Mezmerized is, indeed, a new metal outfit, but it’s crystal clear that they’re on a mission to conquer the world. And it seems like it’s going well according to plan; these venturesome Hungarians have been building their following pretty fast ever since they dropped their first single. No wonder. It just happens that you listen to one of their tracks and you’re instantly hooked on that fresh, modern approach and catchy tunes of theirs. Luckily, there’s a lot more music coming from them soon since the band is just about to drop their debut album “Electrolyze” in a few days. And that’s what we talked about with Mezmerized’s voice, Anna Király.
MG: Hello, Anna. Thank you for your time. How are you doing?
Anna: Hello guys and thank you for having me! I am very well, a bit tired nowadays, we’ve been working a lot on our upcoming album! 🙂
MG: Mezmerized is a new band, so for those who don’t know you yet; who are you? How would you describe your sound, concept, message…?
Anna: Mezmerized is a new modern-metal band. We mix metal music with electronic sounds. What you can definitely find in our songs are heavy riffs, catchy choruses and female vocals. The lyrics are about those kinda personal experiences we all feel at some point in our lives and interpret in our own different ways.
MG: If you had to compare the band with any animal, which one would it be and why?
Anna: I would say jaguar. An animal that I would wanna get close to, but it is a bit dangerous. A bit controversial in a way.
MG: Let’s travel a few years back for a bit. When did you discover your liking for heavier music?
Anna: I was about 16. I started to listen to metal music, in the beginning, I only listened to female fronted metal bands and later more stuff came.
MG: What was the first album you’ve ever bought? Can you remember?
Anna: Oh, this one is a hard question. I believe it was an Evanescence CD, probably “Fallen”, but I got other CDs from other genres before that for sure. But the first metal/rock CD was maybe this one.
MG: Do you sing in a car or shower?
Anna: Yes, I usually sing in the shower!
MG: What songs?
Anna: Everything that comes to my mind, songs I listened to before or sticked to my head.
MG: And back to the band stuff… You’re just about to drop your debut album “Electrolyze” in September. What does the title stand for?
Anna: I would say, it is something like the original word means: electrolysis means you separate things into little pieces. If you separate our music into pieces, you get an interesting picture of different instruments, sounds which when coming together give you a whole picture of the world of Mezmerized.
MG: How long have you been working on the record and preparing for the release? Personally, what do you consider the biggest obstacle for a young band releasing their debut?
Anna: We’ve started doing Mezmerized one year ago. This is when we started to work on our first songs and since then, we’ve been constantly working on the album. It is now a hard business, you need to do everything professionally, put in your time, your money and all you’ve got to be able to move ahead. It takes a lot of strength, energy and ideas to be able to build a business like that.
MG: You’ve dropped quite a few singles off of the album already and one of them features a very special guest. Amaranthe’s very own Henrik is your vocal partner on “Cyanide”. How did this collaboration come together?
Anna: When we wrote the song, we had this feeling that it would sound awesome with growls added in it. Who would be a better partner for this than Henrik? So we wrote to him, sent him the song and he was in it from the first minute! It was an awesome collaboration and we are really happy about how it turned out!
MG: Speaking of Amaranthe, I’ve seen many people comparing your sound to that of Amaranthe. How do you react to such comments? I would say maybe even the visual side of the band is a little inspired by them. Are they the main inspiration for you?
Anna: We love the music of Amaranthe. They are a great band of this genre. Our designer is the same who worked with Amaranthe for 10 years so he knows exactly what to do with this type of music. Mezmerized’s sound is a bit different, we also don’t have more singers. The idea all in all is different but we don’t get frustrated if someone compares our music to theirs, since the genre is very similar.
MG: Compared to, for example, Germany, Hungarian metal scene is more underground. Where do you fit in within the community of Hungarian metal fans and bands? Did they embrace you? Your blend of heavy instrumentals and electronic elements must have this controversial effect on some people, or am I wrong?
Anna: It might be more underground even though I believe it shouldn’t be. There are great bands out there! We definitely work hard to build this band up on higher levels in the future. The audience is great, they seem to like what we do, of course, you can’t please everyone, but you don’t even have to! This type of music can be controversial for people, for sure, but we are happy that many metal lovers love this type of music, too!
MG: Unfortunately, the situation is as it is at the moment, but do you have any touring plans? What does your schedule look like? Perhaps some local shows this year and something bigger the next?
Anna: Unfortunately, we had to cancel many plans for this year, but the plan is definitely touring Europe next year and we are working on this right now. Also, we plan to do shows for our audience here at home in Hungary, as well!
MG: Well, thank you, Anna, and all the best with the release. Any last words?
Anna: Thank you for inviting me for this interview, thank you for all that you do for the female metal community and thank you to the readers for being interested and reading the interview! Don’t forget to check us out guys, you can already pre-order “Electrolyze” on our sites!
Metal Goddesses 