ALMANAC // Pedal To The Metal

After almost 15 years with German metal stalwarts Rage, guitar shredmeister Victor Smolski decided it was time to move on.

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He had reached the point where he had become tired of the commercial aspect of recording and releasing albums, and wanted to make music for the sake of art once again …

“I didn’t want to just keep making album after album after album, just for money!” he says. “For me, that isn’t what music is about. So I needed to get back into making music for the right reason. I don’t need to do this for money.”

His outlet became Almanac, formed with a core of musicians from the Rage spin-off act Lingua Mortis Orchestra. The band’s latest venture is Rush of Death, a grand concept that was inspired by combining Smolski’s interest in gladiatorial combat with one of his chief non-musical passions: motor racing, something he does competitively when he isn’t slinging the strings.

“Gladiators were slaves,” he says, “and they fought battles with each other to win their freedom. But a lot of them loved the life so much that they just decided to stay as gladiators. They loved the competition and the adulation of the crowds, and so they would go on and continue to be gladiators. In a way, it is very much like it is for race drivers, too.”

Rush of Death brings together both of those characters, in a sort of musical Death Race-style saga. It is the third album for Almanac and follows Kingslayer and the 2016 debut Tsar, both richly detailed concept albums that draw from historical events. Rush of Death exists more in the realm of speculative fiction, although Smolski has a considerable knowledge of motor racing from his own experiences on the track. In some ways this latest recording could be a metaphor for his own competitive spirit, which has seen him host guitar duels in the past.

“I do a lot of guitar battling onstage, with some other guitar players, and it’s a lot of fun to do that. On the race track, I also fight hard. Niki Lauda said there’s no friendship out on the track, and that’s true. You can be friends, but not out on the track.”

Smolski sees life itself as a constant battle, one he deeply cherishes.

I listen to music like people read books. So, you’re just sitting and reading. You’re not cooking at the same time, or driving a car. Listening to music is like that for me.
[VICTOR]

“The Formula One driver James Hunt said, ‘The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel.’ Life is a fight. You’re fighting different things everyday. Small things, big things, but it’s surviving.”

The son of a highly honoured Belarusian composer, Smolski has been learning and playing music since he was six. While motor racing may be a release for the 51 year old guitarist, music is very much at the core of who he is.

“I listen to music like people read books,” he explains. “So, you’re just sitting and reading. You’re not cooking at the same time, or driving a car. Listening to music is like that for me. I turn it on and listen and enjoy it as a concept. It’s not just songs, and skipping a song – it’s stories! I try to make 10 songs tell one story.”

Music, he says, is an energy, a power that he likes to surround himself with. An old school musician, he feels more of that energy from traditional recording methods, eschewing a lot of the modern digital tricks and shortcuts available today.

“I don’t like this new wave of computers and demos and sending email with tracks… I really like the old school of going into a rehearsal room and making a powerful sound,” he says, “and when it sounds good enough, then I go into a studio. Powerful energy is what I like.”

Almanac is far from his only musical outlet. Like many career musicians, he has several projects on the boil. His other prominent band is German progressive unit Mind Odyssey, and May will see the release of his first album with Florida-based death metal band Voodoo Gods, which features George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher from Cannibal Corpse and bass virtuoso Jean Baudin. For Smolski, it’s simply more powerful energy to draw from and create.

“I like different styles of music, and I do a lot of projects, and I play different music – much heavier and more aggressive. It’s all about how you feel this energy. I like to mix and squeeze all this energy from different styles of music and make it sound interesting.”