In a world where today's metal music is inundated with bands that sound relatively the same, have indiscernible vocals or have some sort of "core" assigned to them. It's rare to find a band you cannot assign any of the useless metal subgenre labels to, try as you might, you won't be able to label Madison Wisconsin five piece Luna Mortis with one hundred percent certainty.
With elements of melodic, thrash, and death metal in their instrumentals, combined with a vocal style that is equal parts Nightwish and Arch Enemy, this group is rapidly gaining ground with several different audiences. Nothing could be more evident of this fact then the roster of bands they have opened for in the past three years, the likes of which include Children of Bodom, Dream Theater, Nevermore and Megadeth. All this completed without even having their first full length album released themselves.
To learn anything about a band so new but yet so technically skilled you have to go to the source, the man at the top or in this case the woman. Lead singer, Mary Zimmer, who surprisingly is not only responsible for the clean vocals of the group but the aggressive, harsher ones as well is a force to be reckoned with serving a vital role that separates this group away from the pack.
How did such a talented young woman, let alone a technical and harmonious group come together to create such a distinctive sound?
The chanteuse had some interesting things to say on that, as well as life, death, the possibility of a Canadian tour, and most importantly, the release of their premier album "The Absence"
Surprisingly, this mid-western femme fatale is a relative newcomer to metal music itself. She laments, "Growing up I never really had that much exposure to that kind of music, and it wasn't until I was 18, in college that I started to see how much fit under the umbrella of heavy metal, listening to stuff like Nightwish, that's pretty much where I started with it.”
Some would say that Mary is quite attractive as female vocalists go; the metal scene has seen a spike in attractive female band members in recent years, most are talented, Zimmer feels that some however, are nothing more than a marketing tool. "Oh, it's totally a gimmick! It's really hard for a female musician when there is a whole bunch of girls out there just getting by on their looks. I am not going to mention names, but some bands are riding on the image of their one female member without actually being any good at playing music."
Not to say that Mary is entirely opposed to the idea of looking good as a female entertainer, "It's okay to be attractive, just not first before anything else."
The difficulty of being a female entertainer aside, Mary and the band has had their fair share of problems getting to the top; the group has used the term "clawing their way up" in the Wisconsin metal scene. Wisconsin being more notable for "cheese-heads" than metalheads, she justifies that, "There is lots of metal in Wisconsin, lots of Thrash, Black Metal, but it is mostly in Milwaukee where it all is, ironically there isn't much of a scene in Madison."
The band has covered most of their home territory during their DIY touring days, winning fans all over, including places like Des Moines, Iowa, home of fellow metal artists and Grammy winners, Slipknot. "Every band in Des Moines sounds like Slipknot; they are heavily influenced by them there, so when we come along it's a nice surprise for them." Zimmer says, "They are not sure what to do with us."
Des Moines may not be sure what to do, the industry certainly does though, as was mentioned earlier, Luna Mortis has already opened for some top talent in the genre. Mary's favourite band however? "After Forever, we had played with them before, when we weren't Luna Mortis yet, and built a relationship with them." She gushes, "They are the nicest Dutch people you'd ever meet, and she (Floor Jansen of AF) is the best female singer in metal." This answer clearly evoked feelings of pain in Mary, as just hours before our interview, After Forever announced they broke up as a band, with her personal connection you definitely got the sense that it wasn't just another band's dissolution to her.
Such is the way of the music industry, Luna Mortis understands this, and clearly so does Mary. She offers some advice to any new bands hoping to get their start in this notoriously tough business, "You really have to bust your ass, the one the label signs is the one who works the hardest for it, just having a MySpace page and doing a couple of gigs a year isn't going to do it."
Zimmer continues to say that "there is no such thing as being discovered anymore, it just doesn't happen, work as hard as you possibly can, put yourself out there."
This Do-it-Yourself attitude has carried the group far, as well as just sheer technical skill and talent. Mary herself is a classically trained singer, who came to harsher vocals after first hearing "Heartwork" by Carcass and At the Gates' "Slaughter of the Soul". She does remark that harsher vocals are the anti-thesis of classical training and although it helped her teach herself how to "growl" it's so different you almost have to relearn everything.
For all their hard work Luna Mortis is far from a break for a while, their roster is filled now, with their debut album "The Absence" hitting stores today. It's overall dark but empowering theme, the brainchild lyrically of guitarist and primary songwriter Brian Koenig, deals mostly with the hardships of life and the task of overcoming such bleak circumstances.
Mary's contributions lyrically to the album with "Never Give In" and "Embrace the End" fit it's overall tone, with one exception in the case of "Embrace the End", which is more about complete submission to death, with no room for a happy ending.
Another song from the album "Forevermore" is the bands first music video that will be shot sometime this month. As for touring, the band has some dates in the near future with Warbringer, nothing regrettably that will bring them out our way.
Zimmer is certainly not opposed to a Canadian tour herself she says "We'd love to! I have a grandfather in New Hamburg, Ontario and I always have wanted to reinstate my dual citizenship!"
"It's just a matter of getting on the right tour."
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LUNA MORTIS AND TO LISTEN TO SOME OF THEIR NEW STUFF FROM "THE ABSENCE" simply click HERE
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