In 2006, during a short gap between travels and projects — and shortly before I left for Australia for what would become several years abroad — I had the chance to collaborate as a guest keyboardist with Fire Makers, an independent heavy metal band from Italy.

The contact came through Massimo “Dingo” Candido, who involved me in the recording sessions for material connected to the band’s Metal Empire project. I recorded my keyboard parts at ACME Studios in Abruzzo, near the Sulmona / Raiano area: a compact but serious recording environment that, at the time, gave the session the right balance between underground metal energy and professional studio focus.

I was invited to contribute Hammond-style organ, piano, and synthesizer parts to several tracks, adding a more symphonic and progressive layer to the band’s already powerful sound.

It turned out to be an electrifying, high-adrenaline experience. One of the most memorable aspects of the session was meeting and hearing Eugent Bushpepa, whose vocal performance on Tears of Pain was already stunning. Years later, he would become internationally known, including through his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Fire Makers feat. Eugent Bushpepa — Tears of Pain

One of the most intense songs from those sessions is Tears of Pain, a dramatic and melodic track that blends classic heavy metal riffs with progressive layers and soulful vocals.

For this song, I played Hammond-style organ parts using a Roland VK-8, while piano and additional synth textures were layered on a GEM S3 workstation. The combination of drawbar organ, digital piano, and workstation sounds gave the track a punchy, symphonic metal atmosphere that still holds up remarkably well.

The Gear

• Roland VK-8 — drawbar organ emulator with Leslie simulation
• GEM S3 — 76-key workstation used for piano and synth textures

About the Release

As far as I know, the Metal Empire project remained unpublished, or at least never received a conventional official release. Public traces of the recording still exist online, but the full history of the project is not easy to reconstruct from the outside.

This is partly because the session happened at a transitional moment. I recorded my parts shortly before leaving Italy for Australia, and in the years that followed I lost contact with Max Candido and the rest of that musical circle. There may also have been later changes, delays, or back-and-forth decisions around the material, especially as Eugent Bushpepa’s own career developed in a different direction.

For this reason, I prefer to document this page as a personal archive of my involvement in the session, rather than as a definitive discography entry. If more reliable information surfaces, I will update the article accordingly.

Original Band Members

• Vincenzo Armenise — bass
• Matteo Corelli — drums
• Massimo “Dingo” Candido — guitars
• Carlo Cicognani — guitars
• Fabio Guarnieri — vocals

The band disbanded not long after that period, unfortunately. However, the spirit of Fire Makers continued in a different form through Maiden Division, a tribute act dedicated to performing the music of Iron Maiden with accuracy and passion.

It was a joy and a privilege to work with these musicians. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the whole band, and especially to Max “Dingo” Candido for involving me in such an energetic, albeit brief, collaboration.

Cover Design

As a small personal appendix to the project, I also devised my own graphical cover design for Metal Empire. It was not an official artwork, nor something commissioned by the band, but rather a spur-of-the-moment visual interpretation of the music and atmosphere surrounding the session. The image featured on this page is that self-made cover: a personal archival artifact from the same period, created as a way to give shape to the energy, darkness, and theatrical intensity I associated with the recording.

Heavy metal may not be my usual terrain, but this was an unforgettable chapter that taught me the value of raw energy, tight musicianship, and fearless performance.