Zenobia is one of the bands that graces the “Sangre y Fuego Fest” to be held on November 30 in the West Pavilion of the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. With more than two decades of positioning themselves within the world of Spanish heavy metal, they have now embarked on the adventure of releasing a purely acoustic album titled “Melodías Encantadas”. We talked about all this with Jorge Berceo, vocalist of the group.
Mexico and Zenobia started their relationship on the right foot from their first visit. What is your perception of this communion?
Indeed, since our first visit there was a great communion, we have made five tours there and for us it has been incredible how they even welcomed us at the airport. We have made many friends and that has undoubtedly been the most beautiful and valuable thing for us. Beyond just the concerts, that coexistence has been the most beautiful thing for Zenobia.
“Enchanted Melodies” we know will be a different album, with select and acoustic songs. How did such a radical idea suddenly come about?
Indeed it is something special in our discography since it is a completely acoustic album. Although we previously made a so-called special album like “Baladas” in which we did not include electric guitars, this will be something totally different. It is a very rich album not only because of the collaborations with different guest artists but also because of the variety of rhythms from swing or folk. We think the idea comes from the acoustic showcase we were doing on our previous tour where we really enjoyed those segments, but we knew that an entire acoustic show could be very boring. The best thing then was to capture that experience in this special album, in which you will find this but already well dressed and elaborated.
We know that this work will come with great collaborations with other great musicians. Can you tell us the details about them?
These collaborations have made us very excited, it is the first time that we have so many. As we were composing the songs it occurred to us who would be great to collaborate with on the song in question. It has been very important and very gratifying for us that all these figures have wanted to participate. And more because surely when they were proposed to collaborate with Zenobia they were initially expecting something electric and it turns out it was acoustic. Although that could also have made it more interesting because it was something more out of the ordinary and fun.
Zenobia returns this year to the “Sangre y Fuego” festival alongside other bands like Saratoga and Lèpoka. What do you have planned for this show?
We will indeed be back on November 30, it has been a few years, I think about five, since the last visit, and if memory serves, it seems to me to be the fifth visit we have made. We are going to a festival that is going to be beautiful with so many good bands in a forum that we have already done shows and it is great, the time we were there we felt the ceiling was going to fall from so much power and we are sure this visit will happen again. We are going with great joy and enthusiasm to give an incredible show.
The EP “Al pie del canyon” was just released. In addition to telling us about it, we know there is a collaboration with Dani Nogués from Lèpoka that will be at the Sangre y Fuego festival. It sure smells like a “dove” to us. What do you say?
“Enchanted Melodies” is already released and we have released some songs like “Al pie del canyon” with great collaborations that we have mentioned before. The collaboration with Dani has made me very excited since we had not had the opportunity to collaborate live. I spoke to him and commented to him and after that I sent him the song and he decided to take the plunge, and in the end something very cool turned out. It will be great that the first time we are going to meet live will be in Mexico, but it is still too early to have those types of details about the show, but it will be very nice to share it with them and of course with the entire public.
We have read from yourselves that “Enchanted Melodies” will not be an album of great tours or such prolonged promotion, but rather something more special, for the most fanatical people. After that, what comes next? Will they take a break or is there new material coming now to tour with everything?
In effect there will not be a big tour with this work since we do not want to confuse those who follow or approach the band thinking that we have changed our style. It's a fantastic, well-crafted disc to enjoy if you want to slow down the revs a bit. We had a couple of concerts in Madrid and Barcelona and we still have some shows for the rest of the year including Mexico. We are already composing what will be the next album but we are going little by little, we will not say that it will be out tomorrow or something like that. The album follows the same current line although it is also true that we are betting on a very current power metal but with reminiscences of heavy metal. We are not going to stop but we are not going to run either, we believe that the pandemic has taught us to walk a little more calmly through life.
Do you plan to stay and get to know a little more about Mexico now that you don't have such a tight tour that then almost makes you have to move from one day to the next to another destination? What would you like to visit that you don't know?
In fact, every time we have gone on tour we have a very tight schedule, playing from Thursday to Sunday in remote cities, which makes it difficult to do some sightseeing. This time we hope to have a little more time and for example get to know the pyramids. Some of our colleagues have already done it and I would love to, but if I'm honest I would also like to give more concerts while there. We'll see what comes out. In the meantime we will surely look forward to seeing you at the “Sangre y Fuego” festival.
