Rocking Around The World with Death Keepers

Rocking Around The World with Death Keepers

In the grand tradition of all things heavy metal, Death Keepers has arrived and are ready to enrapture your world in a vast and epic way.  Based out of Barcelona, Spain, Death Keeper’s debut album Rock This World has been unleashed worldwide via Fighter Records.  Fans of Judas Priest and Dio will surely be captivated by the gloriously thunderous compositions contained within.

Highwire Daze Online recently caught up with Dey Rus, lead vocalist for the almighty Death Keepers, to find out a whole lot more about this superbly intensive band on the rise.  Horns way the hell up and read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Death Keepers, and how long the band has been together.
Hello Ken. This is Dey Rus, singer of Death Keepers.

The band was formed after a meeting in 2011 where Antonio Maties (guitars), Eddy Gary (guitars) and Noel Corridor (ex-drummer) took part. The three of them created the base to what now is Death Keepers. I joined the band later on, the band kept on consolidating and we had some shows.

As for now, the lineup that you can listen to in our first album is Miguel Garcés as our drummer and Gorka Alegre as our bass player. The latter has also been our producer.

Where are you based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
Barcelona is our main nerve although I’m the one who lives the furthest away from there. I believe the scene here to be very healthy, including the underground scene. We’re lucky to live near to one of the main cities of the country where there’s isn’t a lack of dates where to enjoy national and international bands.

How did you wind up signing with Fighter Records?
After finishing our first album and videoclip during 2017, we decided to begin the search for labels so as to have the biggest impact on the media with our release. After having been offered a couple of proposals which weren’t too convincing due to the offered conditions, Eddy Gary was contacted by Fighter Records. The first conversation was promising and after a couple of conversations as a band we decided to accept.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title Rock This World?
Although the record isn’t conceptual it has a diversity of topics in it. We decided to name it like this in order to reflect a feeling which is very common to every person who loves rock and metal. This is a passion which is born when you discover this style of music, which then becomes your way of life and then makes you want to become part of its legacy.

It talks about the obstacles that you might face when you start this process: A process of overcoming the difficulties with the music that we love.

Select two songs from Rock This World and what inspired the lyrics
I was totally hooked since I listened to “Wildfire”. Starting with the reference to William Wallace, which “Braveheart” popularised worldwide. We intended to transmit the idea of fighting for your ideals, for your freedom, and everything that is involved with what this character represents. A big dose of epic-oriented material that is great for this music style.

The second one I would like to mention is “Smooth Hit Love”. This thought brought to life by some sort of enlightenment is the first ballad of the band. A song with a classic style with hints of progressive-style towards the second half to the song. The lyrics, to make things short, encompasses the source and the truth within each one of us, the evolution of our conscience and by this, the discovery of our place in the universe and how to reach our real eternal fulfillment.

Who did the cover art for Rock This World and how much input did you have on it?
After thinking about it for a little while we decided to have the maximum control possible over each phase of the album and to do this I created the cover art of the album myself, and I also have been in charge of the direction of the album art as a whole. Realising that this could work, we found a way to maintain our ideas in the whole creation of the album.

We wanted to reflect everything that you could find in the songs. From epic themes which are more relative to power metal alongside the magical environment that is the style’s favourite, to the theme that gives name to our album: the feeling of brotherhood and passion for heavy metal.

We want to reflect the diversity that you can find in the music from the first glimpse of the album.

What could one expect from a live Death Keepers show?
The people in our shows are very important to us. We need to transmit everything that is happening on stage, that river of sensations and emotions, thus, from beginning we invite the crowd to sing with us so that they’re an active part of the show even if they weren’t expecting this, haha. We know that sooner or later spontaneous things happen when our songs are playing. We love this.

If Death Keepers could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I won’t surprise anybody if I say Ronnie James Dio, for example, haha. There would be so many bands with which it’d be an honour to share the stage with. Judas Priest, a very common and obvious choice for everyone …being able to open a show for such a legend… They’re still rocking out and we’d just need to listen to their latest single “Lightning Strike”, it’s impressive. It’d be awesome to share it with Impellitteri, one of our influences as well… it’s difficult to choose just 1!

Has Death Keepers ever played here in the States or plan to do so in the future?
Up to now we haven’t had the pleasure to cross the Atlantic but we’re really looking forward to having the opportunity of doing so, rather earlier than later. We’re optimistic regarding the release of our album and we are really wanting to experiment all the places that this new work can take us to, always with hard work and passion for what we’re doing.

If Death Keepers were invited to appear on a Judas Priest cover album, what song would you want to cover by Priest and why?
In the hypothetical case of having absolute freedom, I’d propose “The Sentinel” among others. It’s one of the first songs that I was able to listen right after I discovered Judas Priest. It takes me to the past, it’s nostalgic.

On the other hand, as a singer it’s a demanding song, with intense octave shifts without losing any power in the voice.

I think that it’d be a really rewarding experience being able to properly cover this song.

What is your favorite beer of choice and why?
Difficult choice. Personally, one that I usually look for wherever I go is Belzebuth, in bottle. Its dense texture and the flavour that accompanies it hooked me since I tried it.

Whats up next for Death Keepers?
This January 22nd our album is finally released! And we are looking forward to seeing the kind of welcoming it may have and we’ll also be advertising some of our first shows, which will probably be around spring. We are very excited to go back on stage and enjoy the songs live among the warmth of the people.

Now it’s the time to stay put and ready for news on our website: www.deathkeepers.com and our social networks!

Any final words of wisdom?
It’s been such a pleasure, thank you for this interview. Remember to live spirit with music! Music with spirit!

We’re looking forward to meeting you very soon! Let’s Rock! Thank you!

Death Keepers is:
Dey Rus – Lead vocals.
Eddy Gary – Lead & rhythm guitar.
Antonio Maties – Lead & rhythm guitar.
Gorka Alegre – Bassist
Miki Hunter – Drums.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Death Keepers on Facebook