SIMONE MULARONI (DGM): "It Would Be Hard For Me To Give Away My Music To Someone Else Outside The Band" [Print Interviews ]

Italian Progressive Metal with a Story to Tell

Tragic Separation [review] is the 10th studio album by the band DGM. Although DGM has seen its share of line up changes since its inception in 1994, the Progressive Metal collective is still stronger than ever. Metal Express Radio spoke with guitarist Simone Mularoni of DGM about their new concept album, their relationship with Frontiers Records, and whether Simon prefers producing to songwriting.

Metal Express Radio: If I knew absolutely nothing about DGM, how would you describe the band’s music to me?

Simone Mularoni: I think it’s a mixture of heavy Hard Rock and Progressive Metal. A sort of “Journey meets Symphony X” kind of thing… it’s not easy to describe it since we have a lot of different elements and influences, but mainly we like to combine heavy riffs with super melodic vocals.

MER: Your latest album Tragic Separation was released on October 9, 2020 through Frontiers Music. DGM describe this album as a concept piece about the choices we make on life’s path. Can you expand upon that?

SM: Yeah. All the lyrics were written by Fabio, our drummer. It’s not a “classic” concept like it was for example Operation Mindcrime or Tyranny by Shadow Gallery, but more an interpretation of the journey of life and all the philosophical aspects of it.

MER: Without giving away too much about the concept, can you discuss where each song takes us in the story…

SM: “Flesh and blood” and “Surrender” represent birth, the beginning. “Fate” and “Hope” speak of the need to detach oneself from one’s roots to seek answers, as if it were ineluctable. “Tragic Separation”, title and fulcrum of the record, the cusp of the path, speaks of the ascertainment of the detachment that leads to the drama of separation.

“Stranded” talks about how the protagonist feels lost following the separation and how, in an attempt to soothe the pain, he wants to get away from the desolate land (“Land of sorrow”) that relegates him to silence (“Silence”) more deafening than there is: that of incommunicability.

“Turn back time” wants to be the aforementioned final balance and representation of how, in seeking an answer, pushed by an irrepressible drive, the protagonist, on the other hand, generates another question.

Protagonist of the journey in search of the most important answer that becomes the actor of a pantomime destined to repeat itself, perhaps, indefinitely … “Curtain”

MER: DGM’s last two albums had special guest musicians, but none are listed for Tragic Separation. Why the change?

SM: All the guests we had in the past were and are our close friends and the songs we wrote were “calling” for their voices.. this time we felt that the album was really strong by itself and didn’t felt the need of an external “help”

MER: You produced DGM’s last album The Passage in 2016. Did you produce Tragic Separation?

SM: Yep. I produced, wrote, mixed and mastered all the DGM’s albums since I joined the band back in 2007! It would be hard for me to give away my music to someone else outside the band.

MER: Do you prefer producing or composing music?

SM: I’d say 50% both. Sometimes I feel frustrated about the lack of inspiration and I really prefer producing other bands’ music, but when the inspiration kicks in, then it’s great to create something new!

MER: Do you produce (or hope to produce) any other projects outside of DGM?

SM: It’s my daily job since 20 years… I’m producing/recording about 2-3 albums per months since forever so I just hope to continue like this in my studio.

MER: Did Frontiers Records find you or did you shop to them?

SM: They contacted us after they heard our two albums Frame and Momentum, and we signed a multi-album deal.

MER: DGM have played many European Festivals over the years and shared the stage with some prominent headlining artists. Did you get to hang out with any of these bands and do you have any interesting stories about them…

SM: We became close friends with a lot of great bands out there! The most “close” are for sure Symphony X and Evergrey. But we try to be friendly with everyone crosses our path!

MER: Obviously touring is off the table due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, has DGM been working on anything musically since the completion of the new album (new music, streaming events, etc)?

SM: We’re just waiting for things to get better… we thought about a live streaming event but since we released a Blu-ray live 2 years ago, we thought it was too similar. So I guess we’ll wait for the world to come back to a “normal” status and we’ll go back on the road!