Based out of Nice in France, Kerion are a symphonic metal band intent on putting their own brand of Heroic Fantasy back into the genre. With one album "Holy Creatures Quest" under their belt, Femme Metal caught up with singer Flora Spinelli to talk about the band and their new release, "The Origins"
Hi Flora and welcome to Femme Metal.
Kerion has been together since 2002 - can you introduce the band members to us?
Everything started in Nice with a teenage instrumental band of progressive metal called Kirlian, formed by guitarists Remi and Sylvain, bass player Stephane and drum player Sam, whom were all childhood friends. After high school, the band split because of moving to other cities by most of the members. But Remi, who composed all the songs, didn't give up and decided to form a band of symphonic metal. In 2002, lyrics writer Christophe and I joined him to form Kerion. After some years of hard working, it appears that we had a concept album ready to be recorded. Remi then made contact back with his old friends. Sylvain and Sam who were back in Nice accepted to join. Stephane was still living in Paris but visited us as often as possible during six months before moving back definitively. In 2007, we were all together and "Holy Creatures Quest" was released.
In the very beginning of 2010, Sam, our drummer, moved away and left the band. Since then, Antoine joined us. So, now we are:
Remi: Guitar - Sylvain: Guitar - Stephane: Bass - Antoine: Drums and Me: )
How did you end up becoming the group's vocalist?
I was a high school friend of Remi and he asked me to participate to the choirs on the firsts songs (demo) and then finally singer's position was released and he asked me to take it.
Although back then I had no experience in singing, I accepted because we had a lot fun and I always liked his compositions.
You already have one album, "Holy Creatures Quest", under your belt. How would you describe the band's sound to someone who had never heard you before?
To give a short description of the sound, I'd say that it's very eclectic: it can go from very soft piano ballads to very fast guitar saturated marches. Otherwise, we try as possible to avoid repetitive munchkin instrumental parts. I think that when you listen to our music, if you close your eyes it’s easy to feel as if you were in a fantasy movie. We are big fans of Heroic Fantasy and even if some people say that it’s "a simple concept", we don’t care. Some bands are talking about politics issues, war and love and do it very well. We are talking about war, courage and friendship but with elves and monsters ^^
You have just released your second album, "The Origins". How was the launch and how do you think it has been received by your fans?
As we were negotiating with labels since falls of 2009, we were quiet well prepared. All promotion pictures, websites and CD cover were ready far before we sign with Metalodic Records, so it wasn't a big rush. Concerning the sales, pre-ordering was quiet successful and now the distribution is getting better and better (some people don't buy online). And last but not least, former fans seem to like it (as far as we can know) and some new fans join our forum or Facebook page, mainly to share positive feelings!
The new album is based around your previous demos, "Conspiracy of Darkness" and "The Last Sunset". How did it feel to revisit this earlier material once again?
For myself, I was a little afraid in the first time because I wasn't the singer on the first demo and I feared not being able to assure. Then, I just did it my own way. About the old "Last Sunset’s songs", I was really happy to sing them once again. Furthermore, except for "Time of Fantasy" lyrics were different, the story was changed and it sounded far more professional than in 2005! I think that it was almost the same for Remi, who was excited to play again his first compositions with an actual sound.
How difficult was it to decide which songs from the demos were included and/or rearranged for "The Origins"?
Humm… In fact, the idea to rearrange our first demos is not very old. Remi asked me once which songs I would like to include if one day we made an album with our first demos. And except for "Dwarf Quest" I totally agreed with all of his choices (Dwarfs are great!!! :p)
http://www.femmemetal.net/FloraKerionInterview2.htm 
