Hi, please present the project to our readers.
I would like to start off by thanking you for taking the time for this interview. I am Billy Vass, vocalist/songwriter of the progressive metal duo, Vass/Katsionis. We just released our sophomore effort, named Cynical Silence.
Cynical Silence is the second album of this project in one year. What are the main differences among these albums?
Our 1st album, Ethical Dilemma, came at a time where I was at a crossroads in my songwriting career.
I wasn't sure what direction to take, as apposed to this album, where the destination was very clear. That's one huge difference between the albums.
Another major difference is that Cynical Silence is much heavier, darker, progy-er, and deeper lyric-wise.
How did that project come to life? What’s the creative force behind the two musicians that lead to your music?
My collaboration with Bob spans over a 10 year period. We started working together when I approached him to produce my band Terra 1nc0gnita's 2nd album. His ideas, visions, and directions match mine. I understood that he and I make a great duo. That's how we decided to make an album together.
And a big part of the creative force that binds us is our love for progressive metal music. Mainly the 90's genre.
Please describe us the recording procedure. And how does a song of your project is composed?
Our atomic songwriting approach, syncs well when we collaborate. It's evident in both albums. Mainly our process is simple, really. Bob writes all the music, sends it to me, and I write the lyrics and melodies. Of course we bounce ideas back n' forth, until we are both satisfied with the results.
In the studio, we finalize everything we've written. That's our studio procedure. We don't change a lot of things. We go in, very sure of what we want to do.
There is a very interesting story following the cover artwork of your album. Feel free to give us the details.
The artwork was created by artificial intelligence. The lyrics were put into OpenGPT and then using these prompts in Midjourney to make the cover art. It’s great looking and does reflect the nature of the album.
We believe the album cover is the image of my lyrics, come to l.
Billy, are you active in any other band this time? As long as Vass/Katsionis is only a project, do you miss a real band and the possibility of a live performance?
Vass/Katsionis is in fact, at this point, a project.
With that said, we never say never. If we get the right kind of opportunity/agreement, for us to play our material, live, we will most definitely consider it.
I most definitely miss playing live. It's been a very long time for me.
My band Terra 1nc0gnita, was disbanded a few years ago. After performing as many shows as we had, all over Europe, that feeling is very missed.
Are there any certain plans for this project? What do you expect from that in the future?
We are very satisfied with how well Ethical Dilemma was received by the public, and CYNICAL SILENCE, is doing really well, also. We took our 1st albums' success as a sign that our effort was not in vain.
Of course we would love for our albums to be renowned worldwide, but that's not to say that we are not satisfied with the attention that our work is getting.
With that being said, we definitely look forward to dropping our 3rd album in the near future. I believe that the Vass/Katsionis project has a lot more to offer to the prog metal world, than just 2 albums
That’s all from me. Last words are yours!
Thanks so much for the opportunity to spend this time on discussing "Cynical Silence."
See ya on the flip side!!!!
