Bloodphemy: “So, through the years the musical basis didn’t change that much.”

 Hailing from the Netherlands and originally beginning their Death Metal campaign in 2000, Bloodphemy are a Dutch Death Metal band that bring out a very heavy and brutal attack with an old school flavour. In their more recent albums, hints of Black Metal with a dark gloomy nature have been applied and can also be heard within their sound. Following this band for a while now, I recently got a chance to talk with Ed, the Drummer from Bloodphemy and do an interview with him!

Greetings Ed!!! Thank you for your time to do this interview with VM-Underground! How are you guys doing first off and how has the response been so far with the new album ‘Dawn of Malevolence’?
Hello VM-Underground, we are doing great thanx. The response has been very good actually. The response on our former album ‘Blood Sacrifice’ was also very good and we did not change that much on our sound but we took overall much more time for this album so not to be arrogant it is a bit what we expected. ‘Blood Sacrifice’ was made in a hurry but turned out to be a cool album. This time we took more time for the writing and recording process. If you listen to our new album and are familiar with our previous work you can hear some changes in our sound. We implemented more Black Metal influences and gave our bass player more space in our music. Not that big of changes but we always want to develop our sound and music without leaving the core of Bloodphemy. Despite the fact that we had a lot of line up changes I always stayed true to what Bloodphemy stands for musically and lyrically. At this point it is in our eyes the best and most complete Bloodphemy album so we have to seek for new challenges to get Bloodphemy on a higher level.

How are things going now that you are working with Non Serviam Records?
Very good. I had already contacted Non Serviam Records for the ‘Blood Sacrifice’ album but at that point we could not agree and so we signed at Emanzipation Productions who did a very good job for us. After that album we were looking around and I contacted Non Serviam Records again. This time they were blown away by our new album and the fact that they would release ‘Dawn of Malevolence’ on LP/CD & MC convinced us immediately. We also got a free hand with regards to the artwork and layout, which is very important for us. So yes, we are very happy with Non Serviam Records.

Besides your earlier beginnings in 2000 and onwards as a band and with some member changes along the way too, how would you describe your music from the past compared to how it is now?
Well, when we started in 2000 the main writers in the band were Winfred and me. Winfred was mainly influenced by the US styled Death Metal bands like Morbid Angel, Nocturnus, Monstrosity and more, while I was more influenced by the Swedish scene like Dismember, Grave, Entombed etc. So, this was the musical combination in Bloodphemy from the beginning and this never changed although we had many lineup changes. The lineup changes were bassists, vocalists or second guitarists and never changed the writing process. It became difficult when Winfred decided to quit a few years ago, luckily Bart was willing to fulfill the position of guitarist and main writer. Bart (ex-Sinister) is a very experienced guitarist and was in my eyes the only one to do this job. So, through the years the musical basis didn’t change that much. We did work on better songs and better productions and still try to evolve every album.

Where did the band name “Bloodphemy” come from?
Our very first vocalist Johan (RIP) came up with the idea back then to combine the words Blood & Blasphemy into Bloodphemy. It sounded very cool and was easy to speak out so we were convinced right away.

Do you have any plans for future tours? Or maybe tours that are outside of Europe? If so, where?
Yeah, we have a lot of shows coming up. Not a big tour because we can not combine this with our families and jobs anymore, but we have more weekend tours now. With this release we were a bit late for festivals so hopefully we can do some next year, so for now we will focus more on club shows. Outside Europe would be very cool and the first time for Bloodphemy so bookers get in touch.

Are there any specific bands that you have in mind that you would like to perhaps tour with or play shows with in the future?
Well, we did share stages already with some of my favourite bands so many dreams came true already, hahaha. But never with one of my all-time favourite bands Dismember, so if I have to pick one this will be the one. Dismember never disappointed me on their albums and are very good songwriters, love this band.

Are there certain bands from the past or present that you might say have influenced Bloodphemy or the writing style for the band?
Like I said before it was and is the combination of the Florida and Swedish Death Metal scene. If I had to pick out one band it has to be Bloodbath, they also have that mixture in their songs. Would be also a cool band to tour with, hahaha.

In general, is there a main writer in the band that contributes to a lot of the songs musically or lyrically? Or do you all contribute to this?
Yes, there has always been one main writer in the band, except for the ‘Blood Sacrifice’ album. That album was a mixture of songwriters Winfred, Arjan and Bart. Before the recordings of that album Winfred decided to quit with Bloodphemy. The studio was already booked so we had a lack of time to write the whole album by our new guitarists Arjan and Bart. Luckily Winfred already wrote the basis for 6 songs which we finished and Arjan and Bart wrote the last 4 songs. We had to rush before the recordings but we did manage it. Lyrically it differs. Blood Will Tell and Bloodline were written by our former bass player Wicliff and I did write the lyrics for the In Cold Blood album. With the coming of Olivier as our vocalist the lyrics were written by Olivier. And yes, although Olivier also did the vocals on the In Cold Blood album, he did not write the lyrics. He joined Bloodphemy just before the recordings of In Cold Blood and had not enough time for writing the lyrics. I already started writing the lyrics for that album before he teamed up with us.

For lyrical topic matter, what are the areas of interest that Bloodphemy likes to write about?
From the start we wrote about mental illness in all types and forms and we never changed that subject. It is an inexhaustible source of inspiration, check the news now and then and you can write a whole album. On ‘Blood Sacrifice’ and ‘Dawn of Malevolence’ we tried another angle and made a concept album/story on which we did receive very positive feedback. It is a lot of work but it paid off in the end.

If you had to name some of your top record releases, old or new, what would they be?
On which I did play drums, you mean? Well, I think that is the first full length I ever did record and this was the experience with the ‘Sacrilege’ album from Pleurisy on which I am still very proud of till this day. It was the first time we recorded an album in a very professional studio (Harrow studio, Asphyx recorded their albums over there for example) and the album did receive very positive reactions and everything went very well with Pleurisy from that point. And of course, the latest Bloodphemy album ‘Dawn of Malevolence’. I think we pushed ourselves to the limit this time, used more studio time for a perfect production and especially the variety on this album is something I am very proud of.

When it comes to music formats like digital, vinyl, CD or tapes, do you have a preference for listening?
Definitely vinyl. Although I listen more and more via Spotify (in my car and in my ears) I still take my time now and then to listen to vinyl in my mancave, hahaha, but still buying cd’s and sometimes tapes, it is an addiction man.

Are any of the band members from Bloodphemy part of any other bands or projects? Past or present?
Yeah sure. Olivier also sings with the Thrash Metal band Grindpad, Bart is also in a grind band called Colostomy and I played drums in Expunged a few years ago. That was quite cool by the way, 2 members were from Canada and I am from Holland. The drums for the split album were recorded in Germany and were released last year. A cool experience but it took too much time for me.

How would you describe the metal scene in the Netherlands in present times compared to the past?
Well, it changed a bit but I still see most of the guys and girls still at shows and festivals but we are a bit older hahaha. Musically, I don’t follow all the newer bands that much, there are still a lot of new and young bands and that is a good thing but mostly hang around with the scum from the early days. The older bands like Pestilence, Sinister, Asphyx and many other ones are still doing great but I don’t see any newer bands getting that status also.

Where do you see Bloodphemy for its next future album? Musically or artistically?
Hopefully we can surpass our latest album and surprise you with our new material. We finally have a steady line up after all those years and I see this working better already with our live shows. Speaking of live shows, we hope to do festivals next year and hopefully outside Europe.

In final, thank you for your words with VM-Underground and doing this interview with us today! Is there anything further that you would like to say or mention to your fans, fellow bands or the world? Please feel free!
Thank you for your interest in Bloodphemy which is very much appreciated. If you want to see us outside or in Europe, get in touch with our agency Redback Promotion and we hope to see you around at our shows. Cheerz Ed on behalf of Bloodphemy.