Let’s cut right to the case, Isabel. There’s a seven year gap between FABULÆ DRAMATIS’ latest album “Solar Time’s Fables” (2017) and the upcoming album “Violenta”. Please tell us what happened.
“After the release in 2017 the band became a live band. We needed time to find the work around of the 10 musicians that recorded “Solar Time’s Fables“ into a 4-piece band. That included me taking over the voices of the guest singers, learning the growling technique as well as learning how to play some extra instruments like djembe and saxophone in order to bring a compact musical idea of the studio album. Nowadays, I only focus on singing myself, we changed line-ups until we got to the actual one that gave us more stability to come together and compose the music that would represent us all with our different musical backgrounds and personalities. We came to this actual result with the help of our two producers, Martín Furia and Gustavo Valderrama. Their approach and guidance has been very important to bring out the best of ourselves musically.”“Violenta” will be out on September 7th. A couple of things have changed. In the line-up, Isadora Cortina is no longer in the band and bassist Kris Depuydt was replaced by Marco Felix. What was the reason for their departure?
“Isadora Cortina is still part of the band as a voice producer in some of the songs on “Violenta”. She lives in Norway, so for practical reasons her participation in the band has been collaborative. We keep in touch and work remotely. We had changes in our line-up, mostly on the bass and drums. For the bass lines Kris Depuydt came at the beginning of 2020 and before him was Hamlet with whom we co-founded the band. Now Marco Felix takes their places gracefully, since he shares some Latin-American musical roots with us being born in Chile, putting that special touch to our actual style. Both Hamlet and Kris decided to leave the band during the composition process when we were no longer sharing the same ideology on how we would direct our music style and workflow. However, you can still listen to Kris bass’ recordings on “Violenta”. Specifically on “Lead Astray •|• Indigo” and “The Illusionary Spyglass”. Marco recorded mostly the rest of the bass lines on this plaque and re-recorded the album version of “The City (Translucent)” which was released before as a single with Hamlet’s bass.”Another major change is the music, you have shifted more to progressive metal in combination with Latin American metal, that has very likely to do with your Colombian origin. How did this all come together?
“FABULÆ DRAMATIS’ musicians and producers come from South America. Teo Dimitrov adds a special touch with his rhythmic patterns from Bulgaria, those are alike to the Latin-American rhythms. So the most logical way for us was to follow our cultural roots.”

The Latin American influences can be heard all over “Violenta” and you also combine Spanish and English lyrics: “Mundo de maldad / Mundo de vanidad / ¡Dime quién eres en verdad!” Which means: “World of evil / World of vanity / Tell me who you really are!”. Is that the main theme on “Violenta”, the wicked world in which we live nowadays?
“This record brings a social critique, expressing discontent with how modern society has become overly focused on superficiality and disconnected from reality due to the influence of digital technology and media. It is a call for introspection and a return to more authentic, meaningful values. Vanity, deception, loss of reality, ego, and isolation are the themes that the band addresses across the eight tracks that compose the album.”

On “The City (Translucent)” you creatively use your two voices, clean and harsh, and the lyrics are very intriguing. Is the song about the lack of communication that has become a major problem in today’s society?
“Yes, it refers to modern society, isolation, even having the right technology to communicate at all times, but sadly we became starring puppets of conformity and disconnection. Some adapt to the poisonous environment, others break free and some others even dare to see beyond the glass.”“Lead Astray .|. Indigo” shows a very vulnerable and emotional Isabel: “The consequences are leading me astray / Emotions took over my actions / I wish I’ve learned to get them back!” What actions are you speaking of?
“This song talks about the lack of emotional intelligence. Because we do not always know how to control our emotions, we tend to take incorrect actions. Having avoided negative actions due to uncontrolled emotional impulses.”

The lyrics on “Violenta” go very deep, especially on “River Of Despair” as you sing: “Humanity disappears / Making room for other species to survive”. Unfortunately, this could be a nearby possible scenario. On the back cover of the album it says: “Because violence is a state of mind of humanity and nature.”

An unstable equilibrium where nature is on the losing end. The song also has a leading role for drummer Teo Dimitrov.
““River Of Despair” talks about a worst case scenario where humanity is no longer the dominant species on Earth. A situation that could happen if we don’t take care of our ecosystem. Taking this imaginary situation we put on scene ‘Caño Cristales’, a Colombian river also called ‘River Of Colors’ or the ‘Liquid Rainbow’, where nature has recovered itself from the damage we caused. Becoming bright, full of colors and unimaginable new forms of life. Teo Dimitrov has contributed a lot to the character of this album. From his very first composition with us, “The City (Translucent)”, to the complete release of “Violenta”. His Bulgarian rhythms catch some Latin patterns that go very well together. We love his percussive creativity for sure!”The next track, “Pawn Out Of Board”, is about polarization and the fundamental right of freedom. Nowadays, it seems that some Governments are secretly pushing polarization and trying to silence people. In this song, you are almost inciting rebellion with the lines: “Raise your voice!” and “Stand up and walk! / Rise up and walk!”
“Polarization and media manipulation maintain people away from the real political and economic problems in our modern society. We use freedom of speech to apply for a change.”

What do you see through “The Illusionary Spyglass” and who are the “Four slaving thieves to blame!” that you mention in the lyrics?
“It’s an illusionary perspective about the world. The illusion itself, desire, attachment and lost faith are the four slaving thieves to blame that take us apart from the meaningful goals in life.”

Closer on “Violenta” is “Máquina de Sueños” that has only Spanish lyrics, but also a beautiful Spanish guitar. My Spanish is very limited, so you do the honor and tell everyone what it is about and why you put it as the last song on the album.
““When did you stop creating your own reality? Feeding a dream that hides your fears” would be a literal translation of the first sentences in the lyrics. It is the last song on the album. Kind of nostalgic and simple. A call to the inner self to continue waving one’s dreams and waking up every day to make them become true. Remembering that everybody is free of their own desires and acts.”After “Violenta” will be released, are you going to hit the stages in Belgium and Holland, or maybe even abroad?
“Yes, we have our release show on September 7th, some year-closing dates this fall and we are planning to play abroad next year. Thanks a lot for taking your time to analyze the music and the lyrics of our album “Violenta”.” ■