For those that like gore-grind, chances are you've heard of or quite possibly experienced what Osmose Production's very own Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition has to offer: an intense ride that is straightforward and to the point. To SCD member Seb, there is no point in spending time with lyrics, album titles, or even song titles. It's all about creating blinding, brutal grind and that is what SCD does. Seb was ever so enthusiastic to take time to answer some of the questions I had pertaining to SCD about their past, the present, and the future.

Allan 'Enigma'

To begin, could you just give us a brief history of Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition and what it is about?

Sure, brother. Our band was born many years ago in 1996, and since our beginning we have been really influenced by all the extreme scenes, in particular death metal and grind core. Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition has made 3 split demos and done a lot of gigs and festival between our beginning and 2001. These early years have permitted us to create our own style and to quickly move up through the underground scene. In March 2001 we released our first full length CD on Bones Brigade. It has concretised our first years of evolution and given us the opportunity to show what the band was able to do, in the underground as well as in the "up-ground." We played during the biggest European gigs and festivals (such as the Fuck The Commerce Festival) with the greatest bands and subsequently reached way more people. Two years separate the first album and our new one. During this time SCD has continued to develop, and took time to evolve and create more interesting, unusual, and exciting songs.

How has the response been thus far towards your latest release?

A second release can be more problematic than a first one because there is no interest at all to do exactly the same stuff as before, and if you produce a real change in your work, some people end up preferring your first album and don't accept your new ideas. So, we are really happy because most of people who have contacted the band about our latest album have given us really positive opinions. Now we start gigs, festivals and tours all over the world. We can really appreciate the reactions of people everywhere and it's probably the best way to know exactly what everybody thinks about our band. We just came back from "Obscene Tour on America – US Tour 2003" and we have talked with a lot of guys all over the US, and the response towards our gigs and in particular concerning our new CD was really amazing. We are fucking happy about it because it's really important to our band to have this support. Surely we cannot do anything without the friendly support of you guys all over the world. We just do our best each time.

How do yourself and the band perceive your latest album? Do you believe it to be your strongest work yet?

This new album concludes two years of composition because we have done a lot of gigs and we have tried to make a real evolution in our music. We're really happy to give our new songs some distance and to be able to have a real opinion on our work! It's probably more difficult to have a clear opinion when you are a member of the band, you know? I believe we have really progressed during the two last years, and I think the new songs are more interesting and contrasted. The sound is also a lot better. All this evolution makes the new CD way more fucking aggressive. I think it's probably our strongest work yet.

How do you think SCD has improved over the years? How is the latest release your best work yet?

We have done our best during the first five years of the band to create our own identity, because in my opinion, the most difficult thing for an extreme band is to find their own way and not just follow the most famous bands. I think our first CD has set out the main characteristics and goals of SCD and I think this new album is in the same vein, but with a better sound and has more contrast, is a bit more unusual and more expressive. We have recorded in the same place as last time but with a big difference. This time we had more time and money to do it. I think the band has more experience now and the result is better. The writing process is a big part of the band during the rehearsals. We all have the same state of mind on the SCD songs, so the composition can be quick, but sometimes we need a few weeks to finish a song and be totally satisfied. We rehearse a lot and we make a lot of gigs happen. I believe our band has grown from all the gigs, playing everywhere during the last 7 years. The band was really built by all the work over the years and we have given each step time. Step by step the band has found experience and the ability to achieve our goals. We have taken the time to evolve and to compose new songs that are originals and not just copy our debut stuff! It's just my opinion, but I really think this new album is our best one. I'm really satisfied by it and I'm sure people will like it, so now I can't wait to play gigs everywhere possible to have fun with you all, guys!

SCD are very much interested in just keeping the gore-grind straightforward – no melody, no solos, and in fact, no titles of any kind. It's pretty much just a journey into pure gore. What is the reason behind wanting to make such vile music absent of any elements that would hold that back?

We don't want to follow any set rules, so we just try to find new extreme musical ways. When you make your own music, you are not forced to make anything and you can make your own choices. We just try to find who we are inside.

Yes it's true we never use any lyrics (as Obituary or other bands before, you know!), solo or song titles. We refuse to use our position to preach any message because we believe everyone can make their own opinion and don't need bands to make it for them. And we don't need fun or gory lyrics because it's, in our opinion, totally useless, if not just stupid! But maybe it's just because we're not able to create good lyrics!

So, we have chosen to just speak our mind with our music and our cover artworks! For our new CD we have chosen to put the title of the songs as the date of composition: xx.01.02 means the song was compose in January 2002! That's the only useful information in relation to the song itself

Is there any particular goal you are trying to reach with SCD? If so, what is it?

There are a lot of bands who just follow the fashions and it's more fucking difficult and interesting to try to find a way of your own, so since our beginning we have tried to find our own personal expression through the extreme ways of music. We are influenced by all the others bands but we refuse to just try to sound likes others. It's hard to say precisely but I think SCD has found its own sound and has its own image. Since our first CD I think we have followed our path and now we just follow it and try to create the most interesting songs as possible! But now, I think SCD is just in the beginning stages. Our next goal is to make tours all over the world with this new album. It has started with the "Obscene Tour on America" and others tours through Europe, Japan, Australia, South and North America will follow during the next months. At the same time we will begin to create new songs and continue in our ways, and make sure many goals will be successfully achieved! It's just the beginning.

How has the response from your latest tour with Brodequin been?

Fucking great! Thanks a fucking lot to our brothers Evan Harting and Ryan Taylor to have made all this tour and the bloody Maryland Death Festival possible! It was our first time in the states and it was really amazing for us to make this tour with our friends in Brodequin and have many people each night to support our band. We'll never forget each one of you, friends! We have played with almost 70 bands through more than 5,500 miles in 24 states of America. We have sold a lot of merchandise each date (we were sold out in the middle and in the end the tour and our label was forced to send us more merchandise to finish the tour!), gigs and clubs were most of the time fucking great and most important, people, promoters and tour managers were really happy and have been fun each time! It was just our first time and I'm sure next time it will be even better. We will be sure to make another tour over in the States before the end of next year. And next time it will be through all North America, brothers! I can‘t wait to come again, so see you soon on stage!

Are you looking forward to the Grindcore Festival? What do you think SCD will pull out of that experience?

We really love these kinds of festivals. We put in all our energy to make the gigs more violent than they are on album, and most of time people enjoy the gig and there're a lot of moshes, slams and stage diving! We don't use fire and false blood on stage but just sweat and extreme energy! We have played as headliner the last day of the "Maryland Death Festival" in Baltimore the 25 May 2003 and we have made a lot of bloody famous Europeans festivals last year, such as the "Fuck The Commerce Festival" in Germany. Each time we learn a lot and we keep those moments in mind for the rest of our lives. A band grows up really quickly with this kind of experience. But the most important thing, in my opinion, is to enjoy the moment and have fun with the crowd! We believe we now have a lot of friend in States, and we'll be fucking happy to come again and see them and others as soon as possible!

Do you see SCD as more of a studio band or a live band? What are some complications with each that you run into?
Since signing with Osmose Productions have things been easier for the band? Overall are you pleased with what they've offered SCD?

Nicolas of Bones Brigade produced our first CD and some old split stuff, and he stayed a great friend of ours. He has helped us in the very beginning when it was not easy to put money into our band, so I wish the best to this great producer and this cool man. SCD has grown very quickly and it was not easy for a young label to grow as quickly, so when we finished composing our second CD we made the decision with Nicolas to sign to Osmose Production. It was not an easy decision. We have absolutely nothing to say against Bones Brigade but it was the only solution if we wanted our band to continue in its natural evolution. I'm sure he can understand our choice and it's always a pleasure to phone him sometimes to get his opinion and his feeling on SCD.

Osmose Production will give us probably the opportunity to have a bigger distribution and a better support for tours and gigs, in particular out of Europe. But it's too early to have a real opinion because we have just started to work with these guys. The contract with Osmose was very simple. It's our first album on Osmose so we are totally satisfied until now and I hope it will be a good co-operation until the end. Give me few months to give you a definitive opinion. It's really too early!

With the absence of lyrics, isn't it difficult to keep things in time vocally? Is it just a sporadic thing?

It's not a problem at all, and you know, with our kind of vocals it doesn't make a difference if we have lyrics or not! I don't feel the necessity to write lyrics but it's true I like read lyrics of my favourites bands, so maybe it can change for next albums. I don't fucking know!

Couldn't the use of lyrics ultimately make SCD an even more intense and vile band?

I don't know. Maybe if it's not just stupid lyrics. I'm not sure if lyrics would give something more to the songs. It's really easier for me to express myself by the drawings of the cover artworks but I will think about your suggestion.

What are you guys hoping to accomplish within the next year or so, or with the next release from the band?

We want to show the entire world what we have made during the last 7 years, throughout Europe, and show what we are able to do, everywhere possible. So, we start tours now all over the world and we want to play gigs for all extreme fans exactly where they are. The next year should be the first step for SCD to go all over the earth. Our next release will be in a big part the result of this first step. We have a long way to go to achieve this goal but we are ready to do our best to accomplish it! I challenge you to test it!

Thank you for your time. Any final comments?

Thank you for this cool interview, and thank you to all the readers for their interest in our band. We know a lot of people support us over there since the beginning, so I want to sincerely thank you all. We will never forget it! We are really happy to have the opportunity to start playing gigs everywhere. I'm sure you will like our new album and I'm impatient to see you during gigs, so see you soon friends! And thank you too man, it was a pleasure to do this interview. See you soon! Take care, SEB.

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