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

Chris


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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you have any favorites from the young Brazilian scene?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you completely satisfied with the final outcome or there are things you would like to change?

"Annihilation" is the first recording that we are 100% satisfied with. Of course we have now a different view of the album and some things maybe could be changed to sound better, but these new ideas will be part of the new album.

Do you have an unspoken war with Krisiun on who’s the most extreme and brutal band in Brazil or you can care less and each one of you do your own thing without checking the competition moves?

Not at all, it doesn't exist. Krisiun has been in the scene for longer than us, they have a solid career and they don't need any kind of competition with any band. Rebaelliun arose 3 years ago and I can say we already did a lot in the worldwide Death Metal scene since we came. However we know we have a huge potential and much more can be done on coming years.

By the way, have you heard "Ageless Venomous"? What do you think of it?

Not the whole album, I've heard 1 or 2 tracks. It sounds more technical than before.

Give me your top 5 CDs in the Metal world. Who do you listen to the most?

- Judas Priest "Painkiller"
- Slayer "South of Heaven"
- Slayer "Reign in Blood"
- Manowar "Triumph of the Steel"
- Morbid Angel "Covenant"

Beside these bands I listen to a lot of other artists, classical music, guitarists, other Metal bands.

What are the promotional plans for "Annihilation"? Any chance to see you in US?

There's a plan for our first apparition in the U.S. this year, but this is not 100% right. It will depend on the response of the album in the States, but be sure we will keep working hard to tour the States as soon as possible.

Are you already thinking about a follow up to "Annihilation"?

Yes, we have already 2 new songs, and I just can say they sound different than the songs from "Annihilation", we wanna go to a higher level once more.

Any final words to your American fans?

Thanks for all the e-mails and letters we have received from the U.S. on last months. As you all know our main goal is touring the States, we've heard for years about the American fanatic fans and we are sure that this tour will happen soon. Visit www.rebaelliun.com and keep supporting this fucking scene.

Thundra are probably best known for containing a few ex-members from Enslaved and Einherjer. However, if one takes the time to listen to this Viking juggernaut, one will find a whole new emerging concept rising strongly forth in the Norwegian scene. Playing healthy Viking based tales is no mean task and Thundra seem to carefully grasp the formula of true-Viking metal with ease. Whereas other Viking outfits have been knocking on the door of the perfect equation, Thundra open up the door and say ‘hello’. "Blood of Your Soul" is their debut release and it’s a harsh and beautiful release through eight epic songs. I caught up with Harald Revheim of Thundra, responsible for drumming and choir vocals throughout the debut album.

Jack ‘Odel’


Firstly, thanks heaps for taking the time to answer my questions. Obviously, you guys formed together to play Viking associated metal, do you consider yourselves black metal as such, or do you think Thundra has something extra to offer non-black metal fans?

Well we didn’t start out to be what they called Viking metal, but with our background and musical taste we all had it just felt natural to do what we liked best. I know our label has got us down as Black Viking metal, whatever that is. No you can’t call us Black if you consider our lyrics, but some associations are there musically. If we have anything to offer the non-black metal fans, I don’t think that the music is commercial enough to catch the masses (he he), no I mean we have some melodic parts that I have heard that have caught the attention of non-black fans and such. But basically, and this may sound like a cliché but, we make music for ourselves and that’s it. We are a very egotistical bunch.

Thundra is composed of famous Viking outfits such as Enslaved and Einherjer... does this really help bring good outside experience to Thundra?

It helps in that degree that they are well established and have made a name for themselves but musically, definitely no. That was why we started Thundra to do our own thing. But we can’t deny that this has helped us ahead in scene.

"Blood of Your Soul" was released in 2000 and is a really diverse Viking/black metal release in what may be considered a stagnant genre. What are your views on where Viking/black metal will be in five years time?

Well, we see a definitive tendency to use folklore and folk tune in today’s scene, which I find, is excellent. As you probably has figured out from the album. But when you see the some of the bands in the scene now like Thyrfing, Vintersorg, Finntroll and such they are all more melodic and not as brutal. So maybe that’s where it’s headed, but for my taste these are great to combine... as you will hear on our next album.

Will bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Emperor still be setting the benchmark for music then?

Well, the last I heard is that Emperor is breaking up so they will most likely live on their old masterpieces, but Dimmu just released a killer album. But in creating of great albums there will always be bands that want to do the same, with different results. But it is an evolving music scene so it’s not easy to label something black-metal anymore. I think with the money and equipment that’s available today there are few limits if you have a powerful record-company behind you. Some of the fans see this as treason to the real scene, but it isn’t free to give out records. You lose some you win some.

On the record "Blood of Your Soul" the CD booklet lists three vocalists, yourself, Steven and Tor Erik Helgesen. I really commend you guys for using three vocalists on the album, as it is quite a unique feature of the record and helps add real diversity. Where does each of you sing on the record?

The vocal was made in studio, and Steven has the powerful clean voice and so called growling, Tor Erik has the scream vocal and I only have the choirs and some clean vocals. I have always had a taste for mixing these three vocals so it just felt natural to do when we made the different parts.

What are your favourite tracks on the album?

I will have to say ‘Frozen Ground’ and ‘Blood of Your Soul’ since they contain most diversity.

I really think the track, ‘With Power and Might’ summarises what "Blood of Your Soul" creates: epic, operatic and heartfelt music. Any thoughts on that?

Well I can’t say anything other than thanks.

Have you seen the 13th Warrior? The reasons I ask is that it’s a very Norse/Viking associated movie and few of your tracks would fit in quite brilliantly in the more dramatic proportions of the movie.

Yeah I have seen it, maybe you are right. Except for the parts where the Arab is swinging his toothpick, we should have seen more of the Norsemen. They kicked ass.

What music influences Thundra? Releases such as Bathory’s "Hammerheart" or more removed music from the immediate scene you’re involved in? Folk stuff...?

Well that’s a difficult question; we all have different musical tastes. But the folk related metal as always appealed to us cause it’s a big part of our heritage. But we always had a shinning to the prog-metal scene. So I really don’t know what to say. Quality metal in general!

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

Right now there is a new signing on a sublabel from what we are on, called Spikefarm, I received it today. They are called Shadow and they play a kinda Gothenburg metal ala In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. It’s good.

Do you still keep in contact with Enslaved and Einherjer, check out the stuff they bring out?

Yeah the Einherjer guys live close by so we party regularly together, haven’t heard from the Enslaved camp for a while but we are all good friends. And their new albums are excellent.

Comprised of acts such as Einherjer and Enslaved, do you get compared to them much? If so, does it weigh heavily upon your minds to innovate and try to remove yourself from their shadow?

Well I have never experienced anything other than positive things to come from our relations to our former bands, so I cant say that it has been a problem. So I don’t feel that there is a problem since we do our own thing, completely different.

How did Thundra come together?

Me, Stein and Nils started Thundra while me and Stein where still a part of the Enslaved and Einherjer camp, basically to do our own thing. We quickly understood that this is what we wanted to do. For Rune and Steven that was people we had played with before so we where friends from before so it felt natural to ask them. Tor Erik is the latest addition.

The lyrics written by you and Stein really tell good tales through each song. Was it intended for each song on "Blood of Your Soul" to tell stories or did just happen to come together like that?

I won’t say that all our lyrics have a deep meaning but it reflects our thoughts and feelings described in a more adventurous form, to make it more to our own liking.

Any touring coming up or are you working out a new album soon?

As we are all in full-time work, we don’t have time to do too much touring. So we basically just have to make the music whenever we get together. It would be fun to do more gigs than what we are doing but the days aren’t long enough. So it’s either a new album or gigs and we chose to make music. We also made this very clear to Spinefarm so they haven’t been to keen to send us on the road.

Any major concept forthcoming for the next Thundra album? When can we expect you lads to go into recording for the new album?

The album is nearly ready; actually we are doing a demo right now so we can work on the vocals probably. But I am leaving the country for a while so there won’t be a new album until next year, but this gives us a chance to work probably with the material since the last album was a hurry project.

With the addition of Tor to Thundra that will make you a six-man outfit, which should lead to a lot of creativity with the upcoming release. What can we expect from the new album?

It’s going to be more powerful and a bit harder. And I am really looking forward to recording this album. And Tor has much to offer so it’s going to be good to work with him cause it has been so far.

Thanks again Harald for working this interview out with me, good luck with Thundra. Are there any words you’d like to say to your loyal Thundra fans out there?

Stay true, see you out there. Cheers.

About Kamelot’s "Karma" I think I said it all in my review, so there is no need to repeat myself here. It’s a brilliant, simply outstanding piece of work, which is a mandatory purchase for any metal fan, that will quickly reach the top spots in any power metal music charts of 2001. So how in the name of God could I miss the chance of talking to the mastermind behind this opus, guitarist Thom Youngblood? Never, not a chance and here is what he had to say...

Chris


3 albums with this same line up really pays off. Without a question your best release to date and I dare to say one of the best power metal CDs of this year...

Oh, thank you very much. We are very happy with it for sure. I think the change that we made back in ’97, I guess, was instrumental. The people that we chose obviously were the right people.

Without detracting value from your previous album, "Karma" beats "The Fourth Legacy" almost in every musical aspect; arrangements, perfect balance between melody and power, even instrumental and vocal skills improved a lot... how would you comment on that?

First, I would say thank you. There was a lot of pressure, to be honest with you, about doing the next record after "The Fourth Legacy" and we really knew that we are continuing to grow as musicians and songwriters. I think our production team with Sascha and Miro knew that we could do a better record. That’s the most important that you always have that drive and that vision to continue to do something at least as good. A lot of things have to do with interpretation, maybe somebody might think that the record is better or worse but it has a lot to do with each person.

Can you definitely say that now you’ve found your sound?

Yeah, without a doubt. I think the start of it was probably the end of the "Siege Paroles" and really working with Sascha and Miro, they helped us define what Kamelot sounds like. Also the songwriting team between myself and Khan is basically the main difference between the old Kamelot and new Kamelot. We seem to really think alike when it comes to working together and things come together really quickly. We are best friends now and I think that’s really important as well. We don’t really have any jealousy about who writes what and things like that and I think that kind of element in any band is not really good.

From the production point of view, you stick with the same producer, same studio, cover designer... Does it mean you found your perfect working environment?

I think with any kind of successful entity you have a team of people that you have to rely on. Deryk, the cover artist, has been with us since "Dominion" and we continue to challenge him to kind of like make sure he does the cover as good or better than previous one. To be honest I was a little bit worried at first, but in the end I feel like the "Karma’s" cover is the best one we’ve done. The same goes for the production team. It really comes down to a lot of different things even the travel agent that we use. Making sure that flights are all done properly and all this sort of circle of good karma is an important element in what we do.

So, what did your last two years look like? Did you do anything differently than before, like more rehearsals, a changed composition process...?

The composition process it totally different than the way we did things before, that’s for sure. Basically myself and Roy work together two or three times a year and all the other times we work alone. We work alone on songs and then we come together with ideas that we both have and collaborate that way. Then when we have songs that we feel are ready to be presented to the band we do that and we rehearse before we go to the studio. And than we’ll send tapes to Shasch and let him check it out before we actually come to Germany. So, the process is a little bit more technical. It’s not so much being in a rehearsal room and just going through songs, we are really trying to work the songs out ahead of time. Of course there are always little things during the recording process that we add. The best example I can give you it’s like the ‘Nights of Arabia’. The female part in the middle of the song was never planned until we were in the studio. I mean there was a section there that was going to be like a guitar solo and I thought maybe it would be cool to have this sort of female voice since the story is about queen Sheherazade. So, that was like a good example of what we thought of doing right there in the studio. It was never planned and to me it’s one of the coolest parts of the song...

Does the fact that Roy lives in Norway and the rest of the band in Florida cause any problems during the song writing process?

Not at all.

Do you feel it’s better this way?

I almost do. I was a little bit afraid when several times Khan was talking about moving to Florida. That would be cool if he did but on the other hand there are a lot of bands that live together in this same town and they don’t even get together but maybe once or twice a month. I think the way we work now works and that’s really the most important thing. To try to change that and to have everyone in this same town I don’t think really would make that much of a difference. To be honest, the element of being able to travel to Norway and Roy to come here adds certain pressure on us. We really make sure we work hard and concentrate on every detail. It really works perfect this way.

How would you like the description of "the best American power metal band that plays a European power metal style..."

[laughs] Well, the way that I look at that is as complement because most of the influences for my own personal style have been from European musicians whether it’s classical or the guys like Michael Shenker or the band Iron Maiden. It’s only been really two American bands that I like, that could have been any kind of influence that would be Queensryche and Dream Theater. So, I don’t really have a problem with that statement.

Sometimes I get this feeling that you guys should live in Europe... You have a European style, you tour more in Europe than here, albums are first released there but most of you live in States. So, maybe you guys should move to Norway rather than Roy to here. Is that a possibility for you?

[laughs] It would probably be Germany if we did anything like that. I’m sure the record company would love it cause they wouldn’t have to spend so much on flights. I guess that’s part of what makes us unique as far as American metal band. When I think of American metal band I kind of think of Iced Earth or somebody like this. I think there is certain elegance to European metal that American bands sort of lack. I don’t know if it’s a respect to classical music or what but there is certain elegance that I think maybe Kamelot brings to the American metal scene that’s different from most of the American metal bands. And that’s good, that’s part of what we strive for us to be not only different from American metal bands but also have a certain class that we can be proud of.

Why "Karma"? It’s not like you were dead for the last 10 years...

In America karma has a lot to do with aura, how you are perceived by others when you meet them, how you are perceived by other people in the way that, the vibe you kind of put out. Several times in life you go out you meet someone and you say this person gives me a bad karma, there’s something creepy about this person. And I think karma the way we live our lives and treat each other, treat the environment is really important how we are in turn treated the way our live turns out. I think it’s really important that the way that we do things definitely comes back to us.

How do you choose stories for your music? For example, are you interested in the 14th century or did you just pick the Elizabeth Bathori story to fit the album’s concept?

We wanted to do a three part song, we had the music and we were looking for the right sort of inspiration lyrically. So, I was going through this medieval magazine and I read the story about Elizabeth who killed 600 plus virgins, and in my ignorance I’ve never even heard of her before. I’ve talked to people that told me there are bands that have done this story but I’ve never heard of her. Our intention from the beginning was to really portray her more from the human side of it not just vampire thing but maybe look at her why she was like this. I think it’s interesting that the story of it, the whole vanity thing of staying young is really something that you see today on TV and real life. You can’t go buy a magazine without almost every picture of the women or the men being perfect. I think it’s a sort of appropriate story not only for that time but even for today that shows how bad the vanity can be for our society.

For those of us who have no idea who Elizabeth was can you tell us something about her?

Elizabeth Bathori was a Countess in Hungary and she was having her hair brushed by one of her servants and I guess the servant did something that really pissed her off and she ended up shanking her. The blood from the servant landed on her hand and she thought that the skin in that area had really looked young after that and she kind of snapped. She would have virgins from the village come in, murdered and she would bathe in their blood. She really thought that this was making her young. She started with just the villagers but then virgins from nobles were being taken and that’s when she was finally caught but they say that over 600 virgins were murdered by her.

Got to ask this... Why out of three concept songs 'Requiem For The Innocent' is printed in red on the album’s cover?

There was a rumor that the ink was made with blood but I can’t really say that it’s true [laughs], but basically the song is the place where those murders started happening and we wanted to have this sort of visual comparison to lyrics and the music.

Is this the label idea to add those bonus tracks? To me 'Fall From Grace' is a perfect, powerful ending to a great CD...

That was basically because European release has been out for two months already and fans in America had to wait for two moths if they didn’t already buy the import and we wanted to have something on it that is at least collectable, something different. I think it was a way of giving the fans a little bit something extra for waiting.

How do you handle the keyboards on the road? Although you use them very heavily on the album you don’t have a permanent member... Have you ever thought of adding a fifth member?

Not really. We have Günter Werno (Vanden Plas) who plays with us live and he’s a very good keyboard player but we really don’t think it would make any sense to add another member. We feel like chemistry is perfect now. Working with Miro as arranger and having him do the keyboards we feel is perfect. Khan and I do keyboard parts for the record and then we give them to Miro to come up with proper sound, change some arrangements but general ideas for keyboards come from Khan and myself.

Maybe Miro could stop producing your music and concentrate on performing it?

He’s kind of an enigma. He’s an incredible keyboard player but he doesn’t really play live and he’s to busy as a producer to really hit the road for few months. There might be a special event that we could have Miro play but he just doesn’t have the time to do it regularly.

Are we going to see you on American tour anytime soon?

We are working on some kind of a tour package for the US but it’s going to be the right one for the fans and for Kamelot. We want to make sure that the package that we put together will make sense and the fans will get their money’s worth. So far we really haven’t been presented with something that we feel is good enough and for now we are only doing the festival in November called a ProgPower in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anything would you like to add?

Nothing except thanks for your support and your kind words about the album and to urge everybody out there to go buy the new record "Karma" and hopefully we’ll soon see you all on the road.

I don’t know if whatever I say here will match the brutality and fury of "Ageless Venomous". These guys are mean, hate breathing creatures that are here to hurt you in any way possible. After listening to this sick release I thought I would just roll on the carpet and hide under my desk for the rest of the day. My ears were bleeding, my body was aching and my mind was incapable of independent thought. When Max Kolesne called me on this Sunday afternoon I thought that all hell broke loose… even the gods were pissed ‘cause we got disconnected three times during our exchange of thoughts. So without wasting any more of your time, I’ll give a voice to Max ‘cause he has quite a few messages to tell you.

Chris


I have to tell you that "Ageless Venomous" just blew my mind... once again you proved your affiliation with the best death metal bands in the world...

Thank you very fucking much. We really appreciate that.

"Conquerors of Armageddon", by your main fans, is already treated like a classic release, how difficult was it to write new material after such a huge success of its predecessor?

Thank you very much. After we recorded "Conquerors of Armageddon" we did so many tours, maybe a hundred shows in less than a year and it was very important to us to play every day, it didn’t matter if sometimes we woke up tired or sick we only wanted to get on stage, do our best and play some real fucking metal. And I think playing so extensively around the world was a great thing for us. When we come back from all those tours we just started jamming and after those tours I think the band has improved a lot. I think we are getting tighter and better and the whole writing process of this new material was very natural for us. By just jamming a lot we were sharing a lot of ideas and Moyses already had a lot of riffs ready and that’s how we wrote the new material. It was very important to write music from our hearts, from our souls. It’s so natural for us to play this kind of music cause we really really love to play brutal music. We had great atmosphere and great time writing this album. We tried to make this album to sound as brutal, fast and extreme as possible.

Do you think, although you’ve existed since 1991, that many people affiliate Krisiun with the new wave of death metal with bands like Nile, Hate Eternal or Reabelliun? By the way what do you think of those bands?

First of all, those bands are all great fucking bands. Great musicians playing real aggressive, violent music and I think Krisiun was very important for the death metal scene because if you go back, like 10 years ago when we started playing, I think the metal scene especially here in Brazil was getting really fucked up. Most of the bands, even the great bands from the 80s were changing. They were kind of slowing down. Most of the bands would weaken out trying to play some more commercial music, mixing distortion guitars with rap or this trendy music and this scene here was totally fucked up. So we just said, fuck all this trendy, mainstream scene and let’s play some real brutal music. In the beginning we had some influences from bands like Venom, Slayer, Morbid Angel but it was very important for us to achieve our own style. And I think we have our own way of playing music like we play fast most of the time, really aggressive riffs, vocals and everything is toward aggression, violence and speed. So, I think we brought a new vibe to a death metal scene by playing more aggressive and with our feeling, with this wild thing we have inside of us.

Tell me, where did you record this album and who’s producing it. Do you still work with Eric Rutan?

This album was recorded here at Creative Sound Studios in Sao Paulo and this time we produced it ourselves with help of two guys, Thcello Martins and Filip the owner of the studio who mixed and mastered the album. This time we worked more like a team, five guys working together during the whole recording session and during the mixing and mastering of the albums so, this time we made sure this was going to sound the way we wanted it to sound. I think "Ageless Venomous" is much better from "Conquerors of Armageddon" ‘cause it sounds much more clear and I think it’s necessary for a band, which plays such a fast and brutal music to have a clean production. "Conquerors..." production was very good for that time but now we tried to improve, we tried to make something better.
We are still very good friends with Erik but this time he was very busy. He was touring with Morbid Angel, he has his Alas project and Hate Eternal so, by the time we were about to record the album he was so busy we couldn’t find him. So we said "Hey, let’s do it by ourselves".

In your own worlds, how is "Ageless Venomous" different from "Conquerors of Armageddon"?

I think "Ageless Venomous" it’s a little bit more technical. Band is much better, sounds tighter and even faster. We kept this same fast, brutal style but we are playing better, more complex and more technical. I think those are the main differences from "Conquerors of Armageddon".

Tell me something about the two instrumental tracks on this album. It’s pretty unusual for a death metal band.

Well, the first one ‘Serpents Specters’, started as a regular song. We had a drum intro and then Moyses did some melodies over this drum work I did. We don’t say "Let’s make an instrumental song" we just started writing the music structure, started jamming and at the end we decided to keep it as an instrumental because there is a lot of different riffs, changes and stuff like that. The second one, ‘Diableros’, the first idea came up from Moyses, of course, because he has a lot of influences from some classical guitarists. So he showed us this idea and asked Alex what he thinks about it. He said it was great. It’s extreme, it’s fast but it’s also primitive at this same time just like a mix between ancient music with some really extreme classical guitar and then I added some percussion over this song.

If I had to judge the success of a metal band by the number of given concerts you would easily take the top spot. How important are the live shows for you?

I think live shows are the most important thing for the band, especially a metal band. Every metal band should play live and bring their fans the real power of the band. When we play live we feel great. Live shows make you better as a musician, every day you play in a different place, on different gear, sometimes you get tired but you still go on stage and try to be the best you can. I think since we started touring very extensively all over the world the band started to get really better. We feel more confident playing this type of music and more comfortable. All those tours were very important to us. It’s a great feeling to be on the road, meet some real metal people, real diehards, people that are into the music which go to the shows to raise their fists and bang their heads. Real shit played by a real band is the greatest thing you can see.

Century is re-releasing your first two albums now "Black Force Domain" and "Apocalyptic Revelation". Is it true that "Black Force Domain" was lying on the shelf for two years before it was first released?

Yeah. What happened was when we recorded "Black Force Domain" we had some problems releasing this album. We recorded it in 1995 and there was a record (Dynamo Records) here in Brazil that was supposed to release it but the guys from this record label were bunch of losers, bunch of faggots which thought that record was too brutal and they didn’t want to release it. The first record label that released "Black Force Domain" was a small record label from Spain, which released only 1000 copies from which we got about 200 copies just for promotion. We started sending a lot of them to labels, bands and the response was great. Even guys from great bands like Trey Azagthoth (Morbid Angel) wrote us back saying very good things about our music. So we did a small underground tour in Europe where on one of the shows in Germany, guys from Gun Records saw us and decided to release our album. From that point things started to be a little better...

And what about your mini album "Unmerciful Order"? Is anyone going to re-release this - because to tell you the truth I haven’t heard that one yet and it’s pretty hard to get?

This one is really fucked up. It has really bad production. Some people really want to re-release this album but we don’t think it’s the right time to do it, maybe in the future... We don’t want to release it because the production is so bad, it has mistakes... That was our first mini album ever recorded and we did this in like 40 hours.

What is Krisiun for you? A band or way of life?

Of course it’s a way of life. I love to be part of this, to be part of this battle. We’ve been playing for more than 10 years and we’ve been sticking together and fighting together. Even during hard times we were always fighting for the real metal for the real extreme music. We are not here to weak out, or slow down. We are not going to give up. We’ll always keep playing as fast and brutal as we can cause we love to be part of this. It’s just like a battle in the name of the real metal music. For me it’s a life style. I’m living for honor, for something that I really love. I’m not searching for big money. If I can survive playing the music, buy some good equipment and drink some beers I’d be really really happy. Krisiun is really really important to all of us.

How much time do the three of you spend in a rehearsal room? Each one of you represents outstanding skills and knowledge of his instruments.

It depends. Before we went to the studio, this time to record "Ageless Venomous", we were playing 5 or 6 hours a day, every day. We use to practice every day even before we go on tour. Sometimes we practice 3 or 4 hours sometimes more it all depends on our moods. Sometimes we feel 2 or 3 hours is enough and sometimes 6 isn’t. We are very concerned about practicing. I think it is one of the most important things for the band if not the most important to practice a lot. If you stop playing for a few days you are going to start feeling rusty and to play this music you have to be in great shape.

Tell me how difficult or how easy is to work with brothers?

This is crazy. Sometimes it gets really difficult. We’ve been together as a band for over 10 years, we even share this same apartment, of course each one of has have a separate room but sometimes shit happens. I think it’s very important that we grow up spiritually, we respect each other and we respect the others’ defects. It’s just like the school of life. I have learned so much during all those years and now I think we reached more maturity, we are more mature and nowadays we respect each other. Sometimes we have some disagreements but we never get into real fight cause that would be really tough, especially for me because I’m the smallest [laughs].

It seems like Century Media is doing everything they can to promote you as much as possible. Are you happy with your current label?

We are very happy. I think this is first time that we have someone really supporting the band. Since we signed to Century Media we feel like finally someone is doing something for us. They are very professional people, they really respect us as individuals and as a band. Every time we record a new album, guys come over and say "congratulations, you guys play great music". They really respect our music they never come to us and say "guys, play something more commercial, slower" it never happened. We have the freedom to play whatever we want to play. They are very nice people as well, every time we go to the German, US or Brazil office they treat us very well. Sometimes we do barbecues together and we always have a great time. I think it’s very important to have cool people working with the band and not just as professionals but as friends.

What are the tour plans to support "Ageless Venomous"?

In the beginning of August we are going to Europe where we are going to play Wacken Metal Fest. in Germany. After this show we go to US with Immolation during the one we play at Milwaukee Metal Fest. In September we are going to be back here in Brazil and maybe play some shows in South America but that’s not sure yet. We also might play in Japan in October but that’s not sure yet also but November and December are going to be very busy. At the beginning of November we start touring in Poland, our first time there, it’s a headlining tour for Krisiun. After that tour we are going to play with Cannibal Corpse and Kreator around Europe in countries like England, Ireland, Greece, places we never played before so we are very excited about this. After this tour we are going to start Christmas Fest, which happens in Europe every year with bands like Kreator, Cannibal Corpse, Marduk, Dark Funeral, Vomitory and more.

I guess it’s time to end our conversation. My best Krisiunian regards to you and the rest of the band and I’ll see you in Milwaukee Fest. Any closing comments?

Thank you very much for a chance to spread our message and I’d like to tell people, real diehards that we are not going to give up, we’re gonna play fucking fast and brutal music forever and a big fuck off to all whimps and losers, which infected the metal scene.

Cryptopsy’s “And Then You'll Beg” was one of the most anticipated releases of the year 2000 and our Canadians with cold blood delivered their most vile album to date which is nothing short of technical perfection, whacked-out guitar riffs and inhumanly fast and complex drum beats. It seemed like Mike DiSalvo’s departure might slow down this fast-speed train but Flo Mounier doesn’t think so. He even thinks that it can only make them stronger, adding another element of distinction to create something a little bit new... but you can read about it yourself below...

Chris


Probably the hottest question right now… What’s the real story behind Mike DiSalvo’s departure?

I can’t really go into details too much... he had some family thing he had to take care of and probably he couldn’t have been the part of the tour coming up in Europe so we all agreed upon him leaving. It’s really a family thing when he made a decision that was family orientated. Family first basically, you know what I mean? It just happened that way and it was conflicting with what our schedule is going to be so he kind of backed out and that’s it.

Is this becoming the Cryptopsy’s rule, a new singer every two albums?

Yeah, that’s what it seems to be. Actually, a different member every album is Cryptopsy motto now. [laughs] Shit happens... it’s always pretty much been John, Eric and I that have been pretty encored within Cryptopsy and I could say that everyone will stay from now on but it seems some people change, times change, this and that but Cryptopsy has always been innovating. I think what it brings that it’s going to bring another color and that’s why people actually like Cryptopsy. Every album is different and maybe a new singer will add another element of distinction and create something a little bit new... we’ll see.

All the vocalist changes have to concern you a little. There were already a lot of fans that had a hard time accepting Mike after Lord Worm. Now, after two albums with a new vocalist, just when people got used to the new voice you are again going for a change...

Sure, but you know what? Change is good. [laughs] I’m not concerned, I’m not concerned at all. I like change and I’m not concerned at all with what people are going to think. People have to keep in mind we are not making millions of dollars here, so for somebody that has to leave, take decisions it’s hard to balance two jobs at this same time and do this and that... They have to understand Mike left for a reason. Shit happens and now we just move on and continue to put up a good music.

Any chance Lord Worm is coming back?

Not likely. He gave all that up a long time ago and I don’t think he would be in shape to start all over again. Personally I don’t think he’d want to. I think he’s comfortable in doing what he’s doing and he gave it up for a reason. He didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to tour that much, so if he wants to come back he has to call us because he made it clear to us a while ago that it wasn’t for him.

By the way, what is he doing right now?

Actually, he’s teaching English as a second language. He’s an English teacher [laughs] It’s perfect for him he knows English very well.

Were you surprised with the final vote on Best Metal Artist award you received at the MIMI's (Montreal International Music Initiative)?

Was I surprised?

...it’s not too often an extreme metal band wins any awards...

Actually two years ago we were a runner up too and we were nominated and did win. It didn’t come to us as a big surprise but you know, the more you go on the more your name gets a little bit bigger, you make this big magazine and people start to hear a little bit more of you and it’s all about proper promotion whether its extreme metal or not. I guess the category being as it was, out of all those bands I guess we toured the most and the most all over the world so it was kind of normal that we would win but it did so good it was as a little bit of a surprise cause you’re right, not everybody has easy time accepting this kind of music. It was good. It was like all the hard work is starting to pay off. It’s not like this award is really a pay off or anything like that I’d rather have more fans and do more touring but we liked it and accepted it. Whatever.

Don’t you think that there is more metal everywhere recently and that is not an underground like it used to be anymore it’s actually hitting the main stream?

Oh for sure. I mean the more the time goes on the more metal is going to be. With all those extreme sports, extreme movies and this and that you’d go for some music that’s more pumped up. You are not going to go for something like party every day or whatever, no, it’s more like in your face. The society is more fast paced, it’s more in your face society, little bit... not violent but aggressive if you wish. So yeah, it’s going to come up front and it is coming up front. All those Korn type bands, Deftones and this and that they are making distortion and a distorted voice if you wish too although a little bit more acceptable.
I don’t think the type of music we play or the boys in death metal and extreme metal world will ever be played in the radio that much but at least it’s getting a little bit closer. Maybe that’s why the media is taking a little bit more interest... It’s hard for a media to accept metal as a serious art form. For some reason it’s always been, it’s been so many clichés around that and it’s always been hard for media to really say “yeah, this is here to stay and it’s acceptable art form and respectable art form”. But there is also a lot of bands that encourage that negativity that media has towards metal by displaying blood and guts everywhere and just talking about raping this raping that. You can’t really get a positive image.

I think most of the time it’s the lyrics that stop heavy metal... regular people don’t want to listen to the music about gore, Satanism or topics like that...

No, it’s not sane. It’s not a reality. What the problem is a lot of bands think it’s real and want to be considered real but it’s a joke. These guys paint blood all over their faces or stuff like that and it’s not real blood... and if it is it’s even more stupid. Why give yourself that image? So you can go home, pop open a can of coke and watch loony toons or something afterwards? It doesn’t make any sense. I understand difference between live performance and reality but a lot of times that is done it’s given a really bad name. Look at Marilyn Manson, you see him on American Music Awards every year and he just gives metal such a shit name, I think he does. And he might do it as a joke too and it might be funny to him but for 14-15 years old kids and their parents it’s not. They don’t understand that humor so they going to interpret this as just a crap...

You just got back from Fuck The Commerce Fest in Germany, how was it? Anything unusual happen there?

No, it was just amazing. [laughs] It was really cool. A lot of cool people, a lot of cool bands and great treatment by a band called Spawn. Just awesome, awesome, super-nice guys. We made a lot of connections and had a really great time, just plain and simple.

So are you enjoying the road? How’s the tour treating you?

Good man, very good. I can’t say there’s really been some catastrophes, knock on the wood, but there hasn’t so far and it’s been really positive, really good, a lot of fans, a lot of pushing... just all around it feels good to go touring and actually see that you are accomplishing something more rather than just pedaling and getting nowhere type of thing.

After all that drum pounding do you have any back spasms?

No. [laughs] Knock on wood again, there you go (he actually did knock on wood - Zgred).
No, nothing. I try to develop techniques that make things a lot smoother for the body. I studied a lot of professional drummers just to get their technique and how they can go on with more like a jazz style where everything is more loose and how they can go really fast with their hands not getting tired, not breaking to a sweat. And that’s the key playing an instrument, is just to become comfortable and relaxed playing it as much as possible so that little energy is spent on the concentration and on the right movements. So, I try to do it that way, if not then for sure by the time that anybody gets like 25-whatever and has been playing for 9-10 years will definitely have some kind of health problems.

You just answered my next question... Do you have any secrets or special techniques on how to become one of the fastest drummers in the world?

There is technique, no secrets. There is no secret to play drums, just practice. They say practice makes perfect... and it’s not bullshit [laughs]

So, who inspired you?

I think music in general inspired me and not one particular drummer. You always have your influences but I never really ever mimic or try to copy any drummer, which could have been a mistake I did when I was young because it’s a good thing to start like that and then branch out. Right now, I don’t have a favorite drummer I just have a whole fucking selection of music that ranges from every genre possible. I just like listening to everything and all these ideas are coming to my head and create the ideas for whatever I drum.

What’s in your CD player right now, then?

Oh shit, you want me to take a look? Hold on it will take just a few seconds, I want to be exact on this question. It might be embarrassing though [laughs] OK, oh my god, my fiancé’s cd Madonna... there is the new Napalm Death and... I’m gonna cheat... I’m listening to a lot of new Dimmu Borgir, which I like a lot, Dave Weckl Band and stuff like that, pop-jazz. I listen to a new band called Coldplay, they always play on the radio, this is like a newer Pink Floyd type of folk-rock type band...

How often do you hear “slow down” from other members of the band?

Well, I usually hear this from new members coming in. [laughs] They say “Oh god, can you slow down this part a little bit?” I tell them “in a live situation you got to get used to it, it’s only going to get worse” [laughs] “Don’t tell me to slow down in a practice cause you got to be ready for live” But, no it’s not that often.

What your most challenging song to play live?

That’s a very good question. Let’s see... from the songs that we don’t play anymore that would be ‘Loathe’ on “Whisper Supremacy”, that was pretty challenging... ‘Cold Hate, Warm Blood’ is pretty challenging... On the new one ‘Screams Go Unheard’ it’s a lot of fun but it’s really challenging. There is a bunch I guess... on "None So Vile" fun but challenging too was ‘Crown of Horns’... They all make me break into sweat and they are all challenging in their own way, it’s hard to pin point, they all got a little bit of something that it’s different... they are all challenging in their own way.

Than on an easer note... what’s your favorite to play live?

Probably ‘We Bleed’, that’s a lot of fun but I like newer stuff, like I said I like change. For live; ‘We Bleed’ and ‘Screams Go Unheard’ are a lot of fun. ‘We Bleed’ shows showcases if you wish, a lot of different stuff on the drums and on the guitars too so it’s a lot of fun to play. There is a whole bunch of stuff in it, it’s a long song...

“And Then You’ll Beg” is Cryptopsy’s the most technical and stunning accomplishment to date, how did you come up with material for this album?

We wanted to make it a little bit simpler as far as riffs, as guitars go. Not to have too much notes that nobody would really pick up, hear anything. So we wanted to make it a little bit simpler that way but we wanted to make it a lot more musical. So what I was doing on drums wasn’t that much simpler it was little bit more technical but it all fit. We tried to give each other breathing room, like the guitar does its part here that crazy I’m not gonna fill it up with something crazy too and vice versa.

How did the recording process go? Did you have any problems?

Studios are always tough because we are big time perfectionists and it’s hard and nerve-wracking. It took us about 2 months to do on and off and you know, there are always a little problems like how to get a better sound and this and that but generally it went really nice and smoothly. I think this is the album we are the proudest off as far as music goes.

The album is visually outstanding as well; to me it perfectly reflects the music inside, speed, chaos and death. Was it your intention during the design process?

Yeah it was. We wanted to have something really fast and heavy, just hit you face on and basically mow you over. [laughs] That was kind of our intentions and we wanted to create some kind of link between the artwork and intro, outro and the flow of the album.

Your web site is also very interesting and unusual. How much do you think Internet helps promoting your music?

Helps a lot. The same guy who does our internet stuff does our covers and our merchandise. He’s just a crazy genius. Yeah, it helps a lot... It’s free advertising, people can go any time and leave their comments... we don’t necessarily answer back cause it would be crazy answering back all the time but we take all the people’s advise and take into consideration. We got merchandise up there, we got news, anything that happens we try to let the people know as soon as it happens. I think it’s a great promotion tool.

Being on the subject, what your opinion on Napster and MP3s?

MP3s I think are positive because they can generate a little bit of income for the bands. Napster, on the other hand, it’s good for those who can afford it, can afford the albums, but it’s mostly the people who can’t afford it, who have computers, who can go on and download all that stuff. I think it’s counterproductive. What’s the point of fighting with the record labels, negotiating, going through this mess and shit if people can just take it from the computer. It makes us work like five times as hard and having absolutely no reward for it. I mean, we can’t kid ourselves it’s gonna be some way to make a little bit of money doing this or else we couldn’t buy instruments, we couldn’t have a better sound on our next album... I don’t like Napster personally, I’ve never been on Napster even though I can get free stuff I always try to support bands. I like to have a cover, original CD, what have you. But MP3s I think are positive. They can give you a little bit of band history and it’s productive. Small bands can put their songs out there and start making a little bit of money, get 3 cents every time it downloads or something like that.

I guess with your busy tour schedule you don’t have time to think about the new material yet or do you?

No, not really. Actually we’re starting to think about it a little bit but not fully. So, no new songs, titles, nothing yet but it will come. It’ll be interesting...

That would be all, anything you’d like to add?

Just thank you. Thanks for the support and keep on doing this, it helps out the bands a lot.

I don’t think that whatever I say here would ever be sufficient enough to describe this band. They are the gods of American Power Metal and let’s leave it that way. Their new album "Horror Show" is another masterpiece in their impressive discography and by bringing to life Dracula, Frankenstein or Damian (The Omen) this time they show us even darker side of Iced Earth. So, without wasting your bandwidth I’ll let the monster Matthew Barlow tell you more about their latest release and the Iced Earth machine himself.

Chris

Judging by the media interest, "Horror Show" must be getting pretty good reviews...

Yeah it has been. We’ve been really, really happy with the reviews it’s gotten.

It’s been three years now since your last regular studio album, was it the band’s intention to take some time off?

We’ve been pretty busy, man. We did a live record, Jon was working with Demons & Wizards and did some touring with them, so we’ve really been busy. It’s not been all fun and games.

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" was a very successful album. I think that there were high expectations with regard to the new album. How did you handle this kind of pressure?

I think you right, there were certainly high expectations, in the matter of fact, some people were expecting that we would continue the "Something Wicked" story and really do a full concept. We didn’t think we were ready to do that at this point because when that happens it would really need a proper treatment given to it because it’s going to be a big deal... but we will visit that land at some point. There were certain expectations by fans and things like that, that we really needed to provide for and we certainly always keep that in mind but we went with this idea, this theme, and we stuck it out.

You actually answered one of my questions because wasn’t the next Iced Earth album going to be a concept based on the "Something Wicked..." story? Why did you decide to do "Horror Show" instead of continuation of "Something Wicked"? Does the fact that this is your last album on Century Media play any role in making this decision?

No. I think the main reason for it was that Jon really wants it to be a really big deal, really big production with a lot of push and other things attached to it other than just the record and the music. He wants to make sure that whoever the band is partnered with is going to be able to pull that kind of thing off. He wants to be secure about that. So, in changing the plan we were looking for idea to follow and we actually talked few years ago about doing an EP based on the classic horror monsters and just calling it "Monster" and doing this as a fun thing for us and something cool for the fans. When given this opportunity as doing another studio record, Jon and I talked about it and we decided to go forward with it. Jon wasn’t exactly sure if that was going to be a full theme or not with the monsters but we ended up having enough ideas and material with these characters that it really made for a good, solid record.

Does it mean you want to go somewhere else to do this album?

Yeah, for sure. [laughs] We need to move on. We have high expectations and we would like other people to have this same kind of drive and vision that we do.

Despite obvious success with Iced Earth you went through another line-up change... Are you satisfied with Steve DiGiorgio’s and Richard Christy’s contribution to this album?

Yeah. Richard is a great drummer. We worked with him before in live situations and it’s going to be a lot of fun having the drummer that performed on the record be out there with us live and I thing Richard is a real pro and it’s going to work out nicely. Steve DiGiorgio merely performed on the record and he won’t be touring with us. We have a professional act here. We like to bring in professionals and do things right in live situations and I certainly don’t think that member changes and things like that would have a negative effect on us. They are going to happen. I think people have gotten kind of use to it. It’s unfortunate that it has happened so many times in the past but we don’t look at it as a bad thing, we just basically look at it as inconvenience, we just go on and we find what we need to do to keep the machine going. Member changes or anything else have not slowed down this machine so we are continuing on.

Yeah, but it has to be just a little frustrating? Having steady members, solid band helps to do better music...

Yeah, you right. Hopefully we are at the point we won’t have to worry about it anymore. We’ve certainly had our exploding drummers and things, spinal tap moments but it happens, man. This band is not a democracy by any means. We follow a basic way of thinking that we have a boss, entitled to our beliefs and everything and it’s great. But when we are playing, when we are on the road, recording we are here to do the job. We have certain responsibilities to do for the band and sometimes people don’t see it that way.

I know Jon is really disappointed with Steve... what’s your opinion? From what I know he was hired because he was going to tour with you but in reality he only did the album and backed out almost right away after the recording process…

That’s correct. He was a big disappointment. It was a basically a stab in a back. We were told, by a fax which is very professional very classy way to announce this, that he wouldn’t be doing the tours with us. It was a big kick in a face and obviously he was trying to use us as a promotion for himself. We are not into that. Self promotion is you prove then you promote but it wasn’t proven... I’m not going to take away his performance on the record, he’s a good bass player but he’s not very friendly.

Does it mean that James MacDonough will return to handle the bass?

Yeah, several days after the word got out, Jimmy had e-mailed Jon and said that he understood the situation with Steve and if given the opportunity he would like a second chance. So, we’re gonna do that. We’ll get together and jam, do this tour and then we will see what happens from there. Sometimes things happen for a reason and we are looking at it now and think we gonna do some good things...

You certainly stuck to your very own style, but to me "Horror Show" is much darker than your previous material, especially 'Damien'...

I agree too. I think that as well and I think it’s probably because of the subject matter that goes throughout the record. We really tried to represent those characters in a way that I certainly would do it and I think that Jon did a very nice job musically of giving these characters the dark treatment that they deserve and not making them something other than what we perceived them to be.

Also by using first person (Damien, Dracula) you make the reader a part of what happens instead of making him watch it by describing what’s going on...

I think first person is a very good tool we like to use a lot. It really brings the personal aspect of it. Third person works in a lot of ways, sometimes you can go in and out from third person to first person and really create a story that way as well, but I think you’re right with the treatment of these songs. It was really a lot of fun to do it that way.

When you wrote the lyrics, did you concentrate more on the books or movies?

Both. There were certainly inspiration from both and there are certain songs that we took artistic license on, as far as creating our own kind of stories. For instance Jon did on "The Phantom Opera Ghost". I know he’s seen several versions of "Phantom…" and all of them were different, had their own different endings, different lead ups to the Phantom, so he took it upon himself to do his own thing. He’s got his own story but still falling within the realm of what the initial story is about. There are definitely songs that we took artistic license with but hopefully everyone will understand where we were coming from. We really tried to make them more Iced Earth and really just pay tribute to these characters.

"Ghost Of Freedom" is based on your idea... how did you come up with it, because this one is a little off from whole horror theme?

Yes, it doesn’t fall within the theme. The only thing that might relate it is the word ghost. I told Jon about this idea a few months before we started any kind of pre-production and he like it. We are certainly getting into a certain thing now with the records, seem like, since "Something Wicked..." getting into a bit of patriotic feel and with this song is certainly no exception. We really tried to pay a tribute to a people that fought for freedom and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

...was this song inspired by "The Patriot"?

The title of it, I definitely give credit to that film as an inspiration for the title. The story doesn’t follow, not even remotely, the theme of that movie.

In the middle of "Damien" there are some reversed spoken passages, what do they actually say?

It’s actually what Jon is whispering in the spoken part in a center of the song when he is speaking first person Damien and that’s just his whisper parts played backwards.

So there is no special satanic meaning or anything like that?

[laughs] Not that we know of... [laughs]

On your previous album there were some songs against the church… like "Burning Times" which was about the Spanish Inquisition. What’s your opinion about religion?

Well, I think everybody has a right to do and to worship what they like. I’m not a really fan of organized religion but that’s me. Everybody has got to live their own life and do their own thing but we try to entertain and often times we are, just like any other metal band, criticized for using anti-church or demonic, satanic reference but we’re really just telling stories. But yeah, there is a certain conflict, I know Jon didn’t have a really good time being raised in very strong religious background as far as going to religious school and things like that. There are probably some deep buried demons there but other than that I can’t speak for him personally.

Speaking of Jon, how’s his neck these days. Is he fully recovered?

He’s doing really well. He has some bad days, he still has some damage back there but the main source of his problems it’s been taken care of. I’m sure he’s looking forward to performing without being in pain.

That’s great. So, we can actually see him banging his head on the stage?

No, not anymore. He can’t do it. It would be really detrimental if he attempted to do that but I don’t think his power and aggression on the stage will be compromised at all.

Who did the female vocals on "The Phantom Opera Ghost"?

A local vocalist named Yunhui Percifield, she lives in Indianapolis. I believe she does have some records but I don’t think she’s signed to a label. I think they are self-produced.

"Horror Show" will also be released as a special limited edition CD; what it will contain?

With that there’s going to be a supplemental CD that will include "Transylvania" which is an Iron Maiden cover and also an hour long interview with Jon giving his own points of view so fans can hear him being interviewed first person and really see eye to eye so to speak.

You just mentioned your fans and I think this is a really striking aspect about your band because not a lot of musicians really pay tribute to their fans and say ‘we really respect you and we are grateful’... you do this.

Man, I think it’s ridiculous whenever guys get to the point where they think that the fans are there for them because, the thing is, they are there for the fans. They are there to perform and do the best job they can and not show up drunk and all fucked up and put on a shitty show because these guys paid hard earned money to go see them and whenever they see a fucked up show it’s like money out the window. I’ve been to those shows, I’ve been pissed off and I’ll never do that. I would never show up on the stage all fucked up and not be able to perform 110% of my capability. It just pisses me off whenever that happens. The fans need to be respected.

Being so devoted to fans, sometimes it must be difficult to decide what’s more important: your own music development or fan’s expectation...

I think if you show respect for the fans they will show respect for you as far as your development is concerned and I don’t think it’s really a concern to fans the way Jon has developed himself as a writer. I think they are there with him, they understand and they know what he’s about and who he’s about because doesn’t pull any punches, he doesn’t bullshit and that’s very important aspect too.

What are the plans for a tour to support "Horror Show"?

We are going to start out touring in September in Europe and probably October in the US having 7 or 10 day off in between.

Are you going to shoot a video to any of "Horror Show" songs?

No, we are not going to. These songs should be given a proper treatment if a video was to be made and it would cost a lot more money than we are willing to really shell out because at the end the band has to pay for it. It takes off the opportunity for us to actually gain some record royalty at any point.

I know you have footage from "Alive in Athens", any plans for releasing a video from this concert?

Yeah, we are talking about it. It’s certainly in a works. We are talking about possibly doing a DVD but we’ll probably end up doing just a video because it will be more available for people throughout Europe that maybe don’t have a DVD players. Not everybody in US has a DVD player either. It will be something cool when it comes out.

Can you tell me more about the stage show you are preparing to fit the album’s concept?

We are going to do several set changes and things like that to really change the mood of the show. I can’t really get into much more about it cause we are not 100% on the total production at this point. I wouldn’t want to say something and then turn around on it and do something differently.

Do you know who your next label is going to be?

We don’t really have any, we have some ideas but nothing is set in stone and certainly nothing that I can talk about right now. [laughs]

Final question, what’s your favorite monster?

I would say Dracula is my favorite monster for a while now so… yeah definitely Dracula.

Devin Townsend is a musical genius. He has achieved more at a young age than most veteran musicians. From his early days as the vocalist on Steve Vai’s Sex and Religion album to heading up the industrial thrash scene with his band Strapping Young Lad, to an endless array of new projects, Devin is one of, if not the most respected man in modern metal. After getting through a very bad period in his life around 1999-2000, Devin is back on the scene with his latest release "Physicist" and the upcoming opus "Terria". I was lucky enough to catch up with him mid-way through his Foot in Mouth European Tour 2001 in Bochum, Germany. And he had this to say:

Michael 'XCase'

How’s the tour been going so far? You played some big festivals here in Europe over the past week, how were they?

Both of the festivals went really well, The With Full Force festival [in Leipzig, Germany] was really quite superior and we did a really good job of that one.

Do you feel at home while you are on tour?

Oh yeah, definitely. It’s a life to its own and definitely something to become accustomed too. But, when you haven’t done it for a while you really start to miss it. For myself I find that whatever I am doing I kind of want to be doing the opposite for a little while, its like for the first month or the first 2 weeks I’m in the studio, I’m totally happy to be in the studio, but come the third week I kind of want to be on tour. It’s the same thing with touring, the first two weeks that we are out I’m totally happy, but come about the third week I’d like to be recording again.

Have you been working on any new material since hitting the road?

No, not since "Terria". I finished "Terria" and that just totally drained me.

I heard the tracks 'Mountain' and 'Canada' from "Terria", they are both incredible...

Thank you man, I really appreciate it

... 'Mountain' is seriously heavy.

[laughs] Yeah, 'Mountain' is one of my favourite ones on that record and it seems to be that one that confuses people the most...

...because of all the changes?

...yeah, the whole idea with it is to sort of go on a bit of a journey, its kind of stupid sounding but what I wanted to do is when your listening to it with headphones or something, it's like whoa!...hey...whoa! sending you up and down. Some people have said to me "It sounds a little bit choppy, there’s too many parts" and I’m like "that’s the whole point".

How was the recording of "Terria", a little better than past experiences?

Um,...easier. Every record is stressful, but with "Terria" I think it was easier than the other ones because I didn’t force it, I wrote what I wanted to write when I wanted to write it. When I went to record I took my time, if I didn’t feel like recording I took a week off and as a result it came out sounding like "there it is"...you know what I mean?

What can we expect from the rest of the album?

Well its very lush, it's really big, but there is an intensity that was on "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine" that isn’t on "Terria". "Terria" sounds a lot more ‘come what may’ you know what I mean? Like whatever happens, happens...where "Infinity" was like "God! This is going on now! This is the beginning! This is the ending! aaahhhhh" "Infinity" was full on, but "Terria" isn’t. Even though its heavy, it’s a lot more relaxing, but there is enough ‘heavy’ on there to be heavy enough. It’s a pretty well rounded record, and there’s a lot of things in it, like a lot of noises and sounds and shit like that.

Coming to "Physicist", that was a major turning point in your life...

Yeah, yeah..."Physicist" was a hard one for me. The recording and the writing and the mixing and everything on "Physicist" was done at a time of my life when I was in a really bad state of mind. I’ve been in a bad state of mind for "City" [Strapping Young Lad] and "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine" but with "Physicist" it was like kind of hopeless, I didn’t feel like recording, I didn’t feel like writing, so I think with that in mind the record succeeds on the level that it sounds like that, it sounds hopeless...but, as far as technically and musically there’s problems that I have with it. But I think I made up for it with "Terria". "Physicist" was like "holy fuck, ok", its great for playing video games to, it’s a pretty heavy record, it's great, it sounds great, it's got cool layout...it’s a cool record. I’m pretty egotistical about my own music and sometimes I think "that’s a real classic record", and "Physicist" was a good record, but "Terria" is a classic.

Would you say you are a different person from when say, "City" was released?

Oh yeah, totally. I’m on a fistful of medication every morning now as well...

...and you’re cool with that?

...yeah absolutely. At first it was a little strange because you’re whole way of thinking changes, but what I found what it did was streamlined the way I think to the point where it gave me some kind of control over what I was doing. "Terria" as a result has a lot of songs that are very much like "that’s what I think", whereas with "Infinity" it was like "what do I think?".

Going back to your time with Steve Vai, are you proud of the work you did?

...I’m proud of the singing I did...yeah

...you were totally restricted musically at that time, was that what spawned Strapping Young Lad?

The "Sex and Religion" record was directly responsible for Strapping. Before "Sex and Religion" the music I was writing was like "Ocean Machine" and "Terria". When I came out of the "Sex and Religion" era of my life it was just like, singing someone else’s lyrics, singing to someone else’s music, I was on the cover of the record. They did a video for me, well we did two video’s...but in one of them they tried to make me look like a sex symbol, but I just don’t exude sex. Its like some people when they dance you’re like "he’s got a sexy thing about him right"...but I don’t. As a result of that and being portrayed in a video like I’m supposed to be like that made me feel like a fucking fool. So I came out of that situation like "I hate it, I hate everything, I hate you, I hate you..." And that was Strapping. So Strapping was like an accident...

...like a progression?

...yeah, but it's like a progression that I have been working against for a long time because I don’t want to be 50 years old and being represented by something that was an accident when I was 23.

A lot of fans want to know the future of Strapping...

Well, what we are doing at this point, because it's been 3 years since we’ve toured, this tour is specifically designed to say "Hey, we’re still alive"...still same musicians. It is a mixture of "Physicist" and Strapping and "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine", but there is more Strapping primarily because there’s three records to choose from, but who knows what will happen in the future? There are options being thrown around everywhere, but at this point we are still playing a rather heavy set.

Are "Infinity" and "Ocean Machine" one-off projects? Or do you have plans for new releases?

"Infinity" is definitely a one-off, there will never be another "Infinity"...as for "Ocean Machine" I don’t want to ruin it by doing another one. It’s the same way I feel about Strapping, unless I can do something that is better I’ll just do it under a different name.

What types of music did you listen to growing up? Who were the biggest inspirations?

Everything. I grew up in a musical family, there were a lot of musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar and Cats. My Mom and Dad were into Blue Grass and folk music, but at the same time we had stuff like The Moody Blues and Jimi Hendrix. When I hit about 12-13 I started listening to Slade and the Eurhythmics, then when I hit about 16 Judas Priest’s "Defender’s of the Faith" came out and I was just like Whoa!...that got me into W.A.S.P and Iron Maiden. It was the mainstream power metal scene that I was into at the time. I really got into Jane’s Addiction when I was about 18, him [Perry Farrell] and Björk were my biggest vocal inspirations. Then when I was working with Steve [Vai] I got really into experimental like ambient music, like noise music. Then toward the end of Steve when my anger started building up I started listening to Fear Factory, I think they were about the first band that introduced me to Thrash, so from there I got into Carcass and some Black Metal stuff. It just got progressively heavier, I was trying to find the heaviest music possible. But then things changed and for instance last year I got really into that group Ween and The Young Gods and Miles Davis...stuff like that. Everything. But it's all been dependent on my mood, sometimes I was solely into this and other times solely into that, because I get so obsessed with the music I listen to, I think the music I write is pretty authentic. Even though I wasn’t raised with the idea of Thrash Metal I think that "City" specifically was legitimately a good Thrash record because I was so into it at the time.

With the music you write, you don’t seem to care about fitting in to any genres. Is that ever a concern to you during the writing process? Or do you just do what you want?

Yeah, that’s the only way I can do it. I find myself to be a slave to whatever is going on in my head. I think that one of the only reasons I have a career is because of that, because I’m like "fuck it", I’m going to do what I want to do. It does confuses people, but I think eventually the people who like me will be like "ok, well we expect that" For the people who don’t know or like me and what I do I’m sure its confusing as fuck, but I guess I’m not writing the music for them anyway! [laughs]

Now that I have the opportunity I like to tell you that you are a major influence on myself and musicians all over the world. Do you ever think of yourself like that?

Thank you man, that’s cool, but I don’t think you can think of yourself like that. I think a lot of it has to do with a pretty selfish attitude, like when I’m out on tour I’m meeting people all the time and I’m like "yeah hi, how are you going?", but at the end of the day I’m still very aware of where I am good and bad as a person and so keeping that in mind I don’t think I could ever fool myself into thinking I’m something I’m not. Like when someone comes up to me and gives me a really heavy compliment, the compliment you gave me is great but if somebody comes up to me and says "your this" or "your that" I’m like "no I’m not". Please understand I’m just a fucking musician. I think it's great that I’m influencing young musicians like yourself, but for myself I just follow what happens for however long that lasts...I guess we’ll see what happens.

On your website [www.hevydevy.com] you mentioned you were interested in joining a pre-existing band. Did that ever come to fruition?

Well, yesterday I thought I wanted to be a monk [laughs]...

...[laughs] I guess that pretty much sums that one up

...yeah

You started HevyDevy Records to take control of your own projects...

Yeah, I did it for a lot of reasons, number one by having my own record label I make a lot more money per disk than if I was signed to a label. That does mean there is a lot more work to be done, but by making more money per disk I don’t have to sell that much in order to facilitate what I want to do, and that’s more important to me than selling a lot of records.

...are you planning to sign other bands to HevyDevy?

I produce bands, and the bands that I produce we sell on the internet through HevyDevy, but as far as being responsible for another band it doesn’t interest me at all because I know how I felt towards record companies. It all comes down to money. If you don’t have the money to support a band to the level they need to be at then I don’t think it's even worth trying, because all you are going to do is fuck things up. To a large degree that happened with certain projects of mine.

So you are in control of all your own projects now?

Yeah, except for Strapping.

Strapping’s owned by Century Media?

Yeah, and always will be. That can’t change. They own the publishing. But because I went through this supposed ‘mental illness’ and went back onto these medications, I just can’t do it and if I can’t do a record then I’m just not going to do it. There’re aware of that. Its like "I’m sorry man, but that’s how it is. You got three records". If they try to force me to write another record I’ll just fart on a cassette for fucking 45 minutes or something and give it to them [laughs]

So whats the next step for you from here?

I don’t have a clue [laughs]

...just here today and that’s about it? [laughs]

Pretty much [laughs] I don’t have a memory so I don’t care. I just try to go with the flow.

Thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it.

No problem man, thank you.

Formed in the early nineties, Yorkshire-based Bal-Sagoth legend was originally born as an idea of vocalist Byron Roberts. He’s vision and unique writing talents spurred the idea of creating one of the most singular and enigmatic black metal bands ever. If you are a fan of dark fantasy, ancient legends and mysterious tales of wonder wrapped around the avant-garde image with powerful and magical atmosphere "Atlantis Ascendant" as well as Bal-Sagoth’s previous releases are definitely something you need to check out. The founder of this enigmatic band tells me about their history and what’s in the future...

Chris


Let’s start with a little bit of history of the band. I’m sure a lot of people are curious about the unusual name. From what I know it comes from one of the Robert E. Howard stories. Could you tell us about the meaning of this name and the Howard work in connection to the band?

Yeah, the actual name comes from the story that he wrote called "Gods of Bal-Sagoth" which was first published in 1931 in a pulp-fiction magazine called "Wired Tales". The actual story, Bal-Sagoth itself, it’s a very mysterious and shrouded Ireland kingdom ruled over by this warrior-queen. Ever since I’ve first read the name Bal-Sagoth, when I first read the story when I was a kid, it just kind of stuck in my memory and I really just loved the name. When I was coming up with the whole concept of Bal-Sagoth that name was really still in my head and it just seemed to completely mirror the whole lyrical concept that I had in mind perfectly. So, when I was coming up with the idea for the band, that was the only name I really had in mind to use, so that’s why we are Bal-Sagoth essentially.
Certainly Robert E. Howard had a big influence on me, kind of a big inspiration, but all the stories across all five albums they are all my own stuff. Occasionally, I use one of his place names but basically all stories are my own stuff, just kind of my own imagination. Certainly I’m inspired by him and writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Tolkien.

Your first three CDs were presented as a Trilogy. "The Power Cosmic" was supposed to start a new one. Is "Atlantis Ascendant" a logical continuation of "The Power Cosmic" or did you drop that idea and it’s a story in itself?

Actually all the Bal-Sagoth albums are connected by being a part of this same grand overall saga. The first three albums, I label those as the first trilogy, more for ease of reference than as an actual tool for a divining the stories on them. On the new album we actually have continuations of songs which we began on the first three albums. So, it’s really an ongoing thing, all the songs on all albums are pretty much connected by a big overall story.

If I remember right, you once said that it would be a six-part saga? If so, there’s only one CD left. What’s next… the end of Bal-Sagoth, or will you start a new trilogy?

It’s interesting. Back in the early days when I was kind of looking ahead, wondering how many albums it might take to complete the whole story, six was the number I had in mind. As things have progressed I’ve come to realize that should we choose to go on after the sixth album, we certainly do have a lot more stories to tell and a lot of music to write. If we decide to go for that long we have enough stuff for maybe 12 albums. I mean, I’m not even going to have a chance to actually finish all the stories that we began on the previous albums by the time the sixth one comes around. I think maybe if the conditions are right, if we get a good deal from a record label and if things will work as planed we’ll probably continue after the sixth one.

"The Power Cosmic" ended the era of icy caves, dragons and demons and moved into outer space. Where do you go next?

All the way from the beginning of the Bal-Sagoth story there’s been like a fusion of science fiction and fantasy stuff in the lyrics. For instance, on the "Starfire..." album we had songs like 'Vortex' and some things regarding the astral gate, which were very, very kind of science fiction inspired. When I moved to the more science fiction elements on "The Power Cosmic" it was still a lot of fantasy mixed in there but the science fiction kind of icon overview was more prevalent. There’s always been a science fiction element in the Bal-Sagoth stuff and I think "Atlantis Ascendant" bones in that fusion once again. You have fantasy stories mixed with the science fiction. I think next I’m definitely going to continue and conclude a lot of the stories which I begun on the previous albums mixing fantasy, science fiction and also exploring some historical elements from the stories.

One more question from your previous album... Why in the world you didn’t include lyrics for "The Power Cosmic"?

That was kind of experiment which I was interested in doing. There were two parts to it, one of the parts was I wanted to do a web site only thing, cause at the time our web site was just taking of and we were getting a lot of hits and people were getting really into it. So, I figured if I make the lyrics almost exclusive to the web site that could draw more people to the site and in turn they could see more the features associated to the band but of course there are a quite few people that don’t have an access to the internet and that caused a few problems which is why at some point in the future I’m thinking of approaching Nuclear Blast to reprint the booklet with a full version of the lyrics. And another reason that lyrics were not printed in "The Power Cosmic" was because Nuclear Blast were having a little bit of a problem understanding and being able to translate and reprint all the arcane terms from the English that I use. And when they sent me the stuff back for proofreading there were all kinds of spelling mistakes and it was becoming evident that it would take a lot of time to sort this out, but that wasn’t really the main reason. It was simply the idea I had to make the lyrics website exclusive and by doing so I could add certain chapters on ongoing basis, expand the lyrics and make them truly an ongoing kind of concept.

If you had to choose the best story you have ever written which one would it be?

That’s difficult. One of the stories closest to me in terms of the cultural way is the ‘Tale From the Deep Woods’, which is actually set during the time of Anglo-Saxon England where we have this warrior who has been wounded in the battle. He’s pretty much dead so he slumps beneath the great oak tree in the middle of the forest and he reflects on his past achievements and reflects upon the nature of the Gods, what kind of significance the old tree has to his particular situation in his own kind of theological mindset. I think that would probably be one of my favorites as well as ‘Circus Maximus’ and ‘Behind the Born Empire’ trilogy.

"The Power Cosmic" also ended your relation with Cacophonous Records and started a new long-term deal with Nuclear Blast. Are you satisfied with those changes and why did you leave Cacophonous?

Initially we decided not to resign with Cacophonous because they are such a small label, they have very limited distribution and they couldn’t really publicized or promote the albums sufficiently. I used to get letter from people all the time saying that they can’t find our records in the stores and they couldn’t find them because Cacophonous distribution network was so very very limited. So when Nuclear Blast approached us and said we can offer you this pretty much worldwide distribution, big publicity and you don’t have to be worry about people being pissed off because they can’t find your albums, we decided it was time for a change and we went with Nuclear Blast for a few albums. We are very satisfied with them so far, they have promoted the album quite well. They’ve given us a lot of publicity in magazines worldwide and all that kind of thing. They could maybe do with giving us a little more tour support, which would help, but apart from that we are pretty satisfied with what they’ve done.

I’ve heard that there were plans to release a book or even a video game based on your lyrics. Can we expect either one of those in the future?

Yeah. The book idea is something we should certainly go ahead. I’ve written all kinds of short stories and there are several publishers that are quite interested in releasing them at some point. Also I’ve written quite a few scripto-graphic novels which are set in this same universe as the lyrics which will be illustrated by a various team of artist including Martin Hanford who does our covers these days. As for the video game idea that’s something I’d really like to do. We have contact with programmers of games like "Unreal Tournament" or "Diablo II" who are big fans of the band. They are really into the whole Bal-Sagoth thing that we are doing and one of the guys who used to work on one of those games wants to set up his own software house and one of the things he said would love to do an RPG based on Bal-Sagoth world. So, hopefully at some point in the future that might become a reality.

As usual with promo versions I don’t have any lyrics… Can you shine some light and tell me what are the stories about?

Several of the songs on the album, including the title track itself, are presented in the text of the lyric booklet as actual mini-concept. They are linked by being the excerpts from the field journal of a nineteenth century explorer who was discovering all kinds of arcane power and the evidence of advanced civilizations which ones existed on the earth, such as Atlantis. He studied and he’s excavated places all over the world and he discovered all kinds of evidence about the existence of these ancient empires like Hyperborea, Atlantis and Lemuria. As his journey continues he continues to piece together the puzzle and he discovers certain truths about the origin of mankind and the true nature of creation. He also confronts not human forces, which put the end to his quest. So, that’s kind of summing up the mini-concept which is presented on the album in addition to all other songs which although they take place within this same kind of fantasy universe they are not part of the concept such as "Hyperborean Empire Part III." So we have a good mixture of different stories on the new album.

You write very complicated and unusual stories, other than books where do you get inspiration for your lyrics?

Pretty much my main inspiration comes from writers like Howard, Lovecraft and Tolkien and basically all that kind of fantasy and science fiction fare from over the past several decades. I’m also very much inspired by things like ancient myths and legends. I’m particularly interested in ideas of lost civilizations like Atlantis and all that sort of thing. Also anything that kind of kept my mind in imagination from comic books to video games to movies... It’s quite a wide range of inspirations for me.

Don’t you think that because of those complex, out of this world lyrics they are pretty hard for general public to understand?

Yeah, that’s interesting... but one of the prime directives for me when we were creating the band was to make things very complex, very intrigue and actually force people to read between the lines. It’s not something you can just pick up and get immediately like if the band was writing about, I don’t know, having trouble with the girlfriend or all that kind of street topics, which people can instantly identify. For us I just wanted to avoid the common place and to make things pretty much a journey into the imagination for the reader. Maybe we are the band that you actually have to work hard to get into but once you unlock the gates to the whole Bal-Sagoth concept and you’re in there it’s quite rewarding. It just takes a while...

Now we know what inspires you lyrically but what about the music?

Music wise we have a very wide range of inspirations. All the way from extreme metal and traditional heavy metal to very weird stuff. The guy who writes majority of our music, Johnny (Maudling), his favorite band is The Police and he also likes stuff like A-Ha. He’s really into stuff like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and all that kind of thing. We also have members of the band that are into Rush, Dream Theatre. Dave Mackintosh’s favorite bands are Metallica, Slayer... My favorites are Bathory, Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel... Of course classical music as well, that’s a big influence for us. Composers like Wagner, Holst, Berlioz and Borodin and all those classic composer from years past.

If I had to describe you music style the closest thing that comes to my mind is symphonic-black-metal. What’s your view on it? How would you describe your style?

From our basis and our core we are definitely black metal. Black and death metal were our initial blocks when we were developing our sound. So, certainly we are a black metal band and there is no denying that. We also dress it up in this symphonic regalia and we are trying to push the boundaries. Actually I’m the only one in the band who really kind of hails to the whole extreme metal scene which is for a lot of people quite surprising. But yeah, at the core of the band we are black metal, very symphonic, very avant-garde but deep down it’s black metal at its core.

What’s your writing process look like, do the lyrics always come first and then you write music to it, or is it a more a spontaneous process?

The lyrics always come first. I always write the lyrics well in advance before the music is being composed. And then what happens is I go to Jonny and give him kind of directives of what kind of moods I need. For instance, this song on our new album called 'The Dreamer In The Catacombs Of Ur', which is very eastern and has very kind of exotic sound to it, I went to him and I said ‘OK, here is the location of the story, here is what happens, here is what kind of mood, feeling and atmospheres I require.’ Basically, he will go away with that knowledge and come back to me with drafts of various possibilities of the song and then we will work together and we will come up with the final product. The final versions of the songs really come together when we are in the studio. That’s when the lyrics are finally put on into the music. That’s basically the writing style, the formula we use these days.

You just finished a first part of the European Tour with Marduk, Vader and Amon Amarth just to name a few. If I’m not mistaken you haven’t toured too much lately, are you satisfied with your performance?

Yeah, pretty much. We don’t tend to tour very often in fact this tour we’ve just done was the first one since ’97. We were quite happy to get back out there onto live circuit and kind of reintroduce ourselves to the live environment. We are pretty much satisfied with our performance. In the past, when we had session members in the band, who weren’t particularly very good at their instruments we had trouble recreating a lot of part of the music live. These days we have really well skilled musicians in the band so we can really go a long way towards recapturing much of the album live. We don’t tend to play live very often but hopefully we are gonna get beck into the whole live environment again in a big way in coming moths.

What’s your favorite track to play live and why?

One of my favorite tracks, I think, it has to be 'A Tale From The Deep Woods' from the "Battle Magic". It just lends itself so well into the live environment. Also 'The Hyperborean Empire Part II' from "Battle Magic" also. Those two songs really do translate well into the live performance. Of course they have all kinds of parts in them when the crowds can jump up and down, they can sing along with the words and all that kind of thing. So, probably those are two of my favorite ones to play live.

I’ve heard that there are plans to visit this side of Atlantic. Any specific dates?

Yeah, there are ongoing negotiations; we’ve confirmed our interest in a US tour, which if everything goes as planned, will start in July – "Summertime Slaughter Tour" with Vader and quite a few other bands. Nothing is absolutely definite yet, we haven’t gotten a list of dates or anything but hopefully if everything works out that should start some time in July for about four weeks.

Last question… Do you feel like you achieved your goals you once set creating Bal-Sagoth?

I tend to take the whole goal thing step by step. So, when we first started the band, the whole goals, as I set them up, were very much in stages. Our first goal was to make a demo, than we made a demo and the second one was to get sign, than we got sign... Basically we take everything as it comes. We’ve done five albums, which is certainly a fulfillment of a goal, definitely. We’ve toured Europe several times with bands with quite respect like Emperor and all that kind of thing... I guess the next goal for me would be to expand the whole Bal-Sagoth concept from CDs and musical form into other areas of the media like the comic books, video games, get action figures on the market based on the characters and all that kind of thing. So, I think that’s the next big goal we can probably be looking at. That’s pretty weird and a lot of people think it’s very unlikely and they think I’m crazy but that’s just something I’d like to do.

One of the finest bands the American death/thrash metal scene has ever spawned, Usurper’s latest opus "Necronemesis" saw the band reach a wider audience than ever before, and they even had King Diamond come to the studio to do some vocal tracks for them. Chanting their haunting and mysterious lyrics over tight-as-hell and brutal riffs and precise double bass drumming, it’s no surprise that the legions of Usurper fans have been growing bigger and bigger in number lately, especially since their two latest tours with the immensely popular Cradle of Filth. The mastermind behind the band, Rick ‘Scythe’, agreed to answer a few questions, and he had some trouble himself finding a suitable style of metal to label the band.

Luka 'Wrath'


We always struggled with this. We've been labeled everything: thrash, retro, black metal, death metal, etc... For lack of a better term we always called it DARK HEAVY METAL.

How long was "Necronemesis" in the making? How did it all come together?

Basically it came together pretty quick. I usually do all the writting, but I always bounce ideas around everyone else. After we did the Cradle Of Filth 1999 tour we really got a feel of what worked well live and what didn't. I think all of us wanted a really powerful riff heavy album. Something that had a lot of face value impact. Of course (as with all Usurper releases) there is still dark twisted undertones and creepy melodic elements, but on "Necronemesis" we really wanted those elements to be more in the backround enhancing the music. We really wanted to focus on songs that would have a great impact live. The lyrics are just a natural evolution of the same vision we had from day one, just reaching into some other strange realms. So basically this album came together very quick.

What aspects of the music or songwriting did you change from the previous album - "Usurper II - Skeletal Season"? Any similarities? Differences?

"Skeletal Season" was a really dark, creepy album. The initial idea with that was to make this really weird album; record everything anolog and add lots of vocal layers, guitar layers, feedback layers... basically just do something a bit more strange than we ever did. Unfortunatly some of the original vision was lost because of our drummer situation (Apocalyptic Warlord left in 1996 when most of the songs were written). So by the time we found a suitable replacement the initial vibe was kind of mixed up and tainted. However, I really love some aspects of that record. I think the artwork and layout are INCREDIBLE! And the lyics and stories behind them, with the linar notes is something that I'm very pleased with, but some of those songs were hard to pull off live. So on "Necronemesis" I wanted to keep a lot of the same themes. I wanted the lyrics in the same vein (as "Skeletal Season") with all the explainations and stories. I wanted to retain some of the haunting aspects, yet do it in a much more precise way. We wanted to record all digital to really key in on the tightness of the guitar and double bass drumming. So I guess to sum it up I think "Necronemesis" works well live and "Skeletal" should be enjoyed on the headphones.

How did you get ahold of King Diamond? What was it like working with a metal legend like him?

When we were planning on recording "Necronemesis", we really wanted to try a different studio. We analized a lot of recordings and we always seemed to come back to Nomad Studios. I think Mercyful Fate 9 was the deciding factor. We loved the way everything was clear, but not sterile. We really liked the interplay of the instruments. You can hear all the individual instruments, yet they had a good "live" feel as a unit. It is one of those albums that sounds good on a thousand dollar stero or on a shitty boom box; and that is precisly what we wanted. So we schedualed our time, but when the dates got closer we got a call from the owner. He told us that KING was finishing up "House Of God" and needed a little more time. He said if we pushed back our time a few days KING would repay us by singing on our album. This blew my mind! We of course instantly agreed. I knew exactly where I wanted him to sing... the song "Necronemesis" deals with this haunted graveyard. It is written from a 3rd person perspective until the middle where "the phantom of the graveyard rises". That is exactly where I knew it would sound cool. So basically we got to witness KING mixing "House Of God". We were in awe! Here is this metal legend treating us with the utmost respect. He actually took a lot of time to record his vocal tracks, and actually listened to everything and helped tweak out the mix. Let's just say I still get chills when I hear it!

Are you satisfied with how the album turned out? Anything you’d change?

I am 100% satisfied with the album. I feel it is our strongest album musically and lyrically. I think the cover art is incredible and overall it is our most original sounding album to date. the only thing I would change is some of the typos and little bullshit like that.

A particular favorite track?

Of course 'Necronemesis'! Even without the obvious fact of King Diamonds bone chilling vocals, that song is like a mini epic. It has a lot of dynamics and melody, yet is still straight ahead tight, aggressive metal. To me that is our perfect song! I also like '1666AD' a lot. I think it is just a basic heavy song with cool Nostradamus lyrics.

How’s Necropolis treating you? Are you satisfied with the promotion and exposure?

What promotion? We've been on Necropolis for years, and we were there when they grew from a 2 man little label into Relapse Jr., we've seen it all with them, and they seen it all with us. Paul is a great guy, it just sucks that some people there are not supportive of Usurper at all. It sucks that you can't find our albums in ANY stores, it sucks that our European magazine expoure has been just about zero for "Necronemesis", and that they are really pushing this whole gore thing. I mean it used to be this cult label; but now if you don't have a toilet with gore dripping on the cover, you don't get pushed. Oh well, that's just me bitching, obviously the positives must outweigh the negatives or else we wouldn't be still signed with them... right?

Tell me more about the interesting lyrics on this album. I find them fascinating! How did you find out about all these legends and myths? Do you believe in any of them? Do you believe in super powers?

Let me just say that I believe 100% in ALL of the lyrics I write. I document everything very well, I read a lot of obscure books, and listen to Art Bell evry now and then. I am fuckin addicted to all things paranormal: UFO's, werewolves, sasquatchs, interdimmensional creatures, cryptozoological creatures, lost civilizations, men in black, time-travel, electromagnetic anomolies, mothman/winged weirdos, ghosts, shadow people, prophecies and on and on... I think it's because I find everyday life very boring; I just wonder about the bigger picture a lot. I don't consider myself evil at all, just curious about things outside the norm. I find these stories facinating. To me it is way more interesting than people who sing about politics or religion. Preaching sucks! Even if pople don't beleive in things I write about, they can view it as fantasy or science fiction and still get into it. I like to view each song almost like a little horror movie set to heavy metal music!

I understand you played with Cradle of Filth on a few U.S. festivals. What was it like? What do you think about their extensive use of keyboards and some people calling them ‘sell-outs’?

Yes Cradle Of Filth has helped Usurper tremendously over the years. They had us open for them in 1998 in NYC. Then in 1999 we did the little 7 date US/Canada tour with them which really gave us the chance to play in front of bigger audiences for the first time. Then in fall of 2000 we did the huge 30 date European tour with them. That was mind blowing! The smallest show on that tour was 600 people and the largest was nearly 3000! Basically the average was about 1000 people a night, and that was really amazing for us! So what can I say about them? I mean I don't see them as sell outs at all. They just happen to be doing something that strikes a chord with many many kids today. I honestly believe they would be doing exactly the same thing even if they were some small unknown band, they just happened to take off. We are basically the same age as them, we both formed around the same time as eachother, and believe me, we have just about the same metal influences as them. They just happened to go in one direction and we went in another, yet we meet somewhere in the middle. Their use of female vocals and keyboards suits their sound very well. I think the main reason they can pull that off is because they still have 100% metal backbone and aggressiveness to what they do, where most bands that have keyboards and female vocals get too wimpy and overly soft. Usurper will not add keyboards or female vocals to our songs ever! We just want to retain a classic metal sound. Any atmosphere or melody will always be done with accoustic guitars, feedback tones, and subtle vocal layers, but even this aspect of Usurper will always be in the backround to enhance the heaviness. For Usurper; we want every song to be headbangable and fistbangable on the surface with dark, haunting elements below the surface in certain places; as I said before, just to add dynamics and add to the heaviness!

How do you feel about extreme metal bands like Cradle if Filth becoming successful in the American mainstream market? Do you think metal is meant to stay underground?

Metal should have no limits. If you happen to "make it big" playing metal it's totally cool, as long as you don't sell your soul to do it. Look at Iron Maiden or Judas Priest; they were always arena bands, but they did it with a "no comprimise" attitude and with a lot of integrity. Of course with metal, that should never be the goal. The goal should just be playing music from the heart, with all the traditions of the metal pioneers, yet with your own original take on it. bands should NEVER back down from doing interviews in fanzines, or take an attitude like they are better than any of their fans. I hate bullshit ROCK STAR attitudes! I hate industry weasels! The underground is very special to us. We'll never turn our back on it. We're die-hard fans of metal, just like kids that go to shows. Just like people who run fanzines. Big magazines are great because the give bands maximum exposure, but to be honest, most people who write for big glossies are arrogant assholes who think THEY are rock-stars. They are more impressed with kissing ass and seeing their name in print, and using big flowery words than they are fans of metal. I think it's safe to say USURPER will ALWAYS remain underground!

What’s your opinion on the current death metal scene in the U.S. Are there any bands you’re particularly into?

To be honest, I don't think I bought a death metal record since like 1992 or something. I get to hear a lot of stuff, but I really don't pay too much attention. I'm not saying that to be an asshole, but let's face it, I write all the music for Usurper, I practice with the band 3-4 days a week, I spend a lot of time demo-ing songs on my 4 track... the last thing I want to do in my free time is add more ringing noise to my ears. When I listen to music I like a lot of classic metal and early thrash, or just like rock music like Journey or Ted Nugent. When it's Friday night and I'm at the practice spot with all the gang, I'll listen to whatever new black, death metal anyone brings out, but just as backround music. Just for curiosity. Not that there isn't some great new bands; actually there is some stuff like Krisiun, Nifelheim, ABSU, and Nocturnal Fear that really blow my mind!

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

Oh man. I know the list would be slightly different for each member, but here is some of my personal favorites. when I first started listening to heavy music I liked: Scorpions, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, early Def Leppard, Ted Nugent... years later I got into like: Iron Maiden and Dio, which lead into early thrash like Mercyful Fate, old Slayer, Possessed, Kreator, Sodom... I was always looking for the heaviest or most extreme bands. Then I got into stuff like DRI, early Voivod, Bathory, just stuff with neckbreaking speed and aggression. I was also discovering dark slow heavy music at the same time like: Samhain, St. Vitus, Celtic Frost... So I think early on I realised great aspects of bands who played with precision tightness, and with over-the-top violent extremities as well as bands who played with slow heaviness and a loose "feeling" approach. So obviously you can say any and all of these bands had some influence on the Usurper sound. How can it not? Any band you listen to over and over will have some affect on your sound wether you like it or not. I think now what I listen for more than anything is bands with dynamics. Mainly metal, but take a band like Goblin for example. That is a band who did many classic horror movie soundtracks, so obviously they had to add dynamics to fit their music with particular scenes. I think that is what many bands are missing in extreme metal. Sounds should explode into a peak. Things should build in a climax, fall and rise again. Albums should have peaks a valleys. So I think the old metal is in our veins yet sometimes other bands who aren't metal at all can also have an indirect influence... but the end result is always DARK HEAVY METAL!

Any particular band you’d wish to do a tour with?

I'd love the chance to do like an arena tour, just to do it, I think Iron Maiden would be the ultimate.

What festivals are you guys doing this year? Any plans for heading over to Europe?

We already did a big EUROPEAN tour for "Necronemesis" with Cradle Of Filth, so I think if we go back again for this album, we'd like to do a small underground headlining or co-headlining tour. Other than that we'd really like to do a big US tour.

What are the future plans for the mighty Usurper? Coming tours, releases we should know about?

Right now we have a few tour opportunities, but nothing definate, so we will just continue to write and rehearse for our next album. Look for a re-release of "Threshold Of The Usurper" with 4 bonus tracks later this year, and a new album by summer/fall 2002.

Any closing remarks?

Visit us at www.usurper-necrocult.com.

Soilwork is a band that continues to push the boundaries of the music which they create. Released in February of this year, “A Predator’s Portrait”, Soilwork’s third full-length album, has already become one of the most talked about releases of this year. Even people like former Judas Priest vocalist, Rob Halfold, can’t help but take notice of this sonic metal force slowly taking over the metal underground. So what does the band think of all this? Well, I recently spoke to the guitarist, Peter Wichers, to give us the low down on his thoughts on that and much more.

Adam Block


Your new album, “A Predator's Portrait”, has been getting rave reviews from basically every magazine and metal source out there right now. How does that make you guys feel?

Well, what can I say! We didn't expect this at all! We are overwhelmed and we hope that the hype keeps on going he he!

This album is obviously a pretty big step forward from “The Chainheart Machine” album. Were you worried at all about how the fans might react to the more progressive touches and use of clean vocals for the record?

Of course, that was a big issue. But then we thought, we aren't making music for others, we make all the music for ourselves, and we never make music that we don't like ourselves! But since the reactions have been so great, we are glad that people liked our new direction!

Was this album also a way of getting back at all those people who labeled you guys as an At The Gates rip off?

He he, perhaps people think that! But that comment has actually never affected us in any way. This is just a thing that magazine people write because they can’t call it "ORIGINAL", but we wanted to make something different for this album, and I think that we are standing out in this type of metal right now!

Many bands such as yourself and bands like Arch Enemy, for example, are all grouped together and branded as Melodic Death Metal. Do you feel comfortable being labeled in such a way? Do you think this label fits your sound at all?

I guess that the thing that you actually can compare us and Arch Enemy with, is the guitar solos, but aside from that we have nothing in common!

Shortly after the release of “A Predator's Portrait”, you guys went off to play some European dates with Nevermore on their tour. How did that go?

Let me tell ya! This was the ride of a lifetime! We got a great response and we became very good friends with Nevermore!
We can’t wait to go back on tour again and drink one of Nevermore’s Drinks, "THE DEADONE"

How was the crowd's reaction to some of the new material?

Fantastic! It seemed as if the crowd liked the new stuff and since the new stuff perhaps is a bit more groovy, it was easier to get the people to mosh he he!

How does it feel to have the metal god himself, Rob Halford, raving about you guys?

It’s probably the worst thing that happened to us!

KIDDING!
I think that it’s one of the best promotions a band actually can get!

You guys have been experimenting a lot, especially with the new album with the use of clean vocals and things like that. Do you think that you guys have finally found a sound you can call your own?

That's a tricky question, but that is what we are aiming for! That's up to the crowd to decide, but I think that we have our own sound!

As most of us have heard by now, Carlos is no longer a member of Soilwork. What were the main reasons for him leaving the band, and are you guys still relatively close even though you do not play together anymore? Any word yet on a replacement or a fill in while you are on tour this year?

Well! I think that all of the people that have been on the site have got Carlos’s opinion about this matter!
He basically didn't want to tour anymore, and I guess that it takes a very strong personality to get through 30 days in a bus!

We haven't decided weather to use a new keyboard player or DAT tape, but we have a "STAND-IN" keyboardist for the Japanese showcase in June! He plays keyboards in a Swedish progressive metal band called Evergrey!

He is doing very well at the moment, but I guess that it's too soon to give you a definite answer to you're question yet!

Do you think it is likely that Carlos will do the cover art for your next album like he did with your latest album?

The possibilities are good. He has given us some ideas of the next one and the ideas are pretty cool! Perhaps???

So what’s next for Soilwork as far as touring plans are concerned?

Well, we have Japan right now. I guess that it’s the closest to a tour that we have right now.
We are also going to be attending the Milwaukee Metal Fest, Wacken Open Air and some shows in Sweden!

Apart from that we are going to be pretty occupied with the songwriting for the upcoming album after the Japanese showcase!

It has been overheard that you guys all already exciting about writing new material, and even getting into the studio by the end of this year. I got to ask you man...Are you serious!?

He he! We are pretty eager to get things going, and as a friend once told me! If you don't show yourself, you don't exist! So yes, we are planning on going into the Studio in the late fall!

With the last album and its Japanese import, you cleaned up the track 'Shadowchild' a little bit and placed it on your new album. Is it possible you guys might do the same thing with 'Asylum Dance'? Because the song, by the way, is probably one of the most intelligent and catchy songs you have ever recorded!

Thanks, that really pisses me off, because we thought that this song was too good to be as a JAPANESE bonus track! But no! I don't think that we will be re-recording the song for the next album!

Now on to the fun stuff...just how tall is your bassist Ola Flink? In the band photos I have seen he towers over everyone in the band!

He is by far the tallest man in the band! You can see him onstage, and he is a tall fucker, I don't know what his parents have been feeding him hehe!

What is in your cd player at the moment? What bands do you listen to in your spare time if any?

Well, I have recently gotten into Nevermore, after touring with them! So, the latest album with Nevermore has been spinning for a while in my cd player!

Who got you into playing guitar? Who are some of your influences?

The never-ending question!

Here are a few who I really like:
Mikael Schenker
Steve Vai
Some Malmsteen stuff (far from everything)
Mattias "IA" Eklundh
Zack Wylde
These are only a few...

Well thank you so much for the interview Peter! Any final words?

Keep your eyes open for any upcoming gigs both in USA and in Europe, we might be heading you're way!!!!!!!

Terror 2000 caught a lot of people of guard when they released their debut album 'Slaughterhouse Supremacy'. Many were expecting a mix between Soilwork and Darkane since the band includes members from both groups, but what they got was a non stop and relentless attack of pure thrash from front to back. With the sudden and surprising success of this project, one cannot help but wonder if the members are planning on keeping Terror 2000 going and if so for how long? To shed some light on the mystery, I spoke to guitarist Klas Ideberg for some in depth info on the past, present, and future of Terror2000!

Adam Block


Starting off, I would like to congratulate you and the band for creating such a dynamic and magnificent debut album in "Slaughterhouse Supremacy". How do you feel about all the positive reviews for the release?

It’s bloody great to see that people liked the album, since it was mainly a fun thing for all of us (in Terror).

For those of us who don't know. Give us a brief summary on how Terror2000 initially came together.

Terror 2000 was formed when me and Strid had a discussion about forming a pure thrash band ala the 80s, meaning pure aggression, not much of the melodic thing in the music. So, after a few weeks after the first discussion Terror 2000 was born.

How do you think Scarlet Records in handling business? Will you guys more than likely record your next album on this label as well?

They have been handling it quite good actually. So if there are no other bigger company bids we will do the next album on Scarlet.

Speaking about the next record, do you guys have any new material written as of now?

We have actually just started to make songs for the forthcoming album. The new drummer is coming down from Stockholm to rehearse with us this coming weekend. That’s going to be cool. His name is Erik and is a friend of Henry Ranta’s. The music is going to be like it is on “Slaughterhouse Supremacy”

If you could describe your music in word, what would it be?

Thrash/speed metal. That’s it I think.

Who are some the band's greatest musical influences?

Slayer, Destruction, Sodom, Forbidden among others.

Many people know you as a member of the band Darkane and they know Ranta and Strid from Soilwork... How do you try to separate yourselves from these other bands you are associated with?

When it comes to Defaced versus the other bands there are no problems since Defaced is so different compared to them. But when it comes to Terror and Darkane problems could occur since the styles are somewhat like each other. But I must say there’s a certain touch of inbreed in the Helsingborg metal scene. Hehe.

Being a member of all these musical projects, does the constant work ever become overwhelming for you?

It hasn’t for the moment but oh yeah, there was a very hectic period last year when I had to make songs for the coming Darkane album and on the same time record a promo with The Defaced (which we eventually got signed with). In the same time I also had a lot of school work to do in the university, so I ended up only writing two songs for the new Darkane release.

Back to the band... I have heard many fans talk about the new direction of Soilwork using clean vocals who fear that Terror2000 might follow suit with this style. What do you have to say to these worried individuals?

They do not have to worry. The new Terror album is going to be even harder and faster than the last one and there will also be a few heavy songs on it. So to sum it up; no soft vocals will heard.

Who writes the music and lyrics for Terror2000 and what do your lyrics talk about?

It’s mainly Strid who does them but the lyrics are mostly a lot of bullshit things. They are not planned at all. We will hopefully do a better job with the lyrics for the next album.

Are you guys influenced by other bands musically or lyrically?

Musically were influenced by a lot of different bands and music but when it comes to lyrics I don’t know. All I can say is that they are very retro.

What do you think of what bands like Sepultura and Metallica are doing now?

I don’t like what they are doing at all. Sepultura hasn’t got anything left of the thrashy side and Metallica is just wimpy but of course, they are old men now, haha.

This might be a little premature, but do you guys have any touring plans scheduled for sometime in the near future?

No, not what I know of anyway, but I hope that someday we will tour with Terror. With The Defaced and Darkane there will be touring.

Well I would like to thank you so much for the interview. It has been an honor speaking with you! Any final words?

A big fucking hail to all Terror 2000 fans around the globe. Hope to see you soon. And hey, check out The Defaced new album “Domination Commence” the forthcoming autumn and don’t forget Darkane’s new album “Insanity”.

"Predominance" hit the metal world like the atomic bomb, leaving 90% of it in ashes, the affect of radioactivity will be judged in a few years from now but the first reactions are disturbing. Did I mention that this is Susperia’s debut? Imagine what the second wave will do. Susperia are five guys with a very impressive resume but don’t let it fool you... I’d say more, but you shouldn’t even read it cause you might end up drinking too much trying to figure out what style they play. (Like I did) One hint: whatever they did in the past has got nothing to do with what they do right now. I’m not going to bore you any more cause there is quite a novel to read below; Athera couldn’t stop talking, I couldn’t stop asking questions and we got to the point that I ran out of tape so enjoy...

Chris


Before we start with the questions I would like to congratulate you on a great album and say that you surprised me in a very positive way with the style and sound of "Predominance". For at least a week I didn’t listen to anything else...

Oh right!!! Thank you very much and what was the big surprise?

First of all I was expecting another Norwegian black metal band...

Yea, that’s the problem coming from Norway. Everyone is expecting this or that... well, I’m glad we surprised you.

The band was founded by both Tjodalv and Cyrus, how did the rest of the members get involved with this project?

Yeah, you are correct. It was actually an original idea by Cyrus, the guitar player, cause he was sitting with all this material and all these ideas to create something new. He wanted to do something different and for many years he has written music for different bands without playing there and he also had done just session jobs for many bands. So, he wanted to create his own band and he contacted his friend Tjodalv, still at that time in Dimmu Borgir, and they did some rehearsing and when Tjodalv finally left Dimmu Borgir they had all the time in the world to really focus on this thing.
It was actually a crazy coincidence cause some months after they really started focusing on this thing I met Tjodalv for the very first time at the Wacken festival in Germany, we were both there, and being Norwegian, we introduced to each other, started talking and he told me he just left Dimmu Borgir and was starting up a new band and looking for people. I had nothing special to do at that time and I was a vocalist so I said I’m very interested and actually I also new two people back in Norway who could fill the bass and second guitar. That was just the lineup they were looking for. So, when we got back we gathered the troops, did the test rehearsal and everything went perfect from the first day and that is actually how the band was born.

I assume that with such a huge interest from the fans and labels this is not a side project but rather fully functional band?

This is a bunch of friends that have built up this band from nothing, from scratch, and we are definitely not a project. I’ve even heard people called us something like an all star band and this is totally wrong. This is just a normal band that we try to build together, do something new and stay together in this same lineup. We’ll be around and we’ll keep recording new albums.

Great to hear that, I’m already eagerly awaiting your second album...

Great, we already have like five or six songs in preparation now. They need some lyrics and some rehearsing but from pre-production stuff from Cyrus’ little home studio it sounds fucking killer to me and I’ll do my best with the vocal stuff and we actually hope to go in to the studio early autumn.

You used Mustis of Dimmu Borgir as a session musician for the keyboards on the "Illusions of Evil" demo. Did you drop this idea because you didn’t like the Susperia sound with them or you thought there are too many of Dimmu Borgir members in this band and it simply becomes Dimmu part II.

Well, the whole demo thing was actually quite funny. Yeah, you’re right. We have Tjodalv on drums, the original Dimmu drummer, and it wasn’t the smartest thing that we did to have Mustis come and play some synth for us on the demo cause the media, press they got totally wrong impression cause from the demo they were expecting a new Norwegian symphonic black metal band. I mean, how the hell could we know that the demo was to become so talked about and successful. We started this band in September of 1999; just two months later we had enough material to record the five-song demo, which we did. The sound was very nice for such small studio. I mean we had a concept already figured out that we would combine the old dynamics of the American thrash with emotions of black metal from Norway and actually just for fun as an experiment we contacted Mustis as a friend to come over to the studio and just do some improvised synths, which I know he loves to do. So, he came over one day and just played some notes which we recorded and it sounded fairly OK and we just kept that. And then we released the demo without expecting anything. But after the release, it was enormous take off, we couldn’t believe our eyes with what was happening. Then so many labels contacted us and were interested in working with us and the media, when they heard about this thing, got totally wrong impression because there was never meant to be any synth on any album of Susperia which you can tell from the debut album. There are no synths there and it will stay this way but I think it’s ok to experiment, which we did, on the demo.

Although your music has nothing to do with Dimmu Borgir it seems like Nuclear Blast does everything to associate Susperia with them.

Well, they have this thing for this kind of promotion to tell the audience and the media that people have played in this or that band, but one of the positive things all the responses from the labels was that most of the labels didn’t care about us as individuals and what we have done or not in the past. They were really focused on this band and the music. They didn’t care what we have done before and we want to put the past behind us and we want people to forget what each one of us had done before cause this is not essential at all. This is totally something different and has really nothing to do with symphonic black metal and actually not so much to do with black metal either. I really consider Susperia more a thrash metal band with, of course, some influences from black. Maybe we had this in the back of our mind when we signed with Nuclear Blast, that Dimmu Borgir being very close friends to us, maybe something could be worked out there and so it has happened. We are so fortunate to be supporting Dimmu on the whole European tour and this is so perfect a promotion tour for us. We couldn’t ask for more. It’s just so perfect for us, so soon after the release of the album to be able to play for so many people in so many countries and just promote the band and our music. And being a new band with our first album in these times with all those bands around and all those albums coming out, especially coming from Norway where there’s a hard competition we needed a really good promotion. And if you ask me, I think Nuclear Blast is by far one of the best companies when it comes to promoting their bands, on any level. We negotiated with them for almost four months to make a deal that would suit both parts. I mean, we are not in this for the money at all but we need to rely on the contract that can compensate the loss we have ‘cause right now we are sacrificing everything, our jobs, our friends, girlfriends, everything. So we need some compensation for all this but we are still not in it for the money.
Nuclear is just a perfect company for us, they can promote us extremely well, put us on tours, it’s perfect but I don’t really like the connections they make to all these bands and I would rather have them forget that some of us had been in Dimmu, Old Man’s and blah, blah, blah cause I don’t want to be connected with that. Some people see it as a negative thing, like you many media people asked me this question so it’s something we just have to live with.

I don’t necessarily see this as a negative thing, but I just noticed that everywhere the Susperia name is, there are names of the people that played with Dimmu, now the tour with them, so it seems like Nuclear is pushing you guys together...

Yeah, they are pushing us really hard and I’m really satisfied with the whole pushing promotion thing. I also think maybe it’s a cool thing... a lot of people were wondering what the hell happened to Tjodalv after he left Dimmu and I think it’s kind of interesting for the Dimmu Borgir fans to go to their shows on the European tour to see Dimmu and also see as a support band a new band of Tjodalv. I think it’s quite interesting but I don’t want to be connected with this too much that maybe people get the wrong impression that this is Tjodalv’s solo project or his new band. I mean, it is his new band but there are four more people and we’re into this together. There are always going to be negative sides and always positive sides and it all depends on people you are taking to.

I have to say that landing 4-album deal with Nuclear Blast just after one demo is quite impressive.

I think is quite unique. I think I’ve never heard of a band that signed with Nuclear just after one demo. I think it’s something special [laughs], I’m totally amazed and still can’t understand what happened. I mean, I totally like my own music and the music we make in the band and I appreciate that label and those people that like it too. But still, just existing just for four-five months with only one demo and getting this major deal with one of the biggest companies is, for me, a dream come true.

You said that most of the labels were for the music and not for the people but do you think that’s because of previous bands’ membership of some Susperia members helped you in getting the deal?

When we promoted our demo we didn’t go so deep into the details of the people in the band. We listed on the back of the demo who we were, what our names were and where we played but we didn’t promote it this same way as Nuclear Blast is doing now that Tjodalv came from Dimmu and Cyrus from Old Man’s Child and blah, blah, blah. We just wrote some simple information on who this band is. Most of the labels maybe have heard of the people before but I don’t think they paid to much attention to it. You can’t sign the band just because one or two members have been in other bands. You have to have some quality in the music you represent.
And this is totally different; this is nothing like the bands they have played before. This is not Old Man’s Child. This is not Dimmu Borgir. For me this is something totally different and hopefully for the crowd also. You can’t just sign a band because Tjodalv was from Dimmu Borgir; you have to play your own good music.

I had a real problem categorizing your style of music...

I’m so glad to hear this. I love it every time when people tell me they have problems comparing us to other bands, labeling us... I love it. That was what we hoped for that we’d do. That we would not just fall under a label, being compared to all these bands and styles and being just another band of this or that. I’m really glad to hear that.

I actually wrote in my review that either I drink too much and my mind is in a constant state of confusion [we laugh really hard!!!] or this album is that good... of course there are black metal roots, but I can hear a lot of death and even thrash in your compositions. How would you describe your style?

Acctualy, all five of us have more or less this same taste. We are very much into old American thrash and of course also into Norwegian black scene and trying to combine the dynamics from the thrash metal and emotions from the black metal, from what I’ve heard, I think we have succeeded in a way of creating an interesting mix of this two very different styles. I’m totally satisfied with being able to play in a band with this kind of music cause old American fashion and Norwegian black are my two favorite styles within metal and being able to combine them in my own band is just perfect for me. I feel really comfortable and I hope people can enjoy the way we want to play metal.

Lately, it seems like some people judge underground by album sales rather than the style of music. What does underground mean to you?

Well, I have to be honest with you. I really hate the underground. I have no respect for them anymore. I mean the real underground was the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s with only a few people playing in really underground bands, helping each other out, releasing each other’s albums and being this inner circle. Then people left scene, they got killed or actually they killed and got put in jail and all that stuff, you know there is so much shit that happened and the whole thing just split up. The whole black metal scene moved on with more and more bands and more and more people but in the beginning there were, at least in Norway, 15-20 people and today there are like 500 claiming to be of the inner circle of whatever. I think underground people from all aver the world are too much into the old school thing from 10-15 years back and have really narrow-minded vision when it comes to metal nowadays.
I mean we are not a satanic band; we don’t surround the image of the band with any ideology at all. I couldn’t care less for any religion. I just believe in myself and in my own values and I get really provoked when people call Susperia a sellout band or a fucking commercial band. What’s the fucking point? We don’t want to be a part of this whole black, satanic underground stuff. Why do they have to call as names? Why do they have to label us as anything? Why can’t they just either accept or don’t like the music?

I know exactly what you mean. In my opinion anyone that’s says selling one album or 100,000 doesn’t make a difference to him is just lying to himself and contradicting human nature.

I would never play the music I don’t feel comfortable with. I love to play. For 12 years now I wanted to play this kind of music. Since I was 11 years old, I’ve been having this dream of one day making it with the band, getting the record deal and be able to go around the world, tour and play my music for myself and people. I really don’t care about sales figures I just want people to get to know the music and enjoy it. I’m not in this for the fucking money. You’ll never get rich playing metal, at least not in Europe. I don’t really care for the money but of course it would be nice to make as much money as you would in a normal job so you don’t have to have both ‘cause combining normal day job with the band is totally hopeless cause we need to sacrifice everything to make this happen. So, a certain income or certain compensation as I talked about before is highly needed to survive. When I sacrifice my fucking blood, sweat and tears to do this and people of the so called "underground" call me a sellout or a motherfucker, I have nothing in common with those people and I have no respect for them. They have no idea what are they talking about, at all.

Do you know why there is so much hate between black metal fans about traditional and new black sound? I don’t see this in any other genre. For example lets take death metal... there is a trend of this new melodic sound now, which traditional death fans might not like it or even hate it but it doesn’t get to the point like between black metal fans.

I think it’s the magic and the mysticism of the old times when the black metal started. I think most of the young people growing up today listening to bands like Darkthrone and that stuff they want things to be like it was in the past. All that strange, mystical, satanic shit going on, they still want things to be like this. In early 80s when there were bands in every style like Morbid Angel, Testament, Helloween, I could mention bands from all different styles, there was no taking about you are a sellout, you a commercial band and you are shit and you not. In the old days, before the black metal thing there was just metal, everybody liked metal. It was just one big, happy group of people enjoying the music, going to shows and listening to different bands. There was no shit talk of any kind but after the whole black metal revolution and now in the later years when there is not so much extreme things going on, people maybe look back and want things the way they were. I don’t know... things just got way out of proportion. I don’t know how people can call Nuclear Blast a fucking commercial company? I mean if a fucking Britney Spears or Limp Bizkit would have been on Nuclear then they would have been a commercial company. There are no Nuclear bands on top 40!!!
They are also narrow-minded, as I said; they don’t know what they are talking about. I just get frustrated thinking about them...

Well than, let’s change the subject. You have a very interesting cover. It’s not like overused satanic theme on most metal covers. Who came up with this idea and does it have any special meaning?

Well, I have to ask you... do you have a promo or a real album cover?

Promo with a child’s face on it...

That was actually a temporary cover for the promo release. You have to check out the new album cover. This is totally much better. It’s this same concept but we took away the whites clean effect and it’s still the child head but now it has this insane screaming mouth coming out of the head. Really beautifully, graphically put together and the logo is much more enhanced. New album cover is totally different yet this same but it looks fifty times more professional and I’m totally satisfied with it.
The whole idea behind it was, as you said, when we are from Norway people expect some landscape picture or some forest picture with some strange title like "under the blue sky moon" or something, and as I said, we are totally not satanic or anything like that and actually not a black metal band at all. I consider us more thrash metal band still we wanted to have really strange, original, eye catching cover and I think we achieved our goal cause the other day I was down in a local music store shopping in Oslo and saw our album on the shelve and you know they put like 10-15 of them in a row along with all new other releases and I mean it’s not just because it’s my band and I know the cover it really stands out. It’s something really eye catching, it’s this total sterile white and just this focused face in the middle, red logo and it totally stand out from everything else. I think is really original and special and when people see it in magazines or in music stores they will go like "Hey, what the hell is this? A metal band?" It draws attention and I think we achieved what we hoped for.

You write all the lyrics, what’s the general subject of them?

Well, there is no same red line in this album, no special message or concept that I wanted to tell the people. Some lyrics are just fictional and stories are almost like short novels. Stories I make up in my head when I’m in a strange mood. They don’t mean anything, just funny, strange stories. Another way of writing lyrics is when I draw some inspiration real life invents surrounding my close friends or myself. Mostly negative events where I take the hate out of the situation and make like this poetic statement through the lyrics to direct my hate to someone or something and those are the most aggressive and most energetic lyrics I ever write. And the last way of writing lyrics, at least for this album was about Christians. As I said we are not satanic, we don’t write satanic lyrics but Christianity has always been around and I know especially in the United Sates and Norway they are really talking too much and speaking too loud. They go on television screaming, preaching then they go knocking on your door and always try to push this thing on to you even if you don’t want it. They provoked me a lot and sometimes I write lyrics that tend to criticize and question the moral use of Christianity. I use quite a lot of sarcasm rather than satanic lyrics like kill Jesus or all that stuff.

You decided not to use makeup which is great but why do you still hide behind nicknames? Isn’t it also one of the old black metal fashions?

Maybe... but I think the main reason that we choose to have nicknames was, actually two reasons, Tjodalv the drummer used his nick name in Dimmu and he still wanted to use this name. So, it would look rather strange when one person has had a nickname and the rest would have original names. That was one reason and also the fact that we are from Norway and some of us have really strange names for international use and pronouncing our names in English is not always that easy and to make it simple and short we just chose nicknames for the rest of us too.

You just came back from a great tour with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames and Nevermore to name a few. How was the people’s reaction to your music? Are you satisfied with your performance?

Oh, it was very intense. I’m very satisfied. We didn’t know what to expect, we were supposed to support Dimmu Borgir on the whole European tour and this part was also a festival tour with all these bands that you mentioned, actually five and we were the first going on stage rather early and we didn’t know what to expect. Coming home now and looking back I’m so satisfied cause every night it was maybe from 60 to maybe 90% full when we were on stage and the response was fucking enormous. We had great sound, lights, smoke, everything the whole surrounding. I’m totally satisfied. We were not down-prioritized in any way and we were really taken care of by professional people. This would never happened to us if we would have signed with any other label and that’s why I’m so happy that we signed up with Nuclear Blast cause they have done so much for us and being on this tour is just the best thing that could happen to us. The album is just out and people have not heard of us all that much and this is the perfect promotion tour for a new band as we are. We got some great live reviews and thousands of new potential Susperia fans.

I guess Tjodalv’s relation with the Dimmu members is still friendly. How did you get along together during the tour or all of you are just one big, happy family?

Yeah, when we formed the band, Tjodalv was the only guy knowing the Dimmu guys cause we all came from different parts of the Oslo area but now when we have been in the band for almost two years we have gotten to know the Dimmu guys and now Susperia and Dimmu are just this same kind of people, crazy metalheads. We have become really great friends and we also spend a lot of time together in private, besides the music. We got along really great and we became really good friends. The whole tour thing really connected our bands in a special way, being the two Norwegian bands we always share the same dressing rooms and we also at some point shared the bus, so yeah we are really getting along perfectly and we are just looking forward to meet each other for the last part of the European tour and party on... [laughs]

What are the future tour plans? Any chance to see you in US? Why don’t you support Dimmu in their US tour?

Dimmu is in US now, and Susperia album is not going to be released until the 1st of May in America and we also had a limited budget. We have spent a lot of money on this European tour, on merchandise and promotion and Nuclear has limited budget for first time bands and I can totally understand that. To not exceed the budget and take any chances, they didn’t want to send us to US this time, which I totally accept. I mean, it would have been a good promotion tour, but wouldn’t benefit from it. We would just go a way below zero on band’s budget and would have to spend next two years paying Nuclear back for the expanses they would have for a eventual US tour. I hope that something can be arranged, maybe after our second album. We are going to record an album after the summer and hopefully have a new release at this same time next year. Maybe then it would be possible to go to the US, which is also one of my biggest dreams. I didn’t expect to go to the US just after a debut album, so I’m not disappointed but it would have been totally great. We will continue promoting our band in Europe after they come back for the second part of European tour and just take things day by day.

Even though you said that there are not going to be any keyboards and the album I find some background on "Blood On My Hands". Is this something you want to do more in the future or just one-time experiment?

It was actually the Peter’s idea, he suggested to put some electronic, strange sounds behind it and we went to this other studio were he had this computer with all those strange sounds, so there are no manual keyboards being played on that song, they are just electronic sounds put together by Peter Tagtgren. It’s his credit that the song turn out the way it did cause he made some good melodies and strange sounds, which is cool. I think we’ll continue experimenting but not too much. Maybe one or two songs with something alternative but having one song with some electronics doesn’t mean next time we’ll make a full electronic album.

Although most of your vocals are great and range from deep growls to even a’ la King Diamond screams, I’m a little disappointed with the clean-nordic range. I got this feeling that you tried to sound like Vortex in those parts. Don’t you think that maybe you tried to accomplish too much in such a short time?

Well, I have four people that I really look up to when it comes to vocals. It’s Chuck Billy of Testament, Eric Adams of Manowar, Michael Kiske of Helloween and Michael Patton of Faith No More. Those four people have their very own unique style and sing very differently. So, somewhere in the middle as far as I’m able, you can find me. I try to make combinations of all these four people and I look up to. I’m a vocalist, but I don’t consider myself the best in Norway. Vortex of Dimmu is a masterpiece, he’s a really professional, great vocalist and I don’t try to be like him at all. The clean parts of "Predominance" that’s my true voice. In death and black metal vocals I make my voice, as far as I can, to sound like different styles. I have to adjust my voice to sing deep and I have to adjust my voice to sing black. King Diamond stuff is how I sound when I try to squeeze my voice to the top. I really sing from the heart and I don’t think of anybody else. I just sing the way I feel comfortable and feel able to. I don’t want to sound like Vortex and I don’t try to either, but I can accept that when people think I sound like him. For me personally, to listen to the album with these same vocals through the whole album that’s very boring. I don’t like that. When I’m in the studio recording an album I want, for my own enjoyment and also the interest of the audience, I want to create some variations. I’m not saying I’m the master of every vocal style but as far as I can I try to make things sound interesting. I try to experiment with a lot of styles and the things I try that don’t sound good we leave out. What we thought sounded good we kept, just to make it interesting for the listener, to have some variation.

I know it’s a little too early to ask for the new album but you already said you would try to go away even more from the black metal sound on your next album. What is it going to be then?

We haven’t started to rehearse so much on our new material. I was just checking them out cause Cyrus is making all the new songs for the new album. He has his little studio at home and has made five or six new songs, which he gave me the copy of just with the drum machine and his own guitar sound. It sounds really dynamic and thrashy. I think we’ll move even more from black metal and even more into the extreme thrash metal thing.

Is all that stuff going on in black metal world one of the reasons you want to go away from black metal influences in Susperia?

No, no. We don’t care about the views of the underground people. We cannot let them control our musical life. They can say whatever the hell they want but they’ll never affect us concerning what we are doing. We will do exactly what we feel like, what we want to do and we will do it anytime and anywhere. No matter what people say. There will always be people criticizing us but that something we have to live with. We will just fallow our metal ears and make music we feel comfortable with and hopefully people will accept and enjoy it.

That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank you for a great interview and I just want to wish you and the rest of the band my best Susperian regards and the best of luck in the future.

Thank you very much for this great interview.

A few years ago, in 1992, in a small southern town called Tumba, a few guys were having a beer and a serious talk about Viking mythology and heavy metal. What was born that night was Amon Amarth, which throughout the years satisfied our sick pleasures with pure death-viking music style and an unlimited amount of consumed alcohol. After releasing an MCD and three full-length albums, one day Fredrik Adersson (drums) decided to put his beer a side and have a few words with me about the band and of course about his well-known drinking habits. Here is what he had to say…

Chris ‘Zgred’


Kick-ass job on “The Crusher”. It’s nice to hear bands that are more heavy and aggressive with each album…

Thank you.

Tell me why Martin Lopez left the band for Opeth and how did you end up behing the drums in Amon Amarth?

I think he wanted to focus more on the technical drum bit. He liked that kind of drumming more and I think he wasn’t that interested in playing with Amon Amarth already from the beginning. Actually I was the first drummer they wanted to have after their first drummer (Nico) left but I played with my previous band and nothing came along and they decided to take Martin at that time. I guess destiny had its plans from the beginning and finally I ended up in Amon Amarth.

I think that 2001 might be your lucky year. First, a great album and then in December we are going to see the first part of “The Lord Of The Rings” which might introduce your name (Amon Amarth - The Mountain Of Doom) to a lot of new people…

I’m not sure about that. Maybe people will recognize the name, I don’t know, but we won't have anything to do with the movie.

So, what’s new at the top of the mountain?

Well, not much. Actually we are rehearsing a lot for live show we are going to do in Europe. We play for two weeks with Vader and Marduk than we play a few festivals and some shows in the summer. We decided to wait quite a while until we start working on the new material. Maybe we’ll start doing something for a new album after the summer, we’ll see. We need a vacation from song writing.

Although you lyrics are mostly rooted in the Viking mythology, the first track is about Judas Priest law suit. I guess you couldn’t time it better cause Slayer has this same problem right now…

Really? I didn’t hear anything about it. I guess it will always be a popular issue as long as censorship and things like that will still exist.

Are you going to turn into more contemporary issues in the future?

No, that will always be our main topic. Maybe I shouldn’t say "always" but it’s Johan’s main interest, our main lyrics’ writer, and he likes to write about things that touch him or are close to him. I think he will keep on writing about Viking mythology. Amon Amarth was always about Vikings and if we change this then we would have to start a new band and call it something else.

It seems like more and more people from Scandinavia are turning away from Christianity. In your opinion how big of an influence had metal bands on it? Your lyrics are also anti-Christian.

I don’t think bands had a lot to do with it. It’s happening everywhere also outside of the metal scene. Scandinavia is not that big of a Christian place to start with although a few years ago when you were born you were automatically included into Christian community but it’s not like this anymore. I guess people started to believe in other stuff than Christ.

Why did you decide to include “Risen From The Sea” from your first demo “Thor Arise”?

Metal Blade wanted to have a bonus track on the CD and since we didn’t rehearse anything and didn’t have any other plans Olavi (guitar) brought our demo tape, and we just listened to it and without rehearsing recorded. But we thought that it actually sounded pretty cool and we decided to include it as a regular track. Since we still had to include a bonus track we decided to put a Possessed cover which we did a long time ago.

I guess even Amon Amarth can’t stop the label from recording covers? Why Possessed “Eyes Of Horror”?

Actually that was an Italian label that wanted to do a tribute to Possessed and since it was never released we decided to use it on our new album.

What’s wrong with the sound of this cover? It sounds more like a demo track…

Well, at the moment when we recorded this track at Das Boot the studio was in its beginning stage and wasn’t really finished. Plus we recorded this song in half a day and mixed in the second half so it took us only one day to do it. On top of it we had such a big hangovers that none of us really put any effort into it. I recorded the drums in half an hour and left the studio cause I wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t want to be in the studio.

Why is the “Risen From The Sea” the only track without lyrics?

Because they really SUCK!!! I think it’s one of the first lyrics that Johan ever wrote and when we were listening to it he was really embarrassed and we decided not to print it.

The last three songs seem to have a little concept going on. What’s the story behind it?

Yeah, in a way it’s a concept. When we started to work on “The Crusher” we already had a vision for the whole CD what it was going to be about. Hopefully you can feel it throughout the whole CD that it’s written in this same mood. But when we wrote the “Annihilation Of Hammerfest” we didn’t want it to end like that and we decided to add a continuation to it. So it worked this way and it just happened to be a trilogy of some sort about this guy.

Congrats on your great website. How much does the Internet help you in promotion of the band?

I’m not sure, but I think that Internet is the best way to spread the underground music right now. There is not much of a tape trading nowadays so it’s the easiest way of trading the music and of course it’s also a great place to talk to the fans. I think Internet has done a lot for metal scene over the last few years.

What’s your opinion on MP3’s? Are they good for music and bands?

Yeah, I think so. I have no problems with it. I mean I would be a liar if I said I would be grateful if I could live only from the music, only by playing it and doing what I want but I still think MP3’s are more helping than hurting bands. When the labels are saying that the sales are going down I don’t think it has anything to do with MP3s but rather CD’s prices are outrageous. I think MP3s are a perfect solution to poor people who can’t afford to buy all CDs they want and there’s anything wrong with that. Everyone should be entitled to listen to the music. I’m also sure that most of the people who like what they hear on MP3 will go to the store and buy the CD anyway.

Any US tour plans? It seems like you popularity increased tremendously over last two years over here.

No plans yet, but Metal Blade told us they will work on it.

What’s spinning in your CD player right now?

I just got Rammstein's “Mutter”. I’m still listening to Nile’s “Black Seeds…” cause it’s so awesome, Perfect Circle, Halford and many more.

Based on your profiles from your website you guy like to party and good booze. Give your fans a good drinking story…

[laughs] Oh shit. There are really a lot of them and it’s hard to come up with one right now. OK, we have our small metal pub when we always hang out and one night Olavi our guitarist succeeded in being thrown out from the club and was forbidden from ever coming in. Unfortunately our release party took place in this club and we had really big problems with getting him in. Everything is sorted out now and he’s allowed to come in but on that night it would be really weird if we couldn’t have a guitarist during our release party.
I guess drinking is a culture in Scandinavia and I don’t think in US this type entertainment is too popular…

What else do you do beside Amon Amarth, any side projects?

Well, yes I have something but it’s not a project. I just help my old friend which have a band called The Dead. They are going to record a mini CD after our European tour and I will do the drumming on it. It’s not a regular band or anything like that I’m just helping them out. Apart from that none of us have any projects at all. We are too involved with Amon Amarth to have time for any other band.

And now I have one of your favorite questions, “Do you play in Marduk?”

[We laugh] No

I know, it’s a joke but do really people ask you this question?

Yeah, all the time. It’s really popular name in Sweden and I know at least two other death metal drummers with this same name as mine.

Well, now you guys go on this same tour with Marduk so maybe two of you can finally sort it out?

I guess there will be one Fredrik Adersson too much on that tour [laughs]

Thanks for the interview and as always at the end “Would like to add anything?”

Yeah, sure! Check out “The Crusher”! I hope everyone who will listen to it will like it and eventually buy our CD. And hopefully we will be able to do a tour with this album in US. We would love to do this. We’ve had 3 or 4 offers before but unfortunately the tours were always canceled and we are really eager to go over and do some shows.

Even though Steel Prophet have been around for almost 20 years, it seems like they are one of the well-kept secrets of US metal scene. Formed by guitarist Steve Kachinsky under the name Hard Prophet, they became one of the leading power bands in the world. Their talent and devotion to metal music was rewarded with a Nuclear Blast contract, under which their carrier took off to another level. Although I didn’t receive their new "Book Of The Dead" album in time for the interview I had a chance to talk to Steve about the history of the band and the future plans of Steel Prophet as well as get his opinion on general metal scene related questions. Here’s what he had to say...

Chris


Well I guess we will be talking about a pretty good album... most reviews I’ve read for "Book of the Dead" were very positive...

Yeah, so far it’s been very good. It was on album of the month in Rock Hard from Germany and couple of few other top magazines over there. It seems like people like it so far.

What’s your gut feeling about this album?

My gut feeling is that it’s a good album but fans that liked our previous album might not like this one as much.

And why is that?

It’s a little different. It’s not following this same formula or anything like that and it’s got a little bit more variety. I mean it depends on your point of view, either you think that metal fans like variety and embrace different things or you think they always want this same thing in which case they might not like it as much.

Tell me about the "When Six Was Nine" lyrical concept?

It’s a little hard to describe, man. It’s got to do with schizophrenic people. They think they can affect the world around them just by their thoughts and the song just explores that idea.

From the research I did it seems that people have problems understanding the idea behind "Oleander".

Yeah, we wanted to have a song with just pure melody. Rick, our singer sings a four-part harmony and there is no instrumental backup for it. The melody is very simple it’s almost like "Marry Had A Little Lamb" or something like that and it’s the last song to close out the album just after the song "Anger Seething" which is very aggressive, heavy and angry sounding song. It makes a good contrast when people hear that really sweet almost child like melody line after that.

I noticed that you guys don’t like the power metal label on your band. How would you describe your style then?

Well, I guess Steel Prophet incorporates a lot of elements mostly from a traditional heavy metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath but we also have elements from thrash like from Metallica, from death metal we use some blast bits like Napalm Death or stuff like that. It’s a kind of a wide variety adding in to it. What people call power metal nowadays it’s more like a Helloween influenced bands. Originally, the term "power metal" first came out it was a term that Metallica used to describe its album "Ride The Lightning". When asked what would you call you music they said we will call it a "power metal" because it so powerful. If you want call our music a power metal because it’s powerful, it’s fine. I think we have more in common with Metallica than with more what people call it nowadays.

Do constant comparisons to Iron Maiden bother you?

Not too much. I think if you listen to our albums close there are a lot of differences and you’ll notice a lot of elements that we do and Iron Maiden doesn’t do. Any band that has harmony guitars and has king of galloping feel to it sounds like Iron Maiden, and we definitely have a lot in common with them. And you know, Iron Maiden is a great band, so it’s not so bad being compared to one of the greatest bands that ever existed.

Have you ever thought of playing a different style?

Oh yeah sure. I like different kinds of music and I do play other kinds of music for my own enjoyment and amusement but I wouldn’t play that kind of music and call it Steel Prophet music. Steel Prophet has to remain heavy metal and if I want to play other types of music I can get together with friends on jam sessions. I don’t need to force it down underneath people’s throat and call it a Steel Prophet.

For almost 20 years you have stayed in a power-heavy whatever you call it style. Does your longevity surprise you? Was it worth it?

Well first of all I think that the bio that you are reading it from is a little wrong. I would say the band is closer to 13 years old than 20 years old unless you count the years from the time I made up the name when I was in school. As for as longevity goes I’m pretty happy that we stuck with it this long and play the kind of music that we like.

On the other hand, have you ever thought of ending Steel Prophet?

Yeah, I thought about it sometimes. Sometimes when things go bad you think maybe it’s time to throw in the towel but you know, bad things are always going to happen and there's no point in stopping the band because you have some setbacks.

What’s your opinion on the huge amount of new power metal bands popping up in recent years? Do you listen to any of them?

Yeah, it’s like with any scene or style, there is a cream of the crop and a lot of imitators. Like in power metal scene I think the band Edguy is really great and couple more that I can’t think of the top of my head but there are also hundreds of bands that just are copying each other and don’t sound too original to me.

I understand that Nuclear Blast had a great deal of influence on how "Dark Hallucinations" turned out, asking for a Hammerfall sound. Do you feel that you were pushed into a direction other than where you wanted to go with "Book of the Dead"?

When we did "Dark Hallucinations" they didn’t like the sound quality of it and they didn’t like the production and they wanted us to remix it. Also when they’ve heard the album they said, "What is this, we don’t understand, where are the catchy songs?" So they told us "You must write catchy songs" and I said, "What is a catchy song" and they go "I don’t know, just catchy" and than I said, "OK, We’ll write some of those". Then we did the album and they go again "Where are the catchy songs?" and I said, "I don’t know, you didn’t tell us what a catchy song is, how do we know? It’s catchy to us."

Are you satisfied with anything NB has done so far?

Yeah, I think they’ve done a good job, especially in Europe they are like the biggest independent metal label and with the smallest bands they do a promotion that’s better than what other labels can do for a band. Here in US they just joined with Century Media and I think that’s really going to help the label out over here and I think that’s going to benefit us too.

How long are you going to still make music, release albums, and play live shows?

I think, definitely for at least another two years or so. I mean I can’t see anything changing within the course of two years unless somebody dies. And then, as long as things are going pretty good I can see us going on for a quite long time. I like that kind of music and I don’t think I’ll run out of ideas any time soon and we could very easily play for another 10 years or so.

What are the tours plans for this year?

Nothing is booked yet but we are trying to set some plans for Europe and US pretty soon.

Somehow there are not too many Steel Prophet interviews in metal magazines or on metal webzines. Is this a bad promotion or you guys don’t like doing them?

I don’t know. We don’t have any problems with doing them. I’ll do an interview with anybody at anytime just to promote us as much as possible. I guess it depends, like in Europe there are so many interviews that happen. Rick (Mythiasin - vocals) just got back from Europe where he did 100 interviews in four days. In US there is just less interest in the band because this kind of heavy metal is not so popular anymore. So we do as much as we can but is hard to say why.

How much of the promotion do you do yourself after promotional blitz dies down and after the end of a possible tour?

Mostly it would be like in a form of fanzines coming in, doing e-mail interviews answering fans questions. Almost every week somebody asks for an e-mail interview and of course we are going to promote the new album with the live shows too.

What do you do outside of Steel Prophet?

Nothing, it’s my only job.

I don’t think Nevermore needs an introduction here. Their last album "Dead Heart In A Dead World" was such a huge success that the only way to get in touch with them is between their tours. I had this exclusive chance to do so after their tour with Annihilator and just right before they hit the road with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, Susperia and Lacuna Coil. And since this was a tour report press day I mostly concentrated on their life on the road. Here’s what Jeff Loomis (guitar) had to say...

Chris


Are you surprised with such a huge success of your last album?

Yeah, pretty much. I’m very surprised as far as it’s a lot of number ones in Europe over here in many magazines, so it does surprise us. I mean, we don’t like sit at home and write music and just think it’s going to be this way, it’s kind of just happened for this album, so we feel very fortunate. I think it’s definitively our best work to date and I’m very happy with it.

It has to feel good to travel all over the world and headline or co-headline most of the tours.

Oh yeah [laughs] It’s awesome. This has been the most traveling that we’ve ever done. As far as just the last tour we did, we went to 11 new places that we’ve never been before. We went to Romania and that was insane. There were about 3000 people there and I just couldn’t believe the turnout. I think they actually had a big concert there about 3 years ago when the Iron Maiden played so you have to know that they were probably very hungry for metal and that’s why so many of them showed up. There was a lot of police there too, it was all over the news, so that was really exciting. It was really cool.

So, how good were the record sales of "Dead Heart In A Dead World"?

I’m not sure exactly how many but I think a lot. In Germany alone it’s about 50 thousand. In the future we probably sell quite a bit more with all the touring we are doing right now.

Ok, since this is an exclusive Tour Report Press Day we are not going to talk about your last album but we rather concentrate on your touring. What’s the Nevermore live line up right now? Any additional musicians?

Yeah, actually Nevermore is enough to hang as a four piece band which is me, Warrel Dane the singer, Jim Sheppard the bass player and Van Williams the drummer but we have hired a guitar player. He’s name is Curran Murphy and he is living in Seattle with us and he comes out on the road with us just to fill in as a additional guitar player. We had some problems in the past holding on to other guitar players so now we just decided to hire them on for the tour.

You just finished one tour with Annihilator, now you start another one with Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, Susperia and Lacuna Coil to come back to States and have another one with Opeth. This is like dreams come true...

I know. It’s really amazing to me. You go pick up a metal magazine and you can like point a picture and say "Hey, I’ve done something with those guys". It’s really, really cool. We’ve definitely made a lot of good friends on this adventure. It’s a pleasure to work with a lot of these people and I really enjoy meeting these people too. We just met some really great guys from a band called Soilwork, which was also on the tour with us and Annihilator. We became a very close friends with those guys and all huge fans of them too; we really like that band. It’s really cool to be on the road and be able to hang out with these guys.

That’s great. I’ve noticed during my interviews that not only fans are saying good words about your last album but also a lot of musicians dream about going with you guys on the tour...

Yeah? [laughs] Oh that’s a killer! It’s news to me. It’s really great to hear that. It’s a complement.

What do you do before you go on stage? How do you prepare, if at all?

Yeah, I’m not as young as I use to be [laughs] I usually have to warm up for about 15-20 minutes before I go hit the stage. It’s a lot different now. We used to play for only about 40 minutes, now when we are co-headlining the tours and you have to play for an hour and 15 minutes every night you have to prepare yourself a little bit, make sure you are warmed up

Which tour was your best ever and why?

I have to say that one of the cooler tours we ever did was one of the very first US tours back in 1995 with Death cause we really felt like Chuck Schuldiner really gave us our beginning for asking us to go on the tour with him. He’s such a great guy and fan of the band as well. We had some really great times on that tour so that probably had to be my favorite one. Plus, Gene Hoglan is a great guy too [laughs], he was on that tour as well. It was just phenomenal to hang out with such killer musicians.

In your opinion, which country has the craziest metal fans?

Greece, man!!! [laughs] There are so many crazy people in Greece, the kids are so hungry for metal there. It’s just crazy how they react when you come up on the stage. They just freak out over metal, they love it.

Is there still a place in the world would you like to play?

I’d like to go to play in Mexico City. I’ve heard that it’s really great there. I’ve heard the metal scene is really fantastic. That, and I think we would also like to go to South America and play there too and I think that’s actually going to happen sometime in the near future. Also another place I would like to play would probable be Japan. We are planning on going there sometime this year. I’m not sure when it’s going to be but probably sometime in the next 5 or 6 months.

What is your favorite song to play live?

I would have to say "Narcosynthesis" it’s the first song of the album and it just comes up very powerful and it’s one of my favorite songs on the album right now. It’s really cool cause when you play a song and you have a crowd that seems to know all the lyrics and they are singing along to it that makes it that much more powerful, so I have to say "Narcosynthesis" is my favorite one to play live.

Is there still a band would you like to play with?

I would like to meet Frederik Thordendal from Meshuggah. They are one of my favorite bands and I’d like to do some guitar work with him [laughs]. I think this guy is phenomenal; he’s a killer. He’s an awesome guitar player. Actually I had a chance to meet him once on a festival, I believe it was the Dynamo, like two years ago, but I didn’t get a very long chance to chat with him.

What’s your most embarrassing moment on the stage?

Oh man, there are plenty of them [laughs]. I got those big-ass boots and I always find myself tripping over my guitar cables, so I’ve got to get used to walking in them. It’s kind of like Ace Frehley from Kiss, but not as extreme [laughs]. We all have a lot embarrassing moments on the stage but that’s life.

You have to have tons of special moments from the road. Can you share some of the most bizarre ones?

There is that mad-cow disease going on now here, so there are a lot of weird things that are happening with people that are rioting on the streets during our travels. A lot of those farmers are really angry that they are killing off so many animals and a lot of times we have to stop in the middle of the highway and try to get those people out of the way so we can move on to another place. We’ve run to a lot of wired stuff like that. That’s been kind of strange.

Which one of you parties, drinks the most on the tour?

Oh God, I don’t know. We all try to take care of ourselves but we all enjoy drinking beer sometimes. We’re all about the same.

Looking at your busy schedule do you have time to write any songs for your new album?

Actually what we are going to do is buy those little portable studios, they are called PSOT Studios. They are like little handheld studios, it’s like the smallest little thing they make in the world, so we’ll be able to do some writing on the road with those. We are going to get 3 of those things; one for the singer, one for me and one for another guitar player. It’s really cool because it’s so small you are able to write inside of the bus if you want to. I think that once you start getting bigger as a band you get less and less downtime to really write, so you have to make the most out of the time as possible when you are on the road. It’s difficult but you have to get it done somehow. Normally, I actually prefer writing at home but I’m not going to be home very much this year.

Don’t you feel any pressure to top "Dead Heart In A Dead World"?

Yeah, I think about it sometimes. I think that really the trick is, is not to think about it and whenever you come up with the part or an idea always make sure you get it down on tape somehow and hopefully by the end of the whole process you'll end up with another good song and eventually with another good album. But I always get that weird feeling in my stomach that I’m not going to be able to do anything better but I just try not to think about it and do the best I can. That’s all you can really do and hopefully the fans will enjoy it as much as you do.

Any info on how it’s going to sound, maybe some titles?

We are thinking of calling the album "Psychotic Intellectual Narcotic" [laughs] I don’t know how we came up with that... I don’t even know our plans really. I don’t even know if we are going to work with our producer Andy Sneap, he’s a very busy guy right now, he’s very popular, everybody wants him in the metal world for a producer because he’s very good in what he does. I mean, it’s all a timing thing if he has the time off and we have the time off maybe we will work with him again. If not, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. I think that we will probably end up recording in this same place thou where we always record in Texas. It’s a really nice studio down there, it’s called Village Recorders. Hopefully we will be down there recording the album.

How about the music direction? Same style as on "Dead Heart..."?

Probably it will be the heaviest thing we’ve ever done. Speed metal! [laughs] It’s always going to get heavier for me, it always does. I always try to top what I’ve done in the past. I don’t know if it’s going to be like Cannibal Corpse or anything like that but it’s going to be heavy. That’s all I can say.

I don’t see you guys playing like Cannibal Corpse after "Dead Heart...", maybe for now let’s try something in between...

[we laugh] There you go, that’s what I was thinking too.

OK Jeff, you answered all my touring questions and our time is up, anything to add...

Yeah, I would like to thank the fans for buying "Dead Heart In A Dead World" and just want to say that the fans are the most important thing to us and we always try to write true music for them and not change our ways. I hope that everyone is happy with the new album and hope to see everybody on tour in USA with Opeth.

2000 was definitely a very big year for the guys in Shadows Fall and 2001 is shaping up to be an even bigger one. After the release and surprising success of their breakthrough album "Of One Blood", the band has been touring nonstop and has been gaining more and more recognition within the struggling American metal market. Shadows Fall is the work of five extremely talented musicians, Brian Fair on Vocals, Matthew Bachand on Guitar/Vocals, Jonathan Donais on Lead Guitar/Vocals, Paul Romano on Bass, and David Germain on Drums, who create a sound all there own, while borrowing from such styles as hardcore, death, and thrash. To bring us up to date on what the band has been up to lately, I got in touch with the bands guitarist and vocalist, Matthew Bachand, and this was what he had to tell us...

Adam Block


First off I would like to congratulate you your continuing success with the album "Of One Blood". How does it feel to have your debut getting so much attention within the metal community?

It's amazing… The album has done much better than we could have hoped. We did have the first album on LIFELESS records that was self released, "Somber Eyes To The Sky"… And it did very well but the feedback we have been getting for "Of One Blood" has been great!

Ever since its release you have been touring basically nonstop with a wide array of bands. Tell us a little bit about your experiences. How was the crowd response to your material live?

Well it has been about a full year of touring now and were just winding down… Both good times and bad times but any bad day on tour is better than a bad day at home so that keeps it in perspective. The responses have been quite good as well even though we play with so many different types of bands that don't really sound anything like us.

Now that you are done touring, does this mean you guys are writing new material for a follow-up to "Of One Blood"?

Yes, we have begun the writing process and well just have to wait and see how that goes.

Was there anything that went wrong on your debut album that you are going to try and change with the upcoming album? How would you describe the new music you are writing?

There is always something that could be different but were not thinking too hard about a direction or anything like that… We are just going to start writing and see how it goes. We definitely plan on making more use of the melodic vocals.

What sort of bands have you been listening to lately?

In my CD player right now would be… Goatwhore, Billy Joel, Upheavel, and Diecast.

What's some band or artist out there right now that you absolutely despise? What do you think of all the current nu-metal bands that are getting mainstream acceptance in America nowadays?

I can say that Creed is one of those bands that I just can't stand… Not for any other reason than that I'm just not a fan. Everything comes and goes with American music… it was just a matter of time for that style to get big… and it will be time that will make it go away.

Going back to the band, how do you think being in Shadow's Fall has changed you if it has done so at all?

Well it is definitely making me work harder and a have very little free time… that's about it though.

What are you feelings about Madball breaking up because I know at one point you were set to tour with those guys?

It's too bad because I really enjoy Madball… Hopefully they will stay together but what can ya do.

So all in all, what would you like to accomplish as a band in the long run?

To do this for a living… that's really about it… If I was looking to get rich quick I wouldn't be playing metal that's for sure.

Is there anything you would like to say to all the Shadow's Fall fans out there?

Thanks for the support… visit www.shadowsfall.com and we'll see you out on the road!!!

Mentioned in this same line with such powerhouses like The Gathering or Moonspell, in only three years Lacuna Coil achieved a remarkable status of one of the most recognized dark-gothic bands. The combination of Cristina Scabbia’s seductive appearance with magnetism of her unique voice makes male fans wet their pants during the live shows and incites jealousy among her own gender. Although Italy is known as a county of never-ending siestas or happy sounds of italo-disco, "Unleashed Memories" takes us into an even darker and more melancholic side of the band. Female vocalist Cristina Scabbia shines some much anticipated light on my questions...

Chris


Cristina, first of all what such a beautiful woman is doing in a metal band?

[laughs] Thank you very much. Well, it’s nice, very nice because I always meet very respectable people and they are always nice with me, the fans are not aggressive with me so it’s a pleasure.

Is it something you always wanted to do?

Yeah, I mean it’s weird ‘cause I don’t consider myself as a diva or stuff like that, but I’m happy if people can dream about me with my picture even if they really don’t know me. It’s nice if you can please someone.

Have you ever thought of singing in a pop group? You never know, you might be even more popular than with Lacuna Coil.

I never thought about it before I entered Lacuna Coil. I used to sing in some occasional dance projects and stuff like that but just giving my voice without giving my name and image because I didn’t like that music. I wasn’t proud of it. So, as soon as I met the other members of Lacuna Coil and I met the metal scene I realized I want to be a metal singer.

Rather than asking are you happy with "Unleashed Memories", is there anything you don’t like on it?

I really love it and I think it’s perfect even if sometimes you would like to change something. But not in the structure, for example we just had four weeks to record this album and, of course, when you have just four weeks you have to prepare everything before entering the studio. You cannot improvise too much ‘cause you don’t want to risk that something might go wrong. So as soon as we composed the music we recorded everything as it was and we didn’t change anything at all. Of course when you listen to it later on you might want to change little things, maybe to sing one part better, maybe change the guitar sound, stuff like that but we are really, really satisfied.

Looking back are you satisfied with your previous releases?

When taking a look at them right now, of course I would change a lot of things because we were more immature, the structures are not as beautiful as we can do them now and you can feel it because we weren’t that much sure about ourselves as we are now. I mean, I like them, but I consider "Unleashed Memories" the most mature album of Lacuna Coil.

But then, it also seems like from album to album your sound is getting a little softer. Is this the direction you want to go?

I don’t think I would agree with that. I mean this album is much more melancholic but not necessarily softer. I think that you can give power even if you play some mid-tempo songs, you don’t need to have fast drums to give power, and you can give intense feeling even with those slow songs. I can’t tell you what music we will do in the future. For sure we will stay metal and go with this direction, maybe we add more growl vocals and stuff like that.

Have you ever thought you would achieve so much success in just 3 years?

No, absolutely not. As soon as we released the first EP we had so many good reviews but it happened so many times to a lot of bands that I didn’t realized that’s the beginning and we will be popular in 3 years. But it also happened because we work a lot, we did many interviews and we played all over the Europe.

Over the last 2-3 years Italy has delivered many metal bands into the international scene (Labyrinth, Rhapsody) with recognized success like Lacuna Coil. Have the people of Italy had enough of italo-disco and are looking for a heavier sound?

To tell you the truth I don’t know why people outside of Italy realized now we are able to do good music too. Maybe this is due because Italian bands learned to work in a more professional way. To give you a short example when we were searching for a deal we just sent a promo tape to some labels around the Europe but we recorded this promo tape with a very good sound quality, we included very good pictures, and a full biography. Not something funny or anything like that. We just put it in a very professional way even when Lacuna Coil didn’t have a deal with any label. I think right now Italian bands improved in a more professional direction and they know how to work in the studio, how to do a good gig and stuff like that and now people outside of Italy are realizing that.

How big is the underground? Do you know any new interesting bands?

Not that much cause we are so busy with our music we don’t have time to listen to other bands. We do a lot of interviews, tours and I only have time to read some metal magazines so I know only names of the bands but not their music and I can’t judge them.
I would love to find the time to do it but for now I have to postpone it a little.

So are you listening to any music at all, if so what is it?

I listen to everything. I always said I love music itself and not just a style or an artist. For example I love Depeche Mode this same way I love Meshuggah and this same way I love classical music. As long as it’s a good music I listen to it.

Do you have a favorite band or CD?

I would say Depeche Mode, Typo O Negative, Paradise Lost as bands but I don’t have a favorite CD that I would say I will play all my life.

Italy is recognized as one of the most beautiful countries, blue skies and gorgeous weather. Where then are all those sad thoughts coming from?

You don’t have to live in awful country to have sad thoughts. I mean everyone has its personal moments and it’s easier to look inside yourself when you are sad or depressed. It’s not the blue skies or beautiful monument that makes you happy. Personal problems will make you sad and you can be inspired by this feeling and transpose it into the music and lyrics. You can also be inspired from the sadness of another person and just try to describe his feelings. You can be just reflexive, not sad.

Does any member of Lacuna Coil play in any side project bands?

No! We are totally concentrated on Lacuna Coil.

Are you nervous during the live shows?

Just a little bit before I go on stage. As soon as I’m there I’m completely comfortable. I’m only nervous when I know I can’t give my best because I’m sick or really tired and of course you can’t cancel the show.

Have you ever had unpleasant situations during the live performances with male fans?

Never, to tell you the truth the girls are much worse. They a more arrogant, they just want to touch the guys, to kiss them. I always met guys that kissed my hand, talked to me in a very sweet way but I never met a tough guy that wanted to touch me of stuff like that they are always nice.

So, are you single?

No. [laughs] Marko, the bass player is my boyfriend.

You just toured with Theatre of Tragedy and Beseech. Did anything unusual or funny happen during the tour?

Because we had incredibly good relationship with them a lot of funny things happened. Guys from those bands are very nice people and we still write to each other. Something funny? Well, maybe the last gig. I don’t know if you know about it but during the last gig you can do whatever you want to other bands. So the guitar player and the drummer from Theatre Of Tragedy came on the stage and were improvising on guitars without really playing them just to have some fun with us.

What are your tour plans for "Unleashed Memories"? USA?

USA? Maybe. We were in Mexico in December where we played two gigs and after that we were suppose to have a tour on the east coast but we would have to drive ourselves to reach the venues and we didn’t want to give a terrible gigs just because we were tired. So we decided to organize it better and come over in the future.

What is your most embarrassing moment on the scene?

Most embarrassing? Let me think... oh yeah. [laughs] You know my hair is very long now but in the past they we just up to my shoulders so for the shows I used to wear a fake tail. Once during a gig I lost it and I didn’t realize it till the end of the show when I went on stage to say final thank you to the audience. I looked at my feet and there it was I don’t know if people saw it but that was the most embarrassing moment of my career.

Later on I laughed for about 2 hours...

Leave us some last words...

If anyone wants to write to us or has any suggestion please visit us at www.lacunacoil.it we will answer all your letters and I hope you will enjoy our new album.

The very first band that I ever wanted to interview for MetalBite.com was finally able to give me a little bit of their time… and man, was it worth the wait! Vocalist Jim Kjell picked up my questions and we got to touch on everything from the general state of death metal today to record labels to the radical changes that Gardenian is planning for their next album. Read on and enjoy, my friends!

- Tobias


How do you feel about where death metal is headed today?

I think death metal is heading in the right direction as I see it. It seems like the bands are more updated with the music that circulates around them and they accept other forms of music and bring it in to its own. That is very good for the future, especially for the death metal market.

What is it that you love about melodic death metal?

I love the complexity about it, the harsh combined with the more mellow and laid back melodies. I think it’s getting better and better. At times I might even think that it is beginning to get a bit commercial in a good sense.

What got you started in music?

I don’t have a clue really. I guess it was because I to wanted to become a big rock star as Metallica, Sepultura and Kiss. I guess every one wants to be a star at some point. I started to play some cover songs of whom ever and…

It seems that Gardenian has really come into its own with Sindustries.

Both yes and no. The songs are beginning to take the shape that we want and "Sindustries" was a very good second step to take for us. We begun to form this sound on "Soulburner" already, so I think we have gotten used to it for a while. But "Sindustries" took a dramatic turn when we decided that I should perform all the vocals on the album, that gives us an edge that we didn’t have on "Soulburner", where we got lost in the sound making it a split record with not much common sound. This we have changed on "Sindustries", making it genuine and a Gardenian sounding album as it should be.

What is it about this album that you are most proud?

I think the whole of the album is something to be proud of. The songs came out great and I must say I am proud of my vocal efforts as well. It was a big challenge. I am also very proud to give Peter Tägtgren the best words because he really deserves it! He made me sing in a way that I did not think I was capable of singing in. I think with his calm way and his great personality we all felt that we were a little bit more secure!

Which song from "Sindustries" is your favorite track to listen to and which is your favorite to perform live?

I rarely listen to our material, but I guess if I have to choose I feel like choosing "Doom & Gloom". This is the song that I prefer to play live as well. In this song, I think we really present the complexity that melodic death metal is about. That’s why I like it that much.

While we're on the topic of playing live, where is your favorite place to play?

I don´t know really! We had a really good time playing in Wrotslaw, Poland. Then we had a really great time in Stockholm together with In Flames and in Austria with Hypocrisy. It’s hard to name one single place.

Who would you most like to tour with? Why?

Nevermore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Slih!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When are you going to be touring the US?

We are really longing to get a state tour, but it seems like nobody have the urge to book us on any tour as Nuclear Blast isn´t exactly pushing Gardenian as their main band. I guess we are quite underestimated to our own crowd. It is quite sad really!

How do you like life on the road?

We totally love it, that is where we want to be all the time. We are actually going with Darkane to Holland in May and that’s the first touring we are doing on "Sindustries".

What are you doing when you're not doing Gardenian?

I have another band called Suncase, in which we play some more rock pop influenced stuff in the vein of Van Halen and U2. And for a living I build scaffolds, that´s a really shitty job!

How and why did the band choose the name "Gardenian"?

Niclas saw it in a Kyuss lyric and we just put the N on the end to make it sound more Metal!

Can you tell me the story behind the song "Sonic Death Monkey", how did that song come about?

This was actually one of the first songs that we wrote for "Sindustries". I guess we did as we always do, Niclas or I come up with a riff or two and then we go from there. Together with Thim we arrange the whole song, then most often I write the lyrics but I am very lousy on coming up with the titles so I leave that to Niclas. Then I guess it was finished.

What would you like to do differently on the next album?

There will be a whole lot of change on the next album. It won't be death metal based at all. You will, of course, hear our trademarks, the melodic stuff and such, but it´s hard to say. I guess you´ll have to wait until it's out. We need a label for starters, as we have left the Nuclear SHITTY Blast.

As a death metal vocalist, you must put your vocal chords through a lot, does the strain ever get really hard on you?

Under the recording of "Sindustries" I was really sore in my throat. I don’t know why because I usually don’t have a problem with this at all. Its no problem live so that’s cool.

Who are some of your all time favorite vocalists (death metal or not)?

Warrel Dane (Nevermore), Philip Anselmo (Pantera) and Bruce Dickinson (Maiden).

Who do you have the most respect for in the death metal scene?

Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy) for his knowledge and for the great personality he is.

Who do you have the most respect for in all of music?

Nevermore for their fantastic musical skills and for their fabulous albums and live shows.

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians who are trying to get a break in the music business?

Don’t ever give up! Always fight for your music and rehearse as often as you get the chance. Devote yourself to this and you will come out as a winner in the end!

I'm ecstatic to have done this interview with you and I want to thank you for your time. I also want to thank the entire band for putting out such a great album. Do you have any closing comments?

Thank you Tobias for taking the time to ask these questions. And to all of you out there who want to see us live stay tuned until the day we’ll be in your city to rock your asses off.

Stay Hard!

Jim & Gardenian

Plowing through all the death metal pretenders out there, are Chicago's own Fleshgrind. With their unrelenting style of brutal death metal, these guys pose a major threat to any band thinking they are extreme. Fleshgrind brings more to the table than just speed however, as they have a wide range in dynamics as well. I recently had a chance to speak to Fleshgrind's guitarist, Steve Murray, about their new album and various other topics. So, without further ado, I proudly present to you...Fleshgrind!

- Adam Block


To start things off, how long have you guys been together, and how did it all come about?

We have been together 8 years this month, March. So, we started off in March of 1993 if you don’t want to do the math. Rich our singer and Dave our old drummer had this band called Burial, so I started jamming with them on that. Then that went to shit, so we basically turned it into Fleshgrind. Soon after, we did our first demo in December of 93 entitled "Holy Pedophile" which really got the ball rolling.

You guys have a new record out called "The Seeds of Abysmal Torment." Tell us a little bit about the album and how it differs from the old one.

Yes we do, its out on Olympic Recordings and should be in most stores. It’s a bit different than Destined For Defilement. We replaced our old drummer Dave with our current drummer Alan and he is WORLDS better than Dave. so we were able to do a lot more and try a lot more than before. So the newer stuff is a lot faster, more varied, just a lot better I think. Also we replaced our old bass player Ray with our current bass player Jimmy, who also plays guitar for the band Avernus.

Who are the main song writers for Fleshgrind?

I write all of the music, but our drummer helps out with arrangements and occasional hummed out riffs here and there. Alan and I both write the lyrics as well.

Have you been able to take any of the new stuff out on the road yet?

We played 2 shows, one in Tennesee and one In Alabama right before the album came out. Unfortunately, at the Alabama show, Rich broke his ankle REALLY bad and so far we haven’t been able to play any shows for the new album so that really sucks, its hurting the album ya know. But we will be back! All bands go through down times. It’s been 6 months since that last show.

Give me a little bit of insight, if possible, on what a normal Fleshgrind live show is like.

Ahhh its nothing too crazy, no stage props or visuals. We have intros sometimes, our drummer makes them up, or we sometimes use Vivadli's "Winter" piece. Other than that we just bang out on stage, we really get into it. We try to have the crowd participate. Creates a really cool vibe.

As of now, do you guys have any future tour plans?

Yes we will be doing at least 2 weeks in Europe with Deeds of Flesh and Resurrected. It will hit Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands. We toured there last year with Resurrected and it was KILLER, so we cant wait to go back. As far as the US goes, we will tour I'm sure after we get back from Europe, but nothing is concrete as far as the US goes as of now. But we will be touring the US.

How is the death metal scene overall in the U.S.?

It has its ups and downs. Good spots, horrible spots. I think the bands are putting out quality music, but there aren’t as many as there should be. I think too many bands latch onto one thing extreme and beat it into the ground. Like if they're fast, its non stop ALL the time, and it stops being extreme to me anyhow. It’s great for a few songs, but not a whole cd. Nothing wrong with a tempo change to my ears. Or super deep vocals the WHOLE time gets to be UN extreme. Like you become desensitized to it. No dynamics kills it after awhile. To me anyhow. To each their own, right?

What are your opinions on nu-metal bands such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, etc.?

Ummm, I don’t pay much attention to those bands. I've never heard Mudvayne. its cool that Slipknot promotes death metal though, I have to respect that. But I haven’t heard much of Slipknot. Its just not my thing and if its not my thing, I don’t pay it much attention. If other people want to listen to it, then listen to it. I might not like the new metal stuff, but I cant stop it and things evolve, they just do. A lot of old thrash fans don’t like death metal, so on and so forth, its just the way it is. Some people listen to it all, if so, whatever, doesn’t affect me. Who’s to say what others should listen to.

What bands do you enjoy listening to in your spare time?

Shit, lots of bands, to name a few: Kiss, Nevermore (the new one is AMAZING), Hate Eternal, Suffocation, Sacrilege (Sweden), Dark Tranquility, Yattering, Vader, Skinless, Mortal Decay, Regorge, Disgorge, Dying Fetus, Spinecast, Fleshtized, Krisiun, Severe Torture, Malevolent Creation, Lividity, Burial, Immolation, Coercion, Pyrexia, Deeds, Angelcorpse, Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Rain Fell Within and classical. I try to keep it varied from style to style.

Who influenced you to become a guitar player and how long have you been playing?

Well I originally wanted to play bass when i was a kid because of Gene Simmons, but I found it to be boring at the time, ya know. So i picked up the guitar. I was really into old Motley Crue, well I still am really into old Motley Crue. Then of course Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer etc.. Guitar players that I love now are Erik Rutan, James Murphy, Alex Skolnick, Yngwie, Eliot Fisk, Casey from Fleshtized.

So what is next for Fleshgrind?

Get past these problems, and tour our asses off and write!

Got any final words to say to those death metal fans out there?

Thanks a lot for the interview, and check out our new album. Hope to see ya on the road!!

www.fleshgrind.com
www.olympicrecordings.com

Fleshgrind
P.O. Box 7142
Grayslake, IL
60030 USA

Darkwell has recently issued their debut album Suspiria. This is the most astounding goth-metal debut I’m aware of and listening to it just got me really curious as to how it came about… and how it could have come about in only one year! This, combined with my curiosity to meet the man behind this little brainchild, Roland Wurzer, resulted in the following email based interview.

- Tobias


Did everything really happen as fast as is reported in your bio?

Yes that's true it happened that fast, but you have to take into consideration that Roman, Christian, Mortiz and me already played together for years and that some ideas for some songs are from 97 and so on, what is remarked in the bio is the story since we are sailing beneath the Darkwell flag and since Alexandra joined the band but also the predecessor of Darkwell (the band was called Sarcasm Syndrome) already had female vox.

Do you feel that you've achieved your original vision for Darkwell with Suspiria?

Yeah, nearly everything worked like it was planned (as far it is possible to plan something as musician), we are pleased with our label, and everything...

Lots of people are raving about Alexandra, how did you find her?

Really they are??? The story how we found her is quite simple. A good friend of us said, he knows a girl which has a fantastic voice, we decided to check that and as she started singing our tunes the decision was already made...

Does she have any male groupies?

Thousands... no, I don't think so, until now she refused all advances, but I think due to the fact the wrong guys had the balls to talk to a singer of a band. If the right boys would have done it I think the answer would be different *g*...

Does her rather youthful age ever cause any problems?

Nope until now everything is excellent, specially cause she loves playing music and being on stage. She is exploring a new world for her and that is very cool and with every concert we play she gets more professional in stage acting and so on...

Who do you most want to tour with?

Fields of the Nephilim would be cool, but would also appreciate it to tour wit Moonspell or Tiamat.

Is there any chance of a trip to the other side of the pond in the near future?

Hmmm, to confess the truth, I don't really know exactly, it depends if we get an offer to do so. If there is an offer it depends on the costs, cause often the organisers can't afford the plane ticket and we either. If this situation occurs it depends if the label supports us. But if there is an offer for a gig "on the other side of the pond" I'll do anything possible to make it happen.

Which do you write first, music or lyrics?

Hmmm that depends, I guess it's 50/50. I like both ways of composing.

Have you ever been kicked out of a bar? Why?

Several times....but not cause I'm an aggressive person, often simply because looking metal. Recently, we and some guys of Graveworm (an Italian band) entered a bar in Germany, we drank one beer, afterwards they kicked us out cause "they had to close the bar" (at 10 pm). No bar in Germany closes at 10 pm, they closed just to get rid of the metalheads and kicked out all other guests too. As we passed the bar 4 hours later it was open again.

If you had tons of money, what would you have done to better the music of Suspiria?

Hmm, I would have introduced a real string ensemble instead of using computer samples and perhaps spend one or two studio weeks on experimenting on effects, also I would have engaged a real good mastering studio. Last but not least we would have rented hotel rooms instead of sleeping in an unheated recording room. (Also no fun driving an hour to come to a gas station where you can take a shower.)

What is your favorite song to play live?

Hmm, don't know, it's cool playing Realms of Darkness, cause it has a cool groove. I also love playing The Salvation live, cause it is a bit more technical. Armageddon builds up an unique atmosphere.

Who is the maniac of the band? Why?

The maniac of Darkwell is Mathias our new guitarist, I think he worships chaos and alcohol. On the recent tour with Vintersorg, he started a drinking combat: Austria vs. Sweden. We played 11 shows, in the end we won 6:5, but only because of Mathias's drinking abilities.

You've been experiencing some vacillation in darkwell's line up; is it causing any problems?

Unfortunately yes, we have two new members. Mathias replaced Roman and Raphael replaced Chris. The reason for the change is that both are heavily engaged in their private lives (married and so on) that both hadn't enough time to continue in the band, but now the line up is stable...

Is Darkwell the number one priority for the current line-up or are other projects raising any problems?

Simply...Yes.

What do you feel is the ultimate goal of Darkwell?

Don't know, I'm afraid I can't answer that one, the only goal I think is making our music and transmitting emotions. Naturally if you transmit something, somebody must receive that and if that leads to commercial success it is Ok for us.

So far, you've only posted the lyrics to Armageddon. Do you have plans to reveal the rest on your website?

Yeah I think so... the only problem is that I connected the lyrics of Armageddon with a picture, I found on the net (The one an angel get's rid of her wings), so I need pictures for the other songs but I haven't found any until now. If someone has painted one or knows one just mail to: darkwellgothik@geocities.com !!!

Based on what I can hear and the lyrics posted on www.darkwell.org, you seem to be going after a lot of ethereal imagery, as is fitting with Alexandra's voice. How do you feel about bands that won't shut-up about falling in love with their own pain and agony?

It makes no sense falling in love with agony and pain. Both have a cause and that is what mankind should strive for, cause as soon you have discovered the reason for what's happening with you, you have material you can think about. But often an emotion is the cause, so you must eliminate what is disturbing you on the surface, so you have to search the "archemotion" and this one is what comes out of your emotional equilibrium. Dealing with the couterforce of all emotions and dealing with the resulting equilibrium is what Darkwell is about.

Who put on the best live show you've ever seen?

There are some: Slayer on the Clash of the Titans tour in the early nineties, Hypocrisy in Wacken 98 and Fields of the Nephilim on Mera Luna Festival in 00.

Is there anything else you would like to tell the fans?

Buy the CD!!! Not really... Hope to jump over the pond sometimes and then drink a beer with em.

Homepage: www.darkwell.org E-Mail: darkwellgothik@geocities.com

If you thought that melodic-death metal already offered everything that was possible in this genre than obviously you haven’t listened to Darkane yet. Brutal music at times even going into an extreme blast combined with almost jazz-like arrangements and the unlimited musicianship of the members creates a unique atmosphere almost unheard of in any kind of band out there. You will not sing their songs on the street and not because they are lame, but rather so complex you won’t be able to remember a full song until you listen to it at least a few times. And that’s better than good, enough of nice melodies, it’s time for some serious ass kicking. It seems that Christofer Malmstrom (guitar) has the same point of view, so without wasting any more of your precious time, here is what he had to say...

Chris


First off, congratulations on a great second album, "Insanity". It seems that the reactions are mostly positive? How does that make you feel?

Thank you. It feels really great. Most critics are very positive; there are some people that prefer our first album but most of them like "Insanity" better and of course that feels great.

This is your second album and some people might still not know Darkane. Could you give a brief history of the band?

We started in 1998. Before Darkane, for seven years, three of us (me, the drummer and bass player) had a band called Agretator which played very technical music. During those seven years we ran out of inspirations and Peter and I decided to start a new band. We formed Darkane, in summer of 1998 we recorded our first album "Rusted Angel" and now our second one "Insanity".

What happened within the band that Lawrence Mackrory left Darkane?

He has his own band called Forcefeed and he wanted to focus on that band. When we recorded "Rusted Angel" he told us that he wanted to be on the tour with "Rusted Angel" but we should look for another singer for the next album.
So we asked our friend Andreas Sydow if he wanted to try for Darkane so he did and it worked out pretty well for us and he’s permanent member of the band now.

Are you satisfied with War Music’s work and promotion? You added Century Media and Nuclear Blast to the list of your promoting labels.

Well, for "Rusted Angel" wasn’t that much but now since we also have Century Media and Nuclear Blast they do all the promotion and everything looks great.

It’s almost three years since your debut. What took you so long to release "Insanity"?

First of all, it was quite hard for us to find a good time to enter the studio because Daniel Bergstrand - our producer, has a lot of bands; he’s booked all the time. Then we started to deal with all the labels like Century Media and Nuclear Blast, and when all the papers were signed, we recorded "Insanity". We were ready to release it a long time ago but labels wanted to promote it quite hard and that took another few months.

Rusted Angel and Insanity sound great, is that why you’re sticking to Daniel Bergstrand’s Dug Out Production instead of using Abyss or Fredman like most of your peers do?

Yeah, most of the bands use Fredman, but we don’t want to be like most of them [laughs]. Of course Daniel Bergstrand produces a lot of bands too, but most of them are bands that we really like. Strapping Young Lad or Meshuggah are our biggest influences and that’s why we wanted to be with him. We also feel that Daniel is a part of Darkane sound, he has a lot of ideas and he’s not afraid of experimenting with vocals and things like that. And we totally trust him and his talent.

Ok, on both albums you use the additions of orchestra and choir. How did you come up with that idea?

We were on the tour in Europe with Marduk, also from Sweden, and they had a very cool intro, music from the movie Omen. We thought that was really cool, but we also thought that it would be even better if we wrote our own intro. So we tried that. We hired some musicians from a symphonic orchestra and asked few friends to sign in the choir. That was cool and quite an odd thing to do.

Do you write the notes for them? I bet they don’t listen to metal every day...

Peter and I wrote the intro and I wrote the outro. Both of us listen to classical music a lot, I studied classical music, jazz, music theory and things like that so it was quite natural for us to do since we’ve been into it for so long. Although it took us a few days to write that intro cause we never did anything that big before.

You are one of the songwriters in Darkane, how do you go about writing new material? Do you have a specific process that you go through?

Well, yeah you can say that. I write guitar riffs and Peter does the rhythm section and then once a week we get together and we put our ideas into a song. If he has a cool rhythm he will ask me to add a melody or I would ask for killer drum’s parts to my riffs. I think we work very well with each other and that’s basically the way we write our songs.

Are you 100% satisfied with this album or would you change something if you had a chance?

I’m 90% satisfied. You always find something that you could do better. The sound of this album is very big but it’s not as brutal as it was on "Rusted Angel". On "Rusted Angel" we recorded four rhythm guitars and on "Insanity" we recorded just two. Of course you can hear more what’s going on in guitars department much better on "Insanity" but it’s not that brutal any more. A like it but I think the sound could be a little more brutal.

I’m sure there’ll be a bonus tracks on the Japanese release. What is it going to be?

It will be the live version of the song Convicted from "Rusted Angel". It was recorded in our hometown when Lawrence was still singing with us.

How is the underground in Sweden, is everyone familiar with each other? Are you in contact with other metal bands, and bands who play different kinds of music?

We know In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah but it’s not really an underground [laughs]. We don’t hang out though, ‘cause we live far away from each other and only festivals, tours or things like that give us the opportunity to meet new bands. Although we live in this same town with Soilwork...

You guys have to be very good friend of Soilwork, so many side projects feature members of both bands (Terror 2000, Defaced).

Yeah, you can say we’re almost like brothers.

With US distribution by Century Media, any chance we'll see you guys on tour in the States? Does Darkane have any tour plans at the moment?

Yes, we have plans, but I don’t think Century Media has any right now [laughs]. I would really like to come to the States, it’s one of my biggest dreams but Century wants to know the album sales figures before they bring us over. I really hope someday they will but nothing is planned yet.

Whose face is on the cover of Insanity?

I don’t know who it is. It’s not one of us. [laughs]

What are your expectations for Darkane in the future?

I really hope to play as many live shows as possible. That’s what I really like. I’m more live person, I don’t like being in the studio. I just hope to record good CDs so people will like it and buy it so we can go on with what we do.

Are there any bizarre stories of the band you would like to share with us?

Well, there is one with our guitarist Klas... One night he was very drunk in the studio and he fell, broke his head and passed out. So, we got him into the hospital and the doctor wanted to shave his head because he had a really bad cut. So, Peter and the rest of the guys had to almost beg the doctor to save his hair ‘cause he plays in the band and it’s one of the most important things to him. Of course Klas woke up next day and had no idea what happened and where he was... Maybe it’s not that cool story anymore but for sure it was then! [laughs]

Your album has just been released but have you already written any new songs? If so, in what way do they differ from the "old" stuff if at all?

We don’t have any complete songs yet, only some ideas. The only thing I can say we won’t be less brutal and we won’t slow down. We’ll try to be as brutal as possible but still with melody...

What has been your favorite release so far this year?

I didn’t listen to too many new releases yet, but so far definitely Soilwork’s "Predator’s Portrait" and it’s not because we are good friend. [laughs] They are really good musicians and this album is just great.

How often do you practice on the guitar?

I did practice a lot when I was in school, instead of studying. [laughs] I used to practice 6-7 hours a day before I turned twenty but now it’s about hour or two a day.

What do you do for a living outside of Darkane?

I work in school but not as a teacher. [laughs] It’s more like a teacher’s help. All the guys outside the band have regular jobs. From music we get enough money to buy new guitars or stuff like that, that’s all.

Thanks for your time! Is there anything you would like to add?

I hope that all metalheads in the States will check out the "Insanity"... I just want to say that it takes a few tries until people understand this material. Yesterday I had interviews with European magazines and almost all of them told me that it took them almost 20 listens until they fully understood it. So, be patient... [laughs]

On one hand they are an arrogant, overconfident bunch of guys that think they are the best thing that happened to black metal. On the other hand they create excellent music, which is a hundred times better than most artists of this genre. But calling them commercial is a little too much. Every band, I’ll repeat that, EVERY band wants to sell thousands of records. No one can tell me that he doesn’t care if they sell 1 or 100.000 albums. Bullshit!!! Once they get to this point their whole philosophy on underground and commercialism will change in the blink of an eye. Maybe Dimmu Borgir had more luck than their peers but don’t judge their music by sales figures. A couple days after release of “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” I had a chance to talk to Nicholas (drums) about this and few other things. Here’s what he had to say…

Chris


How does it feel to be a member of one of the most popular black metal band and on the other hand the most hated one?

Well, I’m used to it. I was in Cradle Of Filth and that basically was the same deal there. Everybody either loved or hated Cradle Of Filth. I guess the same is in Dimmu Borgir. The only difference for me is I enjoy playing in Dimmu Borgir a lot more than I ever did in Cradle of Filth.

What happened in Cradle that you changed your mind and moved to Dimmu?

I just basically didn’t agree with the decisions which have been made, wasn’t happy with the musical direction. Basically, I didn’t get on with Dani so I decided to quit.

A lot of people are still comparing Dimmu Borgir to Cradle Of Filth as bands playing this same type of music, melodic black metal. It doesn’t seem than like a huge change for you.

It is a big change for me because... for me personally, I played in Cradle and in Dimmu, when people made comparisons. But I think it’s just because Dimmu is like this the big selling, big commercial whatever band people call you, you know? So I guess people make that kind of comparison, but I played in both bands and the music is totally different.

Probably you get this question a lot, but what does “Dimmu Borgir” mean?

Essentially it’s a place in Finland. A big historical volcanic eruption, that’s millions of years old. The myth behind it is, that it's supposedly a gateway to hell.

Don’t you think it’s kind of strange that so many black metal bands/fans hate you for so called commercialism, but based on sale’s figures you have one of the biggest fan base?

Yeah, well there’s always going to be people that are jealous. You know, it’s a part of human nature, you know, envy. We just do what we do and if people don’t like it then just don’t listen to it.

Can you tell us how good the last album sales were?

I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you.

All right then, let’s fuck what everyone says and let the music speak.

Exactly, all those people waste so much fucking time and energy talking shit about Dimmu Borgir and it’s like, you know, they have like a pathetic existence. The only thing they do is talk shit about us. Try do something positive in life or something more creative than talk shit about somebody you don’t even know.

Can you explain all the line-up changes that happened since “Spiritual Black Dimension”? There were more changes than behind the drums; you also got a new guitarist.

Yeah, we had to fire Astennu for a lot of reasons. It just wasn’t working out with him and he wanted to do his own thing. He wasn’t really interested in Dimmu Borgir any more, so we said fuck, it’s not working out, we get somebody else. Then we got Galder from Old Man’s Child, he’s been a long time friend of Shagrath and Silenoz cause they grew up in this same town together. From small kids, they went to school together and stuff and it seemed like a natural choice. As far as drumming goes I actually joined the band for the “Spiritual Black Dimensions” tour in March 1999.

So, it’s not only for an album or a tour, you are a permanent member of the band now?

Yes, that’s right.

You also changed the studio from the Abyss to Fredman. Wasn’t Peter’s studio good enough any more?

No! We just felt that it was time for Dimmu to have a new kind of sound. You know, as far as the album goes we wanted to have more heavier, more punchy sound and we felt it was time for a change. We didn’t want to go for the Abyss sound again. We wanted to do something different. We are the first Norwegian black metal band to go use Fredmen. I think that was a good choice.

I have to admit that I’m very impressed with your new album. It’s more extreme and aggressive. Is this the direction the band wants to go or do you have different plans for the future?

No, we have to become more aggressive. It’s how Dimmu Borgir sound is evolving every day. The new album will have a few surprises but it will also be more extreme.

You added a violins section and hired a professional conductor. How did you get together in the studio?

Everything worked real well in the studio. At the end we used a fourteen-piece orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphonic Orchestra or something [laughs], and it worked out really well. They took all the Mustis keyboard parts and just played it, as it would be in a classical piece.

So you actually wrote all the notes?

Yes, the conductor just took what we already had and translated it into fourteen-piece orchestra.

Why did you decide to cover "Burn In Hell" from Twisted Sister on this album?

Basically because we all grow up in the 80’s listening to heavy metal and Twisted Sister is a band that we all like from being a kid. It seemed like a good thing to do. Everybody else desires to make something like Judas Priest and we wanted to be different.

What other bands influenced Dimmu’s music? What are you guys listen to?

Oh, we listen to all kind of bands. We listen to The Cardigans, Shagrath likes Chris Isaak, Silenoz likes W.A.S.P. We listen to Pink Floyd, Rush, 80’s heavy metal, thrash metal, black metal, death. We don’t just listen to a metal only, we listen to a lot of different stuff. We listen to a lot of soundtrack music. Music from movies like Gladiator, the Omen, Braveheart.

I know you love your latest release, but is there anything you would like to go back and change?

Maybe I would make the drums just a little bit more quieter and maybe more guitars.

Could you refer to the album's lyrical concept? What are the lyrics talking about?

Well, just basically Silenoz, Shagrath and Vortex wrote all the lyrics and get influenced from a number of things. Some of the concepts on the album is basically how the human race is heading for it’s own destruction and the world is a very brutal place to be and it’s gonna kill us all eventually.

How important do you consider your lyrics to be in you compositions?

The lyrics are very important, they’re, like, probably 30-40% of the songs.

So, when you write a new track is it text and then music or is it the other way around?

It all depends really, Silenoz and Shagrath sometimes have lyrical ideas and they decide to which song the lyrics will fit to. It works two ways, sometimes we write the music first sometimes the lyrics. It changes from week to week when we write in the rehearsal studio.

Your album covers are getting better with every release… What does the cover of “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” represent? Does it have any hidden meaning?

Not really. We just thought it would be a cool album cover.

On “Spiritual…” she was “dressed”, on “Puritanical…” she’s naked, what’s on next one?

It’s a surprise. [laughs]

In your opinion, why does the U.S. have an almost non-existent black metal scene?

I don’t really know. I know the Scandinavian and European bands are very popular in the US but I think it has a lot to do with history. US has only 300 years or so of history and a lot of the black metal inspiration and influence comes from the Viking age and the whole Viking mythology and that kind of concept, which USA doesn’t really have. The US is more death metal country.

Do you remember when was the first time that you sat behind the drum kit and why did you choose drums instead of, for example, a guitar?

Yeah, I was thirteen. For some reason I always wanted to be a drummer. When I was a kid I played with pots and pans and it just seemed like a natural thing for me.

Do you regret anything you’ve done in the past, something you want to forget about?

A number of things, most of them personal. [laughs] As far as my carrier goes all of the things I’ve done in the past has got me where I am today, so I don’t have any regrets as far as my carrier goes.

Now, let’s talk about the future. Do you have any plans for shooting a video from your latest album?

Yes, hopefully maybe sometime after the US tour we’re gonna shoot a video for “Puritania”. It’s still in the embryonic form at the moment, we don’t know. We have lots of ideas and we have to pick one, so we all have to get together and have like a big meeting and decide which one will be most effective idea to shoot the video. I don’t know when we going to shoot it yet because at the moment we have rehearsal before the tour and the rehearsal for the tour is the most important thing right now. We can’t really see too far into the future.

It seems like you guys gonna have a pretty busy schedule this year.

Oh yeah, in April – May, we come to USA, then we go back to Europe, after that we go to Japan, Australia and South America. We play the Wacken Festival in Germany and then we come back to the USA in the fall for another US tour.

What does the pentagram and upside-down cross mean to you? Are they just part of an image or something important in your life?

For me it represents going against conformity, everyday bullshit. You know, you have to get up, you have to get to work, you have to get money, you have to pay bills. For me it’s about living life by my own rules and not conforming to the mainstream.

And what about makeup? Don’t you think right now too many bands are using it and this form of an image is loosing its original meaning?

I don’t really know. A lot of bands from the old days like from 92-93 they don’t really use the makeup anymore. I mean it’s a personal choice. We don’t use so much makeup anymore, we don’t do what we call a 93 style. It's a very subtle now for Dimmu Borgir. It’s just a little around the eyes and we white the face to make you stand out more on the stage or during photos. It makes the image more defined.

Something you want to add… Did I forget anything?

Not really, just a thanks to everybody who supports Dimmu Borgir and hopefully everyone will come and check out the shows across the USA and thanks for all the support.

Andromeda is one of those rare finds in metal; one that breaks away from labels and just sets out to make great music. They have been put into the same category as Dream Theater and other such prog-metal greats, but they have even more to offer: that undeniable Swedish knack for melody and intensity. I recently spoke with Andromeda’s guitarist Johan Reinholdz to give a little insight into this totally unique and talented band.

- Adam Block


Starting off, could you give us a little info about Andromeda? When did you guys get to get together to form the band?

Andromeda was formed in the autumn of 1999. My name is Johan Reinholdz, I play guitar. Thomas Lejon plays drums, Martin Hedin plays keyboards, Gert Daun plays bass and David Fremberg sings.

As I said, Andromeda was founded in '99, it did however exist as a solo/side-project of mine since 1998, when I played in another metal band called Widow. But in '98 the music in this project was a bit different, consisting only of insane instrumental parts and long boring solos. I recorded two demos: Maiden Voyage and Welcome To Forever. Wez, at War-music, got hold of the second demo and contacted me in may '99 and asked if I wanted to write a progressive album and release it on his label. Since I've been a fan of WAR/WrongAgain releases for quite some time and had spoken to Wez a few times before and thought he seemed to be a nice guy, I instantly said yes.

I wrote the album during the summer and then got together with the drummer Thomas Lejon. We rehearsed a few times and then Martin and Gert joined. We continued to rehearse, although we had no singer. Later on, in the winter we got a session singer from Uppsala. He was supposed to do the vocals at home to my demos of the songs, but the result was not at all what we wanted, so on a very short notice Lawrence Macrory of Forcefeed and F.KU stepped into the studio and did the vocals superbly.

This autumn we got a permant vocalist, named David Fremberg, and he is really good and fits into the band-chemistry very well. Nowadays we are a real band. Before the album was recorded we just struggled to get the songs I had written well rehearsed for the recording-session. Now all of us are involved in the creative process. Since the album was cut, we have constructed three or four new songs.

Nowadays, when bands come out of Sweden they get branded as part of the melodic death swarm, but you guys are totally unique and really distance yourselves from such names. How would you describe your music in your own words?

I guess you can call our music progressive metal, but it's a bit heavier than other bands in this genre, and I think that's because my musical roots are brutal metal like Slayer, Metallica, Sepultura... stuff like that.

As I look on your website each of your members has diverse musical interests; from Portishead to Meshuggah. Does that diversity come across in your music as well?

Yeah, I think so. We all listen to different stuff, and personally, I listen to ALL kinds of stuff from progrock, metal and death/thrash to hip-hop, jazz, classical, pop, funk, goth... whatever.

So who are the main song writers in the band?

Me and Martin and then Martin or David does the lyrics and the vocal arrangements but some stuff are created collectively at rehearsal, but most of the songs are written at home.

Do any of your members share responsibilities with other bands or is everyone pretty much focused on just this one band?

Thomas plays with A.C.T., a progressive rock band. David sings in a soul band and I have Non-Exist together with Johan Liiva (ex-Arch Enemy). It's a mix of death/thrash/heavy metal and also some more "modern metal" influences. The debut album, Deus Deceptor, will be released by WAR. It will be recorded some time this year. Matte Modin of Defleshed will maybe do the drums.

I've noticed your cover art for the new album "Extension of the Wish" and it is of striking high quality. Who did you contact to do the art for the record?

Niklas Sundin

Do you think you will contact him for the next album as well?

I don't know. Maybe. He's really good and we like the artwork a lot so it's possible.

How has the response to the record been so far?

It's been really good. The reviews so far have been great. But it’s not released everywhere yet so we'll see how it goes.

How is War Music treating you guys?

I think they're doing a good job so far. They really believe in our music and it feels good.

I know this may be a little off topic but what are your opinions on Napster?

I think it's really cool that you can check out bands for free and discover new music. But it's sad if people stop buying cds because of it, but I don't think that's the case... yet.

Haha, yeah. Well great job on the new record and good luck on your career in Andromeda. Any closing comments you would like to make?

Thank you for the interest and interview!

Check out "Extension of the Wish" if you're into modern progmetal or heavy adventurous music in general. Bye for now!

With the wide array of bands coming out within the Swedish metal market nowadays, it is easy to get lost. Many would see this as a bad thing, but every once and a while you see a band come out with awesome potential and you are forced to take notice. Construcdead is one of those bands. Consisting of Jonas Sandberg on vocals, Christian Ericson and Rickard Dahlberg on guitar, Joaskin Harju on bass, and Erik Thyselius, these thrashers are ready to take aim on the metal world! I recently talked with Erik about the band, their crushing sound, and their ongoing search for label.

Adam Block


First off, tell me a little about Construcdead and how you guys originally got together.

Me, Rickard & Christian played in a trash-metal band and we felt that we wanted to do something different so we started to write some heavier shit. We talked to Joakim , who at the moment didn't have anything to do (Marco Aro joined The Haunted!!) Joakim felt the material was great and he joined!!

Was the melodic side of the music that exists with you guys now always part of your overall sound, or was it developed over time for Construcdead?

It has always been a big part of our music.........We have very different types of taste in music.

With each demo you guys have matured and gotten a little more melodic with the solos, etc., but the material on your newest demo, As Time Bleeds, actually seems heavier than your previous two. Would you agree?

Yes and no. There are parts on the first and second demo that are very heavy. The new stuff we just finished writing is even faster and heavier I guess.

How much live experience does Construcdead have now as a band? How much of the new stuff have you been able to play live?

As a band we’ve played 4 times. In Holland & Stockholm (Sweden). Before that, we have played several gigs with our previous bands. We have played all the new songs live.

And how has the response been so far?

The response has been awesome. People who never heard us before were going crazy in front of the stage and most of them are wondering why we haven’t got a record deal!!!

If those people only knew how lucky they were; I would kill to see you guys live! How is your search for that deal coming along? You guys definitely deserve one!

We haven’t got anything at the moment. It sucks big time!!!!

That all should change soon because metal is coming back in a big way. Especially in Sweden!

Yeah, I saw a program on Swedish Television with The Haunted and that’s pretty rare in Sweden. The Haunted also won a Swedish Grammy award, so the heavy music is making its march again, and hopefully we will be a part of it!!

With all the great bands coming from the area it is easy to get lost. But you guys have a unique sound and style. What...Is there something in the alcohol where you guys are from?

We as a band are very in to Bourbon & coke, it’s got to be that! No seriously, there are a lot of crap metal out on the market, and there are a lot of great bands too, like Soilwork, Arch Enemy, The Haunted and of course Carnal Forge. We believe in hard work and a lot of alcohol (hehe). Also, I believe Jonas's lyrics add a lot to our sound as well.

Any future plans for the band right now? Are you going back on the road soon?

We are not sure. We have a couple of gigs in the summer, but they are not confirmed yet. We are going to record 3 new songs in the near future.

Going back to your music for a second... On your second demo you have a guest solo from none other than Peter Wichers (Soilwork). Tell us how that came about.

We have known Soilwork a couple of years, and when we recorded "Turn" we asked Peter and he liked the idea.

What is the arrangement for the song writing process? Who writes most of the music?

Christian & Rickard are writing the music. I’ve added a couple of riffs. The arrangements are made mostly by us 3.

So as a drummer, who were influences growing up? Do those influences show through in Construcdead's music?

I hope so. I've always been a great fan of Chris Kontos, Vinnie Paul and Vinnie Colaiuta. And of course my old friend and biggest influence: Henry Ranta.

How long have you and Henry Ranta known each other?

Henry and I have known each other since school. We have played together a couple of times, and we grew up in the same neighborhood.

What kind of kit do you use for Construcdead?

I'm using a Sonor set, DW twinpedal and Zildljian cymbals.

Thank you so much for the interview. Anything you would like add?

Check out our website at www.construcdead.com for any news!! Check out our good friend Adam at www.soilwork.cjb.com!!

You might be quick to write off another band entering the land of thrash/death metal these days, but if this is the case then you obviously haven't heard Defaced! They are a band that knows no boundaries... a metalmonster waiting to be unleashed! They have just finished recording their full-length debut for Scarlet Records entitled Domination Commence, and what a proper title it is too, since these guys are just about ready to dominate the whole metal world with their hyper-sonic sound. I recently got to speak to their lead singer, Henrik Sjowall, about the band and everything metal! Join us, will you...

Adam Block


So tell me a little bit about Defaced... how did all you guys get together?

It all started way back in 1994, I was singing in band called Cul De Zac (which included Ola from Soilwork). We were going to record a demo tape and the guy who worked in that studio was Klas Ideberg. A few months later the other guys kicked me out. I didn’t care really. Klas found out somehow and called me up and asked me to join. I didn’t know any of those guys then but I thought I could give it a shot. Here we are 7 years later, stronger and more brutal than ever!!!! I think Jörgen joined in 1998, and Henry joined forces last year.

How long was until the deal with Scarlet Records came about?

Henry contacted them by midsummer last year and I think we finished the deal in September. Everything just went great and it seems that they liked our stuff a lot.

What was it about Scarlet Records that interested you guys? How does it feel being label mates with your fellow metal buddies Terror2000?

They were the only one interested, (ha ha ha) just kidding. Stefano from Scarlet REALLY wanted us to join. He though the promo sounded fucking great and Terror talked positive about them, so we signed. We just have to hope that they don’t let us down. I think it’s so cool that this city (Helsingborg) now has a few real good metal bands, so it’s fun to be under the same "roof" as Terror.

Your group features members of both Darkane and Soilwork, but really bares little resemblance to either one of those bands. How easy was it for you guys to find your own sound?

It hasn't been any problem at all. First of all, me and Mattias never listen to music like Soilwork or Darkane. Don’t misunderstand me here, I think both the "Soilers" and Darkane are very professional and they have a few real killer songs but their sounds just don’t fit my ear.

Mattias is our main "riff master" and he never composes those kinds of riffs. Klas is much more of a speed/trash metal guy, he can slide in to those kind of arrangements sometimes, but it’s rare. We want it to be groovy and it must not be fast stuff all the way. We just create right in your face metal, as I see it.

So you just finished your first full-length for the Scarlet Records label: Domination Commence. Tell me a little bit about the record. How happy are you with the finished product?

Am I happy about the finished product?..........I´m real fucking proud of it, and I think we all are. Everyone has made an exellente job. It was recorded in small town in the south of Sweden, during 2 intense weeks. It was real hard work all though the production. Klas handled all the studio stuff himself with some help from a guy called Nisse. That´s right, we recorded everything by ourselves, thanx to Klas. I had some minor problems with my voice but everything worked out great. We didn’t have any major trouble, we were lucky I guess. It was my and Mattias’ first "real" recording so it was great fun. It’s very dynamic record which includes fast / slow music and angry/ soft singing. I’m really looking forward to sharing our music with the rest of the world.

Any word on a release date for the record?

No, as far as I know Scarlet will release it in Aug-Sept.

I see that you guys decided to go with an old Zeppelin tune (When the Levee Breaks) for the Japanese bonus track. How did that all come about?

It was Mattias who came up with the idea, and we though it was a cool idea and a great song. We made it a bit heavier though.

For the folks here who don't know, and that would include me, please describe what an average live performance is like with Defaced. How much touring have you guys been able to get under you belt so far? Any plans for a tour supporting the new album?

It’s hard for me to describe, I guess our fans think it’s hard and intense. We haven’t done any live gigs for a long time, we have focused on making new songs. There aren’t many possibilities to play here in the south of Sweden, if you play metal. 3/4 of Sweden’s population listen to all that commercial shit like Britney and the Backstreet Boys, which really SUCKS!!!!

I hope we can do some touring to support our album, but we haven’t heard anything from Scarlet so far.

So apart from Defaced are any of you guys working on other projects as well?

No, me and Mattias are not involved with anything else.

In your spare time what bands do you enjoy listening to? Do any of these bands bare influence in the music you make with Defaced?

My favorite bands are Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Machine Head. I´m kind of a rock n’ roll guy. I just think that there’s so much shitty music coming out these days that it’s hard to find new good bands. The Defaced sound is complicated to judge, it’s mixed with all kinds of styles.

I want my singing to contain a lot of melodies, and I get inspiration from all kinds of bands. An example of what I call good singing I think the singer of Stuck Mojo. [He did] an excellent job on their latest album. I want it to be a nice mix between brutal and clean singing, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Some of the Defacers think it’s too much "rock n roll" sometimes though! (laughs)

So In closing, what would like to say to those metalheads out there looking for some new music?

If you like music from Sweden and want to discover something new... Pick this shit up!! Prepare you ears for some "new" Swedish music!! C ya and watch out for The Defaced in the near future.

Although Beseech has been around since 1992, they didn't get much attention in the crowded Swedish metal scene. Their first album “From A Bleeding Heart” received very mixed opinions and is almost unknown to most doom metal fans. Half way through their career they changed their lineup and record label. This resulted in the recording of the very interesting “Black Emotions”, which mixes melancholy with the modern melodic Swedish sound. The new style was rewarded with their first big tour with Theatre Of Tragedy and Lacuna Coil. Since I can’t wait too long for ANY metal news, right after they unpacked their bags I had some questions for Robert Spånglund…

Chris.


You just came back from the tour with Theatre of Tragedy and Lacuna Coil, are you satisfied with your performance?

Yes, we are very satisfied with what we performed and we got really good response from listeners that didn’t even know who we are, we really hope they’ll know our name by now.
This was our first real tour ever so we think we did a good first impression to at least spread our name around and that is very important, don’t think you can get successful in the underground scene without playing around different countries.

What was peoples’ reaction on your music?

It was really good and many people did talk with us after the shows and many autograph-sessions did take place, and we sold many CD’s so this can’t be wrong for us. Of course not all did like our music, but that’s the way it is as for all bands...

Can you tell us anything about unusual moments that happened during the tour?

It happened so much good and bad and wired things on this tour so it’s hard to tell. Our bus broke down about five times or even more, we went into a ditch with it so that’s a real hell-bus believe me. When we came home we really wanted to burn it down but we rented it so that should be expensive!
We also were robbed in the middle of the night in the bus outside Montpellier/France when we were asleep. But mostly it was good and fun things that happened… to meet all these nice people, we actually met the inventor of Cubase, that was a Beseech fan, and that was really fun to hear. We discussed much about music because we used Cubase as part in the recording of "Black Emotions" so it was really weird to meet him.

Beseech music is a combination of gothic sounds with death and doom. Your songs include flute, cello, violin, piano, female vocals and traditional instruments. Do you have any problems recreating studio sound during your live performances?

No, there are different ways to solve this, one way is to have all this on stage but that is very expensive and takes big place, other way is to take some parts live and some sampled on Minidisk or on a DAT, or you could make it more live and skip some things. We have done little of everything; we have female vocals live, piano and other synths (because our female singer also plays keyboard besides Mikael Back). We also use mini live because some things are impossible to recreate and other parts are not as the album, a more kind of live version of a certain song.

Do you still wear 18th century costumes during your stage shows?

This was for our first album "From A Bleeding Heart" we had this clothes and for that music at that time we thought that was a good image for that album and that the music fitted very well with that clothes. Now for "Black Emotions" we think the music has developed into another style but still with the Beseech feeling of course, we have taken a time-travel and now we have different costumes, nowadays it’s more darker and naked in some ways.

Why, after a successful debut "From A Bleeding Heart" did you leave Metalblade Records and go to the smaller Pavement Music?

It’s hard to tell exactly what happened with this, so much things around everything. First was "From A Bleeding Heart" delayed for two years before we broke the contract with We Bite/Corrosion Records and Metalblade jumped in and released the album in 98. At that time the music had been "little old" and the sales weren’t so good, not too bad but not good enough for the label we think. But a guy employed at Metalblade did quit and began at Pavement music and that was a guy that really believed in us and our potential and we felt that we really needed such a person for the band. We also had some internal problems in the band that was annoying for the label but later on we solved it.
And in the middle of 2000 we released "Black Emotions" on Pavement music.

Speaking of leaving... on your latest release "Black Emotions" almost half of the band changed. New drummer, bass player and new female vocals, what happened within the band that caused all those changes?

We are first a real hardworking band with the music and we have serious intentions with it. And as for the drummer, he couldn’t really put 100% in the music so he decided to quit the band. The bass player and the rest of the band had different view on how the band should develop and after long time of internal struggle we came to the decision to go separate ways. For the female vocals on the first album, she wasn’t really a member of the band, just a session singer more that had other projects around Sweden. But with all of these people we are still good friends and it’s better to go separate ways if you can’t solve the problems.

I’ve heard that all of the band members had some side projects. Do you still play in different bands or Beseech is your main focus now?

Yes, before almost all in the band had some kind of side projects but now is it just me (Robert) and Daniel the bass player that have side projects beside Beseech. Daniel have a SKA-band and I work on two other projects right now in my home studio beside Beseech but Beseech is the main band of course and the priority for me and all in the band.

Do you have any favorite bands that you listen to right now?

For right now it’s Massive Attack "Mezzonine" and The Gathering "If_Then_Else" that rotated in my CD player most recently. But I like all music and it depends on the mood if I put The Doors on or Morbid Angel or Depeche Mode on play.

What is your most embarrassing CD in your collection?

Hmmm... that was a hard one but it must be a later Black Sabbath album, from the middle of the 90th´s or something.

What in Sweden do the parents do to their children that it has the biggest metal scene in the world? What did they do to you?

I think that there are several reasons why Sweden have much music and some are that we earn pretty much money here so the parents can buy instruments or we have an organization that can get instruments for a whole band for free if they fill some lists (studioförbund in Swedish). I think the state is paying them somehow. Then we do have a beautiful country that inspires us to make good music even if the climate maybe very cold and rainy, we hate to go outside too much and can make good music inside and look out on the landscape... It’s hard to answer this but I think many countries make good music but I like the Swedish scene myself too.

Ok, let’s get back to the band... It seems like you guys are not the happiest people on the planet. Why is there so much melancholy in your music and lyrics?

I don’t think we are so melancholy, there are worse examples of that but our music and lyrics are based on feelings, thoughts and fantasies and maybe we mostly think of more melancholy things and that is the easiest way to handle the mind, to expose it somehow as the music for example. Ok, our music isn’t happy but the most things around us are in fact dark things and it’s easier to write more melancholy music.

Do you think this type of music is the best way to express emotions or is it only a mask for better album sales?

Of course we are doing music for ourselves, we don’t earn any money on the music and we actually don’t have any ambitions to do that either, it’s too small genre kind of metal or what you call it. If we wanted to earn money we should make MTV-kind-of-music instead. Of course we do want people to buy albums so we can reach more people and get tour around to meet fans and more...

How do you feel about hippies?

Today I don’t see any hippies, in my opinion they were in the late 60-ies and 70-ies, but I would like to be in the whole thing for some days to really see how they had it... to see the concert with Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. I don’t have anything against them.

Did you start writing new material for your third album? If so, can you give us some details about it?

Yes, we have some new material that we are working on in my home studio. Some songs just need a little arrangement and we have stuff already for almost a complete album now. But it will take sometime to make it finished but we hope to get into the studio this year to record the third album.

Who do you feel is the most talented band in the dark-gothic scene?

Actually I don’t really know the scene to say anything about it... maybe it sounds stupid but I’m not so into new music.

Thanks for this interview! Would you like to say anything else to our readers?

Take a listen to our second album "Black Emotions" if you want a journey through harder gothic metal with some electronic and ambient passages. Keep informed about Beseech on our homepage where you can download sound samples, videos, tours and latest info.

This band doesn't really need an introduction but since this is the first MetalBite interview, I owe you at least a short one.

Immolation has been on the metal scene for almost 15 years serving brutal, aggressive death metal. If you don't know them you probably spend too much time jerking off, which by the way, I didn't forget to ask Bob for his professional opinion on the matter. Their music reminds me of a shotgun placed in my mouth and a noisy trigger click that blows my fucking brain across the wall. (Don't try this at home!!!) Immolation's latest album "Close To A World Below" only proves their membership in the death metal elite. Before they hit the road I sent Robert Vigna a bunch of questions, here are the answers...

Enjoy, Chris.


It’s almost the 15th anniversary of Immolation, what in your mind was the band’s biggest success and failure over those years?

It's been very successful, ... we've been able to travel alot and play metal for 15 years, ... can't complain! haha We don't make any money off it yet, but that is something we are trying to change. We've made the mistake of letting time pass by too long between releases in the past and well we are done with that now,..we released "Close To A World Below" only a year after our last album "Failures For Gods" and we will continue to push forward into the new decade. We are more focused and ambitious now than ever before so we are ready to have metal take place!!! We've been into this for a long time and we are into it 100%, we love all kinds of music and making our own in the dark and unholy way is the best for us!

Let’s go over some history of the band; 15 years and only 4 albums, what caused those huge time breaks between releases? Especially between first three albums.

It happens, .... that's just the way it went. We've learned alot over the years and we all work alot to, Tom has his own business which started in 94, so that keeps us very busy and involved. So between that and alot of other things time would just go by before we knew it. We have that under control now so we look forward to another release later this year or early 2002!!! It all depends on the touring schedule this year. We might be out there for most of the year so we shall see.

For a musician to not be on the stage for almost 5 years had to have sucked a big cornhole. What did you guys do over that time?

We didn't have an album out, but we did do shows and did travel to some cool places. We went up to Canada for an interesting set of dates, we also traveled down to South America and played a one off in Lima, Peru which was awesome!!!! We did many fests, etc,... so although the whole album/label situation was in a void at the time, we were still active with the band. And for us to release our second album 5 years after the first and still be around, and now a few years later pretty much at the top of our game, ... that's a success in itself! haha

"Close To A World Below" was released just one year after "Failures For Gods". Can we count on a more regular schedule now?

Yes absolutely! We will have another album out soon. Like I mentioned, later this year or early next year. We have alot of ideas and will make the next even darker and heavier, .. but it will once again be something new and fresh! We can't wait to get it done!

It seems that the less time you have between albums, the better the final outcome. How much time did you actually spend in the studio writing this album?

This album was written in under 2 months. We decided in March of 2000 that we needed to get another album done asap, .... so we set the studio time for June 1 and by the time that date rolled around we had the album done. We work much better under pressure I can tell you that. This is the best album we've released to date. They keep getting better and better as we go.

How much time did you spend in the studio bathroom jerking off?

None at all, ....... it was in the studio bedroom! hahaha! Shoosh!

Looking at all these bands around today, there are not too many of them that stuck together for 15 years playing this same style. You are still extreme, still playing brutal death metal, in one word, you’re still: Immolation. How did you pull it off and why haven’t you changed?

We are into what we are doing and all have the same goal, and that is to make very dark and heavy music, but also make music that has alot of feeling and emotion. We always take it further each time and are always bringing something original and interesting into our catalog of unholy metal. We try new angles and ideas. When you go to pick up a new IMMOLATION record you know you are going to expect the same thing each time, ... and that's the unexpected! You know you are going to get something special, something unlike what you would imagine this style of music would do. And that has really become our trademark. We have our own style, sound and way of doing things, and it shows. When you listen you hear the difference.

What bands had the biggest influence on Immolation? What inspires you?

Music and life inspire us. I think we are inspired by alot of positive things as well as negative. We all grew up with music and were into bands and the way the music made you feel, ... we like travelling, putting a great show together, ... creating music, meeting people, ... it's a beautiful thing! Of course the deep feelings of misery, depression, and stress, etc, play a major roll in our writing and emotion of the music. So there are many things that have an effect on us.

Some people say that listening to this same style of music that you’re playing stops the band from being original. What’s your opinion?

That is completely wrong. We are very original and always expand on our music. Maybe not everyone can do that, ... and that could be in any kind of music. But we are always bringing something new to the table, so that's proves that statement false right there.

In my opinion, "Close To A World Below" is your best release to date. Are you satisfied with the final outcome? Would you change anything if you had a chance?

We are very happy with it. I don't think any band with the budget under $20,000 couldn't find something they would like to be better on their album, ... I know for the time and money we had to get this project done it's unbelievable!!!!! CLOSE TO A WORLD BELOW is a very powerful album. The production is very strong and very audible. The feeling is there and the atmosphere is there. It is really one of the best albums to come out in a long while in content and production in this extreme music, .. and that's a fact!

Each Immolation album carries a strong anti-Christian, anti-religion message. The lyrics and art on this release are just un-fuckin-believable. Is this something you really believe as a band? What are your religious beliefs?

We have none. We believe in what we write, ..as it really is not that unbelievable. We take the personifications of good and evil and twist things around, really mocking both at times. We are very serious when it comes to our music and lyrics, ... but we don't take ourselves too seriously if you know what I mean. We are very down to earth people and look at everything with a realistic view point. Look at "Father You're Not A Father" , this track is basically a song against child abuse, ... and "Lost Passion", this deals with someone who has devoted their life to something only to be let down and somewhat deceived in the end. It can relate to not only the religious context it is written, but if you look closely at the words it can relate to a relationship, or someone you look up to, ...it looks at how things in life let you down, .. and that is something I think we've all experienced at one point or another. We put alot of thought into what we write and it can be looked at in different ways where the individual can take in whatever meanings that suit them.

The artwork, well those are our concepts too, ... and Andreas Marschall is just the most amazing artist alive, so he brings it all to life!!!!!!!

Speaking of religion, if you had a chance what would you do as a Pope?

I would take all the money the church has locked up and put it to good use and fix alot of problems in the world.

While we’re at it, which would you rather see, Jennifer Lopez naked and cooking breakfast for you or Tammy Faye Baker on the end of a rope?

Oh please, I'm not going to even try and be humorous here, .... breakfast with a naked Jennifer Lopez would definitely make my day!

Let’s go back to more serious questions. In March you start the longest tour in Immolation history. Any expectations? Do you have plans for the rest of the world? If so, when and with whom?

We have alot of plans, but we are still working on them! We got the World Of Darkness tour together for the US in March/April, .. then we go directly to Europe after that in May for a month. Then in June we are working on Japan and Australia. The in July/August we will go out again in the US for a full tour which we are trying to get a package together, ... then we will be out again in the US at the end of the year. We are going to try and squeeze a more extensive European tour in there after the summer, .. we will see ... so we have alot coming up!

It seems like it’s going to be a very busy year for you. Anyhow, could you tell us more about your coming projects. Have you already begun to work on the next album & if so, can you tell us more?

We have ideas but we will get going full force on that in the next coming months, ... it's going to kick your ass for sure! haha!

Thank you for the interview. Do you have any closing comments?

Thanks for the interview and support, we appreciate it! We will be out on the road alot this year so check our site for upcoming details: www.ImmolationDirect.com

See you on the metal road!!!!

Whenever you look back at the evolution of the metal scene in Sweden during the 90s, it's impossible to overlook all these great melodic black and death metal bands that came out during that era, from masterminds such as Dissection, Vinterland, and Unanimated to the main topic of this interview, the one and only Sacramentum. Ever since their return in 2019, this band has had such a magnificent revival with their infernal live shows, even performing as headlining acts at some Deathfests on a couple of occasions, while their fanbase is ever-growing and remaining as loyal as ever before. For the past couple of years, there have been talks about the release of a new version of their second album The Coming of Chaos, which was carefully and successfully restored to its envisioned glory thanks to the studio magic of the renowned producer Dan Swanö, who did a brilliant work with the remixing and remastering, as well as the inclusion of a new artwork by none other than the great Kristian "Necrolord" Wåhlin. Although it took some time for the new version to finally come to life, it all changed when Century Media Records released a visualizer for "Dreamdeath", the first track of the sophomore album, which showcased that history from 1997 is about to be changed forever, while also announcing the official release date of December 13th with open pre-orders. Personally, even though I am highly skeptical when it comes to reworking classic albums, I put all my doubts aside when I heard the remixed version of the song, so I figured it was probably a great opportunity to chat with their vocalist Nisse Karlén about the new version of The Coming Of Chaos, while also discussing other things like the current plans for the new Sacramentum album, the impact that the band still has worldwide, and we also talked a bit about the sad news regarding the death of Iron Maiden's former vocalist Paul Di'Anno who had passed away on the same day of this interview. I truly hope you will enjoy this conversation, because I have been highly looking forward to it, especially as a longtime fan of Sacramentum and other great Swedish melodic black metal bands of the 90's.

Vladimir

Hi, Nisse. How are you doing?

Hello. How are you? Nice to see you.

I'm doing pretty well. Though I'm kinda shocked because of the death of Paul Di'Anno.

Oh, fuck. Yeah, I saw that. I'm actually drinking whiskey in honor. So, cheers to Paul Di'Anno.

Yeah. Cheers.

An icon has left us too soon as usual. Most of the good, only the good die young.

Yeah. Were you at least lucky to see him perform live before he passed away?

Actually, yeah. I've seen him live a couple of times. This is a weird story, but, when I played in Gothenburg, in '95 or '96, there was a guy standing at the bar which I really, really hated. So, I was drunk and I threw a beer glass at him, and it hit Paul Di'Anno.

Oh, shit hahaha.

So, Paul Diano, he rushes in front of me "What the fuck, man?!", he stood screaming at me and I said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry". And then Nifelheim brothers, Pelle and Eric, they came directly up to me and said "Just so you know, we would have helped him to fight you".

Yeah, Hellbutcher and Tyrant are fucking Iron Maiden maniacs. So, if you ever diss on Iron Maiden in front of them, you're fucking dead.

Oh, yeah. I've known them since they were 14 years old.

So, you know the band since their very early days, I guess?

Oh, yeah. I have been with them since the first demo days. A very close friend of mine, he was the first guitarist of Nifelheim and wrote some riffs. He has another cool band now that's called Rite. Check it out.

Okay. Thank you for your recommendation.

Old school, brutal shit, and it's really, really good.

Do you know anything about that guitarist who said that he was fired from the band because he had a girlfriend?

Yeah. It's him, the story goes that they asked him "if it's okay if we write that in an interview?" He went "Yeah. Yeah. Whatever." It's all part of the show.

That's absolutely fucking crazy. So, the reason why I invited you here is because I saw the great news of the re-release of the remastered version of the sophomore album The Coming Of Chaos. And, wow, when I heard that new version of "Dreamdeath", I got so excited. I mean, it already sounds superior to the original version. The fact that you have Kristian Wåhlin's artwork, it made me feel so much more optimistic about it. This has been talked about for years now, but how come it came to happen in 2024?

Ever since the album was released, I have felt dissatisfied with how it came out. So, since 1997, I have had this in me all those years. You know, someday I will do something about it. I saved the original tape reels. It's 24 channels, 1-inch/2-inch tapes, really big tapes, which really were Century Media's property, but I told them that "No, no, there were no tapes". So, 4 years ago, I started to really, really look for someone who can transfer them into the digital world, because these old tapes, they have been very securely stored at my place, and, you know, many movements of over the places, but I always kept them really, really safe, because I knew someday, I would do something about it. But it took me another 2 years to find someone who had a recorder like that. I asked around a lot of people, even Dan Swanö, and he told me "No, no. If you find someone who can do this, you know, please let me know because it's very unusual". I finally found a guy in England, and everything went well because you have to bake the tapes first because they can get sticky, and then it's all over. So, just shipped them over to England where I just did it on chance because there was no one who wanted to send some insurance on that kind of thing, and if they were lost, then there wouldn't be any remix. But anyway, I got the digital files, and I sent them to Dan Swanö, and he had listened to 2 songs on that, he was ecstatic and lyrical, he "What the fuck is this?" And even one of my greatest friends, Kristian "Necrolord" Wåhlin, he always supported me in whatever I do, I went "What do you think about this idea", but he said "No, no. Remix is a remix". So, no one believed in this project, and I didn't fight it for anyone more than myself, because I felt so. It wasn't a complete album as it should be. I've written 4 pages of extensive liner notes explaining all the process. It will be printed on the CD version on The Coming of Chaos release. And, what can I say? I mean, we started shipping files over the net. It took over 2 months, I think, and when I got the first mix, I brought it down to Kristian, and "Hell yeah. Well, listen to it". I went "What do you think?" And he was "What the fuck? What? Now I get it. What the fuck?" I've known him since the old days. And it's very, very rare that he gets excited about something unless it's Beherit, Bathory or Blasphemy. And then I played it for Anders and I asked him "What do you think about this?" He started listening and he said, "What? I don't remember this". And I said "Yeah, well, mhmm". During the process, I listened a lot in my car, and my wife told me "I never heard this album before". And I said "Yeah, you have, but not in this way". So, I didn't even, in my wildest dreams, would think that it would be like this. It was like recording it all over again when we had the shipping files. I already had the cover, the cover of the Cosmic Key Creation that they did with the burning yeah. But Kristian asked me over the phone one day, and he said "You know what, either you do it or you don't", and he rambled on. And because he has a lot of these really secret stuff, and he feels a twitch, he pulls out a painting and says "This is the Coming of Chaos". It was only half done and I said "What the fuck Kristian? You can't do this to me". because he lives 3 hours away from me, so I couldn't go to him for 3 weeks, I think. And I told him "Please send me a picture. Send me something." And he of course, didn't. When I saw it, I stood there stuttering, and then he got anxious. It's been such a process, and it has been for me, getting back into the roots of Sacramentum and living on a higher level in so many ways. We needed all this break to be able to do this now, what we do, and then Century media went "What about a new album?", I said "Yeah. Just wait. Listen to this". When they heard the test song, they were also "Yeah. Yes. It sounds amazing". So, yeah, I try not to compromise my shit, but, you know, this is not an ordinary remix, and you have to read the liner notes. I explained everything from back in how it was in those days when we recorded it and we recorded it with a fantastic person and a great musician, Andy LaRocque. But he's a heavy metal musician. So, it really felt like we recorded the album all over again.

Speaking of the final result as of what I've heard recently, it really seems like you guys were trying to bring it closer to the original first album Far Away From The Sun, especially with the updated cover art. I mean, your first album Far Away From The Sun is still regarded as an essential Swedish melodic black death metal classic and a timeless masterpiece. But out of curiosity, I want to know how was The Coming Of Chaos, the original release received back in 1997? Did people constantly draw comparisons between the 2 albums?

Oh yeah. The thing was, you gotta understand, I don't know how old you are, but still, back in those days in '97, we would do the thing that would be that smart thing to do. If you wanna be a popular band, then we should go with a faraway sound. But we were like this. We hated the fucking scene that was growing. You know, we were ashamed to even be associated with black metal fucking clowns and idiots, so we did the opposite. We turned down the melody, this in the mix. It is that natural progression of Far Away From The Sun. And in my opinion, much more a better album overall, even though I understand it's hard. It's the music, especially Far Away From The Sun, I created the entity that is the core of Sacramentum, and yeah it has a huge will of its own, and it has proven to me that I'm not in control. The entity is in control of me, us now. And it was calling to us so strongly, so we just couldn't deny it anymore. When I got back into it, I realized that, fucking hell. I really love everything I do on stage nowadays, and that's why I choose to only do the vocals. And I always wanted to do both in the vocals live, but couldn't find suitable musicians back then. It was impossible because either people were idiots or they were playing in several other bands. So, we have shared members with Dissection and we were all friends, and Lord Belial, we were all friends and still are friends. We were helping each other, but we couldn't take someone we supported. It was a very small scene back then and there were only 3 black and death bands on the west coast of Sweden, and it was Dissection, Sacramentum and Lord Belial. And we all hung out and knew each other. And, in Stockholm, we had Unanimated, and I remember I was at a concert opposite Stockholm. I bought the Unanimated Fire Storm demo. I don't remember who it was, but yeah. And Micke the vocalist, I'm talking to him from now on. Now he's moving back to Stockholm again. So, it was for a couple of years after he got out of prison. I missed all those things so much, but I didn't really allow myself to do that because I had something else I had to do. And I pursued a lot of other interests that I didn't have time to do, when Sacramentum was taking all my time, but I've gone very, very deep into myself and called out every demon and confronted them and almost died in a process a couple of times, but no. I'm still here.

You're pretty much holding it strong, and it's great to see that Sacramentum returned back in 2019. For a great and influential Swedish band such as yourself, you really left such a big mark and you're still regarded as one of the influential and most important bands worldwide.

I just wanna say thanks. Thank you.

You're welcome. But I wanted to ask you. Since your return, have you had the impression that Sacramentum came back at the right place and the right time?

Probably. Yes. And the reason why we got back together was because I had started to write new songs for Sacramentum and I had asked Anders repeatedly "Isn't it time to, you know, get Sacramentum together?" And he said, "No, I don't want to". I went "Okay. I won't do it without you". So, then I thought maybe I'll start to write things and play it to him so he might get interested. And I've written a lot of really good stuff, which I am still working on, but I didn't get the chance to show it to him because he called me and said "Hey! How do you feel about putting Sacramentum back together?" and I was like "Shut the fuck up.". And I said, "Well, it depends. I have some demands first". And he went "Yeah, whatever you're open to". Finally, we were getting headliners of all the Deathfests around, headliners at Maryland Deathfest, which was amazing, and California Deathfest, Netherland Deathfest, UK Deathfest, and we got a ridiculous amount of pay for those shows. So, it's now or never. And, both me and Anders were like "Fuck yeah! Let's go!" And when we rehearsed the first time, it was fucking hell. We had missed it so much, and Anders told me "Fucking hell. Your vocal, it is insane". I know. I hadn't sung in like 20 years. So, I don't know, it has evolved by itself as well, I guess. But to answer that question, right time, right place, yes. Did we choose it? No. Not really. The entity was calling so hard for us and gave us this enormous opportunity, and I felt, anyway, to go all in, and that's what I did, and that's what I'm still doing. And that's why the new album is delayed because it has to be perfect, but I need to feel satisfied or otherwise, we won't release it at all. And I will never ever release another album without Necrolord's artwork on it, and Necrolord is a great friend of mine. He's a fantastic artist, a real artist in every aspect and in every way. So you can't rush things. And, on the phone, he told me that the vortex of The Coming of Chaos album, he redid it over 100 times. This is how insane that man is. He's very much like me, just much more laid back and, but he's got that feeling when if you don't feel it, then no, it won't happen. So, the album has been done for over 2 years, but because of reasons which I won't go into, Kristian had a lot of different difficulties, and I said "It's done when it's done. It's no problem". And yeah, I didn't have any rush. I waited since 1997.So what the fuck? A couple of more years? Yeah. I want it as I really would have wanted it back then. Ego was big back then, and the scene was a mess. Century Media was on us and everything just went to shit really. I was so fucking mad and angry when The Coming of Chaos album was released with a shitty cover. The first time I saw it, I think I was, in essence, you know, when the whole Century Media came into the tour bus and were very, very, very angry at me and said "This is not a nice conversation, man". And I said "Well, what the fuck? What is it now?". And they said "You've been talking shit in interviews about Century Media" and I was like "Woah. What do you mean? What shit?", then they said something and I said "It's not shit. It's the fucking truth". What the fuck? At the end, we became good friends again, but I said "If you can't deal with us, cut us loose. We don't wanna work together". And now all these years later, I had to tell them a couple of times "What the fuck? Haven't you learned anything yet"? If you say jump, I will never jump, fuck you. We're not that kind of band. It's not for anyone, and that's what Sacramentum always has been. When we started, in my wildest dreams, I would never even think that it would be what it has become. I mean, I'm so humble and grateful for the fact that we have been able to just tour for the last 3 years with Far Away From The Sun alone. And it's still Far Away From The Sun show. And now, we have The Coming of Chaos. So, at the end of this year, we have a really special release party in Gothenburg and you are of course invited if you want to, it will be a real party.

I gotta say, I'm really happy to see Necrolord come back to do the artwork for the remaster of The Coming Of Chaos. And I'm actually curious to know, have you probably considered including some of his additional artwork in the booklet or inserts on the new album?

Of course. I have a lot of plans. We talk about things like that all the time. I am in creative chaos mode when me and Kristian meet. We see each other roughly one time at a month, or even more often because we have other musical projects together that are just for us, but I kept coming up with a lot of ideas all the time, and he and I asked him "Is it too much"? He said "No, no". Fuck, I love it. So, I think I have three Sacramento albums maybe now, but I will compromise it to one masterpiece. Well, I can't say masterpiece because it's not something that I can choose if it would be a very, very good album that I would feel satisfied with and the entity the true spirit of Sacramentum. On the new Coming of Chaos album, it has the infernal seal, it's a painting that Kristian has done as well, and I have all the originals in my home because he has so many paintings. We help each other and I'm just blessed. I'm so humble to the fact that people like yourself are living for it. If one person is living for it, then it's all worth it. And that's pretty much how we did it back in the days because I come from a little shithole town in the middle of Sweden, and people were hating me all along, but still, I had my goal, and I do this. And hey, we were the first band from that town who got a record deal, so what the fuck?

And a major record deal at best because Century Media Records is a very big respected label. It has Tribulation, Necrophobic, and Marduk, so many great bands on the roster. And having you still be a part of that family is a big deal. The fact that you still have so many big fans, maybe even more fans than it had back then in the 90s, it really shows that they show appreciation to what you guys do and that, you know, they respect you as an artist. I mean, times have changed. Back then, labels felt the need to interfere with albums. Nowadays, they do it much less. But the problem is nowadays, people have trouble finding labels, and they cannot find labels no matter what genre they play. Even if you're great, you just cannot find a good record deal. And it's so important that you guys are still under their wing.

Yeah. This is nothing that I haven't really thought about, but still, we had gotten so many fucking deals, you can't believe. All of the people at Century Media, they were road crew managers, they are old-school guys and they are running Central Media now, because Robert Kampf, the founder of Century Media, he sold it a couple of years back and now it's only those guys who we met back then in like 1995/1996, and we had a great time. Meeting them again is like a class reunion or whatever, and they are business persons, but still, they know that you can't push it too much. And I have told them that so many times, if you're pushing it, hey, then it's all over. So, we're still negotiating about the contract on Century Media. And, I got the question just a couple of weeks ago if I still wanna release the new album on Century Media, and I said "Yes, of course", because they weren't sure because I had turned down every deal they made us. I'm in no rush.

Exactly, because nothing should be ever rushed and nothing should ever be forced. There's a very good saying, someone I know actually said this: "You should not force art because art is like a fart. If you force it, it's shit".

Oh, yeah. That's good. I just have to rephrase it so I can remember. That's how I felt about the old Coming of Chaos album because that was rushed and so was The Black Destiny, but that's another story. So, the new album, why it's not out yet, has so many reasons, but everything has its own time and it's ready when we feel it's ready, but we are working on it and I think it sounds amazing, the things we have. That's what I love about this process of making music, which in my opinion is the ultimate art form because it's poetry, lyrics, it's like theatre. It's artwork. And when it all comes together, then it's pure magic. And it's what I do because I'm a fan of this music. I'm a fan of everything, and I love when we're all playing, as soon as I can get off the stage, I'll go out to talk to people, drink beer and hang out with them. And if we're at festivals, we always stay for the whole festival because we wanna see the other bands. And we are the only band that really wants to stay a whole festival. Everybody just wanna go home, and I don't understand it. What can I say? I'm old school as fuck, and, I have respect for people. Nah. Most bands are fake, I would say, in my opinion. Music is good, but is there any substance behind it? Yeah. In a lot of cases, there is. I have actually been really surprised when I got back into the scene because I've been out of it for over 20 years, and when I got back and met younger people who were fucking hell. I have a tremendous amount of respect, and that's why we're in this genre because it's ever evolving. It's pushing the limits further and further and further and further away. When I don't feel like that anymore, like going up and just performing, then I will stop it again. I will stop Sacramentum again. And that's why I stopped Sacramentum back in the early 2000 because I didn't feel it anymore. I was fed up with the shit. I didn't wanna belong to these people because 2 or 3 percent of the people were actually what they said they were. The rest were, I don't know.

When you guys disappeared back in the early 2000s, the funny thing is back then, a lot of other bands similar to you such as Dissection, Unanimated, Vinterland and Gates of Ishtar, were not even around at the time as well because it all disappeared. You had bands that were following your footsteps like Thulcandra from Germany and they even said they really looked up to what you guys did. They didn't just say "Oh, we're just into Dissection, and we wanna do music like this". Steffen Kummerer, who is also the vocalist of Obscura, said that he and his friends were into Dissection, Sacramentum and Unanimated when they were younger. This is my kind of guy because it's not like that tree-hugging black-and-white pictures in a forest type of black metal. They said the melodic and artistic and theatrical side of black metal, that's the kind of black metal they are into.

That's the spirit of it, he gets the spirit of it. I haven't personally met him yet; I will talk to him over the phone and so on. But in January, we will do a tour with Thulcandra, and it was Stefan who approached me 2 years ago and asked "Would you be interested in doing a tour with us?" He's a great guy and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He does it by feeling, and I know. Kristian Necrolord has done a lot of their covers, so they're good friends. And I gave Kristian the infernal seal pin at some point, and Kristian gave it to him because he knew how much he liked Sacramentum. And Kristian said, "They're writing new music". And he gave the pin to him and everything. Afterward, I also read that Steffen had a Far Away From The Sun reissue. So, he has helped us a lot as a prominent musician because he's such a talented musician. He's a really, really good musician. But that feeling side of it, he wants that and he wants to understand it. So, one of my closest friends who died 2 years ago was David Andersson, from The Night Flight Orchestra. I grew up with him and he lived here in my sanctuary for weeks at a time, a lost period of his life. We were doing a lot of music together, and he really, really wanted to release an album with me. And, even though I refuse to see it, I saw him, you know, slowly taking his life on my fucking floor. But still, I have. I am that person. I don't judge. And if I had judged, he would just withdraw, and then I wouldn't have all these fantastic memories which I have with him. And we haven't created the amazing music that we did. I will never release that or maybe be in some other project, but that's another thing. He was a fucking master and he was such a talented musician. I got him pissed off. He threw my old Ibanez guitar at me and it just hit me and it hit the floor, and I were like "oh, fuck". I was looking at all the original paintings. I think everything was okay and the guitar broke which I had since I was 16, and then I looked at him after. Everything was good, and I looked at him and said "Now you're getting it, David". And then he looks up at me with his "That's why I love you, Nisse. That's why I need you". That kind of rough feeling that can't be taught in music school or whatever. Either you got it or you don't. I don't wanna say that I'm special in any kind of way, I'm just expressing how I feel about it, and very few groups of others are like that the way they're doing it, like Kristian for example, with covers. It killed me back then. The Coming of Chaos coming out with my fucking sketch on the cover because they were rushing the fucking album, because we were going on tour. And so, for all these years, I have lived with that. But I knew I would do it someday and I never ever dreamt that in my whole life this enormous welcome and those who really can hear it and really are into it.

I know that the new version is gonna perform well because it already got so much positive feedback from the new single, but I really have to ask, do you also plan to do a remaster for the third album, The Black Destiny, or do you want to focus on the new album as soon as possible?

That's a really tricky question, and I don't know the answer to that yet. But how I feel and how I think, now I wanna focus because I have lived with this Coming of Chaos album since 1997. Now I am feeling I can let it go and it will be such a fucking heavy burden to finally let go. So, I'm feeling when this is released, then I can focus totally on the new album. So, I would say that we I have the original tapes of the remix and they are digitalized, but The Coming of Chaos album is the development of Far Away From the Sun, and The Black Destiny is developing in showing the middle finger to the fucking scene. So it was, you know, more in-your-face kind of lyrics and aggression, it was death-thrash. I like that, I like all that, but it's not Sacramentum really. So, The Black Destiny is half of a Sacramentum album. For people who want it, we will do another. I would do the remix, but I will probably use those songs, bonus tracks and maybe the first single of the new album, because that's how I see each other release, one demo version of a new song and, you know, something special, like, I don't know, live version as a teaser for the real recordings. I'm an old-school fan. I mean, I love all that shit. I'm an asshole that collects vinyl still. You probably are as well. What can I say? I love this kind of stuff, and that's what I want. How do I want this? Am I doing this for the right reason, or am I doing it for others? This is the kind of struggle I always have, and it's not the best way to make a living or whatever. It's art, artists have always, you know, been underdogs, and I love that. I love underdogs because they have some interesting views and they can teach you a lot, even though they might be very disturbed or whatever. But, you know, they see things from such a perspective that you need to fuck yourself up to really understand it. That's what I've been doing since I was 16 years old. I've been killing myself in a way and rebuilding myself, because, who am I? Am I a person that parents, school, my friends, or whatever society wants me to be? How do I know that that's what I am and what I think? So, it has been a very, very, very destructive journey in many ways and maybe still is sometimes, but that's how I do it. I gotta feel it in the fucking depth, or I don't know that someone else has implanted that feeling or opinion or whatever in my head and it's easy to fool yourself sometimes. The ego is fucking tricky, but I'm standing behind myself. Yeah, it sounds too much to say, but I'm really proud of what I have become really by all these hardships, it has been fucking hard, but I will do it all over again. I will change nothing.

That's the essence of an artist. There's a saying that goes "No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness", and there's even a saying that I have. One of my sayings goes "Every artist suffers for his art. If you have never suffered for your art, you're not a real artist or you're not a genuine artist".

There you go.

That's like I said, even if you have art schools, they don't teach you what art is. They teach you about art forms. You'd have to discover art for yourself, so that's what I think is, that there has to be an individual pattern to what you do. You need to understand it for yourself, you need to have your own perspective rather than have somebody teach you a perspective of what things are.

Thank you, my friend. You're a dear, dear friend of mine now. Just so you know, I fucking love it. I mean, I didn't even hesitate when you wrote to me because I felt that this is good, and I chose these things. I don't know if you know, but my first interview I gave in over 20 years was to a Spanish magazine, which is only written in Spanish and is printed in 500 copies. And I got, you know, offers from a lot, but I turned everything down and I've just felt it and that was the fucking most in-depth interview I've ever done. First, I got 6 or 10 pages of written questions, and then after that, when I answered them, it took several months, then I asked him to call me up and we could sit and chat like that. And we talked for 6 hours, and, you know, it became a massive article. And, yeah, I chose right, because South America, fucking hell.

They're maniacs.

Yeah. They are. And I love it. I'm a maniac myself. As I said, even if it's one person, the die-hard person in the crowd or just one person at the place, it doesn't matter. It's a full show. It's everything. That's all that I got on stage.

I gotta wrap up this interview, but I wanna firstly say thank you so much for this opportunity Nisse. It's been such a pleasure talking to you, man. I am highly looking forward to the release of this remastered version of The Coming Of Chaos, and I wish you and all the guys of Sacramentum all the best. And just as a final word, is there anything that you'd like to say for the fans?

I would like to say thank you. We are humble to the fact. And when you see us and when you see us walking around in the audience, don't be afraid. Come up to us and talk to us. We wanna take a beer with you and hear your story because that's why we are there. And we fucking love it. We love you. I mean, you are feeding us, and fucking hell, otherwise, I would be standing in the crowd, and I do anyway.