Xandria returned last year after a hiatus with a fresh line-up and a new album in The Wonders Still Awaiting. Itching to get back into it once more, the band is back with an EP in Universal Tales, which features four new songs, and an upcoming US tour with Delain. We spoke with vocalist Ambre Vourvahis about how this iteration of Xandria has been coming together, her vocal range and experiences, the core of the Xandria sound, and even her thoughts on the world today.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel that the band has come together as you’ve been touring since The Wonders Still Awaiting?
Ambre Vourvahis: I think it’s better than ever. We really appreciate spending time together. It’s a really good time when you want to spend time together with your band members, even after a month on tour. We still enjoy it and spend the evenings having talks. We have a good routine for everything and it’s coming together really well.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel about Universal Tales as the latest EP of Xandria? Now that you have had one full album under your belt.
Vourvahis: I’m really glad we are doing this. I really like this EP. It’s quite diverse. The four songs are all really different from each other. It’s a good way to continue the creativity and evolve, without having to wait for a full album. It’s nice to test the waters. “Universal” is quite different for us. It’s a bit more modern and I find myself really liking the song and the style. Mixing the symphonic and bombastic elements with some classical vocals, it’s a good way to incorporate this into our music. We took what we like from the and keeping what Xandria is, while adding some new touches. It’s always nice to have that in between. I’m quite excited about it! I like having all those songs different from each other.
Dead Rhetoric: You have a very full range of vocals that you can do, which I feel has pushed the band into further directions rather than the straight symphonic sound. How do you decide to place a certain type of vocal into a song?
Vourvahis: Now it’s more natural because Marco [Heubaum] knows my voice and when we started it wasn’t exactly the perfect spot for some songs. But it was still pretty natural compared to what it could have been. But now it’s even moreso. It’s more natural, so it fits the spot right away. I’m not talking about the comfort zone and range, because it can be quite challenging at points on the EP. But fitting the colors of my voice and my personality.
“No Time to Live Forever” has operatic vocals in the chorus and it’s not what I would have come up with first. It’s not my true identity. I enjoy singing operatic and classical a lot, but it was demanding. I tried the staccato thing and we decided not to, we decided it needed more bombastic vocals. It’s about what the song is demanding. We are really easy going. The demos worked right away and it’s flowing with my voice. It’s an easier process than before.
Dead Rhetoric: What type of vocals do you prefer? Do you have a range that you particularly enjoy?
Vourvahis: I like the more ‘pop’ vocals, as opposed to operatic vocals. That’s who I am, I would say. It can go into a very sensitive ballad parts. This, and the head voice, which can go into those soft, fragile parts. That’s my true identity I would say.
Dead Rhetoric: You will be over here in the US next year with Delain. Is the EP meant to be a ‘don’t forget about us’ with being further away from Wonders, without having to do a full album?
Vourvahis: Yeah, after this long break, we wanted to just keep releasing music for the fans. It is a way of saying “wait, you will get another album.” But a full album takes longer, so we did this to be able to have people be more patient about it. When you have good song ideas like Marco does, it’s really easy to put them together and release things in between, and not wait two or three years for a new album. It was a good opportunity to stay active. We love shooting videos and performing new songs live. It’s also exciting for us to keep the freshness all year around. Also, touring with new songs is exciting. We have toured a lot in the last two years, so it’s very nice for me to be able to have new songs to sing. It’s not always the same setlist.
Dead Rhetoric: Being on the outside for a while before joining Xandria, what are the pieces that you feel are essential to the sound of the band?
Vourvahis: I think it is the orchestral arrangements. The bombastic piece and the epic, full of emotion, telling of the story within a song. I knew Xandria back then with Lisa [Middelhauve], who was not singing classical/operatic vocals like Manuela [Kraller] and Diane [van Giersbergen] did, I did not necessarily attach operatic vocals with the band. For me, it could have been another kind. I like so many different kind of vocalists and styles that I thought it could definitely work with another vocal style.
That’s why I thought it could work with me in the beginning. Even though I had some doubts on how the fans would like it, I thought it could still go with the same bombastic and orchestral arrangements. Look at Nightwish, they totally did that. It totally worked with Anette [Olzon], and it was magical with Floor [Jansen]. So yeah, I think this is what the identity of the band is: the symphonic and orchestral/bombastic storytelling elements.
Dead Rhetoric: You were going into some influences. Given your range, who are some of your vocal influences in terms of your style?
Vourvahis: This is always a tricky question because I could not say that “this singer” or “that singer” influenced my vocals. I don’t think any singer could tell that. You have your voice and your sound. Your natural voice, which you kind of have to learn and you have to search for. When I started singing, of course I was imitating. When you don’t know what your voice is, when you are a kid or younger teenager you try to imitate what you like. But at some point I had to break this and be okay with the sound of my own voice. It was tricky, it’s not an easy process to say “this is my voice, I kind of have to deal with it.”
Especially when your technique is not perfect in the beginning when starting to sing. It’s always, and I know this from many singers, it’s hard to hear yourself. You have to come in peace and I really do, to acknowledge the sound of my voice. It has evolved enough to make an art out of it. I can’t say that I have many influences in terms of my singing, but there are a few singers that push me to incorporate other elements. I love the high voice of Floor [Jansen]. When she goes high, it still stays in her chest and mixes with her head voice. It’s very good for power. It’s something that doesn’t necessarily come naturally. It’s a little bit more on the technical side. It’s something I was working on to achieve it. It doesn’t sound the same, or be as good as hers, since she has more years [experience] singing than me. But you can hear in our next single, “200 Years,” that it pushes me to go there. It was a really good thing to have under my belt, this sort of technique. So things like that.
I also love a few singers but I’m not incorporating that inside my own music. Cammie from Oceans of Slumber is one of my favorite singers ever. I would never have the same sound in my voice, but it inspires me. I’m not into copying or having the same vocals, but me wanting to experiment with colors of my voice.
Dead Rhetoric: What are the challenges in trying to raise the bar with new releases, especially for an established name in the genre like Xandria?
Vourvahis: It can be tricky, because you always want to do better than what you did before. It’s normal in a way, and natural. I think what is great is that Marco is still kind of evolving. In my opinion, he’s just getting better and better at writing songs. It comes with motivation, passion, experience, and even after many years you can still grow and evolve. You can understand music in a different way and bring it further. You can also have more ambition to push it further. It feels like it has all come together since we got back together as a band. We all have flourished.
It took a really good state of mind to write bigger and better songs, and having the desire to make them that way. I think I can really notice that. I know you can be subjective as the person singing the songs, but I have the distance because I can hear the process and what he is coming up with and judge it. I have told him many times that I think he is better than ever now. I do think the band is getting better. It’s not coming from me, but from the songs themselves. They are more complex, which for me makes a difference.
Dead Rhetoric: The longer you are in something, the more likely you are to play around with it a bit. The idea of continuing with that symphonic metal base, for example, but with your ability to even pull off harsher vocals. How do you feel about experimenting with other directions?
Vourvahis: You are exactly right. I always like to bring a little bit of freshness and something new. It’s going to sound a bit harsh, but I do not enjoy when a band has a recipe and the songs sound the same. I’m sorry, but it’s something that bores me. I have so much respect for bands that can, even with the slightest things, like influences you can recognize…the tiniest things. Judas Priest, for example, after so many years the new album still managed to sound fresh! They added a bit of proggy touches. Nightwish always stays fresh. They put new things and you can discover it. It’s a journey of discovery. It’s extremely important for me.
I would never want to do the same song over again. Even though we do songs that sound typical of Xandria, and we even put classical sounds into it since we know the fans really love it. It’s a pleasure to make a new version of that. To give the fans that, and we like it ourselves, but it’s one song. The rest has to stay at least a bit fresh and new. We will never change the symphonic part. But there might be some screams. There could be a death metal part for a second in a gap or bridge, because it’s exciting for us to write and compose music like this.
Dead Rhetoric: So, in your opinion, what is a classic Xandria song that you look at as a foundation?
Vourvahis: I think it’s “Nightfall.” It has the catchiness of the lines, the beauty in the verses. I think we have established that in Xandria I love the verses! In “Nightfall” there’s that storytelling that you can approach it a little bit softer and the voice kind of shines in telling a story. There’s a bombastic chorus with catchy lines. Catchiness is very important and you need a catchy chorus. For me, I have a new favorite song and I think it’s one of the best ever: “Universal” from the new EP. It has all of that in one song and a little bit of something new. There’s some poppiness to it, but at the same time it stays bombastic. I think the fans really appreciated that. I think if we had gone more down to earth: poppy, simple, and with less orchestra it would not have been as appreciated. I think it’s the right kind of path [for us].
Dead Rhetoric: I think it’s interesting that you are discussing a way forward that doesn’t disregard the roots of where the band has been. I think that is why there’s success there. You aren’t taking a huge left turn but sprinkling the new flavor on top of what people like.
Vourvahis: I absolutely agree. A band needs an identity in a way. I’m not talking about formulas and recipes but you have that identity. The identity is what people love you for, and you need to keep that. If one of my favorite bands were to completely change, I have to admit I’m completely open if a band totally changes styles. Sometimes I don’t completely like it and sometimes I really love it. It can also work sometimes. But we would not want to get rid of the bombastic, symphonic, epic element. We will not.
Dead Rhetoric: This is my subjective take in that I think the band has always done well with bringing the listener on a journey with music. How important is the idea of going on a journey when listening when it comes to the sound of Xandria? Is it something you feel too?
Vourvahis: I think so too. It matches the desire to have diversity. When you watch a movie, you don’t have the full action in the beginning. You have the background and the calm and then it goes into what is going on. It’s the same within an album, or even a song. Within a song it’s really good to have a story going on. I think it makes the experience of listening better when there is a story developing. We think about these things. When you listen to the intro, it’s the first thing you will hear. Being aware of how the songs start after one another – they can’t all start with the same thing. We try to be diverse. When you tell a story, you can’t start with staccato, choir, then boom boom boom all the time. You don’t feel like it has a story, or even a musical story. So it’s really important.
Dead Rhetoric: Talk about your thoughts about the world around us currently, given two songs on the EP about it.
Vourvahis: [laughs] You are catching me in, I’m not afraid to say, a pessimistic mood at the moment. I would not put it in music where it’s sad, depressing, and terrible. I would never do that. But there’s so much going on that just drags me down a bit. It’s hard to know that there is that positive side, even though there is. I’m watching way too many documentaries: whether it’s true crime with crazy stories or the things that have happened in the US. As a minority, I watch a lot of extreme right wing to see what is going on and how they think. It kind of affects me a little bit, not that everyone is the same, but that this thing still exists today. It breaks my heart.
It’s hard to be positive and Marco is putting it well into the lyrics, because there’s always hope in there too. It’s very important. For me, I would need to think about how to get out of the negative and get into the hope side. But he does it very well because even though he knows about the negativity and is affected by it, he’s always seeing something positive out of it. I think he’s doing it better than me at the moment [laughs], so maybe it’s better than he wrote the lyrics for the EP than me! He had good ideas and I loved them. It’s a tough time.
Dead Rhetoric: You are going to be over here in the spring with Delain. What’s next after that for Xandria?
Vourvahis: First we have a short European tour coheadlining with Sirenia. Just to celebrate the EP. Then we have the US, I always love touring the US. It’s my favorite to be honest, to come to the US. After that, there is nothing planned right now. The plan is to work on the next album, which has started already. I also hope we will tour, I think it’s important to continue touring, so let’s see what will come!