22. December 2005 – Symbolic, under the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was voted 10th best band in part 1. of Heavy Metal Eurovision contest amongst contenders for 41 country. The band hd also just released their new demo and done a new website design, all of this without much attention from Bosnian nor the international media. I wanted to change this forever; it is because of the bands like Symbolic that metal lives and is even stronger than even before in the remote parts of the Europe like Bosnia & Herzegovina. For more on Bosnian scene, media, new release, line-up changes and more – find out reading this interview done with Eldar (drummer & founding member).

MR: Hail Eldar, what a great pleasure for me to present yet another metal band from my homeland. How're you and what have you been up to?

Eldar: I have been busy those last couple of weeks mixing our new studio material. Lots of work which will hopefully pay off in the future. Everything else is just as usually.

MR: Ok, please for the very beginning be nice and introduce your band and your history. I mean what's your discography so far etc?

Eldar: Band exists since 1999. Band played a mixture of Hard Rock and Progressive metal and only recently started to, slowly but steady, steer into full Progressive metal waters. We were having line-up problems all the time. Finally the line-up settled in 2004 with me on drums and Mirza on guitar as founding members and with Ado on bass guitar and Gogo on vocals. We did two recordings so far, namely In the time (2002) and Demo 2004.

MR: Any of you involved in other bands/projects beside Symbolic?

Eldar: Ado is doing some modern stuff with his mates in Tuzla, I'm not so sure how far have they gone. I'm currently very active with my other band War-Head from Croatia while Gogo is also playing with a band called Despotic Bullet. That's about it.

MR: You're from Bosnia & Herzegovina. What is metal scene like down there now? Any progress at all? It's like more and more bands are emerging but it's still very slow. Maybe most activity in Tuzla area, right?

Eldar: Metal scene in B&H is better than ever. There are a large number of very good bands here in Tuzla area playing great variety of metal genres. Sarajevo has also got quite good number of decent bands and there are more and more bands emerging from other areas as well. I can say that huge progress has taken place on metal scene in the after war period.

MR: It is really great to hear to hear something like that. But the scene is still divided, isn't? People from the so called Republic of Srpska, are they with you in this fight for metal in Bosnia? I mean, do you stand united?

Eldar: As far as I know metal bands are doing their best to get united but there are other factors such as politics that divide us. Politicians planted so much hate amongst people so it is pretty hard for band from either entity to play a gig in other without an incident. It will take lots of time to break those barriers permanently.

MR: What are your favourite bands in Bosnia but also abroad? What are your main musical influences?

Eldar: In Symbolic we mainly listen to American, European and Scandinavian progressive metal. But influences range from pretty brutal death metal stuff all the way to classics rock music. My biggest impressions are Vitalij Kuprij, George Bellas, Mike Terana and Tony MacAlpine.

MR: Ok, but for some who've never heard of you, how would you describe your sound and the idea behind the band? Why did you form the band?

Eldar: The main aim of our music is to create fairly heavy and fast music without loss of emotions and musical values which in fact are the essential parts of music as an art. We simply play Progressive metal with an emphasis on solid sound and song fluency. We formed this band as we are all in love with music!

MR: Where and who found this name Symbolic? I believe that I know the meaning but is it something deeper meaning to it or…?

Eldar: Earlier line up of band Symbolic played a sort of technical Death metal. Our main influence at that time was Death which released album called Symbolic . After number of line up changes I still decided to keep that name because it means a lot to me. Today the music has special Symbolic meanings in everyone's life and I wish that our music can be Symbolic in some way to our listeners.

MR: Still your list of concert and gigs that you've played in Bosnia is quite big. What's your best gig so far?

Eldar: We have played on couple of very good festivals in last two years. Playing on a good, organised festival is the biggest pleasure for all of us. I would name just few of them like Bosnian Metal Fest, Kumrovec Music Festival and Tuzla live fest. I would also mention a gig held on 6 of October last year when we played in our home town of Tuzla which was special for us.

MR: What about media in Bosnia & Herzegovina? I guess they don't pay any attention to a metal bands and metal audience?

Eldar: Metal scene in B&H is still largely overshadowed by other music genres. There is no enough media coverage for this kind of music and most metal bands are still being considered as demo bands despite their quality and ambitions. There are many bands that deserve better recognition and some of them can be even compared to western mega bands which sell thousands of CDs and play biggest metal events.

MR: I've informed you about my possible work on this Bosnian Metal compilation cd-r. What do you think of that idea and are you still willing to participate?

Eldar: I always supported any kind of metal bands promotion. It is a very good idea and I would do anything to help if I can at all. Symbolic will participate surely!

MR: Do you know anything on Danish metal scene and our local bands?

Eldar: I heard very little about Danish scene. Maybe I know some good bands from over there without knowing that they actually come from Denmark. (Laugh)

MR: What about other guys in the band? What they listen to at home? Are you all into metal music in general?

Eldar: YES definitely we are all into metal music! Ado is more into heavier stuff like thrash and death metal, while Gogo is into Hardcore a lot. I mean we do listen to all sorts of stuff but I can not image any of us playing any other kind of music but metal. We are not one of those session bands playing just anything for money!

MR: …and now the inevitable question: what are you up to next? Any chance for you to play abroad or maybe going to studio to release a full-length album?

Eldar: Our plans are quite ambitious at this moment. We have recorded our new studio material and mixing is under way. Hopefully we'll make a deal with record label and have our album distributed abroad as well. There were some talks with record label from abroad but we will see what happens once the album is mastered. Hopefully we'll do some gigs abroad. Album will contain 11 songs and will be 100% Progressive metal!

MR: It was pleasure talking to you. Any final message for the readers of my webzine?

Eldar: Thanks for the interview and all the best to you and the readers. Check out for news on Symbolic on www.symbolicband.tk Metal lives forever!