Interview with Sleeping Romance

We got to do an interview with Italian symphonic metal band Sleeping Romance, regarding their new album “Alba” (read our review), collaborating and touring with Serenity, influences, the Italian metal scene, and many other detail we thought would be interesting. Here’s what they had to say:  

''How are you doing?''

Federica: ''Hello everyone, we are great thank you! We started our rehearsals for the Alba European Tour and we are so excited!''

''Let’s start with a little presentation. Who is Sleeping Romance and how was the band formed?''

Francesco: ''The band was created by Federico Truzzi back in 2009 as "Hybrid resolution" from the idea of combining metal, classical music and soundtracks which were his main influences as musician. After few line up changes, in 2013 we recorded our first full length album, ‘Enlighten’ with Federico as first guitar and Orchestra composer, Federica as singer, Francesco as drummer, Lorenzo as Bass player as Sleeping Romance. We signed with Ulterium Records, released the album, and started touring all around Europe!''

''What can you tell me about ‘Alba’ in terms of lyrical content, musical styles / influences and production?''

Federico: ''Each song can be related to the others in a bigger drawing but you can also find a strong individuality. We developed the story of ‘Alba’ for main themes, sometimes you can guess it from the title, for example “My Temptation” or “Forgiveness”, but you can also find more metaphorical lyrics like “Across the sea”. There is always a reference to darkness and light, but in ‘Enlighten’ it was like “we came into the storm and we passed through it, now the world is no longer dark”, in ‘Alba’ the protagonist is into the storm, she is struggling. It isn’t random that the song “Alba” (which means Sunset) is at the end of the album; after a long night you will see the sun rising again. Alba is the main character of our story. “Fire & Ice” is a real prologue to the new album. Alba has to face darkness to reach the sun and give it back to humanity, so we can say that the succession of the songs leads her to the final fight.''

''Is there anything new on this album that makes it special? Did you do something different in some way?''

Federica: ''If I think  about ‘Enlighten’ of course both the singing and composition were a bit unripe; when I came into the band I was a beginner in a way. ‘Alba’ it’s more structured, and defined than ‘Enlighten’; its identity is stronger. The themes and the sound are darker and heavier than ‘Enlighten’ sounds and matters. Also the use of the voice is different. My voice timbre is usually clear, and light, but with ‘Alba’ I tried to darken it and I tested a deeper color of my voice; the writing process was absolutely inspiring for me. I have worked with Federico and Dino Gervasoni, the sound engineer that helped Federico to produce ‘Alba’, in order to write lyrics which fit perfectly with the music, the meaning and the intention.''

Federico: ''We are always trying to do something new when we record, produce and compose an album. My personal goal is to do something different everytime because I need it. For ‘Alba’ I think we have done a really hard new album, where the lyrics and the music fits together as the soundtrack do with the movie. This is, in my opinion, something special.''

''Your debut album ‘Enlighten’ came out in 2013 and ‘Alba’ was released in 2017. What happened in the meantime?''

Francesco: ''We travelled a lot, we tried to promote the band and then we signed with Napalm Records. We made this choice cause we wanted to reach a bigger audience and make a real killer new album! We also experienced life of course and a lot of things changed. Our Lorenzo had a beautiful son for example and Federico moved to Berlin.''

''What is the best thing that happened with Sleeping Romance until now? What is your favorite memory/ show/ moment?''

Federica: ''We had the chance to reach our audience, to bring our project abroad, we hit beautiful stages, we met wonderful friends and amazing musicians. This is the best thing that happened to Sleeping Romance for me.''

''What was your favourite concert? Best venue? Strangest venue? The worst concert?''

Francesco: ''Our gig at Underworld was amazing! One of the best we ever did! The strangest? On the altar of a church for a wedding in Norway.''

''What are your goals and dreams for the future, personally and professionally?''

Federica: ''Professionally as always I want to improve me as singer and performer, but also overcome certain performance anxieties in order to feel free to express myself at my best. I love my job as singer and singing teacher and I plan few workshops and collaborations for the next year. I am also really anxious to start working on the new Sleeping album. Personally I just want to keep my home, my economic independence and beloved ones, close to me.''

''What type of music do you generally listen to? Name some of your favorite bands / albums / songs.''

Federica: ''I listen to a lot of different kind of music. Recently I am obsessed by Susanne Sundfor, Ghost, Tesseract, and White Moth Black Butterfly.''

Federico:  ''Right now I am in love with Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter and Nils Frham. I love the last album by Leprous.''

''How would you continue the sentence “Music is…”?''

Federico: ''Music is a really deep form of language; it can connect people from all over the world and expresses feelings, emotions and concepts on a emotional level..''

''Is there anything else you would like to add? Something I might have missed?''

Federica: ''In September we will be on tour as headliner for the first time in a very long time, so we wait for a lot of Sleeping Romance supporters under the stage! We will have few surprises for you! Thanks for the interview! Il Metallo!''