Martyr Music Group is a new label headed by longtime veterans of the metal underground, Robert Smith and Maria Abril. With a strong roster, a refreshing attitude and a true love for the music, Martyr will certainly prove to be a beacon of metal in the coming years. We are taking this rare opportunity to present a look at a label from its genesis to its peak and, hopefully, beyond. We will be featuring each Martyr artist in an ongoing segment, giving Maria the opportunity to comment on each and tracking the label's progress and success along the way.

The first band we are featuring is Broken Hope. Our interview with guitarist Brian Griffin can be viewed here. We also discuss Brian's side project, EmSinfonia, briefly. A full feature will follow in a later installment.

Read on to find out more about Martyr and their relationship with Broken Hope and EmSinfonia.

Interviewed by Al Kikuras.

Al Kikuras: When did you form the Martyr Music Group and what made you decide to start your own label?

Maria Abril: We are a world-wide record company founded in 1998 with the primary goals of exposing people to QUALITY heavy music while carrying on the most respectful and personal relationship with our recording artists. Today it has become far too common for the artist to be placed last in a long line of beneficiaries. At MARTYR MUSIC, our artists and fans come first.

MMG is under ownership/management of industry veterans Robert Smith (Spectrum Management/Media) and Maria Abril (Relativity, Metal Blade, Nuclear Blast). We both got tired of watching everyone else do it, taking all the best aspects of the business for granted. We need to show everyone how it needs to be done from now on and what it means to still have and encourage dignity in the entertainment industry today.

A: Have you secured distribution yet? Who will it be through?

M: Our distro is wordwide and probably a little more expansive than most because we are not locked into an exclusive contract with anyone. We are able to distribute our music through anyone we want whenever we want. We sell direct to store and consumer alike as well as various online, one-stops and mailorder companies.

A: Do you expect to have the resources to finance tours?

Broken Hope live at Farm Aid '98.

M: Eventually we will be ABLE to, but the beauty of our bands is they are all self-sufficient. Broken Hope is a band I have had a long working relationship with and they didn't even need Metal Blade money to tour for Loathing. Same with Drained. No one works harder than them or plays more and they do everything themselves... always have. It's hard to explain, but MMG is not a stereotypical situation. The way people in the recording industry, at least on the independent level, see things must change. I mean bands too. The industry has downsized to less than half of what it used to be when I started doing this stuff 10 years ago and attitudes and work ethics were forced to change with it. We all work together as a team, the bands work just as hard as we do. No gimme this, gimme that crap. We all succeed and fail together. That is what Rob and I wanted when we started Martyr.

A: Do you plan on leaving Nuclear Blast as MMG grows?

M: I love working at Nuclear Blast with Death and I would love to do both, as I do now. There is enough metal in me for everyone!

A: Tell us about the first releases you have planned.

M: The first release was DRAINED's Suspension Of Disbelief which came out last November during thanksgiving week. They work so hard and I see how much their music means to them and it moves me. People who are as motivated to succeed at what they love as I am, in my opinion, deserve great respect and attention. I'm happy to help them convert the apathetic masses into their metallic hard-core reality. EmSinfonia's In Mourning's Symphony is next. That project means a lot to me, the music really gets to me-it's spooky. The final releases for year #1 are Broken Hope and November's Doom, which should hit in May and June sometime.

A: How did you wind up signing Broken Hope and EmSinfonia?

M: I worked with Broken Hope at Metal Blade and when left the label I ended up managing the band. When they left Metal Blade and were looking at offers from other record labels, we all agreed that it was better kept "in the family" so to speak. They know I will always work harder for them than ANYONE else and being a new company doesn't matter when you weigh how much of a priority they are to us compared with where they'd fall on the foodchain of a 60 band roster. The best bands usually get the least attention in situations like that and I am not about to see that happen to them again. EmSinfonia I have heard in all its developing stages and even when it was half done it stunned me. It's amazing emotional dark music that just killed me when I heard it. I had to have it.

A: Have you heard any of the new Broken Hope material?

M: The new Broken Hope album is something we are ALL waiting anxiously for, including me. I have not heard a lick but I know my boys and they will settle for nothing less then awesome, especially with the phenomenal fan support they have received since leaving Metal Blade. This album is truly for the fans.

A: How do you feel EmSinfonia compares to Broken Hope?

M: They are both heavy as hell in their own ways but they are different worlds. I think people that like one will like the other, but there are aspects of EmSinfonia like the textural violin parts and female voice, that cannot be written into a Broken Hope song. I won't expose too much, people should hear them and just FEEL it. I think Brian has a lot of different "faces" to show the world musically and these are just two very worthy examples.

A: Will you be recommending that all Martyr Music Group artists record with Brian Griffin?

M: I already do. In fact one of the guys in Drained is a HUGE Broken Hope fan and he flipped when I told him the next CD would be done at Quali-Tone. With Brian I never have to question what I am going to get when he is done. He's a perfectionist which of course makes him his own worse enemy but for me, what better ally could I ask for?

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