DIALITH is:
Mark Grey – Bass, Irish Whistle
Cullen Mitchell- drums
Krista Sion -vocals
Alasdair Wallace Mackie – Guitar, Orchestrations
With their second EP Alter arriving on April 5th, Rock the Joint Magazine talks to band vocalist Krista Sion about the band’s EP and some past history. We also review the EP at the end of this feature. We were pulled in by the Arabic sound and allure of the video, but the EP is a listening treat with Celtic touches, guitars, drums, saxophones, fiddles and flutes!
DIALITH is an epic symphonic power metal band from Danbury, Connecticut. Formed in 2015, Dialith made an impact with their 2019 debut album, Extinction Six. Blending epic orchestral arrangements with enrapturing melodeath riffs, Dialith aims to breathe new life into the symphonic metal genre with tracks that draw inspiration from varied sources, from death metal to pop music to Arabic and Celtic folk music. Alter is the continuation of Dialith’s 2021 EP “Atrophy,” the second in what will be a trilogy of EPs that culminate in a full album.
We began by asking how the band got together, even though they have been around a while, we didn’t know!
Krista: Alasdair and I actually met through an advertisement. I had just graduated college, and there was a feeling of “now what?” Being in a symphonic metal band was something I had wanted to do since I was about 14 and saw Within Temptation on their tour. I knew this was what I wanted to do, but I never really got the opportunity to, as I didn’t really know anyone with the same taste in music. So when I graduated, I put the advertisement out saying that I wanted to start this band, and Alasdair replied. He was a year older than me, and he lived in the next town, so it appeared like fate. He’s a great writer and an incredibly talented guitarist, and we started writing for what was to become the first EP. We met Cullen, our drummer, and we also met Mark, who plays bass, through friends. We rounded up the line up and were able to release “Extinction 6,” our album, in 2019. We have just kept going ever since!
Next, we touched on the songwriting and where those ideas all came from.
Krista: Alasdair is the primary songwriter. Mark, the bass player and I did write “Writhing Red,” a Celtic inspired song, with lyrics that explore the nature of anger, hate, and greed. But Alasdair writes the vast majority of our music, and he wrote “Shadowdancer,” “Hourglass,” and “Ironbound.”
The video for “Shadowdancer” really attracted us, the Eastern dance in the video, the music—it all makes for such an interesting sound. That infusion of the East in Westerm music is quite rare. Shadowdancers in myth live within the shadows of light and dark in myth and legend, so was folklore consciously infused?
Krista: Alasdair wrote the song and titled it. He didn’t write the lyrics, but he completed the music and the title. He gave it to me, and he said how he loved the sound and the title. At the time, I had been reading a lot about the early Europeans and reconstructing mythology, particularly how it developed in the Ancient Near-East in Mesopotamia. I just wanted to evoke that imagery. I learned to belly-dance for that video! I’m not a dancer, and I didn’t bring in choreography or anything, but I did learn a few moves to bring the whole thing together. It was quite scary, as I don’t consider myself a great dancer! That said, I think Eric DiCarlo, our videographer, did a great job bringing it all together.
We thought it worked really well, and we enjoyed it. This is the third of three EP’s, the first one being released in 2021. There seems to be a bit of a time gap there, so how does Krista feel the music has matured along the way.
Krista: Yes, this is the second in the trilogy, so there will definitely be a third. “Atrophy” was released in 2021, and I suppose it is quite a jump of three years. What got in the way was just life, really. We all have day jobs, and we all have personal things to deal with; so, it needed us all to get together, focus and write and record. We wanted to create something of quality, and that is really more important to us than always just putting something out. The quality of releases is what matters. But we had the ideas and themes for the three EP’s mapped out from the start, but didn’t have the songs specifically. “Atrophy,” if you look at the cover, presents a winter scene, and with this EP, “Alter,” we are in the spring. The music from “Atrophy” is very much symphonic metal, we stuck with what we were used to. “Alter” is different, it experiments more. It shares new life and beginnings, with the spring theme, and I think that shows in the songs too. Each song is quite different, and it is very different from what we did previously. “Alter” is about transformation, and then the culmination of the three EP’s will pull it all together. It is about changing, merging together, and becoming something new.
“Hourglass” is a very short little track with a vocal somewhere between folk and metal. How was that one approached?
Krista: Originally, “Hourglass” and “Shadowdancer” were the same song. They were one, but then when we were looking at a music video, we split “Hourglass” off to have a shorter song that introduced the music video. “Hourglass” is really slow; it doesn’t get into the drums and guitar until “Shadowdancer” cuts in. So it serves as an introduction to the video track.
The album cover is quite something! The one for the new EP is so well done, very Celtic!
Krista: All of our covers are done by a Polish artist called Marta Sokolowska, she is so talented. So she did the cover art for “Extinction Six,” and she did the inside illustrations too. So when we wanted to do the EP trilogy, she was the only one that we wanted to do the art. We had the idea of changing seasons and becoming something else, and we had the EP names. We passed these over to her along with a vague description that we wanted the seasons to change and so forth. We also wanted a character at the front that would change with the seasons, and she just gave us this incredible artwork that we love.
The saxophone player really cuts it for you on that EP! It was totally unexpected as well to suddenly find sax on a rock track.
Krista: Alasdair found him, he was someone we hired. His YouTube name is FoolishFrankie and that’s how we credit him on the EP. We found him on YouTube, and Alasdair asked him if he’d do that for us in “Ironbound.” Alasdair wrote the track and basically told him how we wanted it to sound.
We like how you are eclectic in the music styles, a bit like us in the magazine, we run with what we like rather than being held to a genre.
Krista: We love what we do. Dialith started because I needed an outlet musically, a musical and social outlet. Being around friends in the band, and the band are my close friends. Also, all those I met through the band have been amazing, I would say I find success through all these things, creativity and enjoyment are not only about making money. I am proud of what we do. The debut album is in my house, it’s on my wall, and I love that it’s there. I love talking to people about what we do, I would say success is a hard thing to gauge. If you are rich and famous, then you can afford to have music as your sole source of income. But many musicians can’t say that, and that doesn’t make you any less worthy.
We totally agree. As with the magazine here, it is often for the love of music that we do it; and we have happy readers and artists, so that is enough for us. And can we ask about the band image? Was that thought out?
Krista: We have had a few conversations about looks. In terms of image as a band, in terms of artwork, we went for an earthy theme. I wanted a kind of mother earth feel, and I consider myself an earthy person! I think you see that in the album and the EP’s, this earthy theme. In terms of personal style, it is a typical metal band with the guys in black! I’m not usually in a belly dancer outfit! I usually like black too, and I’m a fan of leather jackets, the look can project the music.
But, for a last question, what artist, alive or dead, that you never saw in concert would you most like to have seen?
Krista: I would have loved to see Tristania with Vibeke Stein back in the late nineties or early 2000’s, and I would love to see Brother’s of Metal too, but I don’t think they are likely to tour the US.
And now the EP review, completed by Lorraine!
“Writhing Red” provides a really atmospheric start, it’s a musical montage, unusual and distinctive, with this melodic chorus underpinned by a big drum sound. I liked the instrumental breaks in this one too.
“Ironbound” -this one rocks! It has this really catchy chorus and, again, a solid big drum sound. It also has that saxophone, an unexpected pleasure!
“Hourglass” is very short, running at 1.24 minutes. It introduces the Arabic feel that runs into the “Shadowdancer” track. It has a folk rock to it, and perfectly sets up –
“Shadowdancer” is the standout track on the EP. It has a darkly Arabic twist and is also a bit of a vocal triumph.
I want this EP to succeed, and I really hope to see and hear a lot more from this talented symphonic rock band in the future.
Credits:
All music composed by Alasdair Wallace Mackie, except: “Writhing Red” by Mark Grey and Krista Sion
All lyrics written by Krista Sion
Vocals recorded by Randy Pasquarella at Pasquarella Recordings in Wappingers Falls, NY
Drums recorded by Nick Bellmore at Dexter’s Lab Recording in Milford, CT
Mixed and mastered by Andy LaRocque at Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden
Saxophone by FoolishFrankie
Artwork by Marta Sokolowska
Graphic Design by Kate Johnson
Produced by Alasdair Wallace Mackie
Links:
Website: www.dialith.band
You can stream their music here
And we hope you liked the feature, dear reader! If you did, please check out the other pages of the magazine; we have many great features, merchandise, editorials, and even poetry! We work hard for you, and if you want to show some appreciation and support what we do, then do use the Support Us link below! Always appreciated.
By Lorraine Foley
and
Mark C. Chambers
