From Inner Shrine's music video, "Charun"

From Florence, Italy, Inner Shrine radiates a gothic marriage of morbidity and drama. They’ve been around since the mid nineties, and are heavy metal metal war horses with six full albums, three singles and one split behind them.The conjuring of a shiny new album called Aita now has Inner Shrine moving like a snake through the underground of dark metal.

Aita is an unholy journey into the ethereal void of Etruscan deities; a menacing trip to the shadowlands, exploring the fears that grip man. True vanguards of theatrical Goth metal, Inner Shrine has been cultivating its atmospheric aggression for over two decades alongside peers like Moonspell and Tristania. Aita, pulled from the fires of Hades, establishes the theme for the entire album. Aita is a wonderfully metal representation of an ancient world.

The Aita music video is really dramatic. How did you guys come up with the concept? (And was it fun to make? Looks like it...)

We wanted to tie our dark sound with something unique to our land. A bit like black metal did with the Norse world. Fortunately, our land, Tuscany, has a very ancient ancestral history. Precisely that of Aita, an occult and obscure divinity who created the entire Etruscan underworld. This album reflects our concept of music, like a soundtrack that transports our fans into the dimension of the album. The whole thing was a lot of fun and simple for our way of making music. It also perhaps reflects today's world, hunted by the demons of fears that do not allow it to evolve. The ancient Etruscans had a vision of life in two worlds, the earthly one and the Aita world. That of Aita, dominated by chaos and mortal fears, which feed the demonic gods.

We wanted to give the video a dark and horror key, almost like a breach that opens in our world to let Aita's demons in. The video was made and edited by Luca L., a promising director as well as a musician/composer. As far as we're concerned, you're right we had a lot of fun, and if you do it while you're working.... You've already won.

Inner Shrine was started back in 1995... how has releasing new albums changed or evolved for you since then?

Great question, remind me that we are almost 50 years old! Leonardo and I have been the founders of the band since 1995. It's amazing when a project follows you like this for all these years. It is always a pleasure to collaborate with him on this project, in addition to our commitments. Inner shrine was the first Italian band to use classic growl and soprano vocals along with metal bases (think about how many bands were born on the strand).

Every album of this historic Italian metal band has been an artistic journey; dark, disturbing and sometimes impromptu, like the case of Mediceo or Pulsar. Music excites our .. A lot... it gets inside you and maybe it kidnaps your soul!

As far as technical aspects are concerned, our sound has evolved with the evolution of today's instrumentation. We switched from the 6-string guitar to the 7/8-string guitar (line 6 POD), which is very useful for low and compact sounds. We’ve abandoned the use of the lyric soprano to push ourselves to new lyrics, such as the use of Dunkler Stern's voice in German. We have embraced the use of orchestral VSTs of East/West Sound, Native Instruments, Spitfire.

What made you decide on German singer Dunkler Stern for this album?

I wanted a sensual but dark voice, a mystical and ancient voice, with hard and ancestral tones. I have collaborated with this singer on other projects and I thought the perfect combination for inner shrine. Listening to the recordings transported me to a world where Vanth, demon of the underworld, woman with her voice and dance attracts without any possibility of escaping souls to herself. The German language is new to us; we used English, French, Latin, and Italian. I love this language; it's anthropomorphic, it's perfect for this international job.. We have collaborated with many musicians over the years, each with different characteristics and particular dynamics. Someone very good and someone who didn't like it. Aita is really a dark and mystical journey, an album to be put as a soundtrack to reflect on the uselessness of the human being towards parallel worlds.

The AITA music video is a real treat for all those who love theatrical and horrifically intense visuals: