A Force Of Heavy Metal Steel with Palace

Photo by Andreas Wagner

A Force Of Heavy Metal Steel with Palace

Palace is a long running heavy metal band from Germany who have just recently unleashed Reject The System, their 8th album of pure steel now available from Massacre Records.  With roots dating back to the early 90’s, Palace remains an epic metal force with the worldwide music scene.  Highwire Daze recently caught up with the powerhouse metal trio to find out more about the amazing Palace and their latest and greatest Reject The System manifesto.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Palace, and how long the band has been together.
Hi, here is Harald Piller (singer ) and Harald Reiter (drummer) and Tom Mayer (bass).

HR: This year we celebrate our 30th anniversary.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
HP: We are from Speyer. In our area we have a lot of good metalbands which play metal in all different styles. Also nice Music Clubs where the bands can play.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Reject The System album title?
HP: No there is no concept behind the album title. First we compose the music, then I write the lyrics. At last we search for an album title. We had several suggestions. We chose Reject The System because the title is closer to the lyrics and the music.

Select two songs from Reject The System and what inspired the lyrics.
HP: The inspiration for the song Force Of Steel was our drummer. His desire was a song in the style of the 80’s. I composed the song and wrote the lyrics. This song is dedicated to our drummer and my friend with whom I have been playing for decades. The inspiration for Soul Seeker was the case of Jeffrey Epstein and Ronald Bernard, an ex-Dutch banker insider, who told about child sacrifices and abuse.

Who did the cover art for Reject The System and how much input did you have on it?
HR: The cover was created by Andreas Wagner and he did what we wanted him to do. We are happy with the result.

Who produced Reject The System and what was it like working with them?
HR: The producer was Kai Stahlenberg. It was great to work with him. He knew exactly what we wanted, because he grew up with the metal bands of the 80’s, like we did.

How did Micki Richter of Leaves Eyes and Atrocity become involved with the recording of Reject The System?
HR: We were looking for a guy who could do the lead guitars on Reject the System. A friend of ours who was on tour with Micki last year recommended him. We asked him and he did an awesome job.

How does Reject The System compare to the previous The 7th Steel album?
TM: The sound and songs from Reject The System are much more aggressive. We wanted a harder album than The 7th Steel.

When you look back on the Palace albums from the 90’s – Toy Of Rage and Unsolved Mysteries – what do you think of them now?
HP: Those were different times than today. Grunge dominated the music scene at that time. We’ve done our best and tried to keep up heavy metal. Toy of Rage was difficult to listen for the audience, because the songs are not straight metal. Unsolved Mysteries was more heavy rock than metal. People loved the album because the songs were “simply” arranged. But I still like a lot of songs from the two albums.

How did your show with Rosen at Headbanger ‘s Night go and what were some of the highlights?
TM: It was a fantastic show. We hadn’t played one and a half year in our area. The people were hungry. This was the first time we played two new songs from our new album Reject The System. Force of Steel and Final Call of Destruction. The response was great.

Has Palace ever played here in the States or plan to do so in future days?
HP: No, unfortunately not. When is it possible in the future, we will do it. The people in the States are fantastic.

Are you or any other members involved with any other projects outside of Palace?
HR: Our bass player Tom has another band. They do German cover songs.

What’s up next for Palace?
HR: Play, play, play.

Any final words of wisdom?
HP: Keep the truth in your heart.