Founded in 1999 by Anja and Alex Hunzinger, Aeternitas released their first and very well-received concept album “requiem” in August 2000, which combined a variety of different styles (from classical to metal elements). The success of this album encouraged Anja and Alexander to build a performing band, to bring their songs to the stage.

The second album “La Danse Macabre”, released in 2004, brought together contemporary gothic metal with classical, electronic, and theatrical influences. The concept of stage realization was developed for spectators to enjoy a theatrical live show and paved the way for the subsequent development of Aeternitas and their next work, the concept album “Rappacinis Tochter” (“Rappaccini’s Daughter”). The theme is based around the short story of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a contemporary and companion of Edgar Allan Poe.

A new era began in 2012 when Aeternitas started working on their new concept album “House of Usher”. Herein Aeternitas developed a modern symphonic metal style with complex orchestral arrangements, grooving rock parts, and the strong and catchy melodies of their male and female singers. This fourth album was released in 2016 and led to one of the band’s highlights: the support gig for the Scorpions in Rüsselsheim 2017 at the Hessentagsarena. Aeternitas released their fifth studio album “Tales Of The Grotesque” in June 2018 and subsequently toured with these new songs in 2019 and 2020 with the Japanese power metal band Jupiter and the Finnish monster act Lordi on their respective European tours, where Aeternitas enlarged their European fanbase. It’s time to know more about the band, so here’s our interview with the band’s songwriter, producer, male singer and guitarist, Alex Hunzinger!

Beginnings:

In 1999 I started Aeternitas as a studio project with my future wife Anja with the main goal to write and produce a metal version of a Requiem based on the original Latin lyrics. After the success of our debut album, we decided to find other musicians to build up a band and play the songs live. In the beginning, we found musicians in the local metal scene. Having created a real band, we started playing shows and festivals and produced the next albums. Our upcoming album “Haunted Minds” will be our sixth studio album. Our current line-up is:
Julia Marou (Vocals)
Alex Hunzinger (Vocals, guitar)
Anja Hunzinger (Keyboard)
Daniel T. Lentz (Guitar)
Rick Corbett (Bass)
Frank Mölk (Drums)

Behind the name:

The band name is closely related to our debut album “requiem” from 2000. The band name came into our mind after we finished some songs from it, using the original Medieval Latin death mess lyrics. Herein the word “Aeternitas”, the Latin word for eternity, plays an important role, which was the reason why we chose it as the band name. At that time the name was meant to link the band’s name to our first album.

Inspiration:

Like any kind of symphonic band, we have classical influences; e.g. from the romantic period of the 19th century and also modern blockbuster movie scores. On the other hand, we are influenced by other bands of the same style. These influences change from time to time. Currently, I would call bands like Kamelot, Epica, and Serenity as the most important influences.

Teamwork:

For the last three albums, I have written and produced all songs by myself, with some small exceptions. Sometimes a band member delivers an idea, which inspires me to a song. From the finished song I prepare lots of practice material for the others so that we can directly go into detailed work when it comes to a first rehearsal. During our album rehearsals and the recordings, we still have time to work on some new improvements for the songs. So there’s room for some improvisations which could bring up new ideas.

Inspiration behind the upcoming album:

Musically it was the influences mentioned above. But I can tell you something about the lyrics of our current album. In general, we find our inspiration in the literature of the past centuries. On our first two albums, we used original medieval texts for our lyrics, whereas on the last three albums we used Gothic novels of the 19th century from American authors for our lyrics. For the last two albums, we used short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe for the songs. On our upcoming album “Haunted Minds” we worked with stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a companion of Poe, for most of the lyrics.

COVID-19:

The most obvious effect is that we cannot play live like any other band on this planet. Depending on the current local strength of the pandemic we also couldn’t meet each other for band pics e.g., because the band members come from different regions in Germany. In summer we had the chance to come together and produce the music videos, though.

Online concert:

There are no plans in the near future but it might be a possibility for the future. Depends on how long the pandemic runs on the current level and how we are able to practice together. But this is only a sad alternative for a real live show, so maybe we’ll better wait until concerts will take place again.

Music is an important part in all our lives. Especially in these times, music can give hope when the world around is cracking up. Please remember this, when live shows will be possible again, and support your favorite bands not only by streaming their music.

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