Please start the interview and tell us about your band history. When did you guys meet up?

Mart: Most of us share a long and dark history, let's say starting somewhere in the early nineties. However, it was only until some years ago that we got our shit together and decided to start Another Messiah, as the ultimate expression of our mutual depressions. We recorded our first mini-album, called 'Another Renaissance', which immediately led to lots of positive reactions. Supported by these reactions, we started touring. After that, we took our time to prepare ourselves for the best we could, executed in the best way possible, resulting in our debut album 'Dark Dreams, My Child". This first full album is now released worldwide by Restrain Records.

Why did you decide to name your band "Another Messiah"? Is there a special meaning behind this?

Mart: Because it suits our music. It's not meant to be anti-christian or anti-religious, it's just a philosophical qualification of a religious term. A "Messiah" is a symbol of hope for many people, in a way that someday, sometime, there will be a saviour who will shed light in our darkness, save us from our our endless misery and more of that kind of bullcrap. We try to put that into perspective by saying "hey, look around, there've been so many fuckin' Messiah's, and there will be so many new ones in the future. Anyone can be a Messiah, as long as he says what people want to hear and give 'em hope. So don't wait for someone to come and fuckin' "save" you, and especially don't depend on him if you find him at all. Don't get me wrong, if you feel supported by believing in things or people, that's fine. But stop whining, try to survive your own bad times and enjoy the better things in life. That's basically what our music stands for.

Why did you decide to play this post-doom style? What bands are your influences and where do you differ from them? Is it important to differ or do you just play what you like to do?

Mart: It's not a matter of deciding, it's a matter of starting to play and see what comes out. And I'm sure that's the best way of playing in a band, 'cause that's the only way of staying true to your own musical preferences. So it all started with a mutual interest in dark, heavy and sometimes progressive music. There were always some bands that we all liked, and a lot of bands that only one or two of us liked. Amongst those mutual favourite bands were acts like My Dying Bride, Tiamat, Gorefest, Death, Orphanage and many more. That's what we started with. Later on, influences from our own personal favourites have been gradually introduced, without really realizing which influence was used on what place. For us, variation is of main importance to keep everyone within the band satisfied. On the other hand, we do have our borders and we do have our veto rights to restrain someone from influences that would harm the overall quality of a song or album. So who knows, there might come some solo-projects in the future of a drummer playing 60 minutes of Russian polka's or a bass player playing 120 minutes of outrageous muddy death metal madness. There's no place for such a schizophrenia within one album of Another Messiah.

Please give us an overview about your lyrics. What are they all about and how important are they for you?

Mart: The lyrics illustrate our music, just like our music illustrates the lyrics. Although the story told on "Dark Dreams, My Child" is fictional, the whole story is actually a projection of our own emotions. It deals with isolation, fear, trauma's, depression, and all kinds of cheerful issues that are associated with it. And that's all poured together in one cozy tale about a male and a female, who have a kind of unhealthy mutual history. This leads to a rather unpleasant situation in the present. Find out the details for yourself, and experience how easy it is to project your own misery on these lyrics. And that's exactly why they're so important to us. If you're unhappy, you don't want to hear songs about colorful flowers and beautiful birds. That's not metal anyway.

You use instruments like the oboe in your music, which fits very well to your songs. When did you have the idea to include this instrument to your sound and do you play it on stage as well? Why did you include the oboe in the first songs of the album only?

Rob: The idea to include the oboe derives from way back. Long before we got our shit together to start Another Messiah we used to jam together. In those jams we occasionally used the oboe. We really don't think of it anymore as something special. We're a live band so yeah, we use the oboe live as well. Nowadays I'm completely equipped with good wireless microphones so it actually comes across quite well. Why did we only include the oboe in the first songs? That's not completely the case but I guess the stress is on the first songs. That did not really happen on purpose. During the early stages of the writing process we get the idea to include the oboe or to leave it out. We basically go with that early gut feeling.

It is said that you played European tours. What can you tell us about it, which bands did join your ranks and where did you prefer to play live?

Rob: That's what they say huh… Well, yeah we did some touring in Central Europe, Belgium, Germany and Denmark. You know, we're built to tour and play live. Each time we go on tour is fucking awesome. Personally I like playing festivals. The more bands, the better. It makes the crowd pretty outgoing. We did some great festivals in Poland and in Denmark. Especially the people in Central Europe completely go out of their head when we play there. Afterwards it's always handing out autographs and taking pictures for a couple of hours. We've played with bands like Textures, Gojira, Chaoswave, Riverside, Mercenary and a lot of others… ow yeah let's not forget Ali Baba and the 40 anal bandits, sort of an unpolished brand of grindcore from Lodz.

How is the response concerning your new album "Dark dreams, my child" yet in the media? Are you satisfied with the review-feedback?

Rob: Hell Yeah, overall we're satisfied. The bulk of the reviews vary from good to great. Of course we enjoy those reviews. We have had some bad reviews though. That's mostly reviewers who disagree with us about the style we play. We've read entire pages of reasons explaining why we do not play doom hahaha… "Don't let this band fool you, this is NOT doom. I repeat…" Whatever man, don't forget to crawl back inside your coffin when daylight breaks. We do agree with the people who say you have to listen to the album more than one time to get into it. I warn you though. Once we get you, we don't let go.

Are there songs on "Dark dreams, my child" you prefer to other songs? Or in other words, what are the pros and contras of the album?

Rob: Within the band we all like different songs. I like "And now I will" and "Sweet Dreams". "And now I will" is about to be released on video, so that's cool. I think there are no real weak songs on the album but yeah, there are some songs which I like better then others. For instance, we usually don't play "My god it's him" and "I never noticed" live. We just can't find the live energy in these songs. That's a shame. For the rest we would like to make the next album a bit edgier.

What can we expect from Another Messiah in the future?

Rob: At this moment we are writing our next album. I am supposed to tell you that it's going to be deeper, darker, heavier and faster. But we have nothing conclusive yet. We are trying to improve and reinvent ourselves because we like that in other bands. The new songs focus on live energy. The album is supposed to come out early next year. For the rest you can expect to see us live. We are planning gigs for this summer and fall. When the next album is released we will be touring those countries in which the album is released.

Do you want to add anything before you finish the interview?

Thanks a million for the interview and try not to mix your Prozac with lager.