"Saints Dispelled" is the 15th album by legendary Master and the mastermind behind all this Paul Speckmann has a lot to celebrate these days. A lot of anniversaries, "Saints Dispelled" release and also a new label which is going to re-release his old stuff. Paul and I talked a lot about Master and 'what if' questions but of course also a little bit more about the new album (check the review here) and what's going to happen with his other old stuff. Enjoy reading!

Michael

Hi Paul, how are you doing?

I've been doing good, it was a little cold today, little chilly yesterday, today it dropped down to minus 11 right now but what you gonna do? It's winter (laughs)!

I would say it's party time – last year you became 60, Master reached 40 years, this year you released "Saints Dispelled", your 15th album. What are the plans for these jubilees?

No. When you get to be 60 years old, there's not so many celebrations any more. It's not so important. You'll see if you get there that you hopefully will slow down a lot of things. I don't drink as much and I try not to smoke any more. I exercise and go to the gym two days a week. Cardio and weights - your life changes when you're getting older. I'm still rock n' roll, don't get me wrong. I still bring my Jack Daniels to the shows and stuff but the thing is now I'm drinking maybe two Jack and Cokes and not the whole bottle. When you go back maybe even only ten years ago, I was still drinking the whole bottle at the end of the night. Now I'm drinking about two drinks and give the bottle to the younger drummer or the guitar player and say "hey, have a good time, thank you!" (laughs). Things are getting a little bit different when you're older. Of course I'm still playing and having a good time enjoying the music, touring and playing shows wherever we can. That doesn't stop. It's like you have to care of yourself a little bit better so you don't drop dead the next day.

Talking about the new album – I stated in my review that it is pretty much diverse, old-school with a lot of punk and thrash and lots of homages to some old bands like Motörhead or UFO. Would you agree with that and if so, why did you decide to go this way?

When you go all the way back to the first Master album, Pledge Of Allegiance or some of the songs from On The Seventh Day God Created… Master, they were also punk influenced. Punk has really been an influence on Master throughout the whole career. I mean I've always been in the D-beat. I think it's really important to express yourself with the D-beat (laughs)! But obviously Motörhead, Venom, Slayer – these are all bands that I was into back in the days and I'm still writing the same style I've always written, I think. I really don't see much change. Some of the reviews of the album said "you know what you gonna get when you get Master, it's not new, it's Master". The point is for me that's called style. I mean even back in the day if you followed Motörhead and Lemmys career you always know when a Motörhead song comes on. And I would say for the most part you know when a Master song comes on. A lot of times maybe you may hear it by the vocals but not always. I think that Master is diverse and had its own thing going on and for the most part you gonna recognize it's Master. You recognize Black Sabbath, you recognize Motörhead, you recognize Judas Priest – I think this is important. I don't think it's a good idea to change your style all the time but a lot of bands jumped on the latest trend and the latest genre. I still do the same shit I wrote 25 or 30 years ago and I enjoy it still so why change that shit? It's not broken, it doesn't need to be fixed. 

Do you sometimes regret doing this more unsuccessful way instead of jumping on the next trend as you said? I mean this could have been a great opportunity to earn a lot of money with your music.

Yeah, but I think it's always best to stay true to yourself and I've been saying that forever. For me staying true to yourself is playing music that you enjoy. I never jumped on a bandwagon like you said. Okay I could have made more money, I'm sure you're right but how can you live with yourself when you're not true to yourself? For me, music's not about the money, it's about being metal. I am a metal guy, I've always been a metal guy and I will be a metal guy when I drop dead. I'm not gonna be a millionaire maybe but I don't give a shit! It's quiet in time, everything is okay. I have a house I live in, I paid for it with my music, I have cars, I have friends, five bicycles (laughs), ten bass guitars and one guitar – I have everything that I really need so I guess it's relative what's rich. For me this success is in the idea that I can still write albums and people like you for example are still interested to speak with me about it. That's success in his own right.

In 'Walk The Footsteps Of Doom' you even have some kind of Polka rhythm…how the hell did you get this idea?

Oh, yeah, I guess it's some Polka rhythm. I don't know. I never thought about that, very interesting (laughs)! So I also incorporated Polka into this style of music, that's great. But actually that's art so that's okay. I'll take that as a compliment. I really didn't intend to write it like that, it just came out that way.

Haha, it wasn't meant to be a point of criticism!

No, no, that's cool! I think that's the idea to bring all styles into the music. Maybe not rap – I'm not such a good rapper – or country music but polka okay. Let's roll the polka (laughs).

But it has nothing to do with the fact that you are living in Eastern Europe now…

Maybe! Maybe it has something to do with it (laughs). Maybe I subconsciously picked it up. It could be.

Coming to the lyrics of the album – can you go a little bit more into detail with some of the songs?

Well, is like every Master album. It deals with the trials and tribulations of society at a particular time in life and as well as my life. For example 'Walking The Footsteps Of Doom', is talking about the new woke society trying to take over in America and actually probably coming to Europe, too. I just think that we got a lot of problems today. I don't know what's happening to society. It really changed a lot, there are a lot of rules and regulations, there's a lot more interesting and at the same time crazy ideologies. People have different ideas today. Back when I grew up, everything was pretty straight forward. As a kid I wasn't thinking about if I was a boy or a girl, for example. I knew I was a boy. Today in society the kids have this new thing where they're trying to tell they're a boy or a girl a boy. We didn't have this but this kind of thing is going on at school. We were boys and we were girls and that's all we had. Don't get me wrong but I like to touch all those subjects in some ways in my songs. I don't have to write in your face, you have to think about it, wonder what I'm talking about and sometimes you figure it out and sometimes you don't. On the other hand it is art and I want you to make that you think of it. A lot of times my songs are open to interpretation. What mean one thing to one guy means something else to me. But I like that. I think it's important to be open to interpretation because I don't want to just force my ideas down your throat. You read the lyrics and you can look at both sides in some songs. Sometimes I'm giving you a chance to go both ways.

That means that 'Destruction In June' isn't about a historical event.

No, it isn't, not at all. Many people asked about it. It could have been "Destruction In May" or "Destruction In December". June just seemed to fit in to the rhythm in the song. It just felt right. And again, that deals with what is going on with society and over there in America with the politicians and stuff, all those homeless people and that they're sending money to Israel instead of taking care of their people in America which I don't understand. I understand that you wanna help other people, that's fine but I really think it's important that you help yourself first. I find that very strange about America – they want to be involved in conflicts all over the world and yet they don't take care about the people in their own country. You go to any major city and it's just thousands and thousands of homeless people coming out, begging and bothering you. It's not safe anymore. I live in a small area here, I don't have any stress here. It's really quiet and peaceful and nobody's coming bothering me. It's a different society I'm living in here. In America when I grew up we didn't see so much of that. I don't know…a lot has changed in the last 30 or 40 years.

Yeah, it has. When I see the news about this drug epidemic in the USA, it is really shocking. A lot is going down the drain these days, but not only in the USA but also in Germany…

Yeah, there is something, too. I have a concert on Saturday in Germany and I saw all the farmers with their tractors, that was interesting, too. I was worried if we were able to get to the show. The promoter wrote me today that it will be finished on Thursday or Friday so I should be okay.  But on the other hand, I like the fact that the farmers are standing up against the government. I think that's wonderful. The government sucks in every country and I think that there would be a lot more changes if more people would stand up against their government. At least they're making an attempt to try this. Whether it works or not, I don't know but I respect them for trying. In the USA years ago there were these marches but not anymore. The people just troll over and take it. Whatever the government says it's fine now. When I was a young kid, there were riots and demonstrations; it was a bit different world than it is now.

Yes, the protests from the farmers are pretty difficult. There is a lot of stuff going on and some right-winged people use these protests as a platform to provoke and stir up hatred against the government and lately our foreign minister was attacked on a ferry and I think these things are really some no-go's! It isn't that extreme like Trump and the storm on the Capitol but for Germany this is pretty much happening.

Yeah, it's quite extreme. I hope they all come to some kind of agreement.

Coming back to the new album, what does the album title mean?

It's a step on the saints. All the previous saints, in my mind and for the album, have been dismissed for their false beliefs and narratives, that's exactly what it's about.

You have changed the label from Indian Transcending Obscurity to Dutch Hammerheart Records. Why did you decide to go this step?

Transcending Obscurity is too small, obviously. They ́re a big force in the underground but they're mainly a mail order catalog. This is not how you sell records. They did a nice job on Vindictive Miscreant but the truth is you couldn't find the record anywhere in any shop in the world. You could find it on tour but that's not enough obviously and you could find it in the mail order catalogs. But for a band like Master you need to get the records out in the shops. And now we have Hammerheart and Napalm does the distribution. They re-issued the entire catalog on CD and as well they're re-issuing the vinyl and people are buying it all over the world. I'm actually selling a good amounts of records again. If I would have been on a decent label let's say 15 years ago like Nuclear Blast I would still be selling a lot of records. Now it's just starting again which is great. Better late than never. But Hammerheart does a fantastic job and I'm making money again (laughs).

Apart from the new album there are all re-releases of the previous Master albums on HHR. Are there some bonus tracks on these editions?

No. That I talked with a guy about in an interview the other day and that's where the comedy comes in. He said there are no bonus tracks and whatsoever and you're selling thousands every months. That shows me that to many other people the vinyl and CDs were not available or they didn't know about it because now everybody is buying it. That tells me that it basically wasn't my fault that the band stayed so underground. People weren't aware of the recordings and now they are re-buying my entire catalog again.

Can we expect some more re-releases of your works from the other bands you were involved in, for example Abomination?

Yeah, we're talking about it. But the idea is to give this new record at least about 6 months. Let the new record sell for a while, I don't wanna flood the marked with all that old stuff again. But we're talking about it and the next special box will be Abomination and then I continue to re-issue the vinyl. I think we have ten more to go perhaps, we're half-way in the vinyl right now.

I know that you are going to play a show with Overkill in South America, are there some more plans concerning gigs?

Obviously we have 26 more shows where we are the headliner. We're just meeting Overkill for one show in Bolivia. I've never been to Bolivia, I don't think they've been to Bolivia so we are gonna have a great time together, of course. There will be 10 000 people easily.  We're also working on 10 shows in Germany in June together with Arroganz, obviously we got festivals throughout the summer and there will be more stuff in the fall. The band is on the road for quite a few shows every year lately. I enjoy it and the guys seem to like it, too. But they have families so sometimes it is a few months where nothing is going on but then we're busy again but it is okay.

Now that we have talked so much about music, maybe you can tell a little bit more about the person Paul Speckman – first of all – you are living in the Czech Republic now for over 20 years. Why did you decide to move there?

I got an opportunity to join a band, Krabathor. We did that tour in 1999 and it was my first time here in Europe. It was like 44 shows in 47 days. It was Malevolent Creation, Master and Krabathor. Obviously in that type of situation we became fast friends, all of us. It was a wonderful tour except that shitty bus with no toilets and the beds were falling apart and we landed on top of each other (laughs) but we all came very close and first the drum from Krabathor quit and then he came back and then the bass player decided that he wanted to start his own band – Hypnos which is fucking brutal. They called me and asked if I wanted to come to Europe and check it out. They asked if I wanted to fill in as the bass player and so I rehearsed for about a month, came to Europe and learned the songs the best I could and after 10 days I was in Europe we were off to Japan. That was a crazy start. I really hardly do the songs very well but they are very rough. We toured in Japan then we came back and went back and forth working in America to live and check like in the winter time in Arizona where it was warm and in the summer I was playing festivals with Krabathor each summer, maybe 20 festivals in Slovakia mostly. I started a life there and never left. After that I came here and stayed forever. And here I am starting my 24th year.

What other interests do you have apart from making music?

I go to the health club three days a week normally, morning or at night exercising, I go to the forests, I like to spend a lot of time in the forests, I'm a mushroom picker. It is a nice challenge to find mushrooms, they're not everywhere! You really have to search. You learn how to do it and where to go and for me that's a great thing. I'm riding my bike in the summer, stuff like that. I have a lot of free time. My biggest job all the time is going to the post office because I have so many orders every day. For example I had about a hundred orders in the last week. So I packaged 20 – 25 and I go to the post office and the next day again, the day after again but you're only in the post office for about 30 minutes every time. So that's my big life's work – going to the post, which is not bad!

The final words belong to you!

Go out and support your local bands. They may be the next superstars and even if not, it's just great to go out and support local music, to give them a chance. It's really sad that in many towns when I was growing up we were the local band or whatever. Nobody would come to the show and support, they all would go to see the big bands. The thing is that the big bands had to start somewhere, too. You need local support so I always say that for the younger people as well: go out there and support your friends. Without your friends you never really get anywhere. We all need help.

There comes a time when we as listeners feel like we should take a break from listening to various extreme metal sub-genres, and just enjoy some good old heavy metal. Of course, this rule also applies to musicians who work or have worked on many various bands and projects, that suddenly decide that they should just instead work on something catchy, simple and effective, without an excessive need for over-saturating their music. The case and point here is the heavy metal two-piece Impending Triumph, formed by François Blanc (Angellore, Abduction) and Déhà (Wolvennest, Drop Dead etc.). Both dedicated themselves to form a heavy metal project which will focus on a fantasy setting of their liking, while the main goal is to make music inspired by the likes of Accept, Helloween, Running Wild, Manowar, Grave Digger etc. So for this occasion, I've decided to share a few words with these two fine gentlemen and see what they have to say about the story behind their project, Impending Triumph.

Vladimir

Greetings! First of all, I'd like to wish you a warm welcome on behalf of the MetalBite crew!

François: Thank you and thanks for your interest in the band! 

The beginning of Impending Triumph dates all the way back to 2020, and fast forward 3 years later, here we are with your debut EP which is soon to be released via Jawbreaker Records. Could you please tell us something about the project's early days? What truly inspired the two of you to start Impending Triumph, considering the fact that both of you are coming from a background of various extreme metal bands/projects?

The whole adventure started in the most unusual way, actually! Some time in May 2020, a drawing artist I admire posted covers of old books he found in his attic on his Facebook page. These were all fantasy stories from the 80's, with epic visuals showing stuff like dragons and barbarian warriors in flashy colors. When I saw the post, I commented and wrote something in the vein of "wow. How cool would it be to have a drawing like this as the cover of an old school heavy metal album?" And, rather jokingly, the artist answered and said: "you do the music, I'll take care of the artwork". That totally took me by surprise and really got me to think. After all, I had been a heavy metal fan for as long as I could remember, as my sisters, who are much older than me, were addicted to this music when they were teenagers and blasted Manowar and Accept all the time at home when I was a kid – much to my parents' dismay. I had always wanted to sing in that style but genuinely didn't think I had the right voice for it. But these past years, I had worked a lot on my clean vocals, especially with my progressive black metal band Abduction and my confidence grew. Déhà had always been the best of producers and vocal coach for me, so I thought this random Facebook comment could possibly be the sign I was waiting for without even knowing it. I asked Déhà if he would be on board to start a heavy metal project with me, as he is a skilled composer that can also play many instruments. And turns out although he had always been into heavy and power metal as well, he never had the opportunity to express himself in that genre either! So, we decided to give it a try, and see what we could do together. And as soon as we finished ‘Armies Of The Conqueror', which was the first song we did for the project, we knew that there was something there and decided to go further with it. And to conclude the story, the comic book artist that involuntarily started the project did provide cover artwork that was absolutely stunning, but a bit too far from what we had in mind. We might use it someday, but meanwhile, I asked another comic book/graphic novel artist, Sébastien Grenier, to do the artwork. He's the metalhead, he really is into that type of sword and sorcery universe, and he fucking nailed it. Sorry, that was a rather long answer, but that's exactly what happened.

Heavy metal music and epic fantasy has been the most common combination utilized by many bands throughout the ages, and you certainly seem to be an exemplary band that keeps the tradition breathing. Are there any specific tales, movies, games, illustrators/painters, writers of the fantasy genre that inspired the world you crafted for your project?

Yes! Since it was a comic book artist who gave me the initial push I needed to start the project, I decided to hide some references to the graphic novels and comic books I loved as a teenager in the lyrics. Aside from the introduction "Dawn Of Death", all the song titles in the EP are taken from comic books that I love. They are famous here in France or in Belgium, but probably not so much abroad. I still advise your readers to check the Thorgal saga ("The Invisible Fortress" is the 19th book of the series) and The Quest For The Time Bird, which is an incredibly deep and moving story. That's how I got the idea for the "Temple Of Oblivion". The lyrics of our songs have nothing to do with these books though. Aside from that, books and movies like the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, the old "Willow", "Dark Crystal" and "Neverending Story" are definitely inspirations, and regarding illustrators, I would name Frank Frazetta, Ken Kelly, Jean-Claude Gal, Victor De La Fuente and Simon Bisley as my main idols. I also love more classical painters like Peter Nicolai Arbo. Just looking at their paintings makes me wanna create music. An endless source of inspiration!

How do you perceive this entire "New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal"? Do you look at this so-called "wave" as a revival for the old school sound or more like a preservation of traditional heavy metal music in the modern age where everything rapidly develops?

I would say both, to be honest. I think it's a great and fascinating scene, and a very active one. You can tell that most of the bands that brand themselves "NWOTHM" are playing this music out of pure passion, and not because that they want to become millionaires. I love that! It preserves the original heavy metal sound, but it's also kind of funny to see that while all the bands in the eighties were working hard to get the best possible productions for their records, most NWOTHM bands are trying to align to these old standards instead of abiding to today's norms. They feel like they need a dirtier approach if they want to sound "real" or "authentic". And as ironic as it may seem, it usually works very well.

Considering the fact that we've touched the subject of "New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal", were there any bands particularly in this category that you specifically looked up to and inspired you to do heavy metal music as well?

When I entered the vocal booth to record my very first vocal lines for Impending Triumph, I thought "okay, I'd like to sound like a slightly more aggressive Markus Becker (Atlantean Kodex) if I can!". But that's it, really. I love bands like, well, Atlantean Kodex, Enforcer, White Magician, Freeways and a few others, but although I was inspired by their approach of the sound, with the big reverb on the vocals and the slightly gritty, crunchy guitar sound, when it comes to the music itself, we took inspiration from the pioneers and not from any band of our era.

According to your official source, the tale behind the EP is that it's about a fictional empress which presents herself as a defender of liberty, but is in fact a tyrant in disguise, while her story is told by one of her most loyal followers and biggest admirers. Could you explain a bit more in detail what exactly is this story which is being told?

The story takes place in a medieval type of universe, where mythical creatures are real and brutal fights rather common. The typical heroic fantasy decorum, and the perfect setting to describe epic rides, fierce battles and depict weird, ominous characters. We thought it would be the best possible way to emphasize the importance of always being critical and really think about what's going on around you without sounding like arrogant, annoying preachers. I like to keep the lyrics rather vague so every listener can make of them what he wants, but we thought it would be interesting to walk in the steps of this unknown soldier, who is blindly following orders and is deeply convinced that Puritania is the best possible ruler for the queendom. He literally worships her and would do anything she asks without a single hesitation. But in due time, the events are going to deeply change his perspective and he's about to experience a rough awakening that will completely change his perception of life itself. That story will be developed later, on future releases. So, yes. Impending Triumph is all about the rise of a hypocritical, self-absorbed, evil ruler in a fantasy world. Hence the name of the band!

I hear quite a lot of influences in your songs, varying from Running Wild to Grave Digger and even Manowar. While working on your songs, did you directly focus your songwriting on aspects of these specific bands or was it more on the fly?

Actually, your first hypothesis is correct. Before starting to work on a song, I would play to Déhà some of my favorite heavy metal tracks so we could draw inspirations from them. The idea was never to copy one song or another, or one band or another, but just to analyze some elements of songs we loved and try to make them ours. For example, I took the idea of having a leitmotif for the second part of "Temple Of Oblivion" from the Accept song' "Princess Of The Dawn". These two songs are nothing alike, but you have the same idea of having one simple yet catchy idea as the basis of a long, epic composition. And before writing "The Invisible Fortress", we listened to "Thor (The Powerhead)" by Manowar. I thought it would be awesome to give more space for the vocals in the verses, and to have a lead guitar playing with the choirs in the chorus. It was very pleasant and so far, we've been keeping the same approach on the upcoming album. But nevertheless, the songs were kinda written on the fly as well. Déhà is very quick to come up with some ideas and a very efficient songwriter. When we start to write, we don't stop until the song is finished, because once you get in the right mood, you just feel the passion burning and you follow your instincts. Sometimes something magical happens when you sing a vocal melody or play a guitar solo for the first time. And that energy can never be perfectly recaptured, so we tried to save those precious moments when we could.

Although it is still a bit early to talk about your future plans since your EP is yet to be released, what are your next steps that you'll be taking if this EP succeeds?  Will you be working on a full-length album or perhaps even some live shows with additional members as well?

The success of the EP won't have any impact on the course of Impending Triumph's career. Of course, I hope some people will dig what we do, but even if we end up selling ten copies, we will keep on working on our first album, which is already half-written and recorded. We are so much into it and can't wait to share our new songs with the world! Regarding live, we are definitely up for playing some shows as well. We are too busy to tour, unfortunately, but one-offs here and there would be awesome. We have some talented friends that have already expressed some interest about playing with us so time will tell if the next step will be our first album or some shows somewhere in Europe. If a festival wants to book us, that might speed things up on the live front!

This might be a bit of a difficult question to ask but how would you sum up your music, especially with this fantasy setting of yours, in a very picturesque manner?

That's a great question, and not an easy one to answer. I feel like the cover artwork pretty much sums up the essence of our music. Check out "Haggarth" by Victor De La Fuente or "Epopées Fantastiques" by Dionnet and Gal – that's pretty much what I have in mind when I write my lyrics or sing them. Shadows of warriors in silver armors riding through untamed, desolate land below a blood-red sun, with smoke coming up from the soil. Something epic, big, empowering, and deeply melancholic at the same time.

There are so many great releases already out this year and plenty of more are along the way, including your EP. Are there any upcoming releases in particular you're excited about, besides yours of course?

I'm a big fan of Tenhi and Saturnus, and both bands are releasing new albums this year, so that's exciting. Sorry, this is quite far from the heavy metal universe! Aside from that, I don't know. I don't have much time these days, but I'm always up for some old-school heavy metal. One can make great discoveries just by going from band to band on YouTube. And Déhà and I both have several releases coming up from our other bands and side-projects that we are excited about.

Thank you so much for doing this interview! Are there any final words you'd like to leave to all the people reading this?

Thank you for reading this interview, hope my answers weren't too long and that you dig what we do. Déhà and I both thought these were really interesting questions and hope to talk to you guys again when the album is done!

I do not know whose help or what unprecedented circumstances of nature came to aid with creation of Incarnated. Was it an excess of bleakness in the housing projects or greenness of surrounding forests? Maybe it was too strong of indoctrination of priests in black dresses “grabbing” people by the throat making sure that this "only truth" was the only one preached? Or maybe it was because the broth was too salty, and cutlet not raw enough??? Fuck all of it!! Incarnated exist for 22 years already and is doing well at what it does. You can complain that they do too little, but I will say that you should enjoy what they do, because when they do it ... the blood spurts! "Try before Die" is their third full length and many butcher stores would be proud of such quality bloody meat. On the Polish market square a major supplier of full-blooded goods is a Selfmadegod Rec., therefore, probably, also this time new work of Incarnated ended up in their hands. I have to say that the package offered by Selfmadegod Rec is interesting-alluring. From an ordinary jewel case CD, through deluxe version of the package with the t-shirt which Mark Riddick (Suffocation, Autopsy, Grave, etc.) collaborated on. This is especially impressive since Selfmadegod is a small, independent label. It seems to me that Incarnated opted to create a solid chunk of death metal and they succeeded. 9 outstanding tracks paying homage to Swedish death metal wave of the 1990s, dripping with gore-grind juice spurred me to do interview with Pierscien. I hope this little lengthy introduction discouraged all the nu-metal vultures, and encouraged the real death metal maniacs to the lecture.

Arek

Let’s begin with a brief historical introduction, and a few words about products made ​​by Incarnated.

Greetings. Incarnated was established in July 1992, the first demo entitled "Empire of Rot" was recorded and released a year later, at our own expense. Our first album "Human Flesh" in 2000 for the infamous and already known as "evil" company Demonic Records. Currently we have year 2014 and our third album. In the meantime, we recorded a couple of splits, promos and demos (laughs) and that's it in a nutshell.

Tell me how "Try before Die" landed in the trash in 2010 just to return in 2014.

In short, I can say that this material did not meet our expectations. It did not sound like it should and most importantly, wasn’t punishing as we would like, and therefore went to the trash. We sat down and recorded it again and that time it was what we wanted.

How much did you alter the older material? Were the changes related to the sound and the recording itself or did you rearrange the tracks?

The changes concerned about everything and nothing at the same time. Old stuff was just a mistake and so that’s how it was treated.

I know that you're a big fan of Swedish death metal from the 90s era, which bands have had the greatest impression on you?

The first band I heard from Sweden was Grave and their "Anatomy Corporis Humani", and then there was Nihilist, Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed, General Surgery, NIRVANA2002 etc. During this period Swedish scene was very strong and vibrant, everything that came from this country I simply inhaled with abandon. It all began to crumble sometime around 1995, and now we have a wave of "corpse refreshing" and a storm of fakes of all kinds. Sad.

For over 20 years you actively co-create Bialystok death-grind scene. Although it pretty much crumbled at this time, tell us if - outside of Incarnated and Dead Infection - are there bands who still want to carry on and maybe if there is some new, interesting fresh fish in the pond?

At this moment there is a multitude of bands that are in Białystok or around here and play. There are so many that it’s hard to remember the names, so I will not mention any of them so others won’t feel omitted and won’t feel bypassed. That's my strategy.

Tell us a little about Bloodline Studio, where "Try before Die" was recorded. What bands have visited the Bloodline?

Bloodline Studio was founded in 2000 for my own use, but I very quickly found out that there are many people that want to take advantage of my services. This scenario helped create a normally working recording studio, but I treat working in the studio as a hobby to keep the distance to what I do and I do not want to fall into a routine and objective treatment of my passion. Recently I recorded Marquis De Sade, their reviews can be found on the internet.

Were you tempted by the desire to get help from your friends Wieslawski Brothers?

Unfortunately, no. I worked with the studio Hertz some time ago and that's the end of it. What I had to record over there I already recorded. It's very good if not the best studio in Poland, but each of the studios has its mannerisms which can be heard in all of the recordings made in them ​. For some, it’s good that bands go over there, for others not so much. I belong to the latter group, but I always said that this is a studio with a capital "S".

Private life, Incarnated, Dead Infection, Bloodline Studio, I understand passion, but how do you find time for all this?

It's very easy; just have to reduce rest time to a minimum or even better yet, working time should be your rest time. There really is no problem. When a person has too much time on their hands some idiotic ideas come to mind and he may want to play some Satanic Blues on the French horn or ocarina (laughs).

I was wondering: what are your reflections concerning Grill’n’Grind 2014? I really wanted to go there this year because the line up (Incarnated, Calm Hatchery...) was simply delicious. How does playing to grilled sausage suit you?

The most positive. The weather was good and so was the audience. It was just an open air concert, so-called Open Air, and the fact that it was called Grill’n’Grind is another matter. They serve some kind of carcass at every concert and I see no problem playing there, the problem is when there is no one to eat it (laughs). Seriously, I would recommend this event to all who like camping atmosphere, alcoholic beverages and metal. Great place, clean lake and it’s also very safe.

I found out that after 14 years of playing together Thomas left the band, what were the reasons for leaving right after recently released "Try ..." did he turn vegan? Is the successor known already or does the search continue?

New guitar player is Aroo, and he’s derived from already mentioned Marquis de Sade. Thomas and his departure I’ll leave without comment.

Let’s go back to "T.B.D.". Is ‘Full of Victims’ a one piece really, because I have the impression that after approximately 1, 33 min. of merciless pounding a new chapter of this piece begins. Is this intentional action, or did it somehow happen in the studio?

This is one piece; it’s just the arrangement of this song. As mentioned earlier, everybody has the right to personal feelings about our creativity and this is your way of seeing this number. When we were creating "Full of Victims" we didn’t mean for this state of affairs to happen. It’s the way this song is composed. We like it, and if you do not, just delete it (laugh).

Lyrics are your share; tell us about them a little.

In our works lyrics complement the music only; they do not play the first violin. My texts do not convey any message; they’re just an integral part of a whole which is our music. My lyrics describe human anatomy, behavior, feelings that have or may occur in certain situations. Typical themes for the macabre of our region and our genre of music (laughs).

I know that you’re a musician, but also a music fan. What shocked you, what failed you, and what are you impatiently waiting for?

Shocked me:  re-edited albums badly remastered and with fucked up graphics (to suck money out of people’s pockets), failed me:  reactivation of bands generally considered a cult ones and riding the name only for the sake of financial gain (Entombed AD, At The Gates), waiting for:  Sarcofago to play live show with an old line up, when God, when? (laughs)

Thanks for your time, some word at the end maybe?

I also thank you for giving Incarnated and my humble self the time. We’re going to play concerts soon so we invite all to our performances, and not just ours. Support the underground and local scene, because without fans it will all rot. Greetings to all listeners of extreme music and see you at the concerts.