Ahead of their new album, Identity, releasing on the 16th October 2026. I sat down with the vocalist of Elysion, Christianna Hatzimihali, to discuss the band’s 20th anniversary, the new album, making music videos, the Greek metal world and more.
Mick: First things first, it’s 20 years of Elysion this year. How does it feel that the band has existed that long and you managed to maintain a career in this industry?
Christianna: Well, as you said, this year marks our 20th anniversary of the band’s existence. To me, it’s kind of weird because it feels like it was yesterday when I joined the band. It goes to show that time flies, and it just feels so weird for everyone.
On one hand, it feels like it was yesterday, and then on the other hand, so much has gone by, and we’ve been through so much, and it was such a journey. So, it’s a mixed feeling of both growth and moving on and stepping up and changing levels, and at the same time, just feeling like we’re still the same, just as romantic as we used to be. We feel we haven’t lost the innocence and the drive that we used to have.
It’s just the same. So, on that aspect, nothing has changed on the inside. It’s the same drive that we’ve got that moves us to do what we do, and we still do it out of the need to express ourselves and our love for music.
All the purity is there. So, for us, nothing has changed on the inside.
Mick: Yeah, that’s really nice. So, because it’s been 20 years, do you have a specific favourite memory from working in Elysion? It could be a tour, a big festival you did, or whatever.
Christianna: Oh, God. It’s just one of those questions. There’s just so much that pops into my head, and now it’s so difficult to choose from, because there have been so many memories, and I wouldn’t like to be unjust to anything.
But, yeah, there have been so many memorable moments, definitely, sharing the stage with, let’s say, heroes for us, like Nightwish, or Evanescence, or a lot of our metal heroes. But if I had to choose a moment, I think that I would just choose one of those moments when we are having simple, casual moments when we’re hanging out with one another and bonding with each other as a band. Travelling towards a place, or meeting up to make new friends, meeting up with the people after a gig- all those moments are so special.
So, I would pick one. I don’t have one specific moment, but I would definitely choose one of those moments when you bond with someone that you’ve never met, and yet all of a sudden you feel that music unites you, and all of a sudden you share something that you have in common although you’ve never met the other person, and this is magic. So, I would choose one of those; any of those magic moments would do.
Mick: That’s beautiful. Have you had any times where things haven’t gone exactly to plan, and you’ve had to cope on the fly? How did you cope in that situation?
Christianna: Of course, definitely. I don’t think that any band, I don’t think that there’s such a thing as a band that has always had things going their way, definitely not for us. So, 20 years is a long time, and definitely there have been a lot of moments when things haven’t gone our way.
Let’s say in between two albums, Someplace Better and then Bring Out Your Dead. We didn’t have any major things, any major bad things going on, but there has been such a great series of unfortunate delays that led to an almost 10-year sort of gap in between the two albums, and that was a huge pause. So, although there was not anything big going on, there were a lot of little things, little coincidences that didn’t go our way.
So then, when the time came for Bring Out Your Dead to be released, we really had to reintroduce ourselves in a way, and managed to summon all the Elysion people back on board, and then managed to take the next step and get back in the game. So that was a dark time, because not only had we delayed everything, but then on top of everything, when we were half ready, the COVID pandemic hit. That was unfortunate, and it led to another couple of years’ delay, because we decided that we did not just want to release an album and throw it in the bin, not being able to play anywhere and do anything great with it.
That pretty much led to another delay, and that was one of the hardest things that we’ve ever had to face as a band: a 10-year gap. But on the other hand, fortunately, one of the things that we never had to face was that we’ve always been very close to each other, and we never had any fighting, ego or arguments going on among us. We never had any fighting within the band, any big disagreements.
It was so nice to just be able to relax and not have any problems going on among your friends, your bandmates. That’s amazing. Anything else we had to face was pretty much external factors, things happening on the outside, not things happening on the inside. I think we were lucky. I mean, no major drama.
Mick: That’s good at least. Anyway, you’ve got the new album, Identity, coming out soon. What was it like going into the studio, going into writing this album, as opposed to your previous records?
Christianna: Okay. So to me, for me, as this is the fourth album, and it was definitely the most challenging one. We decided we did not want to take a long break after Bring Out Your Dead. We just wanted to keep up as fast as we could. So that was fortunate. At least this time, we kind of did it, you know, to release an album pretty soon.
So when we started with the songwriting process, we saw that this time things would be a little bit different. I mean, we still wanted to maintain the Elysion identity. There you go with the title of the album… But we saw that the songs came up a little heavier, a little punchier, like more dynamic. The dynamics had shifted.
That caused a different approach when it came time for us to enter the studio. It needed a different approach in the recording, in the mixing, in producing the album. It just needed something different.
When we realised that we had to change the approach, we really needed the production to work with the new sound that we wanted to produce, and yet not lose any of the original sound that we had formed as a band over the years. So luckily, we were blessed enough to cooperate with Fotis Bernardo, an amazing producer who really stepped up, and he meant business.
He did what we dreamt of doing with the sound. He managed to blend it in together the new sound with the old sound and just come up with something that does sound like Lesions, it’s just advanced in power and intensity. This is what we wanted to do.
For me as a singer, it was definitely the best time I’ve ever had recording the album that I’ve had so far. I got to try new things, experiment a little bit. It was definitely our favourite time recording ever, and then we had a lot of new things going on for the album as well, but maybe we’ll get there later on, like the guest performances, and I finally got to share the microphone with two amazing guests, and I’m just so grateful that we got to do that, you know, and try something different this time.
Mick: Yeah. So you say we’re doing something new. What I’ve noticed with this album, listening to it in comparison to the other records, there’s a bit more of a, almost a pop feel to the choruses, like the more the bigger hooks.
So when it came to crafting lyrics for those hooks and making sure everything hits with the maximum punch, I think obviously with the singles that you’ve released so far, “Guardian Angel” is probably my favourite. I love that one. What was your inspiration going into writing some of these lyrics? Is it your own state of mind or influences that come throughout your life?
Christianna: So first of all, thank you for loving the song “Guardian Angel”. It’s one of my favourites as well. And that was the reason why we wanted to choose that one to be the first one to be released from the album.
Because we thought that it really does sound like Elysion, you know, it’s a very characteristic sound of Elysion. It does bring a little more intensity that’s just a pre-taste of everything that’s going to follow with the album. But when it comes to the lyrics, Elysion have always dealt with, let’s say, human nature, like the flaws, like the, you know, the pros and the cons, the wonders and the flaws that human nature holds. And a lot of things are autobiographical.
For me, since I’m the lyricist, you know, the one who writes the lyrics of the songs, but then again I try to present them in a way that anyone can relate to without really making it way too obvious that, you know, that it’s just restricting someone from relating to the song. So again, this is what I did for this album. I just, you know, tried to gain inspiration from my life, but also our lives, everyone’s lives.
Especially for Identity, it’s an album that has a lot to do with social issues, political issues in the very wide sense of the word. It’s not just love songs. Of course, there are a couple of love songs because they’re always going to be. You know, it’s a huge model, like love; what can be greater than that?
But a lot has to do with the way that the world is changing and what it’s changing into and how it’s affecting us and, you know, what the position of ourselves is within the world that is shifting in a dangerous, you know, towards a dangerous direction. For “Guardian Angel”, because you’ve asked, the inspiration was, first of all, I wanted it to be a very positive, caring, positive meaning song. I think it’s obvious, you know, even with the sound, it’s a very, very optimistic song, you know, a very happy song.
The meaning behind it was pretty much, again, it was meant to have a lot to do with child abuse. That’s why we chose to have a child in the music video. It plays with the symbolism of the darkness.
On one hand, we have the darkness represented by this dark, gothic angel surrounding the girl, representing whatever harshness she might have to go through in her life. Then, on the other bright side, there is her Guardian Angel, which actually is the same, but she doesn’t know.
So she thinks there is something dark going on, but then in the middle of the song, when they come closer, the girl realises that all that the angel wanted was actually to protect her. You know, it didn’t mean any harm; it just meant to protect her, and they form a bond.
So I know it might not be exactly very prominent, like very evident, but then again, we don’t think it’s really, like, mushed-up food. We just want to give the hint and leave everyone, you know, wondering or maybe perceiving it, like, perceived differently, however they want. But that was the, you know, that was the idea behind it.
Certainly a very strong theme nowadays, child abuse, and a lot of, you know, a lot of cruel things going on in this world.
Mick: I mean, going into the music videos. I can’t even imagine the amount of time and preparation it takes to put together those shoots, because they look great. From your perspective, as someone who’s got to appear on set, obviously, hours of makeup, getting ready, costume, whatever. Do you enjoy that aspect of the job?
Christianna: It’s amazing. First of all, thank you so much, and I have to give the credit to Jonas Sommer, who is an amazing director. He’s filmed pretty much every single video that we’ve done since our previous album up to this one, and he’s still filmed things that we haven’t released, and we’re going to release them.
It’s an amazing experience for us, because we do have a good budget, but we’re still a self-financed band. That means that we have to be very strongly involved ourselves in building the sets, you know? Yes, we do have a team, and we trust everyone, and we have, you know, the lighting technicians and everyone that works for the setup to be prepared, but for us to be self-financed means that we have to make things happen and help ourselves.
So, it’s very creative, you know, in a way, to just be so involved in this and make everything happen, like from coming up with the ideas and seeing how this could be possible, without coming off cheap or cheesy or anything like that. Then, just buying everything that needs to be set up, getting all the decoration ready, getting things ready.
It’s just very creative, and especially on the other video clip that we’ve released, “Dead Loves”. That was such a hard setup to prepare for. It took forever, because I know that it can’t always be seen, but there’s so much going on, and we had to prepare it for days, just build, pretty much build a cemetery within a little, you know, within a studio. So, we had to practically carry tonnes of mud and just drop it on the floor ourselves, you know, just drop the mud and then come up with the crosses and the tombstones and just set everything up.
And it’s pretty exciting. It’s amazing. I mean, I love it.
You know, it’s like a theatre play. It’s pretty exciting. It’s great.
Mick: Nice. So, yeah, you’ve mentioned on the album there are a couple of guest vocals. “The Last Ride” has Konstantinos Togas (from Nightrage, Herta), and “Harvest” has Sakis Tolis (from Rotting Christ). What was it like working with them and getting them in the studio, and did they have any input into the writing, or is it just here’s, I’ve written this for you, can you sing this?
Christianna: Okay. First of all, allow me to say that there has been a reason why we have never considered doing that in past. Because we never wanted to just pick someone from the music industry, maybe another, you know, obviously another metal player, someone famous even.
We didn’t just want to pick someone, just a name drop, if you understand what I mean. If there was no real meaning, no purpose being served behind it, we did not just want to pick someone to use the name and say, yeah, well, we collaborated with that one. So, we haven’t done it, you know, so far.
In this album, as I told you before, when we started going on with the songwriting process, we realised that now there is a purpose to be served, and the timing is right for us to try something different. So, we approached both of them, Kostantinos Togas, like you said, from Nightrage, and his own band Herta. It’s pretty amazing, actually.
Of course, the one and only Sakis Tolis; there is no introduction needed for him. He’s the man who created everything out of nothing for the Greek metal scene, you know, globally. So, he’s amazing. It was a huge honour that we had them both agree to come and join us with such pleasure. Sakis is such a humble human being; despite everything that he has accomplished, he’s always so down to earth and so easy to reach out to. He’s amazing.
Same with Kostas, of course, but I’m just mentioning Sakis more because you would expect him to be a little more, you know, maybe hard to get, but that was not the case. He was more than happy and excited to just honour us by coming into the studio and doing this.
The lyrics were already written. I had written them, but I had both of them in mind when I was writing them. So, I didn’t just write it and then reach out to them by coincidence. I had them both in mind. This would suit Sakis, and this one would suit Kostas.
Especially the song “Harvest”, let’s say. When I was writing the lyrics for Harvest, I had in mind the Gates Faust; that was another sort of symbolism for how badly we want our youth back, what time that goes by does to us and actually, as time goes by and we’re getting older, things are sort of drifting away from us. Despite our youth, our dreams, our goals, things that we never managed to create in life.
So, I think Sakis was the perfect pair for me to symbolise a need to make a deal with the devil in order to get something back. So, I had Sakis in mind, and I thought that this part would suit him very well to represent the dark side.
Then, on “The Last Ride”, that was another symbolic song that the ride represents a couple, a man and a woman, and what they do is hide away; they run away from the entire world that’s chasing them. I had this idea of them riding a horse, running away from hordes of armies behind them, just running after them to take the last sacred thing that they have kept away from the last sacred thing that they’ve kept away to preserve humanity. So, that was what I had in my head. I know again it might not be that prominent, but that was not my intention, to be very evident.
Mick: Now you mention it, it does come off that way. Now I’m thinking of it, but now you mention it.
Christianna: It makes sense, right? It was amazing to have them both. I just keep my fingers crossed that we’ll manage to have them in a live show as well. That would be amazing. I hope.
Mick: When I saw that, because I’m particularly interested in the metal scene from Greece, I’ve talked to a bunch of metal bands now. So, I was like, that’s fascinating because they are such key players in that country’s metal scene.
Christianna: Plus, there was another reason why we wanted to do it with Sakis and Kostas. Usually, a frequent question that I’m being asked has to do with female-fronted metal, or how I think it has developed through the years, something like that. I feel that in 2026, it’s just out of time and place to be talking about such a thing as a female-fronted kind of scene.
I think it’s just that there are no boundaries between sexes anymore. There is no such thing as a female-fronted metal. That was another reason why we felt so honoured that Sakis came to do this with us, because it’s the first time that he, in my opinion, as far as I know, it’s the first time that he’s ever sung in a female-fronted band within quotation marks.
That, again, goes to show that there is no such thing as a separation in between the sexes anymore. It’s just stupid to use the terminology nowadays.
Mick: No, absolutely. When I saw it, I saw the term “female fronted” as a category under genres, and I’m like, come on. You don’t need to segregate it as its own category of music.
Christianna: It just doesn’t give any information about the band anymore. It doesn’t tell you anything anymore. I don’t know.
I think this term came up maybe in the early 2000s or something like that. I think it was just made up to perhaps describe a Euro-symphonic sort of genre blended with classical operatic vocals. To me, that’s what I have in my head when someone says female-fronted.
Something sort of symphonic with operatic vocals, something like that. And then Elysion have never been that. This is not the music that we play. Then again, there are so many different bands that have a female singer, and they have nothing in common with each other. The term just doesn’t apply anymore. It doesn’t tell you anything.
Mick: Exactly, you can’t compare Arch Enemy to Within Temptation as the same category of music.
Christianna: Yeah, of course. That’s the point. But they’re both female-fronted. It’s weird.
Mick: No, absolutely. I guess my last question; I do ask this to everyone I ask. What is the hardest thing personally you’ve had to overcome, and how did you overcome it?
Christianna: So this is my most honest answer, the most honest answer I could give you. Definitely the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to overcome, and probably I’m not over it yet, and I don’t think that I ever will be, has to do with my childhood, the way I grew up, and a lot of difficulties that I had to face growing up that pretty much shaped me, shaped my character, and made me weak in a lot of ways. So, growing up. This is gonna get a little bit sentimental, but it’s okay.
I had wonderful parents. My dad was an opera singer, so he was pretty much, you know, very into music, and he taught me a lot of things from an early age. He taught me how to sing; he taught me how to write lyrics; he taught me everything.
He taught me how to play the piano; he inspired all my love for music and all that, but at the same time, growing up, he was very strict- very strict parents. I’ve lost him now; he died a few years ago, and I love him very much, obviously.
Growing up was very difficult, because once he realised that my love for music was so great that it would probably follow me for the rest of my life. He never allowed me to just follow this path, to follow my dream, you know? He did everything in his power to stop me from doing it. It was very difficult for me, as a child and even as an adult, to break out of the psychological damage. Even just realising that I’m capable of doing this. I never had the approval of my parents, in a way. I guess we’re all still children on the inside when it comes to our parents. We all just want our parents to be proud of us.
It’s so nice getting messages from people all around the world saying so many nice things about the way that our music reaches out to them. At the same time, not having my parents’ approval at the time is so weird. I’ll never feel the sentiment of “you’re doing well, girl”. However, I’ve come to terms with that and forgiven everything, but that has really affected me. You may remember a song from the previous album called “This Time”. It had a lot to do with the theme of your parents not supporting your dream or bringing you down.
To be fair, I’m not blaming my dad, and I’m still thankful for everything that he taught me and gave to me. I would never have become a singer, or even got into music in general, if it wasn’t for him. I just wanted to say that it was the hardest thing to overcome.
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