Since the earliest days of Rotting Christ and even before, Jim Mutilator has been a larger-than-life presence within the legendary Greek black metal scene. From his Black Church days and through the Rotting Christ era until now - the age of Yoth Iria - Jim has etched his name into the hallowed halls of black metal legend, and not just in Greece, but across the globe. To know Hellenic black metal is to have felt his impact, and being afforded the honor to interview him is something I will always hold dear.

Yoth Iria is the brainchild of Jim's sacred vision for BM. The band incorporates all of the familiar warmth, theatrics, and melody of traditional Greek black metal while also providing the taker in with a look into the realm of the Daemon of the New Millennium - Yoth Iria itself… Romantic Satanism; great stories told and portrayed through the lens provided by the true friends of humanity - the Daemons themselves. So much more than typical Devil worshipping black metal and so much more than animalistic blasphemy, this is black metal for the ages! Timeless and brilliant, spiritual and profound. 

A great mystery is about to be unlocked. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Jim Mutilator is about to be revealed right here. During my latest interview, Jim Mutilator discusses the early Greek scene, his influences, Rotting Christ, his occult-driven lifestyle, and the majesty of Yoth Iria: the great Daemon, Jim's guardian and the essence behind one of the world's greatest black metal bands. Let the ritual commence!

Jeger

Hails, Jim, and welcome to MetalBite. First and foremost, as a devout adorer of the Greek black metal scene, it's truly an honor to have an audience with one of its pioneers. You've been a champion of the Greek scene since the earliest days of Rotting Christ and Varathron. How would you describe the early days and who were some of your early influences?

I started playing music in the mid-'80s, as I was really into traditional heavy metal from the beginning of the '80s and jumped on the extreme sound of bands like Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory, Slayer, Metallica, Possessed, and Exodus from their debut albums. It was so a big influence on me that I thought to build my own band to follow my idols of those days. So, around 1985, I started a band under the name Black Church and started making plans. Of course, Black Church can be described as the precursor to Rotting Christ in 1987. A lot of bands of the '80s had a strong impact on me like Bathory, Celtic Frost, Possessed, Necrovore, and Sarcófago.

There seemed to be some competition between the early Norwegian and Greek scenes, as evidenced by one comment in particular that was made by Satyr of Satyricon during one of his early interviews where he basically claims that the Norwegian product is superior to the Greek style. From your perspective, what separates the Greek style from the Norwegian?

I guess Norwegian black metal is more aggressive and frozen compared to Greek black metal. They created a more extreme sound in contrast with Rotting Christ. We were sounding like a mix of traditional heavy metal with thrash and black metal. For sure, Norway was responsible for making black metal music very famous in the world, and it had a really big effect on us, as people around the world became more familiar with the black metal sound while they discovered more bands like us. Don't forget that people like Euronymous, Fenriz, and Varg were big fans of Rotting Christ, and they really recommended us to their fans.

I'm a huge admirer of your work with Rotting Christ and the era in which you played for them. You left RC in 1996. Why did you feel like you needed to leave at the tail end of what was, in my opinion, the greatest era for the band?

It was really a hard decision and a really bad decision, but you know, from the day I remember myself, I had to fight with a lot of my own chaos. It's really hard to explain, as there was more than one reason, but it was a mistake…

You've drawn much inspiration from the Occult, particularly with your band Yoth Iria which delves into traditional themes pertaining to romantic Satanism but also ritual and Paganism. When were you first introduced to the Occult and how would you say it has changed your life?

I've been interested in occultism since the late '80s. I was no more than 15 years old when I sent Christ and The Saints to the garbage. I felt very attracted to the Daemonic world and I considered myself like one of them. So, as you can understand, Daemons for me are something true. You know, some people think it's not logical at the age of 53 to believe they truly exist, but I can say that Daemons are really great forces, and they are the true friends of humanity.

For me, magick is like a daily part of my life, and for sure I will spend some time, especially in the night to make my personal ritual. I guess it's really easy after a long time of experience to come in touch with Daemons, and I like to have connections with as many of them as I can. Also, it's great before our live shows to take my small Daemonic breaths, and I'm happy to see that my bandmates started joining me sometimes, as they can feel great energy.

You started Yoth Iria in 2019 alongside your brother in black metal, The Magus, who departed from the band in 2023. I interviewed him earlier this year and he stated that his departure was due to creative differences but that you two are still dear friends. What was the biggest difference between your vision for Yoth Iria and his?

I started Yoth Iria as a personal project, The Magus joined me after I called him on the phone and after he listened to the promo tracks. Actually, from our old days, George and I were quite different in regard to black metal. George is totally against playing live, on the other side, I'm really addicted to playing live. George prefers more experimentation, and he is much more aggressive with musical compositions. So, I knew from the beginning that our cooperation would not last for a long time, but still, with one album I think history was written. As a person, I have a lot of respect for George, and I really consider him as one of the most important black metal personalities in the world.

The name of the band, "Yoth Iria", is evidently of great meaning to you as evidenced by its repeated use in tracks such as the titular cut to the new album, "Blazing Inferno", for example. I've done some research on the name and couldn't find much about it. What exactly does Yoth Iria mean and why is this name of so much importance to you?

Yoth Iria is a Daemon of the new millennium. It revealed itself to me in 1992, and from that time, he has been more than a protecting power. Yoth Iria is another highlight of the Daemonic world. He provides us with light, knowledge, and freedom. For me, he is like a guardian.

"Blazing Inferno" is one of the finest Hellenic black metal records I've ever listened to and I've been doing this for a while. It definitely seems like there's a lot of cohesion within the band. How do you feel about the lineup in its current form?

I'm happy to see you liked our new album. Yeah, you are very right. There's a strong lineup now, and each member really helps the band to improve.

One track in particular from the new album caught my attention, "We Call Upon the Elements". This is not only the title of the track but it is also a common phrase that's used within various sects of Paganism as a way to call upon The Quarters during ritual. Paganism is a common theme in black metal. What is it about the ancient magick of Paganism that fascinates you most?

Paganism is a noble connection between man and Mother Nature and has nothing to do with the defecation of Christians or Islamists who wish to spiritually abuse people. Paganism creates free people, the others want just slaves. "We Call Upon the Elements" is a track that glorifies Mother Nature and calls people to start joining the true happiness of life through occultism. You know, life is something magickal, everything around us is magick, and our short life must belong to us. It's so simple for me. Like a general conclusion, everything is connected to magick. it's a great thing to explore.

What does the future look like for Yoth Iria?

Nobody knows what the future brings… I'm looking forward to playing more shows so we can promote "Blazing Inferno" to the world.

Do you have a message for the horde?

Thank all of you for reading this. Yoth Iria is Metal Magic Freedom!

Malacoda will release their next EP "Crawling Chaos" in April (4/2/21, independently). "Crawling Chaos" is the band's first new release since 2018's "Restless Dreams" and is a return to the band's more cinematic and gothic roots as heard on "Ritualis Aeterna" (2016) as well as a deeper exploration of melodic vocal hooks as heard on their self-titled debut (2014). MetalBite talked to Lucas Di Mascio (vocals) about the new EP and things around it.

Tomek

Thanks for taking time to do this, how are things in Malacoda camp right before the release of the new EP?

My pleasure. Things in the Malacoda camp are okay, it's a bit tough to get together due to the circumstances we're all in and it sucks not being able to play live to support the release, but at least we're all safe and healthy.

Here's a question that is going to be your worst nightmare for the years to come, what is the story behind the name of the band, what is Malacoda, what inspired the name of the band?

Name of the band came from Dante's Inferno, which is one of my favourite books and it's always been a constant source of inspiration for me. I think I wanted something that spoke more to the "dark yet majestic" vision I had for the band. Having a name inspired from a literary epic from Italian classic literature does that vision justice I'd say.

Let's talk about your newest EP, how long did you work on it and how was the whole process?

It took a long time if I'm being honest. I had written most of this material before the release of our previous album, Restless Dreams, was even done being mixed. So, I've been sitting on these songs since 2017-ish probably. Had a lineup change since that point and I wanted to have some of the new blood take part in it, so a lot of stuff we reworked and retracted in some cases. It wasn't exactly a fun process all the time, but I think it was worth it.

Can you tell us about the recording itself, and how satisfied are you with the outcome?

We worked a long time on it. Years on and off. It was just a big pain in the ass. We technically worked on 3 EP's at the same time. I still feel like we aren't done working on it in some ways. I'm relatively happy with the outcome. There's a lot I would have changed on how we worked on it, but I think it's a good sounding release.

What can head bangers expect from the new album?

A lot of big, melodic choruses and some meaty riffs. We really tried to work on a wall of sound with simpler song structures instead of overcomplicated riffs and sections like in our previous release.

What is the meaning behind the title?

Crawling Chaos was inspired by the HP Lovecraft story "Nyarlathotep". I had always wanted to do a Lovecraft themed song before. The main driving force in that story is known by many other names, one of which is the crawling chaos, and I just really liked the imagery that comes with that name.

What was your frame of mind when composing, what was your main inspiration?

I was honestly just really inspired to write at that point in time. I didn't really have a main inspiration at the time, just stuff was happening in my life and it just made me want to come up with cool music.

Was there anything that influenced you differently while composing; were there any non-metal influences that surprised even yourself?

I don't actually listen to as much metal as most people would think. At least, not as much as I used to when I was younger. I listen to a lot of instrumental music like jazz fusion, ambient, etc. I'm really into goth rock and musical theater too. I think this time around I was really leaning into simple song structures, so it was a lot of rock and vocal focused music that I was trying to base my direction on.

Some guys out there like to put tags on bands and so you ended up with 'Gothic Metal'. What do you think about all this categorizing and putting tags on music?

We've been labeled as everything under the sun at this point. I think the most accurate representation of who we are is probably gothic metal- definitely symphonic metal depending on the album/song. I think categorizing music is okay, it's kind of helps to create umbrellas or hubs that similar bands can be put into so it's easy for people who are looking for a certain sound to find. But I also find that it can also turn people off from stuff that they might like because it's labelled as something they don't usually like. I think some tags are ridiculous too, there's a new subgenre made up every week it seems. For example, we've been labelled as Vampire Metal before and I have no idea what that is.

What would you call it yourself?

I'd consider us gothic metal, or gothic symphonic metal.

What does it mean to you?

To me, gothic has always meant it's dark, but not necessarily "evil" sounding, it has a bit of beauty to it. It's got melody, but not necessarily happy melodies. It's about the atmosphere as well.

Do you create for yourself or for others?

A bit of both. I'm always working on music as a producer and recording engineer, and I often get hired because of what I do as a musician. I find that if I'm not happy with a song, and if I have to make too many compromises, I'd rather scrap it and start over. I do want people to like my music however, so there are certain things I do- guidelines maybe, that help keep me on a focused path. I think song structure is key - a lot of metal bands just come up with a riff salad and it's just boring and sloppy sounding music at times. You can have interesting riffs, but if the song sucks and goes nowhere who cares? Give me a good melody and an interesting song - don't bore me with a 3-minute guitar wankfest.

What do you expect from the listener?

I expect them to listen with an open mind and be honest about what they are listening to and the reasons why. If you're a thrash head, you'll most likely hate Malacoda. We aren't a thrash band. We've got maybe two songs that can be classified as thrash or death metal. Listen to us if you want to indulge escapism.

Do you play to build or to destroy?

I think we play to build; we want to build relationships, grow our vision of the band and reach as many people as possible. I don't want to do something that would be detrimental to the hard work I've put into this.

Which emotions do you have plenty and which not enough?

I think I have plenty of ambition, maybe too much anxiety haha!

What would you do without music?

I don't know, maybe do something else in art? I like photography, I've been meaning to get better at that.

Where do you see yourself and the band in the next 5-7 years, is there a plan in motion?

Depending on how things go, I'd like us to be touring with some bigger acts, maybe open up for some bands we've looked up to for a bit. We had plans, but with what's been going on since 2020 a lot of shit hit the fan and we've had to recalibrate our trajectory so to speak.

Ok, we covered past and present. What are the plans for the future?

We've got a few more EP's we'd like to release this year, I'm remixing, remastering - even rewriting in some cases, some older material to prepare for a re-release down the line. I'd like to get a cover song out this year too if we can, it's something we've never done before. We've always played around with covers in this band but never committed. I think we've finally found a song we'd really like to put out.

Nowadays most of the labels and bands release their new material on CD, vinyl and cassette. Vinyl is coming back some say but for me it never went away just like cassettes. What is your opinion about the physical media, which one do you prefer?

I think physical media is useless for music. The only thing I collect "physicals" of are Blu-Rays or DVD's just because my internet connection is crap and you have to get like 10 streaming services just to be able watch whatever you want, and even then it's not on there forever. I like a lot of B-Horror films and just artsy films, so they are hard to find digitally anyways. I have a TON of CD's and the last car I bought a few years ago didn't have a CD player, so I haven't listened to a CD since then. None of my computers even have a disc drive in them so I literally would have to see if I can dig up an old discman or something from when I was a kid to play a CD. It's all about streaming music these days. Everybody puts their shit up on Spotify or Apple Music anyways. We didn't do a physical release for this release, and we won't for the next few EP's because without shows I'm just sitting on a bunch of merch. We rarely get sales unless we play shows, and honestly, the last shows we did we barely sold CD's. It was all about the shirts, coffee we make, and whatever other item that wasn't a CD. I might want to do a limited-edition version of these EP's as a box set or something, but I don't know. There hasn't been much demand for CD's.

Thanks a lot for taking time to answer all the questions, the last word is yours.

Thanks for having me, you can check us out at malacodametal.com and get our new music on our Bandcamp at malacoda.bandcamp.com - have a good day!

Traitor is one of the great newer German thrash metal bands who put a lot of fresh energy into the scene and who give hope that the whole won't die within the next couple of years when the "big ones" will retire. The quartet has lately released their fourth full-length album "Exiled To The Surface" which is one of the best (German) thrash releases in 2022 (review here). I had a very funny and interesting Zoom session with their bass player Lorenz Kandolf to talk about the band and their latest album. Enjoy reading!

Michael

Hi Lorenz, congratulations on the new album. Are you satisfied with the reactions?

Well, it was our first album to reach number 44 in the German album charts and number 27 in the midweek charts on MTV. We were even ahead of Drake and Coldplay. Of course I thought that was especially cool, because "Fuck you Coldplay!" (laughs). That's awesome, although you have to say that it became such a Corona album. We wrote it during the pandemic, couldn't see each other and had to change the whole way of working with sending demos back and forth and stuff. At some point we knew it was going to be very well received, but then how it really was and all the great feedback was then of course great.

Can you introduce the band a little bit more?

Sure. Traitor is an old-school thrash metal band from Baden-Württemberg, more precisely from Balingen, where the "Bang Your Head" festival comes from. The band was already founded in 2004 by Gerd Hery , who is our rhythm guitarist and Andreas Mozer, who is our drummer and singer, but under the name "Meatgrinder". Then the band was called "Patricide", then "Premature Burial" and it was all more death metal and they also had female vocals with Jessica (Metzger; M.) and I joined the band in 2009. Then the band had renamed themselves a few months before and went more into this thrash metal direction, which was then a natural development. In 2013 Matthias Koch, our current lead guitarist, joined and since then we are still in the line-up, have released four albums, two DVDs, one live album and two demos by now. We're also on the road quite a bit, just released Exiled To The Surface via Violent Creek Records and now we're doing interviews (laughs).

In the past you have always had a three year gap between your albums, this time it was four. Did you consciously leave yourselves more time, at the death of your label boss Bauke de Groot, with whom you were also friends, Corona?

It all played into it together. You have to add that we turned 10 in 2019 and released a live album and DVD that we recorded at Wacken, and we would have gone on tour in March 2020. It doesn't seem to us that it took so long with the album because you had this release in between and of course then Corona came along and that our label boss died of cancer. So we had to see how it would continue, because we had contracts and whether it would continue at all. His wife then took over the label and we also work closely with her. With Corona, of course, we had to rearrange everything somehow, but it all didn't seem so long. In the middle of 2020 we started to compose songs for the new album and until we could meet in the rehearsal room it took some time again. On October 21 we were then in the studio, but it was now also not conscious that we wanted to take longer. Those were the overall circumstances and privately there were also some problems and changes and that all contributed to it. But we also wrote a lot more songs and a lot of demo files, we're on it and doing other stuff. I'm also playing in other bands and I've released albums with them as well. Now we're working on a new album by Rezet and we've already written 25 songs for it and it's going on permanently.

I think in any case that the songwriting is much more mature than on the last album and properly kicks ass.

That pleases me! You always want to have an increase and you can also tell me if you think it sucks (laughs). But music is always totally subjective, people can like it or not, it's just like food. If you don't like something, you're not an asshole because you don't eat potatoes or something. With the new album, we also went to a new producer and that added to the overall package. In the production you can also hear - I don't want to throw around any phrases now - that it's a bit clearer than the productions before and that it has a more differentiated sound. That came with the new studio and producers.

Of course, if you're being mischievous, you could be accused of money-making because you already have older songs from "Decade Of Revival" and a re-recording of "Teutonic Storm" on it, so this is more of an EP as far as new songs go.....

Haha, I knew the question was coming! You could also call the album an extended EP, but I said earlier, this box set, which came out at the end of 2019, there were four of the new songs already on there, but that came out 17.12.19 and then we still played a concert in January and had there only 500 units of and then would have gone on tour. Then the fans asked for the vinyl version, but the label didn't press it, because the live album plus the four songs and you would have had to make a double vinyl and that's expensive and we got really bad insults that we didn't have that done. Then I figured that those four songs kind of went under the radar because Corona and everything happened and that would be a shame if those got lost because those are already four pretty strong songs. This time we have vinyl as well and we put them on it. But how you do it, you do it wrong, you know that and I also know that now you will arrive with "Teutonic Storm" because we had that on the "Venomizer" in 2015. But also there the story is very simple why we recorded that one again. We wrote the soundtrack for "Total Thrash" and there is a split vinyl (with Rezet; M.). That's why we actually went into the studio first, because we recorded the title track for the movie. Daniel Hoffmann, the director, used "Teutonic Storm" and "Total Thrash" in the movie. He initially wanted to do the vinyl with just Traitor and we had already recorded the two songs and we didn't want to just remaster that from the 2015 version because on that song we also had Burkhard Schmitt from Hate Squad. We thought about re-recording that and changing a few things. There are different bass lines on it, the drumming is different, and the vocals are different, of course, because Andi sings it alone. These two songs we originally wanted to record, but it worked out so well that we said "fuck it, we'll do some more and see if we can get an album together". Then as I said Daniel came up with the "Total Thrash" story, we had already recorded the songs and then said it would be cool if we did a split. Since I also play with Rezet, we could also do a song with Schmier from Destruction, who is also on there and I personally thought it was cooler, because it was a fan gift for the supporter package of the film, if both bands, which also appear in the film, are on there and not just Traitor. It would have been better for us of course because then we would have been more in focus, but I thought the split with both bands was better because you have one song with Tom Angelripper and one song with Schmier and the two bands. That's the background why the album has "Teutonic Storm 2021" on it.

How did you get Tom as a guest singer on the hook?

We've known Sodom for a few years and we've played a lot of concerts with them and actually it's a funny story because the new guitarist of them, York Segatz, used to be our stagehand. He gave us our guitars and stuff and now he plays with Sodom (laughs)! Of course that's really cool. So we always had contact and Daniel Hoffmann had this idea. He said he thought it would be really cool to have an own song and told me "Hey Lorenz, you play in a thrash metal band, write an own song for the movie". Then he got the idea that it would be cool if one of the big thrash bands was participating on that and there was the contact immediately and he then asked him. Tom then wanted a few demos, which we sent him, he thought they were cool and so he just sang on them. We then wrote him a text and what it's about and oriented ourselves to the film. It's three verses and the movie is divided into three chapters, 80s, 90s and modern times, and so the lyrics are also adapted so that you have a red thread and he liked that, did it and now we have a song with Sodom (laughs).

Speaking of "Total Thrash" - you also play in the documentary of the same name about the German thrash metal scene. How did it come about?

Daniel Hoffmann, the director, comes from the Sauerland, more precisely from Marsberg, makes the "Metal Diver Festival" and makes the magazine "Metal Striker" and he is also my boss, so to speak, because I am a freelance editor for the magazine. He told me about this before at the end of 2018 and asked if I would like to do anything about the German thrash metal scene. This idea became more and more mature and since I'm also pretty well connected in the scene, they also talked about it. It was like with "Some Kind Of Monster", there was always a film crew there and recorded every shit and there would have been a lot more, but then Corona came in between and then you had to work with what you had. That's how we ended up in the film. We had been in contact for years and because he had asked us several times for the "Metal Diver Festival" and he also likes Traitor, it was a natural development.

Are you satisfied with the result?

Well, I'm very satisfied with it, only if you take off the rose-colored glasses a bit, it's almost two hours and there were almost 500 protagonists and you have to break everything down. It's just that this film, like all of them, has the problem that it's very much focused on the 80s. I think it would have been more cool if they had made 10 minutes less of the 80s and concentrated a bit more on the modern times. I don't mean that in a bad way, the film is super classy and if there are 500 people in it, I know about 450 of them personally, it's like looking through an old class book. That's why it's really funny, but I think it would have done the film a lot of good if they had focused a bit more on more recent times. Sure, the '90s were there too, and they were bashed as usual, but I don't think the '90s sucked at all. There was great new stuff, only the thrash metal had a few problems, but that is of course thematically related thing. You could have made the movie much longer, but you don't want to bore people. The DVD is really cool, because there is a lot of bonus material on it and you can see more background, individual conversations and interviews with everyone. On the whole I would give it 9 out of 10 points, because it was well received by the people, it was also a lot of work to make the thing and this is Daniel's very first attempt at big movies and I think it's really not bad for that. But there are certainly still things that could have been expanded.

In this documentary there are a lot of newer thrash bands like Space Chaser, Eradicator, Ravager, Pripjat and so on. Would you say that there is now a new thrash metal scene in Germany, or is everyone cooking their own soup?

This scene has always existed and I wouldn't say that everyone is cooking their own soup. If I take Traitor or the bands you mentioned as a basis - we all know each other personally very well and have played many concerts with each other. We just often have the problem that you don't get paid like you did in the 80s and so most people have their regular jobs and so it's always a bit difficult to combine these tours. But there is no competition and the nice thing we have is that we used to organize concerts ourselves, for example Space Fest. Eugen (Lyubavskyy – guitarist in Pripjat; M.) founded the "Riffing For Tolerance" in 2016, where there are several bands and that all goes against racist shit in the music scene. We will do it for the first time in Cologne (19.11. with Space Chaser, Pripjat, Dust Bolt, Stallion and Bloodspot at Volta Club; M.) a benefit concert for Ukraine, where these bands play. From that point of view it could be a kind of revival, nothing against the old bands, Sodom, Kreator, Tankard, Destruction, Assassin...the guys are all over 50 and that will be exhausting. You're not doing a piano concert, it's very physical music that you play and at some point it gets a little thin there. I guess we're in this new squad and then you climb up there. So well, we are well connected and we have to see how it looks in the next few years. You can still feel the aftermath of the pandemic. The venues are still booked up from 2020 and there's so much overlap because everyone's afraid of the situation in the fall, but maybe next year we can tour a little more if it all works out. Maybe also small weekend tours and that over 10 weeks, always Thursday to Saturday, 3 gigs in the north, then in the south, then sometimes in Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and that organized by yourself, because you are not adequately paid for it and when other companies are involved, who want to get up to 20% of your cake and then just forward you an email and do nothing else.

Musically, where do you see your roots? More with the German Big 4 or with the American ones? Or somewhere else entirely?

Woah, that's really difficult. I think if Andi and Gerd were there, they would go more on the German track, Tankard, Sodom, Kreator....I have more of a broad musical taste, more like 50:50. Matze is an absolute Megadeth fan, I never liked them that much, I rather like Slayer, Exodus, Kreator, Sodom, but also like to listen to Hendrix or The Doors. I think that's a good mix, you can also hear that with us, that sometimes it goes more in this Teutonic direction and then again into the American. It's also always a little bit different from album to album.

Lyrically you have a lot of sci-fi, mystery and gaming influences. This time X-Files and Star Trek served as inspirations and I didn't know that new Metroid games are still coming out. You are all about 30+, so not the usual consumers of these series / movies from the 90s. How did you come up with that?

That's not true (laughs). Our drummer Andi writes the lyrics and is a real nerd and Trekki. He has this uniform, goes to Star Trek conventions and thinks everything is awesome - I think he thought the last 2 or 3 movies sucked. The guys are all a bit older than me, I was born in 92 and the others are from 87 - 85 and insofar one has already seen all this on TV, also X-Files. Also all these children's series like "Zordrak - The Dreamstone"...

I don't know that at all!

You don't? Andi has two little kids and he always shows them old cartoons and if you look at them with the eyes of an adult, they are always totally brutal stories, totally sneaky and evil and that is totally suitable for metal lyrics. And sure, video games we all have, "Metroid" I play myself and that's stuff that used to be fun.

Haha, I still know those old things too. I have a 10-year-old son. I used to watch "Doctor Snuggles" with him and he's really into "The Three Investigators".

Yeah, I don't have kids, but I think if you have kids and you watch stuff with them that you used to think was cool, they kind of think it's cool too, haha!

Is there also some newer stuff that you guys are really into? I'm currently watching "The Manifest" on Netflix, which is a very cool mystery series....

Nah, I haven't watched that yet. The last thing I watched was this "Tekken" anime on Netflix, because I used to play "Tekken 3" on Playstation 1 and thought I'd check it out. It's just so-la-la, though. What would be more modern is "Into The Nightosphere" from "Adventure Time", that's so really whacky. Finn is a human and Jake is the dog and a little yellow thing that can transform. It's super fun and a totally dystopian world. What you might not know is that we had our live intro recorded by Kai Taschner, the (German; M.) voice actor for Rick on "Rick and Morty," Mr. Burns, "Bride Of Chucky" and so on. We watch something like that too, from our student days - you eat pizza and smoke some "broccoli" and watch "Rick and Morty", that's mega-fun.

Where can you be seen live in the near future?

On 19.11. we are in Cologne and at the end of the year (26.12. Bochum and 30.12. Erfurt; M.) we are on tour with Sodom.

Do you already have an offer from ZDF-Fernsehgarten, or have they not heard your version of "Careless Whisper" yet?

No, not that, but the garden show in Balingen has asked if we play. I just don't know yet if this will work, haha!!!