As for the whole idea coming together, that's a completely different story. I used to play in a cello-metal band (Apocalyptica-like) together with Michael Neuburger who, at that time, was head of the board of the orchestra. We sat down one day and talked about doing something together with Xystus and the orchestra, since the orchestra needed to do something special to celebrate their 185 years of existence. Initial idea was to do some Xystus songs, but after talking it through with Bas (vocals/guitar) we decided this needed to be something that was especially written for both the orchestra and band. Thus the idea was born to turn it into a rock-opera.

Thrashpit.com: What exactly is the concept behind Equilibrio?

Ivo: Regarding the story, it is basically a very straightforward story about good and evil. Diegu "the traveler" (played by Bas Dolmans) has been brought to Earth by the goddess Lady Sophia (Simone Simons) to reunite the everlasting struggle between the power-mad ruler Primos (John Vooijs) and the rebel Aveline (Michelle Splietelhof). In his search to fill the void in his life, Primos makes a pact with Death (George Oosthoek). Off course this is all part of Death's evil scheme to have the world drown in blood. By faith Diegu ends up at Aveline's camp and shortly thereafter a truce is called, where Primos and Aveline decided to meet. Diegu comes along, and it turns out it was an ambush by Primos, who attempts to kill Aveline, but Diegu prevents this by killing Primos. Of course this does not fit Death's plan, so he resurrects Primos. After this some years pass by, the world burns in the hands of the power drunk duo Death and Primos, and Diegu is summoned to Lady Sophia, who explains Diegu's destiny. Will he be able to fulfill his destiny? Just listen to the record....

As for the whole project in general: Equilibrio means balance of course, but not just the balance in the story we wrote, also the balance within the music, the balance between the band and the orchestra, the musical singers and the metal singers and so on...
For us the story was a tool to write the music. We know it is (and got criticized for it being) not the most original story around, but the biggest challenge for us was to write a musical backdrop which actually fits the story, use themes throughout the whole opera which people would be able to recognize after seeing the show or hearing the album. Like a good movie score, we tended to write something that sticks in your mind, and I hope we have succeeded in that.

Thrashpit.com: While making the album, did you or anyone else involved with the creation process view the ideas of Equilibrio as pompous or overblown, simply because of the CD's stack of musicians and ideas?

Ivo: We did realize we were making something that was going to be a bit bigger than what we normally do. Although we do not really think of the music in itself being overblown, we did know that the live shows were going to be over the top, with all the costumes, dancers, make-up etc. We never really stopped to think about it. Or, let me rephrase; we never had TIME to do so...

Thrashpit.com: Xystus and the US Concert orchestra have, of course, performed the entire Equilibrio record live, but during some research about those shows, it appears there are a staggering number of songs performed that did not make the album. Why is that so?

Ivo: There is a very simply answer to that: Time and money, and we all know these two have a hell of a lot to do with each other. First of all, renting a recording room for an orchestra is not cheap. Besides that a double album just costs lots more than a single one (and do not forget, this was a production we did ourselves).

We were also still in the writing process for the last couple of songs when we hit the studios. Since we were also arranging lots of other stuff besides the album itself, we decided to cut out some scenes, make it into one disc, with some of the highlights of the story. In other words, you would still be able to (kinda) follow the story with the other scenes left out. (Except for the one really important song where Primos makes the pact with Death, you have to fill in that blank for yourself... Haha) It was not a choice of putting "the best" songs on the album... I wish we could have recorded all of them, but we simply could not. Fortunately we still have the DVD for that.

Thrashpit.com: Did you experience any personal problems or differences with a certain guest musician that halted the creation of Equilibrio, or did everything work out just fine?

Ivo: No really big story there, everything went great and everyone was really enthusiastic. Off course everyone had its personal time schedule (Simone with Epica, John with Tarzan the musical, Michelle with Les Miserables) and was very busy, so we could not have everyone present at each rehearsal. But when push came to shove, everyone was there and gave it 200%. So yeah, everything went pretty well!

Thrashpit.com: How much effort did it take to acquire the various guest musicians that appeared throughout Equilibrio, such as Michelle Splietelhof and John Voojis?

Ivo: We (the band) knew Simone and George personally from some shows we did with both Epica and Orphanage in the past. When Bas and I had written the story (about 2 years ago now) and laid out all the characters, they were first choice for the parts and we decided to give them a call. They were both very excited about the idea and really looked forward in participating. John and Michelle were contacted through the artistic leader for the show, Ivo van Leeuwen, who worked with them on other musicals. We auditioned them and they seemed both really nice people to work with, combined with some awesome voices. They were also really excited about the energy that was in the music. I was familiar with musicals, but they were not really familiar with symphonic metal, so I fed them some Kamelot, Nightwish and Symphony X which they liked, and from then on they knew what the idea would be.

Thrashpit.com: After the release of Equilibrio, what has changed for Xystus (if anything)?

Ivo: Well, Equilibrio is our first international release, so off course we were very happy with that. This is because of the record label switch we made to Sensory Records, which feels like a great collaboration. We did get a lot of respect from some colleague bands (Epica for one, Sander of After Forever) for pulling this off. The hard part for us now is to prove that we can do these songs without an orchestra live (no, we do not want to us a backing track...). We have done some shows that way and reactions were really positive. Furthermore, we are hoping to do shows abroad.

Thrashpit.com: Will there be a large-scale tour or perhaps a visit to the United States in support of Equilibrio?

Ivo: We are hoping to do a tour and of course come to the USA as well. We do not have an international booker though, so I have no idea when we will be able to do this. As for doing the Equilibrio show in its original form...We are working on that but this will cost LOTS of money, and I am very sad to say that this chance is really small.