If you like a mix of death and thrash metal, spiced with technical and progressive elements, then you're better off focusing on the latest Acid Death album. I asked Savvas Betinis (vocals/bass) about their new masterpiece, and he spoke in detail about it and the band's future plans. So, read it now and enjoy every moment of our communication!!!
Hello Savvas! Your new album is titled "Evolution" and will be released on November 21, 2025, by 7hard. How do you personally assess your musical development compared to your previous works? In what formats and quantities will the new album be spread?
Hello Kornel, I am happy to talk with you! Yes, the band's 8th album, "Evolution", is out from November 21st and we are proud of this recording! The fans can find all the musical elements that Acid Death have over the years, from death/thrash till fusion. At the moment the album is available on digipak CD and digital form, everyone can stream it through the known digital platforms and can buy it directly from band's official site at: www.aciddeath.net/merch.
"Evolution" was recorded between November 2024 and June 2025 in various studios. How do you remember the recordings? Did everything go smoothly?
The album was recorded at three studios. We started with drums that were recorded at legendary Sierra Studios of Athens, a recording place with almost half a century of music history. Guitars were recorded at Symbolic P Studios with Yoth Iria's guitarist, Kostas Papadopoulos at the mixing desk. Bass, vocals, mix and mastering took place at our own studio, S.I.A. Recordings. Everything worked well, we had more than 2 years on rehearsing and pre-producing the new songs, so we had a clear view on how things will go.
The concept behind the lyrics is very topical and somewhat futuristic. What did you want to highlight in your lyrics, what is their message?
Well, actually "Evolution" is a thematic album. The main theme is the human evolution through the ages. You can find many elements in the lyrics, the technological evolution, how people got involved with, the human genesis, religion and how it trapped humanity, even the total fail of human kind. For sure everyone who has the album, it is worth to check the lyrics, since the lyrics in our case are the 50% of the entire thing.
Giannis Nakos' cover art turned out to be huge. Was it made according to strict instructions, or did you leave it entirely up to him? Please discuss the visual content and its meaning in detail.
Yes, John for one more time gave his 100%! We worked with him when the 2012 album "Eidolon" saw the light of the day. It was not an easy thing for him since there was a specific topic behind the album, we had many conversations on how we could make it work. Finally, he made this beautiful artwork, showing a man like an ancient God to ding in the universe and create his own world. John is really happy with the final result too!
Your musical approach is technical and very melodic, but it also combines progressive elements, yet the basis of your music remains thrash and death metal. Your new material is very reminiscent of old greats like Coroner, Destruction, At the Gates, Nocturnus and Cynic, but of course, all of this is presented in Acid Death's unique style. How do you see this? What inspires you these days in writing lyrics and composing music?
Well, being in music for almost 35 years we made to manage our style. Yes, there are all these elements, from thrash/death till jazz/fusion. It wasn't easy but we are happy that we can include all this treasure in our music. The way that we compose remains the same for many years. One of us creates the basic idea and all of us add/remove parts, change the way of playing until we have a final result that works for our preferences. On the lyric topic there was the thought of making a thematic album, actually Dennis (guitars) had the idea and Kostas (drums) had the idea of the topic. I tried to make all the lyrics, it was really hard since having a topic means you have to be very careful on how the things are written. But finally... I guess I made it!
You managed to get two famous musicians, James Murphy and Kelly Shaefer, to enrich the song "The Gateway to Knowledge" with their unique personalities. How did this collaboration come about? By the way, what do you think of Till the Dirt's debut album?
The idea came from our webmaster and owner of Altars of Metal webzine, Dimitris Petrakis. He had interview with both, Kelly and James some time ago and he dropped the idea... I contacted Kelly R Shaefer first keeping in mind that he was on tour with Atheist that means too busy. He messaged back "Ok, send me the track, if I like it I will get back". I thought "too busy at this period... No way!". Some days after he messaged me again. "Yes, send me the lyrics too. I will do it!". The same happened with James Murphy, he was too busy too, but finally he made it. You know, it was a dream of life for us to have both these personalities in our new album! Old good piece of Florida's death metal! And most important is that Kelly R Shaefer and James Murphy are together for first time in a song, and this song is Acid Death's "The Gateway to Knowledge". For the friends who haven't hear it, they can find here:
As about Till the Dirt's debut album, yes! I like it! Although is different from Atheist style but yes, I like it!
The "Evolution" live dates are steadily coming in for 2026. Would you share the details of your upcoming concerts with us? What songs will you be playing, and in which cities will you be performing? Are there plans for an extensive European tour to promote the new album?
Yes, we have already planned the first dates, starting from Greece. We are on January 24th at Ioannina, February 15th at Athens and March 8th at Patra, there will be some more Greek dates. We have already started looking for a good tour packet for Europe in 2026. Needless to say that "Evolution" album will be a good part of our set list along with tracks from or previous albums, in a more than 70 minutes set.
You're from Athens, Greece. How is the metal scene there these days? Do you find that the new generation of metal fans support what you do and local metal bands in general, or is it the opposite? Do fans still buy physical copies of your albums at concerts, or are they now focusing entirely on digital formats?
Things are going better day-by-day. For sure Greek metal scene is totally different than 15-20 or even 30 years ago! More good musicians, more good bands and yes, there is the "new blood" as we say, new fans who support the local bands by obtaining merch, going to live shows, etc. Personally I am happy with the way the Greek scene is growing.
You have released two lyric videos online, for the songs "The Gateway to Knowledge" and "The Rise of Salvation". Do you plan to make a full band video later? If so, which song would you choose for this purpose?
Yes, we are on the way on creating the 1st official video and it is so good that today (November 27th) we have the first video shoot! We are talking about the "Coded Dominion" track.
The final evolutionary visions are all yours, so please conclude the interview accordingly.
Thank you so much for this interview! Check "Evolution" album, guys, it is a great album!
