Genus Ordinis Dei Interview

LOMM: Can you give a little biographical and historical info; who is involved in the band, and how did you guys meet up? 
Tommy, Genus Ordinis Dei Guitarist & Producer: Hi, I’m Tommy and I’m the guitarist and producer of Genus Ordinis Dei. We’re 4 metalheads: Me, Nick (Guitars and Vocals), Steven (Bass) and Richard (Drums)

The band was formed in 2008 in Crema, our hometown. We were just a bunch of long-time friends who shared the passion for metal music and we decided to start to play together. We were 20 years old and none of us ever played in a real band before Genus Ordinis Dei (and i personally still never played in other bands). Richard came later in 2012 after changing two other drummers.

LOMM: Pandemic has taken an emotional toll on everyone yet the arts have been hit especially hard. The musicians are vulnerable to financial upheaval. How have you guys have been holding up?

Tommy: We’re trying our best to keep creating content and developing new music, making a lot of“office work” just hoping that all this comes to an end quickly. From this point of view, releasing Glare Of Deliverance kept us busy for a long time, almost 2 years so far. For the first time I produced, mixed and mastered the album entirely in my own studio “Sonitus Studio”, so it’s been a tough challenge (and I enjoyed it so much!).

Then we had to deal with the construction of the video series of this story, a totally new thing for us (and also for the fans) that led us to face a lot of difficulties and uncertainty moments, especially in the middle of this pandemic. But still, we enjoyed it and we’re so proud of the final result, both visually and musically speaking. It took a lot of time, considering that we had to create a crowdfunding campaign that fortunately went well.
So far, Covid couldn’t stop us from working hard and delivering this crazy opera.

LOMM: Tell us about your genre, what does it means to you, why did you choose this genre?

Tommy: It’s hard to answer this question. We can label our music as Symphonic Death Metal, but this doesn’t describe our music accurately. In the last album we’ve added some groovy parts, melodic singing, cinematic effects, Pink Floyd style arpeggios+lead guitars, and much more. We can’t be precisely labeled and this is a good thing to us. Why did we choose this genre? We didn’t choose it, it’s a sound that evolved naturally and I’m sure it will evolve again for the next record.

LOMM: Could you tell us about the lyrics / themes /concepts you focus on or plan to focus on? How did the ideas come about, and how do they influence the writing process? Who is writing the lyrics?
Tommy: The idea of the story was born years ago too, actually, I still remember us writing down on a notebook the plot of the chapters while hanging out in a pub in our hometown. Then, almost two years ago, we thought it was good enough and we decided it was time to try to make it real. There is not a protocol, ideas simply flow and when it’s time to work on them and make them real you simply feel it, you know it’s about time to sit in the studio and put down some serious demo. This time we wanted to tell the story of Eleanor, a young woman who is haunted by the Holy Inquisition while trying to fulfill a mysterious ritual. Glare Of Deliverance tells her story in 10 episodes with 10 videos and 10 songs, describing all the steps that bring Eleanor in the grasp of the Holy Inquisition. Our singer Nick is the lyrics writer and he nailed it! Then we always work together to finalize the lyrics and the music but each one has it’s role in the creative process and his role is definitely writing the lyrics (and singing them 🙂 ).

LOMM: Who is composing the songs?
Tommy: On the other hand, I’m composing the songs. It happens a lot that I take some ideas from the other guys’ riffs or suggestions but when it’s time to effectively create the music I work alone in my studio and I create high-detailed instrumental demos. 

LOMM: What bands do you draw your inspiration from?
Tommy: Then there’s a lot of bands that inspired me through this journey but I can’t forget how it started: Blind Guardian, Kamelot and Iron Maiden are my all-time favourite guys and they’ll ever be. In this exact moment, the most impressive band to me is Gojira, from the songs to the image to the performances: top band right now. They’re so inspiring.

LOMM: Which is more exciting? Being on the road or studio?
Tommy: It’s like choosing between Mom or Dad! I love both!

LOMM: What do you like the best about being a musician? And what is it that you do not like much?

Tommy: The sense of freedom that being a full-time musician gives you is amazing, that’s why i do what i do. It is true that this freedom means that you’re in a jungle, alone, struggling and competing with all the other free animals around you, and sometimes it’s tough.

LOMM: If you weren’t musicians, what would you be doing?

Tommy: I graduated from the University Of Pavia as a psychologist. I’ve never worked a single hour in that field but if things would have gone differently, I would have probably been a psychologist now.

LOMM: What’s more important to you? Catering to the audience or music for its own sake?
Tommy: You can’t make a living if you are a musician and don’t care about the audience, but in the deep of my heart I do music for its own sake, and I think that most of the musicians do.

LOMM: What is the most memorable gig that you have played to date?

Tommy: 2016 in a packed Koko in London, opening for Lacuna Coil. It’s been an unbelievable gig and a crazy post show night too. Unforgettable.

LOMM: Great! It’s one of my favourite venues! Thank you for taking the time Tommy!

Tommy: Thank you so much for the interview! Hail!