Apophanous

Coming from São Paulo, Brazil is Apophanous. A Progressive Thrash Metal band formed in the beginning of 2015 by Fabio Trevisan (Divine Holocaust, ACE23), Tiago Lima (Cimeries, Everhate) and Vitor Alcantara (Encanto Blasfemo, Divine Holocaust). From death metal mayhem till Dream Theater-kind of guitar soli and influences that go from Nevermore to Machine Head and Pantera, Apophanous is a metal band with a broad range of tricks on their sleeve. Last year they debuted with the EP "Obliteration Has Come". Wagner & Heavy Metal asked singer Vitor Trevison about the Brazilian metal scene (Is there metal after Sepultura? Spoiler: there was metal before Sepultura!) and their goals in music and life.  

​1. What is the exact line-up of this band?

I (Vitor Alcantara) do the vocals, Alvaro Albuq is the bassist, Fabio Trevisan the drummer and Tiago Lima takes care of the guitars. 


2. What is the metal scene like in Brazil at the moment? Is it growing and alive? Does is know many subgenres? If so, which of the subgenres are most popular?

The Brazilian scene is always growing and we have great bands here from many subgenres. The most popular is Extreme Metal (Black/Death/Thrash) and Crust, Crossover and hardcore related genres. 


3. Does each band member bring their own specific influences or are all the band members into the exact same music?

Every member carries its own influence and we manage to bring it to our music without making it confusing or messy. It’s a challenge and a great exercise for us!


4. What is the writing dynamic among members of the band (does one person write or is song writing more a band effort)? 

It’s a collaborative process. Everyone brings with ideas and helps on the writing and song composing. 


5. I hear many different influences in your music. Do you have influences outside metal?

I am a fan of Crust (kind of Grindcore that hangs more to Punk than Metal - W&HM), Hardcore and also some Psychobilly and Horror Rock Bands and I like to explore elements of theses styles for my vocals. In our EP we made some experiments using non-metal genres such as tribal and Brazilian typical songs (such as baião) for reach a unique identity.  


6. I noticed a t-shirt of DEATH in one band-pic. A band like DEATH (read: Chuck Schuldiner) implemented increasingly complex song structures into their trash/death sound. How do you see your own musical development? Are there (musical) areas that you still want to explore?
​
I was me (Vitor) wearing a DEATH t-shirt on the promo-pic! I’m a huge fan of Schuldiner’s work and I consider him one of the greatest musicians of all time. He revolutionized the way of making metal music and taught us that we can experiment different elements and complex music on the metal genre and I think that there is an infinite universe of elements to explore and add in metal music.  

7. What  inspires the band the most when it comes to writing lyrics?

Most of our lyrics are about psychological conflicts and the dark side of humanity’s mind. We have songs about psychopathy, nihilism, schizophrenia, etc. Some are inspired by movies or real facts like serial killers cases for instance.  


8. Do you believe that heavy metal (the kind of metal that you play) can be a force that can change things for the good (as music that can raise awareness about, for instance, political and environmental issues)?
​
Not alone metal but every kind of music can change things and can make people aware of our world and society. War can’t bring peace but music can! 


9. What was the biggest gig of the band sofar (in and/or outside Brazil)? 
 
We haven’t played outside Brazil yet. The biggest gig was on Bertioga ( at São Paulo coastside) when we played with some big bands of our underground metal scene such as Claustrofobia, Sinaya and Surra! 


10. Final question for now: do you have any specific goals in mind for the band (besides world domination)?
 
Play outside Brazil, drink beer from every country and evolve as musicians and human beings! 

​(I'll drink to that - Cheers!)