Rock Monsters Romania

At the 14th ever edition of W:O:A Metal Battle, in 2017, E-an-na finished the contest on the 2nd place, the best ever place for a Romanian band after Dirty Shirt in 2014.

In case you missed them, E-an-na is a band from Sibiu founded in 2014. Until now they’ve already won the 2nd place at Jaxx Rock Battle 2016 and the 2nd place for “Best Metal Newcomers” (Metalhead Meeting 2015).

Because of their unique style that combines Romanian folklore with heavy metal, a lot of metalheads took a look on the Romanian metal bands and, soon, they became very popular in Europe.

Although, more and more questions had been asked about E-an-na and their style. I’ve made an interview with Andrei Oltean, the vocalist of the band, to get some answers. 

RM: Where does the name of the band come from?

Andrei: In ancient sumerian, “E-an-na” was the temple of the goddess Ishtar, but it also literally means “the home of the skies” (as “Tratatul de istorie a religiilor” by Mircea Eliade tells us), which we found a proper name for the thing we’re trying to implement: a new world of ours, guided by our own visions about how a world should look, feel and behave like.

RM: What inspired and inspires you to make these Romanian-themed folk-metal songs?

Andrei: The great sounds that are to be found in Romanian folklore. Music is about sound and feeling. We’re trying to chase and tame or unleash both.

RM: Which band’s song is your favorite and why?

Andrei: Definitely one that’s not released yet. It’s going to be the last one on our future album, that we’re working on. If I’d have to pick from something we already released, then it’s “Cei Căzuţi”. It’s a story that’s already written, and I won’t bother you with recicled ideas, but here’s the full story if you want to read it.

It is something indeed personal for me, so it’s sort of an obvious choice.

 

RM: E-an-na got the best place of a Romanian band at Wacken Metal Battle in 2017. How does it feel?

Andrei: It felt surreal, of course. Playing some of your songs to almost 8.000 people that will keep chanting your last chorus after the concert ends is an experience worth living. Now that’s more than a year past, and we’re back to where many bands are, in a limbo where no “breakthrough” can be felt. This doesn’t discourage us, but rather made us realize that there’s no “one big almighty thing” that has to happen in order to “make it”. Making it is a too vague notion, and the really important thing is to be perseverent, and more importantly, love what you do, and do what you love.

RM: What was the best moment from your Wacken experience?

Andrei: Each damn moment. Seeing that songs that we’ve felt at our loneliest at times in empty bedrooms can fill a massive tent of people with joy, or at least with some sort of emotion. Getting to meet people that we knew about and admired, all thanks to that sequence of sounds that we decided to create at one point. The moment when they announced that the second place winner comes from Romania. Even the trip towards Wacken, including our car breaking down in Ukraine, is something that I look fondly back to (although I’m still slightly saddened that we didn’t get to play Carpathian Alliance in Ukraine because of this). Also, besides all this “band living the dream” suite of scenarios, there’s also the personal part, like enjoying  the absolutely mad Architects concert and surviving the gigantic mud-moshpit that it triggered, amongst thousands of other enthusiast people. There’s connection. There’s life in these moments. 

RM: Does anything changed in the band’s attitude after?

Andrei: Can’t tell for sure. To be honest, there was a lot of tension in the period after this. We didn’t know where we belong anymore. But this had little to do with Wacken, but rather with the intensive touring period we’ve been having. I think we came stronger out of it, and what we are about to deliver next year is proof of that.

RM: Do you have any plans for an international tour or festival in 2019?

Andrei: Not yet. We’re not that well known outside. We’ve gotten few chances to prove what we’re capable of outside of Romania. No matter if we had 8.000 people or 30 people, the atmosphere was always insane, and I think this will add up, little by little. It’s true that we also had to turn down some offers because of personal schedules, but the truth is, a band as small as E-an-na is not something you can easily launch on an european tour. Each trip did cost us more than we made, and there’s only so much financial sacrifice we can afford. Not that I can complain. We are trying. And whenever the right circumstances strike, we will try our best to be ready. I think our new album will not go quite unnoticed.

RM: Do you have any message for your fans and metalheads who are going to read this article?

Andrei: Yep. Like always, love you all. Keep following your heart, keep living what makes true feelings come to surface, and don’t let anyone murder your dreams. See you in 2019. Stay alive.

In my opinion, E-an-na is still so underrated and they still have a long way to be a legendary band, but I’m sure that, if they continue like that, in a few years we’ll see them on the world’s biggest metal stages.