EPK – Aquila – The Great Fire (2022)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
“This is our best material to date. It’s brutal, heavy and catchy and it’s a rollercoaster ride. It has the Aquila sound still with some added influences to it. We have matured as people and as songwriters during this time of the pandemic. To be honest, this EP saved us from going crazy during these troubled times. It helped us stay focused and motivated through it all. I hope people give it a listen, we are metal fans and metal lovers. I’ve been in metal bands since 1999 and I’m, I mean, WE are so proud of this EP.” – Mark Arruda – Vocals – Aquila
For fans of Kataklysm, God Forbid, Gojira
Band: Aquila
EP Title: The Great Fire
Release Date: June 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release
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“Aquila strikes that excellent balance between aggression, heaviness, and constructing memorable earworms that keeps up listener engagement. The Great Fire embodies an ideal melodeath metalcore product – ready to take the band up from the underground into making worldwide impressions with their music.” – Dead Rhetoric (2022)
“There are plenty of great guitar solos and fills on this album, with the ones in ‘Bound For Glory’ and ‘Within These Flames’ especially standing out…. Aquila’s “Imperium” brings the fury back to metalcore, creating an album full of aggressive vocals and face-melting riffs and solos. “Imperium” is a mostly great debut from a band that’s hopefully on its way to even greater heights.” – Metal Underground (2010)
“A notable difference between Aquila and other Southern Ontario bands is that they thrash throughout their songs, have great guitar leads and refrain from plastering breakdowns throughout their music. They keep it raw and interesting…. Everyone should pick up a copy of Imperium next time Aquila comes to your town. Fans of Assassinate The Following, Unearth, Bloodshoteye and Odium will headbang to Aquila. This band will be legend… Wait for it…. dary.” – V13 (2011)
[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]
Band: Aquila
EP Title: The Great Fire
Release Date: June 30, 2022
Label: Self-Release
Track Listing:
1. The Great Fire – 5:11
2. Emperor’s Curse – 8:15
3. A City Risen – 4:16
4. The Plague of Galen – 6:16
EP Length: 24:00
EP Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Aquila
• All songs written by: Aquila
• Produced by: Aquila
• Mixed by: Aquila
• Mastered by: Aquila
• EP Artwork by: Silent Q Design
• EP and Live Band Line Up:
– Mark Arruda – Vocals
– Matt McGuire – Drums
– Anthony Rimac – Guitar
– Tony Medina – Guitar
– Colin Wakil – Bass
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The EP as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
Musically and lryicially this is the most brutal and progressive material we have ever written. I can honestly say we brought the METAL into METALcore again with this EP. The whole concept of the EP is about Roaman Emperor Nero who is famous for killing Christians and The Great Fire of Rome. This is my view of what happened at that time. I performed from my perspective of being Nero for these songs and how I felt doing these evil things to the people of Rome. It caused some arguments within the band.
Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
Track 1 – The Great Fire
The Great Fire starts off slow and then it explodes. It is our traditional straightforward in-your-face track with a Power Trip style breakdown in the middle of the song. The lyrics are about Nero causing the fire and that he wanted it to happen. There is artwork of Nero playing the flute while the fire was happening.
Track 2 – Emperor’s Curse
This song starts off brutal and it is a rollercoaster of a track. It starts off brutal and in the middle you travel into this Tool like drumming and guitars with a catchy hook at the end of the song. Lyrics are very brutal from beheading and crucifying Christian to Nero taking his own life. This song is the most progressive song we have ever written, it was inspired by our own song, Bound For Glory, from our debut album Imperium.
Track 3 – A City Risen
The lyrics for this are about what Nero is thinking before he takes his life or even after his death. He had some great ideas and he had a vision, but he was also a sick man. The songs through a slower but heavier pace with many hooks. I think it’s my best vocal performance ever. I used my singing range for this one, not just straight death metal vocals for this one.
Track 4 – The Plague of Galen
Back in late 2019, McGuire and I started talking and we asked ourselves, wouldn’t it be cool to jam together again? So we did. With the pandemic happening in 2020, we were in the middle of writing a song which is now The Plague of Galen. A plague that happened in Rome many years ago. We thought it was fitting. The song has a melodic death metal feel to it that you can headbang to. The breakdown in the middle is crushing, ending with Iron Maiden-type guitar playing.
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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:
1. Mark Arruda and Matt McGuire played in Bloodshoteye. But not at the same time. Arruda was the vocalist in the early days and McGuire played drums in 2004.
2. Chase Bryant played bass on Imperium and is now the bassist for Warbringer
3. Glenn Fricker recorded, mixed and mastered our debut album Imperium.
4. Anthony Rimac, Matt McGuire and Mark Arruda are still the original members from 2006
Aquila is a Canadian metalcore band from Hamilton Ontario. The roots of their sound are from the early 2000s metal scene.
They started in 2006 with Matt McGuire (drums) and Anthony Rimac (guitarist) in Windsor Ontario. In 2009, Aquila entered the studio with Chase Bryant (current bassist for Warbringer), Matt Shelson (guitarist), and Mark Arruda (vocalist) and began working on their debut album, Imperium, with Glenn Fricker in Windsor, Ontario. From 2009 to 2013, they toured for their album across Canada, including a lengthy east and west coast tour, and multiple weekly shows in Ontario. Sharing the stage with the likes of Cryptopsy, The Agonist, Misery Index, Threat Signal, and many more, Aquila with their aggressive stage attitude can sure entertain and work the crowd.
In 2020, Aquila released 2 Eps, Valle Mortalitatis and Jewel of the Empire’s Crown. The 7 songs were recorded back in 2013 with Glenn Fricker, but were never released at that time.
Now with new guitarist Tony Medina and bassist Colin Wakil, Aquila worked hard to release a new EP called The Great Fire in 2022. The 4 songs were written, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Aquila. A video for the title track, The Great Fire, was recorded by the band as well.
“We started writing for this EP in 2020. The pandemic made it very difficult to get together. We also had to find a new guitarist. Once Tony joined the band he quickly learned the songs and started helping us record and mix ourselves. No pressure, just us in our element. I think the growth and maturity in our sound on this Ep. is obvious. This Ep is us, brutal and in your face.” – Mark Arruda – Aquila
Aquila’s latest EP “The Great Fire” was released on June 30th, 2022, and is available on all digital platforms.
Band Line Up:
– Mark Arruda – Vocals
– Matt McGuire – Drums
– Anthony Rimac – Guitar
– Tony Medina – Guitar
– Colin Wakil – Bass
Discography:
2009 – Imperium LP
2020 – Valle Mortalitatis EP
2020 – Jewel of the Empire’s Crown EP
2022 – The Great Fire EP
Shared Stage with:
Cryptopsy, A Life Once Lost, Misery Index, Endast, Threat Signal, Fuck The Facts, The Agonist
2008 – Harvest Fest in Windsor, ON
2008 – Funnel Fest in Windsor, ON
2009 – Knoniknoise Fest in Norfolk, ON
2009 – Canada Tour
2010 – Canada Tour
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