Blackened Horde: How did the band get started?
Sotiri: Eudoxis came together at a time when thrash and speed metal were in their infancy. Eudoxis pioneered thrash and speed up here in in Canada. Rick “Raz” Raczko started gathering up the first lineup in 1982. By 1984, Eudoxis was the first speed/thrash metal band on the Montreal circuit. Eudoxis’ pushed hair metal bands out of their usual venues and paved the road for heavy bands like Voivod who came shortly after. Performing in metal armor and spikes caught a lot of people’s attention. Mark Hill-Anderson is the guitar player on the 1985 “Metal Fix” video and is now back in the band after a 35 year absence. I joined the band in 1989 when I was still in my teens and recorded the CD “Open Fire” at Silent Sound Studio in the summer of 1990. Some of the lyrics and melodies that ended up on “Open Fire” had been written during my school years when I would get bored in class. That happened a lot. My mind still wanders and comes back with songs.
Blackened Horde: What kind of music do you play?
Sotiri: When Eudoxis started, it was strictly thrash and speed metal but by the time we released “Open Fire” in 1991, progressive elements had trickled into the song writing process. With the new CD we are preparing, we’re continuing along the progressive thrash path but in a much darker musical landscape.
Blackened Horde: How has the fan response been?
Sotiri: Right off the bat, four angry youths dressed in metal spikes and armor playing the heaviest conceivable sounds made some heads turn and maybe even roll (lol). If this wasn’t enough, our drum set included six-foot long stainless steel bass drums which stuck out like cannons. I think we left a lasting impression. The fans went nuts. We would always judge a show by the amount of blood in the pit and bathrooms. There was even a guy who cut himself on the forehead with a broken bottle to show us his appreciation. Crazy. We even considered using diving boards for stage diving. (lol) As a teenager in Eudoxis in the pre-Internet world, I never would have guessed that young bands in 2021 would be citing us as musical influences and we would be talked about in books and social media. We also began to notice that some people were making a killing selling our sold-out albums for exorbitant prices on eBay. This is why we put out “The Gathering” compilation CD through Ragnarok Records (Germany) in 2018 and reissued the “Open Fire” vinyl through Return To Analog Records (Canada) in 2019.
Blackened Horde: Where did the band name come from?
Sotiri: It stands for eternal glory and comes from Greek. Doesn’t everything? (lol)
Blackened Horde: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Sotiri: J.P Perrault, drums; Rick “Raz” Raczko, bass; Mario Vaillancourt, guitar; Mark Hill-Anderson, guitar; and me, Sotiri Papafylis, vocals
Blackened Horde: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Sotiri: “Attack From Above” EP in 1986; “Open Fire” CD in 1991; “The Gathering” compilation CD in 2018; and the soon to be released “Evil God’s Fetish”.
Blackened Horde: Tell me about some of the songs on the latest CD?
Sotiri: We guarantee a very dark and heavy batch of songs. If you liked the song “Omnipotent Phantasies” from 1991, then you’ll love “Dragging My Tail” which personifies a plague that leaves a trail of death in its path. The pandemic and all the shit going on in the world these days have heavily influenced our subject matter. Other songs like “Oxygen” and “Engine of Demise” will definitely stomp your skull in a “Shallow Grave” which is the title of the last song I recorded this summer. The songs are all done and we are now fine tuning sounds and reviewing each song before moving to mixing, mastering and production.
Blackened Horde: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Sotiri: The music is mostly the band and the lyrics and melodies are mostly me. We have a great chemistry and combining our strengths makes the material all killer and no filler. I’ve shared a few rough mixes of songs with some friends and they are very excited to hear the finished product. I will be posting some short excerpts and teasers in the coming weeks on Facebook and Instagram.
Blackened Horde: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Sotiri: Like I said earlier, current events and the turbulent times we live in influence what I wish to reflect upon. “Open Fire” and “Tormented We Fall” which came out in 1991 were influenced by the Gulf war. In 2021, “Lies” and “Instrument of Surrender” target racism, propaganda and the influence of the media, while other songs like the title-track “Evil God’s Fetish” come from much deeper introspection.
Blackened Horde: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism? (If this applies)
Sotiri: We have been accused of backwards Satanic messages in the middle spoken part of our song “Progressive Mental Deterioration” but it is just a bunch of rubbish. Hell is in your conscience since we are born with free will and fragile minds. This is where the upcoming CD get its title. The deranged main character in “Evil God’s Fetish” reinterprets Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” and twists it to “I kill, therefore I am”. His logic being that he has been granted life with the capacity to take life and he has been given free will to do as he pleases. His conclusion is that an all knowing benevolent God would have considered this possibility. Here is a sneak peek at some lyrics: “I am disfigured, deformed / I am contorted, reborn / Conceived in fields of thorns, I am slithering across the path of mortal sin/ Black blood soaks the ground / The predator’s within me/ The evil God is crowned!”
Blackened Horde: Do you have any side projects?
Sotiri: 4 of us were in Screen between 2015 and 2020 and two of our songs “Grip” and “The Clock Keeper” ended up on the 35th Anniversary Eudoxis compilation CD “The Gathering” as bonus tracks. The music videos for these songs and others can be viewed on our official “Eudoxis Screen” YouTube channel. Me and Mark also collaborated last fall with John Gallagher of Raven and Russel Labadie of Stormbringer to celebrate Black Sabbath’s 50th anniversary of “Paranoid”. That track can also be viewed on our YouTube channel.
Blackened Horde: Who are some of your musical influences?
Sotiri: Black Sabbath for sure and since the band was formed in the early eighties, Judas Priest’s “Exciter” served as a blueprint for Eudoxis’ sound. The first band I ever saw live was Motorhead opening up for Alice Cooper. The powerful rumble of Motorhead and Alice’s dark theatrics have long resonated in my approach to making music and performing.
Blackened Horde: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Sotiri: Canada and the U.S. but I also played in South America in my absence from Eudoxis. I’ve played for ten and ten thousand people but I give 100% each show. No matter what the size of the crowd is, fans are there to share the experience and this is priceless.
Blackened Horde: What do you think about the underground scene?
Sotiri: Lots of good stuff out there. Support your local bands and buy their t-shirts and merch. It’s the only way to survive these days.
Blackened Horde: What are some of your new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Sotiri: It’s funny you ask that cause I’ve been digging deep in the lower register of my voice for some of the new Eudoxis songs. Until recently, the heaviest stuff I listened to was Venom and Celtic Frost but I’m now branching out by exploring what is out there on YouTube. Lots of great underground sounds. Although not a new band, I was recently blown away by Septicflesh and their performance with orchestra and choir.
Blackened Horde: Since the Covid Pandemic has that hurt the band in making music at all?
Sotiri: The pandemic in fact was instrumental in Eudoxis’ return. Of course, the inner drive to compose music because it is in us and it must come out is definitely there. Without seeing any of the band members in person, we’ve composed enough material for two CDs. Through necessity, we all became self-sufficient in recording our own parts and merging them through the magic of the internet. Our love for creating music and the Eudoxis brotherhood have yielded results beyond our expectations. We cannot wait to share the new music with our fans.
Blackened Horde: What advice would you as a musician give to a fellow musician just starting out?
Sotiri: Do it cause you love it and live it while you’re in it.
Blackened Horde: What does the future hold for the band??
Sotiri: Eternal glory (lol). Thank you for the interview Altara. Keep on rocking.
Contact them:
https://www.facebook.com/eudoxis
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOe_FU3QtWyUnvKM80nTmpw
