Anna KiaRa new album, “Symphony of Rage,” interview.

I must confess that I have had a crazy, busy weekend. It has been a week of heat, long drives, family and junk food. So here I am late at night without a fan on a humid evening listening to the new album “Symphony of Rage” from the very interesting and talented Anna KiaRa. This is more than a review, as I took the chance to ask Anna a few questions for the magazine and make a wider reading experience for you all.

The official press tells me Anna KiaRa is a symphonic/power metal band founded by Anna (also known as a former singer of the Imperial Age band) in 2020 as her solo project and then formed into the full band when Anna’s friends and colleagues on the music stage joined her.

The band’s musical style is based on classical female-fronted symphonic power metal but also combines elements of different metal subgenres such as symphonic black metal, modern metal, heavy and folk metal.

The debut album, “Storyteller,” was released in August 2020 and got plenty of positive reviews from metal fans all around the world. The second album, “Archangel,” was released in 2022. Anna has been flying completely solo since 2023, she got three European and one UK tour since that time and released a few singles, including a collaboration with Lyriel, “Springtime Harmony.”

The album was released June 5, so it is out on all platforms now.

There are nine tracks. I will move to the interview first, and then the review will close the feature.

Let’s start with the cover, a great trip into dark fantasy. We have a gothic castle with a double image of you to the fore. How much input did you have in the design? How does it reflect the music within?

Anna: I took one of my pictures for the cover. I also took this pic and asked AI to paint it as a dark fantasy, and I got this castle and the second girl with the red hair in front of it. Then I combined both my real photo and that AI picture, added some effects in Photoshop and got the cover! The cover perfectly reflected the title of the album “Symphony Of Rage”, as rage and darkness are the second side inside all of us.

A general point… I literally can’t watch the news atm. It makes me cry (although that could be my hormones post-baby!). I’m so worried about the way the world is—music is so important for mental health and escapism. Do you agree? I think music is a unifying force.

Anna: Yes, I completely agree! From my side, as a musician, I just continue to do what I can in this situation—I try to unite people through my music, not to divide them. And from what I see in the last few years, all metalheads are family, and we are really united; we value real feelings, real human beings and real people’s lives. Unlike politicians…

Your 2020 album was called ‘Storyteller.” One of our music friends at the magazine once told me that behind the best songs are personal experiences re-created, using the blues or the passion of life to create. Do your personal experiences help frame your music?

Anna: Of course! Everything that happens in an artist life has a reflection in their art! It just can’t be the other way. For me personally, the song “Sister” from Storyteller is one of the biggest reflections, as this song was written when my stepsister passed away in 2019, when she was 37. Then I expressed my sorrow in this song, and this is actually a duet with Marketa from Alia Tempora, where she plays the role of my sister that looks after me from heaven.

I do love Arthurian tales and “Excalibur” is, of course, such a part of that legend. It is a powerful vocal from you too. How did you approach that song vocally and visually?

Anna: I like all the stories about castles and knights as well, so I decided to take the story of the king Arthur and to create a song with my vision based on it. I had the UK tour last December, and we filmed a reel for Instagram and YouTube with the verse and chorus of this song in front of the Edinburgh castle at the day we performed there. That was beautiful! I also decided to add a real flute to this song, and that’s how I made it more romantic, because in the lyrics I’m nostalgic about old times where people seemed to be more careful about each other’s feelings and more aimed at the inner world and such things as honor, spirituality and generosity, which we mostly lost with financial and technological progress.

In “Blood of Heroes,” you open with a multi-layered track and a drum sound that pounds the heartbeat. I also liked the harmonies. Was this one of the first written for the album? And the choice of it to open the album, was that an easy decision to make? Tell me about the song and how it fits into the album as a whole.

Anna: “Blood of Heroes,” along with “Flight of the Valkyrie,” are two songs that were composed in 2013-2014 when I played with my first band in my hometown, Kaluga. I decided that these two songs deserved to be heard, and, as the band was dismissed in 2016, I took these songs to my new album. I changed the arrangements a bit, translated the lyrics, and here we are! I decided to put “Blood Of Heroes” as an opener because I just liked the result and I felt it was the right song to open the album.

“Flight of the Valkyrie” closes the English section of the album. Spotify then switches to the Russian section of the album. Do you find yourself writing in Russian and then translating to English, or do you write lyrics in English? And do you map out an album like this lyrically, knowing how you want the tracks to take form, or does it all appear in the studio?

Anna: It depends. “Flight of the Valkyrie” and “Blood Of Heroes” were written in Russian because, as I already mentioned before, they were created with my first band. I also wrote She-wolf first in Russian. The rest of the songs were originally written in English. I always based my songs on the music firstly, and lyrics always came in the second place for me, so I’m planning the order of the songs on the album from the musical part, not from the lyrics. Regarding the studio, the studio is the last step. When you go to the studio, you already have demo versions of the songs and the picture of what you want in mind, and you don’t change much there. Of course there could be some ideas, but the studio is like almost the final step.

Were you the girl who was always singing in the corridor at school and getting into trouble for listening to music in class? Were you in a school band, etc.? Was music always something you knew you wanted to pursue?

Anna: I always was the girl who was singing everywhere, and I knew that I’d be a singer since I was 6! I once tried the school band, but it wasn’t successful, because rock and metal were never that popular in Russia, and if you play in a band, and especially if you’re a girl, for the teachers it means that you’re a drug addict and an alcoholic, ahaha. But I always participated in all school shows with different songs that I was singing with the instrumental versions of them—Michael Jackson, Queen, Scorpions, some Russian pop and classical music, etc. I never got into any trouble because of my love of metal. I was always responsible enough. I studied well, studied at musical school too, and always had some sports classes in between. I count my first metal band from when I was 18 years old, when I joined it after school.

What plans can you share with us for 2025?

Anna: I already released “Symphony Of Rage” and had a European tour dedicated to it. One more festival on Crete—Over The Wall—is scheduled for August. I’m also planning to release the album on vinyl and to film the music video, and I think that I’ll do a small crowdfunding for this. One more nice collaboration is also in the works this year but I’m not sure that we’ll release the song till the end of the year, but I’ll see it later. You’ll definitely like it! There also will be a few shows—presentations of the album in Russia later in October.

Lastly, what was the best concert you have attended as a fan, who was playing and what made it so memorable?

Anna: You know, it’s very hard to impress me, because as a musician and also as an actress (I graduated from the college as a vocalist and from the university as an actress of musical theatre) I see and hear many things. And when I go to the show as a fan, I can’t turn it off. Last time I was really impressed was at the show of “Visions of Atlantis.” I saw them in 2022, it was a small venue, Ragnarok, in Belgium, but they did a really good job there! And last year I was on the show of the russian band “Above The Stars,” and I really liked the atmosphere there; they were a nice discovery for me (sort of “Lord Of The Lost” style). And of course I was really impressed when I saw one of my favourite russian bands “Ariya” (an old heavy metal band from the 80s), when I was a teenager.

And that concludes the interview, which was great fun to do. And now….

My Review:

“Blood of Heroes” opens with the lightest of harmonies before we are taken into the heavy world of fantasy prog. Rock. The riff is commercial and snappy and the vocals are packed with energy. It is a confident, brash opening, and if I was tired at all, this one quickly dispelled the day! I enjoyed the backing vocals too on this one; they add a depth and appeal.

“Excalibur.” I referenced this one in the interview. It manages to fuse a medieval feel with modern prog rock; the introduction of the flute is inventive and the sense of the troubadour is there in the feel of the track. Anna hits some high notes here in this tale of swords and shields and the shadows of long ago. The video for this one is well worth a watch!

“She Wolf” has this heavy drum sound and a slower buildup of thunder. It is a movie soundtrack for a series like “The Vikings.” There is a definite feminine power in the track and I will also note an interesting instrumental break mid-track.

“Journey to the Stars” is a lighter track, with more of a heavy, dreamy sense to it. The song chorus has a beautiful vocal touch and it is layered as a track in an interesting, creative fashion.

“Symphony of Rage.” Perhaps, as the title suggests, this is a heavy symphony of sound and layered vocals. I would guess this one presented a challenge in the studio! There is a clear energy to it and a dual powerful vocal full of angst and rage!

“Icy Wasteland” enters the winter. The little piano note intro made me interested and the change of tone from the previous number was interesting. It showed a different vocal style/range for Anna and the fusion of classical into a heavy prog rock made for a haunting listen.

“Poetry of Despair” is a fast-hitting rocker, the guitars and drums fighting their way out of my amps. I bet this one kicks some ass live!

“Reborn” is a total contrast to what came before! We have a piano-led track that takes Anna’s vocals into a different tone, a dreamy and dark ballad. I liked it; it took me along on its journey and the emotive connection of the singer to the track was clear. This one I played twice, back-to-back, always a good sign!

“Flight of the Valkyrie” ends the album with a flurry of thunder and a signature sound that Anna is making her own. An entertaining close as they delve into the sound of battle and danger.

Standout Tracks: “Excalibur,” “Flight of the Valkyrie,” and “Reborn.”

In summary, “Symphony of Rage” is an album that doesn’t just play—it performs, fights, soars, and howls. Anna KiaRa has crafted a theatrical soundscape that channels both fire and frost, wielding her voice like a sword through each fantasy-laced chapter. Whether you’re riding into battle or drifting through starlight, there’s something here to sweep you off your feet and drop you into another realm. For fans of high-concept rock with heart and heft, this one’s a worthy quest.

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