[MUSIC INTERVIEW] SHARDANA – The Monarch Interview

Shardana was formed early in 2008 with the intent of creating a metal band with epic and battling sounds, merging a Heavy Metal sound with Black and Viking ones. Historically speaking, Shardana was the name of the Sardinian pirates who sailed the Mediterranean sea in the second millennium BCE. 

Their history inspires the songwriting of the band to a large degree, and the lyrics are about the glorious courage and legendary pride of those people who contributed so much to increase the influence of Sardinia at the times of pharaoh Ramses or during the roman empire. 

For this reason some of the songs are written in the Sardinian Language, such as: Sa Battalla (The Battle), Sa Sedda ‘e su Diaulu (Devil’s Saddle) and Bardanas (Raids). After a period of rehearsal the band started to play at some of the most important festivals on the island like “Heavy Sands Festival” in Cagliari alongside  bands like Mnemic and Kaledon, “Eventi Metallici Fest 2011” with Destruction and Vision Divine and “Solk’n’Roll 2013” with Trick Or Treat and Hour Of Penance. In the middle of 2009 Shardana started recording their first self titled EP, released in March 2010.

After two years of promotional and live activities, the band started to work on their full length album. Mixed by Daniele and mastered by Ettore Rigotti (Disarmonia Mundi), “No Cadena, No Presoni, No Spada, No Lei” (No Chains, No Prisons, No Swords, No Laws) was released on 20 December 2014.

In the following years, the band kept working on a new album called “Milli Annos”, changing the sound and songwriting adding more black metal influences. “Milli Annos” was recorded, mixed and mastered at Elnor Studio by Mattia Stancioiu (Labyrinth, Vision Divine). They also kept playing live, supporting Marduk and Jinjer at “Rock’n’Bol 2019” Festival. 

Enter Summer 2020 and Shardana found a label to release “Milli Annos” in Rafchild Records from Germany. The album was released  on October 9th 2020 digitally and on CD, and was well received by press and zines, and following the replacement of Michele by Federico Sala on drums in 2021, the band focused on writing new material. 

Between 2023 and 2024 Shardana worked on the new album “The Monarch”.  Recorded at the Overcore Studio, Produced and Mixed by Lorenzo Mariani and Mastered at Audiosiege studio by Brad Boatright.

The record is not a concept, although there are  several songs that share a common theme: The passing of time, and the struggle of humans to avoid their inescapable fate. So you can imagine Time as  “The Monarch”, a deaf giant monster that won’t listen to your prayers or insults, just standing still while you’re trying to overcome it, until the bitter end.

“S’Inferru”, “Is Cerbus” and “Rei de Sonnu” lyrics are in sardinian. We’ve always used our native language in our songs, we keep sharing our culture and keep alive our language, not just but talking about the past or folklore but also in modern topics and pop culture.

“Self of righteous” is inspired by Michael Moorcock’s novels series “The Silver Hand Trilogy”

“S’Inferru” (Hell in Sardinian language) is inspired by the movie of the same name by Daniele Atzeni, about the struggles of the miners of Sulcis Iglesiente in the 20th Century.

This week Dave Griffiths sat down with the band to chat about The Monarch – you can listen to the interview right here: