Interview with Stahlgeist: ‘We Just Want To Play EBM’
Stahlgeist is a Hungarian duo driven by Istvan Gazdag (First Aid 4 Souls) and Tamás Bank (Worker/Munkás). They deal with a sophisticated EBM format which will for sure appeal for lovers of early Frontline Assembly. The debut album “Escape Reality” originally self-released in 2019 got an official release in 2020 on Advoxya Records and has been now re-released by Alfa-Matrix and retitled to “Altered Reality”. Great bass lines and icy sequences resulted in danceable songs. This interview is an opportunity to know a bit more about this great formation.
(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: Who’s hiding behind Stahlgeist and how did the project saw the daylight? Was there something like a plan and/or an idea about influences, sound and approach?
Stahlgeist: Stahlgeist is Istvan Gazdag (from First Aid 4 Souls) and Tamás Bank (from Worker/Munkás). It’s just a dream of two EBM fanatics. We don’t have a plan in general, we just want to play EBM.
Q: What’s your way and procedure of working together? What’s the input of both members and did you’ve to make many compromises in the writing & production of the album?
Stahlgeist: Istvan writes the songs and sends them to me and I write the lyrics and send it back, then we meet and discuss if one of us like to change something and then we record the lyrics and Istvan masters them together.
Q: You first self-released the album “Escape Reality” which was next re-released by Advoxya Records and finally reworked and retitled to “Altered Reality”. Tell us a bit more about the progression from “Escape Reality” towards “Altered Reality”? What did you try to improve and/or change?
Stahlgeist: On the one hand, we wanted to change it because of the change of label, so that Alfa-Matrix could reach a wider audience, and on the other hand, Istvan has learned and improved a lot in his mastering skills since the recording of “Escape Reality” and it would have been a shame to miss that opportunity to make the songs better.
Q: What is the album all about and what did you try to express by the lyrical themes?
Stahlgeist: The album is about the present around us and a possible future. The reality we would escape from presents a picture of a gloomier future. Our everyday life and our expected future leaves us despondent and pained. Just as the genre was born out of a sense of hopelessness and oppression, we are now confronted with the same feelings in our daily lives.
Q: The production sounds like good-old EBM but accomplished with a true sophisticated song writing. Tell us a bit more about the sound concept and production? And how did this album took shape?
Stahlgeist: We really like old-school EBM, and Istvan involved with his Dark-Electro music project First Aid 4 Souls wanted more EBM, stronger, stompier music and I wanted to go along this journey with him.
Q: Tell us a bit more about both ‘bonus’ songs featured at “Altered Reality”? Do you’ve already new songs and ideas in mind for the further evolution of Stahlgeist?
Stahlgeist: The two new songs from our upcoming new album have been added to surprise our fans with a little gift. The musical basis is complete and the lyrics are done; now comes the singing phase. I can promise you that the tempo will not slow down and the lyrics will not become any gentler.
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