M.S: Hi guys, thanks for your time with this interview, how are you?
Erez:We are doing great, thank you and hello to all the readers in Spain
M.S: You were born in the other corner of Europe, a bit far from here! For those who don’t know you yet, can you explain us something about when and how the Amaseffer project started?
Erez: I thought of the concept many years ago and I always knew that some day I will do this album. The reason it took many years until I finally started the first drafts is that I did not had the maturity as a musician and a person for this is a very deep and spiritual concept ,and to deal with that, one must be prepared for it in all aspects. Finaly i felt it is the perfect time to start working on it, and on June 2004 i started the first drafts for the concept. A few months after i met Yuval and then Hanan joined us and this marked the final formation of this thing call Amaseffer.
M.S: Following that thread, what does Amaseffer mean?
Yuval: Amaseffer is the phonetic translation for the Hebrew word: "Am-Haseffer", means, People of the Book. It is an ancient name given for the Israelites in the bible, refreed to them as people that follow the holy book. We chose this name because of the concept we’re dealing with, the ancient atmosphere that we have in our music and we wanted a name the will simbolise who we really are and what we are all about. This name is a direct link to to what we stands for.
M.S: Talking a bit about the band…Which bands have influenced on you towards the sound of this new album?
Erez: None! We really mean that. We tried to innovate and surprise ourselves. However, we would say that our writing sessions are very much clear of any influences of any kind of genres that we know of, for when we write we just black out and switch to "Amaseffer mode", more like a twilight zone that only the three of us know of, it is our own secret and sacred world. This way we find ourselves writing pure music, which comes from the deepest corner of our soul, and at the end of the day, you know that you write something so clean and clear out of any influence and then we listen to what we have just created and that is a pure moment of accomplishment and joy.
M.S: I found it curious, but who was the one that had the idea of the lyrics being part of a conceptual album about exodus?
Hanan: The concept would not be authentic if we won’t stay true the original story and there for all the lyrics on the album are a direct interpretation of the story. We did not need a decision for that, it was natural stage in the process as a whole.
M.S: I’ve read in you biography that this is the first album of a trilogy… What will the other 2 ones talk about? Do you have anything already composed? Will they follow the same pattern?
Hanan: We are now in final preparations before we start the pre-production for Chapter two. We will start the pre-production in a few months in order to fly to Germany and record the album as soon as we finish it. We have composed chapter two but not to the point of putting it together as a whole, so we have some work to be done. Chapter two and chapter three will keep the same musical visions for we see it as one long piece that when you play the whole trilogy you will hear one vision that makes us who we really are. This I think is the most important issue for us, maintaining the same musical line for the whole trilogy. Off course, we will do our best not to repeat ourselves and try to renovate our music to the highest levels.
M.S: Still with the analysis of the album, you’ve had wonderful collaborations such as Mats Leven or Angela Gossow… What was their reaction when you told them about the project?
Yuval: Ho they all got very curious and showed big interest in the concept.
When I spoke to Angela she agreed immediately, and when I spoke to Mats he was very intrigued by it. We found this concept appealing to so many people from different backgrounds and different religions regardless of who you are and what kind of music you like to listen to.
M.S: Listening to this “Slaves for Life” one can have the impression that instead of a metal cd your listening to an OST… do you agree? Whas that you main purpose or did it came naturally?
Erez: Definitely, we wanted to portray this epic story as vividly as possible. Our goal was to take the listener on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and visions.
We created the most authentic atmosphere so when you close your eyes while listening to the music it is just like a movie playing in your head. The use of real instruments without any synthesizer or electronic loops, the sound effects, the acted scenes, the language spoken in the scenes, the structure of the songs and album even the artwork was made with the reviving of the picture in mind. Done by the talented Mattias Noren, each song has its own drawn picture bringing that song’s part of the story to life. Everything planned to serve this purpose. Press the play button and go on a voyage 3500 years ago! That is exactly what we wanted to achieve and we truly believe that this turned out to be a very magical album for us and for every one who will listen to it.
It all came really naturaly for this is our biggest love: Movies and movies soundtracks and for that reason we also formed our company named "Amaseffer Soundtrack Productions" ,which we have just finished writing the full score for the Israeli movie "Altalena".
M.S: I guess you feel proud because your first album’s been released by Insideout, the most important label of progressive metal, how did you get in touch with them?
Hanan: Since day one it was obvious to us that we will get signed by InsideOut! We truly love this label for they are visionary people just like us and this came naturally to us. We have waited until we had a finished album in our hands including Mastering and all the art work for it and then we have sent it to IO for review. Oliver Mensing, Head of A&R at InsideOut, contacted us a few week later and gave us a kind offer and we took it.
M.S: Such an interesting album will give something new to the metal scene, won’t it? What’s your impression?
Yuval: We totally agree with that assumption! We have created an album free of any influences with a clear vision, like we are writing the first album ever written.
This state of mind of composing pure music accompanied us through the whole process and that is why we think we came up with a truly magical album, totally new and refreshing. People really got tired of Dream Theatre clones, Rush wannabe’s and to tell you the truth, we also got tired of it. Every band is trying to be like the other or sound like a band they love, they don’t come from a place of "lets be original and stay true to the music we write", on the contrary, they all looking for the fastest and easiest way to hit it big with minimum effort. The easiest solution is to follow the Shepard, but we say, "Let’s be this Shepard".
It is our strongest ideology.
M.S: Complete this sentence: “We’ll feel satisfied with this album if…”
Erez: It will be remembered in music history! (But regardless we are satisfied with it)
M.S: In this album you play with a symphonic orchestra, I guess live will be difficult to make it possible… Are you planning on a tour anyway?
Yuval: Yes, but it will not happen in the near future. We do plan to perform, but we do not want to raise a performance that will not do justice to the music and the story. We do not want to tell only part of the story on stage, therefore we plan to perform after the final part of the trilogy will be complete. We have a very clear vision of what this kind of show needs to be like and it can’t happen when we have only third of the story in our hands. All we can say is, when it will happen it will be big and unique. This is our ideology, everything we do; we do it in our own special way.
M.S: Being a new band as you are, what can you tell us about the metal scene in Israel? About bands, about how many concerts you did in there, the israeli audience…
Yuval: To be honest we are not really a part of the Israeli Metal scene but from what we know it is getting bigger and bigger every day. More Israeli bands being signed by European labels and this is a very good sign for the future. 
M.S: Getting to the end, I’d like to know what bands/artists you’d like to play with?
Erez: Klaus Badelt, George Fenton, John Williams, Hans Zimmer…It’s a very long list
M.S: Well, that’s everything… If you’d like to add anything, this is the moment. Thank you very much again and we hope to see you soon!
Erez: Thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak with you and thank you for your support in Amaseffer.
God bless you all ,
Amaseffer
David Aresté.