July 31st, 2014 
Brian Leak 
Just last month, Portugal-based four-piece Heylel released their newest full-length effort in Nebulae, an 11-track LP that takes on a life of its own in a very specific and intentional structure.
We’ll have a review of the album in soon, but in the meantime you can read our interview with the band below where we discuss all things Nebulae, from the inspirations that aided in its creation to the art that graces its cover. You can also learn what their band name means and the ideas that went into their video for “The Prophet” which you can view after the discussion.
I looked up the word “heylel” and it appears that in Hebrew it means “in the sense of brightness, the morning star” which is really beautiful. Is that where you got the name from or am I way off?
Yes, that is absolutely correct. It’s a biblical name, used in Hebrew for enlightenment and self-development. It fits within our life philosophy and with what we intend to achieve with our music, always searching to improve and innovate without alienations of any kind.
So how did the four of you come together to form this band?
It started with just me (Narciso) and Filipe, we have been working together for many years and are close friends as well. Ana had been singing backing vocals in our previous band and we really enjoyed her tone and work method so we invited her to lead the band, as we actually were already composing with her voice in mind. Sérgio appears much later, everything was already recorded and we were searching for a live bass player. He actually fit in very well and embraced the project, so he is now a full-time member.
Did your collective influences lead to your current sound organically or did you set out to be a prog-rock band intentionally?
It wasn’t intentional at all. When composing we just let our creativity flow without any barriers or any musical genre in the way. I think our sound is very hard to label as we mix lots of influences and aren’t afraid to experiment sounds or melodies that are usually connected with a specific kind of music. And that probably is what makes it prog, we aren’t tied by genre bonds, we just let our songs develop and progress in a natural way; emotion is the key here.
And who would you say are some of your most important influences that have helped shape the way you write and create?
Most definitely ’70s prog-rock, particularly Pink Floyd and King Crimson. These are our main influences which end up being mixed with more recent bands that are also our references (Anathema, The Gathering) and creates this unique blend. Many people relate us with metal bands but, even though there are clearly some heavy riffs resembling metal, that was never our goal, some songs just required a little more power and intensity to convey the message within that song.
I like the way the album art for Nebulae complements the album’s title. Where’d you get the idea for that and who’s the artist that did the work?
Along our musical journey, we met a creative artist called Mafalda Cruz. She works mostly with theatre and performing arts but is rather creative when it comes to illustrating and combining images. I explained to her what the concept was all about and she presented us with dozens of possible artwork, for each digipack panel. Nebulae is a complete story about life and death, metaphorically described as a star life-cycle. That eye appearing in the nebula seemed perfect, as it really illustrates the concept behind the album; it blends cosmos with human life in a single image.
To someone that hasn’t yet heard Nebulae, how would you describe the album to them in order to pique their interest?
It’s a hell of a journey! One of the many reviews we have been getting for Nebulae states that this record should be listened to as a single 48-minute piece rather than a set of eleven songs, and I must say I agree. Even though many songs make sense and are easy to listen to on their own, this album has different moods as it evolves, and that is on purpose. People have different levels of maturity throughout their life and that affects the music they hear. Nebulae tries to achieve that; it’s raw and heavy in the beginning (birth and youth), then it calms down and enjoys simple things in life, like watching the sun and the moon, until it grows again and even gets outraged when the time to cease comes. I believe it’s one of those records that grows on you. Some songs will catch you right at the first listen but others will require some more listening. From what our listeners say, it’s definitely worth it and some even say it gets addicting with time.
So where did you guys track the record and have it mastered?
We have our own recording studios and decided to go on a DIY basis. Even though we could benefit from a more experienced producer, we really wanted to try this one on our own, to show what we can do by ourselves and also assure that we would get exactly the sound we were searching for. We just didn’t want to sound like many bands that go for that specific producer, which we know that will have top quality, but quite often they end up sounding all the same.
Tell me about the ideas that went into the video for “The Prophet” and where that was filmed at.
This was Mafalda Cruz work again. The song is about a message and a messenger, and Mafalda tried to convey that story in a somewhat surreal video where a character is lost and trying to figure out what is happening to him, unaware that he was actually chosen as a vessel for that message. That big and sometimes haunted looking house belongs to Nuno Cordeiro. He is a friend of ours and has lent us his house quite some times, it has the perfect setting for this kind of film. And it’s right in one of Porto’s main avenues!
That was released a few months ago. Do you have plans for the album’s next single or another video on the way?
It’s not on the way yet but it’s planned. A new single with video will be released before the end of the year. It’s always a tough choice and we are still deciding which song should be featured.
And have you been touring at all since the album’s release?
We only did one show so far, it was an album release special concert in our home town. It actually served as a big test for all our live concepts, which includes many multimedia elements and synchronization. It went very well and we gained a lot of new fans, while the existing ones got very pleased with all the live concepts. Some might say it even sounds better live.
Next step is touring, we are very looking forward to play Nebulae everywhere and we are currently working with booking agents to be able to put up at least a European tour, starting in the end of September.
You mentioned the live concepts — how would you describe a Heylel live experience? From the photos I’ve seen, it looks like you use some pretty cool visuals onstage.
In our live show, called ‘Live Nebulae,’ we transport to the stage the whole concept on the record, but since we’re not limited to audio like in a record, we take advantage of video and lighting to create proper ambience and dynamics for each moment. Once again, Mafalda worked with us on this and created special animations that sync with each song and end up creating a very beautiful and involving scenario. Musically, we’ve been told that we are very energetic (also a little heavier) which provides a very intense concert.
Overall, what can we expect from Heylel for the remainder of the year? Anything we didn’t cover?
I really hope that you can expect to see us live somewhere near you, because that’s our main goal for the rest of the year. We never stop composing and are already working on new songs, but our priority is showcasing and promoting Nebulae live. We are stage hungry and believe that our show will provide people with some really strong and entertaining moments.
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