One-man project Vrazorth is a new gem in the black metal scene and self-released its debut album "Emergence" a couple of months ago. Now the album is going to be released as vinyl and CD via the Italian label Avantgarde Records and that might be a good chance that the band gets the well-deserved attention. Musically the band offers some really spacey black metal tunes with quite a mystery behind that. Maybe you can see a little bit clearer after you read the interview I did with Vra – enjoy reading, check and support the band!

Michael

Greetings unknown entity of Vrazorth! I guess you are a human being so I can ask how you are feeling?

Vra: Your guess is inconclusive, but I am doing well thank you.

I stumbled over the band because Andrea from Avantgarde Records posted a couple of months ago your Bandcamp link. Would you be so kind to introduce Vrazorth a little bit more to the readers of MetalBite?

Vra: Vrazorth is a one-being black metal project based in Sweden. Vrazorth combines cold industrial percussion, raw black metal guitars and vocals, and a dash of early-electronica/ambient inspired synthesizers. I want the listener to feel like they are being sucked into a wormhole and experiencing both the beauty and absolute terror of such an occurrence.

When I first heard your album "Emergence", I heard a lot of similarities to good old Mysticum. The vocals, that industrial sound, the drum computer…I guess they were a huge inspiration for you? Or do you even have anything to do with the guys?

Vra: Funnily enough, Mysticum was more of an "aesthetic" inspiration rather than musical. I was drawn to their use of cold, industrial drumming and gabber kicks combined with more traditional black metal. Other than the production aspects, I don’t really have much to do with them as a listener. In terms of musical inspiration on the cosmic side, I feel like I take far more inspiration from bands like Darkspace and Mesarthim. The bombast of Mesarthim combined with the more murky and occult elements of Darkspace. Of course these were not intentional influences, they just happened naturally and I can reflect on them in retrospect. I have seen a couple of comments comparing the music to Strapping Young Lad, which is interesting because I love that band but I have never considered them an influence on my songwriting.

Where and with whom the album was recorded  and produced or was it all a DIY project?

Vra: The music was written, recorded, mixed and mastered by myself. I find with this sort of music there is a sweet spot between "this sounds good" and "this sounds bad"... that is where the atmosphere and magic lies. It is hard to explain this to an audio engineer who knows what they are doing, because on a technical level it is "incorrect", however on an emotional level I think it gives the music so much more character.

Apart from this a lot of science fiction stuff must have been a creative source for you. What are the most remarkable works in that genre for you?

Vra: None whatsoever - Vrazorth transcends science fiction.

I already mentioned Avantgarde Records; they signed you and released "Emergence" as a physical edition, at least I got that information. But still I cannot find it anywhere to buy – are there currently some issues with the pressing company?

Vra: Yes I think there were some delays with the pressing company, hopefully they are cleared up asap. In the meantime, CDs and LPs can be ordered can be made here:

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/emergence

Avantgarde Music did an amazing job with the layout and vinyl cover, which I look forward to seeing in person.

The front cover of "Emergence" shows a very impressive picture taken from the NASA. Which stellar nebular does it show and does it have a very special meaning for you?

Vra: No particular meaning other than it perfectly capturing the theme for the album- an indescribable monolith emerging from beyond.

What's up with the album title – is it about the big question where everything started with?

Vra: As mentioned above, the overarching theme of the album is the emergence of a being coming to light. This can be a reference to the music itself, the lyrical themes and the artwork.

The lyrics deal with space and time – is there a common thread in them or do you want to tell a very special story or philosophy with it?

Vra: There are stories and themes within the album, however I deliberately wrote the lyrics in an obtuse way to both have the listener draw their own conclusions as to the content presented. The lyrics will be printed in the physical copies of the album.

Do you have any plans to step out of anonymity in the future and maybe even do some live gigs?

Vra: The first Vrazorth performance has been announced as May 9th, 20225 in Stockholm. As opposed to a band stepping on stage and "rocking out" I want a Vrazorth live show to be an experience, and I am working hard to bring that to life. Beyond that, I have a festival to be announced in late 2025 which is going to be an honour to play.

Will there be a so to speak Episode II by Vrazorth in the future?

Vra: I have already started composing music for the next album and am very excited as to where it is heading. Now that the debut album is released and there is a somewhat "established Vrazorth sound", I am looking forward to expanding on that in every which way.

The final words are yours – thank you very much for the interview!

Vra: Thank you for the interest - HAIL SATURN.

One of the greatest and very unique Greek black metal acts which has been around for more than three decades now, but have rarely seen getting any shoutout from people, is none other than the cult band Zemial. Zemial has been a very dominant force in the Hellenic black metal scene thanks to the amazing contributions of the mastermind Archon Vorskaath, known for his past involvement in other bands such as Varathron, Agatus, Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû and many more. Zemial had returned back in 2022 with a four-track EP called "To Slay with Silent Dagger", which featured guest appearances of his brother Eskarth the Dark One, Proscriptor of Absu and the band's live guitarist Anceorg. I was very curious to see if anything fresh and new was brewing in the Zemial camp, so I decided to reach out to Archon Vorskaath and ask him some questions regarding Zemial, the current status of his label ΝΥΞ, the 30 year anniversary of Varathron's debut album "His Majesty At The Swamp", and we also brought up the subject of Agatus and Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû to see what's happening there. If you are diehard fan of Greek black metal, but never heard of Zemial or listened to their music, I highly suggest you check out their killer discography before reading this interview, and then feel free to join in on this epic journey of legends and conquerors with the man himself, Archon Vorskaath.

Vladimir

Greetings Vorskaath, heart-warming welcome to you brother. How are you doing?

Hello, hello! Doing very well thanks Vlad. Preparing for what is shaping up to be a very busy and exciting 2025.

It's been a while since we heard any news regarding Zemial, but the most recent activity you had was the return with the four track EP "To Slay with Silent Dagger", almost ten years since your previous full-length album NYKTA. Was it a simple matter of taking a short break from Zemial to slowly get back on track or have you been busy working on other bands and projects you're involved with?

I have always tended to do various projects and not put all my energy in just one. So my course is not always linear. But I tend to do a new project every year or two, and also organise re-releases in between. I worked on "The Eternalist" by Agatus in 2015, then I worked on the debut album of Locust Leaves in 2016, and you forgot Zemial's "The Repairer of Reputations" which was released in 2017 (and recently released as a vinyl LP). I then also briefly joined the Death Metal band Plague in 2019. In the meantime, I have composed four Zemial albums, one of which was recorded during the pandemic in 2020 and should be released this coming year. So I do keep busy behind the scenes. Zemial remains a one-man project with absolutely everything from composition, to recording, mixing, releasing, distributing and promoting going through my hands alone. That takes longer for me than a conventional multi-member band. But this has been my path for years. The music is ready when it's ready and I am always digging deeper.

Nevertheless, your EP assured fans that Zemial is back in action and is strong as ever before, showcasing that you are still keeping it true and heavy after all these years. It features guest appearances such as Proscriptor of ABSU, Anceorg and the former Zemial guitarist Eskarth the Dark One, with whom you also play in Agatus. What was it like preparing this latest EP, and how was the overall work alongside these notable guest musicians on these new tracks?

Well the maxi single or mini album or whatever you want to call it, is part of the recording I have done for the new album. So it wasn't a separate session as such. The album itself is a complete Thrasher, and my way of paying tribute to the golden age of Thrash Metal that inspired me to begin with. Yeah it was nice working with these people again even in this limited capacity. All three of them understood the direction of the release perfectly and each added a special touch that I am very grateful for. My brother is obviously a long-time collaborator as we have been playing together since 1991, so we tend to have a good musical understanding. That also extends to Anceorg who has been Zemial's live guitarist since 2016 and an exceptional musician overall. My connection with Proscriptor also extends deep into the past and we have collaborated several times in the past in Absu, Equimanthorn and Zemial. Most recently he joined Zemial as a live vocalist and I joined Absu as a keyboard player. These days I also play drums in Absu and we have exciting news ahead.

Zemial has certainly evolved stylistically throughout the years and one can notice the constant shifting in ideas from one album to another, but with the latest EP, it seems that you have decided to go back to a slightly simpler approach than NYKTA which was much more progressive and complex in structure. What led to the decision of reshaping Zemial again since its return?

It all came down to the year 2019 that marked the 30th Anniversary of Zemial. I thought back on those 30 years and decided to do an album that would be my homage to bands that inspired me in the early days: Bathory, Celtic Frost,/Hellhammer, Sodom, Destruction, Kreator, Venom and Slayer specifically. And so I went through my database of material and after combining, re-arranging writing and concocting, I came up with the album "To Slay With Silent Dagger" from the sessions of which these songs were taken. Directly after this album comes yet another turn in Zemial's path: something darker and heavier. So yes, things in the Zemial are constantly evolving and pushing the boundaries in various directions. That is particularly evident if you compare "To Slay With Silent Dagger" to the "The Repairer of Reputations" LP, both of which were released just about a month apart from each other. One jumped out of the mid-80's Thrash scene whilst the other is akin to a 70's prog-rock extravaganza, if I may say so.

What's interesting is that Zemial's discography predominantly consists of multiple EP's and only a couple of full-length albums. Can the fans expect a new full-length album as a follow-up to the EP "To Slay with Silent Dagger"?

Yes. As I stated earlier, the music from this maxi is taken from the session of the full-length album. So far we have 3 full length albums and I also count "The Repairer of Reputations as an album since it is almost an album duration, but a complete work nevertheless.

Since I already mentioned your work on other projects, I'd like to take a second and talk about Proscriptor McGovern's APSU, which was formed around the time when there were some legal disputes surrounding the original ABSU in 2020, which were eventually resolved in 2024 and the band came back in this original incarnation. What is the current situation regarding Proscriptor McGovern's APSU since the issues regarding ABSU have come to a conclusion? Have you prepared any new material as a follow-up to your self-titled debut album in 2021?

The news is that Absu and Zemial have united as one band to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Absu's album "The Sun of Tiphareth" with a world-tour in 2025, starting this coming February. That will keep us busy for the entire year, after which, we will consider how things will proceed. Certainly I can tell you that the name Absu is back and more music is planned. Proscriptor McGovern's APSU was used as a name for that album only, as a way to get around a legal problem that had arisen from factors that are beyond what is my place to talk about. Now that chapter is closed and Absu is back. And with Zemial in their ranks.

Among your other notable projects we also have the band Agatus with your longtime partner in crime and brother Eskarth the Dark One, which at this point is still considered to be active since 1992. Its third and highly acclaimed album The Eternalist was released all the way back in 2016, and it also seems to have gone quiet for a while now like Zemial, and the interest towards Agatus remains high. Are there any plans to resurrect Agatus as well in the near future or will you be reading for the "right time and right place" to make that happen?

A correction once again for the record: Agatus has been active since 1991. Not 1992. With regards to your question - I have decided to step back from playing in Agatus. I have continued to help my brother by recording and doing various demos for the next 1-2 albums he has prepared, but I have formally left the group. We haven't made a big thing out of it, but it is so.

Anyone who is familiar with your work knows that you were once a member of another respected Greek black metal band Varathron, and you were particularly a part of the band's debut album His Secret Majesty At The Swamp, which last year turned 30 years old and is still regarded one of the most important Hellenic black metal albums of all time worldwide. How do you look back on that period when you were in Varathron and also the work on that debut? Do you have any special memories from those times in 1993?

The early 90's were such an incredible period to be active! We all knew that there was something new happening globally and it was being formed day by day, release by release. So much unique music from all over the globe really. That was when Black Metal and Death Metal were diverse and unique and every band had a different sound and approach, which made it all so rich to experience. How do I look back on that album and period? I am quite pleased with my work on "His Majesty At the Swamp". It was my first time recording guitars, bass and drums for a full length release and that multi-instrumentalist role remains my modus operandi to the present day. That was also one of my earliest attempts at composing music for concepts, which I still do today. So you could say that "His Majesty… reflects my embryonic musical development and vocabulary, along with the work I had previously done for Zemial and Agatus. I know that the album has the distinction of being the first Greek Black Metal album ever to be released. The right place and the right time I guess. So if by nothing more, then by virtue of the timing itself, it is a significant release in the early development of Black Metal globally and of the Greek scene - which was the underdog and arguably the strongest scene next to Norway. So yes, it's important to me and I am glad to know that it is recognised for what it is. Not that I, or any of us ever expected it to be so - it was all very romantic and underground then. Some background for your readers then: I formally joined Varathron on the 3rd of October 1992. There were no rehearsals and no band meetings prior to the recording. Jim and I lived far from each other in Athens whilst Stephanos the singer, lived in a city in northern Greece. So it was a common vision that drove us. Besides, there were only two of us charged with writing music. Within the first few months I had completed Son of the Moon, Unholy Funeral and The River of My Souls. In spring, I met with Jim Mutilator just twice to collaborate and exchange ideas for two more songs. Furthermore, Sakis of Rotting Christ contributed a song to the album – it's easy to guess which. Stavros Mitropoulos, my predecessor in Varathron also contributed the fantastic closing composition. Themis of Rotting Christ played drums on that song and Yiannis of Danger Cross played the second guitar. So it was largely a collective at that time. Unfortunately, these players were never credited. But that is now changed; a historical 30th Anniversary Edition was released by Black Hearts Records (Brazil), featuring 3 previously unreleased bonus tracks from the demos I did for the album, as well as a complete essay on the making of the album, commentary on each song, as well as the equipment we used, etc. It also features an alternate mix of the album, which I had on DAT tape. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), it seems that my DAT copy of the mix is the correct final mix and not the one that was eventually used. This edition also features the entire line up of participating musicians that were never credited as well as a full list of credits for posterity and to finally put things right and give recognition to those who helped us. Anyway, I think that fans of the Greek scene and of the particular album are going to love that edition, so get a copy from the Zemial store on Discogs or directly from Black Hearts Records whilst you can!

On the subject of past releases, I think you are one of the quite rare and exceptional examples of metal musicians with such a solid record of albums, with no bad entry in any of the band's discographies, and is always lucky to still be associated with them years after. Do any of the albums, either from Zemial or Agatus discography hold a special place in your heart for any specific reason?

Thank you for your very kind words. For better or for worse, I don't follow the "industry standards" in terms of releases and business and I release music when I feel it is ready. I am not doing it to stay relevant or to be popular. Both my brother and I play music because we really love it! It's that simple and that old-style. From Zemial I like Face of the Conqueror because it's a real thrasher and I also like The Repairer of Reputations LP that Iron Tyrant released this year, because it turned out so authentically 70's-like. From Agatus it's hard not to like The Eternalist, which was received so well globally and which by all accounts, represents my swan-song with Agatus.

I know you also have your own label ΝΥΞ which released and re-released some of Zemial's discography throughout the years. What is the current status of the label? Is it still active or has it gone on hold?

I still release things with ΝΥΞ. The latest release was in 2022 in the form of "To Slay With Silent Dagger in 2022.

I assume you're quite the busy man, but I generally want to know: Do you have any time to follow up on what is going on in the world of metal music when it comes to new bands and new releases, be it locally or on a global scale?

I have removed myself from the scene for a long time as I do not like the way things are done and I don't like the (mostly) plastic sound of modern bands. It's like the concept of Welcome to the Machine - no thank you! I have the occasional exposure to newer bands and the one that has truly driven deep into my heart is the last album by Malokarpatan. All the right elements combined to help the listener relive the glorious early 90s along with some nice, out of the box moments.

Thank you so much for the interview, Vorskaath. I am highly looking forward to anything you do in the near future and as always, best of luck to you brother. Are there any final words?

Thank you very much for your support Vlad. It has been enjoyable running through this. There is lots of music coming in the very near future from Zemial and people can contact us directly to obtain music and merchandise via: zemial.official@gmail.com A closing thought: as time passes, it becomes increasingly clear to the conscious experiencer that life is very sweet and very short. As we focus on what we love doing and experiencing, time seems to inexplicably slow down. Get off the screen!

Genoa's extreme metal masterminds Necrodeath have been infesting the underground with violence and occult subjects for the last 40 years and to this day they have kept their highly respected status as one of the finest bands that hail from Italy. The word came out recently about their upcoming final album Arimortis and their farewell tour in 2025, which is quite unfortunate for all the Necrodeath fans around the world, but on the brightside, the band will definitely go out with a bang. Before the album's release, I managed to get some words from the band's guitarist Pier Gonella and bassist Gianluca Fontana, regarding their upcoming album Arimortis, as well as their farewell tour in 2025 and the overall cult status that Necrodeath has maintained for the last 4 decades. I hope you will enjoy this interview and support Necrodeath on their final year in 2025, hopefully keeping the flame burning after the band's candle lights out.

Vladimir

Greetings Necrodeath, heartwarming welcome and hails on behalf of MetalBite. How are you doing lately?

PIER: Hello! Thank you for this interview. We're doing well, we're receiving great feedback on the two new singles we've released, and everything is going smoothly.

I have recently received your new album Arimortis, which is due to be released on January 17th, 2025. In my eyes, this is yet another heavy banger of an album which showcases how Necrodeath managed to uphold its extreme and relentless attitude 4 decades since its inception. How did the work on Arimortis come about?

PIER: Most of the work was done during the summer two years ago. Peso came up with most of the riffs and wrote the lyrics together with Flegias. Then, in the following months, we worked on the arrangements and also on the graphics.

Although this album is just two years apart from the predecessor Singin' In The Pain, the heaviness and the energy of the band is still present and the energy is just as strong, if not even stronger. Were you guys looking to improve on some significant aspects from the previous album or did you just take on this new album with a straightforward approach?

GL: Since this album can be considered a bit like our testament, so we approached it with a direct approach and without particular arrangements, to bring out the essence of Necrodeath. We have always been a very direct band that transmits its energy and passion both in the albums and live, so we wanted to transfer this into the latest work too, we are happy with Arimortis because it represents what we are.

In some aspects, I felt like Arimortis has taken on an even more atmospheric and death-defying work in comparison to Singin' In The Pain from 2023, and this is what got me so hooked right away in the first place, even though I think both albums are great on their own and should not be compared by any means. Was this something you've wanted to incorporate on this album or would you say it came out naturally that way?

GL: I think we can distinguish the two albums you mention, because Singin' in the Pain is a concept album inspired by Anthony Burgess' 1962 book "A Clockwork Orange" so the lyrics and atmosphere of the album are inspired by this book. Arimortis, on the other hand, is the album of our farewell to the scene, therefore it represents our legacy to future generations and a thank you to those who have always supported us, so I would say they are two different albums although with the same Necrodeath sound.

What really surprised me about this album is that you included a re-recorded version of the song "Necrosadist" from your first album Into The Macabre, but you also made a part 2 of "Metempsychosis" from your second album Fragments of Insanity. Even though I am a firm believer that some classic songs which were great firsthand should not be touched or reworked, I would actually make an exception in this case and say that this is by every right justified since the final output came out so great in the end. What's the story behind the re-recording of "Necrosadist" and also writing part 2 for "Metempsychosis"?

PIER: I agree that re-recording tracks from the early era, which have a very distinctive sound and riffs, is a delicate task. We had this experience a few years ago when we re-recorded the entire album Fragments of Insanity. We simply replayed the tracks with the current lineup and a more modern sound, but we didn't want to alter the structure of the songs. The same approach was taken this time. Necrosadist is a track we always perform live, and we aimed to record it with the same live energy. As for Metempsychosis, the idea was to start from the final riff and continue with a long improvisation, similar to what Venom did at the time with "At War with Satan".

I personally think that this album is a great way to celebrate the band's 40 years of existence, but unfortunately for us fans, Arimortis is said to be Necrodeath's swansong and that the band will disband after embarking on a tour in 2025. Could you tell me what is the main reason behind Necrodeath's plan to cease activity?

GL: Basically we have said everything we could in recent years, we have had fun but also angry, we have received great satisfaction but also disappointments, always facing all this firsthand. For a few years we have felt the need to end our career, having done everything we could with our own strength, so 2025 seemed like the best date to end a career that has lasted 40 years. We have no remorse or regrets, but a lot of experience that makes us end with a smile.

On the other hand, I think that Arimortis as a farewell album would not only be a testament to the band's great work throughout the years, but also an example of the band going out with a bang, alongside the planned farewell tour. Are you guys satisfied to some degree, knowing that Necrodeath's chapter will be ending on such a high note?

PIER: Our idea is exactly this: to end our career in the best possible way. We are closing the Necrodeath chapter, but that doesn't mean we no longer feel like playing. That's why we wanted this album to be a final chapter worth remembering for its significance, and the same goes for the final tour.

So far, what are the plans for this upcoming tour in 2025? Can we expect any shows in Eastern or perhaps even Southern Europe?

GL: Arimortis, the latest Necrodeath album, will be released in January 2025, after which we will no longer produce anything. While for the last live shows, we are planning for 2025 with several concerts and festivals already scheduled, while others are still being confirmed, both in Italy and in Europe. We hope that requests will also arrive from Eastern and Southern Europe, we would be happy to come and bring our sound and greet all the fans.

In my eyes, a band such as Necrodeath is a very rare example of a band which still upholds its qualities and core values in their music, because not so many extreme metal acts manage to stay as strong such as yourselves, while still remaining highly influential to the masses. Since you guys are highly experienced and faithful to your cause, does that sort of mindset keep the engine rolling for the entire band when working on new material and going forward in general?

GL: Thank you, nice words thank you, we have always been consistent with our artistic path. Fortunately we have never been influenced by record companies and we have never followed the fashions of the moment. In all these years it has always been us who choose which direction to take and how to take the next step.

The fact that we had no outside influences or pressures definitely helped maintain our integrity and I think you can hear this in our discography.

We have remained anchored to our underground roots partly because no one has ever elevated us further, partly because it is the territory where we feel most at ease.

I personally consider Necrodeath to be a crucial band in the overall development of extreme metal subgenres such as black, death and thrash metal, and I think you are one of the most important bands that have come out of Italy alongside Death SS, Bulldozer, Mortuary Drape and Sadist. How do you guys feel about the fact that you played a big role in the development of Italy's metal scene and that you are still keeping your legacy intact?

PIER: Necrodeath were born and raised under the influence of bands like "Slayer," "Venom," and others from that era. When we write an album, we always look for new ideas, but it's natural for us to stick to our style because that's what we love, plain and simple. Passion is what drives us, certainly not money.

GL: The bands you mentioned are still on the road, so I think the driving force behind all this is the passion that binds us to music. We consider ourselves part of a scene and for many we have been a source of inspiration, this makes us proud and makes us understand that music has no boundaries.

I still look back when I first discovered Necrodeath with your cult classic debut Into The Macabre back in 2015 when I was still in high school, and I am proud to have your patch on my vest as an important memory of that love at first sight, but also the joy of discovering such a hidden gem at the age of 17. Fast forward almost ten years later and having this album remain so important to me, I still consider the discovery of Necrodeath to be one of the turning points in my musical journey and I just want to say thank you for the great music you have delivered. Did you have many fans reaching out to you and saying that your music played a big role in their lives?

GL: We're happy that a young guy like you approached metal thanks to us too! This is what makes us proud after all these years, having inspired new generations also thanks to our music. Over the course of all these years we have met many people who have thanked us for our music and even now during the concerts the same people continue to follow us, this is beautiful, because it makes you understand how music can unite people and create bonds thanks to the same passion. In fact, the new single "Storytellers of lies" is dedicated to our fans and the puppets you see in the video were created by one of them.

Thank you so much for this interview! Just as closing words, I'd like to say that I am highly looking forward to the release of this album, and I wish the best of luck to all of Necrodeath in 2025 with this awesome swansong of an album and the farewell tour which will bring down the curtains to close such a strong band chapter. Are there any final words?

GL: Thanks to you and MetalBite readers! we are ready to face the last year of the band, which is not intended to be a sad farewell but a party to celebrate our last birthday! So we invite everyone to listen to Arimortis and come to our concerts for a final farewell.

The Swedish two-piece band Century is currently regarded as one of the real sensations of contemporary traditional heavy metal acts, and it all comes to the overwhelmingly positive reception surrounding their debut full-length album "The Conquest of Time" from 2023, but there will be an even greater shift in the climate once their second full-length album "Sign of the Storm" is released on January 25th, 2025 via Electric Assault Records. Without any major spoilers, I can assure you that this is one of those follow-ups that surpasses its predecessor and sets the bar even higher with more epic and progressive moments that dominate on the album, with some interesting twists here and there that will surely win you over instantly. Not long after I had heard "Sign of the Storm", I had the pleasure to chat with both Staffan and Leo of Century, where we primarily discussed about their upcoming second album which will most certainly take on the heavy metal world by storm, but we also talked about the overall songwriting process and band chemistry as a two-piece band with session members with whom they perform live. I hope you will stay along for the ride and enjoy this conversation, as we explore the heavy metal majesty of Century.

Vladimir

Hey Staffan!

Staffan: Hey! How are you doing?

Well, not so bad. I'm doing great. I just came from work, and it's all good. My first question would be: Hur mår du Staffan?Allt bra med dig?

Staffan: Hahah, tack så mycket. Ja, mycket bra. Do you know Swedish or?

Ja, jag pratar pyttelite Svenska, men jag förstår inte så mycket.

Staffan: Yeah. It's very good. Mycket bra!

Tack så mycket. I started basically like last month, and my wife and I have been learning Swedish, and so far, it's been doing good. What can I say? I prefer your language more than German because it's in between English and German in terms of difficulty, but also in the way you speak the language itself.

Staffan: Okay. Cool. But what's your first language?

It's Serbian. It's my mother language, but I also know German and English, but I was much better with English throughout my life because I was more in touch with the language itself, but because of German, it got easier with learning Swedish. Plus, I've been to Sweden this Summer, so I'm kind of familiar with the language itself.

Staffan: Yeah. Cool. Well, I mean, it sounds like you had been speaking for much more than a couple months. So good so far.

Thank you. It's because I've been practicing my accent, and I always pay attention to how people pronounce the words themselves and generally how they communicate. I'm trying my best, but I'm still new with that. Is Leo also gonna be joining us here?

Staffan: Yes. He's right here.

Leo: Yes, I'm here.

Staffan: We just met up today to finish the setlist and stuff for the upcoming shows and everything, so I figured it's a good time to do so. Also, our live bassist came in here, but he's not participating. But he's here in spirit.

Well, he's free to join in as well. You guys are already planning shows for the new album already?

Staffan: Yes. We have a release show that we announced this morning, which is going to be already next month in Stockholm.

That's awesome. You're pretty much on a good way to kick start the next year because last night, I was actually listening to "Sign of the Storm". It's coming out on January 25th, and this is a great way to kick start the next year. It was such a major surprise for me because, not only is it a great follow-up to your previous album "The Conquest of Time", but it's also an excellent collection of heavy metal anthems with each song being better than the other. You guys performed very well with the previous album, but you also had a very crucial task to live up to the expectations of your fans. And in my opinion, you did not disappoint. How did the overall preparation process go for Sign of The Storm from the songwriting to the recording and onwards?

Staffan: I think, actually, many of those songs we had already started writing way back. I don't know if some of them are, or at least some of them have started before we recorded.

Leo: Yeah, like half of the songs maybe, we started on when we did the first album and then we just worked on them a little bit more after we had half of the album done.

Staffan: Yeah. It's because we're writing music all the time. I think since we've started recording that album, we've already recorded demo versions for listening to the next album. So, we're always kind of a few steps ahead. I think, the title track side of the storm, I think we have our earliest demo version from, Summer of 2021 or 2022. So, 2 years ago, we had written that song. Some of the riffs from Fly Away and The Chains of Hell, I think were from even before the first album. So, probably back in 2020 or something. So, it's very spread out, it wasn't like one focused effort to write the album, but it's a collection of many different ideas that's been spread out.

The interesting thing is that there isn't a big-time gap between the two albums. And, you can tell that this album has a much more epic feel to it and objectively more powerful songwriting. Was there anything that you wanted to improve from your previous album or was there anything that you wanted to incorporate more frequently on this new album?

Leo: I mean, the first album is always when you make the first album, you can have songs from like 5 years ago or whatever, but now we have a fresh start with mostly new stuff. So, I think at least we had more of a goal of what we wanted to achieve. The first album was just like to get the songs we have and just finish them. I think it's basically the same style as the first album, I would say, but then it just happens to be a couple more epic songs on it.

Staffan: I think it's really hard to analyse it from that perspective since, like I mentioned before, we were writing some of those songs from even back then. So, it's not so much of a big difference for us. But I think, one thing that I remember going into writing this album was that I wanted to do longer and more progressive sounding songs, and then when we recorded it, it turned out to be only pretty straightforward songs anyway. It didn't become like 10-minute songs that I had in mind, but maybe some of those ideas turned into the more atmospheric or epic parts that were left in there.

Leo: When we wrote the so-called longer songs, the more epic songs I thought "Yeah this is an 8-minute song", but then it's only 4 minutes, but yeah it just turned out that way.

Speaking of songs, I still have a hard time choosing the best song out of the bunch because all of them are great on their own. Plus, I'd say that Sacrifice, Children of the Past, Fallen Hero, Sign of the Storm and Fly Away are definitely some of the highlights on this album. What tracks did you guys personally relate to the most from the whole tracklist and for what reason?

Staffan: I think for me, I'm really happy with how "Sacrifice" turned out as an opener because it's one of those that we weren't really sure with, like when you had a bunch of those riffs for a while and we never really finished it. But then, I wrote the pre chorus part and I changed that around a little bit and it just fell into place and felt like a good opener. But, other than that, I think "Sign of the Storm" turned out good because it's kind of different from what we've been doing, but still fits in the broad definition of our sound or whatever. And, I think the one that I listened to the most, now that I'm finished, the one that I wanted to go back and listen to is the closing track, the instrumental one, "Sorceress". I'm not sure if it's just because I don't have to listen to myself singing, which might be a part of the reason, but I also just thought it was fun because that one is very different from the other things we've been doing, like it doesn't have a verse and a chorus or whatever. It's just new parts following each other.

Leo: It's really spontaneous when we made it. You have the first half done, and then the last part of the song, we just made up in the studio like "Yeah, let fuck it. Just go make up a bunch of stuff".

Staffan: Yeah. So, I think that one's probably my favourite, but also Sign of the Storm and actually, also Fallen Hero because that was one of those that you have been having for a while, but we never really finished it and we didn't know what to do with it like "Whatever, like okay, time to record the album. Let's finish this one, I guess", but now it's also one of the ones that I like to go back to and listen to the most. What about you? What are your favourites?

Leo: I would say "Sacrifice", like Staffan said, I'm really happy with, then the title track, I think is one of the best songs we ever made because it has perfect build up to the chorus and everything, and then the calm part after that's really good. And then I'm really happy with "Possessed by the Night". I think it's like it could have been on the demo. It's more raw sounding.

Staffan: And you had those riffs for a while?

Leo: Yeah. Exactly. I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, we live with these songs for like one year now or something. So, you overplay them and then it can get boring after a while.

Staffan: But I have to say that "Possessed by the Night" too was fun though, because we had started playing that one live on the tours we did this year, and without releasing it. So, no one had heard it, which is always hard to know then how people are going to react to it. I guess in the beginning when we started playing, we hadn't even released anything except the demo. So then most of our songs were like that, but now that we can actually introduce new songs into the setlist, it was fun to do that one and see that people seem to enjoy it and understand what we were doing even though they hadn't listened to it before.

When you spoke about the instrumental track "Sorceress", that is actually my next subject I was gonna bring up because it's really a powerful outro that brings out this album to one epic conclusion with this strong heavy metal attack that transitions to that mesmerizing acoustic section. What was the story behind the making of this track alone? Was it on the flight the way it was done or did you have a mindset about doing it like an Iron Maiden instrumental piece?

Staffan: I've always wanted to do an instrumental piece like that, like the Iron Maiden ones, and also just lots of bands have those, I guess. When I was growing up, when I saw there was an instrumental track, I was just really excited because I always wanted to hear what that was like. So, I've been wanting to do one of those for us, and I think maybe that's one of those things for the longer progressive songs that we didn't really end up making for this record. At least we have that one, which is kind of more expansive and that transitions into a lot of different things. And like I said in the earlier question, it was also fun to actively try to write something with no parts coming back into the song. So, it basically only transitions to new things also and the outro part with the acoustic guitar was nice too because it doesn't really sound like much of the other stuff we have on the album because I'm playing one 6 string acoustic guitar and one 12 string acoustic guitar, which is layered, and then I also played the synthesizers on it and the chord progression is kind of different from what we do usually. So that was good. And I also like how it turned out on the album because we took those parts and ran them through a reel-to-reel tape machine and took them back again. So, it's kind of off key in a cool way that I really like. So, it's really fun to do things like that that kind of break out of the usual sound. Even though we had acoustic parts and synthesizers already on the demo, so it's not new, but it's refreshing or whatever.

Leo: Yeah. I think that song in contrast to the other nine songs is pretty cool. Just one song that's maybe kind of different, but I think it still works. It's a good end on the album, I would say.

Staffan: Yeah. And that was also fun because we didn't plan it to be the closing of the album. I mean, originally when I started writing it, I figured it might be a B-side or something, but then we were just kind of doing the track list. It just kind of made sense to put it there and now I really liked that the last one is an instrumental. It's like on the last album we had this "Servants of the Iron Mask", which is a longer song with a big chorus and all these different things. So, this is kind of different to just have "Possessed by The Night" be the last vocal performance, and then there's the more spaced-out last part. That's how it came about.

Interestingly, what I think is very important for traditional heavy metal bands, they have the tendency to write a title track. And a lot of them could either make it a hit or a miss thing, but you guys really did a good job on both albums, that both of your title tracks "The Conquest of Time" and "Sign of the Storm" are pretty good. They're very well executed. Do you guys go on that mindset "If we're gonna make a title track, it has to be good. It cannot be lacklustre at any point whatsoever"?

Staffan: I think we try to think like that with most songs.

Leo: Yeah, I know what you mean, when it's the title track, it has to it has to be like the epic of the album or the song representing the album, and I think this song has been around for like 2-3 years and when we decided to call it "Sign of The Storm", it was mainly because the title "Sign of The Storm", it was used on the song that sounded the most epic. So, it's like we named it after the song, basically.

Staffan: Yeah. So, we didn't really decide before that it was a title track, I guess. I mean, we had it for quite a while before. We knew that we wanted it to be either a single or something to stand out from the record, but it wasn't. It was pretty late in the stage that we decided that the song was going to be the title track. So, we don't really go into it deciding or we haven't at least yet gone into deciding that this song is going to be the title track to write the other ones around, but it's more like a few songs.

Leo: And it sounded the most epic of all.

Staffan: Yeah. And I also think it fits pretty well, like it kind of sums up the album pretty much because it has both the more direct and straightforward, like verse-chorus, a regular catchy metal song, but it also has some of the most weird and atmospheric parts too. So, it's also a little bit different from the other stuff we've done just because we haven't had a song in that kind of tempo really.

Leo: And that something we also try with this album, like doing new stuff from the first album, like different tempos. Like "Fly Away" or "Fallen Hero" or "Chains of Hell", just trying new stuff. We're just going through all the tempos.

Staffan: Yeah. I mean, we try to make sure that not all the songs in a row are the fast ones, but more the triplet ones that "Neon Warrior" is but whatever. We still try to have a good mix. And that one was the one that we haven't done before really in that tempo. It felt good too.

Speaking about the songwriting part, there are a bunch of great bands in this so-called "New wave of Traditional Heavy Metal", but what separates you from the majority is that you're a 2-piece band, basically like Darkthrone as a commonly known example, although you guys have session members with whom you do live gigs. Since there are two of you, I assume that the whole band chemistry in the studio goes on very smoothly when working on new material and while also practicing that material before recording. Is this the case with Century?

Staffan: Yeah. I mean, most of the time before tours and everything, we rehearsed with the full band and we go through the set list and all that, but most of the other time when we rehearse is just Leo and me, and what we usually do is like one of us has a song idea, usually we both write on guitar to begin with. Sometimes I start with a vocal line or something like that, but so we get together in the studio and we just show each other that. And usually, we just put on some simple mics, mic setup, and then we usually just record drums and guitars.

Leo: Like the demo of the song.

Staffan: Yeah. Once we listen to the drums and guitars, then we go back, we'll add some more guitar and bass, and I do some vocals, and then we have a new song. So, since we rehearsed in the same studio that we record albums in, every rehearsal is like a recording session too. So, that's the way we kind of rehearse just as a duo. I think like you were saying, it's definitely a very smooth process because both Leo and I like pretty much the same things and we know already when we show an idea, we probably know if the other one is going to like it or not, but then sometimes you come there and you have a song that's half finished or whatever, and then it helps just be the two of us and piece things together and record demos from week to week. And then after a while, we have a few new songs and we can start recording them with the other guys or rehearsing them with the other guys.

It's great that you keep that you're actually keeping a good band chemistry there, because usually when there are more members there's also more artistic differences, but it's good that you're keeping it good and it shows. It really shows in the overall album because you can definitely say these songs are executed without one's idea interfering with the others. There are cases when you can see that this song was written by two different people with two different mindsets. I assume that you guys usually have very similar mindsets, without conflicting with each other.

Staffan: Sometimes I forget who wrote the song if it's you or me. And sometimes I go "That's the one that I wrote", but then I realized that I only wrote the solo riff or whatever and the rest of it you wrote hahah.

Leo: Yeah. Same same here. I mean, sometimes I go "I wrote that riff and vice versa", but it just works.

Staffan: I think the reason for that is, I don't know how other bands do it if they also do it like this, but you and I write a lot of music. Since we always send each other new song ideas. We have so much new stuff that we don't get around to actually recording because we always have so many new ideas.

Leo: I was sitting on like 20 riffs and then "Oh, I forgot this".

Staffan: Yeah, and you piece it together or whatever. In some cases, like I wrote "Sign of the Storm", you wrote "Fallen Hero", and stuff like that. Then it's a bit clearer. But most of the time, at least I don't really think about it like it's different.

Leo: No. I mean, as long as it sounds good. I mean, I don't care who wrote the song or whatever, as long as it's just representative and sounds good, I am happy.

Staffan: Yeah, and usually when we feel like something didn't turn out good enough then we both kind of agree. There was supposed to be an 11th song on this album that we recorded and had everything done for her, but we felt that it wasn't good enough. So, we just saved it for the next one, I guess. Then there was no conflict about it or anything. We just both recorded it and thought we could do better than this.

Leo: Yeah, something was missing.

Staffan: Yeah. So, we'll just save that and have it later. So that's usually how it goes.

Just to go quickly back in 2023, aside from your first full length album "The Conquest of Time", you also put out the two-track split with another great Swedish heavy metal band, which is obviously Tyrann. I think this is perhaps a match made in heaven, or hell depending how you prefer to call it. I personally would really love to see both bands go on tour together, because it would be one killer combo to see live. Have both bands at some point discussed the possibility of doing this in the near future?

Staffan: Yeah. I talked to Tobbe about it a couple of times actually, and we did play the release show for that split with them, and we also played for them at Metal Magic Festival earlier this year. But I think the problem with them in general is that they're not really a touring band at this point, partially because most of the members are involved in Tribulation and other things. They're like really busy guys and they don't really have the ability to take a month off and do a tour like that, especially if half of them are already on tour several months of the year. But, if the opportunity arises from their part, then it would be great. Hopefully, maybe. We'll see. They're great guys too, to hang around with. On that trip to Metal Magic, I think we'll listen to like 10 Maiden records in a row and no one complained. So that's a good trip.

Leo: That's a good sign it's gonna go into work.

Oh, it's like spending the time with the Nifelheim twins, just listening to Iron Maiden records and discussing Iron Maiden records hahah.

Staffan: Yeah. It was exactly like that, but there were like 9 twins or whatever hahah.

Did you ever actually meet those guys from Nifelheim in real life?

Staffan: I really don't know any of them.

Leo: No. I've met them, but I don't know them. I've run into them at some Iron Maiden shows around there.

Staffan: I really don't know them, but they seem like good guys.

What many other fans, including myself, found so great about Century is that you're one of the crowned jewels of traditional heavy metal bands from the newer generation, like Amethyst from Switzerland, Helvetets Port and Tyrann as some common examples, because you really provide such an authentic old school heavy metal feeling that throws you back to bands like Heavy Load, Gotham City, Jonah Quizz, even New Wave of British heavy metal bands like Holocaust, Angel Witch and Saxon. Do you guys ever feel surprised by your own output to the point where you even can't believe that you made something so great?

Leo: I think we just do the music we want to do. I mean, all this stuff around making the music and the shit that goes with it. I mean, I'm just happy to put out great heavy metal. I don't wanna stand on a fucking hill and screaming hahah.

Staffan: No. But I mean, of course, there's been times that when we recorded something, we both feel like "Yeah. This is fucking good". But you never know. A lot of people like things that I think are total shit and I just don't understand what bands people like or don't like. But, obviously it's very fun and very great that people are connected to us in that way. In that way, it's a privilege too. For example, we just released the tickets for our release show next month and already this morning, we had people just writing to us having already gotten plane tickets to Sweden to come to the show and stuff like that. And this of course is very humbling and it feels very good obviously to see that people enjoy what we're doing.

Leo: It's not like we were not thinking about it, I would say.

Staffan: Oh, yes. Actually, I expected it all. I said we are the best band and everyone's going to like us hahah.

Leo: I mean, I just think, we don't compare to different new bands that supposedly play old heavy metal in that style. I've never been a big fan of anything new. I can maybe count like five new bands since 2001. I'm not that big of a fan, because I think people try too hard. At least in my ears, I hear people trying too hard to sound like the 80s.

Staffan: I think they don't try as hard enough. I think a lot of the stuff is just like people write music and they record it in a certain way and sometimes it turns out with a really digital modern sound.

Leo: I mean, for us, I would say music is 100% serious and not anything bullshit. So, I think that is like one point why it sounds the way it is, I would say.

Staffan: I mean, yeah, I think you could probably summarize and say that, we're both really passionate about the kind of music we listen to, and we want to make music that makes people feel the way that we feel about the records that we like. And we try to really make sure that both the songwriting and the production style and the artwork and all of it kinda fits this entire thing so that we can be proud of it because we don't want music to sound awful.

Leo: So sincere on the way it's only in the 80s.

Staffan: Yeah. I mean, it's supposed to sound like the things that we really like and it's supposed to sound honest and real.  That's all we're trying to do. If that comes through and people understand what we're trying to achieve, then that's great. We weren't expecting it, but obviously, it's a big honour that people appreciate it in the way that we're doing and the way that you're saying it too. So, it's very flattering and we appreciate it. Honestly, sometimes when we write songs, we're devoting a lot of time, work and energy into it, but it's not like we have a formula on how you're supposed to do things and like we always have a plan on how it's supposed to sound. We just do what we like and then it turns out the way it turns out. So, it's a long and complicated answer.

When you work on something, you want to do it as best as you can, so it doesn't sound like anybody else could have done it. In my personal view, I think most of the Swedish bands are very passionate when it comes to music, and in any subgenre of metal, it counts. From old school 80's heavy metal to even some of the most melodic and extreme metal, it's always the case. Actually, speaking of which, I just remembered this year, we actually got too many good Swedish metal albums. It's good that your album won't be included in this year's list because we have so much great stuff from Hellbutcher to Necrophobic to Tribulation and Opeth. So, what are your predictions for the next Årets hårdrock/metal at the Grammis?

Staffan: Oh, yeah. Well, of course, Årets hårdrock next year is going to be "Sign of the Storm" by a Century or something like that, out on January 25^thhahah.

Leo: Of course, of course.

Staffan. Other than that, no general predictions, I think. I don't even know. I don't really keep up with what's going on. Both of us and also our bassist in the back here, we're all going to see Iron Maiden on the tour start.

Leo: In Budapest.

Staffan: Yeah, for the Run for The Hills tour. So, we're looking forward to that. But otherwise, I haven't really kept up.

Leo: I have no idea what's about in Sweden when it comes to newer stuff. So, I don't know.

Staffan: I mean, let's hope that every album that comes out after January sucks ass hahah.

Thank you so much for this interview. I mean, it's been a real pleasure talking to both of you. Highly looking forward to the release of "Sign of the Storm", and I hope to see you guys perform live someday. Are there any final words you'd like to say?

Staffan: Thanks for the support and also thanks for all the kind words. I'm really glad you liked the music and everything. Hopefully, we'll see you on the road next year.

There are so many reasons why the Swedish melodic death metal scene has been so well received worldwide throughout the years, but I firmly believe that one of its greatest bands that should under no circumstances ever be left out when discussing this subject, is none other than Gates of Ishtar from Luleå. I still recall when I discovered them by accident when I was an enthusiastic metalhead in high school, being around 18/19 years old while searching for more extreme and underground gems that were somewhat like unsung heroes of their era that later became crowned jewels. Since their initial reunion in 2015, Gates of Ishtar re-released and reissued their first three full-length albums on physical media and digital streaming platforms, and thanks to the overwhelmingly loyal support from their fans, as well as the labels and other personnel helping out with the re-releases, I think it's safe to say that their revival brought them to a better place than they would have ever imagined. During this year, the band teased some bits and samples of their new material for the upcoming album, which still doesn't have an official release date, title or a label at this point in time, but I believe we are all very much looking forward to it with great expectations. A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to the band via Facebook, and I got in touch with their two guitarists, Tomas Jutenfäldt and Andreas Johansson, both of whom I have interviewed live on Zoom. During our conversation, we've discussed about various subjects such as the band's reunion and their upcoming album, but we've also revisited some of their special memories from the 90's and we've even touched on the story about Gates of Ishtar being ripped off by the German label Invasion Records, which later went bankrupt and its owner Maja Majewski eventually disappeared. If you wish to know more about the band's backstory and experience the unearthly delights which surround their music, I hope you will follow me on this Bloodred Path, as we witness The Dawn of Flames and entrance the world unfolding At Dusk and Forever. My noble ones, I present to you, Gates of Ishtar.

Vladimir

Thank you so much guys for coming here. Heartwarming welcome to both of you. How are you guys doing?

Tomas: Well, thank you very much. I'm doing well here in Stockholm. Just came home from work and had some food, so everything's great.

Andreas: Yeah, same for me. I've been home for a couple of hours, making dinner for my wife. Also been working. I'm located like an hour by flight north from Tomas right now. 

So how's the winter season coming along? We already had a very crazy snowstorm here last Friday.

Andreas: Up here, I think that you can notice the global warming or something because, we're in the end of November now, and last Friday, it was around 8 or 10 degrees plus. It's not common right here, at this time of the year. It's supposed to be a lot of snow and degrees below zero. But, it's just a thin layer of snow and not that cold, actually. Winter is coming.

Even in November, we had temperatures about 10 degrees, and all of a sudden, the snow came like it's around the end of December. At least we're not going through the 40 degrees temperature. I know you guys had some issues with that during September, if I recall.

Tomas: Yeah. I think we have Summer here, at least in Stockholm, a bit into September. But then we also went to Mexico and had even more Summer. So, when we got back, it was a bit colder. But there is no snow here in Stockholm. We had snow for two days I think, just a little bit, and then it started to rain, so now it's, like, 10 plus again.

So, the reason why I brought you guys here is because, it's been a while since anybody has talked about Gates of Ishtar, and I recall that a new song sample was released somewhere around this year. So far, I want to know how the new material is coming along as we speak?

Tomas: It's going really great. I think we have 4 songs that are pretty much complete. Maybe they need some arranging, but the general songs are done, and we have a lot of more ideas for new songs as well. Andreas and Mikael, our singer, and the rest of the guys up in Luleå, they get together and rehearse and try out new things. And, they send stuff to me so I can put guitar solos on them and harmonics and stuff like that. So, it's going really good.

Andreas: I agree. We try to come together every Sunday, for a couple of hours, maybe five or six hours, and everyone is bringing their ideas. Markus is coming up with these new and fresh ideas on the bass guitar, and then we just try to put it together, two guitars, bass, and drums. And then when we leave, for the next week until the next Sunday, Mikael is sitting home by himself trying to arrange the vocal parts on the recorded material. And as Tomas says, everything is going really great. We have riffs for a lot of songs. But it's a little bit different from before when we all lived in the same town. It's so much easier to just go to the rehearsal room to sit there with everyone, than to bring up the ideas and to have inputs from other guys. It's not harder, but it's different to do it this way. We don't have any other choice basically right now for the moment. So, it's going great.

It's great to hear that. But so far, what's to be expected of the new Gates of Ishtar album? Will you guys be continuing that classic approach that you had on the previous three albums, or are you trying to incorporate some new ideas along the way?

Tomas: I think when we get together and play music, it just sounds like Ishtar. And maybe it's because we've been on a break so long from the last album that we released, until now when we started playing live again. It's like everything has been frozen in time. So, when we started playing together again, we just picked up where we left off somehow. And I know that, I've been playing the songs that we have finished so far, and we also did them live both in Czech Republic and in Mexico, and the response we've been getting from the fans and from other friends is like "It sounds just like Ishtar. How did you manage this? It's exactly the same". So that's good to hear, but I don't think that we're trying in any way to make it sound like it should sound. This is just what comes out when we play, I think.

It's like muscle memory, I guess.

Tomas: Yeah. Something like that.

So far, have there been any kind of negotiations with any major labels to put out the new album?

Andreas: I think that up to date we have, at least not been speaking, but we have offers from two labels. I mean, everything is so different now, like 25 years later than when we released our other albums. I think about all the deals with the percentages and everything, like the complete contract. We're not really up to date in what to expect when you sign a record deal. So, we are trying to take it easy and to finish our stuff, and then I think we will maybe try to reach out to some other labels as well. But there's an interest and we have offers.

Even though it's been like 10 years since the first official reunion of the band, it did go on hold for a brief moment until it was later reactivated in 2022. During all these years, you already had your 3 albums re-released and reissued with updated artworks and it was released through various labels, one of them being Century Media Records. What can you tell me about the whole decision regarding the rerelease of your first three albums?

Tomas: Well, we were gonna reform the band and do a reunion concert at the 20 years anniversary, I think it was back in 2015. We were gonna play live at Partisan in Germany, but then our drummer Oskar, he died very suddenly, very tragically, and, obviously we didn't do that gig. But then we got an offer from Century Media to rerelease the three records through them and on vinyl for the first time and with updated artwork, so we did that as a tribute to Oskar, our drummer. Everything went on hold again, until we were contacted by the promoter for House of Metal, where we did the gig last year in November, pretty much a year ago today. So yeah, that's what got us started again.

I have to say that even though time goes on, years go by, the reputation of the three albums that you've put out is still very strong. I really gotta ask, do you have the impression that the interest from fans and the media has shifted to an even bigger scale towards the band since the reunion?

Andreas: That's a good question. We got interviewed in Swedish television a couple of months ago, and I think that the reporter had also followed us during the years, and he had some good views on the phenomena about Swedish bands from the 90's that are out in the world, playing festivals and touring, like Bewitched and Gates of Ishtar. I don't know, because a lot of the people in the audience that we see live now, I don't think that they even were born when we released the first album. I don't know, it's hard to compare, but I mean, the response on the gigs that we've been doing and all the response through social media and stuff when we release news and updates are really impressive. And, we are really glad to receive all the great support, because it wasn't obvious to continue the Gates of Ishtar story even though we played in Umeå, but a major decision for that was that the response was so massive, and we had so much fun doing that, I think.

I guess we can easily say that the years have treated you for the better. Even though you're an older band, somehow when a band comes back after 10, 15 or 20 years, they somehow manage to be even more relevant than they were back in the day. I mean, a lot of the bands in that 90's era, they somehow managed to be even more attractive to people. I guess it's somehow that people found something very special and very mesmerizing about the bands. Personally, myself speaking, like you said, some of your fans weren't even born when your albums were released. I was born around when your third album was released in 1998. So, I was lucky to have discovered you way back when I was in high school. It's great that you still see generations like me or even a bit older coming into discovering these bands and finding something special about them. But generally, they don't really know much about you guys, so were there any special memories from the days in the 90's when Gates of Ishtar was relatively new and working on those three classic albums?

Tomas: Well, there are so many great memories from the 90's. Something that I remember very fondly when I think back of it is when we recorded our first album. For instance, when we recorded in a studio called Tico-Tico in Finland, and we had such a great time. And we were also great friends and just having the adventure of our lives, only like 18 years old. So very fond memories and also, which you can find on YouTube, the gig we did in Umeå as well, back in, I think could have been '96 perhaps, when we played at Galaxen, together with Dissection and other bands, so that's pretty big. Actually, I didn't even know who Dissection was at the time hahah. That came later for me when I started to listen to it. So, it's quite fun to think back about that.

Do you Andreas have any special memories from that same period?

Andreas: As Thomas says, that whole era is just filled with great memories from a really strong friendship between five guys that were very young. We started when we went to the last 3 years in the school system to rehearse together. I think that one of the greatest memories for me was when we received our first record deal with Spinefarm Records. We recorded the demo, sent it out to a couple of labels and then we received a call and an express letter from Finland. I think it was on Saturday; it came in the mail and they told us to not answer any other offers and to be fast to sign the contract with them. I mean, that was a big thing for us, when you're just 18/19 years old and an uprising metal musician. So, I think that was one of my strongest memories from that time. And that was like the beginning of it all. I think a lot of people are talking about A Bloodred Path as the legendary first album from Gates of Ishtar still stands today and that's a really good point for the album, I think. I remember that we sat there in Tomas' apartment, I think, when the mail came through the door and it was a record deal.

Tomas: Yeah. And I also remember another fun thing that I came to think about now when we, when we got the first advance for the record, both me and Andreas went out and bought a PlayStation, the first PlayStation. It was brand new on the market, so we used our money for PlayStation and some games, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, I remember. Oh. So, really fun memories from that time.

Awesome. What a great way to start your PlayStation experience, am I right? But since you mentioned Dissection and, saying that this was actually your first encounter, that you were not really familiar with the guys, I really wanna know what was the encounter like with that band, since you're both one of the very crucial Swedish melodic extreme metal bands of the time?

Tomas: Well, to be honest, I remember seeing some cool looking dudes backstage at the gig, looking really serious. I mean, we were just kids from the north of Sweden, so I didn't really know what's happening. Maybe Andreas has some more on that hahah.

Andreas: I don't know about that, but when I went to my parents' place, and my mother was cleaning up in the attic, she found a couple of posters from gigs we had done. And I think that we played with Dissection two times, and then there was Katatonia, Dark Tranquility, At The Gates as well. I think, Gates of Ishtar, at least from the beginning, we had, like kind of an expression you say in Sweden when you're not that dead serious. I mean, we got some kind of crappy reviews in Norwegian black metal zines when we released our first album which was like "Gates of Ishtar is like an amusement park metal" and stuff like that from the bone hard Norwegians at that moment, but we were kids, we drank beer, we played music, we had sausages, burgers and pizza. We had like the sparkle in the eye. When we met, we weren't like the dead serious guys, we were like, okay.  By the way, I was familiar with Dissection and all the bands at the time, but yeah, I also think that they were a little bit more serious than us. So, they didn't take the first contact if you understand what I mean.

Yeah, I do. The thing about the Swedish scene, at the time you had a lot of these melodic bands. These weren't just bands that were taking influences from your regular death metal and black metal, but when it comes to melody, they took it a lot from the New Wave of British heavy metal, even the prominent heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate, also even classical music. They had like new classical influences that were integrated into their playing. Back then, what bands did you guys look up to and what were your biggest musical influences at the time?

Tomas: For my part, all I listened to pretty much was Iron Maiden. I mean, all the albums from the beginning, or actually from the Bruce Dickinson era mostly. Peace of Mind, Somewhere in Time and Powerslave, I was really into that at the time and still am, but in another way. So that was one thing that I always played when I picked up my guitar. I was trying to pick out Maiden songs. I'm sure that comes through in some way in Ishtar music as well, but Andre, Niklas and Mikael did most of the songwriting. But I think you can pick up some Maiden harmonies here and there when we play, but Maiden mostly for me.

Andreas: I think we all have different music we listen to. I think that at that time, I was mostly into Norwegian black metal, they were early Emperor albums, Limbonic Art, Entombed, Dismember. I mean, all kinds of brutal music, but mostly at that time, I was into atmospheric black metal music, because there was some kind of a certain feeling about that. And, it still is. I mean, I try to fall back to the old classic albums. I listen to Vargrav when I bike to my work. It's a Finnish black metal band of Ville Pallonen and it sounds like he's only been listening to Emperor and Limbonic Art and released the album, I think a year ago. So, the old classic still stands very strong. But, I mean, everything, Maiden, Dio, all kinds of heavy metal bands. There weren't only one or two bands, because there were a lot of bands. Everything that's good, basically.

I'm actually very glad that you gave Vargrav a shoutout because I remember when I discovered their second album Reign in Supreme Darkness that was released in 2019, which everybody said In the Nightside Eclipse - the reimagined version and everybody went fucking crazy, and everybody realized that Werwolf from Satanic Warmaster is part of it. And I guess you could easily say that it is one of the greatest black metal projects of recent years, like you even mentioned the new album which came out last year. I think it was around December, actually. And it was pretty good too, I gotta admit, but that second album is…

Andreas: Yeah. It's brilliant. I thought when I listened to it or when I've been listening to it a couple of times, I thought "Yeah, it sounds a bit like old Emperor" and then I read the comments on YouTube and we're basically just "this is shit because it's only Emperor", you know. I mean, yeah, it might be only Emperor, but it's still good. I don't care, basically.

I gotta ask, since we already touched on the subject of your albums, I got the impression that you guys didn't seem to be that lucky with the two albums, "The Dawn of Flames" and "At Dusk and Forever", because they were initially released by Invasion Records. The problem was that there were these unapproved artworks which were either stolen or plagiarized. Were there any serious legal issues involved at the time because of what happened?

Tomas: I don't really know what happened to him after, the guy's name was Maja. I think we're not the first band that he screwed over, but he's got quite a reputation from what I know. I can tell you that we were not happy when we saw the final artwork on "The Dawn of Flames" at least. I seem to remember that we had an idea for another album cover, and another album cover was discussed and approved or something like that, but I can't remember even what it looked like. It's so long ago. Do you remember, Andreas?

Andreas: No. No, I don't. But, I mean, that guy went underground, and actually just a couple of weeks ago, I saw like some kind of a compilation on YouTube from the most shitty and terrible album covers by Invasion Records, where they'd actually discussed all the people or all the bands that got ripped off by Maja Majewski. And then, "The Dawn of Flames" was there as well. I mean, we were so shocked when that that cover came up, but when you have a little bit if perspective to it today, the updated cover is great, but I mean, I think that the Vision Merch in the US, they printed the old album cover, and I would like to have a long sleeve with the old album cover, it's so tragic-comic in some kind of way, if you know the story behind it. But, I mean, he disappeared. I think that we got ripped on a lot of royalty payments as well. He just went on the ground, that guy.

Tomas: Yeah, I don't think we saw a dime from "The Dawn of Flames".

Andreas: No. We got ripped off.

Honestly, I'm not surprised that all this eventually led to Invasion Records being bankrupt, since obviously disastrous decisions lead to disastrous results, and it's really hard to trust labels when you either have no creative freedom or no percentage income or even bad promotion. Did you guys have a hard time trying to recover from this sort of issue that you have encountered?

Tomas: Not really. Not for me anyway. I mean, we stopped playing somewhere around that time. I can't remember exactly which year, but sometime after everything went kind of on a hiatus, and I moved to Stockholm, and Niklas, our bass player at the time, moved to Stockholm as well. So, the band kind of split up anyways. So, it all fell through.

Andreas: But I also think the first thing that we discussed about new offers from record labels, I think that, all the events that happened during that time has made us a little bit more curious about when we're going to cooperate with the label to release our new album. We want everything to be exactly as we want it so that we don't take the risk of signing a contract for 10 albums in 10 years or something, you know, some stupid contract. So, we will definitely read everything with 10 eyes before we print our names on the paper again.

Tomas: Yeah. Definitely.

But on the positive side, it's evident that you guys did recover because you're still active today, but of course, a lot of bands still have to be very careful about what they're getting themselves into, especially when you have these very shady labels all around, no matter if they're South American or even Central European, they can fuck you up badly.

Tomas: Yeah. Definitely.

When it comes to bands like yourselves who play melodic black or death metal, they usually hail from various parts of Sweden like Gothenburg, Stockholm, Strömstad and so on, you guys are from Luleå in Norrbotten county, and you also had another band from there which is The Moaning. What is the metal scene like in Luleå or in the north of Sweden in general?

Andreas: The current metal scene up here, I think it was really blooming the times when we released our demos and the first records. And as you said, we had The Moaning, we had The Everdawn, we had Scheitan, we had Satariel from Boden, and then in Umeå we had Nocturnal Rites, we had Throne of Ahaz, Bewitched, we have Naglfar as well. Umeå is not considered to be north of Sweden because it's 300 kilometers south from us, but, I mean, up to date today, The Moaning doesn't exist, The Everdawn doesn't exist, Satariel has quit. Pierre is still active with Scheitan, they released a couple of records and he has signed a contract with a Greek label and just put out a new record. The music is not what it was back in the days. It's more like, I think, more doom-ish gothic metal. And then we have Dark Funeral, who also had the origin from Luleå, but Mikke moved down to Stockholm quite fast. So, they were not actually an active band in Luleå, but he is from Luleå. So, I think that it's us and Scheitan that is active today. I don't know too much.

Tomas: Well, I don't really know about the current music situation in Luleå, but I haven't really seen anything about it. I think it's quite dead, unfortunately, nowadays.

Andreas: But, I mean, everything was so different back in the days. I mean, we had a complete school building with 3 stories with all the classrooms that were remade to rehearsal rooms and there was a guy working there, and you could borrow instruments. You could actually practice 24 hours a day. I mean the scene was really kind to young people that didn't wanna play football or ice hockey or basketball or something. You had the opportunity to do that. And maybe there's a demand today as well. I mean, young kids like music. It might be a couple of more bands coming up if they actually have the opportunity, because now you have to search yourself for a rehearsal room. I mean, when you're 16/17 years old, you don't have the money to pay to rent a rehearsal room in the city centre. That's not possible. I mean, I think we paid like 100 crowns a month to rehearse there.

Tomas: Yeah. It was subsidized by the state. We paid like pennies for it, really. And we also have access to a recording studio in the basement. You had to pay a little bit more for that, but still no big money. I think when we recorded our first demo, I think we each paid something like 2 or 300 Swedish crowns per band member for the whole demo. So, you can't really do that nowadays. Not that I know of, anyway. So, we had all the opportunities and the support from the government and all of that. I don't really think it exists in the same way anymore.

Andreas: No and it's quite obvious also when you walk the streets in the town. I mean, sometimes I've been thinking about it like "Wait, I don't see any metalheads anywhere". I mean, back in the days, we were everywhere, there were metalheads everywhere, not only on the gigs. And I think it's like that if you go to Stockholm and Gothenburg, I think you only see them at the gigs as well. You don't see them going around in gangs in the city centre. I mean, basically the connection was so strong in the 90's. It's sad to see. I mean, it's a great culture, and it's a great opportunity for younger people to be able to come out and do what they might like to do. They can't do it, basically.

Tomas: But I think we will probably see it more again. I mean, everything goes in circles, more or less. I mean, look at fashion or whatever you're looking at. The same type of names that people used in the 40's, what people name their children. Everything goes in circles, and I think the same will happen with metal as well. So, hopefully, maybe in a couple of years or in the 10 years period, maybe we'll have that resurgence again.

Andreas: That would be great.

Yeah. I agree, it goes, then it stops, and it goes again, it's just a general circle of life. Things happen this way. But still, even though things change over time, bands like yourselves still play a crucial role in the development of the scene and you're also inspiring others that come after you and that shows that your music stands the test of time. I'm generally curious to know, are there any current Swedish or non-Swedish black or death metal bands that you guys like or that got your attention?

Tomas: Well, one band, I haven't listened to them really a lot yet, but I will. It's a band called Grima. I think they're from Russia, from Siberia, something like that. I really like the sound of that. And, I know they're releasing an album in February or something like that. I actually pre-booked on vinyl as soon as I heard it, I said I have to get this. So, every now and then, you'll come across something that just gets your attention for some reason. But otherwise, for me music goes in period. I play a lot of guitar now, but I don't listen to much music nowadays. It goes in waves. But when I do listen it's a lot of 80's metal and a lot of more melodic metal stuff like Wintersun. I really had a Wintersun period when they released The Forest Seasons, and then I started rediscovering the back catalogue and stuff like that. So, it goes like this for me.

Andreas: Yeah, and if I look at my search history on YouTube, what bands I've been listening to. It's Archgoat, Vltimas, and then we have the American band Morta Skuld from Wisconsin. And then Vargrav, the Netherstorm. I've been listening to Dissection. And, also, the Ukrainian band Sidus Atrum, that's fucking brilliant.

Tomas: Yeah, I love that. I love that.

Andreas: And also, an old Swedish band that I've been listening to maybe in the last 5 days. It's called Internal Decay. They released an album called Forgotten Dream. I think that's all they put out. That's amazing.

Thank you, guys, so much for the interview. It's been a pleasure talking to you, and I hope that I'll see you guys in the near future, and, good luck with the new album. Are there any final words you'd like to say?

Tomas: Oh, thanks a lot for taking the time to speak to us. It's really fun to do these interviews and all five of us look forward to recording a new album and presenting to our fans, and I don't think anyone's gonna be disappointed by that.

Andreas: Hope to see you guys at a venue somewhere in the near future, because we will try to take all opportunities to go out and play, both the old and the new Ishtar songs. Really looking forward to it, and thanks a lot.

When I was a wee lad, one of my first loves in the NWOBHM that I ever came across was the band Saxon, and to this very day it is still one of my favorite heavy metal bands. Saxon has remained significantly strong for the last 40-50 years of their entire existence, and in fact, they got even stronger once Brian Tatler of Diamond Head joined the band as the replacement guitarist for Paul Quinn, contributing a plethora of fresh new ideas that would fire up the engine of their upcoming 26th album "Hell, Fire And Damnation". After I listened to the new album and reviewed it with honor and dignity, I got the opportunity to do an interview with none other than Biff Byford via Zoom, which took place on January 11th, a bit more than a week before the album's official release worldwide. We had a wonderful chat for about 25 minutes, where we discussed a lot about the upcoming album, but we also mentioned other things along the way like Brian Tatler's triumphant trial by fire as the band's new guitarist, the guest appearance of Brian Blessed as the narrator on the opening track 'The Prophecy' and even the Amon Amarth song 'Saxons And Vikings' which included Biff Byford, Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt as guest musicians. Please join me on this magnificent journey of Hell, Fire and Damnation, and I truly hope that you will enjoy this wonderful conversation that I had with none other than the man himself, Biff Byford.

Vladimir

Welcome to the MetalBite interview, Biff. I am so glad that you're here. How are you doing?

Thank you! It's good to be there! I am good, thank you. I am travelling actually, but I am doing a bit of interviewing while I am travelling, so that's good.

So, you've got a lot of spare time to do interviews in the meanwhile?

Yeah, I am doing quite a lot of interviewing with the new album coming out.

"Hell, Fire And Damnation" is just one week away from being officially released, the excitement is just growing and the first impressions from critics are very positive. How was the band's overall journey while working on this album?

Well, yeah, people so far seem very pleased with the album. It's a monster really, at least from my standpoint we've unleashed the beast. But yeah, we are pretty pleased with it actually, we've worked quite hard, we wanted to get it ready for our touring schedule which starts in March.

Did you guys have any crucial tasks that you wanted to accomplish in the making of the album? I mean, you've said it yourself that this is a quite monstrous album that you made.

No, there was no real task really. Same with Carpe Diem, I was looking for great riffs to start the ball rolling and then Brian came along with a couple of good guitar riffs as well, it worked out pretty good. I wrote a few songs with Brian, a few songs with Douglas, and a couple of songs with Nibbs. I don't think we had any tasks; I mean our goals were to write great songs, that was the main goal of the album, to try and write the perfect song, which you never can, but at least you can try.

Yeah, of course every band has to try that with every new album that comes out. This album is a follow up to "Carpe Diem" from two years prior, one can clearly tell that this new album is much more elevated in terms of the overall songwriting and the band's performance in general. Would you say that this new album is a significant improvement over "Carpe Diem"?

I think it is, I once have thought that we couldn't have done it actually, but I think it is an improvement, definitely. I think the songs are stronger and more focused, and the sound of the album is pretty awesome actually. We recorded the drums in the big cinema halls, the guitars in our studio at home, and then the vocals. Then we went to Andy Sneap's studio and finished it all off. It was done very quickly for an album like this that sounds so great. I think we were all very motivated and very focused, but so was Andy, but I do think something special happened in the writing of this album.

What this album really does is that it feels like a big anthology of epic tales told through heavy metal music, you've got a lot going on with the biblical themes to Marie Antoinette, Kubla Khan, The Battle of Hastings and even the Salem witch trials. It's got a very strong storytelling quality to it and it's definitely one of the greatest aspects of this album. What really inspired you to use all of these themes at once and to put them all together in this one album?

Well, I was a bit worried that it might turn into a history lesson. We always made historic songs, the last album Carpe Diem ('Seize The Day') it's about Roman invasion of England, and we always had an interest in history, but I think on this album we've brought it all together and I just thought "yeah, why not do it really", let's see what people think obviously, and everybody seems to like it so we did a good thing.

Were there any kind of particular sources of inspiration that kind of got to you when you were working on these songs?

Just history in general. Whether it is something in Roswell, which is about the conspiracy theory of the UFO crash, which again is history. I mean, these things interest me, and obviously interest millions of other people as well.

Yeah, that is very awesome indeed. But, does any song from this new album stand out to you for any particular reason, be it the lyrics, riffs or something else entirely?

I like 'Madam Guillotine', I think it's very good. The riffs are fantastic, and I think the chorus is very Alice Cooper-ish, so I am very pleased how that song turned out, I quite like that.

We can't leave out one of the most crucial factors that contributed a lot to this album, and that is Brian Tatler, Diamond Head guitarist, who joined the band's lineup last year. Did Brian manage to bring anything new to the table upon joining Saxon?

Yeah, he co-wrote three songs with me, so yeah, he wrote 3 guitar riffs for the band. I basically just asked him out of the blue "Have you got any ideas that you're not using?" and he went "Yeah, I got some ideas", so he sent them to me and I wrote 'Hell, Fire And Damnation' song, which turned out pretty great.

So, if this album turns out to be a massive success, then I think Brian Tatler would deserve to get a "pay rise" in the band for doing a good job *chuckles*.

Yeah, he'll definitely get a pay rise. The fans like it because you know Paul is a legend, and Brian is a legend, and everyone knows him from the Metallica connection, definitely. I think he's such a great replacement for Paul, but I don't think that he'll ever replace Paul really, I think Brian has his own thing, he's definitely a "riff meister". I think he works well for Saxon.

How does he feel about being a part of a band such as Saxon? I mean, both Diamond Head and Saxon are considered two very big names in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, so does he feel more comfortable working with you guys than he does with Diamond Head?

I think you'll have to ask him that, but he's very happy to be in Saxon and play bigger shows, and obviously he's really excited being involved in writing the album because we didn't ask him to write the album, we only asked him to go on tour with us, but he had some good ideas so I used them, so it's really exciting going on tour and play some songs that you had a hand in writing.

What I also wanted to talk about the new album that really struck me is the cover art, which was done by the Hungarian artist and Bornholm vocalist Péter Sallai. I think his artistic skills truly managed to convey the album's musical quality and atmosphere through the artwork. How did you guys come down to the decision to hire him to visually represent the essence of your new album?

I sent out some ideas that I had with the title of the artwork. I wanted it to signify the battle of good and evil, it's very sort of "Bible, religion and the prophecy", so I just wanted something a bit like the William Blake type stuff like "Paradise Lost". So, we sent out a sort of brief to all the artists that we wanted to use, and he came back with that one within four days, and we were like "yeah, that's brilliant, I like that one". So yeah, the artwork is great.

That's awesome to hear. I guess he's also a longtime Saxon fan considering the fact that he understands the source material and also the importance of working with a band such as you guys.

Yeah, and he has also done all the artwork for us, but we didn't use it. We haven't worked with him before, but yeah, he did a fantastic job. His visualization of what I wanted was great actually.

Can we expect to get some sort of special box set of "Hell, Fire And Damnation" with a booklet that contains all those unused artworks in the future?

Yeah, that would be great. There are box sets of the album, but that would be a good idea.

Ironically, when I listened to your album for the first time, I didn't immediately notice that you guys had the guest appearance of the famed English actor Brian Blessed as the narrator on the opening track 'The Prophecy', which was quite a marvellous move you pulled there. How was it working with such a fantastic actor that is Brian Blessed?

Well, it was great, we've known him for quite a while actually, he's friends with the band. He comes to see us sometimes, when we play at festivals in England. I just sent him a message saying "I got some words and some music, would you like to do the prologue to 'The Prophecy'for us?", so he said "yeah". I think doing that was very 1980-ish with the "spoken word", so I wanted to bring a bit of that 1980's flavour back, and it worked pretty well actually. Like I said, everything fell into place, very special for this album.

As you said he's a longtime friend of the band, did he ever say what album does he like the most out of the entire Saxon discography?

Well, probably Wheels Of Steel I would think.

That's awesome, that's a very classic album. I didn't even expect that Brian Blessed would like such music, I mean he's a very classy actor and he's over 80 years old, which is fantastic.

A lot of actors are into rock 'n roll though, it's the old thing that "all singers want to be actors and all actors want to be singers". So, we've got quite a lot of actors in show business, people that are into the band, it's a very peculiar thing.

Since I already mentioned the 'Battle Of Hastings/1066', you also did a song with Amon Amarth 'Saxons And Vikings' from two years back and even the music video was released 4 weeks ago. What is the story behind you working with Amon Amarth on that song and how was the overall experience?

Well, we've known Amon Amarth for quite a long time, I think we met them when they played their very first festival. Johan did a song with me called 'Predator' for the album Thunderbolt. They wrote a song called 'Saxons And Vikings', and who are you gonna ask? *chuckles* You're not gonna ask anybody else, are you? Because, we are Saxons, and they are Vikings, it's a no brainer really. I don't think it would have worked if you asked the singer of Sabaton, because they are called Sabaton, not Saxon. It's a good idea he had. And it was good fun up into the coast somewhere in the eastern part of Europe, we shot the music video for two days, it was good fun actually. I think while co-writing that song with them, it inspired me to write the '1066' song, because it's the next big piece of history after that one.

Yeah, basically since you made a song for yourselves like they did, not only did you make history in terms of what you did musically, but you also repeated history in terms of what happened back then in 1066.

Yeah, the thing with 'Saxons And Vikings' I think it's probably set in a year 900, and the Saxons beat the Vikings then. A bit later on, the Normans beat the Saxons, so it's a bit of a backwards and forwards thing going on.

Okay, so the last question I'd like to ask you is how do you personally feel about this album? I mean, how would you rank this album with some of Saxon's classic discography from the 80's? Do you think it's on par with some of the beloved albums of that era?

Yeah, I think this album is up there, definitely. We got it all packaged, the artwork, the songs, the sounds, I think it's up there in our Top 5/Top 6 albums definitely, but that's just my opinion.

That's great, I am very glad to hear it. It does really have a lot of quality to it. The one thing that I really admire about you guys is that you are veterans and a lot of bands around your age are not so inspired to write new stuff, they always feel under pressure. What kind of goal do you have when you work on music, how do you keep yourself inspired and what advice would you give to other bands?

Well, a lot of it comes from my motivation to write great lyrics and write great melodies. I think you just have to be motivated, because we always start with a great guitar riff, I think it's one of the keys to Saxon's longevity for the last 10 albums. I always like to start writing with a great guitar riff. Sometimes, we'll start with a chorus that I sing, but most of the time, it's a great guitar riff, and then you write the melody and the verse, or maybe the chorus. We're bringing the songs from a very firm basis, if you know what I mean.

Okay, thank you so much for doing this interview, Biff. I am really looking forward to catch Saxon live on tour someday and experience "Hell, Fire And Damnation" in its full glory. Are there any final words you'd like to say before we wrap this up?

I hope everybody likes the album, it's out on January 19th. Give it a listen, and keep faith! I hope that I'll see you people on tour somewhere!