Opeth. There is not a lot that can be said for Opeth that has not already been said, they don't care for the limelight, in fact Mikael himself said that he is not good with interviews at all. Quite a statement from a band sweeping all before them; grammy nominations, top placings in many metal magazines, they are the toast of many a town in fact. I have a little chat to Mikael about rap/hip-hop, how much metal in 2001 disappointed him, the new double CD and heaps of other crap. It is quite an interesting read. Dear readers, please do read on.

Jack 'Odel'


Hello and thank you Mikael for taking the time out from your busy schedule to answer these few questions for me. Firstly, are you happy with how things turned out for "Blackwater Park", nearly one year after its release in 2001? In terms of fan and media feedback?

You could probably say I'm happy with how the album's been received. We got #1 of year or top placings in most metal magazines, we got nominated for a Swedish Grammy, we sold almost the double amount compared to "Still Life" and stuff like that. In the eye of most regular people this is what success is. For me, I don't care at all about "flashy" things. I've got a good life right now, that's what counts, "Blackwater Park" is a fantastic record and it has done us a lot of good. It has put us in a different spot than before, so yeah, I'm pretty happy!

"Blackwater Park" was certainly a venture into a more progressive field, than what Opeth and certainly death metal has been previously associated with. More so than "My Arms, Your Hearse" and "Still Life"; "Blackwater Park" was less 'hard' and perhaps more melodic from an Opeth viewpoint, are forthcoming albums likely to stay in that frame of mind, or will we see another musical shift from Opeth? Into perhaps rap or hip-hop, for example?

As I'm writing for 2 separate albums right now I can say that next release(s) will definitely be the most melodic + most disharmonic we've ever recorded. It's gonna take the listener through singer-songwriter stuff, through psychedelic stuff, to rock and hard rock and through to extreme metal. Rap? Hip-hop? Are you insane?? No, those elements have nothing to do with Opeth! We have a pretty wide range to our music already and we don't really need anything else than we already have. We will continue with our style, which is a style in itself but also a very kaleidoscopic one. Rap/Hip hop?? That'll be the day...

Speaking of new and forthcoming albums; you guys are scheduled down to a record a newbie sometime this year, including a double CD package with a serene half and brutal half. Why the split? I always felt one of the cool aspects of Opeth was that many songs were spliced with hardness and softness.

It will be 2 separate CD's, not a double CD. We take everything into consideration with a release like this. It has to look great, exclusive as we don't want the fans to think that we're trying to milk 'em for money. It's all about our artistic taste. We want two separate albums whose artwork runs in similar themes, like a black and a white CD. Our goals with these CD's cannot be reached by putting out a double CD disc. However, people will never understand what we want anyways, so fuck it! I don't really care if they can afford to buy 2 or whatever...this is for us, if the albums don't sell, fuck it, I don't care! It has always been a case of us recording for ourselves...we got signed doing that, we didn't need to put on masks or suits to be more "accessible". Let's make one thing clear right now. I hate the industry and I don't care for anyone else's opinion than my own and the other guys in the band when it comes to take this band to where we belong. That includes the fans, their opinions wouldn't get us changing a original "plan". Don't get us wrong, we love the fans we have, but they are fans of us because of our integrity and the fact that we're deliberately taking distance from the scene and from what everybody else is doing. This 2CD thing is a dream of ours, and we're gonna make it happen, that's where our job is done. It's up to the label to sell it, and it's up to the listener if they're into it and if they wanna buy it.

In regards to the new, yet untitled album, are there going to be strict guidelines when recording songs, i.e. "This song is pretty hard, lets chuck her on the first CD. No wait a second, it's a bit too mellow, definitely belongs on the second CD"? That sort of mentality?

I guess when I come up with a part or section it pretty much makes it's way to it's "home" by itself. The heavy CD will be pretty "normal" for being an Opeth CD, maybe a bit harsher and sicker. It will still have mellow parts. It's the other CD that's the real experiment as we will drift off into psychedelic domains with that one... it will not only consist of mellow songs such as 'Harvest' or 'Face of Melinda', but also dark calm music and space rock elements.

Any tentative titles yet for the 2 CD new album? Is each CD going to be titled separately to reflect on the mood of each album or is Opeth going to stick with one overall title for both CDs?

Nothing as of yet. I haven't made up my mind whether I will write concepts again or what the fuck I should do. What I know is that the CD's are going to be between 50-60 minutes each. There will probably be two different titles, but titles connecting them with each other. I haven't started with the lyrics yet, I'm a "last second" kinda writer anyways.

"Blackwater Park" was beautifully illustrated by Travis Smith (also known for doing cover art for Iced Earth and the new Winds album), will we being seeing a repeat performance from him for the new record[s]?

We've talked and he wants to do it. I love Travis work, especially the new King Diamond album is great! We hope to work with him again, and I think he's pretty psyched about doing artwork for these two CD's.

Steve Wilson did some great vocal work on 'Bleak', was this a one off for Opeth or are you looking to perhaps have some more guest vocals in the future for new tracks? Or was it the fact that Steve Wilson worked with you guys mixing that enabled him to do some guest vocal work?

We are avid fans of his, I've been into Porcupine Tree since 1995 and just to work with him was great. I think we connected in a great way musically. Me and Steven plan to do some recordings together in the future too. Well, as I said we, or mostly me and Peter are huge fans of Porcupine Tree... we had a wish for him to sing some lines on the album, but we didn't dare asking. Luckily we didn't need to... there was this part that was too high for my voice, so Steve did it instead! It turned out great I think! We won't bring in any other guests I guess. Steve's one of the very very few fellow musicians we actually admire, so he's the only one we'd be interested in incorporating. I saw somewhere that Dave Vincent is singing on the Satyricon album. That's pretty fucking cool! I've never been into Satyricon really, but this I gotta hear! He's the fucking best when it comes to screams + I've been wondering what the hell he's doing these days.

With all the great CDs that passed through my hands this year from the metal scenes around the world, it was extremely hard to pick favourites. What caught your attention this year, metal release wise?

Man I'm sorry; I think it's all shit! Katatonia's new disc is awesome, but it's obvious I'd say that right? I am not impressed with metal bands anymore in general. I guess I was a bit excited about all these reunions of old bands, but it turned out to be predictable bollocks music (Iron Maiden). I have problems with new bands...it's so shallow and predictable... Porcupine Tree did a B-side compilation and wiped the entire musical scene clean... with a B-side!! That's only my taste, and I guess I haven't heard it all. No, I'm not excited about anything put out in 2001 really.

Is Opeth ever going to release a keyboard driven album? Personally I think it would be pretty interesting...

We are going to use some piano and maybe some vintage keys for the next albums. But we won't have the big choirs or cheesy string sounds, hell no! I like the stripped down sound of a grand piano, I like mellotrons, especially if they're a bit out of tune, I like Rhoads and Wurlitzers, I've grown very tired of Moogs since all the so called progressive metal bands use it all the time. I like Hammonds too... we did one rehearsal with a keyboard back in 1992, and it did truly sound like shit! Lately we've learned a bit more on how to use instruments properly and perhaps our taste have improved with the years too...so I'm rather excited about giving it another try.

Opeth has been a band that from "Orchid" has constantly blown fan and media away time and time again. Do you have any idea why that is? The fact that people don't get bored through 20 minutes of 'Black Rose Immortal', the fact you have brutal death one second, and harmonious music another. People should be raising eyebrows, and saying 'How in God's name does that music work?' but they don't and they love Opeth. Why?

I don't know, my taste is always gonna differ, even from my own fans opinions...they say "Morningrise" I say "My Arms Your Hearse"... it's never gonna change. Since the first record we have done music for ourselves, we were a mature band even back in 1993, so our CD's sounded "real". I compare to whatever other bands there is out there I think most bands really have that urge to become something...like rock stars. I had those dreams when I was a kid, and since I let go of that ideal, I have understood that it don't make no difference in the end. We are a proud band, we've had some success lately and that is strictly due to the fact that we don't really give a shit about anything.

Does Opeth (or any one of the individual members) ever get sick of composing metal tracks?

Since that's not all we do, no. I do most if not all the writing in this band, so I wouldn't say I've ever gotten tired of it. For me it's a great challenge to do something that will impress me, I'm the best judge for my own music, past and present. I've had side projects, I have some now, I don't really need 'em since Opeth basically don't care what musical style a riff or part is as long as it sounds good. I play with other people as I like to challenge myself and maybe learn something new. Right now I'm doing a thing with the keyboardist from Spiritual Beggars. He's a very experienced musician, he's been playing in bands since the early to mid 80´s, so it's a joy playing with someone who immediately understands what you want or who can get you into playing something you've never played before. This "project" sounds almost like a krautrock band playing soundtracks...

What are your fave Opeth track from each of the five albums?

Tough... 'Face of Melinda' & 'The Drapery Falls' are good...

Are you ever going to write happy lyrics with Opeth? It tends to be depressing a little, but I guess that is Opeth to a point. I thought "Still Life", lyrically, was extremely sad. You guys need to have some more happy moments.

[laughs], yes maybe we do. I can't write about happy stuff, basically I don't know how... "The sun is shining today, I'm having a stroll in the park, feeding the doves with crumbs of bread"...is that it? I get more satisfaction out of writing in a darker manner...but hey, everybody else is doing it within the metal scene. I understand we don't deviate from the pack because of my lyrics, but that's just my taste.

Any big and upcoming tours for Opeth or are you solely working on the new album and then promoting it afterwards?

It's basically only work from now on until the summer. We have a string of festivals booked this summer, but no tours. We will probably record in the summer too...

Well Mikael, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you again for answering these questions and wish you the best of luck with Opeth and whatever other ventures you are currently involved with! Any final words to the many fans that you have acquired over the past years?

Well, all I can say is thanks for the interview + thanks you to any fans reading this. I'm not good with stuff like this...feels like I'm holding a speech or something.

Can you blame fans that with each birth of a super-group more and more of them are not too thrilled anymore? Over the last few years we've seen so many clones of the same band just with different members and under a different name that it isn't even funny anymore. So, with a lack of the usual excitement that comes with a super-group release, I picked up The Defaced "Domination Commence" and that's when it whacked me. Those five young men didn't just clone Darkane and Soilwork, they wrote quite an innovative mix of the new wave of modern thrash merged with interesting additions from the US alternative/rock scene. My attention piqued even higher when Mattias Svensson (guitar) assured me that they are not just another side-kick and that we should expect more from them in the future. But about this and much more you can find by yourself below...

Chris


Can you tell me how The Defaced was born? Not the official biography but rather the story behind it... was it during a party where all of you got drunk and decided to form a new band?

In contrary to what many people think TheDefaced isn't a new band. We're new in the sense that with "Domination Commence" we reach out to the public for the first time. But the fact is that three of us (me, Klas and Henrik) have been playing together since '95(!). This old band was sort of the foundation for what later became TheDefaced in '99, with our current line-up. In '99 with the joining of Jörgen and Henry, TheDefaced was formed out of the ashes from the old band and completely new songs were written. The idea has always been to write kick ass music, and will always be, so we needed a tight unit that totally supported that simple idea. And somewhat important as well, TheDefaced was formed out of the good reputation that the old band had on the local scene.

You guys are a Machine Head I wanted to be after "Burn My Eyes"... does this comparison bothers you?

I think it's quite natural for people to label stuff just to see where it fits in. Music is of course an area where labeling is frequently used. With this in mind that comparison doesn't affect me in no other way than it's a cool era of MH's career to be compared to. They did some good stuff on their two first albums. I believe we have some stuff in common with early MH, in the way that we express ourselves in music, but I also like to think that the differences are in a solid majority.

This release is already out for few months and by looking from this perspective are you satisfied with it or would you write some of the material differently?

Yep, it's been out in Europe since October last year. I see TheDefaced as a very dynamic force in the way that progression is an important factor. If you don't develop you stand still and everything will die away from you. We've got our solid base of influences and we develop around that base. And I definitely think that "Domination Commence" showcases what TheDefaced's all about.

Because of the involvement of few members in other bands does the Defaced have a chance to be a regular band?

This is a question that we often get and my answer is always the same, TheDefaced is by all means a regular band and not a side-kick. The two other bands have released more albums, since this is our first, and in that way established themselves more. But TheDefaced is a priority to everyone involved. The five of us all work hard to make TheDefaced into something really good and we're all very dedicated to the band.

Why "The Defaced"? Is there a history behind this name?

A good band name's quite hard to come up with I think. So one thing was that since our music is quite straight forward we wanted the name of the band to follow the same path. All in all I think we had like three criterias to fill: A band name that reflected upon the music that we play, an easy to remember name and a band name that everyone involved liked. So it was quite hard but when the "TheDefaced-idea" was out in the open it was all go for everyone since we all felt that that particular name had what we'd been looking for.

How does the composing process look like since 3 out of 5 members are pretty involved with Soilwork and Darkane?

The main part of the basic ideas of the music derives from me or Klas. Mainly guitar riffs that we come up with. From there on we develop the stuff that we like into a complete idea of a song. We both work with a computer software called Cubase to assemble and develop our ideas. Cubase is best explained as a home-studio and is a great tool because you can present your ideas in a proper fashion to the other guys. After presenting the raw material of a song to the other guys we pick it up at rehearsals to make it into a TheDefaced song. It's a bit of a process but we're careful in the songwriting process to get all the best ideas explored in the best way. So we're all pretty involved in the process.

How do you keep Soilwork and Darkane influences out of your band?

As a matter of fact it's no problem at all. First of all the guys involved in Soilwork and Darkane almost write nothing for those bands, but they do for us. Furthermore our influences are very different to the ones that the other bands have. These things make it into no problem at all keeping the bands separated. TheDefaced has a clear line very separated from the other two bands. Of course it's metal that we all play but in very different ways and with different elements.

Don't they try to enforce some of their ideas on the Defaced?

No they don't because, like I said earlier, TheDefaced is a band that has a life of its own and our creativity isn't depending on anything else than ourselves.

What do you mean by the title "Domination Commence", taking over the Swedish scene, world?

When we came up with the title we thought that it was a cool and cocky title for a debut album. Our idea behind the title was strictly a musical one. Of course we wouldn't mind to dominate (I mean who would?), but we also felt that the title had a good feel to it and that it can be adapted to many different things, not just music. Carlos del Olmo who made the artwork made his interpretation of what domination can be and he went after a more physical approach of the words in the title than we did.

How did you lend the deal with Nuclear Blast? For most of the bands it usually takes a few years not just one release...

One thing that helped some was that three of us play in bands that already are signed to Nuclear Blast. It helped in the way that we knew who to approach in the company so in this way we were fortunate. But other than that I think having a good product is the only thing that matters. I mean there isn't a single company in the world that takes on a band that they don't believe in. And why should they? They sell records and for them being able to do a good job they have to believe in their product. When we landed the deal with Nuclear Blast we were extremely excited being part of their team so let's see what the future holds...

I'm sure you already work on your new material... what can we expect from the new release?

We've got a bunch of songs written already and we're very thrilled about the way that they have turned out. We're going to follow TheDefaced-path with the specific sound that we have and we've also developed the grooves even more. It feels like the new songs are a natural progression of what we established with "Domination Commence" even if this is an early stage to talk about new material.

Is there a chance to see you live anywhere in the world this year?

Hopefully we'll show up at festivals this summer. Nothing is confirmed but I can tell you that we're dying to play. I know it's a cliché to say that you're a live band but that's just what TheDefaced is. So hopefully things will work out real smooth and I can promise that we'll kick some major ass when they do!

End it the way you like it...

We're totally excited about the release in the American territories and we really hope that the overseas metal-heads will check "Domination Commence" out and give it a chance. Hopefully they'll love what they hear and hook up to TheDefaced family. We also really hope that we get the chance to play in the American territories in the near future and we just can't wait for that to happen. And of course... Let the domination commence...

After making big waves in the black metal community with their first two releases, Agathodaimon was ready to take on a challenge by delivering their best work to date with their 3rd album simply titled "Chapter III". To make it even more difficult, for the first time the band worked without their main songwriter Vlad who couldn't leave Romania in time for the recording. Improved songwriting, interesting arrangements and captivating touches of different styles resulted in very mature material that still maintains its back metal roots but with a more gothic, atmospheric feel. Guitarist Sathonys speaks about the new record, the situation with Vlad and black metal in general.

Chris


Many people, press thinks that 3rd release is the most important one in a young band's career. Did you think about it writing the new material?

Actually, It was kind of a running game when we wrote the material even our manager kept reminding us about it... We always try to write the best material at the time we write it. We always try to give our best therefore it wasn't anything special concerning the song writing process this time than it was in the past.

How long did you write all the material cause it seems that with so many different styles and emotions it took few months and different moods?

The songs that we used for this album were written since the departure of our Romanian vocalist (Vlad). After we recorded our second demo we tend to leave it for few weeks to our friends and relatives to listen to before any further development but he wasn't allowed to leave Romania afterwards, so the material featured on this album, the main ideas and basic roots of melodies was already written in 97. So, it was a long period of time since we started writing material for this album.

To get the feel of your influences can you tell as what's spinning in your player right now?

Most of the stuff I listen to nowadays is very far away from the style we play... let's see... Alice In Chains, I'm very big fan of them. The Doors a lot in the past and of course some typical metal stuff... old death metal bands from Scandinavia like Entombed, Unleashed, Grave... From States Morbid Angel, Slayer, Megadeth. Some black metal like Immortal...

How did the writing process look like? Are all band members involved in it?

Yes, it was the first time that all the members of the band were involved... of course except our Romanian vocalist. As I mentioned earlier, we wrote all the songs without him because on our last album we more or less were forced to improvise a lot because the core of the band, all German members, flew to Bucharest, Romania's capital to record everything there cause our main goal was to work with our Romanian vocalist. We were aware of the fact that Romanian studio couldn't stand to the type of production a band can get in studios like Abyss but we were satisfied with the final sound of it. For this album we decided to focus on good production, good sound and also on the songwriting process without improvising too much. We took our time for good pre-production, arrangements and stuff like that.

Actually, I hope you'll never go to Romania to record your albums again unless they upgrade their equipment. The sound difference is almost indescribable between your last two albums. Wasn't it the main reason you didn't go there this time around?

[laughs] In the past we used to have Vlad as a main influence on our songwriting. He took care of many songs in the past and he was so to say the main songwriter because he also took care of the lyrics. On the new album we thought we should give a try and finally unleash the stuff that we were doing since his departure. It took as a while to decide whether it would be a good idea or not but we had a good pre-production as I said and we tested our new songs on few people without telling them that Vlad wouldn't be featured in a recording line up and everyone seemed to like it. After that we felt kind of relieved and had some insurance so to say that songs will be interested enough to be actually released without his participation.

Is Vlad than still a member? He's still mentioned as a part of the band?

It's a first album that he wasn't really involved but he's still a member of the band and we hope to have him on our next tour again. It seems like next year there are going to be some changes concerning the immigrants and people who want to visit the countries of the Europeans Union. In the past he was allowed to go for one month a year only and of course this is not a good working situation when you try to work together on some songs and from what I've heard starting next year it's going to be much easier for people outside the Union to come here and stay longer.

So, who wrote all the lyrics since the main poet Vlad, was not a part of this recording?

This time in most cases the person who did the most songwriting was responsible for the lyrics. This way it assured the unity between music and lyric... Akaias, Hyperion and I wrote most of them.

What is the general context of them?

When you'll actually have the booklet with the lyrics it will be quite easy to see that everyone who contributed to them had its own style of writing them. For example our guitarist Hyperion wrote very personal lyrics concerning his views on society, moral, religion and stuff like that while Akaias tends to rather focus on traditional black metal style. As far as my lyrics, they're also very personal but I tried to write them the way our Romanian vocalist Vlad did in the past. I wanted to preserve this line between our last album and "Chapter III" at least as far as lyrics go.

Does "Chapter III" mean something more than just a title of your 3rd release?

In the beginning when we were thinking of how to get Vlad to Germany to actually work on the songs we had a working title called "Architectua to Apocalypse" (or insert whatever you want here I don't understand Romanian) which is Romanian for "The Architecture of the Apocalypse" or something like that but at the end all the songs were very different from each other and they stand out for itself therefore we wanted to give the title a very neutral feeling and that's why we picked "Chapter III".

It seems like on "Chapter III" you let go the black metal tag and did whatever you wanted. Almost each song is different and not always sounding blackish... Was that the part of the plan?

Somehow... Since our demo we wanted to keep our black metal roots but still be able to experiment and try to find a way to widen our musical horizon and write songs that are not really black metal but have certain black metal atmosphere connected to them. We don't label ourselves black metal we just try to create some dark, atmospheric, emotional music or whatever you'll call it. That's our main goal.

What do you think of the reaction of "true black metal" fans to your new album if you even care about it?

So far I didn't get any hate or life threatening mail [laughs]... well, all this started when we signed the deal with Nuclear Blast. There were some people that said we betrayed the underground and black metal scene, we are commercial band now and stuff like this but we never label ourselves as black metal to start with. We like black metal and we think that this is the most intense music style but we also think that this style should be open to any experiments and should be open to any outside ideas too otherwise every band would sound this same and they would just repeat themselves over and over again.

How do you rate today's black metal scene and what do you think of the break up of one of its leaders Emperor?

I have mixed feeling...their first album, "In The Nightside Eclipse" was and still is some kind of a milestone for black metal scene. I still think it's the most outstanding Norwegian black metal album until today and it can't be compared to the stuff they're doing nowadays or stuff they did on their last album. I mean they really developed as songwriters and musicians but the feeling they were able to present on their debut they couldn't reach with their next releases. "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk" was a really great album with some really great songs but it didn't have this same strong feeling for me as their first release and this same was with the albums that came afterwards but it's always a matter of taste. We have a lot of sympathy for that band because they had this same kind of approach to evolution of the band that we have.

Is Agathodaimon a main band for all the members and do they still play in side projects?

For almost all of us Agathodaimon is the main band. Our German vocalist Akaias has another band called Asaru, which hasn't released an album just a demo, but this is rather his main band. He takes Agathodaimon very seriously too but he's very busy working with his other band because he plays guitar there and he's their main songwriter.

Are you satisfied with support and promotion of your band you have received from Nuclear Blast so far?

Yeah, but of course I can't compare it to the things they're doing to their A class bands like Dimmu Borgir or HammerFall. When I look at the way we're treated and the support we get I'm very happy with Nuclear Blast. Of course there are days you think it could be more of this or that but you have to understand them too. If let's say Immortal will sell 4-5 times more albums then Agathodaimon then no wonder they'll spend more money on their advertisement. So, we are very satisfied with their promotion and I would sign to any other label at the moment.

Any last word?

As always I want to thank to all the people that supported us in the past and for anyone interested in our music I'd like to invite you to our web site www.agathodaimon.de to check free samples of our music. And last but not least I'd like to thank you very much for your support and wish you all the best in the future.

Lock Up is a band that created so much buzz before their debut full-length "Pleasure Pave Sewers", because of its dream team cast and raging rumors about the second coming of Terrorizer, that it became the most anticipated grindcore release in recent years. And while Luck Up looked like one more side project on the market, Nick Barker (Dimmu Borgir), Jesse Pintado (Napalm Death/Terrorizer), Shane Embury (Napalm Death) and new vocalist Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates) who replaced Hypocrisy's Peter Tagtgren come back with the mind crushing "Hate Breeds Suffering" and prove their dominance while strengthening their top spot in the grindcore throneroom. Shane Embury delivers the highly anticipated answers to my brewing questions...

Chris


How did the idea of Lock Up come to life? It's not like you and Jesse (Pintado) played some easy listening style in Napalm Death and needed a way to get out your aggression somewhere else...

Well, originally when me, Jesse and Nick met together we were just talking about our favorite bands from the old days and we didn't really see it as an extension of what we're doing in Napalm Death. We just thought that it would be a fun to do and we wanted to take it a little bit further extreme wise and make it a little bit more basic compared to what Napalm Death is at the moment. So, making extreme stuff and having fun those were the main initial ideas. We also wanted to make our music in the spirit of the old school where we'd record it very quickly and spontaneously.

Wasn't the growing popularity of nu-metal also one of the reasons for the band's inception?

Yeah, a little bit. I mean, when we got back from the clubs and sit around and played our favorite albums we watched MTV and got pissed off at some of the bands that are coming out these days. We just though that some of the bands don't have any spirit and we wanted to form a band to show what metal is and what extreme music is all about.

Do you have a favorite nu-metal band or you just hate that style?

I don't hate it but I'm not really into it. That style just doesn't do anything for me at all. A couple tracks from new Slipknot album are really good but the rest of that scene I wouldn't even label metal.

Is the name Lock Up taken from a death metal drumming technique in which the arms are stiffened to produce lightning-fast blast beats?

Yeah, well the thing with a lot of English people is that we have a lot of terms and words we just play around and that's just the way we are. The friend of ours, every time he sees somebody playing very fast he looks at the drummer and just goes: "look at the drummer, he's locking up on the stage" meaning he's playing a blast beat and we just thought it would be a cool name for a band. It wasn't really death metal or grindcore it was just kind of mixture of everything.

While initially Tomas Lindberg was going to replace Peter Tagtgren for Wacken Open Air 2000 only, he stayed as a new vocalist on your new album. Was Peter not interested anymore or did he not have enough time to continue with one more project?

At the time when we were ready to do some shows Peter was very busy in the studio and we said we're going to look for a new vocalist... Well, originally before we did "Pleasures Pave Sewers" we did really want Tomas to sing on the album but we couldn't contact him and the deadline for recording the vocals was getting very close. Peter always said to us that he probably wouldn't be able to sing live with us so everything was cool and the vocals he did originally were just to help us out. Tomas really went for it and we are really happy because Tomas has more of a hardcore voice that is something we were actually searching for.

Did you ever meet before entering the studio or was the material again recorded without any rehearsals?

We actually rehearsed for a week before we went to the studio, which obviously is not much compared to other bands. We work together very quickly. I mean, Nick has a photographic memory he remembers songs very quickly. The first track of the album, strangely enough, was a mix of riffs between me and Jesse and actually come within the studio. That was the first track and only track that we made in the recording studio. So, it was very spontaneous again and I think it came out the way we really want Lock Up albums to sound like.

Did you at least send a tape with the music to Tomas or did he just fly over to Great Britain and Framework Studio before having a chance to hear the new songs?

He came a day before for one rehearsal and I think he did a really good job.

Was the fact that three of you live in England the main factor in selecting Framework Studio instead of Abyss where you did your first album?

Pretty much, it was easier for us this time. We got the songs ready and we wanted to record them before Napalm and Dimmu got busy with touring. I know that Dimmu is touring very soon and we wanted to get it done and out before they hit the road and Framework seemed like the obvious choice this time.

Are you and Jesse again solely responsible for music and lyrics or was it a whole band effort?

Music yes, it's Jesse and me but lyrics Thomas actually wrote seven songs. As we were recording the music he had a lot of lyrics written already that he had for a while and he just listened to the songs and kind of pasted them together. So, he wrote half of the lyrics for this album.

Can you describe the general concept behind the album's lyrics?

For example, the song 'Fake Somebody / Real Nobody' is about a person that everyone met in its life, kind of like liar, cheater... very simple song. A lot of the songs, especially the one that I wrote tend to be quite vague. They usually deal with subjects you think about when you're depressed, disappointed... Everyone has been through those phases when they go crazy on the weekend and for the next three, four days they feel like shit, recovering from it and thinking about where my life is going. So, the lyrics try to cover that kind of subject. Also at this same time usually when I write the lyrics and then when it comes to recording, I look at the lyrics and sometimes I don't even know what I was talking about back then. It's very confusing. But for me music is the main thing and I don't like even talking about lyrical concepts. I'd rather see people read them for themselves and interpret them on their own.

But you've got to tell me about 'Horns of Venus'. I always thought of Venus as this beautiful, sweet goddess... so what horns are you talking about on this song?

'Horns of Venus'... hmmm. I don't know, don't remember. Cool title? [laughs]

I just though that the main message was; women are evil...

No, I don't think so, but then again I like your idea. You could say that. I like the idea that people put different concepts to lyrics that are actually vague. I find it very intriguing.

Speaking of my concepts... How exactly does the cover art relate to the album's title if at all? To me 'Horns of Venus' would fit the cover more appropriately.

Yeah, I'd probably have to agree. I guess, we just thought "Hate Breeds Suffering" sounds cool. We just wanted a cool cover to look at and it didn't necessarily have to mean anything. It just looks good and represents the style of music we're playing.

Will there be a chance to see this new material live?

We're hoping to. We've got some festivals booked this summer... we're doing Wacken again I think, and With Full Force in Germany. We will try to come over to the States and do some shows over there this year and the schedule looks like it might happen between May and June. Hopefully it'll all work out but at this time we really don't know.

Before we end this interview can you tell me what the deal is with the Napalm Death DVD that was just released by Earache? I've read that the band said this release is basically illegal and Earache responded by saying "we've asked them but they declined any involvement."

It's not illegal at all. Earache had every right to release it. The problem being really is the relationship between Napalm Death and Earache that is very very bad. Several times they've asked us get involved with the DVD but at the same time we're not paid our royalties for our albums. Basically every six months you get your royalty statements, our royalties were always late and right now we haven't been paid for 18 months. That's why we didn't get involved with the DVD.

I think there's nothing to add here...

After releasing 3 albums (2 LPs and 1 EP) in little more than 12 months there should not be many of you that haven’t heard of this band yet. With their 3^rd full-length, "Symphony For The Devil", Witchery continues its rock/thrash path and once again prove that ‘retro-metal’ can sound fresh, innovative and entertaining. While so many bands try to turn and twist their songs in any possible way Witchery takes completely different approach and drives its music on clarity and simplicity. Bass player, Sharlee D’Angelo shares his view on the ‘retro’ tag, their music, lyrics and problems with release date of new Arch Enemy "Wages of Sin".

Chris


After releasing your first 3 albums in little more than 12 months, the fourth one comes after almost 2 years; what took you so long?

It was actually a combination of a lot of different things... between the first few albums we haven’t done that much touring and we decided to be more a real band and start playing live rather than spending all the time in the studio. Also, since everybody is involved in different things and bands it took us a lot of time to get everyone together in one place at this same time. We were also looking for a new record deal in Europe and all negotiations took like eternity... On top of that our old drummer quit and it took a while until we found a replacement. So, all those things put together made for this long break but I also think it was a good thing and created a little bit of anticipation right there. When we released all those albums in this short period of time it was basically to prove the point that people take way way way too long in between their albums. 3-4 years between the albums??? You wonder why? What are they doing? So, we just wanted to prove that you can write and record albums in fairly short intervals. Look at the bands in the past, they could release two albums during a year and they were touring constantly also. It can be done and we just wanted to try that out. Then we thought maybe it was too much too soon and decided to let the people wait a little for a new one.

Why did Mique leave the band?

It was just a personal thing. The thing is that he’s always been very much into the music side of things like recording and creating music but when it come to touring he wasn’t very comfortable with it because he didn’t like being away from home for very long period of time. He also got a new job, he’s new baby daughter was born and he decided to concentrate more on the family and his new job and I respect that. We could see that he wasn’t comfortable with being on the tour and I’m just grateful for the years we had, he’s still a very good friend.

Does heavy involvement in other projects cause any problems in keeping Witchery together as a regular band?

Yeah, sometimes it’s hard to find the time but we try to make the best of it and plan ahead the best we can. So far it hasn’t been that bad and if you put all the differences behind, it works.

Is everything written by Jensen again?

About 90 % yeah but the other main songwriter in a band is Richard. He comes up with a lot of important riffs also but Jansen is the main guy ‘cause he always comes up with the best stuff. It’s not like he is the bandleader and automatically writes all the songs but he just writes the best stuff and the best stuff goes on the album. It doesn’t really matter who writes the songs but he’s just the best at it.

How long did the writing process go? Did you again need 5 or 6 days to record it like your previous albums?

[laughs] No, this one actually took a little bit longer. It took a better part of the month I think it was done in 17 or 18 days. We didn’t have more time cause we were just like two days away from entering the studio. I think the last riff was written on Friday night and on Monday we entered the studio.

It’s nice to hear about a band that succeeds in playing old-school heavy metal or "retro metal" style. Accept, Motorhead, and Judas Priest influences are visible but Witchery is not just a copy of afore mentioned...

No, we are not. I have to agree with you there and it’s nice to hear you say that but in the past we were not very happy with that "retro" tag. I can understand that because so many our influences come from the afore-mentioned bands and many more bands from that period, so it’s only natural that we sound that way, but it’s not like we ever set out to be a retro band, like, "Oh, let’s sound like this band," it all come naturally since we all grew up listening to this stuff. I think it’s also because of the imagery around it, the cover art, lyrics and all that stuff, but it all just fits the whole thing. It’s just something that needs to be there in metal.

There are moments that songs just seem to be great rock and roll. It seems like you guys simply have a lot of fun doing it...

Oh absolutely, that’s what we based it upon. If we didn’t have that, the band would not exist. That’s what put us together in a first place. The recording of our first album was just like a such a joyous experience, we had so much fun and if we didn’t have so much fun we probably wouldn’t do it because I think that’s very important that it comes through the music. And if you hear the album where it sounds like people are heaving fun playing it then most likely you’ll have fun listening to it.

Is the fun and joy still high and on the same level since you started the band?

Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean there were moments were we felt a little bit of pressure since we had such very good response to our previous albums and of course there was a little bit of pressure to live up to it but we tried not to think about it too much and just do what we always do and write the album for ourselves; the kind of album that we would like to buy that’s not out there and we just have to write it ourselves.

What are the lyrics about? Are they as important as music or they just something for Toxine to scream?

Yeah. [laughs] It’s a little bit like that... they don’t have a message for people. These are the lyrics we think fit the music and of course the lyrics are a vehicle for the vocals so yeah it’s something for Toxine to scream. [laughs] I mean they are good lyrics, we try to have a little bit of a distance, we don’t try to be super-evil or anything, they are just dark fairytales.

What happened to my favorite nun? Will she again be a part of the next photo session?

Maybe, we’ll see. We’ll see if we can lure here out of the convent again. [laughs]

While I’ve lured you out to make this interview, I have to ask you about Arch Enemy. What the fuck happened with your new release "Wages of Sin"? When can the whole world finally put its ears around it?

Well, this is something you should call your local Century Media office and ask about. It actually has to do with a few differences we have in a contract that we try to resolve and it just drags for so long now... I really don’t know what’s the status right now. The last thing I’ve heard is that it should come out in January, but I can’t really confirm it. I just hope it’s finally going to happen because we re-did the artwork for the US and it will also include a few bonus things on it as well.

I hope so. It’s almost been a year since "Wages of Sin" hit Japan’s stores and it has to be really frustrating to see your work lying on the shelves for so long.

It’s extremely frustrating. This material, when it’ll come out it will be over a year old... It’s bad when it happens like that, but its just politics.

Let’s just hope for less politics and more music in 2002...

How talented does a band have to be to tour with power metal giants Stratovarius and Rhapsody after only one full-length album? Sonata Arctica, hailing from the frigid zones of northern Finland, have proven more than worthy. Their latest release "Silence" is seen as no less than a true masterpiece by the staff here at MetalBite, and it has gotten half of us into power metal in general. The genius composer and singer Tony Kakko has a way of creating melodies that will stick in your head for days! I had the privilege of having him take a break from mixing an upcoming live album to answer a few of my questions for all the hungry fans out there! Enjoy!

Luka ‘Wrath’


OK, I understand you just came home after a short tour in Finland, playing New Year’s Eve in Helsinki! How did that go? Are people still excited about "Silence"? What was the turnout like, regarding the relatively small population of Finland?

The shows in Finland, well, it's not touring in strictest sense of the word. We have mainly weekend shows. And we have those until the end of February. Not that many bands are able to really tour in Finland the way one can do in Europe for example. The show in Hell-sinki was ok. We had lot more fun on stage. We had guests from Japan(imagine, this girl came to our hometown Kemi on Dec 23rd, spent a week there, then took a taxi to Mietaa (400+km!!) where we had a show on 29th and ended the trip in Helsinki.), Germany, France & Sweden at least. Crazy people! "Silence" has sold nicely in Finland. More than "Ecliptica", which was expected. Relatively we sell best in Finland. About 10k albums to 5 million. We have sold around 40k in Japan, but there are zillion people in Japan. :)

"Silence" is a metal masterpiece! It has not left my player since I bought it, I must congratulate you as a composer, I am curious-what kind of musical education/experience do you have for such a young genius?

Thanks! Nice to hear you think so! Cool! I studied keyboards for 2 years when I was 18-19, but that really was not my thing. Frustrating to see little kids aged 5 learn and master things faster and better than "moi". SO other than that I'm "natures child", if you will.

Finland’s metal scene today is probably my favorite, with amazing bands like Children of Bodom, Stratovarius, Amorphis, Sentenced..., and now, of course, Sonata Arctica. Are you guys friends with any of these musicians?

Nightwish (HUGE addition to your list!) & Stratovarius are the closest ones. We toured with Stratos and got to know them. It's nice you can SMS or e-mail to these fellas as friend. Couple of years ago they were idols! I love this business (with all its little faults)! And Nightwish, well I've been working with them on couple of occasions and they are the closest thing we really have to a brothers/sister on this business. And Tuomas is my really good friend. It's nice to have someone to share this pain of creation. We have of course met a LOT of bands, but these 2 I consider being real friend bands.

One album left with Spinefarm; what are the plans for a new Sonata Arctica release? Do you have anything ready, or is it all coming from scratch?

We will enter the mighty Tico-Tico Studio in our town Kemi in September. I don't have any songs ready yet, some ideas though. A start of some kind. It's worrying to me that I'm more into making the ep/lp we release after the 3rd album. That is going to be a theme thing in vain of 'The End Of This Chapter', really dark thing.

What can we expect on the new one? Are you planning to progress your sound with time, or stick to the trusty old formula. Personally, I would love another album like "Silence"!

We have learned new things, new ways of doing some shit, naturally, so I'm pretty sure we have all something on it. But I agree you with this "Silence" thing. I'd like to get same kind of mood on it.

Where do you see yourself, or the band, in 20 years?

Hmmmmm...I'm turning 47....fuck. At least I'm not jumping on stage, that's for sure. And that kind of says what's the future of the band. There's time for everything. I hope to be able to do this as long as it feels good. Personally I'm sure I continue making music. Solo things maybe, other kind of music for other kind of band. Or then this kind of music for another band. Who knows. Music anyway. I will never go working on any factory. That would kill me.

How do the songs come together in the band, do the rest of the guys help out or do you take care of everything? How long do you spend writing each song? Do you play the guitar or other instruments in order to come up with all the melodies?

I write all melodies and lyrics alone. Other guys are irreplaceable when the songs are arranged. I could not do that part alone. The songs would be quite different without them. They also function as my official critics: when something is not all that good, they tell me and I change it. Sometimes you fall in love with some crappy ideas. I don't watch the time when I'm working. That would make it too stressful. A song can come in 5 minutes, or it can take 5 years. I have lot of ideas, unfinished songs and such that I will rip someday and build whole new songs out of them. They just need some kind of frame to be installed in. I play keyboards, of course, and then a little guitar. Basic chords, but that's enough to write songs. 'Replica' is one I wrote with guitar. Melodies come by singing and playing at the same time. For some reason I can't come up with melodies by playing that easily.

I really love the slower tracks on the album like 'Tallulah' and 'Sing in Silence'! Do the lyrics here come from personal experience or are they fictional? I think 'Tallulah' is the ultimate anthem to any guy who has been dumped by a girl he likes, is this what inspired you to write it?

Ah, I like the slower stuff best as well. Weird. Lyrics, well, my guideline is never to open my life to public. It's my own territory. Therefor I never use my personal experiences when I write. It might be therapeutic but nit fair for the other person involved. And I'm not that troubled soul that I should even do that. I would be quite miserable case if it was my life I'm writing about, don't you think? I'm living happily with my long time girlfriend, things are superb for me. All lyrics are fiction. I might sometimes get inspirations when I look at the people around me, but I change everything...how do they say it in movies? "All characters are fictional blah blah blaaa to real person are purely coincidental...and stuff.

Try as I might, I just can’t understand the meaning, title, and lyrics of the song 'Weballergy'. Musically, it’s one of my favorite songs, could you explain what it’s about?

I thought it would be sexy to clue words web & allergy to one word. It looks weird enough to be my idea. Lyrically it's really sarcastic addition, part deux if you will, to 'Blankfile' from "Ecliptica"-album. 'Blankfile' was much more serious, I was kind of worried about people getting stuck too much in the internet. Now this one, again, is much more tongue in the cheek kind of thing. I also wanted to say something to the people criticising my lyrics "these are not heavy metal lyrics". So, I took a look at some of the lyrics they mentioned as "truemetal" and... sweet Lord....unbelievable. So I wanted to add my version of "truemetal" lyrics on the chorus. Crappiest peace of shit I ever wrote:"...if you live, you will die...". That's pretty fucking basic thing, when we talk about obvious things. Do yourself a favour and don't think about the lyrics too much. hehee. :)

Do you have a favorite track from "Silence"?

I have few I like better than others. Not in any order: 'Sing I Silence', 'The End Of This Chapter', 'The Power of One', 'Last Drop Falls'. The slower stuff basically.

Are there any plans of Sonata Arctica touring North America?

That is a dream of ours. We were supposed to come there already last year, but our European tour was re-scheduled and that kinda ran it over. We'd all love to come there so it's only matter of time. I hope!

What do you think of the heavy metal scene today? In the last decade, Scandinavian countries have definitely been the largest contributors of metal bands. Why do you think this is? What is it about the northern lands and metal?

I honestly don't follow it. I have few bands I like really, and well, rest are just the "scene". Nightwish, Stratovarius, Rhapsody, Children of Bodom...and of course all the bands we know personally like Gamma Ray, Vanishing Point etc. I suppose the scene is ok. I don't know. Sorry. Scandinavian people are stupid and they have nothing to do because it's too fucking cold all the time and those polar bears are REALLY dangerous especially after 5PM when all Scandinavian people are having dinner in their red/white wooden cottages on candle light and the sweet scent of fried reindeer meat spreads to the landscape from the chimneys. Penguins are also real pain in the ass. Those bastards usually invade all bus-stops so we can't go anywhere. That's why we play heavy metal. We have all the time in our hands. Ain't that something. OK, now, who believed what I wrote? Come on, raise your hands...so to put it short: Scandinavian metal kicks ass, because penguins have invaded our bus-stops.

What bands or albums would you consider your personal and professional inspirations? What did you grow up listening to, what bands influenced the sound of Sonata Arctica today?

My first love musically was Queen. They have definitely had a huge influence on me. I grew up with their albums. The came bands like Midnight Oil and Crash Test Dummies whose music I enjoy very much. Career wise Stratovarius's "Visions" has been the biggest thing to me. Sonata Arctica simply would not exist without that masterpiece. They have had a big influence on the way we sound generally, well naturally, because we have the same guy mixing our albums and all that, but also the style of music. Later I have been inspired by bands like Nightwish and Rhapsody, but their style of music is a bit too different for me to write songs like that. Maybe for my solo some day.

Many people believe that there is a strong resurgence of metal today. 2001 was one of the best years for metal in a long time. Do you think real heavy metal bands like Sonata Arctica will always remain in the underground scene, or is there a chance of metal making it big in the mainstream market again?

Well, it depends solely on record companies, sadly. If they decide to make some band a huge thing, then they put money on it and if the band can't write songs of their own, someone will write them. For a "real heavymetal band" it's very hard to make it big without big record label. Of course it can happen, but as long as these "rap'n rollers" like, well, let's take Limb Bizkit are on favor, there's really no room for other kind of metalkind music on he top IMO. We can, as all bands, make it on the certain level, but from there on it's hard. We could write really poppy songs to sell more, but that would be too painful. I really prefer staying on Stratovarius level, taking that we ever make it that size.

What are your feelings about the growing surge of internet media like Mp3 downloading. Do you think it is hurting your sales to a certain degree, or perhaps improving them, since it’s an easy way for people to hear a sample before they buy a CD. Did you support Metallica’s legal action against Napster?

I'm totally against Napster and all communities like that, even though I realize that is a good way to find new bands and all that. But let's face it. It will not improve sales in the end. Win some, lose a bit more. That's what I think. It would be ok to have samples on internet, but on form of real audio. Mp3 has way too good quality. Too often you are tempted not to buy actual album after you vacuumed the whole fucking works from internet for free. It's just not fair. If this goes so far, I can't make a living with this, I quit on the spot and world gets to live without my music.

What kind of music are you cranking in your player these days?

Nothing. I'm not listening music that much. I enjoy silence much more. I sometimes take and listen some new album I've never heard when I'm typing these e-mail interviews. But not now, because I'm mixing our forthcoming live album in Helsinki. 800km away from home... :( I hate hotels.

Thanks a lot for answering my questions! I wish you guys all the best as a band, do you have any closing remarks?

I really hope to be able to play there in North-America as sooooon as possible. But I'm pretty sure it's not before 2003. Rock on and Stay Heavy!!! Ok. Thanks and you're welcome.

What a way to end the year! On the last day of 2001 and I get my questions answered by Maurizio Iacono from Kataklysm! Have you heard "Epic (The Poetry Of War)"? No, then get to the local store while there's still time and end this year with a real kick in the face from our Northern-hyperblasts. I don't want to repeat myself here (you can read the review) but Kataklysm once more proved themselves as a class-act in a death metal world and with the addition of a few new elements to their traditional sound, they created a masterpiece that made my knees bleed. With this bloody accent I wish you all more of that in 2002… and that won't be a problem while listening to albums like "Epic (The Poetry Of War)".

Chris


Congratulations on a perfectly composed music assault to keep us warm during the winter. Is that cold Canadian winter a big reason for such heavy molesting of your instruments?

Well, there must be something in the water making bands play faster than the norm, that's for sure... [laughs]

Why 'poetry' instead' of 'power ' of war, such delicate word with so brutal an event?

It's a play on words, something poetic is meant to be beautiful and delicate yet war is destructive and dark. The Romans used to sometimes associate both, by saying that War was a beautiful thing... a necessity for survival.

Are you against or for the present situation in Afghanistan?

I'm for it... those responsible should pay for the horror they have committed. The sad thing is our paradise has fallen now we must be vigilant, 'til the enemy is defeated.

Are all tracks related to the topic of war only and from what point of view?

Most of the album deals with the human mind and how it can make the whole difference in conquering problems in life… I've used the Roman Empire and war themes as an example of that... the reason they conquered the world is because they used their intelligence, not because they were bigger or stronger men. The same tactics used by the Romans and their ideology/strategies on battle is still the base for all wars conducted by super-powers like the USA.

It seems like Rome I' and 'Rome II' is a mini-concept on this album; to what event does it relate?

It's basically the rise and fall of Rome in two parts. To write it in a detailed manner would take me many more albums... it's too long. I just wanted to show with this that Power can bring you the greed that will kill you in the end.

Although "Epic" is still a traditional Kataklysm release, there are more influences from other genres; the album seems more melodic, there are some thrash and black metal elements. How different was the writing process from your previous releases?

It's getting easier and easier to write... I guess we've matured and now know how to put to music what we are thinking... which is sometimes a problem if you limit yourself, we don't restrict ourselves and wanted to put all the influences that make Kataklysm what it is... the most important thing is that it flows like water.

"Epic" is Kataklysm's most technical release to date, how hard did you have to work on it and did it take more time to write it than before?

It took us a whole month and a half to write... that's how this is getting to be part of us, as long as we have something to say, I think it will be easy to express ourselves. We have ideas and everybody in the band collaborates and makes it interesting. If we would take months to write, I think that we would lose that original edge that comes with being spontaneous.

A lot of lyrics are sung in a more black metalish style, which is different from what most death metal bands do. Why did you choose this form over traditional growls?

I get bored of using the same tones over and over again... so I try to put variety in it... I like high pitch and low ends... and I also go mid range, whatever fits the mood.

Do you think all those changes are a natural progression of the band within the last 10 years or is everything happening according to the original plan?

It's rare that plans stick... they never do most of the time, especially if it's for the long run... so we go with the flow, we've survived many obstacles that would of destroyed many bands... and to actually come back and become stronger than ever makes me very proud.

How are your relations with Nuclear Blast right now, you've been in and out and in again?

It's never been as good as it is now... we have people over at the head office in Germany who really take care of us and believe in Kataklysm. I think we deserve a better push in N. America... but you don't get what you desire every time.

I've heard that the European tour turned out to be a huge success for you. What was so special about it and can you share with us some embarrassing or weird stories from it?

It was amazing... probably the most successful Kataklysm tour in Europe... people were really digging the new album and we made a lot of new fans, which is resulting in us going back in march for our first euro-headliner tour and our first festival appearance at WITH FULL FORCE in Germany in July.

An embarrassing moment was me singing with my fly/zipper wide open... J. F. kicked me and said "dude your zipper... " ...I'm like "oh shit!"

You've been touring a lot but is there a band you dream of playing with?

I mean we could only tour with extreme bands... so I'd have to say Napalm Death, one of my fave bands and one big influence on Kataklysm.

What are your future plans to support "Epic"?

Tour more in 2002. Europe is confirmed... hopefully we'll make it to The States.

Is Kataklysm a band of close friends or do you do your job and each one of you goes separate ways until the next record or tour?

We are friends, if we didn't get along it just wouldn't work. There's too much blood and sweat involved and not enough money... we don't see each other often cause half the band lives in the city and the other half in a different city an hour away.

Are we ever going to see Kataklysm as a band of "Northern-melodic-happy-blasts"?

Melody will always be present but the 'Happy' part ain't happening with Kataklysm!

After reading Billy Milano’s description of Scar Culture, which says no more and no less but "Fucking brutal", I’m wondering what else really can I say here? While coming from different cultural backgrounds and musical influences, the four New Yorkers seemed to find a perfect recipe to blend death metal with grind and hardcore. Aggressive and brutal but with a crispy clear production, "Inscribe" is definitely going to open many eyes around the scene and make Scar Culture mentioned in press around the world as a rookie candidate of the year. Without a question they are on my list... I had a chance to get more detail on the band up to this point progress while talking to the man in charge of vocal destruction, Pheroze Karai, and here’s what he had to say...

Chris


Tell us the history of the band that’s behind "Inscribe" that I must admit is one of the best debuts of the year...

Thank you, I appreciate that... We started around the fall of ’97, our guitarist John was in a band that was kind of like thrash and basically he wanted to get heavier, play a heavier style of music. So, he and the drummer from that band decided to form another band. Duke, our current drummer came in to one of the sessions, got behind the kit and he started playing drums and old drummer took over the vocals. They put an ad for a bass player and got Frank but then the singer left the band so they put another ad. At that time I just moved to New York so I answered the ad, they gave me 3 songs to write lyrics so I did and we took it from there. Originally we were called Scrape and we played our first show with Brutal Truth in January of ’98. We recorded a demo and just started playing a lot of shows with that. That demo went really well for us we probably got rid of 4000 copies. We started getting mails from places like Sweden where we had no idea people were listening to us out there. So, we decided to go ahead and record another demo that would be pretty much for press and radio. After recording that we decided to use our own money and record full-length album, before we were sign to anything and than use that to shop around the labels and Century Media picked it up.

How did Billy Milano get involved with Scar Culture?

A friend of mine told me that Billy was looking for bands, so I sent him our second demo. I followed up with an email, he looked into it and wrote me back that saying that listened to it and he thought it was really really good, really fucking heavy. His only thing was that he never produced a band like us. Most of the stuff he’s done was like Madball, Agnostic Front or bands like that; he’s never done a band as heavy as us. He made that clear to us and we said all right let’s take a chance. He set the date and we went for it. The staff at Blue Meanie Studio really helped us out; they had a lot of good input on mixing and production.

It seems like after that everything started to fall into a place. For how many albums is your deal with Century Media and how did it happen?

What we did was after we recorded the album I put together a press package to shop to labels. I made a list of record companies and I sent it everywhere. I sent it to every metal label around I even sent it to major commercial labels [laughs] just to see what people would think and to start the name recognition going. There were a few labels interested but no one contacted us until few months later after Steve Joh from Century Media. We started talking to CM, I called Billy and asked him just to put a good word for us at CM for verification. That’s how it basically happened. It took a long time to negotiate our deal [laughs], they wanted a lot more albums from us but we settled on a three-album deal. They sent us back to the studio to record more songs, got all the paper work going and the rest is self-explanatory.

To "Inscribe" we go... Let’s start with the very interesting cover, what exactly does it represent? What is that scale or whatever it is?

The figure on the cover is a... when I was talking to the artist I gave him the lyrics and I said there is not one thing that stands for anything and why don’t you just talk to me and kind of get the vibe out of that, out of our conversation. Out of that he got the main vibe that was a human, vibe very much about the human nature. So, what you kind of have is like this close-up of an eye and the figure, the scale kind of figure that you can’t really tell what it is and that was kind of the intention, as well as kind of baby’s face in the reflection of the eye. We wanted it to be so you can’t really pinpoint what exactly it is about but you can still have that feeling from it and we basically just wanted to present the human aspect of the band.

What strikes me the most in this album is its power and aggression combined with perfect touch of groove elements that make me want to bang my head for the whole 40 minutes. Who’s responsible for the music side of this band and how does the writing process work in Scar Culture?

The majority of the music is written by John, our guitarist. He comes in with a lot of riffs and a lot of ideas to the practice. Primarily him and Duke, our drummer, will sit together and start piecing together the songs. Then Frank and I will help them arrange it and once in a while we’ll come in and write separate parts but the basis, the blueprints for almost every song we write comes from John. Lyrically and vocally I do all the writing.

A lot of bands fall short during the production process where "Inscribe" sound simply perfect. Did any of you have any experience with studio environment?

Actually, I went to college for music recording for couple of years but I stopped after two years so, I know a little bit how the studio works and I know what to look for. Prior to this I don’t think John or Frank have done any big recording and I know that Duke had. That’s pretty much that, I know my way around the studio but when the time comes to actually record an album I saw the Blue Meenie studio and I knew we were in good hands because I knew what they are capable of doing. They were very professional but and the same time very relaxed.

Did you know exactly what sound you wanted to achieve and are you satisfied with the final result?

We are very satisfied with the final result. What we told the studio and Billy while we were recording was that we wanted to come across as raw, very aggressive and powerful but at this same time have a lot of dynamics to it cause I always fell that that’s missing in a lot of heavy metal music. We wanted to make sure that it was clear and you could hear everything and nothing was lost in the mix so you could hear the intensity and emotion behind the music.

It looks like everyone has a tough time giving your music style a label. How would you describe the type of music you perform?

I’d pretty much say it’s metal. Generally people want to label everything they can and in the end it makes it easer to find and accept but we have so many different influences coming into the band that I really don’t think it’s anything more than just really brutal and very emotional music. If someone asks me what it is I usually just say it’s metal.

Are the lyrics as important as music or do they go on a second plane?

Personally speaking because I write all the lyrics, lyrics work hand in hand with the music. Lyrics are very important to me. Like I said, we are very emotional, honest band and the only way we can express it is by writing honest music and I try to do the same with my lyrics. I spend a lot of time on them and I put a lot of thought and energy while writing them.

What are the main topics of your lyrics and do they in any way relate to the album’s cover or title?

Completely. The album cover and title was inspired by the lyrics. Like I said, our cover artist all he had to work with was my lyrics and our conversation. As far as lyrical topics I really don’t want to go into details because they are very personal for me but I can say that I write from my personal standpoint, from experience and the general theme of my lyrics is of a human nature. Almost everything on them has to do with me, and when I relate to something else it all boils down to a human nature.

Of course except Faith No More’s ‘Surprise! You’re Dead!’ Whose idea was it, yours or record label?

[laughs] It was our idea. The record label wanted us to make the album longer so we went in and recorded three more songs, one ours and two more covers. One of the covers, which is not on the album, was ‘Wolverine Blues’ by Entombed and that’ll probably be released on one of the special releases somewhere but I don’t know exactly where and when. As for Faih No More ‘Surprise! You’re Dead’, we are all big fans of Faith No More and I’m probably the biggest one; I love Michael Patton and everything he does. He’s a great vocalist. The song... we just though it was different, not a lot of bands cover Faith No More songs and this song really fit with our style and we decided to go ahead and do it.

Forest of Shadows: a band that seems to have finally reared its head to the metal public. Fortunately for us they seem to be making a permanent reservation here. Through countless promotion sampler CDs and no label support, Rage of Achilles broke the trend and signed Forest of Shadows and released their MCD "Where Dreams turn to Dust". Encompassing a huge spectrum of flavors from the metal smorgasbord, they are now a band impossible to tag. I had the pleasure of mailing Niclas, Forest of Shadows founder, vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist in regards to the project and their upcoming full length album.

Jack ‘Odel’


Nicke, could you first tell the viewers of this interview a bit about Forest of Shadows and the early time of you starting out?

Forest of Shadows was founded by me as a solo-project back in 1997. In May 1998 the first demo "The Silent Cry" was released and some weeks after that, multi-instrumentalist Micce Andersson joined the band. We released a teaser of our "new sound" in 1999 titled "Promotion-CD 1999" and it gained quite good criticism so we decided to start rehearsing and seeking some new members for a live setting. In autumn of 1999, Martin Claesson joined on guitar and the three of us, plus some session-members did two gigs in 2000 before Martin left the band. Micce and I decided to go for the studio-band thing for a while since we weren't all too satisfied with our live performances. During the time as a "live band" we released the teaser "Promotion-CD 2000" and wrote the material for the upcoming demo "Where Dreams Turn to Dust" which we released in the autumn of 2000. Some month after this release we inked a deal with the new label Molded Skull who were to release our demo as a MCD. But things didn't go as planned for the label and in April 2001 they wrote and recommended us to find another label. So we did and ended up with Rage of Achilles (the new promise among labels) and they released our MCD "Where Dreams Turn to Dust" on the 29th of October 2001 and that's pretty much where we are right now...

Why metal? Why not pop or grunge? Is there anything specifically particular that attracted you to metal?

The main reason why Forest of Shadows became a metal-band is that metal was more or less the only genre that mattered to me when I founded the band back in 1997. The most important thing about Forest of Shadows being a metal band is the creative freedom which, of course has limitations but still makes it possible to develop a quite original and personal sound without too much effort. Since Micce joined in 1998 we have developed our sound more and more away from standardized doom-metal, towards some kind of utopian Forest of Shadows-sound. Where we are right now, metal is more of a founding layer and a powerful way of expressing something that might as well be pop, ambient or whatever.

Forest of Shadows covers a vast musical spectrum and is impossible to define within an existing genre of metal, are you happy with that?

Personally I'm very happy with that. There are both good and bad sides about having a genre tagged to your music. The good thing is that you get a lot of easy promotion, which can be quite handy. I mean if you get to know about a band that sound like one of your favorites, then you'll probably check that band out. The bad thing is that people don't listen to what the music really has to offer, provided that it has something to offer.

With the countless musician changes that Forest of Shadows have gone through it must have been an awful weight upon your shoulders to hold all Forest of Shadows responsibilities for a quite some of time. Any thoughts?

Well most of these people were just in the band for some weeks. The only person that's not in the band any more that really mattered is Martin Claesson. Being the founding-member I have had and still do have a lot of responsibility that Forest of Shadows stays on the "right path" and continues to represent that specific feeling that makes it Forest of Shadows. Since I'm not all that keen on dictatorship I try to share the responsibility as much as possible though.

With the release of the MCD "Where Dreams Turn to Dust", the press reaction was one of joy and excitement, were you happy with amount of support the MCD received?

I don't know if the MCD as such has gained that much support. The most important channel of promotion has been the songs on www.mp3.com without which we would never have reached as far as we have done. Maybe what the press wrote made people visit www.mp3.com but if that's the case then it's not just thanks to the MCD.

What can you tell us about the soon to be released album? You said it possesses the same style as music as "Where Dreams Turn to Dust", but a bit more 'well-done', care to elaborate at all?

Well most of the material that is to be used for the upcoming full-length was written during the "Where Dreams turn to Dust"-period, so in that sense it's quite similar to the MCD. One of the songs is actually taken from the very first demo as well. What I meant by more "well-done" is that this time we know that the stuff is to be released which we didn't when we recorded "When Dreams Turn to Dust", and thus it feels more motivated to put as much effort as possible in the process. It will also be more "well-done" since we have had plenty of time to really analyze the material and get into it in order to get the best out of it. Another important thing is that while the MCD was more or less written by me alone this album shows more of a cooperation between Micce and I.

On the new album, are there any album titles that you have brewing in your mind at the moment or is it still an open question?

We haven't even started to think about it so I would say it's a still an open question indeed.

Is the recording of the new album going well?

So far we have just been playing around with the material so we haven't really recorded anything that is to be used. But I would say that the entire process is going quite according to plans.

With influences from Katatonia and an excellent cover of 'Rainroom' do you draw you inspiration from the earlier Katatonia albums ("Dance of December Souls" and "Brave Murder Day") or more of the newer Katatonia albums ("Discourage Ones" and "Last Fair Deal Gone Down")?

Even though both Micce and I adore Katatonia and especially their legendary album "Brave Murder Day" we are far from trying to sound like them. The main influence we have got from them is their way of making simplistic and still VERY powerful music which is most evident on "Brave Murder Day". I think the "Brave Murder Day"-style is more suitable for Forest of Shadows than the newer stuff.

You must be so happy that Rage of Achilles signed you up. Are things working out OK as far as distribution and promotional activities? As I read in your biographical information that they have a real interest in Forest of Shadows and that must really make it easier for you in terms of creative directions.

When we were contacted by Rage of Achilles for the first time we didn't know anything about them apart from the fact that another band in which I play, Shubend, was signed to them as well. But soon they started to show up in a lot of zines and a lot of their bands received good reviews especially Cult of Luna, which is a band both me and Micce like a lot. Still the best thing about Rage of Achilles is that they care a lot about us and give us creative freedom. The only ones that seems to fuck up the process is the distributors, who are slow as hell, and I guess I can't blame Rage of Achilles for that. To conclude we are VERY happy with the fact that Rage of Achilles signed us.

What CDs are spinning in your CD player at the moment?

"A Fine Day To Exit" - Anathema, "Prometheus..." - Emperor, "Director's Cut" - Fantomas and "Dreadful Hours" - My Dying Bride.

The metal scene is one that is constantly fluctuating between trends. Mid to middle-late 90's there was the big jump of symphonic black metal bands. Late 90's and up until now there seems to be a large surge of melodic death metal. What are your thoughts on things and how they stand at the moment? Any predictions to how the metal scene in Europe will change?

There will always be trends in music and I don't see anything bad about it. It makes the trendy genre grow and most of the time it grows into something good. I believe that symphonic black metal is as big today as it has ever been. I would rather call it symphonic metal or something though because to me symphonic black metal is pretty far from true (tm) black metal like Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum. Well actually I don't care much for those labels anyway. Over to my predictions... hmm... well I think (and hope) a lot of bands will become more pretentious which means that there will be more "art-metal".

Being a My Dying Bride fan, and having a My Dying Bride influence in Forest of Shadows, are you happy My Dying Bride returned to the sound of "Turn Loose the Swans"? And what do you think of "The Dreadful Hours"?

Well in my opinion "The Angel and the Dark River" is almost as good as "Turn Loose the Swans" which means that I didn't really mind weather they returned to their roots or not. In my opinion they never really left their path apart from on "34.788%..." which in my opinion doesn't really represent what My Dying Bride should be about even though it's a good album. About "The Dreadful Hours" then... well I like it a lot especially since it shows a couple of new directions that are quite interesting.

Which band would you most like to tour with, and why?

If we start playing live again we will try and do something different and not just play... it will probably be more of an art thing or something. Anyway, if that is the case then the other bands we tour with need to fit in such an arrangement and the only band that I can up with right now that fit are Shape of Despair.

Has press promotion (like www.metalbite.com) helped much with Forest of Shadows or more www.mp3.com?

There is a big difference between how mp3.com and the press promote us. The amount of promotion we get from the press depends on what the press writes while mp3.com is more connected to the music since they do promotion by playing our music, www.mp3.com has helped us more than we ever could dream of. I mean there were days when we had about 1000 downloads/day and judging from the huge amount of fan-mails we have received at least some of those who downloaded the songs loved what they heard. Still a very good review in a huge zine could easily beat 1000 downloads/day since most people are enslaved by what others think. And finally I wouldn't mind getting more reviews like the one you did :).

Where do you see Forest of Shadows five years down the track?

Forest of Shadows will definitely exist in five years but I have no clue what we will sound like or who will be involved apart from me.

Finally, I thank you very much Nicke for this interview and Forest of Shadows for their excellent metal music. Would you like to say anything to anyone specifically or generally?

And I thank you Jack for a great interview (and a great review as well) and I would like to tell everyone to check out our MCD "Where Dreams Turn to Dust" which is out now and finally I would, on behalf of Forest of Shadows, like to thank everyone that has supported us and downloaded our songs from mp3.com. THANKS A LOT!!!

After a blistering MCD in “Eve of the War” and awesome cover in Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, Alchemist returned in 2000 to release one of the most incredible albums of the year; certainly in Australia and in terms of better distribution, the world too! Undoubtedly one of Australia’s favorite sons of metal mayhem, Alchemist are without a second thought one of my favorite bands and their new album, “Organasm”, is brilliant. I caught up with guitarist Roy and he had a few words to say on miscellaneous components of Alchemist life.

Jack ‘Odel’


First I’d like to say that “Organasm” is the best record I’ve ever had the pleasure of picking up from the Australian metal scene.

Thank you, kind words. It turned out cool, we worked pretty hard in the pre-production and recording. It’s got some big elements, you know? DW was unreal and it all came together pretty smoothly.

Why make metal, why not work as a white collar office worker?

Because making metal is fun and white-collar office work is not.

Do you ever get sick of Adam doing all the vocals and wish you get could up and do some of your own vox?

Not really, but I know Rodney has long had ambitions to sing a number, he sung on the 90 demo! We had a Hiawatha part in ‘Austral spectrum’ but it was pretty cheesy so we canned it.

Do you listen much to much of the metal scenes overseas? E.g. black metal from Norway or death metal from the states?

Death Metal got pretty dull for me after a few years I can still appreciate a good band but I don’t buy much. I like that real diabolical sound Emperor can get, to me that’s what Black Metal should be, I don’t like the crappy productions and copycat shit that seems to plague Black Metal. I don’t buy the politics either.

How was Metal for the Brain? Any weird shit go down?

Metal for the Brain was great we got about 1800 people and it all went as planned. We were busy as and didn’t get to see that much of the show. No real weird shit, lots of pissed headbangers afterward. It’s a pretty good vibe with all those people there. No dramas, no injuries, cool security, and awesome bands.

You’ve probably been asked this question countless times before, but why the name ‘Alchemist’?

Beause it’s metal! This question goes back to Adza’s high school days and predates the thrash era. Before my time. I think some guy into metal at his school gave it to him to use in the mid 80’s, I’ll find out! We have had a few other Alchemists pop up around the world but I think we have it covered now!

How is the reaction to Alchemist releases overseas? Are Europe and the States appreciative to the innovative metal you blokes churn out?

We get good responses where ever the CD’s manage to get out, that is the real problem for us, Displeased in Europe turned out to be pretty lame, hopefully Relapse will do better in the States. We don’t get much hate mail and a lot tell us how they have been affected by the music in some way. So that’s pretty cool.

Do you guys have a good fan base overseas? Where would most of the Alchemist fans come from (barring Australia of course)?

Well that’s hard to tell, we get some great feedback but they are scattered everywhere, US, Russia, UK, it really surprises me sometimes. They are so passionate in their comments; some have a funny story about how they obtained the music, others how they are affected by it. Most of our stuff in the past has filtered its way overseas in mysterious ways, we don’t ever receive deterred reports on what’s going on with exports in particular countries, etc. There’s a lot of trading going on as well.

In reference to the “psychedelic metal” tag... what made Alchemist want to compose such left-wing metal compositions? Why not straight out death or black metal?

I guess it was a combination of all the music tastes that existed in the band and an attitude to mix it up and be something different. Canberra in the early days of the band had a diverse music scene that crossed over a fair bit, it was pretty open minded here, there was always full on metal but also a lot of alternative aspects mixed in. People would go out and see anything. From a pretty early stage the band had that different sound. There are plenty of other bands to play the straight out stuff. It’s the weird shit that defines the Alchemist sound.

I have to ask what your stance on the Internet is in regards to metal? Are having samples of band’s work on the Internet good for publicity or just highway robbery? It seems to be a very fine line... your website (www.alchemist.com.au) is for example a great way for fans to get in contact with you and let you know if the latest record stunk or not, but on the other hand; downloading a whole album’s worth of Mp3s completely roots music (especially metal) to high Hell. Has the Internet helped your cause?

I think it’s great, the web site has helped our cause, it’s great for establishing the bands’ identity and introducing new fans. We hope to use it a bit more effectively in the future, but it’s only the beginning. MP3’s are great as far as I’m concerned. It may cost some sales but it is also a great way to get people keen and generate more sales. It’s not the same as a real CD. It does not bother me if the Internet is a threat to labels, they will have to adapt. As will the rest of us. I have not downloaded any full albums of MP3s and I use the Internet a fair bit. All the worry is about the potential, which is pretty daunting.

Do you reckon “Organasm” is the strongest Alchemist material to date?

Yes, I think it is the most coherent material to date, it has the strongest sound. We have had some great material in the past that sufferers from production problems, if given the same treatment as “Organasm” it may be a different story. I like to think it’s “Organasm”.

For the next Alchemist album are we going to see a return to the very organic, earthy feel that was in “Organasm” or another step in another direction?

New direction for sure we are well in to the writing but we plan to spend as much time as necessary. At this stage it’s weighty, textured, driving psychedelia.

Speaking of a future Alchemist album... do you have anything concrete laid down? Is there any possibility of long kick ass tracks like ‘Chinese Whispers’ with fucking neat-o sections in the middle?

We have lots of skeletons and working tracks. No long songs yet but lots of fucking neat-o bits. It is different material but it still sounds like us. We are writing in a garage with midi gear, V-drums and headphones; it’s pretty cool and sounds amazing when you’re doing it. We record it to Adza’s mini disc and move on to the next bit and so on. It’s been working out well.

Was there a video clip recorded for any track on “Organasm”?

No we wanted to go to Ularoo, Kakadu and Fraser Island to do a clip for ‘Astral Spectrum’ but when we realized we had to pay, we had to reconsider. It's pretty expensive stuff; at this point it would make more sense for us to concentrate on the next release.

Do any of you guys work outside of Alchemist?

Yes, it’s a long way to the top.

What is your favorite Alchemist track ever? Mine would have to be either ‘Tide In, Mind Out’ or ‘Chinese Whispers’.

I’m not sure, it’s weird when you go through the process of writing recording mixing then playing live, something you love can get pretty overplayed. The best stuff for me is the freshest.

Cheers for this interview mate, you guys are one of my favorite bands of all time. Stay Australian and keep recording good shit. Anything you’d like to add?

Thanks for the support Jack! Good on ya!

We will be back with a new record by next spring or summer, we will make it worth the wait. www.alchemist.com.au

Emperor's latest album "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise" is definitely one of the biggest music events of this autumn, if not the whole year. Being entirely written by Ihsahn, "Prometheus" is the most complex album in Emperor's discography but also less extreme due to influences from what is now his main project, Peccatum. With this release the most prominent black metal band of the last few years decides to end this incredible run at the peak of their career to solely concentrate on members' solo projects. While Emperor's frontman, Ihsahn, explains the reasons for a break up, one thing is certain, the black metal scene won't disappear but it won't be the same without them...

Chris


Did side the projects become more important than Emperor?

It all depends on how you see it. If people think that the most important band is the band that you work in the most, it's a very commercial way of looking at it. I take priority in all music I do, and I keep on working with what I feel is the most interesting.

Why did you decide to break up, couldn't Emperor become a side project?

No, we feel we've come to a very natural end. We've grown very much apart musically and I think at the end we were glad that we made this decision ourselves, that we'd rather stop it while it's still good instead of going on for the wrong reasons and basically destroying what we've had together for these 10 years. So, it was quite natural for us to go our separate ways but we wanted to end it in a proper way and that's why we did this album and recorded one music video... and that's the consequent end of it.

How are relations within the band? Are they this same as they were 5 years ago?

Of course those are different every year but general relationships are very good. Musically and ambitiously, we didn't have common goal in creating work. That, I think, is important in creative process... not just to go on because Emperor sells well. [laughs]

Usually bands want to have members that are 100% dedicated and we can't say that about Emperor. Are you mad, pissed about that?

Yeah... I think it's important to have dedicated members but I think, from my experience working with musicians who are open-minded, that's also important to have the urge to widen their musical horizon. I think that we've done other things that not only improved Emperor but also contributed to how we work with music in Emperor because from all the musical processes you're in you'll always learn something and you'll grow as a songwriter and a musician. For me personally, that has made a huge difference.

Isn't Emperor's break up another step toward what seems like an end of black metal popularity?

I don't see it as that.

Well, after all we are talking about one of the greatest black metal bands of the last decade. Didn't you feel any pressure with this decision?

No, not at all. Since we started, we tried to be very understandable, compromising and we tried to keep focus on what we want to do and that's how we ended it too. We haven't seen our musical career as some kind of competition or being a role model. We've done what we wanted to do by trying to do our best. Emperor as a band has some kind of integrity and that's probably because we haven't really tried to do anything else to compromise in order to become a bigger band. Of course, we have grown commercially and that has its own obligations in the sense that you have to do more interviews and so on and so forth but all of us have done, especially musically, exactly what we wanted to do regardless of any outside pressure.

With that decision one thing will stop for sure, talk about selling out and the commercialism of Emperor. As any successful band you had as many enemies as fans...

I've heard especially after "IX Equilibrium" album that we are sellouts and becoming commercial. Commercially I think it's a very bad moment for a breakup. [laughs] Money and record sales got nothing to do with our decision.

Throughout the years you've changed your image drastically. Few years ago you wore ammo belts, make up, now it's all replaced by leather jackets and sunglasses. Why?

We stopped using regular corpse painting like in 1993 but we've always had different visual expressions of the band. With time there was just less imagery around it and hopefully more focus on the music itself. Now we do promo pictures that we feel comfortable with, it's more or less how we look in everyday life. Spikes, painting, swords wouldn't feel natural anymore.

You wrote this entire record by yourself. How was that different from working on "Anthems..." or "IX Equilibrium"?

It was different in a sense that this is purely a studio album. For me personally this is the best way of working, this is when I achieve the most. I did full pre-production of the album in my own studio and Samoth and Trym had CDs, tablatures... I think Trym's drumming has done a lot for this album as he, for example rehearsed the stuff on his own interpreting this music with his drumming instead of having any second opinions or anything. So, working in a studio is a perfect situation for me because you can reevaluate and reconsider every part of the music at any given point and also be able to co-write all the instruments in the music with keyboards, vocals, guitar and drums as a whole rather than do the basic tracks during rehearsals and than add the keyboards and vocals on top of that. I feel much more complete with this album as not so many compromises were made due to bad timing or time limits in the studio or being dependant on engineer or anything like that. For me it's kind of getting the best of both worlds to be able to work in my own studio, with my own equipment, at my own time and then getting the expertise of Thorbjorn at the Akkerhaugen Studio for the drum recording and also the final mixing.

Why did you write all the material alone, didn't the rest of the band want to do anything at all or didn't they have time?

You would have to ask them... this was not the part of the plan. Of course writing and pre-production was very much in my studio but also Samoth and Trym were pretty much occupied with Zyklon at that time so... it was open during the whole process but it just happened that when all songs were finished there were no contributions in form of the musical element. It turned out that I wrote it all...

There is a lyrical concept behind "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise", right? What is it?

Yes, there is. It's also more chronological, in order, as a concept album to what we've done before so you're quite right. I know that the title in itself might be a bit misleading because this is not a concept about the Prometheus myth. It is however, quite similar in essence as the album is generally about breaking with conventions and situations you're in and viewing this things in a different light and adopting to that and being not too comfortable with what you already know.

Emperor's music was never easy on the listener, each album needs at least five tries to get to every detail and I'm not sure that's even enough. Do you always challenge yourself to write this way or does it come naturally?

It is not intentional to make difficult music but when I write I always challenge myself to write better music. It seems to meet a general perception of the album that it takes a little bit of time and from my experience with music that I really like, the albums that I really appreciate are the albums that challenge me as a listener, that I would have to listen to it over and over again and notice every detail and grow with the album. The albums that I like the first time I've heard them are often the albums that I also most likely get bored of. So, if people perceive our albums and also this last album as something that they will have to discover I think it's a very positive thing.

Speaking of the albums you like, what are you listening to right now? Do you listen to metal at all?

I hardly listen to metal. Occasionally I do, but not very much. While doing this interview I'm having David Silvian in the background and... I'm listening to all forms of music; jazz, some electronic, contemporary, classical, rock, pop... I'm quite open to anything right now. There are so many things to learn from all forms of music that I don't want to limit myself by listening to just one type.

Might you change your minds so that for one last time we can see Emperor live? A farewell tour?

We did consider doing some final live shows, but Emperor has never had that kind of continuity where performing live was a natural consequence of writing the new material. Most band's projects look like they write stuff together they record it together in the studio and then they play this material live, whereas for us it always has been two different projects, writing and recording an album and then hiring session musicians and rehearsing the live set and doing it that way. Since this ending period has been so long for us already we think that exceeding it with yet another project doesn't really make sense and there is no reason to drag it for even more.

How are your relations with Candlelight? Even your other projects are under this label. Did they give you best offers or do you just not want to shop around, thus deciding to stay with your old friend?

Basically we have an artistic freedom, which is the most important for us. We also have very good communication and we manage to come around compromises so Candlelight has been definitely a good label for us.

At the end tell me what's new in Peccatum?

We have just recently started working with Ihriel on the new album however we have left Candlelight because we are out of the contract so there is no unfinished contracts for any of us. The next Peccatum album is pretty much my first priority right now and I'm very exiting about that. Since our last album we've been doing a lot of other things; I've been doing the Emperor album, Lord PZ has been doing more work with Source Of Tide and Ihriel for a long time has been working on the solo album. Now we can get together again with a common goal of the next Peccatum and it's quite unpredictable at this point to say what is it going to turn out to be, but I have great faith in our next album and I think it's very exciting.

After their latest album, "The Antichrist" the future of thrash metal never seemed to be so bright since the mid 80s. While all signs on the earth and in the sky indicate that was only the beginning in what might be the resurrection of one of the earliest and purest forms of metal, there's still a long road before it reaches the popularity of its early days. Is thrash metal really back? Schmier (bass & vocals) thinks that all required components are there and that they will do whatever they can to make it big but he knows that only the fans will decide...

Chris


It seems like last year was very good for Destruction.

It was really a very good year. It's amazing to see our fans all over the world waiting for our return and our music. Success was there but on the other hand we're still working on that. We have to continue working hard and not stand still.

What's going on with all those recalls of "The Antichrist"?

The most impossible thing is what just happened in States because "The Antichrist" is 80% about religious wars and fanatics. It's fucking insane that it just happened right now. On top of that a lot of things related to this record have been fucked and nobody knows why. Everything seemed to be perfect; recording session, promotion... everything was perfectly organized but when the album got closer to the release date everything was fucked. It's very difficult to me to give you all the details cause there were so many of them. It's just so many things that seem to be really strange. I just got a master tape of like the master CD because we have to print a new edition in Germany 'cause the first one is sold out, and again it has cracks on some songs. That's impossible. I actually talked to the guy from mastering studio and he said it's the first time that something like this happened. I don't know how it happened and why it happened but the only thing that counts is the fact that fans like the album and this is so fucking cool... reactions have been great so far.

Would you agree that working on "All Hell Breaks Loose" was more like putting everything on one card, whereas while recording "The Antichrist" I think you were more relaxed?

Exactly, I think you've said it perfectly. On "The Antichrist" the band knew the direction we wanted to go and we knew what our fans wanted to hear. There was not so much pressure anymore. Of course we find people that say the album sounds too classical, too much old school blah, blah, blah... we don't give a fuck anyway because it's us and our fans that we want to keep happy. I think we reached the point we wanted to and even though the album sticks to Destruction roots you can hear the band's progression.

Well, I can't imagine Destruction playing death metal and power metal...

[laughs] or nu-metal. Before you, I just had an interview with this guy that said of course the album is heavy, the songs are ripping but it bores the guy because it's a typical Destruction release and there is nothing new or special that could surprise him. I mean, what do you expect? It's just in your face music that's all we want. If you want some experimental music listen to Rush or Dream Theater. If you want a new wave of metal listen to Korn but don't expect this from Destruction. As musicians we know we can't satisfy everybody and we don't want to satisfy everybody. We do our shit and if you don't want us just fuck off and leave us alone. Don't listen to us, we are not meant to be for everybody. That's it.

In my mind you came from the ashes only because of old school fans that wanted to hear old school German trash metal.

Only because of the old fans. Many people I talked to didn't understand why Destruction came back. I didn't force this. It's been the fans that forced it for a long time. You are absolutely right.... But we also reach the kids under 20 years old too. It's actually fun to see the faces of not only the old freaks who are dying to see us again but also young kids for whom this music sounds fresh cause they've never heard it before.

Does "The Antichrist" reflect your view of the world or is it just a continuation of trash metal tradition with forbidding titles and covers?

I hate religions, I always did and I think that nowadays it's even stronger... it's growing. It's affecting me a lot more than in the past. The New York disaster is a perfect example of religious fanatics and those people are very hard to stop. Most of the wars that we've had were based on religious beliefs. It's scary. Maybe the better title would be "We Hate Religion" but we called it "The Antichrist" because it's more powerful and it fits the lyrics.

What's the story behind 'Thrash 'til Death'?

It's about believing in your music. I'm growing old now and I'm doing this music since I was 13 so, it's been like 20 - 21 years. After a while you start to see that things come and go, your friends change, the world change, everything... and I'm still dedicated to the music. Of course now I'm more open-minded than I was in the past. Before I wouldn't accept anything else but thrash metal where now I listen to the music in general... but thrash metal will always be the biggest part of my life and I love it this same way as I did when I started. And that's the inspiration behind the 'Thrash 'til Death'. It's straight from my heart and it's to show young kids where metal came from, where the revolution started... It's not about fucking baggy pants. It all started in a different way...

Can't help to notice that behind the serious topic of the album you simply had a lot of fun doing it.

Exactly, even though we play aggressive music and I put a lot of anger into it the most important thing is to have fun. When we practice or record an album it's just one big party. We're getting all the booze, the joints and we're smoking, drinking, having sex, what have you. I know a lot of bands don't like it or can't handle that but it always was a big part of Destruction life, life that is full of anger, aggression and full of bad habits.

I know you did a tour with Dimmu Borgir and for metal legends like you...

I know what you're gonna ask... Yes, it does, but as you know, the only thing that counts right now is the record sales and the king is a band that sells more records. But the great thing about this tour was that Dimmu Borgir are big fans of Destruction and they offered us to come with them on an almost sold out tour which turned out to be a big triumph. With a half-Destruction crowd and half-Dimmu responses were really great. Dimmu fans didn't disrespect us by screaming for them while we played or something like that which I thought was really cool and I have a lot of respect for them. Dimmu guys were really nice to us too. Every night they'd come to us and they were like "Oh my God, you're playing before us... we should support you!" They respected us and that was the most important thing for me. On the paper we played before them but by the way they and their fans treated us it didn't feel like it.

I don't think you'll have those problems when you hit the road this winter with Sodom and Kreator.

That's why we're doing it. I do music because I want to have a good time not because of all those hassles with tour managers and fucking crews that don't even know the people from the bands playing the show. I think this is going to be the ultimate thing for thrash metal this and next year and there is a big chance that we might also visit the States. We've got some first offers and everything depends on tour agents to make sure that everything is well organized because it's very important on three headlining bands' bill.

How did you get the final order in place, were fistfights part of the negotiations?

[we both laugh] We thought of doing it before each show to get a headliner but I don't think there would be much to see of our faces by the end of the tour. Right from the beginning we said let's see how it starts so, for at least first few shows we decided to rotate the order. After a while we'll see if one band, let's say doesn't feel comfortable playing before or after another, we can talk about it or change it. If one band will have the strongest response then this band will headline every night. Great thing about it is that we know and respect each other and we don't have to talk to the managers or supervisors about it.

You already mentioned the plans for the States, any dates though? What are the remaining touring plans for "The Antichrist"?

We're going to start touring in Europe in December shortly after Christmas and it's going to last until February. Then we play some single shows like in Greece, Japan and then there is a big chance we'll come to the States but it's not our decision, it's up to the record company and promoters.

Do you plan to re-release the old Destruction albums, re-mastered, with bonus tracks?

I would like to but we don't have the rights. We'll find out very soon... we still have some difficulties with our old company. I would love to release something proper for our fans but if it's not possible, we won't get the right to it, we'll try to find the best solution.

To sum it up, do you think thrash metal can make its comeback to the metal scene and be as popular as it was in the early 80s?

Everything looks pretty good right now and what's most important there are many good new releases that come up or will be coming up in the next few months. New Slayer, Destruction, Kreator, Sodom and a few more are definitely first steps in the right direction. We'll see, we can't force anything we'll just try do our stuff, our music and the fans will decide. Like death metal, thrash metal was never dead it was underground and now it's just a matter of young bands being influenced by that music again.

Definitely the main components are there, the greatest bands from the 80s are back and I can only wish you luck and hope to see you live.

Thank you. Like I said before there is a big chance we just need to find a proper agent because we don't want to work with unprofessional people anymore. I'm almost sure that sooner or later we will come over, maybe not at the beginning of the next year but most probably around summer or autumn...

It's been a pleasure talking to you.

Thank you, same here and thank you for promoting the band and for keeping the spirit of heavy metal alive in the States. I know it's difficult but it's going to come back, don't worry it's been this same in Europe.

I hope so.

Royal Hunt is a perfect example of a band that sells millions of records around the world and is yet almost completely unknown in the States. With their new record "The Mission" Andre Andersen is determined to change this very frustrating situation, especially having an American singer John West in their line up. Being one of those people that have never heard about them before, because I’m more of a testosterone driven metal fan, I have to admit that Royal Hunt’s "The Mission" surprised me and become one of my favorite rock albums of 2001 and one of the most played ones between my extreme sessions. Well, it’s not just rock, it’s extremely top quality hard rock.

Chris


So, on what mission are you right now. Is there something more to it than just a title to the concept behind Ray Bradbury’ story "The Martian Chronicles"?

I don’t think so. It’s just a great story to write an album around. That’s basically it.

What made you choose Bradbury’s story "The Martian Chronicles" as a concept for your new album?

I guess because it’s really down to earth. Even though it’s called "The Martian Chronicles" it’s only a frame of the story, the scenery and stuff, but the main story is very down to earth, very human and interesting. It’s a great book. Most of the guys in the band read it and we kind of agreed that it would be interesting idea to make a concept based on the book. We never did that before.

Are all lyrics only based on the Bradbury novel or did you add your own, which were perhaps only inspired by it?

We tried to keep it as close to the chapters in the book as possible. Obviously there are some differences, points of view on some endings and punch lines in the stories but the basics we tried to write as much un-bogus as possible.

Was this album also recorded at your home studio, like "Fear"? Do you feel the most comfortable there?

Sure. We have every single thing we need here and more. So, why go somewhere else and watch the clock all the time? It’s very comfortable, it has a lot of room and equipment and we can as well record all our albums here. We tried to record some stuff in commercial studios but we didn’t gain anything. Other than that, we are not stressed out, we don’t have to watch the clock and we don’t have to depend on technicians or whoever is there. Everything else is this same in our studio. We already did many albums that way and everyone feels very comfortable with doing it this way.

Do you also record any other bands in your studio?

I did. Few years ago I produced many different projects here but I’m not doing this anymore. From time to time I might help some friends of mine but that’s it.

Is it a coincidence that all your vocalists are from the US (D.C. Cooper, John West), or is it a conscious decision?

It is a coincidence. Actually, both times we were looking for a singer in different places, not especially in the States. We looked in European countries like England, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden wherever but somehow both times they turned out to be Americans. On our last audition, before we got John West, we had so many singers... at least half of them, I don’t know if I should use this word, were famous or at least already recorded some albums. There were a lot of excellent guys there but somehow we picked John. He basically could sing everything and he has such a great personality that after few days I thought I knew him for years. For a band like ours who spends a lot of time together and tours a lot the social aspect is very important.

What happened to Allan Sørensen (drums)? He’s not listed as a member anymore.

Unfortunately he’s not. There were some problems inside of the band; you know it’s like in a freaking family, sometimes everything looks excellent from the outside but inside there is tension. From time to time those things are going to happen but in general we were very lucky with the line up so far. Sometimes someone leaves or gets kicked out and nobody likes it but those things happen. It’s hard to tell the specific reason but at the time when he joined the band he probably didn’t realize that it’s a lot of responsibilities, a lot of work and it’s not really well paid and that can get really discouraging. It’s really hard to tell...

Do you plan to add permanent drummer cause personally I’m not a big fan of drum machines?

Absolutely, right now we are looking at some candidates. We have around 100 CDs from different drummers and most of them are excellent. We try to pick someone who lives close to us because of rehearsals and stuff like that. With drummer we need to work almost on daily basis and he has to live close to us, at least somewhere in Germany.

Every artist is proud of its new album but is there anything you don’t like on "The Mission" and you would like to change if you had a second chance?

Everything [laughs]. It’s always like that. You do an album and you love every single note on it then when you’re done you master everything and you start listening to it about a week later and that’s when you start discovering all those small things that could be improved. Personally I hate listening to my own albums cause I always find something that I could change, replace with a better idea. And I think it’s a good thing, it’s like you are in the process of constant self-improvement. It would probably be a very sad day when I’ll listen to one of our songs and say, "It’s perfect, I can’t do it better".

What are those instrumental tracks before almost every song? Are you leaving parts of the story to listener imagination?

The whole thing is like a movie where from time to time the camera will go back and create a landscape, a mood for the next scene. So, those small instrumental tracks prepare you for the next song or make this connection for previous one to the next one. We never did something like this before and we thought that it was very a interesting and cool thing to do. Making them was real fun because at one point in time those small instrumental parts become more important for us than actual songs. [laughs]

You just signed a multi-album deal with Century Media. How did that happen?

They were very interested and they sounded enthusiastic... it’s one of those things I’m actually missing from a record label lately. Most of the labels are so depressed; everyone is talking about hard and tough times or how hard rock music is not mainstream anymore. When you talk to a record label you want to hear some enthusiasm, you want to hear fans if you know what I mean and that’s exactly how Century Media sounded.

For such a well-known band all over the world it has to be really frustrating not being able to tour here, especially for John West.

Absolutely, I understand him completely. In Europe we tour all the time... I grew up in Russia and last year we went there and played sold out concert in Moscow. We do everything to do this same for him in the States.

Any plans supporting this CD on the tour?

First part starts at the end of October in Scandinavia than we go to France, Russia and Israel. When we come back to Europe we’ll play in usual places like Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland... about 40 shows. Then we’ll start looking at what the situation is in the States, because right now it looks like we’re going to play 3-4 shows in South America, in Argentina and Brazil at least, so being so close we might jump in to States for a few shows. We are not looking for anything big... just something to start. And of course Japan and Korea for the whole month of February.

Before we end this interview I’d like to ask you about side projects. Most of you did solo projects in the past. Are there any going on right now?

John is working on his solo album that should be release around New Years and Steen is doing Cornerstone’s second album and so far that’s it.

Thank you for this interview and best of luck conquering the States in the future.

If a year ago someone told me that I would be talking to the mastermind behind one of the most unique bands that ever walked the earth, I would take it as a really bad joke and probably even knock a few teeth from that clown’s happy face. But hey, what do I know? Here I am talking to Christofer Johnsson about his latest masterpiece "Secrets of the Runes" and wondering how a man without any professional musical education can write 600 pages of such moving and beautiful notes? You think it’s easy? Forget about a full orchestra and choir; try to come up with a "simple track" for any three classical instruments, good luck. That said, dive into magical world of Nordic mythology and absorb the secrets...

Chris


I’m holding the first faded version of promotional material... Does illegal distribution present such a big threat to your music or music as a whole?

This is a record company thing so you are really asking a wrong person about that but I kind of understand them a little bit because when you send 300 copies of promo CDs you can be sure that there will be 3 or 4 assholes among those people that will put up an entire album on the internet. MP3s is one-thing because people want a real copy anyway, they are not satisfied with the MP3 quality but some people put up the CD quality, in like a wave format, so people can download them and burn CDs and they just want to prevent it. An the other hand, I noticed that this faded version makes it harder for people to make reviews out of it so, I’m a little bit unsure if it’s creating more problems or actually avoids them. Anyway, like I said this is really a company thing but I guess we’re going to have a discussion about this when we’ll have the next album.

I won’t be making a mistake if I say that "Secrets of the Runes" is a concept album?

Yeah, it’s the first concept album we did and it’s focused around the most central thing in the ancient Nordic mythology. That is Yggdrasil, the world tree. You can see it illustrated on the front cover. There’s one rune for each of these nine runes that it represents. The concept that we did was one song for each of those nine worlds representing one of the worlds and describing lyrically its character inhabitants. We usually have 11 songs on each album, due to the being the number of Kliffoth, and we also squeezed in an epilogue at the end and the prologue at the beginning. The prologue is called ‘Ginnungagap’ and this is the void of creation built in space when fire and ice were merging creating the world and then you have ‘The Secret of the Runes’ the epilogue, the title track of the album. This lyric is describing the quintessence of an entire concept. It’s about when Odin, the God Odin, hanged himself upon the Yggdrasil tree and he traveled through all those nine worlds and he received for each of these nine worlds a rune song.

I guess the writing and recording process was also completely different because this time you used your private studio?

Yeah, well... writing and recording are different things but actually it’s pretty peculiar because I was working on a completely different album and I already had 5 songs written for a completely different theme album and then I just woke up one day and decided to do something Nordic. So, I just laid everything aside, put the other album on ice for the future and started to work on "Secret..." Believe it or not but most of this material was written in a less than two months. So, it just came out all at once. It seemed I had a lot of inspiration sleeping inside of me during the years and once it was awoken, the door was opened everything just came out at this same time.
Yeah, you’re right, we built our own studio and we built it actually especially for this album. So, we spent half a year to build a studio and another two months to record it. It was very different of course I mean, this album is really handmade, it’s very personal because not only we built the studio when we recorded it but we also produced it ourselves and we didn’t have a conductor for the orchestra and choir so I took care about it myself also. It really is a personal album where each of the members could put a lot of its personality into those songs.

Was the Nordic theme the reason for using Swedish lyrics?

Definitely. The Swedish lyrics are something I thought I’d never ever use again but it kind of suited within this concept. Actually, there are only three and a half of the lyrics that are Swedish. One is in German, three and a half are in Swedish and the rest are in English. We used Swedish when it was not very suitable to translate it to English. Some things don’t translate very well and that’s why we kept them in Swedish. That’s why the first song is beginning in English and ending in Swedish, these lines translated to English wouldn’t make any sense.

It seems like you are very satisfied with Tomas’ writing. Are you not interested in writing lyrics?

I’m very comfortable with him doing this because first of all he’s one of my very best friends, we know each other very well and we have this same kind of interests so he basically writes the lyrics that I would like to have, I would like to try to write myself. The main difference is that he’s doing this better. It’s also his main focus, for me the lyrics were always secondary but for him lyrics are the primary thing and he puts much more energy into them that I would ever put in, which of course is affecting the final result. It’s also very comfortable for me because I write the melody lines and he can fit in the words exactly in a way I want it to. For this album I even wrote some, I don’t even know how I should call it, like nonsense lyrics that didn’t mean anything, but by just putting a lot of the words he could understand how I wanted the melodies to be bold compared to the words. How words could color the melody lines. And then he just replaced the nonsense words I put in with lyrics. So, it’s very very comfortable, it’s saves a lot of time, because to me, writing lyrics is something that has to come spontaneously. Sometimes before I could have a song laying down forever before I finally come up with the lyrics, Tomas is doing it really quick.

All lyrics are divided between male and female choirs. Did you feel that this type of expression would better reflect an album’s atmosphere?

Yes, there are not too many vocal solos but actually there are more solos on this album than before. We were never too keen on using solos but compared to "Deggial", our last album, there are quite much more. Also, they often sing at this same time but they don’t sing this same thing and it might seem like male of female choir. I don’t know why, this is not intentional it just turned out this way.

What do you think of Tarja from Nightwish? Would you ever use her voice on one of you albums?

She’s brilliant no doubt about that, but I think, because of two reasons, I wouldn’t want to do this. She’s already in a famous band and it draws a lot of attention; people would go "Oh, the Nightwish singer is singing in Therion." It would be like a circus for the media. People would focus more on that rather than on what we’ve actually achieved. We had this when Dan Swano was doing some singing for us. People didn’t listen so much what we did, well of course a lot of them did, but I think the attention was more his background. And another thing is that even though she’s damn good I don’t have a problem finding someone this same quality or better in most opera houses. She’s very good, no doubt about it, but it’s not like she’s unique. She’s very young also, I mean it’s very hard to find any of the best opera singers that are under 30. When they get 45-50 years old that’s when they sound best in my opinion. So, if you want to get the best ones go for the older ones. They have much more time to develop their voice.

You used to treat guitar as just another instrument... this time on many tracks guitar takes a lead. Was that intentional?

It’s just happened that way but still, as you mentioned, guitar is just another instrument in the orchestra, one of the most important ones of course, but it’s used quite often as a base instrument. This is a Nordic album and when you have this Nordic thing to me it seems like you have to have this element of earth. It has to be a more raw, harsher production. It doesn’t suit with this clean production we had on our last two albums so, it had to be much rawer. We put much more distortion on the guitar and when guitar is much heavier, much noisier we have to give it more place in the production. Yes, indeed there is a little bit more guitar harmonies than before but this somehow came natural by itself working with this type of songs. Since this album is heavier it was natural to use more guitars.

Tell me how different is Therion on CD from Therion in concert?

First of all, we are much heavier live and guitars are even more important. Well, we cannot reproduce exactly what’s on the record live. There’re few songs that we will never play live because that would be a fucking disaster. Some things are so complicated and so advanced that there are no choirs in a world that could do this even with rehearsing. It would be a fucking mess.

For the songs that we do live some guitar stuff and orchestration sound exactly as on the album because we take it from the album and put it on the multi-track machines.

Hiring an orchestra to do live shows is really beyond what we can afford. If the audience would be OK to pay a 100$ for a ticket I wouldn’t have a problem with touring with orchestra but who would pay that? There would be 5 people per show. That’s a problem we have so, we focus on what’s the most important, that is vocals. In Europe, where we do really well, we’re bringing 6-8 people with us for the choir. We’re going to tour South America and Mexico and even though we have this same amount of popularity there or even bigger in some places the extra cost of flying both, people and equipment, forces us to cut down the number of people in the choir. There will be three singers and the rest of the choir stuff would have to come from the track machine as well.

But if we do very well, then organizers will say "oh, Therion drew a lot of people, we made good money," and we can ask for more next time and bring the European concert to South America if everything goes well. As for the USA we not even there yet. Like last year with South America, we had some offers but we turned them down because they were not good enough and we’re not going to go and play for the absolute first time and give the audience some crap. We don’t do that. Same thing with the US, unless we get a decent offer that we can do at least a very good light version of what we do in Europe we won’t go because we don’t do crap shows. Fans deserve better than that. It would be an insult for the people that have waited for so many years to see us to get over there and then do some sloppy shows. So, we just need to raise the record sales a little bit further. The last album is still under 20 thousand in the US and we need to get over 20 thousand before we can seriously discus any possibility of a tour there, unless we would go supporting a bigger band. That would be no problem we would go and support the only problem is what band? With the style of music we are playing I can’t think of any band that would fit.

You are definitely the body and soul of Therion, but it seems like the opposite something you said few years ago, that Therion will never be a fully functional band, has become a reality.

Not really. I mean, there are some permanent members so in a way we are really a band. The people that play guitars, drum and a bass are really a part of the band but on the other hand we’re not really a band because we don’t have a singer. What kind of band is it that doesn’t have a singer? We’d always work with different hired people and it doesn’t really matter where we get those singers from. So, from that perspective we will never be a normal band because we won’t have a singer. But at least as for the foundations, guitars, drum and bass, those people are really permanent members of the musical concept that Therion is and they also have an influence on how we sound as well. Of course being the only original member of the band I will always have a possibility of saying ‘no’ if I don’t like something but we seriously discus everything together. It happened more than once that I had one opinion and they all had another opinion and I listened to them and we did it their way because there were three people thinking one thing and me only differently. So, we are working like a band.

Do you ever plan on using the full potential of your musicians on one of your albums or do you just want to avoid killing yourself at the shows by always watching your fingers?

They are really great musicians and they could play Dream Theater type of stuff if needed, but I think it would be better if they could do some kind of project for that because it doesn’t really fit into Therion. Actually the song that Kristian wrote had a lot of other parts first, there was that guitar masturbation stuff but we had to slaughter the song a little bit because it didn’t really fit into Therion. Once in a while it’s tasteful to have few of these technique things, like with the drums it’s pretty simple most of the time but once in a while you have this pretty tricky little thing coming up. Same thing with guitars but I think it’s good to keep it at that level. Therion is a musical concept mainly because of the compositions not because of the playing. Many bands, like Dream Theater... many people like their songs but personally I don’t like most of their songs. I’m very impressed with their musicianship and I respect them for that but I don’t like their compositions too much. I don’t want Therion to become a progressive rock band. This is not what Therion is about.

Next year marks 15 years of Therion, are there any surprises for the fans like "The Best of…"?

Definitely not "The Best of…." A ‘Best of’ we can do when we retire... maybe for the next generation of fans when we’ll have 16 or 20 Therion albums to choose from maybe then it will be cool to have the best of so they can see what’s up on each one...

So, maybe video or DVD?

We were talking about making a DVD compilation of all the videos clips plus of course some of the stuff we never released. Possibly there could be a few live songs from the last Wacken concert that was filmed but record company didn’t buy the rights for it yet. What’s more...? I think we can film some more during our next tour, maybe some backstage stuff, pictures, I don’t know, naked pictures of the choir [laughs]. We have been talking about a live album also but so far there are no decisions being made.

What about the future of Therion; you always try to push the boundaries, how do you see your music five years from now?

Good question... No clue. I never have a clue. [laughs] I don’t know how our next album will be. I just write music spontaneously, whatever comes out, if I like it I record it and if I like the recording I release it. That’s why it’s still a fun for me because I don’t go into a role like AC\DC that have strictly defined style and they know how they are going to sound like on their next release. I just try to do a record that I would like to buy myself. This is my only rule.

You’ve partially answered this question already, but, is there any chance of seeing you in States?

Actually, it seems like we have a fair offer to do a festival in the US in New Jersey, I think in April. If we play there, we’ll play for an hour or so and we’ll only play the new songs but at least that would be an opportunity to play in the US for a first time.

Let’s hope so.

It’s been over 11 years since mysterious and icy cold atmosphere Of My Dying Bride invaded our souls. Throughout those years MDB developed and grew to the ranks of, and I’m not afraid to say this, Gods of doom and dark metal. They’ve been through highs and lows, they’ve toured with Iron Maiden and they’ve thought of a break up but "Dying Bride" never died. Now there’s more, Andrew Craighan thinks that with their latest masterpiece "The Dreadfull Hours", which believe me will warm your blood during those cold and lonely autumn nights, is just the beginning in their new chapter of misery...

Chris


How much have you and the band changed since the band’s inception? Is it the same passion and enthusiasm for the music as it was 11 years ago or is everything more or less calculated now?

I think, to be honest, it’s been calculated in the past to a certain degree but you’ve got to love what you’re doing to keep going for this length of time. But I think more now, specifically with the last two LPs, it’s more of a passion again. It’s not calculated at all, we just really enjoy what we’re doing again. So, I guess the answer would be straightforward; we just enjoy it now. We have been through this calculating stage and it’s not as much fun. Fortunately, we’ve got to the stage in our career, for whatever reason we’ve got a stable line up again and it is very much passion now. We do enjoy it so much that we don’t really think about anything else now. It’s just being in the band again and enjoying what we do.

The band went through a lot of personal and musical changes. Which period of the band’s career do you think was the most satisfying?

At the moment, it’s very satisfying. I’m extremely happy with the way the things are going but one moment I know for definite was better satisfying was between "The Angel and the Dark River" and "Like Gods of the Sun". It’s so obvious to me because during "The Angel and the Dark River" the popularity was such that it allowed us to tour with Iron Maiden here in Europe and during "Like Gods of the Sun" we were touring with Dio in the United States. There’s no way on earth I could say those were the bad times. Yes, it was difficult and it was a lot of work but Iron Maiden and Dio were some of the bands I grew up with when I first started getting to heavy metal and rock music as a whole. So, to get to tour with them both, on separate occasions, it was like... well, I was clearly dreaming. It was bizarre. It was bizarre time in my life, for a good reason for a change... So, definitely between "The Angel and the Dark River" and "Like Gods of the Sun" has been the most satisfying period for me.

Were there ever any moments that you thought of quitting or breaking up the band?

Yes. When Calvin left. We sat down, myself, Aaron and Adrian and tried to assess what would be the plan, what would we do? Do we continue with My Dying Bride and go on to rebuild it? As it turned out that’s what we did. Do we finish My Dying Bride and let her die? The answer was no, we continue with My Dying Bride, we’ve always been My Dying Bride and we’ll always be My Dying Bride. That was the question then but we chose not to. Looking back that was the best thing to do because after that decision we did, in my opinion, two of the best records My Dying Bride has done, two of the darkest sounding records in "The Light at the End of the World" and now "The Dreadfull Hours". So, it was a tough time. It was extremely difficult time. I’ve learned a lot about the bad since those times. Yes, myself, Aaron, Ade, Shawn and Hamish are part of My Dying Bride but we have bigger responsibility, seems now, to the people that subscribe to My Dying Bride who’ve been with us since the beginning. We wouldn’t just be letting ourselves down by stopping the band we’d be letting people down all over the world we’ve never met and we don’t want to do that. We want to keep going for as long as possible now. We really have a new vigor, new passion to keep going because it’s almost like a new beginning getting the band back together, releasing two good LPs and hopefully, who knows, but moving into stronger and bigger things.

Let’s go back to "34.788%… Complete". Everyone knows that it was your more or less most experimental album of your career, but what I want to know is the history behind the title. What exactly is 34.788% complete?

Calvin had an extremely vivid dream one time where he was sort of led around somewhere by a more intelligent authority, let’s say, who was saying, looking back at mankind and this kind of thing you are only 34.788% complete. This is where you are in a progressive state. I don’t know whether this was like spiritually, mentally or in a technological sense but whatever it was in that particular time, we are only 34.788% complete. So consequently we have over 60% still to continue to develop. At that time, the mentality within the band was such that we liked the idea. We thought it’s not typical of My Dying Bride and I think that’s what we enjoyed about it back then.

We also liked it because it was a very very strange time for us and another thing, the record company hated the title and we like that a lot. So, with those things in mind it was decided that that should be it, very simply. There isn’t really a great deal to tell about it. It was basically sort of math theory on where the humanity was. When you see the background to the title it’s not the most insane idea the world has ever had. I think back then we were all subscribing to a very similar thought anyway. It fit very well with what the music was sounding like and what the cover was going to be. When we choose a LP’s title we don’t just choose it because it looks or sounds good we actually attempt to make it work with the artwork. We try to make a complete package. So, because it had a very techno feel of also being numbers and percentages as well with the cover looking like it did it fit very well. Looking back it was a good decision.

I read somewhere that "...Complete" didn’t belong to the list of your favorite albums. Did this change of musical direction have any affects on personal rotations after its release?

Well, two of the members had already left. Rick and Martin had already left, Calvin was still with us but it didn’t change anything personally between myself and Calvin or the band and Calvin. Calvin is now our tour manager, we’re still very close friends. I spoke to him earlier tonight, in fact, I speak to him every day now it seems. So, there is no animosity. The people in the band didn’t fall out, he just chose that after "34..." he had enough. He chose to help himself so he could concentrate on getting his life in order by leaving the band. We obviously didn’t think that was the best thing to do but we couldn’t change his mind so we had to accept it. We didn’t fall out in any way, shape or form whatsoever. We still, in fact we are probably better friends now than we were in the band ‘cause we actually talk more now. In the band we used to just work together. Now we can have a relaxed conversation without always talking about the band.

How did it happen that you landed on Peaceville’s label again? Don’t tell me you didn’t have any serious offers from other labels?

If I did say that I would be lying anyway. [laughs] No, the simple reason is that once we became free agents we shopped around and we got a few offers from labels from Europe and England and every single one of them simply couldn’t mach Peaceville’s new offer. Not the freedom in artistic license, not the freedom in merchandising. We don’t want to be too restricted to what are we allowed to do. With freedom of title choice, freedom of artwork, freedom of studio choice and also how much money we will be allowed to spend in a studio, Peaceville came back with all answers and none of the other records could even come close. So, it was pretty easy really to go back to Peaceville. And we did this not only because they matched that contract; we know Peaceville, we know how they work and they know what My Dying Bride is capable of. They know if they just leave us alone to just get on with the job, everybody will be happy and rewarded in a sense that they can make enough money out of us to keep them happy. So, it was easy to go back to them. We don’t want to be messed around, we don’t like contracts, we don’t like... well, we don’t like record companies, to be honest, and they just allow us to be a band. They don’t fuck around with us, they don’t get involved with us and we just turn in a piece every two years and say, "There you go, that’s the new one". It’s great cause we don’t want to get involved in all that commercial bullshit another record label would have us do. Not just myself, the entire band enjoys the underground. We still consider ourselves an underground band, which is a probably a bizarre statement but we subscribe to that. We are not rock stars. A lot of bands are really into being commercially successful and selling a fucking million records we are not really interested in that. The key to My Dying Bride is to be allowed to do exactly what we want, no mater how it sells. At the end of the day Peaceville will not complain and we’ll not moan that is not commercial and that’s what we want. They just allow us to be My Dying Bride and release incisively miserable records time after time just because we want to. And they say, "Yeah, we’ll continue to support that" and that’s perfect for us.

"Meisterwerk" – are you satisfied with fan’s selection for those albums? Are there any songs you would like to skip and replace with something else?

To be honest, I’m perfectly happy. In fact I was surprised how well it all went for me because I had no idea what people were gonna choose and yet they all pretty much chose everything that we expected. We gave it to the fans to choose and then for me to sort of say, "I’m not sure about that" that wouldn’t be right anyway. So, even if they chose something I was completely unhappy with and I though that was the worst MDB track ever I wouldn’t change it. People have voted for it, they took the time to vote for it and they should be allowed to hear it whether it’s my favorite or not. So, I’m more than happy with the way they turned out and more than happy with the response they’ve got because I’m not a big fan of compilations and that kind of thing ‘cause it just looks like the record company wants to make some money. Again, being adverse to self-commercial side of things it wasn’t something I was happy with but I was glad the fans backed us and came out to help us choose the songs.

OK, enough of the past because we could go on and on... Tell me how the writing process of "The Dreadfull Hours" went? Did you have a feeling of proving anything... because personally, I can’t stop listening to it, it’s that good.

Thank you very much I’m glad it’s having an effect. When we were actually writing we weren’t actually sure what we had. We didn’t know what it was going to turn out like because what we do is, we have the basics of the songs; the skeletons and then we take the skeletons of the songs to the studio and we put flesh on the bones. And there isn’t really a better description of what we do.

In the past we would take full songs and then just record them but over time we’ve learned that in the studio you can have greater control and a wider field of vision of what’s happening. So, now we are going in with the skeleton of the song and then flesh it out. Sometimes we’re even going in with the skeleton and then we eventually remove that completely and end up rewriting it. So, from now on, sometimes we have 75% of the song done and the rest is just spontaneous work in the studio. We just see what happens, which is brilliant because most of the time what does happen is that [which] can’t be planned, it can’t even attempted to be planned. You get the feeling it just works. It’s an amazing feeling. The actual writing process is pretty much this same as always, we’re trying to adjust to the lyrics. Aaron will give us the lyrics and we’ll try to basically create the atmosphere around them to make it work, to make it believable. It can be difficult because he changes the lyrics so often, because he’s always striving to make them a little bit better then they are, and sometimes it makes it difficult for you to write the music to something that’s constantly changing. Overall, we know exactly what we want. We know what My Ding Bride always sounds like so it’s not difficult to get the atmosphere going.

How does the lyrical concept differ from your previous releases? Is there a common theme on this album?

No... well, there are the usual sex, death, and religion sections; we are still pretty much under that umbrella but I think one of the key differences this time lyrically is the fact that a lot of the songs are not as mystical and poetic as it was in the past. Some of them are quite disturbing in a sense of being true to a life’s horror. 'The Dreadful Hours' is basically about a murder of a small boy by his father, which is a very disturbing story because the background that it’s set to is simply the boy is scared of the dark and a father is a violent man who has no patience, no tolerance for the small boy.

I’m still wondering about this song, to be honest, because it’s so true that it must have happened somewhere in the world. It’s a little bit too true for My Dying Bride; we haven’t really touched anything quite as close to the bone as this. I think the song itself is one of my favorite songs of all time of My Dying Bride, but the lyrics are very, very sensitive and people could be quite upset with this. I’m not sure that’s what Aaron was intending but when you’re listening to the song and when you sit down with the lyrics too it’s quite disturbing.

We also touch upon the ancient, Greek tragic stories that we used to play in the past. We’ve taken ‘Le Figlie Della Tempesta’ which is an Italian sentence that means ‘Daughters of the Stone’ and that song basically relates to... it’s similar to the Sirens of Odyssues where he’s drawn to Ireland by the song of the sirens. It’s similar to that but it’s not such a mystical point of view, it’s almost like a warning. Be aware of women; make sure you understand what they really want and what they’re doing because otherwise they can be... well, it’s almost a warning. It goes against for what My Dying Bride normally sings about because we normally congratulate women and love them in a romantic way and this is a step into completely different direction; a warning against women, don’t go there, they are dangerous beasts, be extremely careful.

So the lyrics are a little bit schizophrenic in places, not traditional in any manner. Another one, I think worth mentioning is ‘A Cruel Taste Of Winter’ which the original plan for this one was that we’ll play the song live, but each night the lyrics would be completely different. So, every night you would hear a different version, it would be like an exclusive version every night. We liked that idea a lot and we’ve actually practiced it cause we played a couple of gigs in Poland, Belgium, Holland and one gig in England in March. It worked, it worked extremely well but when it comes to the CD, we decided we would really like some lyrics on the CD for this, something definite. So, Aaron basically said, "I’ll tell you what I’m going to do for this one. I’m just going to ramble, I’m going to treat it like I’m insane and I’m going to mumble and I’m going to ramble and I’m going to come up with sentences that don’t mean anything next to the sentence above or below and I want to see what it sound’s like" and he just wrote down everything he thought. And what he wrote down it’s just a rambling of an insane man. It’s clear there’s something wrong with him and yet in the context of the song it works perfectly and yet it shouldn’t work because there is no consistency to it. It’s fucking bizarre how it works. It’s a strange angle on something and it’s a new angle and it works this time, but I’m not sure if we could do it again. I think for me those are some of the key elements on this record. The other stuff is not straightforward, it has differences to it but it is pretty much all in line what My Dying Bride people might be expecting to hear from us.

Does Aaron stand behind all the artwork again?

Yes. This artwork isn’t new though. The reason this artwork is being used at the moment is, a couple of years ago, maybe 18 months ago now, I was going to do a side project, a more up tempo, more aggressive sounding band, possibly even black metal, and Aaron had this artwork, the one we have used for "The Dreadfull Hours" now and he wasn’t all that impressed with it. He didn’t think it was any good, but I saw it and I thought "Fuck me, that it’s perfect for what I want to do, absolutely perfect" and I said to him "Can I have this piece for this band I’m gonna do if we release a demo or something like that?" he said "Yeah, yeah, sure, no problem". But I was still concentrating on My Dying Bride and never got the chance to put this band together and it never really took off. So, the artwork was there, always on the back of my mind and then when the record started to become more aggressive, more violent but still very sinister and very dark I remembered this artwork because of its contrast. It shows the aggression clearly in control and you have a defenseless child or a small man who’s being attacked. But not only just the content of these two antagonists on the page, the fact that the whole artwork looked ancient, it looked like a painting by a caveman who saw something happening he didn’t really understand what it was that he saw but he’s trying to paint it as best he could those thing coupled with the music, coupled with the title... I said, "This has to be a cover". It’s just perfect. So, when he went and took another look he brought it out and that was it. It was just too good to be true.

Without a doubt, "The Dreadfull Hours" is one of your darkest epics. Was going back to your roots intentional? Does it mean no more experiments in My Dying Bride?

No. I think this is the beginning again. We’ve come to a point now that we’re so confident, we’re so full of ourselves, that I think this is almost a new beginning. I think "The Dreadfull Hours" is the beginning of the rejuvenation of My Dying Bride. Not necessarily in popularity but in misery, in what we create musically, lyrically and visually. We’ve got to the stage were we know the limits of what’s going to happen within the band. We don’t make living from the band, which is why we can be exactly what we are and because of it we can be so absolutely free and so absolutely true to ourselves. I honestly believe that the next record will be, if it’s possible, even darker... more sick. There will still be experimentation in a sense that we’ll try, but not to push boundaries because it’s a pointless pursuit for us, but there will be definitely things we haven’t tried before that we’ll attempt to use if they work. I do honestly see a very... I won’t say a bright future because that’s not the right word, but I do see a future for My Dying Bride... but only in the constraints that My Dying Bride normally works. It’s strange but I’m looking forward to the next record already even though this one is not even released yet.

When can we see you on the road, especially here because in Europe you’ll be playing sooner or later?

The plan is, you know November’s Doom, Paul is a good friend of mine and he’s trying to put together some sort of doom festivals next year. So, he’s trying to put it together and we’re trying to help him by saying "Yes, we well play". There won’t be an American tour because we can’t commit to that kind of time scale but we’re gonna attempt to come over at least to play this doom festival and maybe two gigs but that’s probably going to be it I’m afraid for the next 12 months. I’m not even sure if we’re going to do a European tour this time. We might just do festivals. We are seriously and definitely looking at playing a doom festival in the United States at some point in the future.

Please tell us, why shouldn’t we do favors for people or animals?

[laughs really hard] My old friend of mine used to say this because he was just a fucking miserable bastard. It was just a bizarre thing... "never do favors for people or animals". He was such misery in the context of My Dying Bride. His mentality was if you don’t do favors or anything to anybody how can you upset anybody? He was just a fucking misery but I liked his mentality and I stole it from him. I wish I was that way. I would do favors for the devil I’m so willing to help people... It’s just a little bit of fun. [laughs] The key to it for me is what kind of favor would you fucking do for an animal? [laughs] That’s the question you’ve got to ask yourself.

Any final words?

Stay true to fuckin’ metal and don’t subscribe to the news of pop sensations that’s happening right now because once it’s gone you’ll be back listening to heavy metal anyway... and look out for My Dying Bride at this doom festival next year... And thank you for this interview it’s been very enjoyable, I have to admit.

Lately, it seems like I interview bands that don't need any introductions in our metal world... What could I possibly write about Marduk that wasn't already said? They rule! Nothing more, nothing less. So, maybe without wasting your time, I can give you a short background on the history of their latest album and the rest you can find down below and believe me there are a lot of interested things there. Please, don't send thank you letters when you're done.

So, the trilogy is completed... After "Nightwing" (Blood) and "Panzer Division Marduk" (Fire) the time for (Death) "La Grande Danse Macabre", which means "The Dead's Dance" has come and ends this destructive period in Marduk's career. What's next, you ask? Let's give voice to Legion...

Chris


So far you couldn't complain about your tour life but this years appears to be extremely busy...

Totally, we didn't really intend it to be so from the beginning but everything just started adding up and that was awesome. For example we didn't really know what to expect from the US tour because we've never been there before but we really had a great time and when we were done the booking agency just asked us "Hey look, do you want to come back in like 6 months and do a headlining tour for your album?" and we were like "Fuck yeah. That's awesome." This same thing happened in Europe. We were supposed to only do the Christmas Festivals this winter which will be like 12 shows with Cannibal Corpse and Kreator, then when we returned home from the States we went down to Belgium to play together with Motorhead and Judas Priest, the first guy, from the festival site we run into which owns our booking agency, said "Yeah, have you seen your reviews from your US tour? Everything has been going great, you had such a good average, blah, blah, blah... I want you to do a full headlining tour in Europe before jumping on Christmas Fest". Sure. Because of that we had to cancel our South American tour that we originally planned.

It seems like you really enjoyed being here in States.

Yeah, we really had a great time. Bunch of shows were really over the top, people were going ballistic and just thrashing out like hell. Touring States is a really nice way of touring if you compare it to the Europe. It's different, It's more kicked back because in Europe everything is so diehard organized it's pretty much do interviews, get up on stage and then at best you have the time to hang out with people and have a couple beers, get on the bus, next town... but in US you just get your bus or whatever and then it's up to you, it's like "Look, here it's your itinerary, you go do what you want just be on time for shows", which is really cool. Touring US is also so convenient, everything is available all the time it's nothing you'll see in Europe. In Germany you'll be glad if you could get a hotdog without a bread at 3AM but in States everything is so convenient. And people over there are really cool also because... it's like in Europe metal is bigger, we have a bigger draw over here, people are more diehard, old school and it's more like a fashion to be a metalhead, it's this same like being a biker in States. You can do so much which is connected to the subculture so you can live 24/7 being a metalhead no big deal but on the other hand in the US it's like all kinds of people are showing up to the shows which is fucking awesome because that does not happen in Europe. If you are not wearing your bullet belts, biker jacket or this and that pretty much you are not welcome. People are like "Who the fuck are you?" but in the States everyone that just loves music comes to the show and has a great time. It's like so much more solidarity in American scene from that point of view. It was really cool, we really enjoyed it so much. From now on we hope to tour the States as much as we tour Europe.

When you left Osmose Records you had tons of offers from record companies from all over the world but you started you own label, why did you turn them all down and decide to go on your own?

It's awesome to be in control of your own business because you're not playing anybody else's game. You play your own game and you can rewrite the rulebook whenever you want to and that is what we wanted to do. We've been through this for so many years now and we knew that in Europe we had an experience, connections and muscle to pull it off so, why not go for it? We've never been that kind of band that are like total slackers, just like sit around and "Oh let's go to a strip bar and sit there all day long and take it easy". We really want to work for our vision and we only feel alive when we are in the center of the storm. So, when we had a chance to form our own label and just take care of business we took it. We are really satisfied with everything from that point and everything is rolling really well. Today we have a better distribution than Osmose has...

It looks like you already have more connections here than Osmose too. They tried to get Marduk here for the last nine years or so; you did this in your first independent year.

Yeah, they failed so hard all the time. They were really unwilling to make any license deals and stuff like this and I know that because some people at Century Media tried to do that while being in on Metal Blade, trying to get Merduk, Immortal and Enslaved as a license on Metal Blade and Osmose fucked things up so bad... they wanted to keep all the money. So, we thought that the label that we've heard the most nice stuff about that was the most sincere, trustworthy and hardworking was Century Media and we made a license deal with those guys. The deal is that they're taking care of distribution and promotion and we supply them with all the material. They've been doing an awesome job because the States opened up immediately and our albums can be found in almost every music store.

"La Grand Dance Macabre" is a closing part in blood-fire-death trilogy; can we call it a concept album?

Totally. It was just an idea that we toyed around with before doing "Nightwing" that we should do a trilogy based on what we feel is the essence of the metal scene, blood-fire-death. So, "Nightwing" with this like vampire theme and medieval battle it's going to be the blood album. Then we wrote the fire album "Panzer Division Marduk" all that hellfire inferno that we are describing in more up to date battle stuff that was bound to be the fire album and then we wanted to do this death album so we wrote "La Grand Dance Macabre". For the music we wanted like more somber approach and a bit darker to get kind of funeral mood. All the lyrics are based on the topic of death in one-way or another of course but it's very loosely based. It's not a concept album like any King Diamond releases but all lyrics have a link to death. For instance 'Funeral Bitch' deals with a girl who get off when she attends funerals or 'Obedience Unto Death' which is about being so convinced that what you are doing is right that actually you don't give a fuck about if you die as long as what you believe in can remain. Or like 'Azrael' which is about archangel of death or 'Bonds of Unholy Matrimony' about death of the saints...

What historic event is hidden behind 'Pompa Funebris 1660'?

It's the biggest state funeral ever in Sweden. It was at the time when Sweden was a big power and we were one of the mightiest countries in Europe. At that time when the King called the X (tenth) died they wanted to show the outside world, hey we're Sweden, we're badass, look how much we will do to celebrate our king. So they had this funeral procession, which was totally insane. All through Stockholm the entire Swedish army rode through the city. All the horses were having specially designed armor and knights were wearing specially designed golden armor just for that funeral. That is the historic anecdote behind that one.

You again didn't leave dry skin on the church in 'Death Sex Ejaculation' and 'Jesus Christ...Sodomized'?

Yes, 'Death Sex Ejaculation' is about a girl that's fucking a demon and she's dying at this same time as she's coming. I thought that was pretty brutal... [laughs] 'Jesus Christ...Sodomized' is pretty much one of those 'fuck off' songs that we love to write. It's in this same vein as, for instance, 'Fistfucking God`s Planet' or 'Christraping Black Metal' that we've done on previous album. It's really nasty lyric about everything that we think is wrong with Christianity.

What do you do during those 'two weeks' when you are not on the road? Do you have time for your hobbies?

No, not really. I go out and do so much stuff that sometimes I barely go to sleep. [laughs] Rehearsing, working with the label or pumping iron, building up my body so it could last during the tours [laughs] is pretty much what I've been doing so far.

I know that Marduk is your life but can you see a reason for giving it up? What would you do then, would you start a new band, get a regular job?

Ohhhh... I can only see one reason of not going on with Marduk and that would be the death of Morgan because I know he would never quit. But if he died, since he's the only original member and this is his band from the beginning, I wouldn't want to do it without him because that wouldn't be a Marduk for me. I know the other guys think that way too. If that happened, I mean knock on wood; it's the last thing I would want to happen, I'd say 'fuck it.' I would always be around, this is what I want to do and I'd always be around in one shape or another but in that day of sorrow I would have to figure out where to go from there. Apart from that there's no stopping us.

Marduk achieved quite a lot as a band but do you still have any unfulfilled dreams?

Yeah, more of everything, I guess. We're still hungry. We have achieved so many of our goals like going here or going there, doing this or that but nothing will ever be so good that it can't be better. Making our career more successful is the challenge as I see it.

What's your point of view on bands like Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir that are gaining some popularity outside of black metal circles? Do you think those bands misrepresent black metal or help it grow?

I don't have anything against that at all because why would you release records if you didn't want to get on with your band? Why would you even release demo tapes for people to buy why not hand it over for free to your friends? The underground is a perfect growing ground for young bands and back when Marduk and others started out there was nothing else but an underground because black metal was not getting signed except for two underground labels. I wouldn't mind being as big as fucking Madonna or whatever but only as long as I do what I do and as long as we are Marduk. That is why we work; we want everything to be better. Most people for up here who just scream about that, stuff should be true or fake or trendy or whatever they got into this when it was already a major trend. So, who are they to judge bands like us or Immortal from being bigger than them? That screaming is pretty much jealousy I think. As long as you're true to yourself and you do what you want to do I don't see a problem in a band being big. It's like one thing when you become so gay as, for instance Celtic Frost, from being this awesome band and all of a sudden they turn into fucking Poison or something. That was such a fucking gay thing to do! Just because they thought they would get bigger by total sell out and that I think sucks really bad. But if you just keep on working and do such a great job in what you do then people will actually appreciate you so much that you'll become "big".

I know you are working on new album; do you have any new songs written already if so what can we expect?

Yes, we are currently writing material for our next album and it's going to be a natural continuation of where "La Grand Dance Macabre" finished off. It's going to have some like early brutal, hysterical tracks on it and some songs that are going to be very diverse. They are going to have like both heavy and mid paced and fast parts in them. And also we are working on this long, epic song, which is going to conclude the album. It's going to be like 10 minutes long or something like that. We're working on that right now and we'll see what we'll come up with but some of the riffs that we have so far I think are really top-notch quality. Anybody who likes Marduk won't be disappointed. Plus not only that, I can also reveal that next year we're going to record a second "Panzer" album which is going to be released like 4 months after next full-length. So, it's going to be mini CD with most likely 4 songs and it's going to be so fucking brutal, it will blow people away.

I've also heard that you're planning on doing a special box set...

The plans are to have a booklet with all old lyrics that were never released before, biography, discography, all the lineups and a lot of unreleased photos from our personal collections. There're going to be two CDs packed with material like unreleased tracks, songs we wrote for other people that turned into something or that didn't turn into something, some pre-production stuff like studio rehearsals of songs we never released, a ton of shit. Also VHS video with like TV shows we've been on, live shows... a lot of stuff... That's is going to be out in November and we're going to press 10000 copies which are going to be numbered and after that it's gone.

One box is going to be mine...

Dark Tranquillity are certainly not just another metal band from Sweden. Be it their experimental yet powerful combination of many styles of music or the complicated theme’s running through every release, they are certainly making a clear and defined name for themselves amidst the influx of metal acts hailing from Gothenburg. I was lucky enough to catch up with guitarist Niklas Sundin as he and the other members of Dark Tranquillity are busy writing a new album.

Michael ‘XCase’


How has the European summer been going for you guys, have you played many festivals this year?

We've only played 3 or 4 festivals this summer, but all of them turned out pretty well. Earlier this year we've also managed to play in countries like Portugal, Japan, Greece and Mexico, so things have been very happening for us on the live front. We've never been too active when it comes to tours and gigs, so it's good that things are happening on a larger scale now. We'll play in Turkey this weekend and then there won't be any more gigs before the next album is out.

After listening to "Haven", it seems to be a step toward the darker side of Dark Tranquillity, much harder than "Projector". Was that intentional?

In a way it was intentional, but we never really plan too much ahead when it comes to writing music. After the more introspective and mellow "Projector", we simply felt the need to bring back some intensity to our music again, so "Haven" can be seen as a reaction to that. We actually started out writing a couple of really slow, semi-acoustic songs with only clear vocals directly after "Projector", but the enthusiasm just wasn't there, so we re-arranged them into more energetic songs instead. Most of the songs on "Haven" were originally very different from the versions on the album.

As expected from you all, "Haven" contains some really interesting experimental parts and keyboard sections. Just how important do you think these elements are to the sound of Dark Tranquillity?

Since "Haven" was our first album with a "real" keyboardist, we wanted to emphasize that part of the music. We approached the experimental parts from a different angle as well. The actual song structures are pretty basic, but the complexity lies in the arrangements this time. What we strived for was a catchy and direct sound with lots of small details and surprises hiding beneath the surface, so to say.

I've read that you are currently working on new material for a new album. What can you tell us about your progress? What should we expect?

It's a bit early to tell. At this point, no song is 100% finished, and we're constantly trying new ideas and arrangements out. There are lots of riffs and ideas that we're toying around with, and we have to see what direction the album eventually will take. The material we have is very diverse, so I guess that the album will feature a good mix of "traditional" D.T. music as well as some new influences showing through.

Any ideas on a title and/or theme yet?

Nope. Mikael is busy writing lyrics, but no titles are 100% decided on yet. It's under constant development, just as the music.

Do you plan on recording at Studio Fredman again?

Yes, we'll be returning to Studio Fredman. It's the best choice here in Gothenburg, and we're not really able to travel somewhere else for a month to record an album either. It may seem a bit predictable to go there for the 5th time, but they're constantly upgrading their equipment and keep expanding their studio, so there's no risk of stagnation.

Are there any plans to make any video's for the new album?

We've done three video clips so far, 'Zodijackyl Light' and 'Hedon' from "The Mind's I" and 'ThereIn' from "Projector". The latter was also featured on the "Haven" album as a multimedia bonus. Hopefully there will be a video from the next album, but it's always a question of money. It's really expensive even to do a low-budget video, and there aren't a whole lot of channels that would broadcast it either. But we'll see. It's mainly the decision of the label, not the band. We actually planned to release the gig at the Wacken Open Air festival as a live video, but the camera crew were on a lunch break (!) during our performance, so that will never happen. Spinal Tap, anyone?

How would you describe the writing process? Is it an individual thing or is it done with the band as a whole?

The main riffs and melodies are usually written at home, but all the songs are arranged in the rehearsal room with the whole band contributing with ideas. It's very much a group effort. All six members write music for the band, which is a pretty rare thing. Hopefully it helps to make our music more individual.

Dark Tranquillity is more than just the music, it's like another world. How did this concept come about?

We've always tried to do our best in every aspect of the band, be it the music, lyrics, artwork or whatever. That's the only answer I can give. It's very flattering if people consider us to be more than just music.

Recently Century Media Records re-released a remastered version of "Skydancer" including the rare EP "Of Chaos and Eternal Night", was this an idea of yours or theirs?

It was their idea, and the main reason was that the "Skydancer" never really have had proper distribution in the states before. It has always been very hard to get hold of there and was often available only as an expensive import disc, so it made sense to re-release it. Many US metalheads first heard of us via the "Projector" and "Haven" albums and might want to check our earlier stuff out as well. I heard that there were some discussion about making "The Gallery" and "The Mind's I" available through license as well.

After reading the current playlists of the members of the band from your website, I've noticed that none of the band seems to listen to too much metal. Has this always been the case?

Not at all. When we started out, we listened almost exclusively to underground metal, but as you grow as a musician it's pretty natural to begin to appreciate other genres as well. Also, since we work so much with the band, it's usually more interesting to listen to something that is as far from our own music as possible when returning home from the rehearsal room. We still like quality metal of course, but there's so much good music out there within other genres.

Who did you listen to while growing up? Who has been the biggest influence on your musical career?

We grew up as fanatical tape traders, listening to underground bands like Fatal, Dr Shrinker, Sindrome, Assassin, Thanatos, Athropy, Varathron, Zemial and Intoxicate as well as old Kreator, Helloween, Sabbat (UK), Merciful Fate, Maiden, Scanner, SDI, Blind Guardian, Not Fragile, Testament, Death Angel, Crimson Glory and so forth. I don't know if any particular band has influenced us so much that one would be able to trace it in our sound, but Sabbat were my personal fave band for a couple of years.

Thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it. Best of luck with your new album, and if you can find the time, tour Australia!!!

We'd definitely like to tour Australia, but no offers have been made yet. Anyway, thanks for the interview!

Swedish “Death Metal” is getting a new description... A melodic meanderings of most of the current Swedish bands is replaced with ferociously brutal and “un-Swedish” assault called Aeon. Tommy Dahlström answers ware short but strong and to the point much like his band’s debut MCD. The band’s “Promo 2000” was so impressive and powerful that Necropolis Records couldn’t let it be unheard and before the arrival of Aeon’s full-length they decided to release it as “Dark Order”... For that, let the eternal fire burn for them endlessly.

Chris


Why after releasing very successful “Serenity in Chaos” Defaced Creation decided to split up?

I really don't have a good answer to that. But I guess we all were a little bit tired of each other. Defaced still exist you know but only with one original member.

How long after the break up of Defaced Creation did the idea of Aeon come up?

About a year.

Can you give me a short history of how all the current band members ended up in Aeon?

Zeb did have some stuff that we never used with Defaced. So he called us up and asked us to help him record the songs. So we did and the songs turned out to be so fucking brutal so we decided to make a promo out of it. And here we are now.

Aeon’s “Promo 2000” is the best demo I’ve ever heard. Music, sound, production… everything is almost perfect. Where did you recorded it and how much time did it take?

We did only a quick in and out in the studio when we recorded the promo it only took us a few hours. We recorded the promo in a studio called Courthouse Studio with our bass player Johan behind the mixer table.

Is the idea of releasing your debut MCD “Dark Order” with all tracks from “Promo 2000” was only based on the demo’s good quality?

We did a new recording for the "Dark Order" mcd and we did add three new tracks on it. Johan did a great fucking job behind the mixer table and he did give us the best fucking death metal sound i have ever heard. Unfortunately something did went wrong at the press of the "Dark Order" mcd so the sound on the cd is BAD compared to the master tape.

I’m asking because according to the promo material you have had already written material for a full-length album. Why than demo MCD as your debut?

We are far away from done with writing stuff for the full-length album we are working every day on the new stuff so we can make them as good as possible.

Based on your bio Aeon is different from other death metal bands since speed is not all you strive for and you take time to write good riffs and lyrics. How does the composition process look like in Aeon?

So far it has been Zeb who has been working on the most of the material. He makes the riffs then put it all together and then we rehearse it and make some changes in the structure and make sure that all the instruments are playing "supportive" to each other, to gain the most powerful assault. We also make sure that all the parts have the same intensity and that they are connected to each other properly. Another thing we do is that we always try to do unpredictable things and that's why it may sound technical. That's not to show of it's to keep the listeners attention. You should be able to discover new details even the third and fourth and fifth time you hear the song. For an example: The verse on 'Hell Unleashed' sounds nothing unusual if you are not aware, but if you take a good listen you’ll notice that the blast beats are 7/8:s. The intensity is the key to make good death metal not the speed!

Since most of you play in other bands or side projects, is Aeon a main priority for all members?

Yes, Aeon is the main priority for all the members.

You lyrics carry very anti-christian message. Is it your personal believe or band’s image?

It's my personal believe. I live in my own world and my world is evil and that's what "Dark Order" is about.

Who is the author of the amazing cover art on “Dark Order” which perfectly represents the content of CD?

His name is Jose Montemayor and yes he did a great job.

You already have written the new material… how different or similar is it from your debut MCD?

We like Aeon brutal! So brutal music is what you are going to get. "Dark Order" is a very brutal piece of death metal but the new record will crush every thing! Your high speakers will bleed when you play it.

When can we expect a full-length release? (I need dates... can’t wait.)

I think it will be ready next summer.

What are the plans for showing your destructive power during the live shows?

We will start thinking about touring after the release of our full-length.

Any closing comments?

"Dark Order" is just the beginning of Aeon's crusade against the top of the death metal throne. And believe me WE WILL CONQUER THE THRONE.

Soilwork have to be the hardest working metal band around. After just completing their latest opus "A Predator's Portrait" they have thrown themselves head first into writing a new album due to be recorded in October 2001. I was lucky enough see one of the few shows they have played this year at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. I caught up with Peter Wichers when they came offstage and this is what he had for us:

Michael 'XCase'


Well here we are at the Wacken, are there any bands playing here this weekend that you are interested in watching?

Oh yeah, I'd love to see Nevermore, and I've never actually seen In Flames live, so I'm really looking forward to seeing that show and then catching up with the guys after the show for a few drinks. We've toured with Nevermore before so we know them quite well. You should see the guitar player, he plays a show and makes like no mistakes on stage, I mean how the fuck can you play like that? [laughs] You can't do a whole show without any mistakes, you always fuck up somewhere. We had a few fuck ups on stage today, but I think the most important part of playing festival shows is movement and having fun, that's what people want to see.

From the looks on your faces during the show, you looked surprised at the amount of people who had come to watch you play...

Yeah! Before we came down here we were thinking "oh shit, we have to drive for ages, and sleep in a tent, oh fuck, no one's going to watch us" But when we arrived everyone was yelling "Soilwork! Soilwork!" in the crowd and we were totally blown away. After the show our label manager came up to us and said (in an exaggerated German accent) "We did not expect so many people to come and watch your show". [laughs]

How would you describe a Soilwork live show?

Well its very intense, its always intense....we wouldn't have it any other way. We always throw in some unexpected stuff onstage. We've never been all about being brutal and that shit, I've always thought that its ok for people to see that you are having fun on stage as well and I think that's the essense of Soilwork live show. We always try to get the crowds going and I think Bjorn (Strid) is doing a great job at that right now...

...I have to agree with you there man, he is one of if not the best front man I have ever seen, he was incredible...

...yeah?...that's fucking cool. He's totally honest when he goes up on stage, he never pretends to be anybody or anything that he's not. I think rather than getting carried away, he gets drawn into the energy of the show and usually screams even more [laughs]

...he looked liked he was really enjoying himself and after each song when he thanked the crowd, he looked like he really meant it...

...oh yeah, I hate that shit. Like when you go to a Bob Dylan show or something, he play for like one and a half hours and then its just like "thank you" and he'll walk off stage. Give me my money and I'm off.

You've just come back from a short promotional tour of Japan, can you let us in on any interesting experiences there? Any drunken experiences perhaps?

[laughs] Drunken experiences??? Oh my God, that's too rough to tell!!!!
[laughs]. We always have a great time when we are in Japan. There's a club called "Rock Rock" in Osaka were we play, the place is so small. All the famous guys have played there, like Steve Vai and Judas Priest, and you can only fit like 100 people in there! I think Keanu Reeves played there with his band...

...whoever they are! [laughs]...

...[laughs] I've never even heard them. Everyone's played there like Bon Jovi and Devin Townsend...and it's like a standard pub.

Do you guys get a good crowds reaction there?

The first time we were there was about one and a half years ago with Dark Tranquillity, and because there were two bands playing there the crowd were not as pumped as this last time when it was just us who were playing. The place was totally packed, it was too much. After the show we were all like "this is the best thing that's ever happened!!!" [laughs]

So you took your now new keyboard player Sven with you?

Yeah, that was like his trial run. We had become very good friends with him before the tour so when we asked him if he would like to join and he said yes we were really happy about that. Technically he is amazing. He's like a full piano player so I think with his talent we can really take the keyboard parts to a new level with the next album. We are going to give him a lot of space to do what he wants.

The words been flying around that you are already deep in the writing process for a new Soilwork album, How much have you completed?...and what are we in for?

Five songs right now. What can I say? Its like a development of "A Predator's Portrait". There's still a lot of elements from that album, but we are taking them one step further. It's perhaps not as fast as some of the songs we have done but with this one we are focusing on doing a more powerful music. We feel that we are going to get a very good crowd reaction to the new material. Don't get me wrong, its not going to be Helloween or anything like that! [laughs]. It's still going to be Soilwork with the extreme vocals and all that. I feel that we are now able to break boundaries we have had before with this new album and do whatever we want. The musicality in the band now is so good that we have no limits now. Our creativity is the only limit now.

Are there any ideas for a theme for the new album?

We are actually working on that very hard right now. I can tell you that we are going to go for something very simple for the front cover. Something very eye catching, "Predator's Portrait" had a cool cover, but it was very complicated. I think "The Chainheart Machine" had a great cover, so we are looking at doing something more in that direction.

Are you planning on recording at Studio Fredman again?

It's a secret!!! I can't really say anything right now, but you are in for a big surprise and you won't be dissapointed.

When did you start playing guitar?

Really seriously? Um, I think I had just turned 16. I had played before that but it was like bang bang then put it away for a year or something. But it was when I 16 I really got into it. It would have been about 1 year before we recorded "Steelbath" that I started practicing solo's and stuff like that. That is the most boring thing that I ever did with guitar. I read so many interviews with Dimebag Darrell and Van Halen and they always used to say "The only thing you have to do is sit down and practise" and I was like "ahhh fuck! There has to be a better way!!!" [laughs]

Did you grow up in a musical family?

Actually no. Not at all. My father played the clarinet when he was a kid and my grandfather played the Citra. But it really wasn't a music family at all. Something my family is good with is if we have an interest, we usually really get into it and become very good at it. But most of them get bored and then quit, but I said to myself that I am not going to do that, we have gone a long way, but we still have so much more to do! I feel that if you really put your mind to it, that hopefully someday I can live off it.

That brings me to my next question of what is the deal with having two of the greatest metal guitarists in the one family? What's the secret? Was Ola always into metal?

I think it was Ola who got me into playing guitars. He never really used to play metal, I mean he's 35 years old, so he's been through a lot of music! [laughs]. I know he was really into old stuff like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, but then in the 80's he was more into Kansas and stuff like that. He always liked hard rock and in the beginning of the 90's he started playing that again, that's when I started playing guitar. I was practicing like hell and he was always like "yeah, yeah" [laughs]. When Soilwork started he was like "oh yeah, this is ok". He couldn't admit it cause he was my uncle [laughs]. After we recorded "Steelbath" we were looking for a new guitarist so I asked him if he would like to join. Since then I think he's developed a lot, you can hear a difference in his solo's since "The Chainheart Machine". It's a great thing to have him in the band. He does a great job.

You both play Caparison guitars. I'd never come across that brand before, how did you get involved with them?

I do a lot of promotion for a Swedish guitarist named Mattias IA Eklundh and he is actually endorsed by Caparison Guitars. They are hand made guitars from Japan. I was really interested in those guitars, so when we went to Japan the first time I asked Mattias if he could email them to ask them to come and see us play to try and get myself an endorsement. So they showed up and said to me "if you play well you can have the guitar"...I was like "oh, ok". So we played, they liked it, signed a couple of papers and that was it. Now it's like if I want a new guitar, I just email him and tell him what I want, and he's like "yeah. No worries. You'll get it in 3 months". It's great [laughs] So with that taken care of it's a really big help financially for me, because you know how much audio costs. Mattias is an unbelievable guitarist, if you are into guitar playing, this guy is really worth a listen. He actually uses a dildo to play on the guitar!!! [laughs] He said "anything with an engine will work", it's like if you take a remote control and put it to a microphone it makes this weird sound. He just does the same thing with the dildo. It's like the power drill that Van Halen uses. You know in the song 'Machinegun Majesty' there is a machine noise? Well that's the dildo. It was so fucking funny when he brought that into the studio...

...maybe this is just a cover for the real reason he has it! [laughs]...

...[laughs] Well it's just a small finger dildo, I don't know if he uses it. I didn't smell it so I can't be sure! [laughs]

Some of the other members of Soilwork are involved with solo projects, do you have any interest in doing anything else?

That question has come up a lot, people tell me that I should be starting something else along with Soilwork, but I feel that right now, because we do put out albums very close together, I have enough to do. But even after we finish an album I still have so much inspiration that I just sit down in front of my computer and record every idea that comes into my head...

...so your saying you probably have a whole backlog of unbelievable songs just sitting on your computer?...

...no not really, there is a lot of shit there as well! [laughs]. If I do like riff I'll keep it, but usually I'll listen to it the next day and think "oh god, that sucks" and just drag it straight into the trash.

I've noticed that you have had many requests on your website to play in my home country of Australia, are you interested in making the trip?

Oh yeah, definitely. The problem is we could never afford to come down there ourselves, so what we need to do is have a promoter bring us out. I heard Nevermore are planning a tour, so we would really love to come with them, we'll see what happens I guess.

Thank you very much for your time man, its been an honor for me to meet my favorite guitarist!!

Stop that! [laughs]. I'm just like everyone else man, thank you for taking the time out to interview me! It's been cool.

What can you possibly say for an introduction for Borknagar and Vintersorg? Perhaps unceremoniously both bands are lumped with the dreaded ‘black’ metal label by us, which really is not indicative of the repertoire both Borknagar and Vintersorg hold in their arsenal. Daring, and creative Borknagar and Vintersorg have time and time again proved to break down the walls in our perceptions of modern day ‘extreme’ metal. I caught up with Vintersorg via email and mailed him a few questions in regards to the new ventures from both bands.

Jack ‘Odel’


Firstly thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions Vintersorg. How's everything going in both Borknagar and Vintersorg camps?

Well, it’s quite hectic. Now when the recording of the upcoming Borknagar album is done, the nearly as hard job starts, all the promotion, including interviews and internet chats, etc, etc. But I feel very confident with the album and think that reviewers will be pleased with what they hear, it’ll maybe be an album that take some listening sessions to fully explore, but it has a large growing effect from my perspective. With Vintersorg I work as usual, writing lots of new songs, both music and lyrics, and now we head for a touring Europe in September. To conclude: everything is working all right, but it’s a lot of work to do. Öystein G. Brun once tagged Borknagar as 'epic metal', that was during the release of "The Olden Domain", do you still that label accurately portrays what Borknagar is today?

In many aspects YES! What I least mean with ‘epic metal’ is big great pompous arrangements mixed with the vast and origin forces of nature. But still the newer Borknagar albums may bear a slight more progressive and astral feeling (from my view), but I would still label us as "epic metal". The framework of Borknagar is very present on the upcoming "Empiricism", but I think that the fuse of new members adds bits of different things, the scope has just got wider. But it’s easy to hear that it’s Borknagar from the first five seconds you’ll hear from the CD. It’s a very natural development for a band that always wants to try a new angle to approach things.

Recorded in around 7 weeks "Empiricism" took almost double the time as "Quintessence". Is that because song structures have been that much more complex, the guys making sure every detail is 100% accurate or what?

I would say it’s both of those things and also that we worked in a different way this time. We recorded in the hometown of most members (as you may know Öystein and me am not living in the OSLO area) and that also made it possible to work more, when the true spirit is there. But I think that the music in some sense is more varied with more layers, and it’s very important to find a proper balance between all instruments and sounds, and that takes time. We could probably have done it quicker, but why rush and keep mistakes when you have the budget to do it more perfect. We also did a gig at a festival during that period, and we had to rehearse the older songs which we didn’t had our minds focused on, as all our thoughts and feelings concerned "Empiricism" so it was several factors that made the process longer than previous albums.

You write essentially all lyrical content for Vintersorg and Öystein writes the majority of the Borknagar's material. How did "Empiricism" pan out?

On the new album nearly everyone in the band have been involved in the lyrical writings. Öystein has written the most for us, four I think. I have written one, Lars two, Tyr one with additions by Öystein, and Asgeir and Öystein have written one together. Even if we have so many writers I feel that we still keep the concept within certain frames, and that is good. Otherwise it can easily be a bit too divided and the title doesn’t stand for everything written on the album, and personally I really like the title to have a close bond with the lyrics. For the next album I don’t know how we’ll handle things, but I think we all like to set our mark on the lyrics and if we manage to pull it off as we did this time I think it can be a wining concept.

ICS Vortex's vocals were technologically enhanced greatly through "Quintessence", particularly during 'The Presence is Ominous'. Will "Empiricism" feature any major technological influences with your vocals?

Ok, I know that everybody will compare us, as what he did was great and unique. But I stated when I joined the band that I would do my own thing, still do something different than I do in Vintersorg, to keep it separated. I must confess that I was a bit worried that I would come up with Vintersorg lines, but as the music Öystein write is different than mine, it was quite easy to find a new path. And after I had done the lines to one song the standard was set and I just kept working, and I must say that I’m very satisfied with the vocals in all aspects, and I think you’ll find some technical brilliance in there, it’s a vast vocal region to search through as I use lots of different styles to give the album more dimensions. I’m very pleased how it all ended up, still not too pleased that I’ll just sit back and don’t try to develop, it is constant work.

Being such a busy sort of guy, do you get to listen to a lot of music? What are your favourite bands at the moment; metal and non-metal?

I can never answer this type of questions properly. I listen to everything that appeals to me, may it be metal, progressive rock, jazz, electronic. As long as I hear something fresh and innovative (well, still it has to be quality music of course) I listen eagerly. For me there are only two categories, good and bad. I try not to waste my time listening to the wrong (bad) one, still you can’t avoid it totally as it’s played everywhere, in the grocery store, the elevator, etc, etc. I listen a lot to a band called Omega right now, good old 70´s progressive rock opera.

Both Vintersorg and Borknagar figure heavily in more 'grand' lyrical content, more universal topics. Both "Empiricism" and "Visions of a Spiral Generator" song titles seem to be indicative of this. Does it help for you that both bands overlap with each other in that respect?

It’s good that the others’ ideas and mine are in some form of synchronicity. That makes it a lot easier to write, when you know that even if you step out of the line and ask the really large questions of our existence, the other will probably not say it’s too progressive, if it’s not just rubbish. Hehehe. So for me it feels nice that we have kind of the same way to look upon such things. Still I avoid writing about the exact same topics in Vintersorg that are present in Borknagar, but you’re right about that we’re hosting the same fields.

Borknagar and Vintersorg are deemed 'black' bands. Do you feel that is an accurate representation or would you prefer to see the two of them more 'removed' from that genre of metal?

I can’t say that I’m offended by being labeled as black metal bands, but still it’s not true in its full scale. I think Borknagar has a larger black metal essence in the musical cocktail than Vintersorg, but still I use the harshness of black metal in Vintersorg to give it that needable spice. I see both bands as quite limitless when it comes to the musical side we work inside the metal frames but with the intention to expand those laws. Vintersorg lives out of all contrasts, and Borknagar I may not be the right person to ask as I haven’t written any music on "Empiricism" but I think we work with contrasts there as well. To just label it as black metal is to see upon it too narrow. But we don’t think so much about it it’s more you guys that needs to label it. Hehehe.

Asgeir Mickelson plays drums on "Visions from a Spiral Generator". Was that just a one off or do you hope he can feature more frequently on future Vintersorg releases?

We haven’t recorded the album yet, I’ve only done preproduction on it so far. He will though do the drums, as I see him as one of the best drummers around in this musical area, and he asked if we need some help with the drumming part, and how can you turn down on such an offer? I haven’t thought about the albums after that, but I would like to hear him on more Vintersorg albums, time will tell.

It has been quite a while since "Cosmic Genesis" has been released. In hindsight are you completely satisfy that Vintersorg made the transition from Swedish to English? Were fans happy with move? Will Vintersorg ever move back to recording Swedish material?

From the beginning when the fans heard about the transition they were quite upset you could say, but then when the album came out they saw that it was a strong and very much a Vintersorg album still, so they changed their opinion a bit. Still you’ll find two Swedish songs on the album, as I love to sing and write in my home tongue. On the upcoming you’ll find three Swedish songs, so right now I’ll continue the blending concept, we’ll see in the future, it all depends on how I feel. But as I see my music as universal I want many people to understand my words, and then just writing in Swedish is limiting.

Are trying to strive for anything remarkably different with "Visions from a Spiral Generator", will there be anything genre shattering incorporated into the new album?

As always I try to approach it from a different angle, to dare myself to find new hidden parts inside me that can be a part of the writing process. And I’ll know that people will reflect over that when they hear the "Visions…" album, but still I’m Vintersorg, so the music is effected by that, and I think in the future when people talk about Vintersorg classics some of those will be taken from "Visions...". It’s a strong and innovative album.

The Vintersorg DVD? How is that going, far from being released, or just round the corner?

We did the completing shooting of interviews, preproduction studio shot, Ballerina Audio visit, rehearsal and other rare and private shootings last week here in Skellefteå, so know the audio mix and the last visual engineering will take place, but it will take a while as I’m responsible for the sound mix and am quite busy. But it’ll be a DVD with the running time about 90 minutes, a lot to explore.

Are promotion and touring going to be paramount to both new releases from Borknagar and Vintersorg? Or are you going to sit back, take it easy and let the albums speak for themselves?

As stated before the new Vintersorg isn’t recorded yet so I don’t know about touring after that one, but we’re heading for the road now in September. We’ll do some live gigs quite soon with Borknagar in Norway and Century Media is working on a tour. That’s all I know for now.

Well I can't wait for both new albums from you and Borknagar! Cheers and good luck in the future.

Who would think that after their two most successful albums "Act Seven" and "Believe" Crematory would call it a day and split up? After 10 albums in 10 years and hundreds of concerts, in 4 weeks one of the greatest gothic bands will become history. Yesterday I had the pleasure to talk to Harald (bass) and Markus (drums) about the reasons, band's history and what's in store for the future. Having the last chance for chatting with these guys I even straightened out the copyrights on Crematory's 'The Fallen' and Century's 'High and Low', finally. So, here it is for the last time, Crematory, undeniably already a legend in metal gothic circles that forever will be remembered and never forgotten.

Chris


Why?

Why we decided to split up? Well... I mean there are several reasons for us to finish with Crematory. One reason is that we have to look after our private lives. We are like thirty something right now and we just did Crematory for 100% in the last 10 years and Crematory is the band that you can't do by 50% or 60%. We just thought that now is the time to manage our private lives and we don't want to live on social security by the age of forty so it's just the time to rearrange our lives. Another reason is that some of our members have some health problems like I have problems with my right arm and if I don't take care of that, it's possible that I can't even touch a bass anymore. Those are the main reasons that we split up but there are several others like, actually we got with Crematory much further than we expected when we started the band. It's a pity to say, but we don't get much acceptance by MTV or our national radio channels and major media. And we think that without the support from big businesses it's very hard to succeed in the current market. We also think that there are no goals for us to achieve for us in the future and we've gone as far as we could. So, when I look back we've made little by little steps, always sold more records, did more touring and now we want to leave on a high point of our careers. We wanted to leave in dignity and grace.

But when I found out about it I had really mixed feelings... On one side I can agree with you on some points you mentioned but on the other hand your last two records are the best selling albums in your discography and you even entered the music charts on unusually high positions for a metal band. Basically I can't understand why you would quit at your best?

Yeah, you're right but we think it's the best point to quit. It doesn't make sense to go on the tour and play in front of 400 people cause that's ungrateful, that has no dignity. So, we thought it would be the best time to say good-bye when we are at the top of our careers. Crematory in a way is cult and we want to stay cult for our fans. They should remember Crematory as it was, not as a bunch of old farts going out and playing old shit. [laughs]

You parted ways with fans with few big festivals like With Full Force and Wacken Open Air. What was the fan reaction to your last shows?

It was great. Of course our fans are sad that we're leaving but I think in some ways they understand our reasons for that decision. Those were a hell of a live show and the crowd was just gorgeous and that's the way I think it should be. I mean I don't want to see any sad faces on our last shows I just want some kicking ass shows and those two festivals were just great. Actually we said we can't do a farewell tour cause that would be a complete rip off of our fans. It would be like "all right, we leave but we'll do 30 shows tour throughout Germany" that would be a rip off. But then a lot of people said "we want to see you one last time" and then we made the decision that by the release of "Remind" we'll do 10 big shows, festivals. The crowd is just great going out for the last time.

How did you feel walking down the stage? Did you have any second thoughts about quitting?

Well...[big pause] that's a good question... OK, when we said we'd leave, it was just like a big relief. But when you see this huge crowd, they are cheering you out and they want you to keep performing it will make you feel in a saddest ways... but in a certain ways it's a good feeling having that recognition on that what you're doing... We just tried to enjoy those show the best way we could.

Anyway, I don't believe you won't be doing any music from now on. What are your future plans?

We all have something in our spare time. Markus is doing Century, which is more wave-gothic style and Felix is doing a bit of grind-core and death metal style and I'm thinking about doing some stuff with my old guy. We'll see what the future turns out to be. Actually, there is no anger about splitting up, we were close friends, we are close friends and we'll stay close friends in the future. Maybe we'll meet in a rehearsal room some day in a next few months and just jam some Crematory tunes, walking a bit a memory lane for ourselves, but to destroy all rumors there are no reunion plans as of now. But never say never, maybe in two, three, four or five years, I don't know, maybe we'll say the time is right to put out a new record but right know we don't know what will future bring.

Speaking of Century, have you heard their latest album "Melancholia"?

Yeah, sure. ... because I have one question... There is a song 'High and Low' and it's a total rip off of Crematory's 'The Fallen' and there are no credits to Crematory, it even has it's own lyrics... I know Markus plays there... Can someone tell me what is going on here?

[laughs] OK, I'll hand the phone to Markus cause he's a part of Century and he'll probably explain it better. [laughs]

Markus: Hello, it's Markus. How are you? Nice hearing from you...

Hi, this is Chris from metalbite.com. I'm great. Thank you. I have a question about Century, the band you play in.

You know them? Yes, I'm holding a CD in my hand and there is a song called 'High and Low' and it's a complete rip off of Crematory's 'The Fallen'. What can you tell me about this?

[laughs really hard] You are the first man that noticed this. I did over 500 interviews for Century and Crematory and you are the first person that found out that it's the same song. Yes, it is the same song. OK, after Lotte left the band we replaced him with Matthias, our new guitar player and we were looking for a new songwriter. We found one in Gernot, the keyboard player of Century. Gernot and me, we worked together since the "Act Seven" album and we wrote all the songs for Crematory and Century. We wrote 'High and Low' and at first it was for Century but I said I also would like to do this song with Crematory and that's what we did. Felix wrote vocals for Crematory and Michael put on his vocals for Century and it's definitely this same song and you are the first guy who noticed that and brought it up. [laughs] Funny thing... over 500 interviews and no one ever asked me about it. I was waiting for this. [laughs]

Since we are on the Century topic what are the future plans? New record, promo tour...

At the moment it's a little bit difficult because our record company (Drakkar) has some problems with distributor (BMG) here in Germany and they are looking for a new distribution deal. In four weeks we'll start writing a new material and new album should be released around January 2003 but everything depends on the situation with our record company.

Officially, this is the last time we'll speak so I'd like to take the moment and go through Crematory's history a little. It's 1995, you record 'Tears Of Time' I guess it's the most important point in band's career...

Yes, I agree with you. I think the 'Tears Of Time' was the most important song we ever wrote because "Illusions" and especially 'Tears Of Time' was the big break for us. This track made hundreds of gothic, wave, and samplers' compilations all over the world.

Than few months later you follow up with the German only self-titled "Crematory" which gets a lot of bad press...

The main idea behind the German album, now I can tell you the truth [laughs], was that at this time we had problems with Massacre Records and we wanted to break the contract. So we went to the studio without any idea what to record and within four weeks we wrote the whole material and gave it to them being sure that they won't ever release it and hoping they'd let us go because we already had much better offers from other labels. And they released it. The press was a total disaster but album sold very well and we reached a lot of new fans, especially in German speaking countries.

It seems that German music press doesn't treat its local bands with much respect...

That's true. When you're from Germany you are a second-class band here. For a death or gothic metal band everyone is looking to Scandinavia. When you play some pop-orientated music everyone is looking to England or America. I hated the press here at the time when we released our German album but we said fuck it, fans like it, fans buy it and fans are much more important to us. They are the ones who support the band and come to our concerts not the press who sits at the backstage and drinks our beer. [laughs]

I've heard that last year the best German hard'n'heavy groups were Sweden's Hammerfall, Finland's Nightwish and Brazilian's Soulfly. Unless I missed something not a single member of those bands was even born in Germany...

Yeah. That shows you the exact situation here. We can't understand why being very big in Germany and Europe we don't get any support from the media. Stations only play American or Scandinavian stuff and this was also one of the reasons to quit playing.

End of 1997, Lotte leaves the band... you didn't quit then... I say even more, your next two albums are the best sellers in Crematory's career...

I guess we didn't know we could do better [laughs]. Yeah, he was the main man and author of our music and when we split it was a very hard situation for us because we lost our guitar player and main songwriter. I have a lot of very good contacts here and we tried to look for a guitar player, a man who could sing and who had some songwriting experience. I found Gernot from Century and together we did all songwriting and Matthias' guitar playing brought new influences into the band. I think it was the best that could happen to Crematory.

10 years and you've never toured the US, why?

It's another very disappointing thing. It's a dream of every European band to tour the States and Japan and until now we never got a good offer. We tried many times to get a support tour in the past but unfortunately we never got the chance to do that. Every year with every record we tried to get a tour... it was a big dream of each member but we never got a chance.

Would you do it if you could start Crematory all over again?

Yeah, but a lot of things I would do much better. When I started I was 20 years old and didn't have any idea about music business. Right now I'm doing a lot of management for different bands in Germany and if I knew what I know now ten years ago, we would be much better as a band. If I could turn back the time we would tour the states after our third album cause now I have the contacts... but it's too late now.

Do you regret anything you've done during your last 10 years with the band?

No, not really. Four weeks ago when we played Wacken Open Air in front of 35000 people we saw the tears of our fans when Matthias sang the outro 'Perils of the Winds', even tears of the band's members... It's an unbelievable feeling... It's hard for us too to know that it will be over in four weeks but it's impossible to continue what we did in the last 10 years.

Is there anything special that you the most proud of during those years?

I'm proud of the name Crematory and what we accomplished through those 10 years because there are not many bands that existed for 10 years and had so much success as we had. There are so many bands that rose from underground, released one or two albums and you've never heard of them again. We developed our style with each album, we sold more records with every release and we grow up every year. That's what I'm the most proud of.

And finally, when can we expect an album called "Return"?

Never... it's a shitty title. [laughs] At this time there are no plans for the reunion. We made an agreement with all the members that we'll meet once a month in a practice room and make some jam sessions and play some old tunes. It's possible that during those sessions we'll write some good material and maybe record a new album but at this time I can't promise anything.
We haven't broken the band yet and you are asking for reunion? [laughs] Unbelievable! [laughs] The batteries are empty now and we need to recharge them. We'll see what happen in the future...

I guess bad luck doesn’t want to leave Impious; first, there were problems with the recording of "Terror Succeeds" then their (previous) label, Black Sun, didn’t want to put much effort into promotion and then it was I who lost the tape of my conversation with Valle Adzic (guitar). Fortunately the wheel of fortune took a good spin and everything seems to be getting back to normal. Impious just changed labels by signing a deal with Hammerheart Records, and mysteriously, a few days ago I found our tape. Well, I know, my interviews don’t make any difference in a band’s career but in this case everything turned out great and because of my little fuck-up I can show you our whole conversation. You’ll see what I mean when you get to the end, so enjoy.

Chris


Tell us a little about band’s History? How did it all start?

Well, it started with me... I was playing in a band, just for fun, and I felt that I wanted to start a real band. To get things going I put up an add in a local music shop and Martin, our singer, called me up, we started talking and we realized that we pretty much wanted the same thing. We started jamming, I think it was beginning of ’94, along with a drum machine and we made few songs and so on. We couldn’t find any other members so a good friend of ours started playing drums, not for real but just session drums ‘cause he was in another band and he didn’t have the time. Then we found the bass player and we recorded a demo called "Infernal Predomination" in ‘95 and then the drummer had to leave due to military service so we found another one but he also only played as a session drummer ‘cause he played in another band and couldn’t be our permanent one. Than we recorded another demo, I think it was in ’96, called "The Suffering" and right after it we found our real drummer whose playing today.

Do you think this is your optimal line-up? It seems like you went through a lot of changes since band’s inception.

Yeah, mostly because of the drummer thing, I mean here in Sweden the hardest thing is to find a drummer, a good drummer.

Are any members of Impious have any side projects or play in different bands?

Yeah... Actually maybe I should tell you that we just made another line up change… Martin, who played guitar and sang, he doesn’t play guitar anymore he only focuses on the vocals and our bass player Robin, he plays the guitar now ‘cause actually he’s a guitarist and he’s much better than me and Martin together. He’s a really talented guy. So, we have a new bass player, his name is Erik Peterson and he comes from the band called Enthralled. It’s a demo band but I think they’ll get a deal very soon. I’m also playing in a dark-gothic band called Red Skies Donning and our drummer plays in a cover band called Punchstar 69 and that’s pretty much it. Oh, and I also have a new project with the vocalist of The Crown, cause he quit the band and he asked me to do a demo ‘cause I have all recording equipment at home.

"Terror Succeeds" was released in Europe in 2000, what reactions have you received so far?

Reactions are pretty good but I must say that I’m very disappointed with our label cause they haven’t done too much. I haven’t seen any bigger ads or anything like it. Reviews have been great but nothing happened so far. They didn’t set up any tours, anything.

Actually I wanted to ask you about your relations with Black Sun Records and US distributor Century Media?

The manager in Black Sun is a really great guy. If it doesn’t come to business and so we come along really really well but when it comes to business and music I think he’s just too lame and I think he’s pretty much tired of running the label. With Century Media it’s very hard to say anything right now cause we don’t have any contact with them. I have no idea what they are doing for us.

It’s been 3 year since "Evilized"... what happened during those years? Why did you wait so long to release "Terror Succeeds"?

"Terror Succeeds" was recorded two years after "Evilized" but with all delays like CD pressing, printing the cover’s layout and booklet… don’t ask me, we’ve been so unlucky during that time, but I also have too admit that we are not the fastest band to write new material. Basically I’m the only one who writes all the material.

Actually that was my next question. How are you composing your music and lyrics? It seems like you are responsible for at least 90% of Impious’ compositions...

Yeah, and after "Terror Succeeds" I’ll be pretty much responsible for 99%. I don’t know why but when we are rehearsing and I want to do something my way and they say "No, it’s better this way" I’m pretty much like Hitler [laughs] I don’t give up. And then when we record the song they’ll say, "You know Valle, it’s better your way". So, I think I got a lot of confidence within the band and that’s why the next material will be mostly mine.

How did the recording process go? Any unusual problems?

We always have problems in the studio. The DAT’s recorded chewed the tape twice, on one track we lost all the drums, don’t ask me why... three or four guys got sick, they got fever and high temperature so it was a one big mess. At one point we thought that we wouldn’t be able to manage to record the album since we only had booked like three weeks in the studio. Fortunately it all turned out OK at the end.

How would you describe your own music?

I would say we are a death-thrash metal band. I must say that I’m a bigger fan of thrash than death and when it comes to black I don’t listen to it at all. I think you can reflect that it our music that we are pretty much into thrash metal. So, thrash-death with some melody I would say.

What are the main topics of your lyrics?

War, terror and all the shit happening around us.

Is the tank entering the gates of the city supposed to symbolize something more than the album’s title?

No, not really. Actually the cover was done before the lyrics were finished.

So, are you interested in war’s terminology, do you collect any military stuff like guys from Marduk or Peter from Vader?

I’m not really a fan of war. I just write about it cause I think it fits the music. You can’t write about flowers and sunshine when you play that kind of music.

What’s your opinion on Swedish metal scene? Do you think it’s over saturated or still there is a room for new bands?

I think of course there is a room for new bands but I think it’s much harder to get a record deal, to get noticed and so on. Another thing here, in Sweden, is a fact that it’s really hard to get gigs and once you get one 90% of the audience are actually musicians playing in their own bands. Therefore the audience is really bored; they behave kind of like music police just standing and looking at you. And if you play something wrong they’ll just laugh at you standing with their arms crossed. It’s really boring.

I assume there are already works in progress for your new release... any details you would like to share?

Sure, I can tell you something that you are not allow to write... we recorded a demo with four new songs and we sent them out to different labels cause we want to leave Black Sun. So far response has been really good and soon we are hoping to get a new deal. How do they differ from "Terror Succeeds"? Those new songs are more straightforward, more a punch in your face and maybe a bit less technical.

You guys have not been out on many tours and gigs so far; can we expect some more in the future? Any tour plans already?

Playing live is actually why we are doing all of this. It’s not because of the money or to get famous or whatever. It’s just because we want to tour and play live cause that’s what we really love and we haven’t done it too much before. All in all we maybe did 20 or 30 gigs here in Sweden and a mini tour in Holland and Belgium.

I assume this is the main reason you are looking for a new label...

Yeah, it’s definitely a main reason. And this falls under the things you also can’t write, but it looks like we’ll sign with Hammerheart. I know some bands on that label and they all have quite positive things to say. We’ll see, nothing is done yet, no contracts signed. There are other labels interested in signing us but I think it’s better to be with a medium label who will really care about you than being at the bottom in a big one.

All right, it seems I won’t have too much to print from this interview...

[laughs] All right, whatever, I don’t care. You can print it. It’s not definite yet.

Anything at the end that I can print?

Buy our album [laughs]

On the leading edge, and perhaps the only edge, of fusing metal with various states of hallucinatory sound injected euphoria and grooving confusion, Sigh is without a doubt one of the most unique bands in metal, or perhaps all the music of our day. With a chance to interview one of the brains behind the b-movie horror flick influenced incarnation, my fingertips began to crack away at the questions. Mirai, the man to not only credit for the bass, keys and vocals, but much of Sigh’s creative driving force, delivered on those questions with charismatic balance and openness, having very interesting things to say about everything from Madonna to a new project with Phil Anselmo.

- Tobias


"Imaginary Sonicscape" made Album of the Month at Metalbite.com and from what I can tell, it seems to be very well received by critics elsewhere.  How do you feel it’s being received by the public?

Yes, the reactions towards "Imaginary.." have been really positive so far. It is always really difficult to expect the reaction to our albums, so I am real glad to hear that people liked the new album. I am looking forward to seeing how our album will do with a fair distribution and promotion by Century Media Records.

Do you consider "Sonicscape" to be a concept album?

No, I do not. I guess both musically and lyrically, it is too disorienting to be a concept album, and there is no coherent concept behind the songs either. "Anything goes" may be a concept if you call it so though.

As a trio, do you find it difficult to pull off "Sonicscape’s" incredibly dense wall of sound in a live situation?

It is totally impossible to reproduce the albums live, and we don't want that either. In my opinion, our albums should be listened by your own in your room, not at the place like the venues where many people gather. As we are a trio, we emphasize our metal side on stage. Actually we have been searching for a session keyboardist for gigs, but it isn't easy to find somebody who can play the keyboards well enough and at the same time can understand what we are doing. I do hope we can find somebody good in the very near future.

Do you guys think that you might add another member permanently?

At the moment we have no will to add another member because we've been doing really well as a three piece so far. If we'd come to the dead end musically in the future, we might think about it, but now we do not see any point in adding somebody else when everything is fine with three.

What do you think is the most expressive musical instrument?

To me, it is an acoustic piano because this is the instrument that I can play the best. Acoustic instruments are often more expressive than electric ones.

How did you end up making the jump to Century Media?

Actually we tried to leave Cacophonous after we did "Hail Horror Hail" in 1997 because they didn't do anything right. Though Century Media was interested in us, Cacophonous told us that they would sue us if we'd sign to another label because we signed to them for three full-length albums. Then we came to the conclusion that doing another album ("Dread Dreams") for them and leaving them peacefully would be much faster and easier than fighting them in the court. Now the contract with Cacophonous is up, and we are finally on Century Media.

So you’re happier there?

Definitely. When we were on Cacophonous, so many people told me that they couldn't find our CDs at their local stores because Cacophonous' distribution was terrible. But now we are on Century Media, who has a great distribution all over the world, and they've been promoting our new album really well.

Japan seems to be making itself a noticeable force in the metal world with upcoming bands like Shadow. What’s your sense about this? Do you think that this will be a short-term thing like when EZO came on the scene in the 80s?

It isn't easy for me to tell how the Japanese metal scene is perceived as in the States or in Europe, but looking from inside of Japan at the scene, unfortunately it's nothing great at all. In the 80s, bands like Loudness or, as you said, EZO were quite popular both abroad and in Japan, but now no Japanese bands have such popularity. Also metal itself isn't popular now. What I don't like about the Japanese scene the most is that more than 90% of the bands are absorbed in copying the leading Western bands, and the fans appreciate that! They say "They are great because they sound like a Swedish band blah blah", which is totally ridiculous. Still there are some great bands who have their own identities such as Abigail, Sabbat, Defiled, Eternal Elysium, Solar Anus and so on, but all in all, the scene here isn't that interesting.

"Sonicscape’s" vision is undeniably the most original thing the metal scene has come upon in many years. What prompted such incredible imagination?

We really do not want to set any limitation on music. Anything goes in music. Some people like to make a rule how metal should be or something, but it is ridiculous. Each member of Sigh has a completely different musical taste though 80s metal is our common background, and we respect each other's ideas or opinions. The important thing is that being weird or being original is not our purpose at all. We just choose the best way to express our feelings, sometimes it could be jazz, sometimes it could be classical music, and sometimes it could be aggressive metal. Solo piano can express something which distorted heavy guitar cannot, and vice versa. We just choose the best and the result is our music.

As well as being an incredible metal album, this is also an indestructible force of psychedelic sound... I’ll just ask it straight, how many pounds of shrooms did you guys go through in writing this album?

We consumed a lot of mushrooms. But usually we don't take any drugs when writing songs or rehearsing. We take week on mushrooms to get inspirations and make them music later. I personally prefer to fuck on mushrooms or weed.

I’ve listened to "Sonicscape" in a couple of different mental states. To tell you the truth, this disc is so rich I have just as much fun and fascination with it while sober as well as baked out of my gourd. To some, this is the bleeding edge of stoner-metal, where a complete night is bongs and Sigh. What are your thoughts on that interpretation?

I am sure you can enjoy "Imaginary Sonicscape" even if you do not take any drugs, but if you listen to it on weed or on mushrooms, you can enjoy it more! "Imaginary Sonicscape" is not an all-evil or all-horror album. Like life itself, it is sometimes fun while sometimes sad. It has every feeling we all have, so it may sound totally different depending on your mood.

I could sit for hours and talk to you about each song, but I think that there’s one in particular that I need to ask you about: 'Requiem - Nostalgia'. This track, which is appropriately saved for last on the disc is probably the most overtly mind provoking of them all. What was the concept behind that track?

I myself like the track very much. It is metal, classical music, jazz and psychedelia. It has everything and they turned out to be in the way we'd exactly wanted. The song is literally about Nostalgia. Now I am 31 and I sometimes feel so nostalgic looking back the days when I was a little kid. I've never felt like that when I was 20. So how would I look back my life when I'm 60 or 70, or when I die? That is what 'Nostaliga' is about. If you are a teenager, you may not understand what it is about, but you will know what it's like ten years after.

What about the bizarre clean vocals on 'Requiem', are you the one who performs them? What gave you the idea to have them sound like that?

No, it was done by Yukito from the Japanese stoner/doom metal band, who also engineered the album. We recorded the album at the studio owned by him because we though he'd have a lot of knowledge to get a heavy sound as he himself is in a heavy band. I came up with the idea to ask him to sing for me during the recording because as you hear he is a real great vocalist. I am sure his vocals added the great atmosphere to the song.

When are you touring the States, dammit?!!

Now we are talking about touring the States this Autumn. It is not confirmed yet, but we do hope to tour there as soon as possible!

Having such bizarre music begs for an equally bizarre stage show, do you do anything outside of freaking people out with your sound at a show?

We used to lots of pyro/blood stuff in the early days, but these days we don't do anything particular. We have some ideas but they cost too much.

"Imaginary Sonicscape’s" sound is so visual, are you guys influenced by film?

Yes, especially horror films are really influential on us. The cut-up/juxtaposition techniques in our songs are completely those of horror movies. My favorite horror movies are The Beyond, Burial Ground, The House by the Cemetery, Omen, Nekromantik, Redneck Zombies and so on.

Man, Nekromantik is a freakin' weird one, have you seen Blood Sucking Freaks?

Oh yes, Blood Sucking Freaks is a real sick strange movie! I really liked it a lot.

The way I see it, if Clive Barker, John Waters and David Lynch collaborated on a film, it would be a video track for a Sigh album.

Yes, I agree with you. Especially David Lynch's "Eraserhead" is a big inspiration on our music.

Who do you think are your biggest musical influences?

The biggest influence on us is obviously 80s thrash/heavy metal which we listened to a lot when we were teenagers like Venom, Celtic Frost, Deathrow, Ozzy, Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Warfare, Whiplash and so on. The music you listened to during your adolescent days will live forever in you. Another big influence should be classical music because I was taking classical piano for more than 20 years.

What albums are you listening to now?

Speed Metal Hell 3 (Various Artists), Best (Henry Mancini), Loco Live (Ramones), Cold Dark Matters (Psychic TV), and Music (Madonna).
Madonna's CD is really psychedelic. You should listen to it on mushrooms!

That's a very diverse selection. I never thought I'd see Henry Mancini and Psychic TV in the same sentence! Do you think that musicians that are open to other styles of music generally make better music?

I guess there are roughly two bit elements to be a good composer. One is a talent, and another is an experience, namely musical inputs. You can't write music from nothing. You need an accumlation of the music you heard in the past to write your own song. The genius may write good music with a small accumlation, which is a talent. But usually the more musical inputs you have, the better music you can write. I don't think I am a musical genius at all, so I need a lot of inputs.

I've heard a little bit of Madonna’s latest work and you're right. Speaking of which, I've always had a great deal of respect for Madonna and her work. Interestingly enough, more and more, I'm finding metal musicians that have no fear admitting that they enjoy Madonna (the guys from Vader for instance), however, it seems that most metal fans hate her as much as any boy-band clone. Why do you suppose that is?

Probably that is because of her image. Here in Japan the situation is the same. Most of people think that Madonna is for the teenage trend-followers, which may be right, but it is also true that her albums have a great musical quality composed, arranged and played by first-rate musicians. Also the lyrics might be something the metalheads can't appreciate, but fortunately I don't care about it that much because English isn't my mother tongue.

What metal bands do you have the most respect for and why?

Venom. I was totally got into thrash metal by them. I don't think thrash/death/black metal would even exist without them or it’d be in totally different forms.

What music (metal or not) do you dislike the most and why?

Regardless from the genre, I despise all the bands/musicians who can do nothing better than copying the leading artists. Those people should stay away from any art.

Do you guys do anything for a living outside of Sigh?

Yes, we all three have to have day jobs to survive. It would be great if we could live on music, however at the same time I think having a day job isn't a bad thing as a band. I mean, if we'd live on music, we'd have to sell the album, and then I am not sure if we could do musically as we like, like we do now. We might have to be a bit more conservative.

Are there any side-projects going on that the fans should be aware of?

I myself am working on a project called Enoch, with Phil from Pantera and Killjoy from Necrophagia. Enoch plays totally non-metal, synth-oriented horror movies soundtrack-like music. You can easily imagine how they sound from Sigh's synth parts. We hope to go into the studio to record the debut album "Graveyard Disturbances" as soon as Pantera's tour is over, hopefully within this year.

This sounds like something I'll really be looking forward to! Is it just the 3 of you? What are all your roles?

I think Opal, who is Phil's girlfriend, will do some chorus and voice effects. Phil and Killjoy will do scary voice effects and write lyrics. I'm in charge of composition and synth/sampling stuff.

Is all the music written and just waiting to be recorded?

Yes, the music is already done and I've already recorded my parts. So as soon as Pantera's tour is over, we'll gather at the studio to add the voices.

How did this project come about? How did you end up getting Phil on board?

Both Killjoy and I are big horror movies fans and a few years ago we came up with an idea to do the project. You know Phil is in Necrophagia and he's a horror movie lover too, so Killjoy asked him to join us.

Finally, if you were to change the face of metal today, how would you change it?

I don't care about today's metal scene, but it would be great if we could go back to the 80s and play with great 80s thrash/heavy metal bands!

Thanks so much for this interview, is there anything else you would like to add or say to the fans?

Thank you very much for the interview. You can get our latest information on our website at http://listen.to/sigh
Please e-mail me though the website if you have something to say.

Even if I had to wait another 10 years for their next release I’d do it! Throneaeon’s debut “Neither of Gods” is everything I hoped for and then some. Having released only two demos “Demo-95” and "Carnage" and 1999 MCD “With Sardonic Wrath”, Throneaeon built up a strong reputation in Sweden and the underground scene around the world. Hard work and determination resulted in a record deal with Hammerheart Records and their first full-length “Neither of Gods”, which is an immense piece of blasphemous and brutal death metal. Here’s what Andreas Dahlstrom (bass) had to say about the band’s history and their latest masterpiece.

Chris


First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on a very good full-length debut album "Neither of Gods". Do other 'zines and metal media share this same enthusiasm I have?

Thank you! The album was just released, so a lot of reactions are yet to come, but so far we have heard only kind words about it and I have been pretty busy answering interviews the past month. It seems like we have made a fucking good album and, as I said, so far the press has had nothing but good things to say about it.

From what I know, you had few labels interested in signing a contract with you. Why did you decide to pick Hammerheart Records?

We negotiated with about 5 or 6 different labels that we decided were interesting for us. In the end we chose HHR as they could offer us the best deal in combination of showing us that they really believed in THRONEAEON and our music. We had been in contact with Wilko at HHR a couple of times before (when he had his own label, Fadeless) and it seems like all of the staff members are totally devoted to this kind of music, so in the end it was not a difficult decision.

What were your intentions by re-releasing the MCD "With Sardonic Wrath"? Wouldn't you rather concentrate on the promotion of your new material?

Wilko at HHR told us that they were interested in re-releasing the mcd to make it available again when the full-length would be released and we all thought that it was a great idea. We, as well as the people at HHR, all think that the mcd is a great release and it would be sad to let it drift into oblivion. Helgrind Productions whom originally released the mcd showed no intention of promoting it further and it was easy for HHR to take over the distribution of it. I can assure you that all our powers and strength was put into "Neither of Gods" and the re-release of the mcd was just to make it available to the fans again.

Can you explain the meaning of the band's name Throneaeon? It's pretty strange combination of letters.

Ha ha, ok you're American, right? Yeah, it's a pretty strange combination, but we like to see it as something unique that represents the band 100%. We feel that both the original words (THRONE & AEON) represents a strong meaning to ourselves, so why not combine them, making a blasphemous and strong word that holds the secret to our whole existence?

There have been quite a few line-up changes through the years. What have caused them?

WHO has caused them, would probably be a better fitting question...? Maybe Tony can answer you on this one, if you ever meet him...

Are all current members fully dedicated to Throneaeon or do any of you have different side projects?

No side projects whatsoever. We are focusing all our powers into THRONEAEON! The band means everything to us and we wouldn't want to waste our energy on any second hand stuff. We are 100% dedicated to this band and we will take it as far as we can. I would guess that you need to be somewhat mentally disturbed to put so much effort into this music such as ourselves.

The band was formed in 1991 and almost a decade later you release your first album. What took you so long? Was it the band's decision not to rush the recording until you are satisfied with your sound and style or there were other circumstances causing that?

The first 3-4 years were quite disordered due to band members coming and leaving all the time, it took until 1994 for the band to get a stable line-up. As soon as we felt that the four of us would stay together for a long time we recorded the "demo -95" tape and from that moment on things have been moving steadily upwards. We have always been very distinct on the fact that everything has to be at least 100% before we release it that’s why we haven't taken every chance offered to release an album. We have a strong opinion as to how a label is supposed to support THRONEAEON and we can't accept anything less. This is also something we do as a standpoint against major parts of the music industry that just gain profit from releasing lousy bands. We take this very seriously and that includes to be serious to the fans. We want the fans to know that an album from THRONEAEON means a good quality product.

I wouldn't say that extreme death metal bands in Sweden are a minority, but the current trend calls for more melodic groups. Why did you decide to go with this sound?

This is the kind of music that got us playing our instruments in the first place (not counting the heavy metal bands that we grew up with in the 80-ies) and it will always be a major part of our hearts and souls. It would feel very strange to change direction now when things are finally starting to roll faster. We have survived the Death Metal downfall period of the mid nineties and still holding the banner up high. This is our life and you can't change that in a blink of the eye. Even though we sometimes feel that we want to try something else (especially during the Black Metal period when "no-one" listened to Death Metal) it would be completely wrong to what we stand for. We're a Death Metal band and people will be aware of that. If we would be playing in another genre in the future (not with THRONEAEON) it would be so different to Metal.

It seems you really don't like Christians and/or organized religion. Is this the band's image or your personal beliefs?

Personal beliefs... Absolutely!! This is our reality, no fiction!! Image belongs to the past. We don't like christianity 'cause it's an oppressing religion and it corrupts our society. I would say that most religions fit to this description but the christian hypocrisy is what we deal with in our daily lives here in Sweden. Our music is very personal to us so of course our personal views affects THRONEAEON. In conclusion, with THRONEAEON we tell the truth, so it's our personal views enhanced with the brutality of our art that we call Death Metal. We are involved with acts against the christian influence on our society. We will during this month, for instance, discuss with the politicians in our city about the laws of freedom of speech, which is kind of a mark for Sweden. This doesn't exist in our hometown anymore if you make people upset, which is kind of fucked up!

What does "Neither of Gods" mean?

It's a statement of truth. With this album we wish to declare war upon christianity and any man-made so-called god. Basically we want to tell the world that it's enough now. No more bullshit! Let people decide for themselves. You are neither of gods!!

What exactly does that blurry picture of a person on the cover of "Neither of Gods" represent?

It represents a lot of stuff. It's basically up to what you personally get from it. If you don't see anything else than a picture and some colors, then you have to ask yourself what you are. I must say that when I buy an album I don't want to be served with all the answers, I want to make an opinion of my own. I can discuss my personal views with someone in private, but I won't give out all the details here. That would be to ruin all the fun for the fans...

How open are you towards new inspirations into your music?

It's always nice to be able to be open-minded and I think it enhances the music if the inspiration is handled with care. Our next album will probably have new elements but still sound very much THRONEAEON. We're playing Death Metal and that's how we're performing our music, but of course you can be inspired by anything from Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode to softporn soundtracks and Bacardi commercials.

Since you are on Hammerheart now, are you open to do more tours? Are there any plans already?

We would definitely love to go on tour through Europe and the States, but right now I don't have a clue what the future will bring. The only plans we have at the moment are to go on a Scandinavian tour together with our friends and label mates Exmortem (Denmark) and Blood Red Throne (Norway).

Thank you for this interview and the best of luck in the future. Any closing comments?

Thanks for the support. Anyone interested in THRONEAEON should definitely check out our website, which is where all the action takes place: www.throneaeon.com, and also check out www.mp3.com/throneaeon to hear some of our blasphemous tunes. Hope to see you all on tour and go buy our albums! Cheers...

What can I say in my little introduction for this Meshuggah interview? Not much, because I’m just a little man compared to a band that by many is treated as one of the most influential groups in metal. I can only be grateful to live in times that I can listen to their music, see them in concerts and have fun phone conversations with them as if we were best friends. I don’t remember laughing so hard and so many times on the phone... ever... and this is the first time I ever spoke to the guy! Marten Hagstrom (guitar) was great, he was funny and entertaining... like his band. If you’ve never heard them I don’t know how the hell you found your way to this site...

Chris


How did idea of “Rare Trax” come to life?

Basically, it was an idea from our boss Markus Tiger at Nuclear Blast in Germany. We come back from touring after the “Chaosphere” album, we went on the European tour and went to tour with the Slayer in States and what basically happened was we had to decide what to release next. We though we would like to start working on the new album right away but that wouldn’t be finished soon enough for Nuclear Blast, so they suggested we put together a rare tracks album and we said OK, why not and that’s what we did.

What did you guys do over those three years since your last regular studio album?

The first year, actually almost year and a half was just touring and then we were supposed to finish the “Rare Trax” in just six months but we had some problems with CD-ROM staff as video footage and we also had a bit of a trouble putting together all those master tapes, finding them and putting them over to digital for mastering. So, that’s why it took so much time.

The promo letter says that in ’96 you, Jans K. and Tomas had some free studio time and you thought of doing something but didn’t know what and result is 'Don’t Speak' and 'By Emptyness Abducted' which were never meant to be released. How often do you have free time and do something like that and do you still have some songs on future rare tracks?

Not often. [laughs] I would say that pretty much was the only time. What happened back then was that Fredrik (Thordendal) was doing his solo album and that’s why we had a lot of time on our hands and we were just messing around for fun in the studio where Jens (Kidman) was working back then at that time. However, I know that Jens has some stuff that he’s recorded by himself and I have some stuff that I’ve recorded by myself when we were just messing around but it’s not like regular Meshuggah stuff. You know, for fun...

Are you saying more stuff for future “Rare Trax”?

[laughs] I hope we won’t have to release another “Rare Trax”. I guess in a couple of years we’ll have a few songs that will be laying around but 'Don’t Speak' and ‘By Emptyness Abducted’ are pretty Meshuggah like songs, the stuff that we have written since then and haven’t been included isn’t that much Meshuggah style.

It had to be quite a party since you even recorded ‘War’ for Fredrik’s 30th birthday... How did that happen?

Oh yeah, it was quite a party. [laughs] Actually we recorded an entire album with six or seven songs but every song had like a very different style. We had a ‘War’ song which is near death metal or whatever grind-core metal and we had a couple of soft songs... what we wanted to do was to make an album where all the lyrics were really downgrading towards Fredrik [laughs] ... we had a lot of fun doing it.

‘New Millennium...’ is going to be one of my all time favorite videos, it’s simply hilarious... who came up with this idea?

Thanks. Actually I can’t remember cause that idea come up when we were in the tour bus on the Slayer tour and we had a day off cause we had to cancel the show and we were just riding. We had a 10 hour drive or something like that so pretty much we were stuck in the bus and Gustav Hielm, our bass player, he had this cam-coder with him and I don’t know who come up with that idea but we were talking about how really hilarious would it be if we could make a video riding the bus, playing air-guitars and just making fools out of ourselves. [laughs] We recorded this just for our own sake it wasn’t meant to be released...

Based on ‘New Millennium...’ and ‘Tour and Studio Clips’ video it seems like you guy had a really good time during the US tour with Slayer... tell me something unusual that happened during that tour.

Oh man, what didn’t happen. You know, the weird thing is that you always remember the bad things about the tour or something like that cause it sort of sticks to your mind but one thing that was really great about this tour was when we met up with Fear Factory, I think it was somewhere in Main, the tours met up so it was like a multi-band deal. We had a party on Fear Factory bus and that night was really great cause everybody was just partying. I was like six bands just had a blast. That was a really fun thing. Another thing that was really really great was in San Francisco cause Exodus, Testament and Machine Head come around and we had a great party after the show. It was so cool... us, Slayer and all those bands... we had a blast.

A lot of bands either listen to your music or dream of playing with you. Who would you like to play with?

One band that was great playing with obviously was Slayer. We grow up on this, personally I listened to a lot of Slayer when I was young so going on the road with them was like a child's dream. We would really really like to go on tour with Strapping Young Lad cause the stuff Devin Townsend has been putting out I think it’s really cool. That would be really fun to play with live. Also, of course all of our young heroes we ever had we would like to go out on the road with, like Testament and bands like that...

Outside of the band, do you guys hang out together or each one of you lives your separate lives?

Well it all depends on the time of the year... Oh, we hang out a lot but we live in different parts of the city so it’s not always as easy to just swing by each other. When we are on the road or when we are working together we see so much of each other that when we have a holiday we’ll leave town on our separate things just to chill out but we all hang out and we all have parties together cause we’ve been friends for so long. I know Tomas (Haake) since I was 6 I think and we were friend before anything else, you know. And this same is between Jens and Fredrik. We have great friends base in our band before anything else. It comes before the music.

Have you ever bit the crap out of the members of another band?

[laughs all the time till the next question] No, we haven’t. I don’t think we ever felt like it either. We’ve come along with all the bands we’ve met. We’ve never been in any great fight, not among ourselves and not with the other bands.

What’s your favorite alcohol?

Right now... Beer.

Who’s the craziest and most unpredictable member of Meshuggah?

I would say that we all are but it depends on when you’re asking. I mean Fredrik is pretty unpredictable sometimes but I would say that we all have our moments. [laughs] If it’s something I learned during all those years it’s very hard to predict what anyone in this band will do and I can’t even predict what I’m gonna do myself [laughs] It’s pretty hard...[laughs]

Do you realize that you guys are probably the most unpredictable band in a whole world?

Thanks, I take it as a complement. I mean I never though of us as being the most unpredictable band but we always do whatever comes into our minds. It doesn’t matter how silly, strange, weird or whatever it is. We only consider one thing and that is ‘do we like what we’re doing, are we having fun?’ If we come up with an idea that we thing is good we go with it and I think that’s what keeps it interesting for us being in a band.

Is anyone of you involved in any side projects right now?

Not at the moment. Right now we are not doing any side projects that I know of. Jans has been writing some stuff on his own and I’ve been writing some stuff on my own and I know that Frederick has a couple of thing lying around but nothing serious. Nothing that is a band or even going to be an album.

When can we expect new studio release? Do you have any songs written yet?

We have stuff written but not that much but we have all the lyrics and we have a couple of great cover ideas so I would say if we’re lucky and everything goes the way we want it to we’ll be able to release it in like early 2002, first half of 2002.

Any plans to promote this CD with a tour?

No, not at the moment. It might happen that we would but I’m not sure. You never know, we might swing over to the States for a week or do a couple of shows here in Europe but the way we see it, it’s a way better to our fans to get a real album real soon and then we’ll tour on that one really extensively instead. Cause if we go on tour now and tour this “Rare Trax” album I think that it would take too long for us to complete a new album.

I guess that would be all, it was a pleasure to talk to you. Any last words?

Thanks a lot man it was great. It was nice talking to you too. As for the last words; come check us out next time we are around and buy all our shit so we can get rich anytime soon. [laughs]

Every once in a while, after their (in)famous ‘half-naked women’ carnivals, Brazil opens its gates and spills a group of young men to take over the metal world. Guys that don’t like to dance... That was the case with Sepultura (until they started dancing again), Krisiun and now Rebaelliun. After the very successful debut "Burn the Promised Land," Rebaelliun is ready to solidify their top death metal position with a brilliant follow up known as "Annihilation" that will take you for a spin through the realms of hell. The guitarist Fabiano Penna gave me a glimpse of the band’s past and what’s in store for the future...

Chris


It’s been few weeks from the release date of "Annihilation", how’s the reaction over the world been so far?

"Annihilation" is gonna be released in September, so till now we have received some reaction only from the press, and it seems the album will really have an impact in the scene when it's out.

There are already legends flowing around the Metal circles about the sacrifices you had to make to tour Europe. Did you really have to sell houses and quit your jobs to make the tour?

First time we toured Europe, we sponsored everything by ourselves. Rebaelliun had been formed around 6 months before this journey, and since we knew how hard would be to start promoting the band in Brazil, we decided to go to Europe in order to make a better promotion over there. So we all quit our jobs and also sold everything we had in Brazil at that time, equipment, furniture, some clothes, etc. But of course that was the better decision we could have made, Rebaelliun is nowadays a very known band in the Death Metal scene, and this is the response of that first step in '98.

I know that when you started the band you asked Krisiun for help and support. Are there new young bands doing this same to you and, if so, what do you tell them?

After that first tour in Europe, when we came back to Brazil, a lot of bands from all over the country got in touch to know more about our trip, they wanted to know how to get a record deal with an European label, how to get the gigs in other countries, stuff like that. We gave them some addresses and telephone numbers, if they were successful I really don't know, it depends 100% on the music and on the professionalism.

Do you have any favorites from the young Brazilian scene?

I think that Nephasth is the band with more chances to get bigger in the scene. They are very dedicated and have their own style.

Why after a very successful "Burn the Promised Land" and European tour with Limbonic Art and Mystic Circle, did Ronaldo Lima decide to leave the band and what happened that he changed his mind and returned to the band?

That was a bad moment for him, he had personal problems and it would be impossible for him to dedicate himself for Rebaelliun with so many problems. As a trio we recorded "Bringer of War" Mini-CD and once more toured Europe. Right after this last tour, when Marcello (b/v) then left Rebaelliun, Ronaldo decided to come back, and we all thought it was the right moment for that.

Have you ever thought of ending Rebaelliun while there were just two of you? Why did Marcello Marzari leave and how did you find his replacement Lohy Fabiano?

That was a hard moment for us. Anyway I and Sandro kept rehearsing and already writing the new songs, after a couple of weeks Ronaldo decided to come back and then we all started to think about the new frontman. Lohy Fabiano had played with us before in another band, he knew about our searching and he decided to try to join Rebaelliun. We rehearsed a few times with this new line-up and it worked out in a very nice way. And this is the best line-up we ever got, in all aspects. About Marcello, after a very long tour in Europe he was probably tired and he thought that was the better decision.

Going back to your tour with Limbonic Art, I know that you missed some shows due to a visas problems. What exactly happened during this tour?

When Rebaelliun was booked in this tour, nobody in Europe realized that we should have VISA to go to some countries, mainly the countries in the East. When we were going to play in Poland, the tour bus was crossing the border and so we were not allowed to enter, 'cause we didn't have the papers. We tried several times thru different roads, but it didn't work. So we missed 2 or 3 gigs, and of course we were pissed-off about that. To cover those countries, a new tour was booked, when we played over 15 European countries with Vader.

I assume Morbid Angel is one of your biggest influences. Is that why 'Day of Suffering' made your MCD "Bringer of War"?

When Rebaelliun was formed, 'Day of Suffering' was one of the cover songs we played, this song was played a lot live as well, and when the idea for the MCD came out, we decided to record it. Morbid Angel is the biggest Death Metal band all over the world, and a big influence for us.

"Annihilation" is definitely your best work to date. How long did the writing process last and did you feel any pressure writing it after the very well received "Burn the Promised Land"?

Not at all, a lot of changes happened during the writing process, Ronaldo left the band, Marcello left the band, and all those problems were just one more reason to write extreme songs and lyrics. We wrote all the songs naturally, without any pressure, with all the tours we had improved a lot and we knew that we were able to write a better album. We never thought that "Annihilation" would be worse than "Burn the Promised Land", we were very sure about the quality of this new album all the time. We started to write the songs while recording "Bringer of War", in April '2000, and we recorded the album in February '2001, so it took around 10 months to write all the songs.

"Annihilation" and previous albums carry a strong anti-Christian, anti-religion message. Is this something you really believe as a band? What are your religious beliefs?

We don't have any religious beliefs. We have our own philosophy. Religions make people blind and weak, and we believe that we can get a lot further in life being our own redeemers. Rebaelliun is one of our beliefs, 'cause to be in this band we have gone against a lot of different things thru these years.

What aspects of the music or songwriting did you change from the previous album "Burn the Promised Land"? Any similarities? Differences?

I think that the feeling is basically the same in both albums. But we were much more careful about everything this time. You can notice that in "Annihilation" everything is clearer, the riffs are very clear, drums are much clearer as well, you can hear the bass, you can 'understand' more the vocal lines. And the composition is in a higher level, the structures of the songs were more well planned.

Are you completely satisfied with the final outcome or there are things you would like to change?

"Annihilation" is the first recording that we are 100% satisfied with. Of course we have now a different view of the album and some things maybe could be changed to sound better, but these new ideas will be part of the new album.

Do you have an unspoken war with Krisiun on who’s the most extreme and brutal band in Brazil or you can care less and each one of you do your own thing without checking the competition moves?

Not at all, it doesn't exist. Krisiun has been in the scene for longer than us, they have a solid career and they don't need any kind of competition with any band. Rebaelliun arose 3 years ago and I can say we already did a lot in the worldwide Death Metal scene since we came. However we know we have a huge potential and much more can be done on coming years.

By the way, have you heard "Ageless Venomous"? What do you think of it?

Not the whole album, I've heard 1 or 2 tracks. It sounds more technical than before.

Give me your top 5 CDs in the Metal world. Who do you listen to the most?

- Judas Priest "Painkiller"
- Slayer "South of Heaven"
- Slayer "Reign in Blood"
- Manowar "Triumph of the Steel"
- Morbid Angel "Covenant"

Beside these bands I listen to a lot of other artists, classical music, guitarists, other Metal bands.

What are the promotional plans for "Annihilation"? Any chance to see you in US?

There's a plan for our first apparition in the U.S. this year, but this is not 100% right. It will depend on the response of the album in the States, but be sure we will keep working hard to tour the States as soon as possible.

Are you already thinking about a follow up to "Annihilation"?

Yes, we have already 2 new songs, and I just can say they sound different than the songs from "Annihilation", we wanna go to a higher level once more.

Any final words to your American fans?

Thanks for all the e-mails and letters we have received from the U.S. on last months. As you all know our main goal is touring the States, we've heard for years about the American fanatic fans and we are sure that this tour will happen soon. Visit www.rebaelliun.com and keep supporting this fucking scene.

Thundra are probably best known for containing a few ex-members from Enslaved and Einherjer. However, if one takes the time to listen to this Viking juggernaut, one will find a whole new emerging concept rising strongly forth in the Norwegian scene. Playing healthy Viking based tales is no mean task and Thundra seem to carefully grasp the formula of true-Viking metal with ease. Whereas other Viking outfits have been knocking on the door of the perfect equation, Thundra open up the door and say ‘hello’. "Blood of Your Soul" is their debut release and it’s a harsh and beautiful release through eight epic songs. I caught up with Harald Revheim of Thundra, responsible for drumming and choir vocals throughout the debut album.

Jack ‘Odel’


Firstly, thanks heaps for taking the time to answer my questions. Obviously, you guys formed together to play Viking associated metal, do you consider yourselves black metal as such, or do you think Thundra has something extra to offer non-black metal fans?

Well we didn’t start out to be what they called Viking metal, but with our background and musical taste we all had it just felt natural to do what we liked best. I know our label has got us down as Black Viking metal, whatever that is. No you can’t call us Black if you consider our lyrics, but some associations are there musically. If we have anything to offer the non-black metal fans, I don’t think that the music is commercial enough to catch the masses (he he), no I mean we have some melodic parts that I have heard that have caught the attention of non-black fans and such. But basically, and this may sound like a cliché but, we make music for ourselves and that’s it. We are a very egotistical bunch.

Thundra is composed of famous Viking outfits such as Enslaved and Einherjer... does this really help bring good outside experience to Thundra?

It helps in that degree that they are well established and have made a name for themselves but musically, definitely no. That was why we started Thundra to do our own thing. But we can’t deny that this has helped us ahead in scene.

"Blood of Your Soul" was released in 2000 and is a really diverse Viking/black metal release in what may be considered a stagnant genre. What are your views on where Viking/black metal will be in five years time?

Well, we see a definitive tendency to use folklore and folk tune in today’s scene, which I find, is excellent. As you probably has figured out from the album. But when you see the some of the bands in the scene now like Thyrfing, Vintersorg, Finntroll and such they are all more melodic and not as brutal. So maybe that’s where it’s headed, but for my taste these are great to combine... as you will hear on our next album.

Will bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Emperor still be setting the benchmark for music then?

Well, the last I heard is that Emperor is breaking up so they will most likely live on their old masterpieces, but Dimmu just released a killer album. But in creating of great albums there will always be bands that want to do the same, with different results. But it is an evolving music scene so it’s not easy to label something black-metal anymore. I think with the money and equipment that’s available today there are few limits if you have a powerful record-company behind you. Some of the fans see this as treason to the real scene, but it isn’t free to give out records. You lose some you win some.

On the record "Blood of Your Soul" the CD booklet lists three vocalists, yourself, Steven and Tor Erik Helgesen. I really commend you guys for using three vocalists on the album, as it is quite a unique feature of the record and helps add real diversity. Where does each of you sing on the record?

The vocal was made in studio, and Steven has the powerful clean voice and so called growling, Tor Erik has the scream vocal and I only have the choirs and some clean vocals. I have always had a taste for mixing these three vocals so it just felt natural to do when we made the different parts.

What are your favourite tracks on the album?

I will have to say ‘Frozen Ground’ and ‘Blood of Your Soul’ since they contain most diversity.

I really think the track, ‘With Power and Might’ summarises what "Blood of Your Soul" creates: epic, operatic and heartfelt music. Any thoughts on that?

Well I can’t say anything other than thanks.

Have you seen the 13th Warrior? The reasons I ask is that it’s a very Norse/Viking associated movie and few of your tracks would fit in quite brilliantly in the more dramatic proportions of the movie.

Yeah I have seen it, maybe you are right. Except for the parts where the Arab is swinging his toothpick, we should have seen more of the Norsemen. They kicked ass.

What music influences Thundra? Releases such as Bathory’s "Hammerheart" or more removed music from the immediate scene you’re involved in? Folk stuff...?

Well that’s a difficult question; we all have different musical tastes. But the folk related metal as always appealed to us cause it’s a big part of our heritage. But we always had a shinning to the prog-metal scene. So I really don’t know what to say. Quality metal in general!

What albums are spinning in your CD player at the moment?

Right now there is a new signing on a sublabel from what we are on, called Spikefarm, I received it today. They are called Shadow and they play a kinda Gothenburg metal ala In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. It’s good.

Do you still keep in contact with Enslaved and Einherjer, check out the stuff they bring out?

Yeah the Einherjer guys live close by so we party regularly together, haven’t heard from the Enslaved camp for a while but we are all good friends. And their new albums are excellent.

Comprised of acts such as Einherjer and Enslaved, do you get compared to them much? If so, does it weigh heavily upon your minds to innovate and try to remove yourself from their shadow?

Well I have never experienced anything other than positive things to come from our relations to our former bands, so I cant say that it has been a problem. So I don’t feel that there is a problem since we do our own thing, completely different.

How did Thundra come together?

Me, Stein and Nils started Thundra while me and Stein where still a part of the Enslaved and Einherjer camp, basically to do our own thing. We quickly understood that this is what we wanted to do. For Rune and Steven that was people we had played with before so we where friends from before so it felt natural to ask them. Tor Erik is the latest addition.

The lyrics written by you and Stein really tell good tales through each song. Was it intended for each song on "Blood of Your Soul" to tell stories or did just happen to come together like that?

I won’t say that all our lyrics have a deep meaning but it reflects our thoughts and feelings described in a more adventurous form, to make it more to our own liking.

Any touring coming up or are you working out a new album soon?

As we are all in full-time work, we don’t have time to do too much touring. So we basically just have to make the music whenever we get together. It would be fun to do more gigs than what we are doing but the days aren’t long enough. So it’s either a new album or gigs and we chose to make music. We also made this very clear to Spinefarm so they haven’t been to keen to send us on the road.

Any major concept forthcoming for the next Thundra album? When can we expect you lads to go into recording for the new album?

The album is nearly ready; actually we are doing a demo right now so we can work on the vocals probably. But I am leaving the country for a while so there won’t be a new album until next year, but this gives us a chance to work probably with the material since the last album was a hurry project.

With the addition of Tor to Thundra that will make you a six-man outfit, which should lead to a lot of creativity with the upcoming release. What can we expect from the new album?

It’s going to be more powerful and a bit harder. And I am really looking forward to recording this album. And Tor has much to offer so it’s going to be good to work with him cause it has been so far.

Thanks again Harald for working this interview out with me, good luck with Thundra. Are there any words you’d like to say to your loyal Thundra fans out there?

Stay true, see you out there. Cheers.

About Kamelot’s "Karma" I think I said it all in my review, so there is no need to repeat myself here. It’s a brilliant, simply outstanding piece of work, which is a mandatory purchase for any metal fan, that will quickly reach the top spots in any power metal music charts of 2001. So how in the name of God could I miss the chance of talking to the mastermind behind this opus, guitarist Thom Youngblood? Never, not a chance and here is what he had to say...

Chris


3 albums with this same line up really pays off. Without a question your best release to date and I dare to say one of the best power metal CDs of this year...

Oh, thank you very much. We are very happy with it for sure. I think the change that we made back in ’97, I guess, was instrumental. The people that we chose obviously were the right people.

Without detracting value from your previous album, "Karma" beats "The Fourth Legacy" almost in every musical aspect; arrangements, perfect balance between melody and power, even instrumental and vocal skills improved a lot... how would you comment on that?

First, I would say thank you. There was a lot of pressure, to be honest with you, about doing the next record after "The Fourth Legacy" and we really knew that we are continuing to grow as musicians and songwriters. I think our production team with Sascha and Miro knew that we could do a better record. That’s the most important that you always have that drive and that vision to continue to do something at least as good. A lot of things have to do with interpretation, maybe somebody might think that the record is better or worse but it has a lot to do with each person.

Can you definitely say that now you’ve found your sound?

Yeah, without a doubt. I think the start of it was probably the end of the "Siege Paroles" and really working with Sascha and Miro, they helped us define what Kamelot sounds like. Also the songwriting team between myself and Khan is basically the main difference between the old Kamelot and new Kamelot. We seem to really think alike when it comes to working together and things come together really quickly. We are best friends now and I think that’s really important as well. We don’t really have any jealousy about who writes what and things like that and I think that kind of element in any band is not really good.

From the production point of view, you stick with the same producer, same studio, cover designer... Does it mean you found your perfect working environment?

I think with any kind of successful entity you have a team of people that you have to rely on. Deryk, the cover artist, has been with us since "Dominion" and we continue to challenge him to kind of like make sure he does the cover as good or better than previous one. To be honest I was a little bit worried at first, but in the end I feel like the "Karma’s" cover is the best one we’ve done. The same goes for the production team. It really comes down to a lot of different things even the travel agent that we use. Making sure that flights are all done properly and all this sort of circle of good karma is an important element in what we do.

So, what did your last two years look like? Did you do anything differently than before, like more rehearsals, a changed composition process...?

The composition process it totally different than the way we did things before, that’s for sure. Basically myself and Roy work together two or three times a year and all the other times we work alone. We work alone on songs and then we come together with ideas that we both have and collaborate that way. Then when we have songs that we feel are ready to be presented to the band we do that and we rehearse before we go to the studio. And than we’ll send tapes to Shasch and let him check it out before we actually come to Germany. So, the process is a little bit more technical. It’s not so much being in a rehearsal room and just going through songs, we are really trying to work the songs out ahead of time. Of course there are always little things during the recording process that we add. The best example I can give you it’s like the ‘Nights of Arabia’. The female part in the middle of the song was never planned until we were in the studio. I mean there was a section there that was going to be like a guitar solo and I thought maybe it would be cool to have this sort of female voice since the story is about queen Sheherazade. So, that was like a good example of what we thought of doing right there in the studio. It was never planned and to me it’s one of the coolest parts of the song...

Does the fact that Roy lives in Norway and the rest of the band in Florida cause any problems during the song writing process?

Not at all.

Do you feel it’s better this way?

I almost do. I was a little bit afraid when several times Khan was talking about moving to Florida. That would be cool if he did but on the other hand there are a lot of bands that live together in this same town and they don’t even get together but maybe once or twice a month. I think the way we work now works and that’s really the most important thing. To try to change that and to have everyone in this same town I don’t think really would make that much of a difference. To be honest, the element of being able to travel to Norway and Roy to come here adds certain pressure on us. We really make sure we work hard and concentrate on every detail. It really works perfect this way.

How would you like the description of "the best American power metal band that plays a European power metal style..."

[laughs] Well, the way that I look at that is as complement because most of the influences for my own personal style have been from European musicians whether it’s classical or the guys like Michael Shenker or the band Iron Maiden. It’s only been really two American bands that I like, that could have been any kind of influence that would be Queensryche and Dream Theater. So, I don’t really have a problem with that statement.

Sometimes I get this feeling that you guys should live in Europe... You have a European style, you tour more in Europe than here, albums are first released there but most of you live in States. So, maybe you guys should move to Norway rather than Roy to here. Is that a possibility for you?

[laughs] It would probably be Germany if we did anything like that. I’m sure the record company would love it cause they wouldn’t have to spend so much on flights. I guess that’s part of what makes us unique as far as American metal band. When I think of American metal band I kind of think of Iced Earth or somebody like this. I think there is certain elegance to European metal that American bands sort of lack. I don’t know if it’s a respect to classical music or what but there is certain elegance that I think maybe Kamelot brings to the American metal scene that’s different from most of the American metal bands. And that’s good, that’s part of what we strive for us to be not only different from American metal bands but also have a certain class that we can be proud of.

Why "Karma"? It’s not like you were dead for the last 10 years...

In America karma has a lot to do with aura, how you are perceived by others when you meet them, how you are perceived by other people in the way that, the vibe you kind of put out. Several times in life you go out you meet someone and you say this person gives me a bad karma, there’s something creepy about this person. And I think karma the way we live our lives and treat each other, treat the environment is really important how we are in turn treated the way our live turns out. I think it’s really important that the way that we do things definitely comes back to us.

How do you choose stories for your music? For example, are you interested in the 14th century or did you just pick the Elizabeth Bathori story to fit the album’s concept?

We wanted to do a three part song, we had the music and we were looking for the right sort of inspiration lyrically. So, I was going through this medieval magazine and I read the story about Elizabeth who killed 600 plus virgins, and in my ignorance I’ve never even heard of her before. I’ve talked to people that told me there are bands that have done this story but I’ve never heard of her. Our intention from the beginning was to really portray her more from the human side of it not just vampire thing but maybe look at her why she was like this. I think it’s interesting that the story of it, the whole vanity thing of staying young is really something that you see today on TV and real life. You can’t go buy a magazine without almost every picture of the women or the men being perfect. I think it’s a sort of appropriate story not only for that time but even for today that shows how bad the vanity can be for our society.

For those of us who have no idea who Elizabeth was can you tell us something about her?

Elizabeth Bathori was a Countess in Hungary and she was having her hair brushed by one of her servants and I guess the servant did something that really pissed her off and she ended up shanking her. The blood from the servant landed on her hand and she thought that the skin in that area had really looked young after that and she kind of snapped. She would have virgins from the village come in, murdered and she would bathe in their blood. She really thought that this was making her young. She started with just the villagers but then virgins from nobles were being taken and that’s when she was finally caught but they say that over 600 virgins were murdered by her.

Got to ask this... Why out of three concept songs 'Requiem For The Innocent' is printed in red on the album’s cover?

There was a rumor that the ink was made with blood but I can’t really say that it’s true [laughs], but basically the song is the place where those murders started happening and we wanted to have this sort of visual comparison to lyrics and the music.

Is this the label idea to add those bonus tracks? To me 'Fall From Grace' is a perfect, powerful ending to a great CD...

That was basically because European release has been out for two months already and fans in America had to wait for two moths if they didn’t already buy the import and we wanted to have something on it that is at least collectable, something different. I think it was a way of giving the fans a little bit something extra for waiting.

How do you handle the keyboards on the road? Although you use them very heavily on the album you don’t have a permanent member... Have you ever thought of adding a fifth member?

Not really. We have Günter Werno (Vanden Plas) who plays with us live and he’s a very good keyboard player but we really don’t think it would make any sense to add another member. We feel like chemistry is perfect now. Working with Miro as arranger and having him do the keyboards we feel is perfect. Khan and I do keyboard parts for the record and then we give them to Miro to come up with proper sound, change some arrangements but general ideas for keyboards come from Khan and myself.

Maybe Miro could stop producing your music and concentrate on performing it?

He’s kind of an enigma. He’s an incredible keyboard player but he doesn’t really play live and he’s to busy as a producer to really hit the road for few months. There might be a special event that we could have Miro play but he just doesn’t have the time to do it regularly.

Are we going to see you on American tour anytime soon?

We are working on some kind of a tour package for the US but it’s going to be the right one for the fans and for Kamelot. We want to make sure that the package that we put together will make sense and the fans will get their money’s worth. So far we really haven’t been presented with something that we feel is good enough and for now we are only doing the festival in November called a ProgPower in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anything would you like to add?

Nothing except thanks for your support and your kind words about the album and to urge everybody out there to go buy the new record "Karma" and hopefully we’ll soon see you all on the road.

I don’t know if whatever I say here will match the brutality and fury of "Ageless Venomous". These guys are mean, hate breathing creatures that are here to hurt you in any way possible. After listening to this sick release I thought I would just roll on the carpet and hide under my desk for the rest of the day. My ears were bleeding, my body was aching and my mind was incapable of independent thought. When Max Kolesne called me on this Sunday afternoon I thought that all hell broke loose… even the gods were pissed ‘cause we got disconnected three times during our exchange of thoughts. So without wasting any more of your time, I’ll give a voice to Max ‘cause he has quite a few messages to tell you.

Chris


I have to tell you that "Ageless Venomous" just blew my mind... once again you proved your affiliation with the best death metal bands in the world...

Thank you very fucking much. We really appreciate that.

"Conquerors of Armageddon", by your main fans, is already treated like a classic release, how difficult was it to write new material after such a huge success of its predecessor?

Thank you very much. After we recorded "Conquerors of Armageddon" we did so many tours, maybe a hundred shows in less than a year and it was very important to us to play every day, it didn’t matter if sometimes we woke up tired or sick we only wanted to get on stage, do our best and play some real fucking metal. And I think playing so extensively around the world was a great thing for us. When we come back from all those tours we just started jamming and after those tours I think the band has improved a lot. I think we are getting tighter and better and the whole writing process of this new material was very natural for us. By just jamming a lot we were sharing a lot of ideas and Moyses already had a lot of riffs ready and that’s how we wrote the new material. It was very important to write music from our hearts, from our souls. It’s so natural for us to play this kind of music cause we really really love to play brutal music. We had great atmosphere and great time writing this album. We tried to make this album to sound as brutal, fast and extreme as possible.

Do you think, although you’ve existed since 1991, that many people affiliate Krisiun with the new wave of death metal with bands like Nile, Hate Eternal or Reabelliun? By the way what do you think of those bands?

First of all, those bands are all great fucking bands. Great musicians playing real aggressive, violent music and I think Krisiun was very important for the death metal scene because if you go back, like 10 years ago when we started playing, I think the metal scene especially here in Brazil was getting really fucked up. Most of the bands, even the great bands from the 80s were changing. They were kind of slowing down. Most of the bands would weaken out trying to play some more commercial music, mixing distortion guitars with rap or this trendy music and this scene here was totally fucked up. So we just said, fuck all this trendy, mainstream scene and let’s play some real brutal music. In the beginning we had some influences from bands like Venom, Slayer, Morbid Angel but it was very important for us to achieve our own style. And I think we have our own way of playing music like we play fast most of the time, really aggressive riffs, vocals and everything is toward aggression, violence and speed. So, I think we brought a new vibe to a death metal scene by playing more aggressive and with our feeling, with this wild thing we have inside of us.

Tell me, where did you record this album and who’s producing it. Do you still work with Eric Rutan?

This album was recorded here at Creative Sound Studios in Sao Paulo and this time we produced it ourselves with help of two guys, Thcello Martins and Filip the owner of the studio who mixed and mastered the album. This time we worked more like a team, five guys working together during the whole recording session and during the mixing and mastering of the albums so, this time we made sure this was going to sound the way we wanted it to sound. I think "Ageless Venomous" is much better from "Conquerors of Armageddon" ‘cause it sounds much more clear and I think it’s necessary for a band, which plays such a fast and brutal music to have a clean production. "Conquerors..." production was very good for that time but now we tried to improve, we tried to make something better.
We are still very good friends with Erik but this time he was very busy. He was touring with Morbid Angel, he has his Alas project and Hate Eternal so, by the time we were about to record the album he was so busy we couldn’t find him. So we said "Hey, let’s do it by ourselves".

In your own worlds, how is "Ageless Venomous" different from "Conquerors of Armageddon"?

I think "Ageless Venomous" it’s a little bit more technical. Band is much better, sounds tighter and even faster. We kept this same fast, brutal style but we are playing better, more complex and more technical. I think those are the main differences from "Conquerors of Armageddon".

Tell me something about the two instrumental tracks on this album. It’s pretty unusual for a death metal band.

Well, the first one ‘Serpents Specters’, started as a regular song. We had a drum intro and then Moyses did some melodies over this drum work I did. We don’t say "Let’s make an instrumental song" we just started writing the music structure, started jamming and at the end we decided to keep it as an instrumental because there is a lot of different riffs, changes and stuff like that. The second one, ‘Diableros’, the first idea came up from Moyses, of course, because he has a lot of influences from some classical guitarists. So he showed us this idea and asked Alex what he thinks about it. He said it was great. It’s extreme, it’s fast but it’s also primitive at this same time just like a mix between ancient music with some really extreme classical guitar and then I added some percussion over this song.

If I had to judge the success of a metal band by the number of given concerts you would easily take the top spot. How important are the live shows for you?

I think live shows are the most important thing for the band, especially a metal band. Every metal band should play live and bring their fans the real power of the band. When we play live we feel great. Live shows make you better as a musician, every day you play in a different place, on different gear, sometimes you get tired but you still go on stage and try to be the best you can. I think since we started touring very extensively all over the world the band started to get really better. We feel more confident playing this type of music and more comfortable. All those tours were very important to us. It’s a great feeling to be on the road, meet some real metal people, real diehards, people that are into the music which go to the shows to raise their fists and bang their heads. Real shit played by a real band is the greatest thing you can see.

Century is re-releasing your first two albums now "Black Force Domain" and "Apocalyptic Revelation". Is it true that "Black Force Domain" was lying on the shelf for two years before it was first released?

Yeah. What happened was when we recorded "Black Force Domain" we had some problems releasing this album. We recorded it in 1995 and there was a record (Dynamo Records) here in Brazil that was supposed to release it but the guys from this record label were bunch of losers, bunch of faggots which thought that record was too brutal and they didn’t want to release it. The first record label that released "Black Force Domain" was a small record label from Spain, which released only 1000 copies from which we got about 200 copies just for promotion. We started sending a lot of them to labels, bands and the response was great. Even guys from great bands like Trey Azagthoth (Morbid Angel) wrote us back saying very good things about our music. So we did a small underground tour in Europe where on one of the shows in Germany, guys from Gun Records saw us and decided to release our album. From that point things started to be a little better...

And what about your mini album "Unmerciful Order"? Is anyone going to re-release this - because to tell you the truth I haven’t heard that one yet and it’s pretty hard to get?

This one is really fucked up. It has really bad production. Some people really want to re-release this album but we don’t think it’s the right time to do it, maybe in the future... We don’t want to release it because the production is so bad, it has mistakes... That was our first mini album ever recorded and we did this in like 40 hours.

What is Krisiun for you? A band or way of life?

Of course it’s a way of life. I love to be part of this, to be part of this battle. We’ve been playing for more than 10 years and we’ve been sticking together and fighting together. Even during hard times we were always fighting for the real metal for the real extreme music. We are not here to weak out, or slow down. We are not going to give up. We’ll always keep playing as fast and brutal as we can cause we love to be part of this. It’s just like a battle in the name of the real metal music. For me it’s a life style. I’m living for honor, for something that I really love. I’m not searching for big money. If I can survive playing the music, buy some good equipment and drink some beers I’d be really really happy. Krisiun is really really important to all of us.

How much time do the three of you spend in a rehearsal room? Each one of you represents outstanding skills and knowledge of his instruments.

It depends. Before we went to the studio, this time to record "Ageless Venomous", we were playing 5 or 6 hours a day, every day. We use to practice every day even before we go on tour. Sometimes we practice 3 or 4 hours sometimes more it all depends on our moods. Sometimes we feel 2 or 3 hours is enough and sometimes 6 isn’t. We are very concerned about practicing. I think it is one of the most important things for the band if not the most important to practice a lot. If you stop playing for a few days you are going to start feeling rusty and to play this music you have to be in great shape.

Tell me how difficult or how easy is to work with brothers?

This is crazy. Sometimes it gets really difficult. We’ve been together as a band for over 10 years, we even share this same apartment, of course each one of has have a separate room but sometimes shit happens. I think it’s very important that we grow up spiritually, we respect each other and we respect the others’ defects. It’s just like the school of life. I have learned so much during all those years and now I think we reached more maturity, we are more mature and nowadays we respect each other. Sometimes we have some disagreements but we never get into real fight cause that would be really tough, especially for me because I’m the smallest [laughs].

It seems like Century Media is doing everything they can to promote you as much as possible. Are you happy with your current label?

We are very happy. I think this is first time that we have someone really supporting the band. Since we signed to Century Media we feel like finally someone is doing something for us. They are very professional people, they really respect us as individuals and as a band. Every time we record a new album, guys come over and say "congratulations, you guys play great music". They really respect our music they never come to us and say "guys, play something more commercial, slower" it never happened. We have the freedom to play whatever we want to play. They are very nice people as well, every time we go to the German, US or Brazil office they treat us very well. Sometimes we do barbecues together and we always have a great time. I think it’s very important to have cool people working with the band and not just as professionals but as friends.

What are the tour plans to support "Ageless Venomous"?

In the beginning of August we are going to Europe where we are going to play Wacken Metal Fest. in Germany. After this show we go to US with Immolation during the one we play at Milwaukee Metal Fest. In September we are going to be back here in Brazil and maybe play some shows in South America but that’s not sure yet. We also might play in Japan in October but that’s not sure yet also but November and December are going to be very busy. At the beginning of November we start touring in Poland, our first time there, it’s a headlining tour for Krisiun. After that tour we are going to play with Cannibal Corpse and Kreator around Europe in countries like England, Ireland, Greece, places we never played before so we are very excited about this. After this tour we are going to start Christmas Fest, which happens in Europe every year with bands like Kreator, Cannibal Corpse, Marduk, Dark Funeral, Vomitory and more.

I guess it’s time to end our conversation. My best Krisiunian regards to you and the rest of the band and I’ll see you in Milwaukee Fest. Any closing comments?

Thank you very much for a chance to spread our message and I’d like to tell people, real diehards that we are not going to give up, we’re gonna play fucking fast and brutal music forever and a big fuck off to all whimps and losers, which infected the metal scene.

Cryptopsy’s “And Then You'll Beg” was one of the most anticipated releases of the year 2000 and our Canadians with cold blood delivered their most vile album to date which is nothing short of technical perfection, whacked-out guitar riffs and inhumanly fast and complex drum beats. It seemed like Mike DiSalvo’s departure might slow down this fast-speed train but Flo Mounier doesn’t think so. He even thinks that it can only make them stronger, adding another element of distinction to create something a little bit new... but you can read about it yourself below...

Chris


Probably the hottest question right now… What’s the real story behind Mike DiSalvo’s departure?

I can’t really go into details too much... he had some family thing he had to take care of and probably he couldn’t have been the part of the tour coming up in Europe so we all agreed upon him leaving. It’s really a family thing when he made a decision that was family orientated. Family first basically, you know what I mean? It just happened that way and it was conflicting with what our schedule is going to be so he kind of backed out and that’s it.

Is this becoming the Cryptopsy’s rule, a new singer every two albums?

Yeah, that’s what it seems to be. Actually, a different member every album is Cryptopsy motto now. [laughs] Shit happens... it’s always pretty much been John, Eric and I that have been pretty encored within Cryptopsy and I could say that everyone will stay from now on but it seems some people change, times change, this and that but Cryptopsy has always been innovating. I think what it brings that it’s going to bring another color and that’s why people actually like Cryptopsy. Every album is different and maybe a new singer will add another element of distinction and create something a little bit new... we’ll see.

All the vocalist changes have to concern you a little. There were already a lot of fans that had a hard time accepting Mike after Lord Worm. Now, after two albums with a new vocalist, just when people got used to the new voice you are again going for a change...

Sure, but you know what? Change is good. [laughs] I’m not concerned, I’m not concerned at all. I like change and I’m not concerned at all with what people are going to think. People have to keep in mind we are not making millions of dollars here, so for somebody that has to leave, take decisions it’s hard to balance two jobs at this same time and do this and that... They have to understand Mike left for a reason. Shit happens and now we just move on and continue to put up a good music.

Any chance Lord Worm is coming back?

Not likely. He gave all that up a long time ago and I don’t think he would be in shape to start all over again. Personally I don’t think he’d want to. I think he’s comfortable in doing what he’s doing and he gave it up for a reason. He didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to tour that much, so if he wants to come back he has to call us because he made it clear to us a while ago that it wasn’t for him.

By the way, what is he doing right now?

Actually, he’s teaching English as a second language. He’s an English teacher [laughs] It’s perfect for him he knows English very well.

Were you surprised with the final vote on Best Metal Artist award you received at the MIMI's (Montreal International Music Initiative)?

Was I surprised?

...it’s not too often an extreme metal band wins any awards...

Actually two years ago we were a runner up too and we were nominated and did win. It didn’t come to us as a big surprise but you know, the more you go on the more your name gets a little bit bigger, you make this big magazine and people start to hear a little bit more of you and it’s all about proper promotion whether its extreme metal or not. I guess the category being as it was, out of all those bands I guess we toured the most and the most all over the world so it was kind of normal that we would win but it did so good it was as a little bit of a surprise cause you’re right, not everybody has easy time accepting this kind of music. It was good. It was like all the hard work is starting to pay off. It’s not like this award is really a pay off or anything like that I’d rather have more fans and do more touring but we liked it and accepted it. Whatever.

Don’t you think that there is more metal everywhere recently and that is not an underground like it used to be anymore it’s actually hitting the main stream?

Oh for sure. I mean the more the time goes on the more metal is going to be. With all those extreme sports, extreme movies and this and that you’d go for some music that’s more pumped up. You are not going to go for something like party every day or whatever, no, it’s more like in your face. The society is more fast paced, it’s more in your face society, little bit... not violent but aggressive if you wish. So yeah, it’s going to come up front and it is coming up front. All those Korn type bands, Deftones and this and that they are making distortion and a distorted voice if you wish too although a little bit more acceptable.
I don’t think the type of music we play or the boys in death metal and extreme metal world will ever be played in the radio that much but at least it’s getting a little bit closer. Maybe that’s why the media is taking a little bit more interest... It’s hard for a media to accept metal as a serious art form. For some reason it’s always been, it’s been so many clichés around that and it’s always been hard for media to really say “yeah, this is here to stay and it’s acceptable art form and respectable art form”. But there is also a lot of bands that encourage that negativity that media has towards metal by displaying blood and guts everywhere and just talking about raping this raping that. You can’t really get a positive image.

I think most of the time it’s the lyrics that stop heavy metal... regular people don’t want to listen to the music about gore, Satanism or topics like that...

No, it’s not sane. It’s not a reality. What the problem is a lot of bands think it’s real and want to be considered real but it’s a joke. These guys paint blood all over their faces or stuff like that and it’s not real blood... and if it is it’s even more stupid. Why give yourself that image? So you can go home, pop open a can of coke and watch loony toons or something afterwards? It doesn’t make any sense. I understand difference between live performance and reality but a lot of times that is done it’s given a really bad name. Look at Marilyn Manson, you see him on American Music Awards every year and he just gives metal such a shit name, I think he does. And he might do it as a joke too and it might be funny to him but for 14-15 years old kids and their parents it’s not. They don’t understand that humor so they going to interpret this as just a crap...

You just got back from Fuck The Commerce Fest in Germany, how was it? Anything unusual happen there?

No, it was just amazing. [laughs] It was really cool. A lot of cool people, a lot of cool bands and great treatment by a band called Spawn. Just awesome, awesome, super-nice guys. We made a lot of connections and had a really great time, just plain and simple.

So are you enjoying the road? How’s the tour treating you?

Good man, very good. I can’t say there’s really been some catastrophes, knock on the wood, but there hasn’t so far and it’s been really positive, really good, a lot of fans, a lot of pushing... just all around it feels good to go touring and actually see that you are accomplishing something more rather than just pedaling and getting nowhere type of thing.

After all that drum pounding do you have any back spasms?

No. [laughs] Knock on wood again, there you go (he actually did knock on wood - Zgred).
No, nothing. I try to develop techniques that make things a lot smoother for the body. I studied a lot of professional drummers just to get their technique and how they can go on with more like a jazz style where everything is more loose and how they can go really fast with their hands not getting tired, not breaking to a sweat. And that’s the key playing an instrument, is just to become comfortable and relaxed playing it as much as possible so that little energy is spent on the concentration and on the right movements. So, I try to do it that way, if not then for sure by the time that anybody gets like 25-whatever and has been playing for 9-10 years will definitely have some kind of health problems.

You just answered my next question... Do you have any secrets or special techniques on how to become one of the fastest drummers in the world?

There is technique, no secrets. There is no secret to play drums, just practice. They say practice makes perfect... and it’s not bullshit [laughs]

So, who inspired you?

I think music in general inspired me and not one particular drummer. You always have your influences but I never really ever mimic or try to copy any drummer, which could have been a mistake I did when I was young because it’s a good thing to start like that and then branch out. Right now, I don’t have a favorite drummer I just have a whole fucking selection of music that ranges from every genre possible. I just like listening to everything and all these ideas are coming to my head and create the ideas for whatever I drum.

What’s in your CD player right now, then?

Oh shit, you want me to take a look? Hold on it will take just a few seconds, I want to be exact on this question. It might be embarrassing though [laughs] OK, oh my god, my fiancé’s cd Madonna... there is the new Napalm Death and... I’m gonna cheat... I’m listening to a lot of new Dimmu Borgir, which I like a lot, Dave Weckl Band and stuff like that, pop-jazz. I listen to a new band called Coldplay, they always play on the radio, this is like a newer Pink Floyd type of folk-rock type band...

How often do you hear “slow down” from other members of the band?

Well, I usually hear this from new members coming in. [laughs] They say “Oh god, can you slow down this part a little bit?” I tell them “in a live situation you got to get used to it, it’s only going to get worse” [laughs] “Don’t tell me to slow down in a practice cause you got to be ready for live” But, no it’s not that often.

What your most challenging song to play live?

That’s a very good question. Let’s see... from the songs that we don’t play anymore that would be ‘Loathe’ on “Whisper Supremacy”, that was pretty challenging... ‘Cold Hate, Warm Blood’ is pretty challenging... On the new one ‘Screams Go Unheard’ it’s a lot of fun but it’s really challenging. There is a bunch I guess... on "None So Vile" fun but challenging too was ‘Crown of Horns’... They all make me break into sweat and they are all challenging in their own way, it’s hard to pin point, they all got a little bit of something that it’s different... they are all challenging in their own way.

Than on an easer note... what’s your favorite to play live?

Probably ‘We Bleed’, that’s a lot of fun but I like newer stuff, like I said I like change. For live; ‘We Bleed’ and ‘Screams Go Unheard’ are a lot of fun. ‘We Bleed’ shows showcases if you wish, a lot of different stuff on the drums and on the guitars too so it’s a lot of fun to play. There is a whole bunch of stuff in it, it’s a long song...

“And Then You’ll Beg” is Cryptopsy’s the most technical and stunning accomplishment to date, how did you come up with material for this album?

We wanted to make it a little bit simpler as far as riffs, as guitars go. Not to have too much notes that nobody would really pick up, hear anything. So we wanted to make it a little bit simpler that way but we wanted to make it a lot more musical. So what I was doing on drums wasn’t that much simpler it was little bit more technical but it all fit. We tried to give each other breathing room, like the guitar does its part here that crazy I’m not gonna fill it up with something crazy too and vice versa.

How did the recording process go? Did you have any problems?

Studios are always tough because we are big time perfectionists and it’s hard and nerve-wracking. It took us about 2 months to do on and off and you know, there are always a little problems like how to get a better sound and this and that but generally it went really nice and smoothly. I think this is the album we are the proudest off as far as music goes.

The album is visually outstanding as well; to me it perfectly reflects the music inside, speed, chaos and death. Was it your intention during the design process?

Yeah it was. We wanted to have something really fast and heavy, just hit you face on and basically mow you over. [laughs] That was kind of our intentions and we wanted to create some kind of link between the artwork and intro, outro and the flow of the album.

Your web site is also very interesting and unusual. How much do you think Internet helps promoting your music?

Helps a lot. The same guy who does our internet stuff does our covers and our merchandise. He’s just a crazy genius. Yeah, it helps a lot... It’s free advertising, people can go any time and leave their comments... we don’t necessarily answer back cause it would be crazy answering back all the time but we take all the people’s advise and take into consideration. We got merchandise up there, we got news, anything that happens we try to let the people know as soon as it happens. I think it’s a great promotion tool.

Being on the subject, what your opinion on Napster and MP3s?

MP3s I think are positive because they can generate a little bit of income for the bands. Napster, on the other hand, it’s good for those who can afford it, can afford the albums, but it’s mostly the people who can’t afford it, who have computers, who can go on and download all that stuff. I think it’s counterproductive. What’s the point of fighting with the record labels, negotiating, going through this mess and shit if people can just take it from the computer. It makes us work like five times as hard and having absolutely no reward for it. I mean, we can’t kid ourselves it’s gonna be some way to make a little bit of money doing this or else we couldn’t buy instruments, we couldn’t have a better sound on our next album... I don’t like Napster personally, I’ve never been on Napster even though I can get free stuff I always try to support bands. I like to have a cover, original CD, what have you. But MP3s I think are positive. They can give you a little bit of band history and it’s productive. Small bands can put their songs out there and start making a little bit of money, get 3 cents every time it downloads or something like that.

I guess with your busy tour schedule you don’t have time to think about the new material yet or do you?

No, not really. Actually we’re starting to think about it a little bit but not fully. So, no new songs, titles, nothing yet but it will come. It’ll be interesting...

That would be all, anything you’d like to add?

Just thank you. Thanks for the support and keep on doing this, it helps out the bands a lot.

I don’t think that whatever I say here would ever be sufficient enough to describe this band. They are the gods of American Power Metal and let’s leave it that way. Their new album "Horror Show" is another masterpiece in their impressive discography and by bringing to life Dracula, Frankenstein or Damian (The Omen) this time they show us even darker side of Iced Earth. So, without wasting your bandwidth I’ll let the monster Matthew Barlow tell you more about their latest release and the Iced Earth machine himself.

Chris

Judging by the media interest, "Horror Show" must be getting pretty good reviews...

Yeah it has been. We’ve been really, really happy with the reviews it’s gotten.

It’s been three years now since your last regular studio album, was it the band’s intention to take some time off?

We’ve been pretty busy, man. We did a live record, Jon was working with Demons & Wizards and did some touring with them, so we’ve really been busy. It’s not been all fun and games.

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" was a very successful album. I think that there were high expectations with regard to the new album. How did you handle this kind of pressure?

I think you right, there were certainly high expectations, in the matter of fact, some people were expecting that we would continue the "Something Wicked" story and really do a full concept. We didn’t think we were ready to do that at this point because when that happens it would really need a proper treatment given to it because it’s going to be a big deal... but we will visit that land at some point. There were certain expectations by fans and things like that, that we really needed to provide for and we certainly always keep that in mind but we went with this idea, this theme, and we stuck it out.

You actually answered one of my questions because wasn’t the next Iced Earth album going to be a concept based on the "Something Wicked..." story? Why did you decide to do "Horror Show" instead of continuation of "Something Wicked"? Does the fact that this is your last album on Century Media play any role in making this decision?

No. I think the main reason for it was that Jon really wants it to be a really big deal, really big production with a lot of push and other things attached to it other than just the record and the music. He wants to make sure that whoever the band is partnered with is going to be able to pull that kind of thing off. He wants to be secure about that. So, in changing the plan we were looking for idea to follow and we actually talked few years ago about doing an EP based on the classic horror monsters and just calling it "Monster" and doing this as a fun thing for us and something cool for the fans. When given this opportunity as doing another studio record, Jon and I talked about it and we decided to go forward with it. Jon wasn’t exactly sure if that was going to be a full theme or not with the monsters but we ended up having enough ideas and material with these characters that it really made for a good, solid record.

Does it mean you want to go somewhere else to do this album?

Yeah, for sure. [laughs] We need to move on. We have high expectations and we would like other people to have this same kind of drive and vision that we do.

Despite obvious success with Iced Earth you went through another line-up change... Are you satisfied with Steve DiGiorgio’s and Richard Christy’s contribution to this album?

Yeah. Richard is a great drummer. We worked with him before in live situations and it’s going to be a lot of fun having the drummer that performed on the record be out there with us live and I thing Richard is a real pro and it’s going to work out nicely. Steve DiGiorgio merely performed on the record and he won’t be touring with us. We have a professional act here. We like to bring in professionals and do things right in live situations and I certainly don’t think that member changes and things like that would have a negative effect on us. They are going to happen. I think people have gotten kind of use to it. It’s unfortunate that it has happened so many times in the past but we don’t look at it as a bad thing, we just basically look at it as inconvenience, we just go on and we find what we need to do to keep the machine going. Member changes or anything else have not slowed down this machine so we are continuing on.

Yeah, but it has to be just a little frustrating? Having steady members, solid band helps to do better music...

Yeah, you right. Hopefully we are at the point we won’t have to worry about it anymore. We’ve certainly had our exploding drummers and things, spinal tap moments but it happens, man. This band is not a democracy by any means. We follow a basic way of thinking that we have a boss, entitled to our beliefs and everything and it’s great. But when we are playing, when we are on the road, recording we are here to do the job. We have certain responsibilities to do for the band and sometimes people don’t see it that way.

I know Jon is really disappointed with Steve... what’s your opinion? From what I know he was hired because he was going to tour with you but in reality he only did the album and backed out almost right away after the recording process…

That’s correct. He was a big disappointment. It was a basically a stab in a back. We were told, by a fax which is very professional very classy way to announce this, that he wouldn’t be doing the tours with us. It was a big kick in a face and obviously he was trying to use us as a promotion for himself. We are not into that. Self promotion is you prove then you promote but it wasn’t proven... I’m not going to take away his performance on the record, he’s a good bass player but he’s not very friendly.

Does it mean that James MacDonough will return to handle the bass?

Yeah, several days after the word got out, Jimmy had e-mailed Jon and said that he understood the situation with Steve and if given the opportunity he would like a second chance. So, we’re gonna do that. We’ll get together and jam, do this tour and then we will see what happens from there. Sometimes things happen for a reason and we are looking at it now and think we gonna do some good things...

You certainly stuck to your very own style, but to me "Horror Show" is much darker than your previous material, especially 'Damien'...

I agree too. I think that as well and I think it’s probably because of the subject matter that goes throughout the record. We really tried to represent those characters in a way that I certainly would do it and I think that Jon did a very nice job musically of giving these characters the dark treatment that they deserve and not making them something other than what we perceived them to be.

Also by using first person (Damien, Dracula) you make the reader a part of what happens instead of making him watch it by describing what’s going on...

I think first person is a very good tool we like to use a lot. It really brings the personal aspect of it. Third person works in a lot of ways, sometimes you can go in and out from third person to first person and really create a story that way as well, but I think you’re right with the treatment of these songs. It was really a lot of fun to do it that way.

When you wrote the lyrics, did you concentrate more on the books or movies?

Both. There were certainly inspiration from both and there are certain songs that we took artistic license on, as far as creating our own kind of stories. For instance Jon did on "The Phantom Opera Ghost". I know he’s seen several versions of "Phantom…" and all of them were different, had their own different endings, different lead ups to the Phantom, so he took it upon himself to do his own thing. He’s got his own story but still falling within the realm of what the initial story is about. There are definitely songs that we took artistic license with but hopefully everyone will understand where we were coming from. We really tried to make them more Iced Earth and really just pay tribute to these characters.

"Ghost Of Freedom" is based on your idea... how did you come up with it, because this one is a little off from whole horror theme?

Yes, it doesn’t fall within the theme. The only thing that might relate it is the word ghost. I told Jon about this idea a few months before we started any kind of pre-production and he like it. We are certainly getting into a certain thing now with the records, seem like, since "Something Wicked..." getting into a bit of patriotic feel and with this song is certainly no exception. We really tried to pay a tribute to a people that fought for freedom and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

...was this song inspired by "The Patriot"?

The title of it, I definitely give credit to that film as an inspiration for the title. The story doesn’t follow, not even remotely, the theme of that movie.

In the middle of "Damien" there are some reversed spoken passages, what do they actually say?

It’s actually what Jon is whispering in the spoken part in a center of the song when he is speaking first person Damien and that’s just his whisper parts played backwards.

So there is no special satanic meaning or anything like that?

[laughs] Not that we know of... [laughs]

On your previous album there were some songs against the church… like "Burning Times" which was about the Spanish Inquisition. What’s your opinion about religion?

Well, I think everybody has a right to do and to worship what they like. I’m not a really fan of organized religion but that’s me. Everybody has got to live their own life and do their own thing but we try to entertain and often times we are, just like any other metal band, criticized for using anti-church or demonic, satanic reference but we’re really just telling stories. But yeah, there is a certain conflict, I know Jon didn’t have a really good time being raised in very strong religious background as far as going to religious school and things like that. There are probably some deep buried demons there but other than that I can’t speak for him personally.

Speaking of Jon, how’s his neck these days. Is he fully recovered?

He’s doing really well. He has some bad days, he still has some damage back there but the main source of his problems it’s been taken care of. I’m sure he’s looking forward to performing without being in pain.

That’s great. So, we can actually see him banging his head on the stage?

No, not anymore. He can’t do it. It would be really detrimental if he attempted to do that but I don’t think his power and aggression on the stage will be compromised at all.

Who did the female vocals on "The Phantom Opera Ghost"?

A local vocalist named Yunhui Percifield, she lives in Indianapolis. I believe she does have some records but I don’t think she’s signed to a label. I think they are self-produced.

"Horror Show" will also be released as a special limited edition CD; what it will contain?

With that there’s going to be a supplemental CD that will include "Transylvania" which is an Iron Maiden cover and also an hour long interview with Jon giving his own points of view so fans can hear him being interviewed first person and really see eye to eye so to speak.

You just mentioned your fans and I think this is a really striking aspect about your band because not a lot of musicians really pay tribute to their fans and say ‘we really respect you and we are grateful’... you do this.

Man, I think it’s ridiculous whenever guys get to the point where they think that the fans are there for them because, the thing is, they are there for the fans. They are there to perform and do the best job they can and not show up drunk and all fucked up and put on a shitty show because these guys paid hard earned money to go see them and whenever they see a fucked up show it’s like money out the window. I’ve been to those shows, I’ve been pissed off and I’ll never do that. I would never show up on the stage all fucked up and not be able to perform 110% of my capability. It just pisses me off whenever that happens. The fans need to be respected.

Being so devoted to fans, sometimes it must be difficult to decide what’s more important: your own music development or fan’s expectation...

I think if you show respect for the fans they will show respect for you as far as your development is concerned and I don’t think it’s really a concern to fans the way Jon has developed himself as a writer. I think they are there with him, they understand and they know what he’s about and who he’s about because doesn’t pull any punches, he doesn’t bullshit and that’s very important aspect too.

What are the plans for a tour to support "Horror Show"?

We are going to start out touring in September in Europe and probably October in the US having 7 or 10 day off in between.

Are you going to shoot a video to any of "Horror Show" songs?

No, we are not going to. These songs should be given a proper treatment if a video was to be made and it would cost a lot more money than we are willing to really shell out because at the end the band has to pay for it. It takes off the opportunity for us to actually gain some record royalty at any point.

I know you have footage from "Alive in Athens", any plans for releasing a video from this concert?

Yeah, we are talking about it. It’s certainly in a works. We are talking about possibly doing a DVD but we’ll probably end up doing just a video because it will be more available for people throughout Europe that maybe don’t have a DVD players. Not everybody in US has a DVD player either. It will be something cool when it comes out.

Can you tell me more about the stage show you are preparing to fit the album’s concept?

We are going to do several set changes and things like that to really change the mood of the show. I can’t really get into much more about it cause we are not 100% on the total production at this point. I wouldn’t want to say something and then turn around on it and do something differently.

Do you know who your next label is going to be?

We don’t really have any, we have some ideas but nothing is set in stone and certainly nothing that I can talk about right now. [laughs]

Final question, what’s your favorite monster?

I would say Dracula is my favorite monster for a while now so… yeah definitely Dracula.

Devin Townsend is a musical genius. He has achieved more at a young age than most veteran musicians. From his early days as the vocalist on Steve Vai’s Sex and Religion album to heading up the industrial thrash scene with his band Strapping Young Lad, to an endless array of new projects, Devin is one of, if not the most respected man in modern metal. After getting through a very bad period in his life around 1999-2000, Devin is back on the scene with his latest release "Physicist" and the upcoming opus "Terria". I was lucky enough to catch up with him mid-way through his Foot in Mouth European Tour 2001 in Bochum, Germany. And he had this to say:

Michael 'XCase'

How’s the tour been going so far? You played some big festivals here in Europe over the past week, how were they?

Both of the festivals went really well, The With Full Force festival [in Leipzig, Germany] was really quite superior and we did a really good job of that one.

Do you feel at home while you are on tour?

Oh yeah, definitely. It’s a life to its own and definitely something to become accustomed too. But, when you haven’t done it for a while you really start to miss it. For myself I find that whatever I am doing I kind of want to be doing the opposite for a little while, its like for the first month or the first 2 weeks I’m in the studio, I’m totally happy to be in the studio, but come the third week I kind of want to be on tour. It’s the same thing with touring, the first two weeks that we are out I’m totally happy, but come about the third week I’d like to be recording again.

Have you been working on any new material since hitting the road?

No, not since "Terria". I finished "Terria" and that just totally drained me.

I heard the tracks 'Mountain' and 'Canada' from "Terria", they are both incredible...

Thank you man, I really appreciate it

... 'Mountain' is seriously heavy.

[laughs] Yeah, 'Mountain' is one of my favourite ones on that record and it seems to be that one that confuses people the most...

...because of all the changes?

...yeah, the whole idea with it is to sort of go on a bit of a journey, its kind of stupid sounding but what I wanted to do is when your listening to it with headphones or something, it's like whoa!...hey...whoa! sending you up and down. Some people have said to me "It sounds a little bit choppy, there’s too many parts" and I’m like "that’s the whole point".

How was the recording of "Terria", a little better than past experiences?

Um,...easier. Every record is stressful, but with "Terria" I think it was easier than the other ones because I didn’t force it, I wrote what I wanted to write when I wanted to write it. When I went to record I took my time, if I didn’t feel like recording I took a week off and as a result it came out sounding like "there it is"...you know what I mean?

What can we expect from the rest of the album?

Well its very lush, it's really big, but there is an intensity that was on "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine" that isn’t on "Terria". "Terria" sounds a lot more ‘come what may’ you know what I mean? Like whatever happens, happens...where "Infinity" was like "God! This is going on now! This is the beginning! This is the ending! aaahhhhh" "Infinity" was full on, but "Terria" isn’t. Even though its heavy, it’s a lot more relaxing, but there is enough ‘heavy’ on there to be heavy enough. It’s a pretty well rounded record, and there’s a lot of things in it, like a lot of noises and sounds and shit like that.

Coming to "Physicist", that was a major turning point in your life...

Yeah, yeah..."Physicist" was a hard one for me. The recording and the writing and the mixing and everything on "Physicist" was done at a time of my life when I was in a really bad state of mind. I’ve been in a bad state of mind for "City" [Strapping Young Lad] and "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine" but with "Physicist" it was like kind of hopeless, I didn’t feel like recording, I didn’t feel like writing, so I think with that in mind the record succeeds on the level that it sounds like that, it sounds hopeless...but, as far as technically and musically there’s problems that I have with it. But I think I made up for it with "Terria". "Physicist" was like "holy fuck, ok", its great for playing video games to, it’s a pretty heavy record, it's great, it sounds great, it's got cool layout...it’s a cool record. I’m pretty egotistical about my own music and sometimes I think "that’s a real classic record", and "Physicist" was a good record, but "Terria" is a classic.

Would you say you are a different person from when say, "City" was released?

Oh yeah, totally. I’m on a fistful of medication every morning now as well...

...and you’re cool with that?

...yeah absolutely. At first it was a little strange because you’re whole way of thinking changes, but what I found what it did was streamlined the way I think to the point where it gave me some kind of control over what I was doing. "Terria" as a result has a lot of songs that are very much like "that’s what I think", whereas with "Infinity" it was like "what do I think?".

Going back to your time with Steve Vai, are you proud of the work you did?

...I’m proud of the singing I did...yeah

...you were totally restricted musically at that time, was that what spawned Strapping Young Lad?

The "Sex and Religion" record was directly responsible for Strapping. Before "Sex and Religion" the music I was writing was like "Ocean Machine" and "Terria". When I came out of the "Sex and Religion" era of my life it was just like, singing someone else’s lyrics, singing to someone else’s music, I was on the cover of the record. They did a video for me, well we did two video’s...but in one of them they tried to make me look like a sex symbol, but I just don’t exude sex. Its like some people when they dance you’re like "he’s got a sexy thing about him right"...but I don’t. As a result of that and being portrayed in a video like I’m supposed to be like that made me feel like a fucking fool. So I came out of that situation like "I hate it, I hate everything, I hate you, I hate you..." And that was Strapping. So Strapping was like an accident...

...like a progression?

...yeah, but it's like a progression that I have been working against for a long time because I don’t want to be 50 years old and being represented by something that was an accident when I was 23.

A lot of fans want to know the future of Strapping...

Well, what we are doing at this point, because it's been 3 years since we’ve toured, this tour is specifically designed to say "Hey, we’re still alive"...still same musicians. It is a mixture of "Physicist" and Strapping and "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine", but there is more Strapping primarily because there’s three records to choose from, but who knows what will happen in the future? There are options being thrown around everywhere, but at this point we are still playing a rather heavy set.

Are "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine" one-off projects? Or do you have plans for new releases?

"Infinity" is definitely a one-off, there will never be another "Infinity"...as for "Ocean Machine" I don’t want to ruin it by doing another one. It’s the same way I feel about Strapping, unless I can do something that is better I’ll just do it under a different name.

What types of music did you listen to growing up? Who were the biggest inspirations?

Everything. I grew up in a musical family, there were a lot of musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar and Cats. My Mom and Dad were into Blue Grass and folk music, but at the same time we had stuff like The Moody Blues and Jimi Hendrix. When I hit about 12-13 I started listening to Slade and the Eurhythmics, then when I hit about 16 Judas Priest’s "Defender’s of the Faith" came out and I was just like Whoa!...that got me into W.A.S.P and Iron Maiden. It was the mainstream power metal scene that I was into at the time. I really got into Jane’s Addiction when I was about 18, him [Perry Farrell] and Björk were my biggest vocal inspirations. Then when I was working with Steve [Vai] I got really into experimental like ambient music, like noise music. Then toward the end of Steve when my anger started building up I started listening to Fear Factory, I think they were about the first band that introduced me to Thrash, so from there I got into Carcass and some Black Metal stuff. It just got progressively heavier, I was trying to find the heaviest music possible. But then things changed and for instance last year I got really into that group Ween and The Young Gods and Miles Davis...stuff like that. Everything. But it's all been dependent on my mood, sometimes I was solely into this and other times solely into that, because I get so obsessed with the music I listen to, I think the music I write is pretty authentic. Even though I wasn’t raised with the idea of Thrash Metal I think that "City" specifically was legitimately a good Thrash record because I was so into it at the time.

With the music you write, you don’t seem to care about fitting in to any genres. Is that ever a concern to you during the writing process? Or do you just do what you want?

Yeah, that’s the only way I can do it. I find myself to be a slave to whatever is going on in my head. I think that one of the only reasons I have a career is because of that, because I’m like "fuck it", I’m going to do what I want to do. It does confuses people, but I think eventually the people who like me will be like "ok, well we expect that" For the people who don’t know or like me and what I do I’m sure its confusing as fuck, but I guess I’m not writing the music for them anyway! [laughs]

Now that I have the opportunity I like to tell you that you are a major influence on myself and musicians all over the world. Do you ever think of yourself like that?

Thank you man, that’s cool, but I don’t think you can think of yourself like that. I think a lot of it has to do with a pretty selfish attitude, like when I’m out on tour I’m meeting people all the time and I’m like "yeah hi, how are you going?", but at the end of the day I’m still very aware of where I am good and bad as a person and so keeping that in mind I don’t think I could ever fool myself into thinking I’m something I’m not. Like when someone comes up to me and gives me a really heavy compliment, the compliment you gave me is great but if somebody comes up to me and says "your this" or "your that" I’m like "no I’m not". Please understand I’m just a fucking musician. I think it's great that I’m influencing young musicians like yourself, but for myself I just follow what happens for however long that lasts...I guess we’ll see what happens.

On your website [www.hevydevy.com] you mentioned you were interested in joining a pre-existing band. Did that ever come to fruition?

Well, yesterday I thought I wanted to be a monk [laughs]...

...[laughs] I guess that pretty much sums that one up

...yeah

You started HevyDevy Records to take control of your own projects...

Yeah, I did it for a lot of reasons, number one by having my own record label I make a lot more money per disk than if I was signed to a label. That does mean there is a lot more work to be done, but by making more money per disk I don’t have to sell that much in order to facilitate what I want to do, and that’s more important to me than selling a lot of records.

...are you planning to sign other bands to HevyDevy?

I produce bands, and the bands that I produce we sell on the internet through HevyDevy, but as far as being responsible for another band it doesn’t interest me at all because I know how I felt towards record companies. It all comes down to money. If you don’t have the money to support a band to the level they need to be at then I don’t think it's even worth trying, because all you are going to do is fuck things up. To a large degree that happened with certain projects of mine.

So you are in control of all your own projects now?

Yeah, except for Strapping.

Strapping’s owned by Century Media?

Yeah, and always will be. That can’t change. They own the publishing. But because I went through this supposed ‘mental illness’ and went back onto these medications, I just can’t do it and if I can’t do a record then I’m just not going to do it. There’re aware of that. Its like "I’m sorry man, but that’s how it is. You got three records". If they try to force me to write another record I’ll just fart on a cassette for fucking 45 minutes or something and give it to them [laughs]

So whats the next step for you from here?

I don’t have a clue [laughs]

...just here today and that’s about it? [laughs]

Pretty much [laughs] I don’t have a memory so I don’t care. I just try to go with the flow.

Thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it.

No problem man, thank you.

Formed in the early nineties, Yorkshire-based Bal-Sagoth legend was originally born as an idea of vocalist Byron Roberts. He’s vision and unique writing talents spurred the idea of creating one of the most singular and enigmatic black metal bands ever. If you are a fan of dark fantasy, ancient legends and mysterious tales of wonder wrapped around the avant-garde image with powerful and magical atmosphere "Atlantis Ascendant" as well as Bal-Sagoth’s previous releases are definitely something you need to check out. The founder of this enigmatic band tells me about their history and what’s in the future...

Chris


Let’s start with a little bit of history of the band. I’m sure a lot of people are curious about the unusual name. From what I know it comes from one of the Robert E. Howard stories. Could you tell us about the meaning of this name and the Howard work in connection to the band?

Yeah, the actual name comes from the story that he wrote called "Gods of Bal-Sagoth" which was first published in 1931 in a pulp-fiction magazine called "Wired Tales". The actual story, Bal-Sagoth itself, it’s a very mysterious and shrouded Ireland kingdom ruled over by this warrior-queen. Ever since I’ve first read the name Bal-Sagoth, when I first read the story when I was a kid, it just kind of stuck in my memory and I really just loved the name. When I was coming up with the whole concept of Bal-Sagoth that name was really still in my head and it just seemed to completely mirror the whole lyrical concept that I had in mind perfectly. So, when I was coming up with the idea for the band, that was the only name I really had in mind to use, so that’s why we are Bal-Sagoth essentially.
Certainly Robert E. Howard had a big influence on me, kind of a big inspiration, but all the stories across all five albums they are all my own stuff. Occasionally, I use one of his place names but basically all stories are my own stuff, just kind of my own imagination. Certainly I’m inspired by him and writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Tolkien.

Your first three CDs were presented as a Trilogy. "The Power Cosmic" was supposed to start a new one. Is "Atlantis Ascendant" a logical continuation of "The Power Cosmic" or did you drop that idea and it’s a story in itself?

Actually all the Bal-Sagoth albums are connected by being a part of this same grand overall saga. The first three albums, I label those as the first trilogy, more for ease of reference than as an actual tool for a divining the stories on them. On the new album we actually have continuations of songs which we began on the first three albums. So, it’s really an ongoing thing, all the songs on all albums are pretty much connected by a big overall story.

If I remember right, you once said that it would be a six-part saga? If so, there’s only one CD left. What’s next… the end of Bal-Sagoth, or will you start a new trilogy?

It’s interesting. Back in the early days when I was kind of looking ahead, wondering how many albums it might take to complete the whole story, six was the number I had in mind. As things have progressed I’ve come to realize that should we choose to go on after the sixth album, we certainly do have a lot more stories to tell and a lot of music to write. If we decide to go for that long we have enough stuff for maybe 12 albums. I mean, I’m not even going to have a chance to actually finish all the stories that we began on the previous albums by the time the sixth one comes around. I think maybe if the conditions are right, if we get a good deal from a record label and if things will work as planed we’ll probably continue after the sixth one.

"The Power Cosmic" ended the era of icy caves, dragons and demons and moved into outer space. Where do you go next?

All the way from the beginning of the Bal-Sagoth story there’s been like a fusion of science fiction and fantasy stuff in the lyrics. For instance, on the "Starfire..." album we had songs like 'Vortex' and some things regarding the astral gate, which were very, very kind of science fiction inspired. When I moved to the more science fiction elements on "The Power Cosmic" it was still a lot of fantasy mixed in there but the science fiction kind of icon overview was more prevalent. There’s always been a science fiction element in the Bal-Sagoth stuff and I think "Atlantis Ascendant" bones in that fusion once again. You have fantasy stories mixed with the science fiction. I think next I’m definitely going to continue and conclude a lot of the stories which I begun on the previous albums mixing fantasy, science fiction and also exploring some historical elements from the stories.

One more question from your previous album... Why in the world you didn’t include lyrics for "The Power Cosmic"?

That was kind of experiment which I was interested in doing. There were two parts to it, one of the parts was I wanted to do a web site only thing, cause at the time our web site was just taking of and we were getting a lot of hits and people were getting really into it. So, I figured if I make the lyrics almost exclusive to the web site that could draw more people to the site and in turn they could see more the features associated to the band but of course there are a quite few people that don’t have an access to the internet and that caused a few problems which is why at some point in the future I’m thinking of approaching Nuclear Blast to reprint the booklet with a full version of the lyrics. And another reason that lyrics were not printed in "The Power Cosmic" was because Nuclear Blast were having a little bit of a problem understanding and being able to translate and reprint all the arcane terms from the English that I use. And when they sent me the stuff back for proofreading there were all kinds of spelling mistakes and it was becoming evident that it would take a lot of time to sort this out, but that wasn’t really the main reason. It was simply the idea I had to make the lyrics website exclusive and by doing so I could add certain chapters on ongoing basis, expand the lyrics and make them truly an ongoing kind of concept.

If you had to choose the best story you have ever written which one would it be?

That’s difficult. One of the stories closest to me in terms of the cultural way is the ‘Tale From the Deep Woods’, which is actually set during the time of Anglo-Saxon England where we have this warrior who has been wounded in the battle. He’s pretty much dead so he slumps beneath the great oak tree in the middle of the forest and he reflects on his past achievements and reflects upon the nature of the Gods, what kind of significance the old tree has to his particular situation in his own kind of theological mindset. I think that would probably be one of my favorites as well as ‘Circus Maximus’ and ‘Behind the Born Empire’ trilogy.

"The Power Cosmic" also ended your relation with Cacophonous Records and started a new long-term deal with Nuclear Blast. Are you satisfied with those changes and why did you leave Cacophonous?

Initially we decided not to resign with Cacophonous because they are such a small label, they have very limited distribution and they couldn’t really publicized or promote the albums sufficiently. I used to get letter from people all the time saying that they can’t find our records in the stores and they couldn’t find them because Cacophonous distribution network was so very very limited. So when Nuclear Blast approached us and said we can offer you this pretty much worldwide distribution, big publicity and you don’t have to be worry about people being pissed off because they can’t find your albums, we decided it was time for a change and we went with Nuclear Blast for a few albums. We are very satisfied with them so far, they have promoted the album quite well. They’ve given us a lot of publicity in magazines worldwide and all that kind of thing. They could maybe do with giving us a little more tour support, which would help, but apart from that we are pretty satisfied with what they’ve done.

I’ve heard that there were plans to release a book or even a video game based on your lyrics. Can we expect either one of those in the future?

Yeah. The book idea is something we should certainly go ahead. I’ve written all kinds of short stories and there are several publishers that are quite interested in releasing them at some point. Also I’ve written quite a few scripto-graphic novels which are set in this same universe as the lyrics which will be illustrated by a various team of artist including Martin Hanford who does our covers these days. As for the video game idea that’s something I’d really like to do. We have contact with programmers of games like "Unreal Tournament" or "Diablo II" who are big fans of the band. They are really into the whole Bal-Sagoth thing that we are doing and one of the guys who used to work on one of those games wants to set up his own software house and one of the things he said would love to do an RPG based on Bal-Sagoth world. So, hopefully at some point in the future that might become a reality.

As usual with promo versions I don’t have any lyrics… Can you shine some light and tell me what are the stories about?

Several of the songs on the album, including the title track itself, are presented in the text of the lyric booklet as actual mini-concept. They are linked by being the excerpts from the field journal of a nineteenth century explorer who was discovering all kinds of arcane power and the evidence of advanced civilizations which ones existed on the earth, such as Atlantis. He studied and he’s excavated places all over the world and he discovered all kinds of evidence about the existence of these ancient empires like Hyperborea, Atlantis and Lemuria. As his journey continues he continues to piece together the puzzle and he discovers certain truths about the origin of mankind and the true nature of creation. He also confronts not human forces, which put the end to his quest. So, that’s kind of summing up the mini-concept which is presented on the album in addition to all other songs which although they take place within this same kind of fantasy universe they are not part of the concept such as "Hyperborean Empire Part III." So we have a good mixture of different stories on the new album.

You write very complicated and unusual stories, other than books where do you get inspiration for your lyrics?

Pretty much my main inspiration comes from writers like Howard, Lovecraft and Tolkien and basically all that kind of fantasy and science fiction fare from over the past several decades. I’m also very much inspired by things like ancient myths and legends. I’m particularly interested in ideas of lost civilizations like Atlantis and all that sort of thing. Also anything that kind of kept my mind in imagination from comic books to video games to movies... It’s quite a wide range of inspirations for me.

Don’t you think that because of those complex, out of this world lyrics they are pretty hard for general public to understand?

Yeah, that’s interesting... but one of the prime directives for me when we were creating the band was to make things very complex, very intrigue and actually force people to read between the lines. It’s not something you can just pick up and get immediately like if the band was writing about, I don’t know, having trouble with the girlfriend or all that kind of street topics, which people can instantly identify. For us I just wanted to avoid the common place and to make things pretty much a journey into the imagination for the reader. Maybe we are the band that you actually have to work hard to get into but once you unlock the gates to the whole Bal-Sagoth concept and you’re in there it’s quite rewarding. It just takes a while...

Now we know what inspires you lyrically but what about the music?

Music wise we have a very wide range of inspirations. All the way from extreme metal and traditional heavy metal to very weird stuff. The guy who writes majority of our music, Johnny (Maudling), his favorite band is The Police and he also likes stuff like A-Ha. He’s really into stuff like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and all that kind of thing. We also have members of the band that are into Rush, Dream Theatre. Dave Mackintosh’s favorite bands are Metallica, Slayer... My favorites are Bathory, Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel... Of course classical music as well, that’s a big influence for us. Composers like Wagner, Holst, Berlioz and Borodin and all those classic composer from years past.

If I had to describe you music style the closest thing that comes to my mind is symphonic-black-metal. What’s your view on it? How would you describe your style?

From our basis and our core we are definitely black metal. Black and death metal were our initial blocks when we were developing our sound. So, certainly we are a black metal band and there is no denying that. We also dress it up in this symphonic regalia and we are trying to push the boundaries. Actually I’m the only one in the band who really kind of hails to the whole extreme metal scene which is for a lot of people quite surprising. But yeah, at the core of the band we are black metal, very symphonic, very avant-garde but deep down it’s black metal at its core.

What’s your writing process look like, do the lyrics always come first and then you write music to it, or is it a more a spontaneous process?

The lyrics always come first. I always write the lyrics well in advance before the music is being composed. And then what happens is I go to Jonny and give him kind of directives of what kind of moods I need. For instance, this song on our new album called 'The Dreamer In The Catacombs Of Ur', which is very eastern and has very kind of exotic sound to it, I went to him and I said ‘OK, here is the location of the story, here is what happens, here is what kind of mood, feeling and atmospheres I require.’ Basically, he will go away with that knowledge and come back to me with drafts of various possibilities of the song and then we will work together and we will come up with the final product. The final versions of the songs really come together when we are in the studio. That’s when the lyrics are finally put on into the music. That’s basically the writing style, the formula we use these days.

You just finished a first part of the European Tour with Marduk, Vader and Amon Amarth just to name a few. If I’m not mistaken you haven’t toured too much lately, are you satisfied with your performance?

Yeah, pretty much. We don’t tend to tour very often in fact this tour we’ve just done was the first one since ’97. We were quite happy to get back out there onto live circuit and kind of reintroduce ourselves to the live environment. We are pretty much satisfied with our performance. In the past, when we had session members in the band, who weren’t particularly very good at their instruments we had trouble recreating a lot of part of the music live. These days we have really well skilled musicians in the band so we can really go a long way towards recapturing much of the album live. We don’t tend to play live very often but hopefully we are gonna get beck into the whole live environment again in a big way in coming moths.

What’s your favorite track to play live and why?

One of my favorite tracks, I think, it has to be 'A Tale From The Deep Woods' from the "Battle Magic". It just lends itself so well into the live environment. Also 'The Hyperborean Empire Part II' from "Battle Magic" also. Those two songs really do translate well into the live performance. Of course they have all kinds of parts in them when the crowds can jump up and down, they can sing along with the words and all that kind of thing. So, probably those are two of my favorite ones to play live.

I’ve heard that there are plans to visit this side of Atlantic. Any specific dates?

Yeah, there are ongoing negotiations; we’ve confirmed our interest in a US tour, which if everything goes as planned, will start in July – "Summertime Slaughter Tour" with Vader and quite a few other bands. Nothing is absolutely definite yet, we haven’t gotten a list of dates or anything but hopefully if everything works out that should start some time in July for about four weeks.

Last question… Do you feel like you achieved your goals you once set creating Bal-Sagoth?

I tend to take the whole goal thing step by step. So, when we first started the band, the whole goals, as I set them up, were very much in stages. Our first goal was to make a demo, than we made a demo and the second one was to get sign, than we got sign... Basically we take everything as it comes. We’ve done five albums, which is certainly a fulfillment of a goal, definitely. We’ve toured Europe several times with bands with quite respect like Emperor and all that kind of thing... I guess the next goal for me would be to expand the whole Bal-Sagoth concept from CDs and musical form into other areas of the media like the comic books, video games, get action figures on the market based on the characters and all that kind of thing. So, I think that’s the next big goal we can probably be looking at. That’s pretty weird and a lot of people think it’s very unlikely and they think I’m crazy but that’s just something I’d like to do.

One of the finest bands the American death/thrash metal scene has ever spawned, Usurper’s latest opus "Necronemesis" saw the band reach a wider audience than ever before, and they even had King Diamond come to the studio to do some vocal tracks for them. Chanting their haunting and mysterious lyrics over tight-as-hell and brutal riffs and precise double bass drumming, it’s no surprise that the legions of Usurper fans have been growing bigger and bigger in number lately, especially since their two latest tours with the immensely popular Cradle of Filth. The mastermind behind the band, Rick ‘Scythe’, agreed to answer a few questions, and he had some trouble himself finding a suitable style of metal to label the band.

Luka 'Wrath'


We always struggled with this. We've been labeled everything: thrash, retro, black metal, death metal, etc... For lack of a better term we always called it DARK HEAVY METAL.

How long was "Necronemesis" in the making? How did it all come together?

Basically it came together pretty quick. I usually do all the writting, but I always bounce ideas around everyone else. After we did the Cradle Of Filth 1999 tour we really got a feel of what worked well live and what didn't. I think all of us wanted a really powerful riff heavy album. Something that had a lot of face value impact. Of course (as with all Usurper releases) there is still dark twisted undertones and creepy melodic elements, but on "Necronemesis" we really wanted those elements to be more in the backround enhancing the music. We really wanted to focus on songs that would have a great impact live. The lyrics are just a natural evolution of the same vision we had from day one, just reaching into some other strange realms. So basically this album came together very quick.

What aspects of the music or songwriting did you change from the previous album - "Usurper II - Skeletal Season"? Any similarities? Differences?

"Skeletal Season" was a really dark, creepy album. The initial idea with that was to make this really weird album; record everything anolog and add lots of vocal layers, guitar layers, feedback layers... basically just do something a bit more strange than we ever did. Unfortunatly some of the original vision was lost because of our drummer situation (Apocalyptic Warlord left in 1996 when most of the songs were written). So by the time we found a suitable replacement the initial vibe was kind of mixed up and tainted. However, I really love some aspects of that record. I think the artwork and layout are INCREDIBLE! And the lyics and stories behind them, with the linar notes is something that I'm very pleased with, but some of those songs were hard to pull off live. So on "Necronemesis" I wanted to keep a lot of the same themes. I wanted the lyrics in the same vein (as "Skeletal Season") with all the explainations and stories. I wanted to retain some of the haunting aspects, yet do it in a much more precise way. We wanted to record all digital to really key in on the tightness of the guitar and double bass drumming. So I guess to sum it up I think "Necronemesis" works well live and "Skeletal" should be enjoyed on the headphones.

How did you get ahold of King Diamond? What was it like working with a metal legend like him?

When we were planning on recording "Necronemesis", we really wanted to try a different studio. We analized a lot of recordings and we always seemed to come back to Nomad Studios. I think Mercyful Fate 9 was the deciding factor. We loved the way everything was clear, but not sterile. We really liked the interplay of the instruments. You can hear all the individual instruments, yet they had a good "live" feel as a unit. It is one of those albums that sounds good on a thousand dollar stero or on a shitty boom box; and that is precisly what we wanted. So we schedualed our time, but when the dates got closer we got a call from the owner. He told us that KING was finishing up "House Of God" and needed a little more time. He said if we pushed back our time a few days KING would repay us by singing on our album. This blew my mind! We of course instantly agreed. I knew exactly where I wanted him to sing... the song "Necronemesis" deals with this haunted graveyard. It is written from a 3rd person perspective until the middle where "the phantom of the graveyard rises". That is exactly where I knew it would sound cool. So basically we got to witness KING mixing "House Of God". We were in awe! Here is this metal legend treating us with the utmost respect. He actually took a lot of time to record his vocal tracks, and actually listened to everything and helped tweak out the mix. Let's just say I still get chills when I hear it!

Are you satisfied with how the album turned out? Anything you’d change?

I am 100% satisfied with the album. I feel it is our strongest album musically and lyrically. I think the cover art is incredible and overall it is our most original sounding album to date. the only thing I would change is some of the typos and little bullshit like that.

A particular favorite track?

Of course 'Necronemesis'! Even without the obvious fact of King Diamonds bone chilling vocals, that song is like a mini epic. It has a lot of dynamics and melody, yet is still straight ahead tight, aggressive metal. To me that is our perfect song! I also like '1666AD' a lot. I think it is just a basic heavy song with cool Nostradamus lyrics.

How’s Necropolis treating you? Are you satisfied with the promotion and exposure?

What promotion? We've been on Necropolis for years, and we were there when they grew from a 2 man little label into Relapse Jr., we've seen it all with them, and they seen it all with us. Paul is a great guy, it just sucks that some people there are not supportive of Usurper at all. It sucks that you can't find our albums in ANY stores, it sucks that our European magazine expoure has been just about zero for "Necronemesis", and that they are really pushing this whole gore thing. I mean it used to be this cult label; but now if you don't have a toilet with gore dripping on the cover, you don't get pushed. Oh well, that's just me bitching, obviously the positives must outweigh the negatives or else we wouldn't be still signed with them... right?

Tell me more about the interesting lyrics on this album. I find them fascinating! How did you find out about all these legends and myths? Do you believe in any of them? Do you believe in super powers?

Let me just say that I believe 100% in ALL of the lyrics I write. I document everything very well, I read a lot of obscure books, and listen to Art Bell evry now and then. I am fuckin addicted to all things paranormal: UFO's, werewolves, sasquatchs, interdimmensional creatures, cryptozoological creatures, lost civilizations, men in black, time-travel, electromagnetic anomolies, mothman/winged weirdos, ghosts, shadow people, prophecies and on and on... I think it's because I find everyday life very boring; I just wonder about the bigger picture a lot. I don't consider myself evil at all, just curious about things outside the norm. I find these stories facinating. To me it is way more interesting than people who sing about politics or religion. Preaching sucks! Even if pople don't beleive in things I write about, they can view it as fantasy or science fiction and still get into it. I like to view each song almost like a little horror movie set to heavy metal music!

I understand you played with Cradle of Filth on a few U.S. festivals. What was it like? What do you think about their extensive use of keyboards and some people calling them ‘sell-outs’?

Yes Cradle Of Filth has helped Usurper tremendously over the years. They had us open for them in 1998 in NYC. Then in 1999 we did the little 7 date US/Canada tour with them which really gave us the chance to play in front of bigger audiences for the first time. Then in fall of 2000 we did the huge 30 date European tour with them. That was mind blowing! The smallest show on that tour was 600 people and the largest was nearly 3000! Basically the average was about 1000 people a night, and that was really amazing for us! So what can I say about them? I mean I don't see them as sell outs at all. They just happen to be doing something that strikes a chord with many many kids today. I honestly believe they would be doing exactly the same thing even if they were some small unknown band, they just happened to take off. We are basically the same age as them, we both formed around the same time as eachother, and believe me, we have just about the same metal influences as them. They just happened to go in one direction and we went in another, yet we meet somewhere in the middle. Their use of female vocals and keyboards suits their sound very well. I think the main reason they can pull that off is because they still have 100% metal backbone and aggressiveness to what they do, where most bands that have keyboards and female vocals get too wimpy and overly soft. Usurper will not add keyboards or female vocals to our songs ever! We just want to retain a classic metal sound. Any atmosphere or melody will always be done with accoustic guitars, feedback tones, and subtle vocal layers, but even this aspect of Usurper will always be in the backround to enhance the heaviness. For Usurper; we want every song to be headbangable and fistbangable on the surface with dark, haunting elements below the surface in certain places; as I said before, just to add dynamics and add to the heaviness!

How do you feel about extreme metal bands like Cradle if Filth becoming successful in the American mainstream market? Do you think metal is meant to stay underground?

Metal should have no limits. If you happen to "make it big" playing metal it's totally cool, as long as you don't sell your soul to do it. Look at Iron Maiden or Judas Priest; they were always arena bands, but they did it with a "no comprimise" attitude and with a lot of integrity. Of course with metal, that should never be the goal. The goal should just be playing music from the heart, with all the traditions of the metal pioneers, yet with your own original take on it. bands should NEVER back down from doing interviews in fanzines, or take an attitude like they are better than any of their fans. I hate bullshit ROCK STAR attitudes! I hate industry weasels! The underground is very special to us. We'll never turn our back on it. We're die-hard fans of metal, just like kids that go to shows. Just like people who run fanzines. Big magazines are great because the give bands maximum exposure, but to be honest, most people who write for big glossies are arrogant assholes who think THEY are rock-stars. They are more impressed with kissing ass and seeing their name in print, and using big flowery words than they are fans of metal. I think it's safe to say USURPER will ALWAYS remain underground!

What’s your opinion on the current death metal scene in the U.S. Are there any bands you’re particularly into?

To be honest, I don't think I bought a death metal record since like 1992 or something. I get to hear a lot of stuff, but I really don't pay too much attention. I'm not saying that to be an asshole, but let's face it, I write all the music for Usurper, I practice with the band 3-4 days a week, I spend a lot of time demo-ing songs on my 4 track... the last thing I want to do in my free time is add more ringing noise to my ears. When I listen to music I like a lot of classic metal and early thrash, or just like rock music like Journey or Ted Nugent. When it's Friday night and I'm at the practice spot with all the gang, I'll listen to whatever new black, death metal anyone brings out, but just as backround music. Just for curiosity. Not that there isn't some great new bands; actually there is some stuff like Krisiun, Nifelheim, ABSU, and Nocturnal Fear that really blow my mind!

What bands or albums would you consider your personal and professional inspirations? What did you grow up listening, what bands influenced the sound of Usurper?

Oh man. I know the list would be slightly different for each member, but here is some of my personal favorites. when I first started listening to heavy music I liked: Scorpions, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, early Def Leppard, Ted Nugent... years later I got into like: Iron Maiden and Dio, which lead into early thrash like Mercyful Fate, old Slayer, Possessed, Kreator, Sodom... I was always looking for the heaviest or most extreme bands. Then I got into stuff like DRI, early Voivod, Bathory, just stuff with neckbreaking speed and aggression. I was also discovering dark slow heavy music at the same time like: Samhain, St. Vitus, Celtic Frost... So I think early on I realised great aspects of bands who played with precision tightness, and with over-the-top violent extremities as well as bands who played with slow heaviness and a loose "feeling" approach. So obviously you can say any and all of these bands had some influence on the Usurper sound. How can it not? Any band you listen to over and over will have some affect on your sound wether you like it or not. I think now what I listen for more than anything is bands with dynamics. Mainly metal, but take a band like Goblin for example. That is a band who did many classic horror movie soundtracks, so obviously they had to add dynamics to fit their music with particular scenes. I think that is what many bands are missing in extreme metal. Sounds should explode into a peak. Things should build in a climax, fall and rise again. Albums should have peaks a valleys. So I think the old metal is in our veins yet sometimes other bands who aren't metal at all can also have an indirect influence... but the end result is always DARK HEAVY METAL!

Any particular band you’d wish to do a tour with?

I'd love the chance to do like an arena tour, just to do it, I think Iron Maiden would be the ultimate.

What festivals are you guys doing this year? Any plans for heading over to Europe?

We already did a big EUROPEAN tour for "Necronemesis" with Cradle Of Filth, so I think if we go back again for this album, we'd like to do a small underground headlining or co-headlining tour. Other than that we'd really like to do a big US tour.

What are the future plans for the mighty Usurper? Coming tours, releases we should know about?

Right now we have a few tour opportunities, but nothing definate, so we will just continue to write and rehearse for our next album. Look for a re-release of "Threshold Of The Usurper" with 4 bonus tracks later this year, and a new album by summer/fall 2002.

Any closing remarks?

Visit us at www.usurper-necrocult.com.

Soilwork is a band that continues to push the boundaries of the music which they create. Released in February of this year, “A Predator’s Portrait”, Soilwork’s third full-length album, has already become one of the most talked about releases of this year. Even people like former Judas Priest vocalist, Rob Halfold, can’t help but take notice of this sonic metal force slowly taking over the metal underground. So what does the band think of all this? Well, I recently spoke to the guitarist, Peter Wichers, to give us the low down on his thoughts on that and much more.

Adam Block


Your new album, “A Predator's Portrait”, has been getting rave reviews from basically every magazine and metal source out there right now. How does that make you guys feel?

Well, what can I say! We didn't expect this at all! We are overwhelmed and we hope that the hype keeps on going he he!

This album is obviously a pretty big step forward from “The Chainheart Machine” album. Were you worried at all about how the fans might react to the more progressive touches and use of clean vocals for the record?

Of course, that was a big issue. But then we thought, we aren't making music for others, we make all the music for ourselves, and we never make music that we don't like ourselves! But since the reactions have been so great, we are glad that people liked our new direction!

Was this album also a way of getting back at all those people who labeled you guys as an At The Gates rip off?

He he, perhaps people think that! But that comment has actually never affected us in any way. This is just a thing that magazine people write because they can’t call it "ORIGINAL", but we wanted to make something different for this album, and I think that we are standing out in this type of metal right now!

Many bands such as yourself and bands like Arch Enemy, for example, are all grouped together and branded as Melodic Death Metal. Do you feel comfortable being labeled in such a way? Do you think this label fits your sound at all?

I guess that the thing that you actually can compare us and Arch Enemy with, is the guitar solos, but aside from that we have nothing in common!

Shortly after the release of “A Predator's Portrait”, you guys went off to play some European dates with Nevermore on their tour. How did that go?

Let me tell ya! This was the ride of a lifetime! We got a great response and we became very good friends with Nevermore!
We can’t wait to go back on tour again and drink one of Nevermore’s Drinks, "THE DEADONE"

How was the crowd's reaction to some of the new material?

Fantastic! It seemed as if the crowd liked the new stuff and since the new stuff perhaps is a bit more groovy, it was easier to get the people to mosh he he!

How does it feel to have the metal god himself, Rob Halford, raving about you guys?

It’s probably the worst thing that happened to us!

KIDDING!
I think that it’s one of the best promotions a band actually can get!

You guys have been experimenting a lot, especially with the new album with the use of clean vocals and things like that. Do you think that you guys have finally found a sound you can call your own?

That's a tricky question, but that is what we are aiming for! That's up to the crowd to decide, but I think that we have our own sound!

As most of us have heard by now, Carlos is no longer a member of Soilwork. What were the main reasons for him leaving the band, and are you guys still relatively close even though you do not play together anymore? Any word yet on a replacement or a fill in while you are on tour this year?

Well! I think that all of the people that have been on the site have got Carlos’s opinion about this matter!
He basically didn't want to tour anymore, and I guess that it takes a very strong personality to get through 30 days in a bus!

We haven't decided weather to use a new keyboard player or DAT tape, but we have a "STAND-IN" keyboardist for the Japanese showcase in June! He plays keyboards in a Swedish progressive metal band called Evergrey!

He is doing very well at the moment, but I guess that it's too soon to give you a definite answer to you're question yet!

Do you think it is likely that Carlos will do the cover art for your next album like he did with your latest album?

The possibilities are good. He has given us some ideas of the next one and the ideas are pretty cool! Perhaps???

So what’s next for Soilwork as far as touring plans are concerned?

Well, we have Japan right now. I guess that it’s the closest to a tour that we have right now.
We are also going to be attending the Milwaukee Metal Fest, Wacken Open Air and some shows in Sweden!

Apart from that we are going to be pretty occupied with the songwriting for the upcoming album after the Japanese showcase!

It has been overheard that you guys all already exciting about writing new material, and even getting into the studio by the end of this year. I got to ask you man...Are you serious!?

He he! We are pretty eager to get things going, and as a friend once told me! If you don't show yourself, you don't exist! So yes, we are planning on going into the Studio in the late fall!

With the last album and its Japanese import, you cleaned up the track 'Shadowchild' a little bit and placed it on your new album. Is it possible you guys might do the same thing with 'Asylum Dance'? Because the song, by the way, is probably one of the most intelligent and catchy songs you have ever recorded!

Thanks, that really pisses me off, because we thought that this song was too good to be as a JAPANESE bonus track! But no! I don't think that we will be re-recording the song for the next album!

Now on to the fun stuff...just how tall is your bassist Ola Flink? In the band photos I have seen he towers over everyone in the band!

He is by far the tallest man in the band! You can see him onstage, and he is a tall fucker, I don't know what his parents have been feeding him hehe!

What is in your cd player at the moment? What bands do you listen to in your spare time if any?

Well, I have recently gotten into Nevermore, after touring with them! So, the latest album with Nevermore has been spinning for a while in my cd player!

Who got you into playing guitar? Who are some of your influences?

The never-ending question!

Here are a few who I really like:
Mikael Schenker
Steve Vai
Some Malmsteen stuff (far from everything)
Mattias "IA" Eklundh
Zack Wylde
These are only a few...

Well thank you so much for the interview Peter! Any final words?

Keep your eyes open for any upcoming gigs both in USA and in Europe, we might be heading you're way!!!!!!!

Terror 2000 caught a lot of people of guard when they released their debut album 'Slaughterhouse Supremacy'. Many were expecting a mix between Soilwork and Darkane since the band includes members from both groups, but what they got was a non stop and relentless attack of pure thrash from front to back. With the sudden and surprising success of this project, one cannot help but wonder if the members are planning on keeping Terror 2000 going and if so for how long? To shed some light on the mystery, I spoke to guitarist Klas Ideberg for some in depth info on the past, present, and future of Terror2000!

Adam Block


Starting off, I would like to congratulate you and the band for creating such a dynamic and magnificent debut album in "Slaughterhouse Supremacy". How do you feel about all the positive reviews for the release?

It’s bloody great to see that people liked the album, since it was mainly a fun thing for all of us (in Terror).

For those of us who don't know. Give us a brief summary on how Terror2000 initially came together.

Terror 2000 was formed when me and Strid had a discussion about forming a pure thrash band ala the 80s, meaning pure aggression, not much of the melodic thing in the music. So, after a few weeks after the first discussion Terror 2000 was born.

How do you think Scarlet Records in handling business? Will you guys more than likely record your next album on this label as well?

They have been handling it quite good actually. So if there are no other bigger company bids we will do the next album on Scarlet.

Speaking about the next record, do you guys have any new material written as of now?

We have actually just started to make songs for the forthcoming album. The new drummer is coming down from Stockholm to rehearse with us this coming weekend. That’s going to be cool. His name is Erik and is a friend of Henry Ranta’s. The music is going to be like it is on “Slaughterhouse Supremacy”

If you could describe your music in word, what would it be?

Thrash/speed metal. That’s it I think.

Who are some the band's greatest musical influences?

Slayer, Destruction, Sodom, Forbidden among others.

Many people know you as a member of the band Darkane and they know Ranta and Strid from Soilwork... How do you try to separate yourselves from these other bands you are associated with?

When it comes to Defaced versus the other bands there are no problems since Defaced is so different compared to them. But when it comes to Terror and Darkane problems could occur since the styles are somewhat like each other. But I must say there’s a certain touch of inbreed in the Helsingborg metal scene. Hehe.

Being a member of all these musical projects, does the constant work ever become overwhelming for you?

It hasn’t for the moment but oh yeah, there was a very hectic period last year when I had to make songs for the coming Darkane album and on the same time record a promo with The Defaced (which we eventually got signed with). In the same time I also had a lot of school work to do in the university, so I ended up only writing two songs for the new Darkane release.

Back to the band... I have heard many fans talk about the new direction of Soilwork using clean vocals who fear that Terror2000 might follow suit with this style. What do you have to say to these worried individuals?

They do not have to worry. The new Terror album is going to be even harder and faster than the last one and there will also be a few heavy songs on it. So to sum it up; no soft vocals will heard.

Who writes the music and lyrics for Terror2000 and what do your lyrics talk about?

It’s mainly Strid who does them but the lyrics are mostly a lot of bullshit things. They are not planned at all. We will hopefully do a better job with the lyrics for the next album.

Are you guys influenced by other bands musically or lyrically?

Musically were influenced by a lot of different bands and music but when it comes to lyrics I don’t know. All I can say is that they are very retro.

What do you think of what bands like Sepultura and Metallica are doing now?

I don’t like what they are doing at all. Sepultura hasn’t got anything left of the thrashy side and Metallica is just wimpy but of course, they are old men now, haha.

This might be a little premature, but do you guys have any touring plans scheduled for sometime in the near future?

No, not what I know of anyway, but I hope that someday we will tour with Terror. With The Defaced and Darkane there will be touring.

Well I would like to thank you so much for the interview. It has been an honor speaking with you! Any final words?

A big fucking hail to all Terror 2000 fans around the globe. Hope to see you soon. And hey, check out The Defaced new album “Domination Commence” the forthcoming autumn and don’t forget Darkane’s new album “Insanity”.

"Predominance" hit the metal world like the atomic bomb, leaving 90% of it in ashes, the affect of radioactivity will be judged in a few years from now but the first reactions are disturbing. Did I mention that this is Susperia’s debut? Imagine what the second wave will do. Susperia are five guys with a very impressive resume but don’t let it fool you... I’d say more, but you shouldn’t even read it cause you might end up drinking too much trying to figure out what style they play. (Like I did) One hint: whatever they did in the past has got nothing to do with what they do right now. I’m not going to bore you any more cause there is quite a novel to read below; Athera couldn’t stop talking, I couldn’t stop asking questions and we got to the point that I ran out of tape so enjoy...

Chris


Before we start with the questions I would like to congratulate you on a great album and say that you surprised me in a very positive way with the style and sound of "Predominance". For at least a week I didn’t listen to anything else...

Oh right!!! Thank you very much and what was the big surprise?

First of all I was expecting another Norwegian black metal band...

Yea, that’s the problem coming from Norway. Everyone is expecting this or that... well, I’m glad we surprised you.

The band was founded by both Tjodalv and Cyrus, how did the rest of the members get involved with this project?

Yeah, you are correct. It was actually an original idea by Cyrus, the guitar player, cause he was sitting with all this material and all these ideas to create something new. He wanted to do something different and for many years he has written music for different bands without playing there and he also had done just session jobs for many bands. So, he wanted to create his own band and he contacted his friend Tjodalv, still at that time in Dimmu Borgir, and they did some rehearsing and when Tjodalv finally left Dimmu Borgir they had all the time in the world to really focus on this thing.
It was actually a crazy coincidence cause some months after they really started focusing on this thing I met Tjodalv for the very first time at the Wacken festival in Germany, we were both there, and being Norwegian, we introduced to each other, started talking and he told me he just left Dimmu Borgir and was starting up a new band and looking for people. I had nothing special to do at that time and I was a vocalist so I said I’m very interested and actually I also new two people back in Norway who could fill the bass and second guitar. That was just the lineup they were looking for. So, when we got back we gathered the troops, did the test rehearsal and everything went perfect from the first day and that is actually how the band was born.

I assume that with such a huge interest from the fans and labels this is not a side project but rather fully functional band?

This is a bunch of friends that have built up this band from nothing, from scratch, and we are definitely not a project. I’ve even heard people called us something like an all star band and this is totally wrong. This is just a normal band that we try to build together, do something new and stay together in this same lineup. We’ll be around and we’ll keep recording new albums.

Great to hear that, I’m already eagerly awaiting your second album...

Great, we already have like five or six songs in preparation now. They need some lyrics and some rehearsing but from pre-production stuff from Cyrus’ little home studio it sounds fucking killer to me and I’ll do my best with the vocal stuff and we actually hope to go in to the studio early autumn.

You used Mustis of Dimmu Borgir as a session musician for the keyboards on the "Illusions of Evil" demo. Did you drop this idea because you didn’t like the Susperia sound with them or you thought there are too many of Dimmu Borgir members in this band and it simply becomes Dimmu part II.

Well, the whole demo thing was actually quite funny. Yeah, you’re right. We have Tjodalv on drums, the original Dimmu drummer, and it wasn’t the smartest thing that we did to have Mustis come and play some synth for us on the demo cause the media, press they got totally wrong impression cause from the demo they were expecting a new Norwegian symphonic black metal band. I mean, how the hell could we know that the demo was to become so talked about and successful. We started this band in September of 1999; just two months later we had enough material to record the five-song demo, which we did. The sound was very nice for such small studio. I mean we had a concept already figured out that we would combine the old dynamics of the American thrash with emotions of black metal from Norway and actually just for fun as an experiment we contacted Mustis as a friend to come over to the studio and just do some improvised synths, which I know he loves to do. So, he came over one day and just played some notes which we recorded and it sounded fairly OK and we just kept that. And then we released the demo without expecting anything. But after the release, it was enormous take off, we couldn’t believe our eyes with what was happening. Then so many labels contacted us and were interested in working with us and the media, when they heard about this thing, got totally wrong impression because there was never meant to be any synth on any album of Susperia which you can tell from the debut album. There are no synths there and it will stay this way but I think it’s ok to experiment, which we did, on the demo.

Although your music has nothing to do with Dimmu Borgir it seems like Nuclear Blast does everything to associate Susperia with them.

Well, they have this thing for this kind of promotion to tell the audience and the media that people have played in this or that band, but one of the positive things all the responses from the labels was that most of the labels didn’t care about us as individuals and what we have done or not in the past. They were really focused on this band and the music. They didn’t care what we have done before and we want to put the past behind us and we want people to forget what each one of us had done before cause this is not essential at all. This is totally something different and has really nothing to do with symphonic black metal and actually not so much to do with black metal either. I really consider Susperia more a thrash metal band with, of course, some influences from black. Maybe we had this in the back of our mind when we signed with Nuclear Blast, that Dimmu Borgir being very close friends to us, maybe something could be worked out there and so it has happened. We are so fortunate to be supporting Dimmu on the whole European tour and this is so perfect a promotion tour for us. We couldn’t ask for more. It’s just so perfect for us, so soon after the release of the album to be able to play for so many people in so many countries and just promote the band and our music. And being a new band with our first album in these times with all those bands around and all those albums coming out, especially coming from Norway where there’s a hard competition we needed a really good promotion. And if you ask me, I think Nuclear Blast is by far one of the best companies when it comes to promoting their bands, on any level. We negotiated with them for almost four months to make a deal that would suit both parts. I mean, we are not in this for the money at all but we need to rely on the contract that can compensate the loss we have ‘cause right now we are sacrificing everything, our jobs, our friends, girlfriends, everything. So we need some compensation for all this but we are still not in it for the money.
Nuclear is just a perfect company for us, they can promote us extremely well, put us on tours, it’s perfect but I don’t really like the connections they make to all these bands and I would rather have them forget that some of us had been in Dimmu, Old Man’s and blah, blah, blah cause I don’t want to be connected with that. Some people see it as a negative thing, like you many media people asked me this question so it’s something we just have to live with.

I don’t necessarily see this as a negative thing, but I just noticed that everywhere the Susperia name is, there are names of the people that played with Dimmu, now the tour with them, so it seems like Nuclear is pushing you guys together...

Yeah, they are pushing us really hard and I’m really satisfied with the whole pushing promotion thing. I also think maybe it’s a cool thing... a lot of people were wondering what the hell happened to Tjodalv after he left Dimmu and I think it’s kind of interesting for the Dimmu Borgir fans to go to their shows on the European tour to see Dimmu and also see as a support band a new band of Tjodalv. I think it’s quite interesting but I don’t want to be connected with this too much that maybe people get the wrong impression that this is Tjodalv’s solo project or his new band. I mean, it is his new band but there are four more people and we’re into this together. There are always going to be negative sides and always positive sides and it all depends on people you are taking to.

I have to say that landing 4-album deal with Nuclear Blast just after one demo is quite impressive.

I think is quite unique. I think I’ve never heard of a band that signed with Nuclear just after one demo. I think it’s something special [laughs], I’m totally amazed and still can’t understand what happened. I mean, I totally like my own music and the music we make in the band and I appreciate that label and those people that like it too. But still, just existing just for four-five months with only one demo and getting this major deal with one of the biggest companies is, for me, a dream come true.

You said that most of the labels were for the music and not for the people but do you think that’s because of previous bands’ membership of some Susperia members helped you in getting the deal?

When we promoted our demo we didn’t go so deep into the details of the people in the band. We listed on the back of the demo who we were, what our names were and where we played but we didn’t promote it this same way as Nuclear Blast is doing now that Tjodalv came from Dimmu and Cyrus from Old Man’s Child and blah, blah, blah. We just wrote some simple information on who this band is. Most of the labels maybe have heard of the people before but I don’t think they paid to much attention to it. You can’t sign the band just because one or two members have been in other bands. You have to have some quality in the music you represent.
And this is totally different; this is nothing like the bands they have played before. This is not Old Man’s Child. This is not Dimmu Borgir. For me this is something totally different and hopefully for the crowd also. You can’t just sign a band because Tjodalv was from Dimmu Borgir; you have to play your own good music.

I had a real problem categorizing your style of music...

I’m so glad to hear this. I love it every time when people tell me they have problems comparing us to other bands, labeling us... I love it. That was what we hoped for that we’d do. That we would not just fall under a label, being compared to all these bands and styles and being just another band of this or that. I’m really glad to hear that.

I actually wrote in my review that either I drink too much and my mind is in a constant state of confusion [we laugh really hard!!!] or this album is that good... of course there are black metal roots, but I can hear a lot of death and even thrash in your compositions. How would you describe your style?

Acctualy, all five of us have more or less this same taste. We are very much into old American thrash and of course also into Norwegian black scene and trying to combine the dynamics from the thrash metal and emotions from the black metal, from what I’ve heard, I think we have succeeded in a way of creating an interesting mix of this two very different styles. I’m totally satisfied with being able to play in a band with this kind of music cause old American fashion and Norwegian black are my two favorite styles within metal and being able to combine them in my own band is just perfect for me. I feel really comfortable and I hope people can enjoy the way we want to play metal.

Lately, it seems like some people judge underground by album sales rather than the style of music. What does underground mean to you?

Well, I have to be honest with you. I really hate the underground. I have no respect for them anymore. I mean the real underground was the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s with only a few people playing in really underground bands, helping each other out, releasing each other’s albums and being this inner circle. Then people left scene, they got killed or actually they killed and got put in jail and all that stuff, you know there is so much shit that happened and the whole thing just split up. The whole black metal scene moved on with more and more bands and more and more people but in the beginning there were, at least in Norway, 15-20 people and today there are like 500 claiming to be of the inner circle of whatever. I think underground people from all aver the world are too much into the old school thing from 10-15 years back and have really narrow-minded vision when it comes to metal nowadays.
I mean we are not a satanic band; we don’t surround the image of the band with any ideology at all. I couldn’t care less for any religion. I just believe in myself and in my own values and I get really provoked when people call Susperia a sellout band or a fucking commercial band. What’s the fucking point? We don’t want to be a part of this whole black, satanic underground stuff. Why do they have to call as names? Why do they have to label us as anything? Why can’t they just either accept or don’t like the music?

I know exactly what you mean. In my opinion anyone that’s says selling one album or 100,000 doesn’t make a difference to him is just lying to himself and contradicting human nature.

I would never play the music I don’t feel comfortable with. I love to play. For 12 years now I wanted to play this kind of music. Since I was 11 years old, I’ve been having this dream of one day making it with the band, getting the record deal and be able to go around the world, tour and play my music for myself and people. I really don’t care about sales figures I just want people to get to know the music and enjoy it. I’m not in this for the fucking money. You’ll never get rich playing metal, at least not in Europe. I don’t really care for the money but of course it would be nice to make as much money as you would in a normal job so you don’t have to have both ‘cause combining normal day job with the band is totally hopeless cause we need to sacrifice everything to make this happen. So, a certain income or certain compensation as I talked about before is highly needed to survive. When I sacrifice my fucking blood, sweat and tears to do this and people of the so called "underground" call me a sellout or a motherfucker, I have nothing in common with those people and I have no respect for them. They have no idea what are they talking about, at all.

Do you know why there is so much hate between black metal fans about traditional and new black sound? I don’t see this in any other genre. For example lets take death metal... there is a trend of this new melodic sound now, which traditional death fans might not like it or even hate it but it doesn’t get to the point like between black metal fans.

I think it’s the magic and the mysticism of the old times when the black metal started. I think most of the young people growing up today listening to bands like Darkthrone and that stuff they want things to be like it was in the past. All that strange, mystical, satanic shit going on, they still want things to be like this. In early 80s when there were bands in every style like Morbid Angel, Testament, Helloween, I could mention bands from all different styles, there was no taking about you are a sellout, you a commercial band and you are shit and you not. In the old days, before the black metal thing there was just metal, everybody liked metal. It was just one big, happy group of people enjoying the music, going to shows and listening to different bands. There was no shit talk of any kind but after the whole black metal revolution and now in the later years when there is not so much extreme things going on, people maybe look back and want things the way they were. I don’t know... things just got way out of proportion. I don’t know how people can call Nuclear Blast a fucking commercial company? I mean if a fucking Britney Spears or Limp Bizkit would have been on Nuclear then they would have been a commercial company. There are no Nuclear bands on top 40!!!
They are also narrow-minded, as I said; they don’t know what they are talking about. I just get frustrated thinking about them...

Well than, let’s change the subject. You have a very interesting cover. It’s not like overused satanic theme on most metal covers. Who came up with this idea and does it have any special meaning?

Well, I have to ask you... do you have a promo or a real album cover?

Promo with a child’s face on it...

That was actually a temporary cover for the promo release. You have to check out the new album cover. This is totally much better. It’s this same concept but we took away the whites clean effect and it’s still the child head but now it has this insane screaming mouth coming out of the head. Really beautifully, graphically put together and the logo is much more enhanced. New album cover is totally different yet this same but it looks fifty times more professional and I’m totally satisfied with it.
The whole idea behind it was, as you said, when we are from Norway people expect some landscape picture or some forest picture with some strange title like "under the blue sky moon" or something, and as I said, we are totally not satanic or anything like that and actually not a black metal band at all. I consider us more thrash metal band still we wanted to have really strange, original, eye catching cover and I think we achieved our goal cause the other day I was down in a local music store shopping in Oslo and saw our album on the shelve and you know they put like 10-15 of them in a row along with all new other releases and I mean it’s not just because it’s my band and I know the cover it really stands out. It’s something really eye catching, it’s this total sterile white and just this focused face in the middle, red logo and it totally stand out from everything else. I think is really original and special and when people see it in magazines or in music stores they will go like "Hey, what the hell is this? A metal band?" It draws attention and I think we achieved what we hoped for.

You write all the lyrics, what’s the general subject of them?

Well, there is no same red line in this album, no special message or concept that I wanted to tell the people. Some lyrics are just fictional and stories are almost like short novels. Stories I make up in my head when I’m in a strange mood. They don’t mean anything, just funny, strange stories. Another way of writing lyrics is when I draw some inspiration real life invents surrounding my close friends or myself. Mostly negative events where I take the hate out of the situation and make like this poetic statement through the lyrics to direct my hate to someone or something and those are the most aggressive and most energetic lyrics I ever write. And the last way of writing lyrics, at least for this album was about Christians. As I said we are not satanic, we don’t write satanic lyrics but Christianity has always been around and I know especially in the United Sates and Norway they are really talking too much and speaking too loud. They go on television screaming, preaching then they go knocking on your door and always try to push this thing on to you even if you don’t want it. They provoked me a lot and sometimes I write lyrics that tend to criticize and question the moral use of Christianity. I use quite a lot of sarcasm rather than satanic lyrics like kill Jesus or all that stuff.

You decided not to use makeup which is great but why do you still hide behind nicknames? Isn’t it also one of the old black metal fashions?

Maybe... but I think the main reason that we choose to have nicknames was, actually two reasons, Tjodalv the drummer used his nick name in Dimmu and he still wanted to use this name. So, it would look rather strange when one person has had a nickname and the rest would have original names. That was one reason and also the fact that we are from Norway and some of us have really strange names for international use and pronouncing our names in English is not always that easy and to make it simple and short we just chose nicknames for the rest of us too.

You just came back from a great tour with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames and Nevermore to name a few. How was the people’s reaction to your music? Are you satisfied with your performance?

Oh, it was very intense. I’m very satisfied. We didn’t know what to expect, we were supposed to support Dimmu Borgir on the whole European tour and this part was also a festival tour with all these bands that you mentioned, actually five and we were the first going on stage rather early and we didn’t know what to expect. Coming home now and looking back I’m so satisfied cause every night it was maybe from 60 to maybe 90% full when we were on stage and the response was fucking enormous. We had great sound, lights, smoke, everything the whole surrounding. I’m totally satisfied. We were not down-prioritized in any way and we were really taken care of by professional people. This would never happened to us if we would have signed with any other label and that’s why I’m so happy that we signed up with Nuclear Blast cause they have done so much for us and being on this tour is just the best thing that could happen to us. The album is just out and people have not heard of us all that much and this is the perfect promotion tour for a new band as we are. We got some great live reviews and thousands of new potential Susperia fans.

I guess Tjodalv’s relation with the Dimmu members is still friendly. How did you get along together during the tour or all of you are just one big, happy family?

Yeah, when we formed the band, Tjodalv was the only guy knowing the Dimmu guys cause we all came from different parts of the Oslo area but now when we have been in the band for almost two years we have gotten to know the Dimmu guys and now Susperia and Dimmu are just this same kind of people, crazy metalheads. We have become really great friends and we also spend a lot of time together in private, besides the music. We got along really great and we became really good friends. The whole tour thing really connected our bands in a special way, being the two Norwegian bands we always share the same dressing rooms and we also at some point shared the bus, so yeah we are really getting along perfectly and we are just looking forward to meet each other for the last part of the European tour and party on... [laughs]

What are the future tour plans? Any chance to see you in US? Why don’t you support Dimmu in their US tour?

Dimmu is in US now, and Susperia album is not going to be released until the 1st of May in America and we also had a limited budget. We have spent a lot of money on this European tour, on merchandise and promotion and Nuclear has limited budget for first time bands and I can totally understand that. To not exceed the budget and take any chances, they didn’t want to send us to US this time, which I totally accept. I mean, it would have been a good promotion tour, but wouldn’t benefit from it. We would just go a way below zero on band’s budget and would have to spend next two years paying Nuclear back for the expanses they would have for a eventual US tour. I hope that something can be arranged, maybe after our second album. We are going to record an album after the summer and hopefully have a new release at this same time next year. Maybe then it would be possible to go to the US, which is also one of my biggest dreams. I didn’t expect to go to the US just after a debut album, so I’m not disappointed but it would have been totally great. We will continue promoting our band in Europe after they come back for the second part of European tour and just take things day by day.

Even though you said that there are not going to be any keyboards and the album I find some background on "Blood On My Hands". Is this something you want to do more in the future or just one-time experiment?

It was actually the Peter’s idea, he suggested to put some electronic, strange sounds behind it and we went to this other studio were he had this computer with all those strange sounds, so there are no manual keyboards being played on that song, they are just electronic sounds put together by Peter Tagtgren. It’s his credit that the song turn out the way it did cause he made some good melodies and strange sounds, which is cool. I think we’ll continue experimenting but not too much. Maybe one or two songs with something alternative but having one song with some electronics doesn’t mean next time we’ll make a full electronic album.

Although most of your vocals are great and range from deep growls to even a’ la King Diamond screams, I’m a little disappointed with the clean-nordic range. I got this feeling that you tried to sound like Vortex in those parts. Don’t you think that maybe you tried to accomplish too much in such a short time?

Well, I have four people that I really look up to when it comes to vocals. It’s Chuck Billy of Testament, Eric Adams of Manowar, Michael Kiske of Helloween and Michael Patton of Faith No More. Those four people have their very own unique style and sing very differently. So, somewhere in the middle as far as I’m able, you can find me. I try to make combinations of all these four people and I look up to. I’m a vocalist, but I don’t consider myself the best in Norway. Vortex of Dimmu is a masterpiece, he’s a really professional, great vocalist and I don’t try to be like him at all. The clean parts of "Predominance" that’s my true voice. In death and black metal vocals I make my voice, as far as I can, to sound like different styles. I have to adjust my voice to sing deep and I have to adjust my voice to sing black. King Diamond stuff is how I sound when I try to squeeze my voice to the top. I really sing from the heart and I don’t think of anybody else. I just sing the way I feel comfortable and feel able to. I don’t want to sound like Vortex and I don’t try to either, but I can accept that when people think I sound like him. For me personally, to listen to the album with these same vocals through the whole album that’s very boring. I don’t like that. When I’m in the studio recording an album I want, for my own enjoyment and also the interest of the audience, I want to create some variations. I’m not saying I’m the master of every vocal style but as far as I can I try to make things sound interesting. I try to experiment with a lot of styles and the things I try that don’t sound good we leave out. What we thought sounded good we kept, just to make it interesting for the listener, to have some variation.

I know it’s a little too early to ask for the new album but you already said you would try to go away even more from the black metal sound on your next album. What is it going to be then?

We haven’t started to rehearse so much on our new material. I was just checking them out cause Cyrus is making all the new songs for the new album. He has his little studio at home and has made five or six new songs, which he gave me the copy of just with the drum machine and his own guitar sound. It sounds really dynamic and thrashy. I think we’ll move even more from black metal and even more into the extreme thrash metal thing.

Is all that stuff going on in black metal world one of the reasons you want to go away from black metal influences in Susperia?

No, no. We don’t care about the views of the underground people. We cannot let them control our musical life. They can say whatever the hell they want but they’ll never affect us concerning what we are doing. We will do exactly what we feel like, what we want to do and we will do it anytime and anywhere. No matter what people say. There will always be people criticizing us but that something we have to live with. We will just fallow our metal ears and make music we feel comfortable with and hopefully people will accept and enjoy it.

That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank you for a great interview and I just want to wish you and the rest of the band my best Susperian regards and the best of luck in the future.

Thank you very much for this great interview.

A few years ago, in 1992, in a small southern town called Tumba, a few guys were having a beer and a serious talk about Viking mythology and heavy metal. What was born that night was Amon Amarth, which throughout the years satisfied our sick pleasures with pure death-viking music style and an unlimited amount of consumed alcohol. After releasing an MCD and three full-length albums, one day Fredrik Adersson (drums) decided to put his beer a side and have a few words with me about the band and of course about his well-known drinking habits. Here is what he had to say…

Chris ‘Zgred’


Kick-ass job on “The Crusher”. It’s nice to hear bands that are more heavy and aggressive with each album…

Thank you.

Tell me why Martin Lopez left the band for Opeth and how did you end up behing the drums in Amon Amarth?

I think he wanted to focus more on the technical drum bit. He liked that kind of drumming more and I think he wasn’t that interested in playing with Amon Amarth already from the beginning. Actually I was the first drummer they wanted to have after their first drummer (Nico) left but I played with my previous band and nothing came along and they decided to take Martin at that time. I guess destiny had its plans from the beginning and finally I ended up in Amon Amarth.

I think that 2001 might be your lucky year. First, a great album and then in December we are going to see the first part of “The Lord Of The Rings” which might introduce your name (Amon Amarth - The Mountain Of Doom) to a lot of new people…

I’m not sure about that. Maybe people will recognize the name, I don’t know, but we won't have anything to do with the movie.

So, what’s new at the top of the mountain?

Well, not much. Actually we are rehearsing a lot for live show we are going to do in Europe. We play for two weeks with Vader and Marduk than we play a few festivals and some shows in the summer. We decided to wait quite a while until we start working on the new material. Maybe we’ll start doing something for a new album after the summer, we’ll see. We need a vacation from song writing.

Although you lyrics are mostly rooted in the Viking mythology, the first track is about Judas Priest law suit. I guess you couldn’t time it better cause Slayer has this same problem right now…

Really? I didn’t hear anything about it. I guess it will always be a popular issue as long as censorship and things like that will still exist.

Are you going to turn into more contemporary issues in the future?

No, that will always be our main topic. Maybe I shouldn’t say "always" but it’s Johan’s main interest, our main lyrics’ writer, and he likes to write about things that touch him or are close to him. I think he will keep on writing about Viking mythology. Amon Amarth was always about Vikings and if we change this then we would have to start a new band and call it something else.

It seems like more and more people from Scandinavia are turning away from Christianity. In your opinion how big of an influence had metal bands on it? Your lyrics are also anti-Christian.

I don’t think bands had a lot to do with it. It’s happening everywhere also outside of the metal scene. Scandinavia is not that big of a Christian place to start with although a few years ago when you were born you were automatically included into Christian community but it’s not like this anymore. I guess people started to believe in other stuff than Christ.

Why did you decide to include “Risen From The Sea” from your first demo “Thor Arise”?

Metal Blade wanted to have a bonus track on the CD and since we didn’t rehearse anything and didn’t have any other plans Olavi (guitar) brought our demo tape, and we just listened to it and without rehearsing recorded. But we thought that it actually sounded pretty cool and we decided to include it as a regular track. Since we still had to include a bonus track we decided to put a Possessed cover which we did a long time ago.

I guess even Amon Amarth can’t stop the label from recording covers? Why Possessed “Eyes Of Horror”?

Actually that was an Italian label that wanted to do a tribute to Possessed and since it was never released we decided to use it on our new album.

What’s wrong with the sound of this cover? It sounds more like a demo track…

Well, at the moment when we recorded this track at Das Boot the studio was in its beginning stage and wasn’t really finished. Plus we recorded this song in half a day and mixed in the second half so it took us only one day to do it. On top of it we had such a big hangovers that none of us really put any effort into it. I recorded the drums in half an hour and left the studio cause I wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want to be in the studio.

Why is the “Risen From The Sea” the only track without lyrics?

Because they really SUCK!!! I think it’s one of the first lyrics that Johan ever wrote and when we were listening to it he was really embarrassed and we decided not to print it.

The last three songs seem to have a little concept going on. What’s the story behind it?

Yeah, in a way it’s a concept. When we started to work on “The Crusher” we already had a vision for the whole CD what it was going to be about. Hopefully you can feel it throughout the whole CD that it’s written in this same mood. But when we wrote the “Annihilation Of Hammerfest” we didn’t want it to end like that and we decided to add a continuation to it. So it worked this way and it just happened to be a trilogy of some sort about this guy.

Congrats on your great website. How much does the Internet help you in promotion of the band?

I’m not sure, but I think that Internet is the best way to spread the underground music right now. There is not much of a tape trading nowadays so it’s the easiest way of trading the music and of course it’s also a great place to talk to the fans. I think Internet has done a lot for metal scene over the last few years.

What’s your opinion on MP3’s? Are they good for music and bands?

Yeah, I think so. I have no problems with it. I mean I would be a liar if I said I would be grateful if I could live only from the music, only by playing it and doing what I want but I still think MP3’s are more helping than hurting bands. When the labels are saying that the sales are going down I don’t think it has anything to do with MP3s but rather CD’s prices are outrageous. I think MP3s are a perfect solution to poor people who can’t afford to buy all CDs they want and there’s anything wrong with that. Everyone should be entitled to listen to the music. I’m also sure that most of the people who like what they hear on MP3 will go to the store and buy the CD anyway.

Any US tour plans? It seems like you popularity increased tremendously over last two years over here.

No plans yet, but Metal Blade told us they will work on it.

What’s spinning in your CD player right now?

I just got Rammstein's “Mutter”. I’m still listening to Nile’s “Black Seeds…” cause it’s so awesome, Perfect Circle, Halford and many more.

Based on your profiles from your website you guy like to party and good booze. Give your fans a good drinking story…

[laughs] Oh shit. There are really a lot of them and it’s hard to come up with one right now. OK, we have our small metal pub when we always hang out and one night Olavi our guitarist succeeded in being thrown out from the club and was forbidden from ever coming in. Unfortunately our release party took place in this club and we had really big problems with getting him in. Everything is sorted out now and he’s allowed to come in but on that night it would be really weird if we couldn’t have a guitarist during our release party.
I guess drinking is a culture in Scandinavia and I don’t think in US this type entertainment is too popular…

What else do you do beside Amon Amarth, any side projects?

Well, yes I have something but it’s not a project. I just help my old friend which have a band called The Dead. They are going to record a mini CD after our European tour and I will do the drumming on it. It’s not a regular band or anything like that I’m just helping them out. Apart from that none of us have any projects at all. We are too involved with Amon Amarth to have time for any other band.

And now I have one of your favorite questions, “Do you play in Marduk?”

[We laugh] No

I know, it’s a joke but do really people ask you this question?

Yeah, all the time. It’s really popular name in Sweden and I know at least two other death metal drummers with this same name as mine.

Well, now you guys go on this same tour with Marduk so maybe two of you can finally sort it out?

I guess there will be one Fredrik Adersson too much on that tour [laughs]

Thanks for the interview and as always at the end “Would like to add anything?”

Yeah, sure! Check out “The Crusher”! I hope everyone who will listen to it will like it and eventually buy our CD. And hopefully we will be able to do a tour with this album in US. We would love to do this. We’ve had 3 or 4 offers before but unfortunately the tours were always canceled and we are really eager to go over and do some shows.

Even though Steel Prophet have been around for almost 20 years, it seems like they are one of the well-kept secrets of US metal scene. Formed by guitarist Steve Kachinsky under the name Hard Prophet, they became one of the leading power bands in the world. Their talent and devotion to metal music was rewarded with a Nuclear Blast contract, under which their carrier took off to another level. Although I didn’t receive their new "Book Of The Dead" album in time for the interview I had a chance to talk to Steve about the history of the band and the future plans of Steel Prophet as well as get his opinion on general metal scene related questions. Here’s what he had to say...

Chris


Well I guess we will be talking about a pretty good album... most reviews I’ve read for "Book of the Dead" were very positive...

Yeah, so far it’s been very good. It was on album of the month in Rock Hard from Germany and couple of few other top magazines over there. It seems like people like it so far.

What’s your gut feeling about this album?

My gut feeling is that it’s a good album but fans that liked our previous album might not like this one as much.

And why is that?

It’s a little different. It’s not following this same formula or anything like that and it’s got a little bit more variety. I mean it depends on your point of view, either you think that metal fans like variety and embrace different things or you think they always want this same thing in which case they might not like it as much.

Tell me about the "When Six Was Nine" lyrical concept?

It’s a little hard to describe, man. It’s got to do with schizophrenic people. They think they can affect the world around them just by their thoughts and the song just explores that idea.

From the research I did it seems that people have problems understanding the idea behind "Oleander".

Yeah, we wanted to have a song with just pure melody. Rick, our singer sings a four-part harmony and there is no instrumental backup for it. The melody is very simple it’s almost like "Marry Had A Little Lamb" or something like that and it’s the last song to close out the album just after the song "Anger Seething" which is very aggressive, heavy and angry sounding song. It makes a good contrast when people hear that really sweet almost child like melody line after that.

I noticed that you guys don’t like the power metal label on your band. How would you describe your style then?

Well, I guess Steel Prophet incorporates a lot of elements mostly from a traditional heavy metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath but we also have elements from thrash like from Metallica, from death metal we use some blast bits like Napalm Death or stuff like that. It’s a kind of a wide variety adding in to it. What people call power metal nowadays it’s more like a Helloween influenced bands. Originally, the term "power metal" first came out it was a term that Metallica used to describe its album "Ride The Lightning". When asked what would you call you music they said we will call it a "power metal" because it so powerful. If you want call our music a power metal because it’s powerful, it’s fine. I think we have more in common with Metallica than with more what people call it nowadays.

Do constant comparisons to Iron Maiden bother you?

Not too much. I think if you listen to our albums close there are a lot of differences and you’ll notice a lot of elements that we do and Iron Maiden doesn’t do. Any band that has harmony guitars and has king of galloping feel to it sounds like Iron Maiden, and we definitely have a lot in common with them. And you know, Iron Maiden is a great band, so it’s not so bad being compared to one of the greatest bands that ever existed.

Have you ever thought of playing a different style?

Oh yeah sure. I like different kinds of music and I do play other kinds of music for my own enjoyment and amusement but I wouldn’t play that kind of music and call it Steel Prophet music. Steel Prophet has to remain heavy metal and if I want to play other types of music I can get together with friends on jam sessions. I don’t need to force it down underneath people’s throat and call it a Steel Prophet.

For almost 20 years you have stayed in a power-heavy whatever you call it style. Does your longevity surprise you? Was it worth it?

Well first of all I think that the bio that you are reading it from is a little wrong. I would say the band is closer to 13 years old than 20 years old unless you count the years from the time I made up the name when I was in school. As for as longevity goes I’m pretty happy that we stuck with it this long and play the kind of music that we like.

On the other hand, have you ever thought of ending Steel Prophet?

Yeah, I thought about it sometimes. Sometimes when things go bad you think maybe it’s time to throw in the towel but you know, bad things are always going to happen and there's no point in stopping the band because you have some setbacks.

What’s your opinion on the huge amount of new power metal bands popping up in recent years? Do you listen to any of them?

Yeah, it’s like with any scene or style, there is a cream of the crop and a lot of imitators. Like in power metal scene I think the band Edguy is really great and couple more that I can’t think of the top of my head but there are also hundreds of bands that just are copying each other and don’t sound too original to me.

I understand that Nuclear Blast had a great deal of influence on how "Dark Hallucinations" turned out, asking for a Hammerfall sound. Do you feel that you were pushed into a direction other than where you wanted to go with "Book of the Dead"?

When we did "Dark Hallucinations" they didn’t like the sound quality of it and they didn’t like the production and they wanted us to remix it. Also when they’ve heard the album they said, "What is this, we don’t understand, where are the catchy songs?" So they told us "You must write catchy songs" and I said, "What is a catchy song" and they go "I don’t know, just catchy" and than I said, "OK, We’ll write some of those". Then we did the album and they go again "Where are the catchy songs?" and I said, "I don’t know, you didn’t tell us what a catchy song is, how do we know? It’s catchy to us."

Are you satisfied with anything NB has done so far?

Yeah, I think they’ve done a good job, especially in Europe they are like the biggest independent metal label and with the smallest bands they do a promotion that’s better than what other labels can do for a band. Here in US they just joined with Century Media and I think that’s really going to help the label out over here and I think that’s going to benefit us too.

How long are you going to still make music, release albums, and play live shows?

I think, definitely for at least another two years or so. I mean I can’t see anything changing within the course of two years unless somebody dies. And then, as long as things are going pretty good I can see us going on for a quite long time. I like that kind of music and I don’t think I’ll run out of ideas any time soon and we could very easily play for another 10 years or so.

What are the tours plans for this year?

Nothing is booked yet but we are trying to set some plans for Europe and US pretty soon.

Somehow there are not too many Steel Prophet interviews in metal magazines or on metal webzines. Is this a bad promotion or you guys don’t like doing them?

I don’t know. We don’t have any problems with doing them. I’ll do an interview with anybody at anytime just to promote us as much as possible. I guess it depends, like in Europe there are so many interviews that happen. Rick (Mythiasin - vocals) just got back from Europe where he did 100 interviews in four days. In US there is just less interest in the band because this kind of heavy metal is not so popular anymore. So we do as much as we can but is hard to say why.

How much of the promotion do you do yourself after promotional blitz dies down and after the end of a possible tour?

Mostly it would be like in a form of fanzines coming in, doing e-mail interviews answering fans questions. Almost every week somebody asks for an e-mail interview and of course we are going to promote the new album with the live shows too.

What do you do outside of Steel Prophet?

Nothing, it’s my only job.

I don’t think Nevermore needs an introduction here. Their last album "Dead Heart In A Dead World" was such a huge success that the only way to get in touch with them is between their tours. I had this exclusive chance to do so after their tour with Annihilator and just right before they hit the road with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, Susperia and Lacuna Coil. And since this was a tour report press day I mostly concentrated on their life on the road. Here’s what Jeff Loomis (guitar) had to say...

Chris


Are you surprised with such a huge success of your last album?

Yeah, pretty much. I’m very surprised as far as it’s a lot of number ones in Europe over here in many magazines, so it does surprise us. I mean, we don’t like sit at home and write music and just think it’s going to be this way, it’s kind of just happened for this album, so we feel very fortunate. I think it’s definitively our best work to date and I’m very happy with it.

It has to feel good to travel all over the world and headline or co-headline most of the tours.

Oh yeah [laughs] It’s awesome. This has been the most traveling that we’ve ever done. As far as just the last tour we did, we went to 11 new places that we’ve never been before. We went to Romania and that was insane. There were about 3000 people there and I just couldn’t believe the turnout. I think they actually had a big concert there about 3 years ago when the Iron Maiden played so you have to know that they were probably very hungry for metal and that’s why so many of them showed up. There was a lot of police there too, it was all over the news, so that was really exciting. It was really cool.

So, how good were the record sales of "Dead Heart In A Dead World"?

I’m not sure exactly how many but I think a lot. In Germany alone it’s about 50 thousand. In the future we probably sell quite a bit more with all the touring we are doing right now.

Ok, since this is an exclusive Tour Report Press Day we are not going to talk about your last album but we rather concentrate on your touring. What’s the Nevermore live line up right now? Any additional musicians?

Yeah, actually Nevermore is enough to hang as a four piece band which is me, Warrel Dane the singer, Jim Sheppard the bass player and Van Williams the drummer but we have hired a guitar player. He’s name is Curran Murphy and he is living in Seattle with us and he comes out on the road with us just to fill in as a additional guitar player. We had some problems in the past holding on to other guitar players so now we just decided to hire them on for the tour.

You just finished one tour with Annihilator, now you start another one with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, Susperia and Lacuna Coil to come back to States and have another one with Opeth. This is like dreams come true...

I know. It’s really amazing to me. You go pick up a metal magazine and you can like point a picture and say "Hey, I’ve done something with those guys". It’s really, really cool. We’ve definitely made a lot of good friends on this adventure. It’s a pleasure to work with a lot of these people and I really enjoy meeting these people too. We just met some really great guys from a band called Soilwork, which was also on the tour with us and Annihilator. We became a very close friends with those guys and all huge fans of them too; we really like that band. It’s really cool to be on the road and be able to hang out with these guys.

That’s great. I’ve noticed during my interviews that not only fans are saying good words about your last album but also a lot of musicians dream about going with you guys on the tour...

Yeah? [laughs] Oh that’s a killer! It’s news to me. It’s really great to hear that. It’s a complement.

What do you do before you go on stage? How do you prepare, if at all?

Yeah, I’m not as young as I use to be [laughs] I usually have to warm up for about 15-20 minutes before I go hit the stage. It’s a lot different now. We used to play for only about 40 minutes, now when we are co-headlining the tours and you have to play for an hour and 15 minutes every night you have to prepare yourself a little bit, make sure you are warmed up

Which tour was your best ever and why?

I have to say that one of the cooler tours we ever did was one of the very first US tours back in 1995 with Death cause we really felt like Chuck Schuldiner really gave us our beginning for asking us to go on the tour with him. He’s such a great guy and fan of the band as well. We had some really great times on that tour so that probably had to be my favorite one. Plus, Gene Hoglan is a great guy too [laughs], he was on that tour as well. It was just phenomenal to hang out with such killer musicians.

In your opinion, which country has the craziest metal fans?

Greece, man!!! [laughs] There are so many crazy people in Greece, the kids are so hungry for metal there. It’s just crazy how they react when you come up on the stage. They just freak out over metal, they love it.

Is there still a place in the world would you like to play?

I’d like to go to play in Mexico City. I’ve heard that it’s really great there. I’ve heard the metal scene is really fantastic. That, and I think we would also like to go to South America and play there too and I think that’s actually going to happen sometime in the near future. Also another place I would like to play would probable be Japan. We are planning on going there sometime this year. I’m not sure when it’s going to be but probably sometime in the next 5 or 6 months.

What is your favorite song to play live?

I would have to say "Narcosynthesis" it’s the first song of the album and it just comes up very powerful and it’s one of my favorite songs on the album right now. It’s really cool cause when you play a song and you have a crowd that seems to know all the lyrics and they are singing along to it that makes it that much more powerful, so I have to say "Narcosynthesis" is my favorite one to play live.

Is there still a band would you like to play with?

I would like to meet Frederik Thordendal from Meshuggah. They are one of my favorite bands and I’d like to do some guitar work with him [laughs]. I think this guy is phenomenal; he’s a killer. He’s an awesome guitar player. Actually I had a chance to meet him once on a festival, I believe it was the Dynamo, like two years ago, but I didn’t get a very long chance to chat with him.

What’s your most embarrassing moment on the stage?

Oh man, there are plenty of them [laughs]. I got those big-ass boots and I always find myself tripping over my guitar cables, so I’ve got to get used to walking in them. It’s kind of like Ace Frehley from Kiss, but not as extreme [laughs]. We all have a lot embarrassing moments on the stage but that’s life.

You have to have tons of special moments from the road. Can you share some of the most bizarre ones?

There is that mad-cow disease going on now here, so there are a lot of weird things that are happening with people that are rioting on the streets during our travels. A lot of those farmers are really angry that they are killing off so many animals and a lot of times we have to stop in the middle of the highway and try to get those people out of the way so we can move on to another place. We’ve run to a lot of wired stuff like that. That’s been kind of strange.

Which one of you parties, drinks the most on the tour?

Oh God, I don’t know. We all try to take care of ourselves but we all enjoy drinking beer sometimes. We’re all about the same.

Looking at your busy schedule do you have time to write any songs for your new album?

Actually what we are going to do is buy those little portable studios, they are called PSOT Studios. They are like little handheld studios, it’s like the smallest little thing they make in the world, so we’ll be able to do some writing on the road with those. We are going to get 3 of those things; one for the singer, one for me and one for another guitar player. It’s really cool because it’s so small you are able to write inside of the bus if you want to. I think that once you start getting bigger as a band you get less and less downtime to really write, so you have to make the most out of the time as possible when you are on the road. It’s difficult but you have to get it done somehow. Normally, I actually prefer writing at home but I’m not going to be home very much this year.

Don’t you feel any pressure to top "Dead Heart In A Dead World"?

Yeah, I think about it sometimes. I think that really the trick is, is not to think about it and whenever you come up with the part or an idea always make sure you get it down on tape somehow and hopefully by the end of the whole process you'll end up with another good song and eventually with another good album. But I always get that weird feeling in my stomach that I’m not going to be able to do anything better but I just try not to think about it and do the best I can. That’s all you can really do and hopefully the fans will enjoy it as much as you do.

Any info on how it’s going to sound, maybe some titles?

We are thinking of calling the album "Psychotic Intellectual Narcotic" [laughs] I don’t know how we came up with that... I don’t even know our plans really. I don’t even know if we are going to work with our producer Andy Sneap, he’s a very busy guy right now, he’s very popular, everybody wants him in the metal world for a producer because he’s very good in what he does. I mean, it’s all a timing thing if he has the time off and we have the time off maybe we will work with him again. If not, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. I think that we will probably end up recording in this same place thou where we always record in Texas. It’s a really nice studio down there, it’s called Village Recorders. Hopefully we will be down there recording the album.

How about the music direction? Same style as on "Dead Heart..."?

Probably it will be the heaviest thing we’ve ever done. Speed metal! [laughs] It’s always going to get heavier for me, it always does. I always try to top what I’ve done in the past. I don’t know if it’s going to be like Cannibal Corpse or anything like that but it’s going to be heavy. That’s all I can say.

I don’t see you guys playing like Cannibal Corpse after "Dead Heart...", maybe for now let’s try something in between...

[we laugh] There you go, that’s what I was thinking too.

OK Jeff, you answered all my touring questions and our time is up, anything to add...

Yeah, I would like to thank the fans for buying "Dead Heart In A Dead World" and just want to say that the fans are the most important thing to us and we always try to write true music for them and not change our ways. I hope that everyone is happy with the new album and hope to see everybody on tour in USA with Opeth.

2000 was definitely a very big year for the guys in Shadows Fall and 2001 is shaping up to be an even bigger one. After the release and surprising success of their breakthrough album "Of One Blood", the band has been touring nonstop and has been gaining more and more recognition within the struggling American metal market. Shadows Fall is the work of five extremely talented musicians, Brian Fair on Vocals, Matthew Bachand on Guitar/Vocals, Jonathan Donais on Lead Guitar/Vocals, Paul Romano on Bass, and David Germain on Drums, who create a sound all there own, while borrowing from such styles as hardcore, death, and thrash. To bring us up to date on what the band has been up to lately, I got in touch with the bands guitarist and vocalist, Matthew Bachand, and this was what he had to tell us...

Adam Block


First off I would like to congratulate you your continuing success with the album "Of One Blood". How does it feel to have your debut getting so much attention within the metal community?

It's amazing… The album has done much better than we could have hoped. We did have the first album on LIFELESS records that was self released, "Somber Eyes To The Sky"… And it did very well but the feedback we have been getting for "Of One Blood" has been great!

Ever since its release you have been touring basically nonstop with a wide array of bands. Tell us a little bit about your experiences. How was the crowd response to your material live?

Well it has been about a full year of touring now and were just winding down… Both good times and bad times but any bad day on tour is better than a bad day at home so that keeps it in perspective. The responses have been quite good as well even though we play with so many different types of bands that don't really sound anything like us.

Now that you are done touring, does this mean you guys are writing new material for a follow-up to "Of One Blood"?

Yes, we have begun the writing process and well just have to wait and see how that goes.

Was there anything that went wrong on your debut album that you are going to try and change with the upcoming album? How would you describe the new music you are writing?

There is always something that could be different but were not thinking too hard about a direction or anything like that… We are just going to start writing and see how it goes. We definitely plan on making more use of the melodic vocals.

What sort of bands have you been listening to lately?

In my CD player right now would be… Goatwhore, Billy Joel, Upheavel, and Diecast.

What's some band or artist out there right now that you absolutely despise? What do you think of all the current nu-metal bands that are getting mainstream acceptance in America nowadays?

I can say that Creed is one of those bands that I just can't stand… Not for any other reason than that I'm just not a fan. Everything comes and goes with American music… it was just a matter of time for that style to get big… and it will be time that will make it go away.

Going back to the band, how do you think being in Shadow's Fall has changed you if it has done so at all?

Well it is definitely making me work harder and a have very little free time… that's about it though.

What are you feelings about Madball breaking up because I know at one point you were set to tour with those guys?

It's too bad because I really enjoy Madball… Hopefully they will stay together but what can ya do.

So all in all, what would you like to accomplish as a band in the long run?

To do this for a living… that's really about it… If I was looking to get rich quick I wouldn't be playing metal that's for sure.

Is there anything you would like to say to all the Shadow's Fall fans out there?

Thanks for the support… visit www.shadowsfall.com and we'll see you out on the road!!!

Mentioned in this same line with such powerhouses like The Gathering or Moonspell, in only three years Lacuna Coil achieved a remarkable status of one of the most recognized dark-gothic bands. The combination of Cristina Scabbia’s seductive appearance with magnetism of her unique voice makes male fans wet their pants during the live shows and incites jealousy among her own gender. Although Italy is known as a county of never-ending siestas or happy sounds of italo-disco, "Unleashed Memories" takes us into an even darker and more melancholic side of the band. Female vocalist Cristina Scabbia shines some much anticipated light on my questions...

Chris


Cristina, first of all what such a beautiful woman is doing in a metal band?

[laughs] Thank you very much. Well, it’s nice, very nice because I always meet very respectable people and they are always nice with me, the fans are not aggressive with me so it’s a pleasure.

Is it something you always wanted to do?

Yeah, I mean it’s weird ‘cause I don’t consider myself as a diva or stuff like that, but I’m happy if people can dream about me with my picture even if they really don’t know me. It’s nice if you can please someone.

Have you ever thought of singing in a pop group? You never know, you might be even more popular than with Lacuna Coil.

I never thought about it before I entered Lacuna Coil. I used to sing in some occasional dance projects and stuff like that but just giving my voice without giving my name and image because I didn’t like that music. I wasn’t proud of it. So, as soon as I met the other members of Lacuna Coil and I met the metal scene I realized I want to be a metal singer.

Rather than asking are you happy with "Unleashed Memories", is there anything you don’t like on it?

I really love it and I think it’s perfect even if sometimes you would like to change something. But not in the structure, for example we just had four weeks to record this album and, of course, when you have just four weeks you have to prepare everything before entering the studio. You cannot improvise too much ‘cause you don’t want to risk that something might go wrong. So as soon as we composed the music we recorded everything as it was and we didn’t change anything at all. Of course when you listen to it later on you might want to change little things, maybe to sing one part better, maybe change the guitar sound, stuff like that but we are really, really satisfied.

Looking back are you satisfied with your previous releases?

When taking a look at them right now, of course I would change a lot of things because we were more immature, the structures are not as beautiful as we can do them now and you can feel it because we weren’t that much sure about ourselves as we are now. I mean, I like them, but I consider "Unleashed Memories" the most mature album of Lacuna Coil.

But then, it also seems like from album to album your sound is getting a little softer. Is this the direction you want to go?

I don’t think I would agree with that. I mean this album is much more melancholic but not necessarily softer. I think that you can give power even if you play some mid-tempo songs, you don’t need to have fast drums to give power, and you can give intense feeling even with those slow songs. I can’t tell you what music we will do in the future. For sure we will stay metal and go with this direction, maybe we add more growl vocals and stuff like that.

Have you ever thought you would achieve so much success in just 3 years?

No, absolutely not. As soon as we released the first EP we had so many good reviews but it happened so many times to a lot of bands that I didn’t realized that’s the beginning and we will be popular in 3 years. But it also happened because we work a lot, we did many interviews and we played all over the Europe.

Over the last 2-3 years Italy has delivered many metal bands into the international scene (Labyrinth, Rhapsody) with recognized success like Lacuna Coil. Have the people of Italy had enough of italo-disco and are looking for a heavier sound?

To tell you the truth I don’t know why people outside of Italy realized now we are able to do good music too. Maybe this is due because Italian bands learned to work in a more professional way. To give you a short example when we were searching for a deal we just sent a promo tape to some labels around the Europe but we recorded this promo tape with a very good sound quality, we included very good pictures, and a full biography. Not something funny or anything like that. We just put it in a very professional way even when Lacuna Coil didn’t have a deal with any label. I think right now Italian bands improved in a more professional direction and they know how to work in the studio, how to do a good gig and stuff like that and now people outside of Italy are realizing that.

How big is the underground? Do you know any new interesting bands?

Not that much cause we are so busy with our music we don’t have time to listen to other bands. We do a lot of interviews, tours and I only have time to read some metal magazines so I know only names of the bands but not their music and I can’t judge them.
I would love to find the time to do it but for now I have to postpone it a little.

So are you listening to any music at all, if so what is it?

I listen to everything. I always said I love music itself and not just a style or an artist. For example I love Depeche Mode this same way I love Meshuggah and this same way I love classical music. As long as it’s a good music I listen to it.

Do you have a favorite band or CD?

I would say Depeche Mode, Typo O Negative, Paradise Lost as bands but I don’t have a favorite CD that I would say I will play all my life.

Italy is recognized as one of the most beautiful countries, blue skies and gorgeous weather. Where then are all those sad thoughts coming from?

You don’t have to live in awful country to have sad thoughts. I mean everyone has its personal moments and it’s easier to look inside yourself when you are sad or depressed. It’s not the blue skies or beautiful monument that makes you happy. Personal problems will make you sad and you can be inspired by this feeling and transpose it into the music and lyrics. You can also be inspired from the sadness of another person and just try to describe his feelings. You can be just reflexive, not sad.

Does any member of Lacuna Coil play in any side project bands?

No! We are totally concentrated on Lacuna Coil.

Are you nervous during the live shows?

Just a little bit before I go on stage. As soon as I’m there I’m completely comfortable. I’m only nervous when I know I can’t give my best because I’m sick or really tired and of course you can’t cancel the show.

Have you ever had unpleasant situations during the live performances with male fans?

Never, to tell you the truth the girls are much worse. They a more arrogant, they just want to touch the guys, to kiss them. I always met guys that kissed my hand, talked to me in a very sweet way but I never met a tough guy that wanted to touch me of stuff like that they are always nice.

So, are you single?

No. [laughs] Marko, the bass player is my boyfriend.

You just toured with Theatre of Tragedy and Beseech. Did anything unusual or funny happen during the tour?

Because we had incredibly good relationship with them a lot of funny things happened. Guys from those bands are very nice people and we still write to each other. Something funny? Well, maybe the last gig. I don’t know if you know about it but during the last gig you can do whatever you want to other bands. So the guitar player and the drummer from Theatre Of Tragedy came on the stage and were improvising on guitars without really playing them just to have some fun with us.

What are your tour plans for "Unleashed Memories"? USA?

USA? Maybe. We were in Mexico in December where we played two gigs and after that we were suppose to have a tour on the east coast but we would have to drive ourselves to reach the venues and we didn’t want to give a terrible gigs just because we were tired. So we decided to organize it better and come over in the future.

What is your most embarrassing moment on the scene?

Most embarrassing? Let me think... oh yeah. [laughs] You know my hair is very long now but in the past they we just up to my shoulders so for the shows I used to wear a fake tail. Once during a gig I lost it and I didn’t realize it till the end of the show when I went on stage to say final thank you to the audience. I looked at my feet and there it was I don’t know if people saw it but that was the most embarrassing moment of my career.

Later on I laughed for about 2 hours...

Leave us some last words...

If anyone wants to write to us or has any suggestion please visit us at www.lacunacoil.it we will answer all your letters and I hope you will enjoy our new album.

The very first band that I ever wanted to interview for MetalBite.com was finally able to give me a little bit of their time… and man, was it worth the wait! Vocalist Jim Kjell picked up my questions and we got to touch on everything from the general state of death metal today to record labels to the radical changes that Gardenian is planning for their next album. Read on and enjoy, my friends!

- Tobias


How do you feel about where death metal is headed today?

I think death metal is heading in the right direction as I see it. It seems like the bands are more updated with the music that circulates around them and they accept other forms of music and bring it in to its own. That is very good for the future, especially for the death metal market.

What is it that you love about melodic death metal?

I love the complexity about it, the harsh combined with the more mellow and laid back melodies. I think it’s getting better and better. At times I might even think that it is beginning to get a bit commercial in a good sense.

What got you started in music?

I don’t have a clue really. I guess it was because I to wanted to become a big rock star as Metallica, Sepultura and Kiss. I guess every one wants to be a star at some point. I started to play some cover songs of whom ever and…

It seems that Gardenian has really come into its own with Sindustries.

Both yes and no. The songs are beginning to take the shape that we want and "Sindustries" was a very good second step to take for us. We begun to form this sound on "Soulburner" already, so I think we have gotten used to it for a while. But "Sindustries" took a dramatic turn when we decided that I should perform all the vocals on the album, that gives us an edge that we didn’t have on "Soulburner", where we got lost in the sound making it a split record with not much common sound. This we have changed on "Sindustries", making it genuine and a Gardenian sounding album as it should be.

What is it about this album that you are most proud?

I think the whole of the album is something to be proud of. The songs came out great and I must say I am proud of my vocal efforts as well. It was a big challenge. I am also very proud to give Peter Tägtgren the best words because he really deserves it! He made me sing in a way that I did not think I was capable of singing in. I think with his calm way and his great personality we all felt that we were a little bit more secure!

Which song from "Sindustries" is your favorite track to listen to and which is your favorite to perform live?

I rarely listen to our material, but I guess if I have to choose I feel like choosing "Doom & Gloom". This is the song that I prefer to play live as well. In this song, I think we really present the complexity that melodic death metal is about. That’s why I like it that much.

While we're on the topic of playing live, where is your favorite place to play?

I don´t know really! We had a really good time playing in Wrotslaw, Poland. Then we had a really great time in Stockholm together with In Flames and in Austria with Hypocrisy. It’s hard to name one single place.

Who would you most like to tour with? Why?

Nevermore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Slih!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When are you going to be touring the US?

We are really longing to get a state tour, but it seems like nobody have the urge to book us on any tour as Nuclear Blast isn´t exactly pushing Gardenian as their main band. I guess we are quite underestimated to our own crowd. It is quite sad really!

How do you like life on the road?

We totally love it, that is where we want to be all the time. We are actually going with Darkane to Holland in May and that’s the first touring we are doing on "Sindustries".

What are you doing when you're not doing Gardenian?

I have another band called Suncase, in which we play some more rock pop influenced stuff in the vein of Van Halen and U2. And for a living I build scaffolds, that´s a really shitty job!

How and why did the band choose the name "Gardenian"?

Niclas saw it in a Kyuss lyric and we just put the N on the end to make it sound more Metal!

Can you tell me the story behind the song "Sonic Death Monkey", how did that song come about?

This was actually one of the first songs that we wrote for "Sindustries". I guess we did as we always do, Niclas or I come up with a riff or two and then we go from there. Together with Thim we arrange the whole song, then most often I write the lyrics but I am very lousy on coming up with the titles so I leave that to Niclas. Then I guess it was finished.

What would you like to do differently on the next album?

There will be a whole lot of change on the next album. It won't be death metal based at all. You will, of course, hear our trademarks, the melodic stuff and such, but it´s hard to say. I guess you´ll have to wait until it's out. We need a label for starters, as we have left the Nuclear SHITTY Blast.

As a death metal vocalist, you must put your vocal chords through a lot, does the strain ever get really hard on you?

Under the recording of "Sindustries" I was really sore in my throat. I don’t know why because I usually don’t have a problem with this at all. Its no problem live so that’s cool.

Who are some of your all time favorite vocalists (death metal or not)?

Warrel Dane (Nevermore), Philip Anselmo (Pantera) and Bruce Dickinson (Maiden).

Who do you have the most respect for in the death metal scene?

Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy) for his knowledge and for the great personality he is.

Who do you have the most respect for in all of music?

Nevermore for their fantastic musical skills and for their fabulous albums and live shows.

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians who are trying to get a break in the music business?

Don’t ever give up! Always fight for your music and rehearse as often as you get the chance. Devote yourself to this and you will come out as a winner in the end!

I'm ecstatic to have done this interview with you and I want to thank you for your time. I also want to thank the entire band for putting out such a great album. Do you have any closing comments?

Thank you Tobias for taking the time to ask these questions. And to all of you out there who want to see us live stay tuned until the day we’ll be in your city to rock your asses off.

Stay Hard!

Jim & Gardenian

Plowing through all the death metal pretenders out there, are Chicago's own Fleshgrind. With their unrelenting style of brutal death metal, these guys pose a major threat to any band thinking they are extreme. Fleshgrind brings more to the table than just speed however, as they have a wide range in dynamics as well. I recently had a chance to speak to Fleshgrind's guitarist, Steve Murray, about their new album and various other topics. So, without further ado, I proudly present to you...Fleshgrind!

- Adam Block


To start things off, how long have you guys been together, and how did it all come about?

We have been together 8 years this month, March. So, we started off in March of 1993 if you don’t want to do the math. Rich our singer and Dave our old drummer had this band called Burial, so I started jamming with them on that. Then that went to shit, so we basically turned it into Fleshgrind. Soon after, we did our first demo in December of 93 entitled "Holy Pedophile" which really got the ball rolling.

You guys have a new record out called "The Seeds of Abysmal Torment." Tell us a little bit about the album and how it differs from the old one.

Yes we do, its out on Olympic Recordings and should be in most stores. It’s a bit different than Destined For Defilement. We replaced our old drummer Dave with our current drummer Alan and he is WORLDS better than Dave. so we were able to do a lot more and try a lot more than before. So the newer stuff is a lot faster, more varied, just a lot better I think. Also we replaced our old bass player Ray with our current bass player Jimmy, who also plays guitar for the band Avernus.

Who are the main song writers for Fleshgrind?

I write all of the music, but our drummer helps out with arrangements and occasional hummed out riffs here and there. Alan and I both write the lyrics as well.

Have you been able to take any of the new stuff out on the road yet?

We played 2 shows, one in Tennesee and one In Alabama right before the album came out. Unfortunately, at the Alabama show, Rich broke his ankle REALLY bad and so far we haven’t been able to play any shows for the new album so that really sucks, its hurting the album ya know. But we will be back! All bands go through down times. It’s been 6 months since that last show.

Give me a little bit of insight, if possible, on what a normal Fleshgrind live show is like.

Ahhh its nothing too crazy, no stage props or visuals. We have intros sometimes, our drummer makes them up, or we sometimes use Vivadli's "Winter" piece. Other than that we just bang out on stage, we really get into it. We try to have the crowd participate. Creates a really cool vibe.

As of now, do you guys have any future tour plans?

Yes we will be doing at least 2 weeks in Europe with Deeds of Flesh and Resurrected. It will hit Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands. We toured there last year with Resurrected and it was KILLER, so we cant wait to go back. As far as the US goes, we will tour I'm sure after we get back from Europe, but nothing is concrete as far as the US goes as of now. But we will be touring the US.

How is the death metal scene overall in the U.S.?

It has its ups and downs. Good spots, horrible spots. I think the bands are putting out quality music, but there aren’t as many as there should be. I think too many bands latch onto one thing extreme and beat it into the ground. Like if they're fast, its non stop ALL the time, and it stops being extreme to me anyhow. It’s great for a few songs, but not a whole cd. Nothing wrong with a tempo change to my ears. Or super deep vocals the WHOLE time gets to be UN extreme. Like you become desensitized to it. No dynamics kills it after awhile. To me anyhow. To each their own, right?

What are your opinions on nu-metal bands such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, etc.?

Ummm, I don’t pay much attention to those bands. I've never heard Mudvayne. its cool that Slipknot promotes death metal though, I have to respect that. But I haven’t heard much of Slipknot. Its just not my thing and if its not my thing, I don’t pay it much attention. If other people want to listen to it, then listen to it. I might not like the new metal stuff, but I cant stop it and things evolve, they just do. A lot of old thrash fans don’t like death metal, so on and so forth, its just the way it is. Some people listen to it all, if so, whatever, doesn’t affect me. Who’s to say what others should listen to.

What bands do you enjoy listening to in your spare time?

Shit, lots of bands, to name a few: Kiss, Nevermore (the new one is AMAZING), Hate Eternal, Suffocation, Sacrilege (Sweden), Dark Tranquility, Yattering, Vader, Skinless, Mortal Decay, Regorge, Disgorge, Dying Fetus, Spinecast, Fleshtized, Krisiun, Severe Torture, Malevolent Creation, Lividity, Burial, Immolation, Coercion, Pyrexia, Deeds, Angelcorpse, Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Rain Fell Within and classical. I try to keep it varied from style to style.

Who influenced you to become a guitar player and how long have you been playing?

Well I originally wanted to play bass when i was a kid because of Gene Simmons, but I found it to be boring at the time, ya know. So i picked up the guitar. I was really into old Motley Crue, well I still am really into old Motley Crue. Then of course Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer etc.. Guitar players that I love now are Erik Rutan, James Murphy, Alex Skolnick, Yngwie, Eliot Fisk, Casey from Fleshtized.

So what is next for Fleshgrind?

Get past these problems, and tour our asses off and write!

Got any final words to say to those death metal fans out there?

Thanks a lot for the interview, and check out our new album. Hope to see ya on the road!!

www.fleshgrind.com
www.olympicrecordings.com

Fleshgrind
P.O. Box 7142
Grayslake, IL
60030 USA

Darkwell has recently issued their debut album Suspiria. This is the most astounding goth-metal debut I’m aware of and listening to it just got me really curious as to how it came about… and how it could have come about in only one year! This, combined with my curiosity to meet the man behind this little brainchild, Roland Wurzer, resulted in the following email based interview.

- Tobias


Did everything really happen as fast as is reported in your bio?

Yes that's true it happened that fast, but you have to take into consideration that Roman, Christian, Mortiz and me already played together for years and that some ideas for some songs are from 97 and so on, what is remarked in the bio is the story since we are sailing beneath the Darkwell flag and since Alexandra joined the band but also the predecessor of Darkwell (the band was called Sarcasm Syndrome) already had female vox.

Do you feel that you've achieved your original vision for Darkwell with Suspiria?

Yeah, nearly everything worked like it was planned (as far it is possible to plan something as musician), we are pleased with our label, and everything...

Lots of people are raving about Alexandra, how did you find her?

Really they are??? The story how we found her is quite simple. A good friend of us said, he knows a girl which has a fantastic voice, we decided to check that and as she started singing our tunes the decision was already made...

Does she have any male groupies?

Thousands... no, I don't think so, until now she refused all advances, but I think due to the fact the wrong guys had the balls to talk to a singer of a band. If the right boys would have done it I think the answer would be different *g*...

Does her rather youthful age ever cause any problems?

Nope until now everything is excellent, specially cause she loves playing music and being on stage. She is exploring a new world for her and that is very cool and with every concert we play she gets more professional in stage acting and so on...

Who do you most want to tour with?

Fields of the Nephilim would be cool, but would also appreciate it to tour wit Moonspell or Tiamat.

Is there any chance of a trip to the other side of the pond in the near future?

Hmmm, to confess the truth, I don't really know exactly, it depends if we get an offer to do so. If there is an offer it depends on the costs, cause often the organisers can't afford the plane ticket and we either. If this situation occurs it depends if the label supports us. But if there is an offer for a gig "on the other side of the pond" I'll do anything possible to make it happen.

Which do you write first, music or lyrics?

Hmmm that depends, I guess it's 50/50. I like both ways of composing.

Have you ever been kicked out of a bar? Why?

Several times....but not cause I'm an aggressive person, often simply because looking metal. Recently, we and some guys of Graveworm (an Italian band) entered a bar in Germany, we drank one beer, afterwards they kicked us out cause "they had to close the bar" (at 10 pm). No bar in Germany closes at 10 pm, they closed just to get rid of the metalheads and kicked out all other guests too. As we passed the bar 4 hours later it was open again.

If you had tons of money, what would you have done to better the music of Suspiria?

Hmm, I would have introduced a real string ensemble instead of using computer samples and perhaps spend one or two studio weeks on experimenting on effects, also I would have engaged a real good mastering studio. Last but not least we would have rented hotel rooms instead of sleeping in an unheated recording room. (Also no fun driving an hour to come to a gas station where you can take a shower.)

What is your favorite song to play live?

Hmm, don't know, it's cool playing Realms of Darkness, cause it has a cool groove. I also love playing The Salvation live, cause it is a bit more technical. Armageddon builds up an unique atmosphere.

Who is the maniac of the band? Why?

The maniac of Darkwell is Mathias our new guitarist, I think he worships chaos and alcohol. On the recent tour with Vintersorg, he started a drinking combat: Austria vs. Sweden. We played 11 shows, in the end we won 6:5, but only because of Mathias's drinking abilities.

You've been experiencing some vacillation in darkwell's line up; is it causing any problems?

Unfortunately yes, we have two new members. Mathias replaced Roman and Raphael replaced Chris. The reason for the change is that both are heavily engaged in their private lives (married and so on) that both hadn't enough time to continue in the band, but now the line up is stable...

Is Darkwell the number one priority for the current line-up or are other projects raising any problems?

Simply...Yes.

What do you feel is the ultimate goal of Darkwell?

Don't know, I'm afraid I can't answer that one, the only goal I think is making our music and transmitting emotions. Naturally if you transmit something, somebody must receive that and if that leads to commercial success it is Ok for us.

So far, you've only posted the lyrics to Armageddon. Do you have plans to reveal the rest on your website?

Yeah I think so... the only problem is that I connected the lyrics of Armageddon with a picture, I found on the net (The one an angel get's rid of her wings), so I need pictures for the other songs but I haven't found any until now. If someone has painted one or knows one just mail to: darkwellgothik@geocities.com !!!

Based on what I can hear and the lyrics posted on www.darkwell.org, you seem to be going after a lot of ethereal imagery, as is fitting with Alexandra's voice. How do you feel about bands that won't shut-up about falling in love with their own pain and agony?

It makes no sense falling in love with agony and pain. Both have a cause and that is what mankind should strive for, cause as soon you have discovered the reason for what's happening with you, you have material you can think about. But often an emotion is the cause, so you must eliminate what is disturbing you on the surface, so you have to search the "archemotion" and this one is what comes out of your emotional equilibrium. Dealing with the couterforce of all emotions and dealing with the resulting equilibrium is what Darkwell is about.

Who put on the best live show you've ever seen?

There are some: Slayer on the Clash of the Titans tour in the early nineties, Hypocrisy in Wacken 98 and Fields of the Nephilim on Mera Luna Festival in 00.

Is there anything else you would like to tell the fans?

Buy the CD!!! Not really... Hope to jump over the pond sometimes and then drink a beer with em.

Homepage: www.darkwell.org E-Mail: darkwellgothik@geocities.com

If you thought that melodic-death metal already offered everything that was possible in this genre than obviously you haven’t listened to Darkane yet. Brutal music at times even going into an extreme blast combined with almost jazz-like arrangements and the unlimited musicianship of the members creates a unique atmosphere almost unheard of in any kind of band out there. You will not sing their songs on the street and not because they are lame, but rather so complex you won’t be able to remember a full song until you listen to it at least a few times. And that’s better than good, enough of nice melodies, it’s time for some serious ass kicking. It seems that Christofer Malmstrom (guitar) has the same point of view, so without wasting any more of your precious time, here is what he had to say...

Chris


First off, congratulations on a great second album, "Insanity". It seems that the reactions are mostly positive? How does that make you feel?

Thank you. It feels really great. Most critics are very positive; there are some people that prefer our first album but most of them like "Insanity" better and of course that feels great.

This is your second album and some people might still not know Darkane. Could you give a brief history of the band?

We started in 1998. Before Darkane, for seven years, three of us (me, the drummer and bass player) had a band called Agretator which played very technical music. During those seven years we ran out of inspirations and Peter and I decided to start a new band. We formed Darkane, in summer of 1998 we recorded our first album "Rusted Angel" and now our second one "Insanity".

What happened within the band that Lawrence Mackrory left Darkane?

He has his own band called Forcefeed and he wanted to focus on that band. When we recorded "Rusted Angel" he told us that he wanted to be on the tour with "Rusted Angel" but we should look for another singer for the next album.
So we asked our friend Andreas Sydow if he wanted to try for Darkane so he did and it worked out pretty well for us and he’s permanent member of the band now.

Are you satisfied with War Music’s work and promotion? You added Century Media and Nuclear Blast to the list of your promoting labels.

Well, for "Rusted Angel" wasn’t that much but now since we also have Century Media and Nuclear Blast they do all the promotion and everything looks great.

It’s almost three years since your debut. What took you so long to release "Insanity"?

First of all, it was quite hard for us to find a good time to enter the studio because Daniel Bergstrand - our producer, has a lot of bands; he’s booked all the time. Then we started to deal with all the labels like Century Media and Nuclear Blast, and when all the papers were signed, we recorded "Insanity". We were ready to release it a long time ago but labels wanted to promote it quite hard and that took another few months.

Rusted Angel and Insanity sound great, is that why you’re sticking to Daniel Bergstrand’s Dug Out Production instead of using Abyss or Fredman like most of your peers do?

Yeah, most of the bands use Fredman, but we don’t want to be like most of them [laughs]. Of course Daniel Bergstrand produces a lot of bands too, but most of them are bands that we really like. Strapping Young Lad or Meshuggah are our biggest influences and that’s why we wanted to be with him. We also feel that Daniel is a part of Darkane sound, he has a lot of ideas and he’s not afraid of experimenting with vocals and things like that. And we totally trust him and his talent.

Ok, on both albums you use the additions of orchestra and choir. How did you come up with that idea?

We were on the tour in Europe with Marduk, also from Sweden, and they had a very cool intro, music from the movie Omen. We thought that was really cool, but we also thought that it would be even better if we wrote our own intro. So we tried that. We hired some musicians from a symphonic orchestra and asked few friends to sign in the choir. That was cool and quite an odd thing to do.

Do you write the notes for them? I bet they don’t listen to metal every day...

Peter and I wrote the intro and I wrote the outro. Both of us listen to classical music a lot, I studied classical music, jazz, music theory and things like that so it was quite natural for us to do since we’ve been into it for so long. Although it took us a few days to write that intro cause we never did anything that big before.

You are one of the songwriters in Darkane, how do you go about writing new material? Do you have a specific process that you go through?

Well, yeah you can say that. I write guitar riffs and Peter does the rhythm section and then once a week we get together and we put our ideas into a song. If he has a cool rhythm he will ask me to add a melody or I would ask for killer drum’s parts to my riffs. I think we work very well with each other and that’s basically the way we write our songs.

Are you 100% satisfied with this album or would you change something if you had a chance?

I’m 90% satisfied. You always find something that you could do better. The sound of this album is very big but it’s not as brutal as it was on "Rusted Angel". On "Rusted Angel" we recorded four rhythm guitars and on "Insanity" we recorded just two. Of course you can hear more what’s going on in guitars department much better on "Insanity" but it’s not that brutal any more. A like it but I think the sound could be a little more brutal.

I’m sure there’ll be a bonus tracks on the Japanese release. What is it going to be?

It will be the live version of the song Convicted from "Rusted Angel". It was recorded in our hometown when Lawrence was still singing with us.

How is the underground in Sweden, is everyone familiar with each other? Are you in contact with other metal bands, and bands who play different kinds of music?

We know In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah but it’s not really an underground [laughs]. We don’t hang out though, ‘cause we live far away from each other and only festivals, tours or things like that give us the opportunity to meet new bands. Although we live in this same town with Soilwork...

You guys have to be very good friend of Soilwork, so many side projects feature members of both bands (Terror 2000, Defaced).

Yeah, you can say we’re almost like brothers.

With US distribution by Century Media, any chance we'll see you guys on tour in the States? Does Darkane have any tour plans at the moment?

Yes, we have plans, but I don’t think Century Media has any right now [laughs]. I would really like to come to the States, it’s one of my biggest dreams but Century wants to know the album sales figures before they bring us over. I really hope someday they will but nothing is planned yet.

Whose face is on the cover of Insanity?

I don’t know who it is. It’s not one of us. [laughs]

What are your expectations for Darkane in the future?

I really hope to play as many live shows as possible. That’s what I really like. I’m more live person, I don’t like being in the studio. I just hope to record good CDs so people will like it and buy it so we can go on with what we do.

Are there any bizarre stories of the band you would like to share with us?

Well, there is one with our guitarist Klas... One night he was very drunk in the studio and he fell, broke his head and passed out. So, we got him into the hospital and the doctor wanted to shave his head because he had a really bad cut. So, Peter and the rest of the guys had to almost beg the doctor to save his hair ‘cause he plays in the band and it’s one of the most important things to him. Of course Klas woke up next day and had no idea what happened and where he was... Maybe it’s not that cool story anymore but for sure it was then! [laughs]

Your album has just been released but have you already written any new songs? If so, in what way do they differ from the "old" stuff if at all?

We don’t have any complete songs yet, only some ideas. The only thing I can say we won’t be less brutal and we won’t slow down. We’ll try to be as brutal as possible but still with melody...

What has been your favorite release so far this year?

I didn’t listen to too many new releases yet, but so far definitely Soilwork’s "Predator’s Portrait" and it’s not because we are good friend. [laughs] They are really good musicians and this album is just great.

How often do you practice on the guitar?

I did practice a lot when I was in school, instead of studying. [laughs] I used to practice 6-7 hours a day before I turned twenty but now it’s about hour or two a day.

What do you do for a living outside of Darkane?

I work in school but not as a teacher. [laughs] It’s more like a teacher’s help. All the guys outside the band have regular jobs. From music we get enough money to buy new guitars or stuff like that, that’s all.

Thanks for your time! Is there anything you would like to add?

I hope that all metalheads in the States will check out the "Insanity"... I just want to say that it takes a few tries until people understand this material. Yesterday I had interviews with European magazines and almost all of them told me that it took them almost 20 listens until they fully understood it. So, be patient... [laughs]

On one hand they are an arrogant, overconfident bunch of guys that think they are the best thing that happened to black metal. On the other hand they create excellent music, which is a hundred times better than most artists of this genre. But calling them commercial is a little too much. Every band, I’ll repeat that, EVERY band wants to sell thousands of records. No one can tell me that he doesn’t care if they sell 1 or 100.000 albums. Bullshit!!! Once they get to this point their whole philosophy on underground and commercialism will change in the blink of an eye. Maybe Dimmu Borgir had more luck than their peers but don’t judge their music by sales figures. A couple days after release of “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” I had a chance to talk to Nicholas (drums) about this and few other things. Here’s what he had to say…

Chris


How does it feel to be a member of one of the most popular black metal band and on the other hand the most hated one?

Well, I’m used to it. I was in Cradle Of Filth and that basically was the same deal there. Everybody either loved or hated Cradle Of Filth. I guess the same is in Dimmu Borgir. The only difference for me is I enjoy playing in Dimmu Borgir a lot more than I ever did in Cradle of Filth.

What happened in Cradle that you changed your mind and moved to Dimmu?

I just basically didn’t agree with the decisions which have been made, wasn’t happy with the musical direction. Basically, I didn’t get on with Dani so I decided to quit.

A lot of people are still comparing Dimmu Borgir to Cradle Of Filth as bands playing this same type of music, melodic black metal. It doesn’t seem than like a huge change for you.

It is a big change for me because... for me personally, I played in Cradle and in Dimmu, when people made comparisons. But I think it’s just because Dimmu is like this the big selling, big commercial whatever band people call you, you know? So I guess people make that kind of comparison, but I played in both bands and the music is totally different.

Probably you get this question a lot, but what does “Dimmu Borgir” mean?

Essentially it’s a place in Finland. A big historical volcanic eruption, that’s millions of years old. The myth behind it is, that it's supposedly a gateway to hell.

Don’t you think it’s kind of strange that so many black metal bands/fans hate you for so called commercialism, but based on sale’s figures you have one of the biggest fan base?

Yeah, well there’s always going to be people that are jealous. You know, it’s a part of human nature, you know, envy. We just do what we do and if people don’t like it then just don’t listen to it.

Can you tell us how good the last album sales were?

I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you.

All right then, let’s fuck what everyone says and let the music speak.

Exactly, all those people waste so much fucking time and energy talking shit about Dimmu Borgir and it’s like, you know, they have like a pathetic existence. The only thing they do is talk shit about us. Try do something positive in life or something more creative than talk shit about somebody you don’t even know.

Can you explain all the line-up changes that happened since “Spiritual Black Dimension”? There were more changes than behind the drums; you also got a new guitarist.

Yeah, we had to fire Astennu for a lot of reasons. It just wasn’t working out with him and he wanted to do his own thing. He wasn’t really interested in Dimmu Borgir any more, so we said fuck, it’s not working out, we get somebody else. Then we got Galder from Old Man’s Child, he’s been a long time friend of Shagrath and Silenoz cause they grew up in this same town together. From small kids, they went to school together and stuff and it seemed like a natural choice. As far as drumming goes I actually joined the band for the “Spiritual Black Dimensions” tour in March 1999.

So, it’s not only for an album or a tour, you are a permanent member of the band now?

Yes, that’s right.

You also changed the studio from the Abyss to Fredman. Wasn’t Peter’s studio good enough any more?

No! We just felt that it was time for Dimmu to have a new kind of sound. You know, as far as the album goes we wanted to have more heavier, more punchy sound and we felt it was time for a change. We didn’t want to go for the Abyss sound again. We wanted to do something different. We are the first Norwegian black metal band to go use Fredmen. I think that was a good choice.

I have to admit that I’m very impressed with your new album. It’s more extreme and aggressive. Is this the direction the band wants to go or do you have different plans for the future?

No, we have to become more aggressive. It’s how Dimmu Borgir sound is evolving every day. The new album will have a few surprises but it will also be more extreme.

You added a violins section and hired a professional conductor. How did you get together in the studio?

Everything worked real well in the studio. At the end we used a fourteen-piece orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphonic Orchestra or something [laughs], and it worked out really well. They took all the Mustis keyboard parts and just played it, as it would be in a classical piece.

So you actually wrote all the notes?

Yes, the conductor just took what we already had and translated it into fourteen-piece orchestra.

Why did you decide to cover "Burn In Hell" from Twisted Sister on this album?

Basically because we all grow up in the 80’s listening to heavy metal and Twisted Sister is a band that we all like from being a kid. It seemed like a good thing to do. Everybody else desires to make something like Judas Priest and we wanted to be different.

What other bands influenced Dimmu’s music? What are you guys listen to?

Oh, we listen to all kind of bands. We listen to The Cardigans, Shagrath likes Chris Isaak, Silenoz likes W.A.S.P. We listen to Pink Floyd, Rush, 80’s heavy metal, thrash metal, black metal, death. We don’t just listen to a metal only, we listen to a lot of different stuff. We listen to a lot of soundtrack music. Music from movies like Gladiator, the Omen, Braveheart.

I know you love your latest release, but is there anything you would like to go back and change?

Maybe I would make the drums just a little bit more quieter and maybe more guitars.

Could you refer to the album's lyrical concept? What are the lyrics talking about?

Well, just basically Silenoz, Shagrath and Vortex wrote all the lyrics and get influenced from a number of things. Some of the concepts on the album is basically how the human race is heading for it’s own destruction and the world is a very brutal place to be and it’s gonna kill us all eventually.

How important do you consider your lyrics to be in you compositions?

The lyrics are very important, they’re, like, probably 30-40% of the songs.

So, when you write a new track is it text and then music or is it the other way around?

It all depends really, Silenoz and Shagrath sometimes have lyrical ideas and they decide to which song the lyrics will fit to. It works two ways, sometimes we write the music first sometimes the lyrics. It changes from week to week when we write in the rehearsal studio.

Your album covers are getting better with every release… What does the cover of “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” represent? Does it have any hidden meaning?

Not really. We just thought it would be a cool album cover.

On “Spiritual…” she was “dressed”, on “Puritanical…” she’s naked, what’s on next one?

It’s a surprise. [laughs]

In your opinion, why does the U.S. have an almost non-existent black metal scene?

I don’t really know. I know the Scandinavian and European bands are very popular in the US but I think it has a lot to do with history. US has only 300 years or so of history and a lot of the black metal inspiration and influence comes from the Viking age and the whole Viking mythology and that kind of concept, which USA doesn’t really have. The US is more death metal country.

Do you remember when was the first time that you sat behind the drum kit and why did you choose drums instead of, for example, a guitar?

Yeah, I was thirteen. For some reason I always wanted to be a drummer. When I was a kid I played with pots and pans and it just seemed like a natural thing for me.

Do you regret anything you’ve done in the past, something you want to forget about?

A number of things, most of them personal. [laughs] As far as my carrier goes all of the things I’ve done in the past has got me where I am today, so I don’t have any regrets as far as my carrier goes.

Now, let’s talk about the future. Do you have any plans for shooting a video from your latest album?

Yes, hopefully maybe sometime after the US tour we’re gonna shoot a video for “Puritania”. It’s still in the embryonic form at the moment, we don’t know. We have lots of ideas and we have to pick one, so we all have to get together and have like a big meeting and decide which one will be most effective idea to shoot the video. I don’t know when we going to shoot it yet because at the moment we have rehearsal before the tour and the rehearsal for the tour is the most important thing right now. We can’t really see too far into the future.

It seems like you guys gonna have a pretty busy schedule this year.

Oh yeah, in April – May, we come to USA, then we go back to Europe, after that we go to Japan, Australia and South America. We play the Wacken Festival in Germany and then we come back to the USA in the fall for another US tour.

What does the pentagram and upside-down cross mean to you? Are they just part of an image or something important in your life?

For me it represents going against conformity, everyday bullshit. You know, you have to get up, you have to get to work, you have to get money, you have to pay bills. For me it’s about living life by my own rules and not conforming to the mainstream.

And what about makeup? Don’t you think right now too many bands are using it and this form of an image is loosing its original meaning?

I don’t really know. A lot of bands from the old days like from 92-93 they don’t really use the makeup anymore. I mean it’s a personal choice. We don’t use so much makeup anymore, we don’t do what we call a 93 style. It's a very subtle now for Dimmu Borgir. It’s just a little around the eyes and we white the face to make you stand out more on the stage or during photos. It makes the image more defined.

Something you want to add… Did I forget anything?

Not really, just a thanks to everybody who supports Dimmu Borgir and hopefully everyone will come and check out the shows across the USA and thanks for all the support.

Andromeda is one of those rare finds in metal; one that breaks away from labels and just sets out to make great music. They have been put into the same category as Dream Theater and other such prog-metal greats, but they have even more to offer: that undeniable Swedish knack for melody and intensity. I recently spoke with Andromeda’s guitarist Johan Reinholdz to give a little insight into this totally unique and talented band.

- Adam Block


Starting off, could you give us a little info about Andromeda? When did you guys get to get together to form the band?

Andromeda was formed in the autumn of 1999. My name is Johan Reinholdz, I play guitar. Thomas Lejon plays drums, Martin Hedin plays keyboards, Gert Daun plays bass and David Fremberg sings.

As I said, Andromeda was founded in '99, it did however exist as a solo/side-project of mine since 1998, when I played in another metal band called Widow. But in '98 the music in this project was a bit different, consisting only of insane instrumental parts and long boring solos. I recorded two demos: Maiden Voyage and Welcome To Forever. Wez, at War-music, got hold of the second demo and contacted me in may '99 and asked if I wanted to write a progressive album and release it on his label. Since I've been a fan of WAR/WrongAgain releases for quite some time and had spoken to Wez a few times before and thought he seemed to be a nice guy, I instantly said yes.

I wrote the album during the summer and then got together with the drummer Thomas Lejon. We rehearsed a few times and then Martin and Gert joined. We continued to rehearse, although we had no singer. Later on, in the winter we got a session singer from Uppsala. He was supposed to do the vocals at home to my demos of the songs, but the result was not at all what we wanted, so on a very short notice Lawrence Macrory of Forcefeed and F.KU stepped into the studio and did the vocals superbly.

This autumn we got a permant vocalist, named David Fremberg, and he is really good and fits into the band-chemistry very well. Nowadays we are a real band. Before the album was recorded we just struggled to get the songs I had written well rehearsed for the recording-session. Now all of us are involved in the creative process. Since the album was cut, we have constructed three or four new songs.

Nowadays, when bands come out of Sweden they get branded as part of the melodic death swarm, but you guys are totally unique and really distance yourselves from such names. How would you describe your music in your own words?

I guess you can call our music progressive metal, but it's a bit heavier than other bands in this genre, and I think that's because my musical roots are brutal metal like Slayer, Metallica, Sepultura... stuff like that.

As I look on your website each of your members has diverse musical interests; from Portishead to Meshuggah. Does that diversity come across in your music as well?

Yeah, I think so. We all listen to different stuff, and personally, I listen to ALL kinds of stuff from progrock, metal and death/thrash to hip-hop, jazz, classical, pop, funk, goth... whatever.

So who are the main song writers in the band?

Me and Martin and then Martin or David does the lyrics and the vocal arrangements but some stuff are created collectively at rehearsal, but most of the songs are written at home.

Do any of your members share responsibilities with other bands or is everyone pretty much focused on just this one band?

Thomas plays with A.C.T., a progressive rock band. David sings in a soul band and I have Non-Exist together with Johan Liiva (ex-Arch Enemy). It's a mix of death/thrash/heavy metal and also some more "modern metal" influences. The debut album, Deus Deceptor, will be released by WAR. It will be recorded some time this year. Matte Modin of Defleshed will maybe do the drums.

I've noticed your cover art for the new album "Extension of the Wish" and it is of striking high quality. Who did you contact to do the art for the record?

Niklas Sundin

Do you think you will contact him for the next album as well?

I don't know. Maybe. He's really good and we like the artwork a lot so it's possible.

How has the response to the record been so far?

It's been really good. The reviews so far have been great. But it’s not released everywhere yet so we'll see how it goes.

How is War Music treating you guys?

I think they're doing a good job so far. They really believe in our music and it feels good.

I know this may be a little off topic but what are your opinions on Napster?

I think it's really cool that you can check out bands for free and discover new music. But it's sad if people stop buying cds because of it, but I don't think that's the case... yet.

Haha, yeah. Well great job on the new record and good luck on your career in Andromeda. Any closing comments you would like to make?

Thank you for the interest and interview!

Check out "Extension of the Wish" if you're into modern progmetal or heavy adventurous music in general. Bye for now!

With the wide array of bands coming out within the Swedish metal market nowadays, it is easy to get lost. Many would see this as a bad thing, but every once and a while you see a band come out with awesome potential and you are forced to take notice. Construcdead is one of those bands. Consisting of Jonas Sandberg on vocals, Christian Ericson and Rickard Dahlberg on guitar, Joaskin Harju on bass, and Erik Thyselius, these thrashers are ready to take aim on the metal world! I recently talked with Erik about the band, their crushing sound, and their ongoing search for label.

Adam Block


First off, tell me a little about Construcdead and how you guys originally got together.

Me, Rickard & Christian played in a trash-metal band and we felt that we wanted to do something different so we started to write some heavier shit. We talked to Joakim , who at the moment didn't have anything to do (Marco Aro joined The Haunted!!) Joakim felt the material was great and he joined!!

Was the melodic side of the music that exists with you guys now always part of your overall sound, or was it developed over time for Construcdead?

It has always been a big part of our music.........We have very different types of taste in music.

With each demo you guys have matured and gotten a little more melodic with the solos, etc., but the material on your newest demo, As Time Bleeds, actually seems heavier than your previous two. Would you agree?

Yes and no. There are parts on the first and second demo that are very heavy. The new stuff we just finished writing is even faster and heavier I guess.

How much live experience does Construcdead have now as a band? How much of the new stuff have you been able to play live?

As a band we’ve played 4 times. In Holland & Stockholm (Sweden). Before that, we have played several gigs with our previous bands. We have played all the new songs live.

And how has the response been so far?

The response has been awesome. People who never heard us before were going crazy in front of the stage and most of them are wondering why we haven’t got a record deal!!!

If those people only knew how lucky they were; I would kill to see you guys live! How is your search for that deal coming along? You guys definitely deserve one!

We haven’t got anything at the moment. It sucks big time!!!!

That all should change soon because metal is coming back in a big way. Especially in Sweden!

Yeah, I saw a program on Swedish Television with The Haunted and that’s pretty rare in Sweden. The Haunted also won a Swedish Grammy award, so the heavy music is making its march again, and hopefully we will be a part of it!!

With all the great bands coming from the area it is easy to get lost. But you guys have a unique sound and style. What...Is there something in the alcohol where you guys are from?

We as a band are very in to Bourbon & coke, it’s got to be that! No seriously, there are a lot of crap metal out on the market, and there are a lot of great bands too, like Soilwork, Arch Enemy, The Haunted and of course Carnal Forge. We believe in hard work and a lot of alcohol (hehe). Also, I believe Jonas's lyrics add a lot to our sound as well.

Any future plans for the band right now? Are you going back on the road soon?

We are not sure. We have a couple of gigs in the summer, but they are not confirmed yet. We are going to record 3 new songs in the near future.

Going back to your music for a second... On your second demo you have a guest solo from none other than Peter Wichers (Soilwork). Tell us how that came about.

We have known Soilwork a couple of years, and when we recorded "Turn" we asked Peter and he liked the idea.

What is the arrangement for the song writing process? Who writes most of the music?

Christian & Rickard are writing the music. I’ve added a couple of riffs. The arrangements are made mostly by us 3.

So as a drummer, who were influences growing up? Do those influences show through in Construcdead's music?

I hope so. I've always been a great fan of Chris Kontos, Vinnie Paul and Vinnie Colaiuta. And of course my old friend and biggest influence: Henry Ranta.

How long have you and Henry Ranta known each other?

Henry and I have known each other since school. We have played together a couple of times, and we grew up in the same neighborhood.

What kind of kit do you use for Construcdead?

I'm using a Sonor set, DW twinpedal and Zildljian cymbals.

Thank you so much for the interview. Anything you would like add?

Check out our website at www.construcdead.com for any news!! Check out our good friend Adam at www.soilwork.cjb.com!!

You might be quick to write off another band entering the land of thrash/death metal these days, but if this is the case then you obviously haven't heard Defaced! They are a band that knows no boundaries... a metalmonster waiting to be unleashed! They have just finished recording their full-length debut for Scarlet Records entitled Domination Commence, and what a proper title it is too, since these guys are just about ready to dominate the whole metal world with their hyper-sonic sound. I recently got to speak to their lead singer, Henrik Sjowall, about the band and everything metal! Join us, will you...

Adam Block


So tell me a little bit about Defaced... how did all you guys get together?

It all started way back in 1994, I was singing in band called Cul De Zac (which included Ola from Soilwork). We were going to record a demo tape and the guy who worked in that studio was Klas Ideberg. A few months later the other guys kicked me out. I didn’t care really. Klas found out somehow and called me up and asked me to join. I didn’t know any of those guys then but I thought I could give it a shot. Here we are 7 years later, stronger and more brutal than ever!!!! I think Jörgen joined in 1998, and Henry joined forces last year.

How long was until the deal with Scarlet Records came about?

Henry contacted them by midsummer last year and I think we finished the deal in September. Everything just went great and it seems that they liked our stuff a lot.

What was it about Scarlet Records that interested you guys? How does it feel being label mates with your fellow metal buddies Terror2000?

They were the only one interested, (ha ha ha) just kidding. Stefano from Scarlet REALLY wanted us to join. He though the promo sounded fucking great and Terror talked positive about them, so we signed. We just have to hope that they don’t let us down. I think it’s so cool that this city (Helsingborg) now has a few real good metal bands, so it’s fun to be under the same "roof" as Terror.

Your group features members of both Darkane and Soilwork, but really bares little resemblance to either one of those bands. How easy was it for you guys to find your own sound?

It hasn't been any problem at all. First of all, me and Mattias never listen to music like Soilwork or Darkane. Don’t misunderstand me here, I think both the "Soilers" and Darkane are very professional and they have a few real killer songs but their sounds just don’t fit my ear.

Mattias is our main "riff master" and he never composes those kinds of riffs. Klas is much more of a speed/trash metal guy, he can slide in to those kind of arrangements sometimes, but it’s rare. We want it to be groovy and it must not be fast stuff all the way. We just create right in your face metal, as I see it.

So you just finished your first full-length for the Scarlet Records label: Domination Commence. Tell me a little bit about the record. How happy are you with the finished product?

Am I happy about the finished product?..........I´m real fucking proud of it, and I think we all are. Everyone has made an exellente job. It was recorded in small town in the south of Sweden, during 2 intense weeks. It was real hard work all though the production. Klas handled all the studio stuff himself with some help from a guy called Nisse. That´s right, we recorded everything by ourselves, thanx to Klas. I had some minor problems with my voice but everything worked out great. We didn’t have any major trouble, we were lucky I guess. It was my and Mattias’ first "real" recording so it was great fun. It’s very dynamic record which includes fast / slow music and angry/ soft singing. I’m really looking forward to sharing our music with the rest of the world.

Any word on a release date for the record?

No, as far as I know Scarlet will release it in Aug-Sept.

I see that you guys decided to go with an old Zeppelin tune (When the Levee Breaks) for the Japanese bonus track. How did that all come about?

It was Mattias who came up with the idea, and we though it was a cool idea and a great song. We made it a bit heavier though.

For the folks here who don't know, and that would include me, please describe what an average live performance is like with Defaced. How much touring have you guys been able to get under you belt so far? Any plans for a tour supporting the new album?

It’s hard for me to describe, I guess our fans think it’s hard and intense. We haven’t done any live gigs for a long time, we have focused on making new songs. There aren’t many possibilities to play here in the south of Sweden, if you play metal. 3/4 of Sweden’s population listen to all that commercial shit like Britney and the Backstreet Boys, which really SUCKS!!!!

I hope we can do some touring to support our album, but we haven’t heard anything from Scarlet so far.

So apart from Defaced are any of you guys working on other projects as well?

No, me and Mattias are not involved with anything else.

In your spare time what bands do you enjoy listening to? Do any of these bands bare influence in the music you make with Defaced?

My favorite bands are Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Machine Head. I´m kind of a rock n’ roll guy. I just think that there’s so much shitty music coming out these days that it’s hard to find new good bands. The Defaced sound is complicated to judge, it’s mixed with all kinds of styles.

I want my singing to contain a lot of melodies, and I get inspiration from all kinds of bands. An example of what I call good singing I think the singer of Stuck Mojo. [He did] an excellent job on their latest album. I want it to be a nice mix between brutal and clean singing, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Some of the Defacers think it’s too much "rock n roll" sometimes though! (laughs)

So In closing, what would like to say to those metalheads out there looking for some new music?

If you like music from Sweden and want to discover something new... Pick this shit up!! Prepare you ears for some "new" Swedish music!! C ya and watch out for The Defaced in the near future.

Although Beseech has been around since 1992, they didn't get much attention in the crowded Swedish metal scene. Their first album “From A Bleeding Heart” received very mixed opinions and is almost unknown to most doom metal fans. Half way through their career they changed their lineup and record label. This resulted in the recording of the very interesting “Black Emotions”, which mixes melancholy with the modern melodic Swedish sound. The new style was rewarded with their first big tour with Theatre Of Tragedy and Lacuna Coil. Since I can’t wait too long for ANY metal news, right after they unpacked their bags I had some questions for Robert Spånglund…

Chris.


You just came back from the tour with Theatre of Tragedy and Lacuna Coil, are you satisfied with your performance?

Yes, we are very satisfied with what we performed and we got really good response from listeners that didn’t even know who we are, we really hope they’ll know our name by now.
This was our first real tour ever so we think we did a good first impression to at least spread our name around and that is very important, don’t think you can get successful in the underground scene without playing around different countries.

What was peoples’ reaction on your music?

It was really good and many people did talk with us after the shows and many autograph-sessions did take place, and we sold many CD’s so this can’t be wrong for us. Of course not all did like our music, but that’s the way it is as for all bands...

Can you tell us anything about unusual moments that happened during the tour?

It happened so much good and bad and wired things on this tour so it’s hard to tell. Our bus broke down about five times or even more, we went into a ditch with it so that’s a real hell-bus believe me. When we came home we really wanted to burn it down but we rented it so that should be expensive!
We also were robbed in the middle of the night in the bus outside Montpellier/France when we were asleep. But mostly it was good and fun things that happened… to meet all these nice people, we actually met the inventor of Cubase, that was a Beseech fan, and that was really fun to hear. We discussed much about music because we used Cubase as part in the recording of "Black Emotions" so it was really weird to meet him.

Beseech music is a combination of gothic sounds with death and doom. Your songs include flute, cello, violin, piano, female vocals and traditional instruments. Do you have any problems recreating studio sound during your live performances?

No, there are different ways to solve this, one way is to have all this on stage but that is very expensive and takes big place, other way is to take some parts live and some sampled on Minidisk or on a DAT, or you could make it more live and skip some things. We have done little of everything; we have female vocals live, piano and other synths (because our female singer also plays keyboard besides Mikael Back). We also use mini live because some things are impossible to recreate and other parts are not as the album, a more kind of live version of a certain song.

Do you still wear 18th century costumes during your stage shows?

This was for our first album "From A Bleeding Heart" we had this clothes and for that music at that time we thought that was a good image for that album and that the music fitted very well with that clothes. Now for "Black Emotions" we think the music has developed into another style but still with the Beseech feeling of course, we have taken a time-travel and now we have different costumes, nowadays it’s more darker and naked in some ways.

Why, after a successful debut "From A Bleeding Heart" did you leave Metalblade Records and go to the smaller Pavement Music?

It’s hard to tell exactly what happened with this, so much things around everything. First was "From A Bleeding Heart" delayed for two years before we broke the contract with We Bite/Corrosion Records and Metalblade jumped in and released the album in 98. At that time the music had been "little old" and the sales weren’t so good, not too bad but not good enough for the label we think. But a guy employed at Metalblade did quit and began at Pavement music and that was a guy that really believed in us and our potential and we felt that we really needed such a person for the band. We also had some internal problems in the band that was annoying for the label but later on we solved it.
And in the middle of 2000 we released "Black Emotions" on Pavement music.

Speaking of leaving... on your latest release "Black Emotions" almost half of the band changed. New drummer, bass player and new female vocals, what happened within the band that caused all those changes?

We are first a real hardworking band with the music and we have serious intentions with it. And as for the drummer, he couldn’t really put 100% in the music so he decided to quit the band. The bass player and the rest of the band had different view on how the band should develop and after long time of internal struggle we came to the decision to go separate ways. For the female vocals on the first album, she wasn’t really a member of the band, just a session singer more that had other projects around Sweden. But with all of these people we are still good friends and it’s better to go separate ways if you can’t solve the problems.

I’ve heard that all of the band members had some side projects. Do you still play in different bands or Beseech is your main focus now?

Yes, before almost all in the band had some kind of side projects but now is it just me (Robert) and Daniel the bass player that have side projects beside Beseech. Daniel have a SKA-band and I work on two other projects right now in my home studio beside Beseech but Beseech is the main band of course and the priority for me and all in the band.

Do you have any favorite bands that you listen to right now?

For right now it’s Massive Attack "Mezzonine" and The Gathering "If_Then_Else" that rotated in my CD player most recently. But I like all music and it depends on the mood if I put The Doors on or Morbid Angel or Depeche Mode on play.

What is your most embarrassing CD in your collection?

Hmmm... that was a hard one but it must be a later Black Sabbath album, from the middle of the 90th´s or something.

What in Sweden do the parents do to their children that it has the biggest metal scene in the world? What did they do to you?

I think that there are several reasons why Sweden have much music and some are that we earn pretty much money here so the parents can buy instruments or we have an organization that can get instruments for a whole band for free if they fill some lists (studioförbund in Swedish). I think the state is paying them somehow. Then we do have a beautiful country that inspires us to make good music even if the climate maybe very cold and rainy, we hate to go outside too much and can make good music inside and look out on the landscape... It’s hard to answer this but I think many countries make good music but I like the Swedish scene myself too.

Ok, let’s get back to the band... It seems like you guys are not the happiest people on the planet. Why is there so much melancholy in your music and lyrics?

I don’t think we are so melancholy, there are worse examples of that but our music and lyrics are based on feelings, thoughts and fantasies and maybe we mostly think of more melancholy things and that is the easiest way to handle the mind, to expose it somehow as the music for example. Ok, our music isn’t happy but the most things around us are in fact dark things and it’s easier to write more melancholy music.

Do you think this type of music is the best way to express emotions or is it only a mask for better album sales?

Of course we are doing music for ourselves, we don’t earn any money on the music and we actually don’t have any ambitions to do that either, it’s too small genre kind of metal or what you call it. If we wanted to earn money we should make MTV-kind-of-music instead. Of course we do want people to buy albums so we can reach more people and get tour around to meet fans and more...

How do you feel about hippies?

Today I don’t see any hippies, in my opinion they were in the late 60-ies and 70-ies, but I would like to be in the whole thing for some days to really see how they had it... to see the concert with Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. I don’t have anything against them.

Did you start writing new material for your third album? If so, can you give us some details about it?

Yes, we have some new material that we are working on in my home studio. Some songs just need a little arrangement and we have stuff already for almost a complete album now. But it will take sometime to make it finished but we hope to get into the studio this year to record the third album.

Who do you feel is the most talented band in the dark-gothic scene?

Actually I don’t really know the scene to say anything about it... maybe it sounds stupid but I’m not so into new music.

Thanks for this interview! Would you like to say anything else to our readers?

Take a listen to our second album "Black Emotions" if you want a journey through harder gothic metal with some electronic and ambient passages. Keep informed about Beseech on our homepage where you can download sound samples, videos, tours and latest info.

This band doesn't really need an introduction but since this is the first MetalBite interview, I owe you at least a short one.

Immolation has been on the metal scene for almost 15 years serving brutal, aggressive death metal. If you don't know them you probably spend too much time jerking off, which by the way, I didn't forget to ask Bob for his professional opinion on the matter. Their music reminds me of a shotgun placed in my mouth and a noisy trigger click that blows my fucking brain across the wall. (Don't try this at home!!!) Immolation's latest album "Close To A World Below" only proves their membership in the death metal elite. Before they hit the road I sent Robert Vigna a bunch of questions, here are the answers...

Enjoy, Chris.


It’s almost the 15th anniversary of Immolation, what in your mind was the band’s biggest success and failure over those years?

It's been very successful, ... we've been able to travel alot and play metal for 15 years, ... can't complain! haha We don't make any money off it yet, but that is something we are trying to change. We've made the mistake of letting time pass by too long between releases in the past and well we are done with that now,..we released "Close To A World Below" only a year after our last album "Failures For Gods" and we will continue to push forward into the new decade. We are more focused and ambitious now than ever before so we are ready to have metal take place!!! We've been into this for a long time and we are into it 100%, we love all kinds of music and making our own in the dark and unholy way is the best for us!

Let’s go over some history of the band; 15 years and only 4 albums, what caused those huge time breaks between releases? Especially between first three albums.

It happens, .... that's just the way it went. We've learned alot over the years and we all work alot to, Tom has his own business which started in 94, so that keeps us very busy and involved. So between that and alot of other things time would just go by before we knew it. We have that under control now so we look forward to another release later this year or early 2002!!! It all depends on the touring schedule this year. We might be out there for most of the year so we shall see.

For a musician to not be on the stage for almost 5 years had to have sucked a big cornhole. What did you guys do over that time?

We didn't have an album out, but we did do shows and did travel to some cool places. We went up to Canada for an interesting set of dates, we also traveled down to South America and played a one off in Lima, Peru which was awesome!!!! We did many fests, etc,... so although the whole album/label situation was in a void at the time, we were still active with the band. And for us to release our second album 5 years after the first and still be around, and now a few years later pretty much at the top of our game, ... that's a success in itself! haha

"Close To A World Below" was released just one year after "Failures For Gods". Can we count on a more regular schedule now?

Yes absolutely! We will have another album out soon. Like I mentioned, later this year or early next year. We have alot of ideas and will make the next even darker and heavier, .. but it will once again be something new and fresh! We can't wait to get it done!

It seems that the less time you have between albums, the better the final outcome. How much time did you actually spend in the studio writing this album?

This album was written in under 2 months. We decided in March of 2000 that we needed to get another album done asap, .... so we set the studio time for June 1 and by the time that date rolled around we had the album done. We work much better under pressure I can tell you that. This is the best album we've released to date. They keep getting better and better as we go.

How much time did you spend in the studio bathroom jerking off?

None at all, ....... it was in the studio bedroom! hahaha! Shoosh!

Looking at all these bands around today, there are not too many of them that stuck together for 15 years playing this same style. You are still extreme, still playing brutal death metal, in one word, you’re still: Immolation. How did you pull it off and why haven’t you changed?

We are into what we are doing and all have the same goal, and that is to make very dark and heavy music, but also make music that has alot of feeling and emotion. We always take it further each time and are always bringing something original and interesting into our catalog of unholy metal. We try new angles and ideas. When you go to pick up a new IMMOLATION record you know you are going to expect the same thing each time, ... and that's the unexpected! You know you are going to get something special, something unlike what you would imagine this style of music would do. And that has really become our trademark. We have our own style, sound and way of doing things, and it shows. When you listen you hear the difference.

What bands had the biggest influence on Immolation? What inspires you?

Music and life inspire us. I think we are inspired by alot of positive things as well as negative. We all grew up with music and were into bands and the way the music made you feel, ... we like travelling, putting a great show together, ... creating music, meeting people, ... it's a beautiful thing! Of course the deep feelings of misery, depression, and stress, etc, play a major roll in our writing and emotion of the music. So there are many things that have an effect on us.

Some people say that listening to this same style of music that you’re playing stops the band from being original. What’s your opinion?

That is completely wrong. We are very original and always expand on our music. Maybe not everyone can do that, ... and that could be in any kind of music. But we are always bringing something new to the table, so that's proves that statement false right there.

In my opinion, "Close To A World Below" is your best release to date. Are you satisfied with the final outcome? Would you change anything if you had a chance?

We are very happy with it. I don't think any band with the budget under $20,000 couldn't find something they would like to be better on their album, ... I know for the time and money we had to get this project done it's unbelievable!!!!! CLOSE TO A WORLD BELOW is a very powerful album. The production is very strong and very audible. The feeling is there and the atmosphere is there. It is really one of the best albums to come out in a long while in content and production in this extreme music, .. and that's a fact!

Each Immolation album carries a strong anti-Christian, anti-religion message. The lyrics and art on this release are just un-fuckin-believable. Is this something you really believe as a band? What are your religious beliefs?

We have none. We believe in what we write, ..as it really is not that unbelievable. We take the personifications of good and evil and twist things around, really mocking both at times. We are very serious when it comes to our music and lyrics, ... but we don't take ourselves too seriously if you know what I mean. We are very down to earth people and look at everything with a realistic view point. Look at "Father You're Not A Father" , this track is basically a song against child abuse, ... and "Lost Passion", this deals with someone who has devoted their life to something only to be let down and somewhat deceived in the end. It can relate to not only the religious context it is written, but if you look closely at the words it can relate to a relationship, or someone you look up to, ...it looks at how things in life let you down, .. and that is something I think we've all experienced at one point or another. We put alot of thought into what we write and it can be looked at in different ways where the individual can take in whatever meanings that suit them.

The artwork, well those are our concepts too, ... and Andreas Marschall is just the most amazing artist alive, so he brings it all to life!!!!!!!

Speaking of religion, if you had a chance what would you do as a Pope?

I would take all the money the church has locked up and put it to good use and fix alot of problems in the world.

While we’re at it, which would you rather see, Jennifer Lopez naked and cooking breakfast for you or Tammy Faye Baker on the end of a rope?

Oh please, I'm not going to even try and be humorous here, .... breakfast with a naked Jennifer Lopez would definitely make my day!

Let’s go back to more serious questions. In March you start the longest tour in Immolation history. Any expectations? Do you have plans for the rest of the world? If so, when and with whom?

We have alot of plans, but we are still working on them! We got the World Of Darkness tour together for the US in March/April, .. then we go directly to Europe after that in May for a month. Then in June we are working on Japan and Australia. The in July/August we will go out again in the US for a full tour which we are trying to get a package together, ... then we will be out again in the US at the end of the year. We are going to try and squeeze a more extensive European tour in there after the summer, .. we will see ... so we have alot coming up!

It seems like it’s going to be a very busy year for you. Anyhow, could you tell us more about your coming projects. Have you already begun to work on the next album & if so, can you tell us more?

We have ideas but we will get going full force on that in the next coming months, ... it's going to kick your ass for sure! haha!

Thank you for the interview. Do you have any closing comments?

Thanks for the interview and support, we appreciate it! We will be out on the road alot this year so check our site for upcoming details: www.ImmolationDirect.com

See you on the metal road!!!!

The very first band that I ever wanted to interview for MetalBite.com was finally able to give me a little bit of their time… and man, was it worth the wait! Vocalist Jim Kjell picked up my questions and we got to touch on everything from the general state of death metal today to record labels to the radical changes that Gardenian is planning for their next album. Read on and enjoy, my friends!

- Tobias


How do you feel about where death metal is headed today?

I think death metal is heading in the right direction as I see it. It seems like the bands are more updated with the music that circulates around them and they accept other forms of music and bring it in to its own. That is very good for the future, especially for the death metal market.

What is it that you love about melodic death metal?

I love the complexity about it, the harsh combined with the more mellow and laid back melodies. I think it’s getting better and better. At times I might even think that it is beginning to get a bit commercial in a good sense.

What got you started in music?

I don’t have a clue really. I guess it was because I to wanted to become a big rock star as Metallica, Sepultura and Kiss. I guess every one wants to be a star at some point. I started to play some cover songs of whom ever and…

It seems that Gardenian has really come into its own with Sindustries.

Both yes and no. The songs are beginning to take the shape that we want and "Sindustries" was a very good second step to take for us. We begun to form this sound on "Soulburner" already, so I think we have gotten used to it for a while. But "Sindustries" took a dramatic turn when we decided that I should perform all the vocals on the album, that gives us an edge that we didn’t have on "Soulburner", where we got lost in the sound making it a split record with not much common sound. This we have changed on "Sindustries", making it genuine and a Gardenian sounding album as it should be.

What is it about this album that you are most proud?

I think the whole of the album is something to be proud of. The songs came out great and I must say I am proud of my vocal efforts as well. It was a big challenge. I am also very proud to give Peter Tägtgren the best words because he really deserves it! He made me sing in a way that I did not think I was capable of singing in. I think with his calm way and his great personality we all felt that we were a little bit more secure!

Which song from "Sindustries" is your favorite track to listen to and which is your favorite to perform live?

I rarely listen to our material, but I guess if I have to choose I feel like choosing "Doom & Gloom". This is the song that I prefer to play live as well. In this song, I think we really present the complexity that melodic death metal is about. That’s why I like it that much.

While we're on the topic of playing live, where is your favorite place to play?

I don´t know really! We had a really good time playing in Wrotslaw, Poland. Then we had a really great time in Stockholm together with In Flames and in Austria with Hypocrisy. It’s hard to name one single place.

Who would you most like to tour with? Why?

Nevermore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Slih!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When are you going to be touring the US?

We are really longing to get a state tour, but it seems like nobody have the urge to book us on any tour as Nuclear Blast isn´t exactly pushing Gardenian as their main band. I guess we are quite underestimated to our own crowd. It is quite sad really!

How do you like life on the road?

We totally love it, that is where we want to be all the time. We are actually going with Darkane to Holland in May and that’s the first touring we are doing on "Sindustries".

What are you doing when you're not doing Gardenian?

I have another band called Suncase, in which we play some more rock pop influenced stuff in the vein of Van Halen and U2. And for a living I build scaffolds, that´s a really shitty job!

How and why did the band choose the name "Gardenian"?

Niclas saw it in a Kyuss lyric and we just put the N on the end to make it sound more Metal!

Can you tell me the story behind the song "Sonic Death Monkey", how did that song come about?

This was actually one of the first songs that we wrote for "Sindustries". I guess we did as we always do, Niclas or I come up with a riff or two and then we go from there. Together with Thim we arrange the whole song, then most often I write the lyrics but I am very lousy on coming up with the titles so I leave that to Niclas. Then I guess it was finished.

What would you like to do differently on the next album?

There will be a whole lot of change on the next album. It won't be death metal based at all. You will, of course, hear our trademarks, the melodic stuff and such, but it´s hard to say. I guess you´ll have to wait until it's out. We need a label for starters, as we have left the Nuclear SHITTY Blast.

As a death metal vocalist, you must put your vocal chords through a lot, does the strain ever get really hard on you?

Under the recording of "Sindustries" I was really sore in my throat. I don’t know why because I usually don’t have a problem with this at all. Its no problem live so that’s cool.

Who are some of your all time favorite vocalists (death metal or not)?

Warrel Dane (Nevermore), Philip Anselmo (Pantera) and Bruce Dickinson (Maiden).

Who do you have the most respect for in the death metal scene?

Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy) for his knowledge and for the great personality he is.

Who do you have the most respect for in all of music?

Nevermore for their fantastic musical skills and for their fabulous albums and live shows.

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians who are trying to get a break in the music business?

Don’t ever give up! Always fight for your music and rehearse as often as you get the chance. Devote yourself to this and you will come out as a winner in the end!

I'm ecstatic to have done this interview with you and I want to thank you for your time. I also want to thank the entire band for putting out such a great album. Do you have any closing comments?

Thank you Tobias for taking the time to ask these questions. And to all of you out there who want to see us live stay tuned until the day we’ll be in your city to rock your asses off.

Stay Hard!

Jim & Gardenian