INFINITY OVERTURE ARE ONE OF THE LATEST EDITIONS TO THE SYMPHONIC POWER METAL MOVEMENT. LED BY FOUNDER AND GUITARIST NIELS VEJLYT THE BAND THE BAN HAVE THE DISTINCTION OF HAVING VOCALIST IAN PARRY IN THE BAND. HAVING JUST RELEASED THEIR DEBUT ALBUM "KINGDOM OF UTOPIA" ON LION MUSIC, WE CAUGHT UP WITH NIELS TO DISCUSS HIS BACKGROUND, THE CREATION OF THE NEW ALBUM AND THE FUTURE.

Niels congratulations on the debut Infinity Overture release, it must be nice to see it finally available?
Thanks a lot, and yes, its been a long time since I started the first sessions for the album

I suspect aside from guitar aficionados you are a new name to most, can you give us an overview of your background in music leading up to the formation of Infinity Overture?
Yes, up to around 2003 I had just been practicing my chops and coming up with my own style and technique, and playing different prog metal and prog rock bands. So around 03 I came in contact with Chris from Chops from Hell. He made me a profile, where I had some different chops, then Rusty Cooley and Francesco Farreri wrote to me that they really liked the stuff, so then I did two instructional dvd s for Chops from Hell, with varying video quality, a little later I also did a instructional video for Shred Academy, and a jam track cd. I also started a guitar school in Copenhagen called Intense Guitar School, and lately an online guitars school called Next Generation Guitar School. Then in 2005 I bought a protools system, which I later changed to a Logic system. And I started the first sessions for Infinity Overture, under another name though

It’s unusual for someone with the guitar talents you have to want to put together a band format where the guitar isn’t the driving factor in a general sense. I know you have released instructional material and also a self financed solo album but what made you take this path compared to say the thousands of other guitarists out there trying to make a career under their own name?
Well, I don’t really listen to instrumental guitar music, except sometimes Steve Vai, who was my first hero. I love film score music, and I listened to a lot of music where choirs and symphonic orchestra was a leading factor, and I’m really interested in developing my song writing skills, and focusing on all the parts of an orchestra, and also I buy a lot of new music, and therefore get inspirations from many different styles, such as Opeth, Dream Theater, Behemoth and Nightwish

Infinity Overture play symphonic power metal, yet as mentioned in the review have a lot more melody than your genre counterparts. What did you decide to do to make Infinity Overture stand out from the pack in a genre which at times can be quite monotonous?
I have developed a filter, I call it, where I go through my compositions, asking myself "is this the best you can do ?" and if the answer is no, then I redo it. It is something I came up with since I did the instrumental home made cd, which was utter crap in my opinion. So my compositions are developing all the time.

I believe you contacted a number of different vocalists initially for the album?
Yes, I contacted a number of my favourite singers, where I spoke to a few of them who liked the material

You ended up with Ian Parry, a great voice in his own right, and also you got Ian’s expertise in lyrics and story writing to boot, you must be very pleased with how it has worked out?
Yes, Ian did some great vocals and lyrics. I did the lyrics in the beginning, but Ian wanted to write his own lyrics, which was great

Aside from the obvious things like the story line and lyrics, what else did Ian bring to the band that has enriched the vibe?
Business wise Ian has got a lot of experience where I can learn from, but musically its all Vejlyt

Another thing that also impresses is that the album really does grow with each listen, a lot of symphonic power metal albums tend to play all their cards within a few spins yet here I am approaching double figures now in plays and digging it more with each listen, hearing new stuff all the time too. What’s the secret to making an album with longevity appeal?
I think its that I focused on all the aspects of the songs, so its not just important for me to keep the guitar interesting, and as you obviously can hear, the orchestrations play a great part

The whole package also looks great with the excellent cover artwork, who did the cover and whose vision was the final look?
I had some ideas for the cover, that I pitched to Killustrations, who also worked with Amon Amarth, and he came up with his own style and interpretation of my vision

The album is released on Lion Music, a label which we constantly champion here at V1 and a rarity in that they tend to focus on new bands and not rely on the same old artists often arguably beyond their sell by date. How did you hook up with Lion?
Of course I send the songs to many labels, and some of the bigger indie labels really liked the music, but was afraid to take the chances with a new act. Lasse from Lion music really liked the music too and stepped up to help us, which is awesome

I believe there is a limited edition first pressing only ltd edition version with DVD, what does the DVD contain?
We arranged a team to do a video for wonderland, and then we did a Behind the Scenes video, with a lot of fun and playing

I see you have just done a show in Denmark to mark the albums launch, can we expect any more shows?
Yes, we are playing some shows in Denmark right now, but we will also be doing some touring next year, either as a support act or lead, but no confirmed shows yet though.

The majority of bands we interview here all state that it’s near impossible to get gigs, its seems even promoters are unwilling to take a chance on new bands that have albums out getting a lot of feedback and publicity worldwide, is this a similar situation for you?
Yes until now I have got no luck, I have contacted a great amount of clubs and venues in Europe. But I’m sure that with persistence and good reviews we will at some point get shows

What else do you have in store for 2009 and beyond?
We are entering the studio on November to start the recordings for the next album, and we will do at least one video for the next album also. And in general promote the album and the band

Anything else you would like to add or plug?
I would like to thank Virtuosity one for the chance to let people know of Infinity Overture, and hopefully make people want to check us out.