When thinking of Ireland one does not refer to extreme Grindcore, or at least, until several years back I didn’t. That’s when I got acquainted with Abaddon Incarnate through their debut album ‘The Last Supper’. Nice album, but my real interest came with their second album ‘Nadir’, which contained some very cruel and violent Grindcore that had aims towards old legends and a forward approach. Now Abaddon Incarnate recently released their third album titled ‘Dark Crusade’, one piece of violent brilliance, if you will. Or: fucking aggressive and gutripping, if you will. I asked Bill to do an interview, but he didn’t had the time to do it, so Steve took over his duty and tells us all about the eyeball slashing frenzy called Abaddon Incarnate…
Hail Steve. Could ya begin with giving a short historic perspective on your band Abaddon Incarnate?
First of all we shall point out indeed that Bill is not available for interviews and that you are addressing me, Steve. We started around 91-92 and became Abaddon Incarnate in 1995, got signed in 98 and have released 3 albums on 3 different labels since and toured Europe and Australia.
I find the name Abaddon Incarnate to be a cool one, but strangely chosen for a Grindcore band. Could you tell us about the thought behind the name?
Well thank you, we also think it is quite cool. We have a love for Evil Death Metal which is what we always set out to be. The Grind part came about because we love noise and speed. Our lyrics and images are very dark and evil, so the name should suit our image and style, Abaddon Incarnate. It is the Satanic General made flesh or represented in a human form.
You’ve recorded one demo and one promo, and after that your debut album ‘the Last Supper’ was released on Seasons Of Mist. Were they the first to react or did they offer you the best deal?
We were offered many deals, but they were the only label with decent distribution and offered money. Other labels were too underground really. It is important to have a solid label behind you. Even though it may be keeping true to underground roots being signed to a teenagers label run from a bedroom. It soon becomes apparent when these guys get older and grow from the music, that your distribution and production of albums is consigned to the room 101 so to speak. Therefore it is essential the label you sign to has a history of commitment and passion so that the band has the opportunity to evolve and exist for many years and not be subjected to the extra pressure of being involved with a part time label.
After this, you recorded your second album ‘Nadir’, which was released on Sentinel Records and your latest release ‘Dark Crusade’ has been released on Xtreem Music. So you already had your share of labels. Was this because they only offered you guys a one album deal or because you weren’t satisfied with the work they’d done for you?
We were not satisfied with Seasons of Mist. I do not think that they were able to market us properly and he wanted a Death Metal band not a noisy grind band so he got a fright when he heard the album, ha ha. We then signed to Sentinel, an Irish label. We were extremely satisfied with their work however we felt that we needed a bigger label so when Dave Rotten asked to sign us we said fuck it lets go!
So now Xtreem Music, formerly known as Repulse Records. Are you satisfied about them so far? What kind of deal did they offer you, only for ‘Dark crusade’ or a multi album deal?
All the deals are for one album with the option for a second! It always depends if we are satisfied with the work that the label puts in to the band. So far we are pleased with Dave Rotten/ Xtreem as we have sold many albums, got good merchandise and done many interviews. Its still early to tell but next we must see if we get some tours and big shows to promote ‘Dark Crusade’.
Staying on ‘Dark Crusade’, it turned out to be your most violent work up to date. Obliterating Grindcore at its best! Did you only had positive reactions so far from both press and fans or were there quite some different opinions?
We are happy you think it is violent, violence is very important. We are getting very good reviews and people seem to like it right across the board. Here in Ireland people seem to find it more accessible than Nadir. We have a new drummer which changes the sound into a more violent drum battery. Emails, guestbook and fan mail is positive and the fans from abroad like it too. When we play the songs live people can here them as they are all quite catchy and people can identify them by name which is often difficult when watching a grind band.
I find your style of Grindcore to be totally of this day and age without losing sight on the roots and the old school influences, meaning a rather broad perspective of core, if you will. Do you agree with me on this? And if not, how do you see this?
Interesting you should say that we are modern as we are all quite old people, very conservative with our tastes. I think that our music is refreshing as today’s scene can be quite generic I think. Our old age may help as we remember when Grindcore started.
I wonder where you get you musical influences. Concerning style, I’d say old school bands such as Terrorizer Napalm Death and Regurgitate and more new school bands such as Nasum, Cumchrist and Pig Destroyer. Am I more wrong or close?
We are definitely for the old school; Terrorizer, Napalm Death and Regurgitate are what we talk about in rehearsal room so you are correct there. We also like the great Death metal Bands of the past such as Immolation, Morbid Angel circa ‘Altars…’ Incantation and Autopsy.
I also find you music to have a certain dark side to it, something I do not find a lot in Grindcore bands and something that I also didn’t hear on ‘Nadir’. Can you explain this to us and tell how this evolved in Abaddon’s music?
I think you can see from our old school roots that we are very dedicated to having Darkness in our music. Bands such as Possessed, Angel Corpse and Dark Throne being a strange influence for a grind band. But I am very much opposed to having politics in music you know? We are not a Hardcore band so we sing about Death, Satan and other evil shit and our music should reflect the lyrics. It is important for it to sound evil, occult and misanthropic.
How does rehearsing and song writing go within Abaddon Incarnate? Does everybody contribute to the writing process or are there just a few members writing the material?
We all write the songs, some more than others depending on the mood of the individual, one will come up with a guitar part and play it to the others, the drummer will make a beat to it (normally a Blast Beat!) then more riffs will be added and a song is born. Me, Cory and Jason write the lyrics. They are normally written separately and arranged on the song a few weeks before we enter the studio.
Can you explain us the title of your debut album, ‘Dark Crusade’? Does it have a specific reference to something perhaps?
Well there is a Autopsy song on ‘Mental Funeral’ called ‘Dark Crusade’ so we stole that. Ha Ha. However we needed a name to conjure up the Darkness and evil we wanted to convey with our work. Cory came up with the title so it has a special meaning to him, but for me its all part of the apocalypse scenario that Abaddon is aligned with.
We make a point of always making a name for the album which is not a song title of our own. So you will not find a Abaddon Incarnate song called ‘The Last Supper’ ‘Nadir’ or ‘Dark Crusade’.
And could you also give a view on the cover artwork done on ‘Dark Crusade’ and how this refers to the album and its music? It kind of reminds me to movies such as ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ and ‘Resident Evil’ in a way, only different, and also to a Mortician cover perhaps… Does it have influences from these movies or something else perhaps?
We are very much fans of Resident Evil and other modern type zombie movies, such as 28 days later, the dawn of the dead remake and even the likes of Dog Soldiers which isn’t a zombie movie but a well made modern horror movie. Such classics as Romero’s original and the Evil Dead movies are also an influence to us. We pretty much left the artwork in the hands of the artist, ( Killustrations ) we gave him the title and concept and told him to do as he pleased. If you exercise artistic control over a artist he can very easily come up with second rate material so it is best to let them work to their own vision.
The attack of the undead style of the picture is a representation of the dark Crusade which shall be led by General Abaddon at the apocalypse. Which I have mentioned already.
We are very conscious of the album covers as our debut ‘The Last Supper’ was cruelly dealt with a horrific artist with terrible ‘Skill’ who ruined and let down what should have been a decent concept. So we carefully pick whom we work with now.
When thinking of Ireland and metal one usually comes up with bands such as Waylander or Cruachan or Primordial, to name a few, all related to Folk, Pagan or Black Metal. Grindcore (or even Death Metal) doesn’t seem to have a steady following. Would this perhaps have something to do with the history and the environment/landscape of Ireland?
For some reason there has been little support for this brutal type of music in the past. The people of Ireland like to play folk and trad influenced metal. We have a strong sense of national identity in Ireland. Our native language is one of the oldest existing languages in the world. Our National monuments were built before the pyramids, our people have spread far and wide across the world. So we are quite proud of our heritage and culture, therefore it is only natural for Irish metal musicians to want to honour this tradition in their music.
Many bands in the mid nineties were getting nice record deals owing to their Celtic Influences, and many others jumped on the band wagon. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this type of music, we tend to pride ourselves on the fact that we have been uncompromising in our pursuit of playing this brutal music. You will not find any Celtic mysticism or druidic muck savage celtica in our Satanic Death Grind. “Romantic Ireland is dead and gone with O’Leary in the grave”.
And is there a good scene for Grindcore and Death Metal in your country? Could you tell us some more about that, about bands, clubs, mags and more of that?
Well lately there has been an awakening of sorts. Bands such as Demize and Sinister Demise have lately become quite professional and are becoming truly great bands. Demize remind me of the Czech Scene where each band is uncompromising wall of noise. They have a excellent stage show where they dress up like surgeons and use the fake blood. You can check them out at http://www.demize666.cjb.net/. Also grinding from Ireland is Sinister Demise who break out Suffocation style Death Metal. The guitar sound of these guys live is killer. Check them out at http://www.sinisterdemise.com/. Existing since 1992 ( Approx ) is Northern Irelands legendary Putrefy. These guys have a album out with Grind Ethic Records (UK) have played the Obscene Extreme fest in Czech and are travelling to the states this year to play some fests. They play a ultra heavy Gore Metal with a crytopsy speed. http://www.putrify.com/. Last but not least is Condemned who are another Northern Irish band. They play a technical ultra fast Death Metal akin to Crytopsy, Dying Fetus etc. Take a look at http://www.comdemned.co.uk/.
For a general overview of our extreme scene you can see a webzine http://www.gutfucked.cjb.net/ or a overall view at the entire metal scene here can be found at http://www.metalireland.com/. Isn’t the internet an extremely useful device? Not only for porno and shit but for checking out metal bands too.
How does a show of Abaddon Incarnate take place? Do you play live often or not? And if so, more inside or outside of Ireland?
We are approached by a promoter and we travel to the gig, we play for about 45mins to a hour depending on whether we are headliner or not and if we play a festival it can be short like 25 minutes, but that is nearly 20 songs so we have plenty of time in any environment. In the past we have at first toured Germany with the legendary Impending Doom to support our ‘Last Supper’ album. Then we have teamed up with our good friends from Wales Desecration and toured the Czech Rep with Fleshless (Cz) and Spain and France too. We have played the Carnage festival in Switzerland and the Fuck The Commerce festival in Germany. We also toured Australia which was organised by Mark Streater from crestfallen magazine. All this was in support of our ‘Nadir’ album. As of yet we have not toured with the ‘Dark Crusade’ but we have played a few shows around Ireland. We are in negotiation with various promoters in Europe with regards to touring opportunities with this album. Time will tell. We have played mostly outside Ireland if memory serves correct. When playing at home it is usually a album release party or just a ‘Party’ Gig. However we recently played at the day of Darkness Festival here in Ireland which was headlined by Dismember and this festival was a triumph for the Irish underground in general with many bands and stalwarts of the scene demonstrating a maturity and professionalism which has been absent for some time now here. So things are looking up for Ireland I think.
I heard you were chosen band of the month on some Brazilian website. Kinda cool I’d say. Ever had more of the honours, heheh?
We are often made Bands of the Month by South American Zines but there is so many and they are so obscure we never hear any more of it. It is a scene I would really like to learn more about as I met some South American bands such as Sanatorium at Fuck the Commerce festival and they were quite good and passionate about their music. They are also committed to the brutal end of the metal Spectrum and tend to ignore the Black/ Melodic end which is a good thing too.
What kind of plans do you guys have for the (near) future concerning playing live and more of these things? Any festival appearance somewhere perhaps? Perhaps you’re going to a festival yourselves to party somewhere in Europe?
We would really like to play in South America as I mentioned in the previous question as for playing festivals we are trying to get on the Wacken Fest but we need more label support for that I think. We are open to doing as many gigs as possible. We have friends in France who are discussing touring France. Also we are in contact with Suppository as regards touring Holland and Belgium. Also we have promoter friends in Sweden who would like us to play there. But all of this is up in the clouds at the moment and nothing is confirmed. If anybody wants us to play they can of course contact us at Abaddonincarnate@hotmail.com and we can discuss various options.
And so here we end again. Thanks for doing the interview and any last words of wisdom that you may have can be spread here…
Wisdom? HA HA HA!! A word from the wise? Yeah take drugs, don’t use condoms and everything that seems a sensible thing to do in life, FORGET IT, do the opposite. Life is pointless and we all end up dead so the only thing we can do is wait, and while we are waiting we can buy the new Abaddon Incarnate album grind our minds. Have a look at http://www.abaddonincarnate.com/ and join the DARK CRUSADE! Thanks for the interview man and all the best. Take care.
