Hello Jeroen, how things are going at the moment?

Hi Heiko, all well over here, thank you ! Preparing for our upcoming first show in De Melkweg, so you can understand my fingers hurt from playing the songs over and over, haha !

Really looking forward to hit the stage again after so many years, hope I didn’t get too rusty.

Your Debut album with Haliphron was just a few days ago released via Listenable Records, I see on Facebook that the album is well received by Press and Fans. Please tell us about it?

It really is a rollercoaster we are in right now. Response is unbelievable and we get so much good reactions of the new fans that heard the album.

I mean, good reviews are supercool, but getting personal messages from all over the EU that people really like our music is so good to hear.

That is the most important feedback you can get as a band, is my humble opinion !

You really did a good job together. The album sounds Fresh, Energetic, Bombastic with a top production. It has everything a good Metal Album should have. How did you found all the members to make it ‘THIS’ record that just saw the light of day?

Well, let me first clarify that I am not the founding member of Haliphron, so it was not my job to find the right people for the job, haha !

Ramon (the other guitar-player) had written a lot of songs during covid, and he wanted to do more with it.

So he called me, to have a listen to the raw songs (just guitar, bass and midi-drums).

Pretty basic, but it blew me away (in a positive way).

I decided to jump on board of this new adventure. Ramon already knew David (keyboard player) and Yessica (bass) from his band Bleeding Gods, so he didn’t had to think to long about them to ask to cooperate.

Well, and I know Marloes, so the lines to contact each other were pretty tight. And we all know Frank very well from his work in God Dethroned and on top of that; we all are very good friends for many years.

It works like a charm, everyone contributres in their own way, and that’s what makes Haliphron what it is !

And you got it right in your introduction, we aimed for a fresh and energetic sound, but also really bombastic, but all well balanced.

I think our mission is accomplished.

Please tell us about the songwriting process, time in the studio?

Like I mentioned in the previous question: Ramon had laid out almost an entire “blueprint”  for the album with his guitartracks.

David did an amazing job adding all of the orchestration to it. Marloes has written some pretty sick and mean lyrics with a nice theme.

Most of the work (also for Yessica, Frank and me) we did at home. We all have our own home-studios, where we can record ideas, expand songs with extra layers etc etc.

Then we discussed what worked and what not, back to the drawingboard so to say. It was not a regular process where a band sits in the practice-room and exchange riffs, it was all done at home.

Studio and mixing was also mostly done online; we delivered all the tracks to Mendel bij de Leij (ex-Aborted) and he mixed and mastered all our tracks into one coherent piece of art, haha !

What is the album ” PREY” all about, Lyrically I mean?

Marloes always want to have a certain theme to write about.

So when she started to do her research on lyrics and a main theme, she stumbled upon the concept of ‘Prey’.

Where other metalbands write about war, horror etc, Marloes always has been interested in the wicked ways of the human mind.

So, she started writing lyrics with the theme Prey, but from two perspectives; either you are the hunter (on the search for a prey),

or you can be the prey yourself.

Each song is a story on it’s own, we don’t have a concept album, but the main theme is in all the songs.

I will take two examples. The track Unidentified Mass is about a dark creature that lives in the depths of the oceans, to hunt there on it’s prey.

Fun fact: we also created our bandname from this song, as the Haliphron is one of the biggest octopus that lives in the deepest of the ocean.

Our artworker captured our impression of this beast brilliantly on the cover.

Killing Spree is a different story, about a drug addict that’s being hunted by his evil drug dealer. In a way the addict is the prey, and the drugdealer is the hunter in this song. Makes sense, right ?

28th of April the Album Release show will take place in a really known Concert hall in The Netherlands, Melkweg, Amsterdam. Why the band choose this Hall for the Release Show..?

For the simple fact, that this was a chance we did not want to miss ! It’s a well known venue and it’s all in between the 2 Arena shows of Metallica, so there will be a lot of metalheads in Amsterdam that day. Even better, the whole venue is sold out, so really looking forward to this show !

Is it possible to tour with this album in the pocket? because there are members from different bands involved?

Sure, why not. Some bands are “on-hold”, other bands have quit. And we all have regular jobs, so month of touring in a straight row was never our goal.

We want to do weekend shows, festivals and some minor (few weeks) touring. But first let’s do the confirmed shows and we’ll see where it al goes.

It’s still for a lot of people maybe unbelievable that a rising band with a lot of metalhead followers on Facebook, just said in November 2019 that it will be the end of Izegrim..? I just read it again…The Izegrim Farewell Gigs…..Was it just the right time to stop?

Absolutely. It was time to pull the plug, which I did. It had nothing to do with friendship or spicy details. It was just that the motivation and inspiration was gone.

And if motivation is gone, it is not fair to the fans (who pay to see you) to continue a band, that is my opinion.

We are all still very very good friends and almost see each other on a weekly bases.

Are there any other band-(projects) you are involved in at the moment?

Nope, way to busy with Haliphron (and I don’t see this as a project, but as a real band).

What are some of your favorite bands at the moment?

I really dig the new Obituary, a really raw and pounding album ! In general I don’t follow any new bands to be totally honest.

Do you have a last word to the readers of Bonavox.nl?

Thanks for the time and questions ! Hope your readers like the album and visit one of our shows. Keep an eye on our socials, because shows are updated regularly ! Cheers and see you all soon !