hand is given to the vocal melody or the instrumental parts. I personally think that both vocals and lyrics have to be important and well coordinated, therefore I try to give sense to the lyrics on a certain part of the song depending on the tone of voice, if itīs slow or quick, if itīs an involving a moment or a more aggressive part -- thatīs important and also how you perform it on the stage.   

HD: Sonia, your vocals on the album are fantastic. What vocal training or previous bands have you been involved with?  Can you give me a little background on your musical interests? 

Sonia: Oh thanks a lot Ken! Well, I gotta say that I havenīt trained my voice in any way but this is my next step to take -- itīs what I plan to do in the following months on. I havenīt studied singing or so, I just sing what I feel and what comes up from inside, although, Iīd love to train my voice to achieve a better result and thatīs what Iīll do, yeah! Before joining 7th Moon I was singing in a band called Channeling, the style was in the same line more or less and although it wasnīt a very serious project it lead me to get in contact with the story of being in a band and also to be on the stage for the first time -- which was a nice experience. 

HD: What is a live 7th Moon show like for those of us who have yet to see you play? 

Sonia: Well, what can I tell you...? For us itīs great, we enjoy very much doing it! Itīs the best for a musician when you get involved with the people. Itīs the moment when you really demonstrate your skills and can transmit what youīve inside. We always try to give our best in our shows but this question should be answered better by someone who has seen us in live... What I can tell you and itīs quite funny is peopleīs face and reaction when I sing guttural parts the first time haha.., yeah! They get much surprised and begin looking at my colegues searching a man singing but they realize itīs the girl! Many people think that guttural vocals in the album have been done by a man but itīs always me and I can tell you that in live the voice even sounds stronger. 

HD:  Being from Spain, how did you wind up on a label based in Argentina? 

Sonia: Yeah itīs so far away... right? Well, before signing for Icarus we had a release contract with the now dissapeared label Serious Entertainment from Denmark but there were problems within the company and one month before the release date the label closed down, so we had to search another label and found Icarus that was very interested since the beginning and itīs good, theyīre far away but at least we both have the same mother tongue haha.. 

HD: What do you think of the bands Lacuna Coil and Tristania? 

Sonia: I think theyīre good bands although I havenīt listened so much to Tristania. I had the opportunity to see Lacuna Coil twice, the first time at Dynamo Open Airī99 and the second time here in Barcelona supporting The Gathering in 2000 I think. Theyīre good live and Cristina has a very good voice, I think we both are in the same level tone together with Anneke but of course this doesnīt mean we sing the same... I liked a lot their first mini. 

HD: Theatre Of Tragedy has dramatically changed their style of music.  What do you think about their music today and is that something you see 7th Moon doing in the future -- experimenting even more with your sound? 

Sonia: To be honest I prefered their first period. Bandīs changes are ok if the chance is done because of bandīs wishes, if they want to turn into a very different sound because they really feel like doing it and feel confortable with it but there are also bands that change because of sales or labelīs preassure and thatīs something we wouldnīt agree. I donīt know which has been the case of Theatre of Tragedy but I prefer thinking itīs been for the first one. Experimenting is always good for a band but sincerely, I wouldnīt see 7th Moon playing Techno for example... 

HD:  Have you ever played here in the States or plan to do so in the future? 

Sonia: No, weīve never played there but it would be great! Weīd be very much glad to play in the States and hope this can be done in the future! Why donīt you tell Icarus? Maybe they havenīt thought about it...haha... 

HD: If 7th Moon was asked to contribute a track to a Madonna tribute album, what song would you do and why? 

Sonia:: Madonna...yes of course, why not contributing to a tribute? She has very good songs indeed. We believe weīd choose track "Oh Father!”" from the album Like a Prayer. This song is brilliant so covering it would be a good challenge due to all the arrangements and instruments taking part on it. 

HD: What are the future plans for 7th Moon? 

Sonia: We hope our album Alter Alma has as much diffusion as possible and that people enjoy our stuff as much as we do and that we are able to check it and share it with them on the stage very soon. Thatīs the most important for us, to enjoy and make people enjoy with our music.  

HD: Do you have any messages for people who might want to check out your music? 

Sonia: For all those who like melody & involving moments followed by a good dose of strength and powerful compositions, weīd just tell them to check out our CD because weīre sure they wouldnīt feel dissapointed. 

HD:When all is said and done, what is it you'd like a listener to remember most about your music? 

Sonia: That all our songs have their own personality and have been done with sentiment and care and of course that after listening to our music they have the sensation or need to check it by themselves live! 

If you want to order a copy of Alter Alma by 7th Moon, e-mail Icarus Music at icarusmusic@speedy.com.ar and support the metal underground!!!