Coming from the home city of the notorious Cradle Of Filth and Devilment, Suffolk Witch County (UK), the extreme symphonic/dark metal discovery Ghosts Of Atlantis birthed in 2019. The band, consisting of present and former Devilment, Failed Humanity, The Conflict Within and Cold Lazarus' members, released its debut full-length, 3.6.2.4, in 2021 and right away captivated the listeners of extreme sounds with its unique approach by delivering devastating rhythms, otherworldly symphonic arrangements, complex sonic structures adorned with captivating vocals, great guitar melodies and leads. Now, the band presents its sophomore full-length, Riddles Of The Sycophants, which was out in late October via Hammerheart Records, and offers an even more turbulent sonic experience that doesn't leave cold any fans of the mentioned genre. By continuing the story of Atlantean people, or better said - those lucky enough to escape the great floods, Ghosts Of Atlantis released one of the most enthraling albums of the year. You have to listen to believe. We met up with the band's vocalist, Phil Primmer, right after the Ghosts Of Atlantis 21st show (at New Age Club in Roncade, Treviso (Italy)) of the tour the band has embarked on with the mighty Fear Factory, Butcher Babies and Ignea. Oh, just keep reading...
Interview with: Phil "Pip" Primmer
Conducted by: Tomaz, Jerneja
Edited by: Jerneja
Tomaz: Hello, Phil, and thank you for joining us. Ghosts Of Atlantis has recently released its sophomore album, Riddles Of The Sycophants. How is it going with it?
Phil: It all started up by having a plan to do the second album. Colin and I sat down together and wrote the storyboard. The story is a continuation of our debut album, 3.6.2.4. How the people of that land moved on, and after the last track, when washed up onto new shores, the story has been taken. So, it is a continuation of that story. We tried to do it a bit more epic and move it around. The storyboard started in one way, but then the story evolved, got a different concept, and it all changed anyway. It happened because we were writing it together.
Tomaz: You are always full of riddles and such things. Would you finally reveal the meaning of your debut album, 3.6.2.4.?
Phil: I can do it, so I'm going to show you on my phone. You need to open Google Maps, write the coordinates 3.6.2.4., and find a place where, we think and believe, the land of Atlantis was. It's between mainland Greece and Crete; there were the pillars, and we referenced it in this new album also. Ok, the pillars are meant, like, for example, in the series Stargate, where through them, people can travel through space and time. So, we've travelled space and time far beyond this life - that's the line in the song "Lands Of Snow". We carried our own names into this album, for the pillars of Atlantis were there. We might have been revealing a bit about what will be with the story on our future records.
Tomaz: Since you are sticking to this Atlantis and its people story, I'm wondering what exactly inspired you in it.
Phil: The origins of that happened almost a decade ago when I was working with some guys, and the name came up. I thought it was a really cool name, but it never came to flourish until Colin and Dex were working on a project with some other guys, and then they gave me a phone call and asked me if I wanted to come in. They have already built a concept upon Atlantis, and Colin has been working around this idea previously with Dani Filth in Devilment. How to do all this grandeur to make it so epic and big - came from something he had built with Dani Filth (Cradle Of Filth, Devilment). He wanted to bring that forward to 3.6.2.4. and it's what we have now. We have evolved that - just look at the story. We did research on the law, ancient mythology, Greece, and the ancient stories. We just wanted to adapt it on our own. That's how it came around, really.
Jerneja: I've checked on the word "sycophant" and learned it comes from the Latin "sӯcophanta" and/or Greek "sukophantēs", literally meaning the person showing a fig, apparently referring to the fig sign used in making an accusation (from "sukon"= fig + "phainein"= to show). In nowadays terminology, sycophant stands for "a person who tries to win favor from wealthy or influential people by flattering them" - a brown-noser, teacher's pet or suck-up. So, what is the deal with Ghosts Of Atlantis' sycophants and their riddles?
Phil: It's always when you look at people that surround themselves, you've got someone who's powerful and godlike. You can find that out in politics. You are always having people hanging around and just trying to influence. That's something we wanted to do. Look at the lyrics of "The Lycaon King", where it's said there's a reason he decided to feed Zeus with the flesh of his children, and then Zeus got angry. We adopted that story about the people around him that would have influenced him. There are different people that we mention throughout the album. They are sycophants.
Tomaz: I find your new album, in comparison to its predecessor, more powerful, at least productional-wise. Where do you see the main differences?
Phil: When we started recording 3.6.2.4., I was in the band for just a couple of months. So, I came in very late on that. With the new album, Riddles Of The Sycophants, the production took us a long time since we recorded everything by ourselves. We worked with James Stephenson on the first album for mixing and mastering, but now he was unavailable. So, we spoke to our management team, and the person who came to do it this time was Ronnie Björnström from Sweden. One big thing is that the mixing and mastering are very different now. We used different elements, so it doesn't sound the same at all. We are always evolving, and very happy with how it came out.
Jerneja: The change is also on your label. Your first full-length came out via Black Lion Records from Sweden and Riddles Of The Sycophants via Dutch label Hammerheart Records. Why did you leave Black Lion, and how are you satisfied with Hammerheart Records?
Phil: Hammerheart is an absolutely fantastic label for us! There were no bad issues with Black Lion either. Oliver at Black Lion Records was incredibly supportive of us. He took us under his roof in the middle of the pandemic, when there was no touring, and we couldn't support the album live when it was released. He still gave us the release of that album and kind of a platform to step on. So, I'll always be grateful to Black Lion Records. I'll never say a bad word about him because, from the bottom of my heart, that is very true. Hammerheart has been so far incredibly supportive with everything. Have you seen the video for "Lands Of Snow"?
Tomaz: Yes, sure. It's an epic and majestic video.
Phil: It wasn't a cheap video to make, and the label gave us all possible support. Also, we are now touring with Fear Factory, Butcher Babies and Ignea, which is a big thing, and the label once again supported us, also with this. They are investing a lot of time and money into us, trying really hard to push Ghosts Of Atlantis forward. Hammerheart has been so far absolutely incredible.
Tomaz: The video certainly looks professional and well done. It's almost magical and very cinematic.
Phil: We worked with a guy named Richard Oakes. You can just look at his CV of bands he has worked with, and it's endless. He's a really good guy; he also does films, and Dark Fable Media is his company. We recorded everything on the green screen, and he built everything around it. All the shoots were done individually and then put together. So, once again, he did a fantastic job with the video, and we are very pleased with the outcome.
Jerneja: And I think you did a fantastic job with the Pink Floyd cover "Confortably Numb". As much as I love Pink Floyd, I find your version of the track even better than the original, perhaps because of the last part.
Phil: Oh, thank you! We've been listening to Pink Floyd since we were children since our parents have, and it's always around us. One of the reasons for making that cover was Colin's son Coby. He's a lovely kid, and he's obsessed with Pink Floyd. He loves them so much, and some of the words in the children's speech on that is Coby singing on it. It was a really nice thing for him to be up to that work and be a part of what we were doing. As much as everything, we wanted to do the cover to honour the band we were listening to as children, but it was also very nice bringing Colin's child into it.
Jerneja: Do you plan to do more covers? I can already imagine "Hey You" by you ;)
Phil: Probably not of Pink Floyd, but I guess, in the future, we will do some more. I don't know for sure. We will see what that would be. It has to be something grand and big so that we can develop it into our sound to give it something different.
Tomaz: I expected the cover of "Confortably Numb" to be released at least as a bonus track on the new album. Why did you choose to release it only as a standalone single?
Phil: Personally, I wanted to keep it separate from the story we were doing. It's there, and people can listen to it. People also often ask us to play it live, but no, we only want to keep it as a single. Some even said they came to our show to hear it, but we wanted to play our own songs. We will probably do more covers, but they won't be a part of our live set.
Tomaz: I was somewhat surprised when I found out you'd be touring with Fear Factory, Butcher Babies and Ignea. Namely, four bands that differ so much. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad thing, but still, how did it come to such a touring line-up in the first place?
Phil: It was the day we were recording the "Lands Of Snow" video, actually. I sat with Colin, and some e-mails came in, and I asked him if he wanted to check out those e-mails. "I don't have time, we are doing a video", he responded, but I insisted, "Trust me, you need to check this out". It was our management asking us if we would be able to do this. It's seven weeks of touring, 43 shows - not a small tour. We managed to sum it up with everything, and yeah, that was it.
Jerneja: And how are you enjoying yourselves on this tour?
Phil: So far, it has been fantastic. All the bands are incredibly supportive. For instance, just today, before the show, I sat with Dino and the three other guys of Fear Factory, and they were asking how it was going and saying to keep our spirits up and just keep going. They are all very supportive and kind - as people and as musicians.
Tomaz: Before we end the interview, I must ask you something, and I know that you are not the right person to answer this - it would be Colin, but let's try. Do you know if Devilment is still alive and if it is working on something new?
Phil: I know that Devilment is on hiatus until... whenever. Dani is trying to do something, but Colin is very busy with Ghosts Of Atlantis, and Dani is busy with Cradle Of Filth and his other projects. So, at the moment, there is no Devilment news.
Tomaz: Thank you very much, Phil, for taking the time to chat with us... Is there something you would like to add?
Phil: Thank you all for listening to Ghosts Of Atlantis. Thanks to you at Terra Relicta for the time and all the support you have been giving us from the very beginning. Thank you for everything that you do.
Live photos by: Tomaz
Ghosts Of Atlantis links: Official website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
