Exit Eden are back with a new album, Femmes Fatales. Recently I published my review of the record on the blog. A few nights before the release of the album, I got thew opportunity to sit down with two of the talented trio; Anna Brunner and Marina La Torraca to talk about the new album, their favourite music and other things. This was one of my favourite interviews, so much laughter and joy in this one! The pair were so great as we talk about an assortment of topics, leading up to the release of the new album.
MB: As the new album, Femmes Fatales drops this week, I just wanted to mention how much I enjoyed it. I know you were down a singer with Amanda Somerville not returning for this record. What do you feel were some of the bigger differences between making the first album, Rhapsodies in Black and this new album?
Anna: Yeah, there were quite a lot of things that were different on this album. The first thing massive difference is that we actually knew each other going into the production. On the first album we hadn’t all met at the time. Like, Marina knew Amanda but the four of us didn’t know each other. We knew of each other from here and there but we hadn’t met. It’s so different now because the time passed and we stayed in touch and stayed as friends. So, for this album, we went into it as friends and knowing each other and knowing each others voices and personalities. That was was one of the nicest differences.
MB: For this album I felt there was a nice balance of covers to original material. I just wanted to cover the choices in those covers. You know, I didn’t know I needed a symphonic version of Separate Ways by Journey, but it was a really nice surprise. When it came to choosing the covers, was it a case of “we just really like the songs” or did you go in with the mindset of we are going to make wholly new versions?
Anna: I think with the first record we just took popular songs and made the crazy. Like “Oh no one ever thought of this, let’s make a giant symphonic version of Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi. I think on this record we took a bit more of a mature approach. I think there’s a significant difference between 2017 and 2024, so much has happened in that time and YouTube has bombarded everybody with metal versions of every song that you can expect. Which I think is great! There's so much of it, like Blah blah blah… But it’s Metal. I know that our versions are not just any other version because we have our own sound and our own style that we can add that no one else can. I like to think we added a more mature sound.
Marina: So the choice of covers are still big hits but we’re not just covering songs for the sake of covering a big it. We didn’t want to make the cover versions because it would be a crazy thing to do and unexpected. So when taking into consideration all of the options on the table to cover, we had to pause and think “Wait hasn’t Journey been covered by like 100 other artists?!”. But then again, it’s all about the sound identity and this album was about maturing that identity or actually, re-establishing it from the first album. We’re down a singer for this album so there’s a whole new dynamic, so we had to change things around.
MB: As a super-group, what do you think are the biggest difference working on the Exit Eden project than working on your own individual bands respectively?
Anna: One of the bigger differences I love is working with two other women in metal. I think that is a strong factor working on this. Working with these two special ladies, we think the same way and we think in a way that a guy just might not think about. It was a really nice workflow, how things can be broken down and how the tasks were divided. The workflow was better than in say my group, League of Distortion.
Marina: However, since Exit Eden isn’t really in our hands, it’s a lot less free. In our own projects, be it League of Distortion or Phantom Elite, we have to do everything ourselves. From writing, to productions to taxes. We have to carry a lot more of the responsibilities so in that sense since we have more of a freedom in our individual projects than in Exit Eden where we don’t really the same role.
MB: Just picking up on the working with women in heavy metal. It must be nice to see more female representation in the heavy metal world. I know there’s still a lot of work to be done on that front, but it’s getting better, would you agree?
Marina: It’s definitely getting better. I still go to festivals and look at all of the stages to see how many acts there are with women and which don’t. It’s getting a little better. However, I remember playing at Waken and on one of the days, not the one we played, there was the guitarist for Alice Cooper (Nita Strauss) and another I think that might have been Epica and that was the entire female representation for the whole day. A whole day and I saw two women on stage? That was crazy, man. I just thought to myself “This cannot be, that’s impossible!”
MB: It does feel mad when you consider that you can load an entire day long gigs/day festivals that just have bands with women in the bands. Or at least some female representation.
Marina: I find it hard to believe, unless it’s a “female fronted” festival. And even then I find those iffy. Like, those sometimes aren’t put together for the right reasons either. I’m sorry!
Anna: I agree. I understand where it comes from and it’s a step in the right direction. We just want equality in the industry. We don’t want just women either.
Marina: It means so much. Those type of festivals are implying so many things and I’ve played enough of them to know what I’m talking about too!
MB: From the new album we have the single “Run!” featuring the vocals of Marco Hietala. Was it difficult to find the right balance of vocal performances here. With 4 vocalists on the same track?
Anna: The funny thing is that we actually recorded the song without Marco first. So, it was never the idea to have a featured guest on the track, it was a case of yeah it’s another song and we’re dividing the parts equally like we always do so it feels right. I was in the studio with Marina at the time recording the heavier parts and our producer said that he was thinking of Marco for this part of the song. That was the first time we had the idea that it could be a featured guest part, and it was kinda the case of “why not have a feature vocalist for this part”.
Marina: No, it wasn’t planned at all it just happened out of nowhere.
MB: So, what you’re saying is that Marco is the metal worlds version of Slender Man, he just appears in studios to record guest vocals.
Anna: Yeah exactly that!
Marina: Either that or Beetlejuice of Candyman. That’s exactly it.
MB: So, what are you favourite covers and favourite originals from the new album?
Anna: Good one. My favourite original song from the album, if I may start with that is Hold Back Your Fear. I love the way that one starts with Marina’s vocals. I love the way it’s divided between us. I also love that it has such a narrative approach to songwriting. It also has that big uplifting message. I love the way the music rises and it feels just so good.
Marina: I love that one too, I don’t know if it sound selfish to say that’s my favourite as well. Just because I can’t remember if it’s only me singing the lead vocals on the track. Maybe that was the way Hannes (Braun, producer) found around it. Like, "fine if you like it so much you sing the whole thing then!". But I really love Elysium. I love that it’s such a different song. I love some of the intervals and melodies and the solo that comes afterwards. I love the vibe, musically. I would love it even more if all of us were performing in it.
Anna: We did do a little bit of back on that one. You don’t have feel bad on that one. I remember the first play through of that song how happy you were with it.
Marina: I was, I remember thinking that if it didn’t end up on the Exit Eden album that I was going to steal it. I remember thinking “It’s going to be mine, I sang it anyway”. For the covers, I would say, It’s a Sin. It just fit so well with what we do in Exit Eden.
Anna: I love that version too! I really loved doing Kayleigh!
MB: I remember really that cover too, I think it was one I highlighted in the review!
MB: Following that up this is a question I always enjoy. We’re going to play a little round of desert island discs. You’re on a deserted island, everything is there for you except any other people or any other form of entertainment. What three albums do you bring with you?
Anna: I was about to say, do we have a record player and I would also like to ask why I don’t have internet connectivity. Also, I would like to know how I have electricity. As you can tell, I’m no fun with these thought exercises! You can imagine that I had problems in school when I was just told to answer simple question!
Marina: Oh Anna just answer it! It doesn’t matter! Never mind, I will.
Damn, I always forget when I answer my favourite whatever it may be. But I’ll give an answer of albums that are definitely up there. I would love to have: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory from Dream Theatre. That would always be an album I’d love to listen to. You that record goes everywhere. You laugh, you cry, you want to die. It’s just so good at everything and not just to be super pissed and listening to metal the whole time, I would include Born to Die by Lana Del Ray because I absolutely love that record, I find it fantastic, cinematic and mood altering. It’s my summer album, I listen to it on repeat every summer. Then the third album would be Welcome to Horrorwood by Ice Nine Kills because it has a lot of variety there. There you, I got three!
Anna: Oh my gosh, thank you for giving me time to think about that! When I think about my favourite albums that I listen to even though they’re like twenty years old or older. They’re just so a part of my soul. They would be Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park, just no matter what I just love the songs, and they would help me on an island! Staying in a similar genre I would go with Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water by Limp Bizkit. I just love that record too. I wish I could think of something in a totally different genre. I’m going to switch to something that’s in I would listen to when I was younger and always brought me a lot of comfort. It would be an album from Halestorm. I think it was their first album, the one with “I Get Off”. Damn, that was a good record. There’s so much emotion and the songs just don’t get bad.
Marina: Thinking back I would like to add some jazz music to my answer. But I would need to go through my favourites to give you a proper answer on that one. It’s hard to think about because three albums albums on an island, you just can’t place it.
Anna: Right? Maybe get some reggae going as well or Bruno Mars. Maybe a four disc album of the top hits from 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
Marina: Oh, Exit Eden’s Rhapsodies in Black.
Anna: Oh my, yes. I was in the car with a friend and they had that album in their car to play and she asked me, “Does this annoy you?”. I thought, actually no, this is pretty cool. I hadn’t heard it in so long.
Marina: I can imagine that would be a good mixtape as there’s so much variety on that record, so that would definitely be one to play on the island.
MB It certainly makes for a good mixtape for sure! So, just to end this interview on. What is the hardest thing you have had to overcome and how did you overcome it?
Marina: Wow, this is a deep one. I think that I now feel comfortable in my own skin is a big thing for me. That I believe in myself is so important. I always try to improve that for myown sake. I believe that’s the way to improve the world around you, is to first believe in yourself. I don’t think I’m fully over that hill yet, but definitely more than before. I had to overcome a lot of things in order to find that place of self-value. If I had to name one objective thing, it would be moving to Germany. It made me stronger as I was away from my family for a long time, I had to learn a completely new language from scratch. I had to prove myself in a new country and I had to do all of that whilst not fully believing in myself. I always thought I was too small or whatever. So, yeah, overcoming that thought was actually the big win for me in that instance. Most importantly, I believed I could do hard things. I believe I am worth it. Which as a woman it always seems to be a theme of not thinking you’re worth it or thinking I can’t do what I want. That’s something that I hear a lot. So, that’s something I wanted to change ofr myself and i want to help everyone else with that mindset.
Anna: I feel like I’m in school again! This is a really tough question, I’m think which of these boxes do I want to open right now. I remember moving to northern Germany after studying music and I thought I would become a song-writer, because I studied song-writing. While working at a production studio there were job openings for things like accounting or book-keeping, which is also something I went to school for, but I hated that so much! As things go I thought well maybe this is something that will lead to bigger opportunities. So I started doing that, I started teaching vocal students, I did lots of cover shows. In doing all of that I didn’t relaise that I was moving further and further away from the goal I originally wanted. It sucked me into the bubble and it was so hard to get out. It was really hard to start something new and do what originally wanted, which was song-writing. All of that without knowing if it was going to work out.
It was actually the COVID pandemic that actually even pushed me into that direction. As people weren’t going out or doing shows. You know, people didn’t really want get vocal lessons while wearing masks. This was the time where destiny forced me to really sit down and dow what I love. That’s where i started League of Distortion and when I start writing for other artists professionally. It’s a shame that I needed that external force to guide me, but at least I was able to take the opportunity and went that path.
Marina: Yeah, sometimes things just happen and it good to just take opportunity that in front of you. Sometimes you need that thing to happen to make you do something with your life.
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