Bent By Sorrow and The Intensive Sounds of Dementia

Bent By Sorrow and The Intensive Sounds of Dementia

Bent By Sorrow is a dynamic alternative, groove-metal band ready to slam out of their homebase of the historic Athens, Greece.  Fans of bands such as Deftones and Disturbed will surely by captivated by the sonic reveries unleashed by the Bent By Sorrow brigade.  Dementia is the name of their just released EP, now available through Infinity Entertainment -featuring six absolutely explosive songs destined to leave an impression on all adventurous music fanatics.  Highiwire Daze recently interviewed guitarist and founding member Giannakis Dimi to find out a whole lot more about Bent By Sorrow and the intensive sounds of Dementia!  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Bent By Sorrow, and how long the band has been together.
Hello and thank you for this interview. My name is Giannakis Dimi and I’m a rock-metal guitarist from Athens, Greece. I am the founder-composer and guitarist of Bent By Sorrow, a band I formed in 2012. The band has seen a few member changes in the 8 years of it’s life and in the last 5 years we have settled to a basic core of collaborators.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Bent By Sorrow is based in Athens. I think the music scene in our country is going strong, with many good bands in the area of metal and thrash, while in recent years many remarkable progressive bands have come out. In general, I believe that the bar has been raised a lot in Greece.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Dementia EP?
Not really, after some “brainstorming” we did with our graphic designer, Dementia was kept as the title, thus playing a little with our subconscious fears and of course focusing on a subject that has become a scourge. It’s frightening to lose your balance and float in space-time…

Select two songs from Dementia and what inspired the lyrics.
I will mention False Legacy, which is also the single-video and is a socio-political song inspired by mass guidance-manipulation and social disintegration. A second piece is Disease Without A Cure, which is inspired by the inner awakening and the strength it brings forth as a result of action.

Who produced Dementia and what was it like working with them?
The production, recording and mixing was done by Fotis Benardo. Fotis is a very talented and nice person. It was a learning experience for all of us all those hours in the studio. It’s always a pleasure-pressure to work with him because he has a very professional attitude on everything he’s doing, taking the 100% of your skills.

What has it been like to have an EP released right in the middle of a pandemic? Have you had any shows or tours cancelled?
Surely, everything is harder through a pandemic and quarantine; however, we were determined to go on with the release even in such a situation, showing that nothing can stand in our way when we really want to do something. For me it was a personal bet to put our work out through any adverse conditions. And this record is a soul statement!

Unfortunately, the pandemic “cancelled” our plans -while we were already in Ukraine- to play with Eyehategod when on the day of the show they had to leave in a hurry for America due to the closure of borders. From then on, all our scheduled live shows inside and outside of Greece were cancelled.

What could one expect from a live Bent By Sorrow show?
Anyone who chooses to come to a BBS show will feel the vibes of our madness and love for music. Massive sound and a well-crafted band!

If Bent By Sorrow could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
If we could open for any band, I would pick Deftones because their music has been the biggest influence on me since the beginning. I love their sound and the way their songs are built.

Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of Bent By Sorrow?
No, I’m not involved with any other bands right now but I am always open to people who really want to work and love music.

What’s up next for Bent By Sorrow?
We are eager to start rehearsals again after the quarantine ends and work on new songs. We’re waiting for things regarding the virus to go better so that we can soon start performing in venues, and look for festivals and bigger shows for the next year.

Any final words of wisdom?
For the victory of the Light!

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!
It was my pleasure to answer your questions. Thanks from my side for giving me the opportunity to say a few words about our new release. Looking forward to see you all out there!

Bent By Sorrow is:
Giannakis Dimi (Guitar)
Pantelis Saroglou (Guitar)
Dimitris Arapoglou (Vocals)
Giorgos Vasilopoulos (Bass)
Vaios Faltakas (Drums)

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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