Paradox
This Album Needs Atmosphere

11.01.2022

Germany’s Paradox have always progressed in fits and starts, taking breaks for several years and then coming back with new albums. Therefore their absence from the scene for the entire second half of the 2010s was not a surprise, the surprise was the scope of their latest undertaking: a sequel to their classic “Heresy” album from 1989. As if that wasn’t enough, this new album, titled “Heresy II: End Of A Legend”, turned out to be a massive, mostly mid-paced affair with a total running time of 75 minutes, and even though this might seem a too big piece to swallow, the media welcomed the record, like they had welcomed none of the outputs released by Paradox after their first two classics. We got in contact with mastermind Charly Steinhauer and talked for more than an hour about everything the band have been going through in the past five years.

Charly, you had a lot of medical problems in the past. How are you at the moment? How much has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you and the band?

Right now I’m fine. We have a new album out, and this feels good. Health-wise I don’t have major problems. Sometimes I have minor heart rhythm failures, but I’ve had them for 30 years, and they don’t have anything to do with the surgery I had in 2002. I’m feeling really good.

The first time we heard that you and the Vogt brothers are working on the second part of “Heresy” was back in January 2014. Why did it take so many years for the album to be completed?

I was in contact with Peter Vogt over all this time. He suggested me a story, I guess it was around 2014, but my head was on “Pangea” (2016), I was at the starting stages of “Pangea”. When I wrote the songs for “Pangea”, I thought, “This doesn’t fit with ‘Heresy’, this is different”. The other thing was that I wasn’t sure whether I should do the second part of “Heresy”, because, you know, never touch a classic, and I’m not a big fan of second parts, even with movies. It was a dangerous path to touch this album. But the story was great, and I told Peter, “We’ll have to wait till I’ve finished the next album, and then we’ll talk again about this”. After “Pangea” it was the right time, so I started writing new songs, and in 2019 we started working on it. That’s why – coming back to your previous question – I wasn’t really affected by this pandemic. I was working on this album the whole time, day and night, I just went to the supermarket to buy some food, kept distance to other people, and went back home to work on this record.

Who are the Vogt brothers? What do they do apart from writing lyrics for a few Paradox albums?

Oh, the Vogt brothers! Right now I only have contact with Peter. Peter and Nigel don’t live together, they don’t have one home. Peter Vogt wrote lyrics for the first album, “Product of Imagination”, in 1987, and for the first part of the “Heresy” story in 1989. They lived in Germany when they started working with us on “Product of Imagination”, but then they left Germany and moved to southern France, where all these things with the hunting of the Cathars by the church happened. It was Peter’s and Nigel’s idea to write about this, because they were interested in the history of their new home. I remember when Peter came to us and said, “Hey, I have something completely different. I would like you to do the music for this story”. It was interesting for us, of course.

I remember how I first got into contact with Peter. It was Dennis Ward from the band Pink Cream 69, he was a buddy of ours, he also lived in Wurzburg where we come from. He recommended Peter to us, it was in 1986, a long time ago.

“Heresy II” is the continuation of the story of the Albigenesian Crusade and the last of the surviving Cattars. What makes this topic so interesting for you that you have devoted two full albums to it?

When we released the first part I wasn’t so interested… Actually I was interested, but I wasn’t focused on anything like that. When Peter gave me this concept, I said, “Yeah, it’s something that has to do with history”, and I’ve always been interested in history. When this came back, I knew it would be in the same style, because it was coming from the original lyricist, and Peter helped us a lot with the first two albums, and we knew that it would work again. We did it the same way we did in 1989. Peter gave me 13 song titles. He didn’t have the actual lyrics, he just had the story and song titles that kind of divided that story into chapters. I talked to the others and said, “It sounds interesting. We’ll go the dangerous path if we do the second part of the ‘Heresy’ album, but I don’t want to copy myself as the composer, resting on the laurels of the name ‘Heresy’ and doing the same album as in 1989”. I would be able to do a totally oldschool album each time, because it’s riff-based music, but I knew that this album needs more than just riffs, it needs atmosphere. If you translate story into the music, you need big atmosphere. That’s why this album sounds so versatile. I put a lot of things into it, and it was a really hard work.

“Heresy II” lasts about 75 minutes, which is quite unusual for a thrash metal album. Aren’t you concerned that with people’s attention span getting shorter these days, not many of them will be able to sit through the entire album?

Of course, you have to take your time to go into this, because it’s huge, and it has a lot of lyrics. In the booklet it’s written like this (shows a small-size font), you need glasses to see it, because there were so many words. (laughs) I guess a die-hard Paradox fan will take the time for it. If they’re interested, maybe they’ll go in and read it, and make their own vision out of it, because it’s fictional this time. In contract to the original “Heresy”, which was based on a true story, “Heresy II” is a fictional story by Peter. It’s complex, and if you don’t have the time for it, or you are not interested in it, then you have the music. I guess most of the people don’t focus that much on a story.

Your previous album “Pangea” was recorded remotely, with each member playing in a different studio. How was the working process like this time? Was everybody on their own again? Nowadays, at least, every band member lives in Germany…

The drums were recorded on their own. And Christian Munzner recorded his solo parts at his studio at home. The bass player, Olly (Keller), came up to my studio, and I recorded the bass with him, and I did all the rhythm guitars, harmony guitars, lead vocals, and harmony vocals in my studio here. I also did the mix, that’s my first mix of an album, I’d never mixed an album before. But the band said, “Hey, why should we pay $5,000 for the mix if you’re able to do it? You have the ears, it’s your songs, and you know exactly how it should sound – do it!” This was a big challenge for me, because I’d never mixed an album, and another challenge was that it’s “Heresy II”, so oldschool fans were expecting an oldschool album, so it was all a big big risk! That’s why I’m totally satisfied with the result and the response from the whole world. We’re getting great reviews, we’re totally surprised and grateful for this.

On “Heresy II” you have reunited with the original Paradox drummer Axel Blaha. Last time we did an interview you told us that he quit the metal scene and became a completely different person. How did it happen that he is back on drums in Paradox?

Axel is my best buddy. We founded Paradox 40 years ago in 1981, and we’ve known each other since our teens. He quit playing drums in 1991, but he visited me, each week we would be drinking coffee together and talking about music and stuff like this. During the recording of “Pangea” he was sitting next to me, and he asked, “Hey Charlie, what’s going on? Do you think I would be able to do it again? What if I buy a drumkit and start playing drums again?” I saw a kind of fire in his eyes, he heard the songs from “Pangea”, and he said, “Oh, I would like to play these! I don’t have a rehearsal room, I don’t have anything, and I don’t know if I’m able to play drums again on the level that is needed for Paradox, but maybe I can play for myself”. I said, “Come on, go to the shop”, and he bought a drumkit. We searched for a rehearsal room, and he went to this rehearsal room every day for hours and played. When we got together, and I plugged in my amplifier, it was like nothing had happened over 30 years. He played the songs from “Product of Imagination” and “Heresy” like you know those songs. We had a lot of good drummers, we had Alex Holzwarth - what a phenomenal drummer! But when Axel plays those old songs, it sounds like on the record, with all the time changes, with everything that a fan would hear, the music lives when he plays it. And he has a unique style, he’s not one of the technical drummers, he just knows how to play these songs.

He practiced a lot, he rehearsed a lot, and then the idea came up for a reunion of the original line-up from “Product of Imagination”. Axel was fit enough to play the old songs, and we called up Markus Spyth (guitars) and Roland Stahl (bass), they don’t live far away from us, it’s easy to get in contact with them. We talked about it, and it was no question, it was, “Yes, why not?” The “Pangea” line-up had broken up, Tilen (Hudrap, bass) went to U.D.O., so I said, “OK, let’s try and see if it works. I don’t know whether Roland would be able to play, and Markus… OK, Markus is playing in a cover band, he’s always onstage, so he’s experienced enough”. We went into the rehearsal room of Markus Spyth, and it worked for the first few months. We had a complete setlist, and we were booked for the “Bang Your Head!” festival together with Raven, Vince Neil… big bands, and we were supposed to play on the big stage on Saturday. But we had to cancel the show. It wasn’t because of fights or anything. Axel had a health issue, a depression phase. He’s had it for a long time, sometimes it goes away for several years, and he feels better, but it could be that it comes back. When we were booked for this show, I don’t know what happened, but one day he said, “Charly, I don’t know if I’m able to play these songs”. We all said, “Hey Axel, no problem, you’re playing these songs very good”. But it did not go into his head. When you have a depression, anybody can say whatever they want, it doesn’t come into your head. So he said he was leaving the band. I said, “Axel, you can’t do this now, we’re on the best way”. We hadn’t written any songs, but we were booked for a festival. But I understood, I saw his eyes, and he’s like my brother, I’ve known him for so long, so I said, “Hey, you have a chance with these treatments that we’ve been talking about. Do these treatments, and we’ll see what’s going on. We’re waiting for you, I need you in the band now”.

He did these treatments, but during this time it became obvious that the band wasn’t like it was in the 80s. We had some misunderstandings, we knew that we would have to cancel the festival, and we started to have the first problems. And Axel wasn’t here, and Axel was a connecting member: if he’s not in this historic line-up, it doesn’t work so well. We didn’t have fights or anything, but it wasn’t the same anymore. And I didn’t know how long it would take for Axel to come back. Eventually I understood that I had to make a general decision. I called up Olly who had made three albums with us, for him it was no question to join Paradox again. And I went to a concert where I met a woman who came up to me and said, “Hey, you are Charly Steinhauer, I’ve talked on the phone with Christian Munzner, and I told him you’re here, and I should tell you greetings from Christian”. Then I went on Facebook and wrote him, “Hey Chris, thanks for the greetings, what are you doing music-wise?” And he said, “Hey, I wanted to ask you two years ago if there’s a place for me in Paradox again. But I thought Gus Drax was a permanent member”. I said, “No, Gus Drax was just a session player”. I needed a good guitarist to play solos on “Pangea”, and Gus suggested Kostas Milonas, the drummer, and he played the drums, but they were not permanent members. The only permanent member in the “Pangea” line-up was Tilen Hudrap, who went to U.D.O. That’s why there was some space for a new band. That’s why we had the time to try the reunion of the original line-up. But when this failed, there was space for Chris and Olly in the line-up again.

Axel did his treatments, I visited him, I picked him up from the hospital, and he always listened to the songs. He said, “I’m not giving up. I’ll come back”. I said, “I’ll wait. You are my brother, we’re waiting for you”. And he did it, and that’s why I’m really happy. I’m happy to have friends in the band. Paradox has had so many line-up changes, I can’t stand it anymore. It’s not easy to play together for three or four decades. Some bands have this luck, bands like Blind Guardian or Metallica, some not, Dave Mustaine, for example (laughs), or King Diamond. But this is not because musicians want line-up changes. If all those line-up changes didn’t happen, Paradox wouldn’t exist anymore. Some musicians wanted to quit playing music, others lived too far away, and we had no connection, or they had families, so there were a lot of reasons. There were just a few musicians with whom we’d get in trouble a little bit, but it’s never been really severe. I still have a good connection with most of the former Paradox members, they are friends, and even when some of the line-ups felt apart, we had some misunderstandings and stuff, this happens everywhere. This happens when you’re married, this happens in the family, and it’s not always easy, because people change, but I’m grateful to every band member who’s ever been in Paradox. I really count just the band members who recorded albums with Paradox, and if I go to Wikipedia or other platforms, I always see members who were never in Paradox. (everybody laughs) I talked to this guy from Wikipedia, I said, “Hey, here’s this list of five or six members who’ve never played with me, and I know it better, I’m Charly Steinhauer”, and he said everybody can say he’s Charly Steinhauer. I sent him my passport, I said, “Look at me”, and then he changed a few things, but not everything, there are still members on Wikipedia who were never in the band. (laughs) I had no cancer either, but I’ve read that I had cancer. I’ve had enough in my life, but not cancer!

When was the last time Paradox did a live show? Do you have any plans to play live in support of “Heresy II”?

Well, this is a good question! Paradox has never been a touring band or done this touring-album-touring-album circle. Paradox has always been a band that plays single shows. I know the others would like to play live again, and I would also like to play live again, because I need contact to the people. But it is not so easy, first of all, because of the pandemic, and I don’t want to play any cinema shows or streaming shows; if we play live, then we play live. It could be a club, it could be a big festival, but if you play a concert, you must rehearse a complete setlist, and it’s too much to do for just one single show. If we play live again, we will play a few single shows in a row, I can imagine this, but we said first we will wait and see the response to the new album. Maybe they won’t want to see us after they have listened to this 75-minute monument, maybe they’ll say, “What is this? This is a movie or a journey, but not a record!” (laughs)

We guess you already have an answer to this! Based on the reviews that we’ve seen on your Facebook page, all the reviewers really like the album!

Yes! I mean, I knew that this album is really good. You can pick out songs which are really heavy, and there’s something special in this record, but you don’t hear it on the first run. You must listen to it more often, you must let it grow in, and you will always find something new. Every time you listen to this album on your headphones, you’ll go, “Oh, what is this? I haven’t heard it before!” I put a lot of atmosphere in the songs like “A Meeting Of Minds”. After all the riffs in the first six songs I wanted to do a break so that you can breathe and dream, and then it goes into “Priestly Vows”, our first single, riff-based music again. This is a little masterpiece I have composed… but I don’t celebrate the evening if the day’s not over. (laughs)

What is the role of Christian Munzner in the band? He also has Obscura, Alkaloid, Eternity’s End and other bands – how is he able to find time for Paradox?

Chris is a permanent member, and he’s a fan of Paradox. I put a photo on my Facebook page, and he commented, “One of the best riff writers in history”. I said, “What? Such a great musician writes something like that?!” Chris is special, and Chris will stay in Paradox. I remember how he asked me, “Hey Charly, are you OK if I join Obscura again?”. Others don’t ask this, Chris asked, because he’s a good character. I told him, “Do this! I’m a fan of this music”. There are no crossovers; if Obscura plays, he plays a show with Obscura, and then we would wait until he’s finished with these shows. He’s totally busy; I visited him on Tuesday, and we talked about the future of Paradox. We plan to do some playthrough videos for YouTube for one or two songs off the new album, and he did a playthrough solo video for “Priestly Vows” last weekend. He’s magic, and I’m really happy to have him in the band. He’s not only a good musician, he’s a good character, he’s everything you need, and each band would be happy to have such a great human in the band. He told me, “I wouldn’t be able to play such great solos on your album… on your album, if you hadn’t given me such harmonies to play over”. It fits together: when I write rhythm guitar I watch out whether his solo is needed in this part, and he was grateful for that, he said, “You made it easy for me with the way you compose”. What he did on this album is totally outstanding, this is champions league, this is top-notch.

We would like to ask you about your own involvement in other projects. First of all, how did you end up in the band called Brain Damage? As far as we understand, this is the band put together by the two guys from Vendetta. Are you still in contact with them?

Well, with Micky, the founder of Brain Damage, we’ve been friends since the 80s. I did some solos for him. He asked me, “Hey Charlie, would you like to play some solos on my album?” I said, “Yes, why not, of course!” The same is with Exorchrist, the other project of Daxx (Brain Damage guitarist, also ex-Vendetta, ex-Paradox – ed.), I played some solos on their EP. I’m always open to do this again, because they are both excellent musicians, and I remember the times when we did a lot of parties in the 80s. We rehearsed together with Vendetta at the times of their “Suicidal Lunacy” demo, and I sang for Vendetta just for a month or so, and then I said, “Oh shit, I’m so busy with Paradox”. Nowadays I’m happy that two Bavarian bands came out and made two classics. I still have contact with Micky, but not so often. He’s always liking what I post on my Facebook page.

Another band that you played in for a while was called Brutal Godz. What happened to the material that you recorded with them? Was anything from it ever used anywhere?

Olly Holzwarth asked me, “Hey Charlie, we have a new project called Brutal Godz, and we need a singer for this. We think you have a unique voice, and you would fit in. We work together with Uwe Lulis” - he’s now in Accept. First I asked, “A singer? Not a rhythm guitar player?” (laughs) I heard when he called Hansi Kuersch from Blind Guardian and told him, “Charly is our new singer”, and Hansi said, “What? He’s a rhythm machine, why did you get him as a singer?” But they said they did want me as a singer, and I recorded 10 songs with them. It was a demo tape in a totally unique style, I had never heard this before, weird but interesting. If you hear me signing on this, it’s completely different from Paradox. I can’t really explain this style, there are thrash elements, but then… “Pink Floyd metal”? I don’t know. Weird riffs, but it could have a chance. But then there were some misunderstandings between Olly Holzwarth and Uwe Lulis, and Uwe said he couldn’t work together with Olly anymore. I talked to Olly, I said, “Hey, what’s going on?” “No, this doesn’t fit anymore”. I said, “These songs are great, let’s do it”. But Uwe decided that he wanted to quit, and most of the songs came from Uwe Lulis. Uwe asked me later on to join another project as a singer, because he liked what I recorded on the demo tape, but I couldn’t connect them together anymore. That’s why it failed. It’s sad, because I still have these songs – just in demo versions, with not such a great sound - but it was really interesting.

Uwe has his own project now, Uwe Lulis Project, and they’ve put out like eight songs online. Do they have anything to do with Brutal Godz?

Oh, I’ve never heard about that! I will look at Uwe’s page. Last time I met him it was backstage at the Bang Your Head festival, and it was like, OK, he plays in Accept now, he doesn’t need this. But that he has a new project, this is news to me.

Coming back to “Heresy II” – its Japanese version has a bonus track, “Merciless Onslaught”, which is a cover version of Metal Church. Why did you choose this band and this particular song? Did you happen to play it live in the early days of Paradox?

No, we never played this song live, but they were one of my heroes in the 80s. When we were finished with all songs for “Heresy II”, we looked at the playing time, and it was 76 minutes or something. We said, “You only can put 80 minutes on a CD, so if we do a Japanese bonus track, it should be a short one, not longer than three minutes, otherwise it’s too long”. Then I said, “It should sound completely different, it should not be an original Paradox song, it should be something to contrast the big thing, the whole album”. That’s why I decided for a cover version, and then I thought which cover version I would like to do. The first Metal Church album was always one of my favorite U.S. power metal albums, and I always liked this song. It is straight in your face, it is pure metal, and I don’t have to sing, because I sang a lot on the album. There was one other song I considered, a song by Anvil, something off the second album, I don’t remember its title, but I decided for Metal Church. One more reason was that we didn’t have speed on the main album, not a lot of double bass this time. (imitates the bass drum sound) As you can see, there were many reasons why we made that choice - the length, the song itself because it’s great, and the speed.

What do you think of the current thrash metal scene? Do you like younger metal bands such as Evile or Warbringer, or do you prefer veterans from the 80s?

Evile! Evile are great! Their “Skull” (2013) album is on my Top 10, this is the band that came closest to Metallica, I guess. I have a good friend in this band, this is Matt Drake (ex-vocalist), just yesterday I wrote to Matt! As to the scene nowadays… I also count bands like Suicidal Angels, because they came out a lot later, not in the 80s. There are many bands who came up, and it’s difficult for each new band to get a name, to get a logo that is known in the metal world. It was easier in 80s, of course. With Paradox, when we got offered the first record contract, we said, “What?! Why are we getting a record contract? We just rehearse for ourselves. We are not so far yet to get out on a big stage!” But we got a record deal with a very big label, Roadrunner Records, and this doesn’t happen nowadays, you must really be something.

Another problem nowadays is 150 records each month. How should you listen to a 75-minute record? You don’t have the time for it. How should you say after one month, “This is a great record, this is better than I said before!”? And it’s even more difficult to create new stars, to build up a band which is the new thing. I don’t see any new Metallicas, or bands like Nasty Savage, Agent Steel, Helstar, all these bands.

At the same time, I remember how I listened to Suicidal Angels, Gus is playing there, and I said, “Wow, do they come from Greece? What?!” You couldn’t have this in the 80s. You have good things and bad things. There are too many average bands coming out, and that’s why it’s difficult to pick great bands out of them. And then it’s a difficult path to get known, to get famous, it changed. And the Internet changed a lot. OK, you can reach a lot of people in a short time, but you also have these haters, these trolls, who write just bad comments without even listening to what they’re writing about. They’re writing shit just to bring people down. Maybe in the 80s people had this in mind, too, but they didn’t have a chance to write this, maybe it’s a general human problem, but why? I mean why? I remember when we went to concerts in the 80s, it was one family. If you went out on the street in a city, people said, “Look at this heavy metal fan! This is a heavy metal fan, a rocker!” And when we would meet, we were one big family. We didn’t know each other, but we were one family, and this is something I miss a little bit nowadays. Nowadays people are fast to say, “This band is shit, fuck this band”, you know what I mean. We should stay together a little bit more. But the good thing is - metal never dies! It’s impossible to destroy heavy metal. We have a big scene here in Germany, you know, Wacken Open Air, Bang Your Head!, Keep It True, Headbangers Open Air… We have a lot of record labels, a lot of festivals, and a lot of bands. I have a lot of buddies in the older bands, like Schmier from Destruction, he’s a good buddy of mine. But if I could choose, nowadays or back in the days, I would choose back in the days, of course.

Thrash metal is different from all other rock styles in one aspect. Usually a style would get famous, die for a while and then it would be reborn with younger bands coming in. For example, in the early 90s nobody cared about power metal, but in the second half of the 90s, when Hammerfall and Rhapsody broke big, the style was reborn. The same is true for punk. But with thrash metal, it was reborn when bands like Exodus and Death Angel started coming back together, I mean, old bands. Do you have any idea why is that?

Eh, this is a good question. Bands like Testament, Exodus, Heathen, Forbidden, Death Angel, they’re all known for what they’re able to do, and they’re always able to do a great record. They inspired the new bands. The first thing you do when you start a band is play songs by your favorite bands, and then if you start writing new songs, you are totally inspired by these bands. That’s why the quality - not the quality of single musicians, but the quality of music - is higher with original bands. You could have a copy of Anthrax, you could have a copy of Exodus or Testament, but just a few of them really come to the spotlight. Evile, Suicidal Angels, Warbringer, bands like this, but they are not as big, and they will never be as big, unless you are on a label like Nuclear Blast Records. I know Andy (Siry) very well, he picks out bands very carefully, and they give them tours and open up more doors for them. Then it could be that maybe one or two bands would come out and get big, but as to getting as big as Exodus or Testament, I don’t see any for the future, and this is a problem.

As to the revival, that’s another thing. A revival will happen, but you never know when. It’s like with clothes. I don’t know if these trousers from the 70s with these big bell-bottoms will come back (laughs), but music styles are always coming back. You also have crossovers like Paradox: Paradox is not a real thrash metal band like Kreator or Sodom or Tankard, this is different, the signers are shouting more, and they sound more oldschool. And Paradox connects three genres: it’s power metal, it’s speed metal, and it’s thrash metal. If you talk about just pure thrash metal, then I see no new Kreator.

On the album “Pangea” you had a very radical song called “Ballot or Bullet”. We guess you watched the news from the United States last year and in January this year – didn’t you feel like you basically predicted these events a few years before they happened?

(laughs) No-no, this would be a typical coincidence. When I saw this, I said, “This a no-go”. I thought I was in a wrong movie. And then I watched the story of Jon Schaffer unfold. I know that Hansi was working with Jon together in this band called Demons & Wizards, and now I see Jon Schaffer going into this building… This is a no-go, you can criticize, but not attack the Capitol. We had something similar in Germany, but it stopped at the main entrance, they wouldn’t break in, though if they had wanted, they could have done it. But now I don’t think it’s possible anymore.

“Heresy II” once again came out on AFM Records, and you’ve been cooperating with AFM for already more than 20 years. Have you ever considered trying it with a different label?

No. There is some kind of blind understanding and trust, we trust each other. I could give you a good example: when I had all songs finished for “Heresy II”, I asked AFM Records, “Would you like to listen to it? I could send you a demo tape”. And they said, “Oh no, send it to us when everything is finished”. They didn’t discuss anything about songs, like, “This song we can’t use for this album, or that song we can’t use”, it’s blind understanding, and they trust me. They told me, “Charly, everything you’ve given us in the past has been great, we’ve never had any problems with you, and we know that this next album will be a good album”. I’m satisfied, I wouldn’t change now. If I got a better offer - no, because who knows how it is going to be in two or three years? I remember when I met Andy Allendorfer who founded AFM Records, we first met in 1999, and he was a big Paradox fan. He called me up two days before he had that deadly car accident, and he told me, “Charly, I’m giving you a lifelong record contract, because I love your music”. So I’m still with AFM Records. Unless something very very special comes up to which I’ll say, “Maybe I could do this”, but I can’t imagine it right now. We have a good collaboration.

Now that the “Heresy” story is completed, where do you see Paradox heading in the future? Do you already have any ideas for new music or new lyrical concepts?

Lyric-wise - no, but I know Peter is open for writing more lyrics for Paradox. I have a vision of how the next Paradox album could sound, but if I start writing songs, you never know what comes out of you. I’ve been listening a lot to oldschool records lately - Forbidden’s “Twisted Into Form”, or “Bonded By Blood” by Exodus. What I’m sure about is that the new album will not have a playing time of 75 minutes, you can expect around 45-50 minutes. I will not to put so many long songs on it either, I guess, maybe one or two longer songs, but a few songs will not have the length of the songs on this album, they will be more like “Ballot or Bullet”, something around 3.5 minutes. They should be more based on rhythm guitar, with not so many harmonies, and more focused on the chorus, so that it would be an ear catcher. And each song should have one special thing in it that you’re waiting for when you start listening to this song, it could be a mid-part or a solo part maybe. I have a lot of thoughts, and next week, as I mentioned before, I will meet Christian, and we’ll talk about the future. People shouldn’t wait for five years for the next album, unless I would start another project for an album or something. I’m in talks with somebody in the realm of thrash metal, and it would be a very interesting collaboration. We’re talking about writing a few songs together, but sadly I can’t say anything more right now. On the other hand, of course, my focus is still on Paradox, I want to make a follow-up to this record, and it should be a contrast to this record.

Well, Charly, thank you very much for this great interview. Hopefully the world will come back to normal and we’ll be able to see Paradox live - in Russia or somewhere in Europe.

I’m sure there’s a place for Paradox in Russia. If we play in Moscow, I guess we would have an audience. We have a lot of fans from Russia, and I have a lot of Russian friends here in Wurzburg where I live. I worked at a factory with 600 or 700 Russians, and I know the mentality of Russians. They are not far away from Germans, you are very fast in a talk, very kind people, very disciplined. I like that, and that’s why it would be great if we got a chance to play in Moscow or St. Petersburg. As I said, we do no tours, we do single shows, but who knows, maybe there’s a festival or we could play as an opener for a bigger band. It’s quite possible.

Paradox on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paradoxthrash

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for arranging this interview

Roman Patrashov, Natalia “Snakeheart” Patrashova
October 7, 2021
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