Andragonia

Thiago Larentes (guitar), Yuri Boyadjian (bass) and Daniel de Sá (drums) are three respected Brazilian producers. They have already produced very famous Brazilian bands such as Hori, Cine, Fake Number, Replace, among others.

When they are not producing other bands, the trio joins the talented musical teachers Ricardo DeStefano (vocal) and Cauê Leitão (guitar) to play progressive metal. ANDRAGONIA is the name of this band. And this is not just the name of a side-project formed by a group of music teachers and producers, but of a band that came to break paradigms and bring a new definition to the badly understood genre progressive metal. ANDRAGONIA was formed in Sao Paulo in 2007. Right on the following year the band did release it’s first single. This release got very positive response from the Brazilian press. They played at the most important rock clubs from Sao Paulo and also at some major Brazilian metal festivals.

In 2009 the band started recording Secrets In The Mirror, its debut album. Recorded at the band’s own studio in Sao Paulo called GR Studio, and produced by the musicians of the band, Daniel, Thiago and Yuri, Secrets In The Mirror took one year to be completed. According to Daniel de Sá, when they started the recordings they had no idea how the songs would be. “Not all music was done,” he says. “As we were running out of time to work on preproduction, we decided to record the drums and guitars bases of all the songs. Without having the slightest idea of the result, the production of the album was getting more interesting, each song was taking a totally unexpected form. We also changed some of the concepts we had in mind, from tones to the whole structures of the songs.”

According to Daniel, to be the producer of your own album can mean double work. “As we work in the area of music production, we wanted the result was flawless. We carefully choose each piece of drums, we did several tests with bass drums, snare and toms for our work to stay competitive. It was the same with the guitars, where we had great patience testing several tones, several guitars and basses.”

Ruling out any scope for comparisons, bassist and producer Yuri Boyadjian explains that he, Thiago and Daniel know very well how to distinguish the productions of other bands with the work of ANDRAGONIA. “Just like any other regular job, our work does not interfere in the band. When we started working as producers, we played and liked that kind of sound more technical and heavy, we had an embryo of what would be our musical identity in the future. Of course, we have to listen a lot of different styles to have references in terms of tones and stuff, and of course if we find something cool, we take with us too, sometimes even unconsciously.

In terms of lyrics, Secrets In The Mirror presents a conceptual approach about existential dilemmas under a chaotic platform in synergy with the instrumental. “The lyrics are chaotic”, says the guitar player Thiago Larenttes. “We consider everybody ideas for the lyrics, so that’s why we had this big synergy with the songs.” Produced by Rog Oldim for Épicos Design ArtWork, the cover artwork summarizes the lyrics content. “Sometimes, images transmits better the content of the lyrics”, adds the guitar player. “The spherical mirror reflects all agony and delusion of an adult human who gets carried away by the routine of the day-by-day. On one side we have the fire and ashes that brings the reality of the wars that we are living in our daily life full of injustices. On the other hand, we have the illusion that we create by trying to hide the lies that surrounds us.”

Secrets In The Mirror was officially presented to the Brazilian press during a closed event that happened in Sao Paulo. The event, that was attended by guests and the main Brazilian music journalists, also marked the premier of the band’s first video clip for the song “Undead” which is on the programming of the Brazilian MTV. Recently, Secrets In The Mirror was also elected ‘Best Brazilian Progressive Metal Album of 2010′. The poll was promoted by the Brazilian radio station Metal Militia and also elected other names like Accept, Blind Guardian, Scorpions, Dimmu Borgir, Angra, Torture Squad, etc.