Our debut album is the effort of many years, we have made three self financed Ep's and the band started to play in 1994. So, Still At War contains many songs written during the past 12 years. We have chosen the title 'Still At War' from the words written on our last Ep 'Vis Et Honor', it's a sort of warning for all the people who supported the band since our first steps...we are still here, playing Heavy Metal.

Can you speak to us about the recording sessions ?

We have recorded the album in the same Studios of the italian band DoomSword, it was very nice and we had a lot of fun. It was our first experience on recording an entire album for a label. There was very few time to record all the stuff and we were a little bit stressed, but anyway, it was cool, we hope to enter very soon in the studios.

How did you proceed for the composition ?

Well...usually i am the mind behind every song. I start to work with the guitar player and the drummer...then we work together with the rest of the band. I write the music and the lyrics at the same time...it's a little bit hard but sometimes works very well.

What are the lyrics talking about ? Where do you find inspiration ?

We have some lyrics about the Roman Legions, some other about the ancient hellenic History and some other about Norse Mythology. I used a novel of Poul Anderson for example, to have inspiration for the song Hadding Garmsson. Generally our lyrics are focusing on War themes, with different approaches, there is a song called 'from the north comes the war' fo example, which describes a imminent war as a thing evil and bad. I don't have something which inspires me, i only like ancient History and battles happened in the past. I think that we'll continue a concept album started in 2003 about Thermophiles and the 300 Spartans, but this will be happen in our second album!

Who created the artwork ?

We had no idea about the cover artwork for Still At War, so we started to search something. We have found this girl Simona Ercole, and she painted something about legionaries...the style of the painting is so different from many cover albums, it's like a comic i think, we liked it a lot and we decided to take this picture for our album! It fits very well with our music!

What’s your favourite track on « Still At War » and why ?

Uhm...i like a lot Vis Et Honor, but probably i prefer Ave Atque Vale. We have made this song before to enter in the studios, it represents very well the attitude of the new line up of the band, with three co-founders again playing together. Then this song speaks about Europe and his ancient history, it's a special song for us.

How would you describe your music in your own words ?

War Epic Metal...some people like to call us Spartan 'Lakedaimon' Epic Metal after the release of a Ep about termophiles...but the new album has a lot of different themes. War metal, Battle Metal are the therms which the people use for Holy Martyr, i only think that we just play Epic Heavy Metal...nothing more.

What are your favourite bands and all times albums ?

My fave bands are Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Queensryche...but there are a lot of great bands which i really worship...like Adramelch, Cirith Ungol, Omen or Manilla Road, impossible to name all! The same is for the all times albums...i could say Iron Maiden (same), Heaven And Hell, Operation Mindcrime...just to write about really amazing albums :)

What's your opinion about the international metal scene ?

I think it's more or less good, especially in Europe. I hope it will grow more, the people should support new bands and discover the roots of Heavy Metal.

Can you remember your first gig ? How did it go ?

Uh! It was in 1994...we were a trio and played only instrumental songs ahaha!
It was embarassing but we liked to play our music!

Are there any plans for some gigs or an upcoming tour ?

We hope to play everywhere...it's not so easy to play outside Italy but will try to play everywhere...we like a lot to do gigs and people like our music live, often we face a crowd which don't know our music...and we conquer their hearts.

Do you have funny or strange stories about the band you can share with us　?

Ahah! Well...i remember Mark Shelton at the KIT II in Germany with a poster in hand, i was talking with a girl and someone started to hit me! I watched behind me but he was talking with my vocalist Alex, apparently he wasn't doing nothing! Then i continued the conversation with the girl and suddenly i received hits in my head again...it was again Mark Shelton laughin at me ahah!

What are your projects for the future ?

To record very soon our second album about the battle of Termophiles...and play alive soon...we are hungry, we wanna unleash our music eveywhere!

And as a conclusion, can you say some words for my radio show called Metal Choc?

Support Holy Martyr...we are playing Heavy Metal since a lot of time and always will do it till our Death!