BIO-CANCER
THANASIS ANDREOU
Bio-Cancer is a new hot thrash metal band from Athens, Greece. They debuted in 2012 with Ear Piercing Thrash and their second full-length Tormenting the Innocent hit the stores earlier this year. I have talked to Bio-Cancer's guitarist Thanasis Andreou about the Greek thrash metal scene as well as their collaborations with Andy Classen from Holy Moses and let's not forget about about their new album Tormenting the Innocent which was released a few weeks ago. Now over to Thanasis Andreou.
We can start with a small presentation of Bio-Cancer.
Hello and thank you for your interest in the band. We are a thrash metal band from Athens, Greece. The band formed in late 2010 and after a few shows and a demo, the band’s debut album “Ear Piercing Thrash” was released in 2012 receiving very positive feedback from the thrash community all around the world. And finally, about two months ago, our second album “Tormenting The Innocent” was released by Candlelight Records.
You guys are from Athens, Greece. There seem to be an incredible thrash metal scene there right now with bands like Suicidal Angels, Chronosphere and Exarsis to name a few. How come there are so many good thrash metal bands in Athens right now and can you recommend any other band from the area?
It’s true that the Greek thrash metal scene is very strong at the moment with many new and awesome bands. I guess older Greek thrash bands set an example and the younger generations are trying to be as good and professional and they’re doing a damn good job! There’s too many good bands to list them all but we had some of the scene’s most promising bands playing with us on our new record’s release live show a few days back and these were Fadom, Biotoxic Warfare, AMKEN and Skull Koraptor. You should definitely check them out!
You first appeared on a split with a band called Destructive, what can you tell us about the Endless Violence split?
Not much to say haha The idea came from a Turkish distro that wanted us to do this, we accepted and the rest is history!
Your debut album Ear Piercing Thrash was released in 2012. What do you think of it in retrospect?
We definitely believe our new album is far better in all aspects than its predecessor. And I think we are a bit harsh on Ear Piercing Thrash sometimes because we compare it to material that is newest to us and therefore we’re more excited about. But we can’t deny the impact it had, on an underground level, on the thrash metal scene. We think it was a good debut, it did what it was supposed to do but we also think that there is a lot room for improvement and that’s where we’re aiming at.
Your new album Tormenting the Innocent was released two months ago, are you satisfied with how it's been received by the media and your fans?
For sure, it seems that the vast majority of the audience liked it and we’re really happy about it. So far we’ve had mostly positive reviews from the media as well.
The album was mixed and mastered by Holy Moses old guitarist Andy Classen. How did you get in contact with him?
We were looking for someone that we knew he would a good job on the mixing/mastering part of the album and since Andy Classen has done some records that we really like on that field, we decided to work with him. And he did exactly what we expected from him, he did a great job!
You signed up to Candlelight Records before the release of your new album. How did you get in contact with them? and are you satisfied with them so far?
Tormenting the Innocent (2015)
What's your plans for the future? Are you going to tour to support your new album?
We already have some individual shows scheduled so far, we plan on doing a small “tour”, if you can call it that”, around Greece and after that we definitely are looking to go on a European tour to both promote the new album and gain valuable touring experience.
I saw that you're going to open up for Flotsam and Jetsam in Thessaloniki. Are you looking forward to that gig and are you fans of the band?
Yeah, we are looking forward to that because we do like the band. The feeling of opening a show for bands that you are a fan of is great!
You recorded a Dyer's Eve for a Greek tribute to Metallica. Are you big Metallica fans?
That was a Metallica tribute CD the Greek Metal Hammer did a while back and they wanted us to participate with a cover of one of their songs. Of course we like them and we have nothing but respect for them although to be honest no one in the band is a die-hard fan haha
What bands are you guys influenced by?
The obvious influences of the band would be early Kreator, Morbid Saint, Testament, Hypnosia, and Destruction but anything we listen to can be an influence more or less.
What do you think about this thrash revival, is it a good thing and do you consider yourselves to be a part of it?
It’s definitely good for us since we play thrash haha! It’s cool that people made thrash that big again because that pushed more people to want to play thrash and that gave us some great New Wave Thrash bands. Any relatively new thrash band that makes music is a part of this I think, including us.
What's the highlight of your career?
Without much thought, what comes to my mind is the contract with Candlelight Records. Very few bands in Greece have a label that big and we are both grateful and proud of it.
Have you got any funny story to tell, if anything weird has happened while touring or so?
Any last words to our readers?
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