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A new review section: Buried by Time And Dust

We added a new review section, coincidentally another Mayhem reference following 'The Past is Alive', with the title 'Buried by Time and Dust'. Over the years, a lot of promos have been gathering dust simply because a fresh wave of promos arrived the following month and they were consigned to oblivion. We will review them here to make a clear distinction with our other reviews. We will also use it to complete a discography in terms of reviews. Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit your music or would like to join the staff.

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Under the Church – “…it’s because this is a new band and we wanted to start from scratch, it would be the easy way out to call ourselves Nirvana 2002 but that was never ever an option, it would’ve been wrong on so many levels to do that”

Under the Guillotine… Urghh, sorry, no that was Kreator’s song… Under the Church – here is the name of one of the best and most impressive death metal bands around in Sweden these days. For sure they’ve impressed me A LOT with their debut demo – just read my review on this blog and you’ll see exactly what I loved about them. Obviously the fact that Under the Church has some ex Nirvana 2002 members was one of the major factors, which ignited the interest, but even if they weren’t and were more anonymous musicians, I would still love this music… as it is simply KILLER. Please read my interview with Erik Qvick (drums) and Lars Henriksson (bass) and support the band. I am now waiting for their vinyl release, which is supposed to be unleashed through Blood Harvest. 666!

Welcome Erik! I guess I should start with the beginning, but I don’t wanna ask you about the whole history of Nirvana 2002, etc, because there’s no point in doing so. If I can only ask what did you feel, when you played live with N2002 so many years after the split up of this band? Would you ever expect that to happen, after so many years?
Well, not really. When Daniel Ekeroth’s book was released we were asked to play at that release party and that was actually the first gig we ever played. We couldn’t really say no to that gig, it was a historical thing that we had to do. Shortly after that Relapse contacted us again and wanted to do the compilation album.

How many gigs have you actually played after the reunion of Nirvana 2002? How was the feedback on them and especially when Relapse released the compilation of the demos? I guess this was a good way to pay tribute to this band but maybe also to bury it for good, right? Finally I must say releasing a compilation was more than killer decision, as those old demos of yours were damn impossible to get anywhere!
OK, it wasn’t really a reunion… it was much more like a one off thing with the release party for Daniel’s book. We managed to squeeze out 5 gigs with N2002 before we put the corpse back in the coffin. All the gigs with N2002 were a lot fun but each under very different circumstances, the response was overall very, very good… There was of course the occasional issue with the Nirvana name but otherwise great response.

Nirvana 2002 certainly is considered as cult, classic Swedish death metal band. How does it feel that something you did as a youngster, something maybe not completely serious back then, has gained such a status? Would you ever expect that to happen and that your songs will survive so many years and will be cherished like a treasure 20 years later?
Of course it’s great that something that we did so long ago still is valid, but we never expected the music to live on for such a long time.

You started a new band recently, Under the Church. I must say that I feel a respect for you, that you’re not doing a demo under the Nirvana 2002 name, but started something completely new… You know, it would be damn easy to just do a couple of songs and call them a new Nirvana 2002 demo. So, tell me why have you decided to do it this way? And when this idea to do Under the Church started?
Well, that’s an easy one, it’s because this is a new band and we wanted to start from scratch, it would be the easy way out to call ourselves N2002 but that was never ever an option, it would’ve been wrong on so many levels to do that, we started to come up with new ideas and songs in the summer of 2012 and soon we had a lot of new material, we had around ten tunes that we worked on but we settled on these seven that we wanted to finish for the first release.

What is the aim of Under the Church? I mean obviously you wrote me it is a fun project, mainly, but the things go quite fast and the feedback is enormous for it… I bet there will be many labels, which will start fighting for Under the Church to have you in their roster, because of the past, but also because the demo you released is so damn awesome… So, can it still be treated as a fun project or do you think Under the Church will actually go further now and the full length LP is also possible?
There wasn’t much planning or thought behind the band at first, we just starting writing songs and it came out this way. At the moment we are gearing up for a 12″ vinyl release on the Swedish label Blood Harvest Records, it will be seven tunes of raw death metal and then there is a lot of things happening in the nearest future, possibly a full length early next year.

You and Lars came up with three song demo… and well, I feel like this is just an extremely good, old styled death metal. I really like the feeling of this music, the production, excellent riffs… Tell me, what was it like to compose some new death metal tunes so many years since you did that the last time? I understand they are the first death metal songs you both wrote since the early 90’s?
Writing death metal has never been a problem for us since we don’t really know how to write anything else… The first 10-12 tunes came naturally, so the Writers Block should kick in soon we guess.

Was it easy for you to capture the feeling of traditional death metal for you? For me your music sounds very naturally and when I hear these songs I have the same impression like when I listened to bands like Death Breath, Maim or Bastard Priest, if you know them at all… It is just something almost impossible to describe… great music with amazing mood of old horror movies… You know, “Haunted by Demons” is a possessing song!
We don’t really see it as traditional death metal or “old school”, it’s death metal, plain and simple as that. “Haunted by Demons” turned out really well, maybe we’re contradicting ourselves since that song is ”homage” in some ways… but let’s just leave it at that.

I think that musically Under the Church is a bit different to Nirvana 2002; it is maybe more obscure and filthy and more influenced by the old Autopsy, Repulsion and such bands, plus it obviously also has a strong dose of the crust / punk music. What would you say are the most significant differences between both bands?
Probably we still have the same influences as back when we had N2002 but maybe now they are a bit more obvious? We think that there isn’t really a difference when it comes to the music since we write the same way as we did back then, we just write tunes that we think sound good. If anything we’re happy if Under The Church doesn’t sound like N2002 since it’s a new band and riding coattails isn’t really our thing.

Sure, I certainly think that Under the Church doesn’t sound like N2002, surely not. Ha, I bet that releasing the demo on a cassette, with simple, Xeroxed cover and old type writer texts was totally intentional! And it is so cool… What was the purpose of doing so? A pure nostalgia or it is just the only way that the demos should be released – on cassettes, not on CDr?
Well, it was less problems and more fun doing a cassette than a proper CD, also the format of a three track demo is perfect… Also being broke made the cover turned out the way it did, haha!

Hehe, I like it anyway! Mik Annetts did the vocals on the demo and did them really well… I’ve never heard about the dude and his previous activities, so can you introduce the man a little? As far as I know he’s Australian, but he played in some Icelandic bands before, right?
Mik is from Australia and moved to Iceland a few years ago, he was a part of the early Aussie death metal scene. I met him a few years ago and we decided to try him out for the demo, he’s a really cool guy and he did sing in some local band here in Reykjavik for awhile… We just ran through the tunes 2 times in the studio but the versions on the demo are all 1st takes, he’s that good.

What is Under the Church up to next? You reside in Reykjavik, if I’m not mistaken, while Lars is still in Sweden, so how usually the whole songwriting and everything does look like? I guess it is not too difficult to make the distant projects, thanks to the internet and all the communication possibilities we have nowadays, right?
These days it’s not a problem having a band in two different continents, we send song ideas back and forth until we have written something that we are satisfied with. We have something like 12 tunes almost ready for the next recording so we’re quite efficient these days.

I have no doubts that Daniel Ekeroth’s music ignited the whole interest in the old school Swedish death metal. I wonder what do you think of this book and what was it like when you played with Nirvana2002 on the release party of “Swedish Death Metal”?
The book is really good and it did spark a lot of interest at the time it came out and it was great playing at the release party but I don’t think it was the only reason that “old” death metal came back in style. Since it was the first time that we played live as N2002 it was not like a reunion in that sense since we never got the chance to play live when the band was active, maybe that’s the difference from N2002 and other bands from the same era. We didn’t see it as a reunion or a comeback thing when we played at the book party, we just had to play in order to get to the party ha,ha!

Do you listen to any of the new old styled death metal bands at all, have any of them impressed you? I wonder how much are you interested in the current death metal underground; do you get a chance to listen to some of these new demos and albums, do you maybe collect some vinyls or CDs, or maybe it’s actually the opposite and in your every day you usually listen to something completely different?
As far as death metal goes we pretty much listen to the same stuff as in 1989, we don’t really keep track on what’s hip these days, Autopsy still sounds killer and the new Darkthrone is great, Tormented and Bombs Of Hades are good and then Peter Stjärnvind’s new band Black Trip is cool.

And finally, did you have the chance to see live and hear new albums from Autopsy already?!
We saw Autopsy at Maryland Deathfest and they delivered the goods alright! I haven’t heard the latest Autopsy but that one track that Peaceville put up, but it sounded really good.

Can I also ask how did it happen you live in Iceland? I mean I thought you’re still in Sweden, but meanwhile my tape came from Iceland, so I suppose this is where you live at the moment?
I moved there to work at the music conservatory as a teacher in 2000 but Sweden is almost always on my mind, especially the months from September to May! haha!

OK that would be all Erik, thanks for your answers and all the best for you and your band!!!!
We wanna thank you for taking your time to do this interview and your interest in our band, expect more raw death metal from us very soon.

Under The Church

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Rotting Christ – “Today we are in a position where we can support a massive band like Bolt Thrower.”

Since the release of their excellent album ‘Aelo’ the legendary Greek combo has been touring non stop: first across Europe alongside the mighty Bolt Thrower, then (besides a short stop due to main-man Sakis suffering from a leg injury) doing the various summer festivals. Soon to march on Poland and eventually South America, Rotting Christ see unstoppable! Having deservingly become an extreme metal institution, I decided to pay tribute to their long and brilliant career with an interview focused on how they achieved such status. And of course when I use the pluralia tantum, I actually mean the very charming Sakis Tolis, to whom I chatted before a recent show, as he is very much the heart and soul of the band, as well as the brains!

Coming both from countries that were not exactly thriving spots for alternative music up until more recent days, I have a lot of admiration for you as back then it wasn’t easy to access non-mainstream music, let alone be in a band: if you were let’s say into punk or early Death Metal, you’d be virtually cut out from all the action.
That’s right, it was very difficult. Back then the scene in Athens was quite weird as there were mainly fashionable trends around. I remember I was one of the very few people buying demos, records, even leather clothes on mail order catalogues from abroad. We were really into our thing, but back then we didn’t realize we were actually creating a scene. We struggled a lot and had to work especially hard to end up, after 20 years, with something unique and strong. Today we are in a position where we can support a massive band like Bolt Thrower. We inspired a lot of new bands in the Balkan area, who were writing to me for advice and, to this day, I am always glad to help people out. We are very proud of the fact that we created our own scene: we were definitely one of the first ones out there to play Black Metal, and now we are part of the history of a much wider movement.

Coming from a country with no previous tradition as far as extreme metal is concerned also meant that you were free to create something very unique and individual, am I correct?
Yes, we were always very unique but that created some problems too: we had several problems with the press, even our local TV, because people thought we were Satanists when we were not! They were not leaving us alone, but you know, it all amounts to free promotion so it was a good thing in the end.

Who inspired you right at the beginning?
We were inspired by bands like Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer; all the first generation Black Metal bands, basically, even though at the time that sort of music did not have a specific name.

Were you ever into punk?
Yes, punk was quite big in my area actually: we listened to bands like GBH, Discharge, Chaos UK. I still listen to the old-school stuff! Today most new bands, especially the American ones, that call themselves punk, are not punk at all as they are very mainstream and therefore part of the system.

Throughout the 90s you and your old band members toured Europe extensively many times over: I guess it was the only way to get noticed in a movement that was becoming bigger and bigger…
Of course! It was very difficult as we didn’t have a promoter. We had to leave our jobs, bought a van and we drove everywhere ourselves. It was hard, but it was a great experience, something that gave us plenty of experience and today makes us feel like we are a proper band with a solid background and an honest working ethic. You know, some of the fans and the other bands, even if they might not like our music, they still show us a lot of respect for that. So it was a price worth paying for.

Bolt Thrower told me they wanted you as supporting band for their recent European tour because of the enormous lesson in self-respect you have shown all along.
At the end of the day, what do we fight for in our daily lives? There has to be something nobler to aspire to, a bigger goal to achieve, and for me it’s got to do with whatever enriches the soul and makes you a better person.

So music for you is a path to self-discovery?
Definitely, writing music is a form of meditation and always leads to discovering something yet unexplored. Performing is also a great source of spiritual learning as the energy levels involved and exchanged are very powerful.

On a practical side, while bands from other countries may be able to dedicate themselves 100% to their music (as they might not need a side job in order to survive), I know it’s definitely not the case in Greece, so that makes your dedication even more special.
In Greece if you don’t have a job you’re fucked! All of us have always had jobs in our lives, which can be sometimes a big obstacle. Most young musicians in fact are eventually forced out of being in a hard working band because of tough life circumstances, but personally I never gave up! If you have alternative views everything becomes a struggle: nobody understands where you’re coming from and nobody helps you out. In the past people were even scared of us for having long hair, but luckily today it’s more about practical things, like for example, not finding right away the technology I want, as not many people use it. But if you are a pro-active person you can by-pass those kinds of problems.

Talking about being pro-active, I believe you literally took the matter into your own hands when were looking for a record contract with a big label: tell me what happened.
Haha yes, we were just kids so we didn’t think twice about taking a car and drive all the way from Athens to Germany to deliver our demo to both Nuclear Blast and Century Media. For us it was normal as we weren’t in the center of things so we had to make ourselves heard somehow. If you really want something, you just have to go and grab it!

That’s awesome! What was their reaction?
Well, first and foremost they liked our music so we came to that famous agreement with Century Media for 6 albums. But I think it was also important to show them that we were really serious about Rotting Christ.

Later on though you had problems with the label…
There are always problems with the labels: labels and artists are two different things altogether! Art and business always struggle to find a middle way, don’t they? Everybody works towards their own goal so we ended up having a fight. But you know, we are ok with labels, as long as the take care of the numbers and we can take care of the music, that’s fine. They always try to give you suggestions, but I never listen…

So at one point you found yourself without a label and also without a band!
Yes, but it wasn’t too hard for me to find some other musicians as I knew everybody in Athens. At the same time I was also branching out far more with my music, step by step it was incorporating more of my influences. By then my sound was definitely a lot more Death Metal than Black.

Some of your old Black Metal fans didn’t appreciate the shift in style…
Well, you cannot please everyone! In life you have ups and downs and it might have looked as if things were not working out, but I stuck to my guns and we are still here today! I write all the music and the lyrics for Rotting Christ so it is always about my own experiences and influences. It’s kind of normal to evolve a different sound throughout the years, as your personality becomes more complex and you learn about new things. Although I have been fiercely into metal since 1989, I always try to find new directions in my life and that is reflected in my music, where I like to explore not just within the extreme metal genres but far beyond.

You sound like someone who has his values set in stone, but at the same time is thirsty for new experiences all the time. Did you ever think of moving away from Greece?
Yes, I did at one point, but at the end I decided against it: there I have my family, my friends and people who take care of me.

Let’s move now onto the second decade of Rotting Christ: from the year 2000 your international success started to widen considerably. Does this have anything to do with signing for the excellent Seasons of Mist?
It might be a coincidence, but the last two albums have been very successful. They are a very open-minded label, and they showed a lot of interest and care. It’s nice to feel as if you are finally regarded as a priority, so I guess that brought some results as I feel I have worked harder than ever on these two albums.

You have been bringing the new album ‘Aelo’ across Europe for a few months now: what is the feedback you are getting?
The feedback has been very positive: the press liked the album and the crowds have been amazing! The first part of our European tour with Bolt Thrower was great and I am glad we got to know them as they are amazing guys. We have carried on touring on our own throughout the summer: soon we begin a whole bunch of dates in Poland and Eastern Europe, and then we go to South America: we feel right at home over there!

In your recent music you really drew back from a lot of sources, from rediscovering your old Black Metal roots to the new experiments with Greek traditional music, which is a very exciting addition to your sound.
Yes, I gradually understood the importance of the traditions of my country and now it is something very important to me. I am really into ethnic music, I love exploring traditional music from all over the world, and this time around I wanted to experiment with those beautiful, simple and real sounds. These days all the bands use pro-tools and music has lost a lot of soul and passion: I personally miss that, so what I am trying to do now with Rotting Christ is to bring the heart back into metal! In the new album we have parts sung in different ancient languages, like Greek, Sufi, Latin and so on: it’s a melting pot of traditions we can all relate to, and that’s very important to us.

Do you feel that some countries relate to your music and message more than others?
Of course all the Latin countries really get our music!

Would it also be because fans from Latin countries know exactly what it is like to have a Catholic upbringing?
Definitely, there’s a connection there! It’s so easy to go out there and say religion is shit and this religion sucks, but we were never into provoking people, I just want to express an opinion in a creative way and make people think about things, that’s all. We never mean to offend anyone.

Not too long ago Dave Mustaine refused to play at a festival because of Rotting Christ being on the bill…
Well, some people are far too touchy. We live in what is supposed to be a democratic society where there is freedom of speech and everyone has the freedom to say and think what they want, so I cannot understand why someone who plays metal should have a problem with us. Metal means freedom!

Do you still feel that the old brotherhood that made the early 90s scene so special is still there today?
Well it is a brotherhood, but of course you always have people with big egos and are just in it to be rockstars. I have met many of those… I think it’s a lot of bullshit because we are not special or above anybody else: a cab driver offers something and we do too when we go on state, but that’s it really. Unfortunately some people think they are god’s gift to the world and that their music is so special…

Rotting Christ

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Benediction – “The reason we still do ‘Unfair Mortality’ is you, isn’t it?”

It seems to me that Benediction, in spite of being one of the first Death Metal bands from the UK and still going strong, never got the credit they deserve, especially from the media. The fact that they keep being asked back year in year out all over Europe certainly proves they have maintained, during these rollercoaster-like 20 years of Death Metal history, a faithful fan base that appreciates their straight-forward, in your face sound and the uncompromising live performances that never fail to deliver a hell of a good time. I meet up with founder member and guitarist Darren Brooks and singer extraordinaire Dave Hunt in their hometown of Birmingham, while supporting good mates Bolt Thrower on their acclaimed “Next Offensive 2010” European tour.

Daz, the way I see it, Benediction is a quintessentially Brummie band because of its dual roots, Punk and Heavy Metal, which are equally as important, am I correct?
Darren: Yeah, we are dead lucky to come from Birmingham, which is the birth place of metal but also has a great Punk tradition.

Do each of you have different tastes in music?
Darren: Me, Frank (Healy) and Rewy (Peter Rew) are into Punk a lot more than Dave, probably because he actually wasn’t there when it all happened…

Dave: I do like Discharge and any band that sounded like them though. We definitely share some common grounds.

Darren: Personally I am really into old school Heavy Metal and the rock classics like Pink Floyd, but in fairness I am into all sorts of stuff, depending on the mood I am in. One thing is certain, when we tour we never play any Death Metal on the bus, because it would drive you nuts!

Are you into any new stuff?
Darren: Not really, I haven’t been buying CDs for at least ten years. I’m very lazy when it comes to new trends. Dave is well up to date though, he’s the one with the current knowledge.

So you are the one to bring new ideas to the band…
Darren: Yeah, he just sits there and goes: naaah… Ha-ha!!!

Dave: Actually, there would be no point for me to say “No, no, no lads, you must completely change what you’ve been doing for the last 20 years and sound like this brand new, up-to-date stuff…”. It really isn’t about that, it would be totally pointless.

You certainly have stuck to your guns since you put together the Benediction sound. Was this one of the reasons why Ian Treacy, your first drummer, left back in 1995?
Darren: I think that each band must do what they do best. I mean, Death and similar bands were and are amazing, but they are the sort of band you just stand there and watch. I don’t want to be like that: I want to be a simple band that plays straight-forward Punk Metal to which everybody can go nuts! I’d rather have energy than technique.

Dave: If you go to our gigs it should be more about fun than going: “Oh that’s beautiful!”

Darren: I admire those musicians who can write hard stuff that is also technical, but the fact is that I am an average guitar player so what I want to try and do is write some decent tunes. I like that Meshuggah stuff, but I love simpler stuff better so the kind of music where you play all over the fret board is honestly not for me.

It’s a question of taste. Bands like Slayer, who are not over complicated, just go for the jugular and that’s what they are brilliant at…
Darren: That’s exactly the point. I cannot see why one has to over complicate things… With some of the technical bands, as soon as you start to get into the riff, it changes so you cannot really flow with it… I can appreciate the musicianship, but not the song. I like our music to flow and the best thing to do, for me personally, is to broadly stick to the old formula of verse-chorus/verse-chorus/middle-8, which has been around for ages but gives the crowd a good time. I could never stand on a stage and show off for an hour… So everybody is free to choose the band they’d rather see! We are mainly a live band, you see: we are not interested in selling loads of records, we are purely in it for the fun. For example last night someone came up to me after the gig and he hadn’t even heard of us before, but he bought the t-shit and said he loved us purely on the energy of the show.

Talking of energy, Dave, you are a full time member of Benediction and Anaal Nathrakh, then you used to be in Mistress and now you even play for Fukpig… How do you handle your various commitments?
Dave: For me there is no hierarchy or preference, it makes no difference who I am with at a given time, in my head that’s how it works. Like Mistress before, Anaal Nathrakh is not a big touring band (or at least so far), so when I’m off on tour with Benediction, that’s what I’m doing.

What about writing the lyrics for each different band?
Dave: Well, before I joined Benediction there was already an established pattern so I didn’t want to do anything drastically different with them. With Anaal Nathrakh I can write completely in my own style.

Let me slip in a compliment about your vocal range: you are an incredibly versatile singer as well as doing very powerful vokills! What kind of music do you listen to?
Dave: Thanks, I try! Well, Metal aside, I listen to all sorts of things, it doesn’t necessarily have to be aggressive, but it must be “horrible” and “nasty” music, I don’t do “nice”. So I love Tom Waits, Bjork, Radiohead, because they are quite dark and weird. Let’s say that I am into all “emotionally dark” music, including opera, noise and so on…

Where you a fan of Benediction when you joined?
Dave: Yes, I saw them for the first time in Birmingham in 1993.

Darren: The reason we still do ‘Unfair Mortality’ is you, isn’t it?

Dave: Yes, I liked the song and when I joined I asked them to put it back into the live sets, ‘cos I enjoy singing it.

So when did you actually form Benediction?
Darren: Me and Rewy started the band in 1989. Frank was still in Cerebral Fix and joined us in 1992: he’s only been with us 18 years haha!

What was the scene like in Birmingham when you started?
Darren: I was 19 and it was all starting to happen, with bands like Master, Massacra, Morbid Angel… We were part of that tape-trading thing that happened many years prior with Punk, so we got to hear this new stuff pretty early on. Then Sepultura and Obituary started to release their stuff and more people took notice. We did a demo with Ian (Treacy) and Barney (Mark Greenway of Napalm Death), which was quite edgy and raw, then the scene just exploded and we happened to be on that first boat: Nuclear Blast signed us and that was it. We were very lucky man!

Don’t you wish you were there too, Dave? Those were amazing times!
Dave: Oh god yeah!

Darren: It was really great: every day you’d get hold of tapes of bands from all over the world, then you’d realize that all those bands you had been trading with they’d start being signed up and many of those bands went on to become very famous. Sadly at the end everything got ruined because the market was over-crowded with bands that sounded all the same. It started to go downhill in the mid-nineties, because labels like Roadrunner, Nuclear Blast, Century Media, signed up too many bands as they didn’t want to miss the boat in case they got big, so they really flooded the Death Metal market. I think that’s what killed it: everybody got bored of hearing 10 other bands sounding exactly the same. Hopefully now all the crap has gone and the cream of the crop is still there: Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower…

Dave: It’s coming back quite strong now actually.

Darren: I hope so, it was really dead for a while, you know…

And I love the fact that you never went away, when others did.
Darren: Yeah, but that worked against us, because when the scene was dead, the bands were so crap that you’d play for small audiences. Instead of jumping ship like every one else, as we don’t do it for the money but because we love it, we had to carry on making a loss or at best break even, but we wanted to carry on because we loved it. Now that all the early bands like Carcass are reforming, there is a mystique about them and they all seem to have gone bigger than us just from that and demand more money. Sadly with us the promoters are used to us asking for a pittance, because we had to do it for the last 10 years, so they still pay us a pittance in spite of the fact that we were one of the originals. But I don’t care, 21 years on and I am still having fun!

In a way I still think you are lucky, because even if you haven’t become huge, you are still together and you are all best friends! I think the new kids appreciate that.
Darren: Absolutely! That’s the other thing, you know: when the scene was dead we only had the old-school people coming to the gigs, but in the last 2 or 3 years we have seen a great resurgence because there are scores of new kids who come out to see us! Last night those kids at the front going nuts must have been just about 13… So it’s still nice to look around and see the old recognizable face, but the vast majority of the crowds now are young kids, and probably their parents sitting at home used to be into us in the first place!

It’s just a pity that they get to see us lower and lower on the bills, but hopefully by reading about us we will get more respect from the promoters too.

To be honest that’s the reason I wanted to do this interview with you guys: you are nice, down-to-earth people, like most people from Birmingham are, and you deserve more credit for what you have done for British Death Metal.
Darren: I think Birmingham was a special place for a long time and that reflected onto the music. We created a scene which was not about bands all copying each others but every single one was original and individual. Benediction’s biggest influence is Benediction. It’s not that we don’t want to progress, it’s just who we are! We are not in it for the money at all; I remember Marcus (Nuclear Blast) asking me to get a female singer for some of the choruses or introduce some keyboards, and I said no way!!… I have seen bands trying got change so that they would make more money, and when it didn’t work they got bitter about it and split up. That tells me that they were not in it because they loved the music in the first place!

You know, when I think about it, I am still baffled of how many great bands simultaneously sprang up in Birmingham and its surrounding areas in the late 80s early 90s, amazingly each with their own individual sound! How did that happen?
Darren: I think we had the Punk influence to thank for on one hand, which taught us to be as individual as we could possibly be, so we never had that copy-cat culture. There was a lot of talent in Birmingham because we had a great metal tradition with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, so people just seemed to want to be in a band and do their own thing.

Dave: There still is a lot of talent today, actually. Things keep moving but the spirit is still there. Take the Kenney brothers (Mistress, Anaal Nathrakh, Fukpig) for example: Mick has talent in abundance and has put together some amazing projects, so let’s hope that these new bands will be the new generation to make it big from Birmingham.

Another thing that Benediction do that I think is quite humble is to record covers.
Darren: We love doing covers because we are music fans ourselves, so basically we play what we are into in that particular period. We have covered many bands we love, from Celtic Frost to Amebix, on which we had Billy Gould from Faith No More playing bass. I’d like to do a Sabbath cover next, maybe picking up one of their more obscure tracks.

You did a South American tour a few months ago, how was it?
Darren: It was our first time there ever and it was great man! It was pretty tight though, we played every day, got off stage at 1am, got on a plane at 6am, and sometimes even took two planes in a day… it was mental! We did that for two weeks and we didn’t get too see or do anything else, which was a shame. The concerts were incredible though, it was like it used to be like over here in the early 90s with stage diving galore and everybody going nuts! Gig-wise was one of the best experiences in my life, but the amount of travel and lack of sleep was quite tough. We should go back to Mexico at the end of summer, I think, so that would be fun!

Have you ever toured the States?
Darren: Once in 1994: we must have been really bad ‘cause they never asked us back, ha-ha!! I’d love to go back there actually, I am only truly happy when I am out on the road and I would love to see the world before I get too old for this, man! No disrespect to Germany, but we are over there 3 or 4 times a year, and although we love it, I’d still like to see places like Australia, Asia, somewhere unusual.

So what is it like in Europe now, have things changed much over the years?
Darren: Well, Germany is where we sell more records, but I feel they are a little bit spoilt now, while there are places like France or Italy that frankly used to be shit but are really coming up strong now. Eastern Europe is of course fantastic, there’s a great scene there, we have done the whole lot and it was amazing!

Finally, have you got a new album in the pipeline?
Darren: We have a whole load of songs written, so we’ll soon sit through them, choose the best 15 and pass them onto Dave; he’ll pick the best 12 and start working on the lyrics. Its works like that, it’s a good process for us. At the moment we have about 15 finished, and another 15 to finish. By the end of the year we should be ready for recording. It should be in the vein of “Killing Music” because we really enjoyed that album, it was back to old-school Benediction, you know, in your face aggressive Punk-metal, and the reviews were really good. The new songs sound quite raw and that’s the way I like it!

Benediction

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Negură Bunget – “Mystery is meant to remain hidden so that it can empower you”

26th March 2010. I catch Negura Bunget in Madrid while they are just a week or so into their three month long tour schedule that will see them perform across most of Europe and, in the summer, at some festivals. I arrive at the excellent underground club La Boite and ask after Negru. Someone points at the stocky, familiar figure of a bearded man enveloped in darkness, looking attentively over. The handshake is firm and the smile kind and curious. As he finds us a cozy, quiet place where to sit out the interview, I come clean: I have been wanting a chat with him for ages but circumstances meant I had to wait this long… He nods silently and benignly, a noble gesture that I will quickly learn to associate with the great man s laid-back but entirely charismatic personality.

 

Given the notorious business with the line-up change, how did Negura Bunget approach the writing of the new album Virstele Pamintului, especially after the critical acclaim of its predecessor Om?
I think our approach was a very natural one. We always try to translate our ideas into music as closely as possible and so long as we were true to ourselves and to our music, then we would have been pleased with the outcome regardless. We never thought about achieving something that would be better than Om, this kind of approach would have produced something artificial. Of course there was some pressure on us for the two things you have mentioned, but we just focused on making the best music we could.

I heard a few sporadic voices saying that this is no longer the real Negura Bunget, because of the change in personnel?
Of course there will always be people who don t like the band and people who do. We never expected to make everyone happy: especially under the circumstances, there would have always been some complaints. Even with the same line-up there would have been some criticism, so you cannot worry about everybody You just try to do what you can, the best that you can and some people hopefully will enjoy it.

You strike me as a very philosophical kind of guy. I was wondering if, when you are abroad touring, you are able to relate easily with people or perhaps sometime you feel as if you came from a different world?
I think it depends, sometimes we meet people we can relate to musically, and sometimes we have no connection with the music but we just enjoy talking to each other, so it varies. But I think we are a bit different, coming from Rumania; maybe it s something I notice and others don t because they don t care that much. It is not like we are strange or anything Sometimes even within the same band there can be different personalities who don t get on all the time. We are all different inside and everybody connects differently.

But of course there are not many bands from Rumania that are known outside their own country. Do you feel like an ambassador for Rumania when you are abroad?
N: There are actually quite a lot of bands in Rumania but I don t quite know why they don t manage to get out of the underground. And yes, we do sometimes feel that we represent the country; wherever we play there are Rumanians who come and see us to try and reconnect with their country and its music. There are also foreign people who wish to approach the history of Rumania and ask us all sorts of questions, so in these circumstances we try to represent our country as truthfully as we can.

Going back to the new album, how do you view it: as a continuation from its predecessors or as a point of departure?
I think there is a strong element of natural evolution from the other albums, but at the same time it is more about regrouping, rethinking of everything, so for example it has a little bit more of traditional music in it. It is difficult for me to judge because every album feels very close But I think it is fair to say that in this album there are new and old Negura Bunget elements mixed together.

The album reviews have been extremely positive. What about the audience reaction to the new material so far into the tour?
Well we started to play some of the tracks from this new album pretty much from the very first concerts we did with the new line-up. The reaction has been very good so far but again, it is hard for me to judge because when I am on stage my mind completely drifts off into the music

I visited your webpage again recently and it has not been updated in a very long time. Since you mentioned having a re-think on the band as a whole, I was wondering if you can tell me a little bit about the Negura Bunget ideology as of today.
I think there are some key elements that are fundamental to Negura Bunget. There is the spiritual, esoteric element and the historical one; then within those there are further elements that come into play such as nature and folklore. So how all these elements come together is through music, the lyrics and the ideas that represent the band. I think a mixture between the two main elements represents what we call our ideology. We call it ideology because our music is a reflection of our ideas and not vice-versa: when we write an album we focus on what is important to us, which then goes to influence our music.

Ideology is a strong word!
Yeah but it has different meanings! We call it ideology because our music is a reflection of our ideas and not vice-versa: when we write an album we focus on what is important to us, and that goes to influence our music. People wrongly try to give us political overtones, but in our case the word ideology is purely suggestive of our ideas , because that s what is important to us.

Maybe you could call it a philosophy of life.
Yes, I guess you could. Again, these ideas are something we are naturally interested in, we are not really trying to create a philosophy of sorts, nothing like that.

So is the whole band into the same kind of thing?
Well, each of us can be more interested in one aspect of our ideology rather that the other, but all our ideas seem to converge when we play together. I can say that everybody is 100% into the band and what we stand for. Again, people are different and some may be interested more in the folkloric side of things; for example Corb, our new vocalist/ guitarist, makes our folk instruments and implements out of wood using traditional carving techniques and decorations.

Did he make all that?!… (Alex: I point at the stage where most of their fantastic wooden gear is set up)
Yeah (Alex: Negru laughs, looking extremely proud) We have the mike and the percussion stand, the other drum, the keyboard and the xylophone tables, the ropes across the drum kit… He does most of our woodwork.

It does feel like this is a complete way of life for you guys.
Well, yes, music is the most important thing in our lives, so We don t have normal jobs because to just do the band in our spare time would not be enough: you cannot operate like that. Of course we have 3-months tour now, which is something we could not do if we had steady 9 to 5 jobs.

So far you have toured across Europe a few times, would you like to go to the US?
We are actually looking to go there at the end of the year or beginning of the next.

Do you organize the tours yourselves?
Yes, most of the time. We work with different people who help us in different areas.

Do you know anything about the punk DIY ethos?
Yes, a little bit. I first got into punk when I started to listen to music, but not for too long as I went straight into the death metal scene. So yes, we do our own version of the Do It Yourself thing

OK, let s go back now to the Negura Bunget ideology, in which spirituality and tradition meet. I can tell you are a spiritual kind of guy. Are you a pagan or Wiccan by any chance?
Well, I don’t like to categorize spirituality. Personally I am more into the esoteric, the mystery of things There is a Rumanian philosopher and poet called Lucian Blaga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Blaga) who wrote an entire philosophy based on Mystery. According to him there are two ways of knowing things: the Paradisiac way, through which you get to know a lot of things through normal learning, and the Luciferian way, where you approach mystery. With the latter you don t actually get to unveil anything, because mystery is meant to remain hidden so that it can empower you. According to Blaga there is no way we can understand mystery So for me personally, there is not a specific philosophy or religion I am interested in, I just try to learn as much as I can with the awareness that we cannot know everything, because it is impossible.

Are you interested in science?
Yes, of course! I am especially interested in the new sciences that study the universe. A lot of these new ideas do seem to converge towards aspects of ancient spiritual theories

Like the Hindu cosmic view of the multiverses, for example!
Yeah, exactly. But if you go to the bottom of each of these scientific theories there is always an unsolved mystery! For example the structure of the atom according to quantum physics is mind-boggling: a particle can be here and there at the same time, but nobody understands why, so they start building more and more bizarre theories to justify nature s behavior

Do you know much about the new developments in neuroscience?
No, I cannot say I do. I don t read much; I do enjoy watching documentaries about the new discoveries.

According to the new studies on the human brain, we finally seem very close to actually explain the phenomenon of what we traditionally call soul . It does seem like it is the individual brain with its biochemical activity (which creates deep emotions) that gives each of us the illusion of harboring inside us something that goes beyond the physical body. Do you believe we have a soul?
Again, this is one of those mysteries I was talking about. Sometimes I do believe there is something and sometimes I don t. I know lots of theories on this subject, but I don t see myself as belonging to one as I find I think different things all the time. So when I talk about spirituality, what I mean is something all-inclusive. For me it doesn t matter if the soul is in the brain or in the heart: I may think there is something but I don t know what it is. So, to go back to your question, I think spirituality and science complement each other and are two faces of the same coin; in the past these two disciplines were not separate from one another like they are today.

Let s now talk about the other element in Negura Bunget s ideology, the interest in the history and traditions of your country. First of all, tell me about the influence of the Roman Empire on today’s Rumania, as it seems to still have somehow political relevance.
Well, according to traditional theories the Rumanians are the result of the mixing between the native Dacians and the Romans who conquered Dacia. And of course there are always some people who are trying to say that we are pure Dacians, but mainly that idea comes from the Communist regime that identified the Romans with the imperialists and the Dacians were the local working people being exploited. There are some associations today that promote the old Dacian ways, and I think it is somehow nice but there are some exaggerations. There are also other theories saying that the Romans killed all the Dacians so today we are pure Romans, which is also a bit extreme!

Naturally your language is Latin based.
Yes, it is. Unfortunately our pre-roman history is shrouded in mystery; the only written documents we have on Dacia are relatively late ones by Greek historian Herodotus, who is known for his biased views anyway, and by the Romans. During Roman occupation of course there were isolated tribes up in the mountains which did not mix, but down in the valleys all sorts was going on: our history is quite complex so we cannot say we know 100% how modern Rumania was formed. Still, history is very much present in our lives and people have strong believes based on both facts and theories.

Then of course Romania has had century-long problems with some of its neighboring countries, like Hungary. Where does that stem from?
It comes from a lot of wars Then again, we had a lot of wars against the Turks so I have never figured out why Rumanians do not dislike the Turks too! It s all very strange. We have part Hungarian-part Rumanian communities that live together and sometimes they get on but sometimes they don’t…

Timisoara, the city where you come from, is geographically close both the Hungarian and Serbian borders; how does this affect the place?
We have many ethnic groups living there, Serbs, Hungarians, Germans, and there has never been any trouble, but in Transylvania there are areas where Hungarians are the majority and that’s where the main problems are. They are trying to get autonomy, but it s a very weird situation: they feel strongly attached to their mother country , but the Hungarians from Hungary do not actually want them! It s all very odd

I love history and I know a little about the Dacians: they were mounted archers, very brave warriors and had a very sophisticated culture, as their goldsmith techniques were quite advanced for their time. Did they originate from the Thracians from the Greek peninsula?
No, no! The Dacians were indigenous people, they belonged to ancient populations going back much further into Neolithic times, of which the Thracians were also part. As I said there isn t much that we know about the Dacians, but we are for example sure that they believed in immortality. That’s why they were not afraid of dying in combat; in fact it was a great shame for them to be taken prisoner.

That was something that almost all pre-Christian cultures had in common: for the Vikings it was a matter of honor to die in combat too, and it was the same for the Mongols and the Huns, for example.
Yes, but I think the difference with the Huns for example is that they were more keen to conquer and kill, while it seems that the Dacians were peaceful people protecting their land.

That’s true, most ancient tribes were still nomadic while the Dacians, at least at the times of Emperor Traianus, were settled people and for this reason considered more civilized?
True, but things are never black and white; we know that the Dacians were attacking the Romans too. There were two wars between them, and apparently after the first one it was the Dacians who broke the peace treaty first. But who knows what really happened

So why do you think people develop such an attachment to their past, do you think it is a matter of pride?
I think a lot of people look back at their past so that they know who they are in the present. They see that their ancestors were brave warriors and take example and strength from them. If you have somebody to look up to it gives you an identity.

Is it important today to have an historical identity?
Well personally I don’t quite see it like that. For me it is not so much about the past but about who we are now. I don t know who my grand-grandfathers were so I prefer to find my own identity based on who I am today. I don t need to find strength and courage from someone who fought and lived in the past. But again, people think differently so.

Let s talk about your lyrics, which I would not have in any other way but in your native Rumanian because it is a beautiful-sounding language which confers a lot of mystery to the music. But I must confess I wish you were providing some translations!
I think we will, actually. Our language is very complex and it is not easy to transfer the exact meaning of a word into English, but we know people who can help us with the task of at least providing an approximate idea. I must say that not providing translations has sometimes meant that people interpreted our songs in a completely wrong way, but somehow I feel that even with the translations it won t be easy to understand our lyrics, so it will still be a matter of personal interpretation.

Who writes the lyrics and how does the composition process work?
Like with the music, we work together and we try to do something that represents everybody. We have the idea for a song and for us the most important thing is keeping true to that idea, so it really doesn t matter how the song turns out: we shape and re-shape the music and the lyrics making sure that we have achieved to represent that basic idea truthfully. It is quite a complex process; it is not like writing a piece of music then fitting a set of lyrics to it, or vice-versa.

I expect your lyrics to be like poems, am I far off the mark?
Yes, I guess they would be close to resembling a poem or a piece of old literature. We enjoy working on the sound of the words a lot, and we look for very specific, in-depth meanings too. We also spend a lot of time researching old, unused words from our archaic language to keep that feeling of authenticity to our work. That s why it is not easy to translate our lyrics into English.

I am sure the more people get to know your band the more requests for translations you will get! Have you ever considered singing in English?
Not really We have done a couple of experiments in English on our mini albums but, even though we ve always had people interested in the meaning of our songs, at the end of the day Negura Bunget is something else and singing in another language would put us in a different context completely.

So was it a surprise when people outside Rumania became interested in Negura Bunget?
When we started we wanted to do what felt natural to us. As we went further and deeper into it, things started to develop this way and of course it is very nice that people can find a connection.

I am fascinated by the reason why people have pride in their ancestors, which seems something primordial us humans have in common. Even the way Rumanians regard Transylvania is fascinating It has a huge place in European Romantic literature, of course, but what is Transylvania to you? Does it have an historical meaning the rest of Europe does not understand or know of?
It has a very important historical meaning for us. The Rumanian people never think of Transylvania like foreigners do, so there is no Dracula for us but there is Vlad Tepes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler) who was a King many people feel closely connected to. Yes, there are a lot of stereotypes about and quite a shallow understanding of Transylvania.

That s a shame! So how do I find out about the real Transylvania, do I have to come to Rumania?
N: Yes, I think that s always the best way to find out about a country, stay there and see how it is for yourself. I can guarantee that just by being there you will definitely take back something special with you.

Is it still a place of uncontaminated wilderness?
Yes, there are still a lot of areas that have little or no connection with the modern world even though, unfortunately, they are less and less. But of course you can still find people who live like centuries ago: there are tiny villages of about five people up in the mountains with no roads to connect them to civilization as we know it. But even in the more modern villages, there are still a lot of people following the old agricultural and herding traditions and do not depend entirely on modern commodities.

Are the Rumanian larger cities becoming increasingly consumerist like over here?
Oh yeah…

Were people happy to join the EU?
I think half and half. We thought we must join so that we can come out of poverty, but a year after we realized that nothing magic happened at all. It was the same with NATO, we joined and we got sent to Iraq and Afghanistan right away!

Never! No-one ever mentions the Rumanian troops
Well, we are very much present there with a lot of men assigned to one of the most dangerous areas. I guess that s the price we are paying for trying to gain political status!

Time for the bands to go for a bite, it seems. One last quick question: the drums are my favorite instrument. Who is your favorite drummer?
Hmmm, there are many, but if I had to choose one I’d go for Sean Reinert from the last Cynic album.

Sean’s idol and inspiration is Gary Husband, one of the greatest contemporary jazz drummers.
Sorry, I don’t know him, I do not follow jazz at all; besides, I try to create my own style.

Negură Bunget

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Asphyx – “We just felt we could still deliver some brutal old school death metal the Asphyx way”

When Asphyx announced a new studio album many old metalheads got immense boners which they hadn’t had for years! Well now, “Death… the brutal way” delivers in spades and after Asphyx’ first US appearance it was about fucken time to ask Paul Baayens and Bob Bagchus some questions…

Let’s kick off with recent events! You guys played at the Maryland DeathFest 2009 which marked your first US gig ever. If I’m correct only Martin has been to the US before so how did you like the festival, the fans, the city of Baltimore, the US?
How did this experience compare to Europe and would you consider going back for more gigs?
Bob: Yes, only Martin has been to the US, back in the days with Pestilence. We liked the MDF ALOT and had a great time over there! Also Baltimore is a cool city. But it differs not that much from bigger cities in Europe though. The fans were amazing and we are thankful for that. We might go back in the future.

At MDF Mayhem seemed to have fucked things up a bit for you guys so you had to cut half an hour of your set and couldn’t do a decent sound check. I assume you’ll sue the hell out of them
Paul: No, let’s say we just have had a good talk with these guys. Ha! Ha! Mayhem was back in the days very supportive to Asphyx so because of these credits they are still alive.
But it all was fuck, it felt we had to soundcheck with not our own stuff and had to play quickly before the curfew which really sucked. This is a good reason to return to the States and play a full set to make it up.
Bob: This was very fucked up. They just kept on playing and because of that we had to drop like 4-5 songs from our setlist! Songs like “Pages in Blood”, “Evocation”, “The Last One On Earth”, “Rite of Shades” (sorry Theo). This was a bit like a cold shower.

If I’m correct you guys brought 3 different shirt designs to MDF. Did you print any special merch for MDF? How many copies of each design did you bring and did all of them sell out?
Paul: We printed special shirts for this festival. Because we sold out pretty fast, we have printed some more shirts for those who weren’t able to buy them.

Oh, almost forgot the most important question: how did you like the American beers?
Paul: This IS definitely the most important question! Ha! We do like to drink some American beer indeed! This is another very good reason to get our asses back in the States again.  The festival was more than perfectly arranged, but on Saturday there was a long row of people at the VIP/backstage waiting to get some beers. This is a nightmare for every musician I guess!
Bob: American beers are OK. Budweiser is good to drink and so we did all days long, but still Dutch and German beers are the best!

It seems you guys are having quite a bit of fun, the idea to reform for just one gig (Party San was it?) quickly turned into more gigs, an EP and by now even a new full-length album entitled “Death…the brutal way”. It seems more old reunited bands follow this path in that they end up recording a new album when it feel right for them.
At what point did you guys feel it felt right for you to do an actual new studio album?
Paul: First of all, we didn’t have any plans making a new album. But after the Party San gig we got overwhelmed by the awesome response of the audience. This wasn’t our best show ever, but certainly one of the most special ones. We played the songs a bit too fast; maybe those were the nerves!
Bob: Well, Paul came up with killer riffs in our rehearsal room and very soon, even that same day, “Scorbutics” was born. From that point on riffs/song structures were coming, one after another. Paul kept sending awesome killer tunes, so Paul, Martin and I went into the rehearsal room and here we are with “Death…The Brutal Way”. We just felt we could still deliver some brutal old school death metal the Asphyx way, especially when Paul came up with all those killer tunes! We just HAD to do it!

A little bird called Ed informed me that Paul wrote the majority of the new Asphyx. Correct me if the little bird was lying! But I was wondering how Paul approached emulating Eric Daniels’ guitar sound and Eric’s way of playing/writing?
Paul: Birdy Ed? Ha! Ha! You mean Dirty Ed I guess! Ha! Ha! I do like the first albums of Asphyx myself as a fan. So it’s really cool I got involved with the composing of new Asphyx material. During the writing of the new material I kept looking what I, as a fan, would wanna hear on the new album. It all went very natural, as I was part of Asphyx since many years.
Bob: Paul is the man.

Since the Internet makes life easier for people living far away from each other: did you guys actually rehearse the songs during the song writing process or did you send each other digital music files?
Paul: Mostly I recorded riffs and/or arrangement and sent them to Bob, so he could give his opinion about it. So when we are finally in the rehearsal room to arrange the songs, we all know what we have to do. For us it works fine, also because we aren’t exactly each other’s neighbors.

The new album features 10 tracks, did you guys have more song material or are the album tracks everything you wrote? If you have more material written, in what form will it be released?
Paul: We only recorded the 10 songs which appear on the new album. We almost have more material ready. Maybe for a mini album, we don’t know yet.
Bob: There are some new killer riffs in store here, and maybe a cover from Trouble (“The Tempter”) or Sempiternal Deathreign…..

Holy fuck, do Sempiternal Deathreign!!

How does Martin approach writing his lyrics? Does he wait until a song is finished or does he start when a song’s main structure is chosen?
Paul: Actually, when we are rehearsing a new song, Martin always come up with a songtitle.

Paul, how do you manage to keep the bands you’re in apart when writing new music? Do you consciously write material for each band or do you simply write and decide for what band it’s going to be used later?
Paul: Often I feel when a riff has more a Bullets groove or a Asphyx vibe. Riffs where I’m not sure of I’m checking with different tunings; trying to find out which suits the best.
Most of the time I just grab a guitar in the evening, without amplification just plain and clean playing while having some beers. Somehow riffs come up which I record with my (photo) camera. When my camera is full, I listen to the riffs again and put 25% in the trash bin. The other ones I record, sometimes with different drum patterns and in different ways.

Whose idea was it to record the sequel “Asphyx II (they died as they marched)”? Why did you decide to end the album with the instrumental “The saw, the torture, the pain”?
Bob: It just came into existence by jamming Paul’s riffs into a song. The instrumental is just a heavy saw soundtrack. Nothing with a special meaning to it. Just heavy shit.

How did the recording process take place? I heard you guys recorded it at Frank Klein Douwel’s place. Did each of you separately record his parts or was a full band live recording approach used?
Bob: It was indeed recorded at Frank’s studio. In fact, this album was at first a demo…. but it turned out very good so we decided to use it all for the album. Paul and I recorded the basics first, that is drums and guide guitar, then later on Paul did the rest of all the guitars, Wannes did the bass a few weeks after and finally Martin did the vocals.

The album was mixed by Dan Swanö, how many mixing versions did you do before you guys settled with the final mixing version?
Bob: Only 5 mixes. The 5th one was the one we needed. It is a mixture between mix 1 and mix 4. Dan did an awesome job!! Asphyx doesn’t need many mixes, if it sounds raw then we like it. We hate to spend a lot of time on recording/mixing because then the feeling and rawness gets lost. We like it spontaneous.

Who did the cover artwork? What other album did s/he do?
Bob: Mick Koopman did it. He also did the Hail of Bullets cover artwork. We’ve known Mick for a long time and he’s a great guy to work with.

Looking at the scheduled gigs it’s mostly festivals and single gigs here and there. Do you guys have too many job responsibilities nowadays to do a full tour?
Paul: Yes indeed! We aren’t able to do long tours or so. Most of us have kids and a full time job, so it’s impossible to combine these things for now. We like to keep the Asphyx shows special and unique.
Bob: No tours for us.

Asphyx doesn’t have an official website, only a MySpace. Why’s that? Is this the sad way more bands will go? I can understand the easiness and comfort of MySpace but an official website has so much more personality.
Paul: Actually, we’re working on a new website besides the www.myspace.com/officialasphyx.  It’s www.asphyx.nl and it will be launched soon.

By the way, will “Death…the brutal way” be released on vinyl? If so, will Century Media release it or some other label?
Paul: The new album will be available on vinyl as well. Hey, we like to keep it old school as we like the vinyl as well. The 7 inch EP of 2008 was release by Iron Pegasus, but the whole album release will be done by War Anthem Records.

Here’s a question for Bob: did you keep playing drums during the years when Asphyx last dissolved (2000/2001) or did you have to restart to some extent when you reformed in 2007?
Bob: I quit drumming in 2000, when we split up. And I sat behind my kit again in April 2007, just before the reunion.

Another Bob question: I was supposed to see Asphyx in 1995 on the Bolt Thrower tour and in 1996/1997 in the Baroeg with Grave, Krabathor and some other bands.
Both were cancelled, do you remember what the reason was?
Bob: The first gig, the Bolt Thrower one, was in 1993 (Saldiac: no, it really was 1995 haha), but I was out of Asphyx at that time. I don’t know the exact reasons for that. The other one was in 1996-the “God Cries” period-and that was because Theo Loomans had a bad car accident.

Question for Martin: Did you finally see “Come and see/Idi i smotri” yet? If not then you better go fucken watch this amazing piece of war cinema!
Bob: I have to answer this as well…I will ask him, ok?

Wannes did some backing vocals during the gig at MDF and I hear a bit of backing vocals on the new album. Did you guys consider having a vocal duel between Martin and Wannes for the album?
Bob: No, not really. Wannes did some great backing vocals on “Death…The Brutal Way” indeed, but that was more decided in the last minute, like “oh, maybe this will sound awesome here and there…” Impulsive and spontaneous. It turned out great.

It’s rather funny to realize that 3 of the current Asphyx members do excellent vocals. I saw Paul do vocals during Orphaned Land’s performance at Progpower 2007 which were much better than Kobi’s “grunts”. So I was wondering if Paul doesn’t miss doing vocals?
Paul: That Orphaned Land song was cool to do. The very first show we did together was in 2005, when Thanatos performed with them in Greece. I had to learn that song in a short time, so I printed the lyrics and put it on the ground just to be sure.
Oh no, I’m not missing my vocals at all! Finally I get the chance to bang my head off without doing vocals. With my former band Cremation I felt a bit stuck on the microphone. Now I have the chance to walk around and bang like a maniac.

Somewhat related to the previous question: is there any chance of a Cremation discography CD being released at some point?
Paul: HA! HA! Of course not! Why should we? The band split shortly after releasing the CD. So I still have some copies left. Cremation is dead, buried and reduced to ashes. No need to exhume it!

Would a package of Asphyx/Dead Head/Pestilence/Thanatos/Sinister/Gorefest be interesting for you to play or am I being an arse who’s living in the past? Heck, even Acrostichon is gonna do a one-gig reunion. How can I resist suggesting such a package!
Bob: Haha,that really is nostalgic! Sounds interesting indeed although Gorefest have split up, unfortunately.

Aight guys, I’m sure you’re fed up with all these questions so I’m letting you off the hook! Feel free to address our readers here and tell them their life isn’t complete until they own “Death… the brutal way”.
Bob: Ok, your life isn’t complete without owning “Death…the Brutal Way”! No, but seriously, you are right! True old school can’t be ignored!

Asphyx

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Acheron – “The media has never really been on our side. Only true underground zines!”

One of the true legends of the satanic Death Metal scene in the USA, Acheron are preparing to attack the world with a brand new album in 2009. Created in 1988, the band has 20 years of heavy music, anti-christian propaganda and lots of crazy stories behind their backs. His infernal majesty Vincent Crowley was kind enough to share with Archaic Magazine his views about the current state of the Underground scene and the place of Acheron in it…..

 

Greetings and welcome to Archaic Magazine. In 2008 Acheron are celebrating 20 years of existence. How does it feel to be one of the oldest satanic Death Metal bands?
Well, I don’t think we are the oldest satanic Death Metal band out there but we have been around for a long time. It feels great that the fans have supported us for so long. Most bands crush and burn after a few years. The media has really never been on our side. Only the true Underground zines. Our fans keep the beast alive! To be able to keep recording our Dark Art is privilege!

In the beginning of November 2008 Acheron had an anniversary show in New York. How was it?
Let’s just say it wasn’t very good haha…The whole thing was a big funnel. A week before the show we were going to back out due to several other events happening that night but the promoter convinced us to do it. Well…it sucked! But we dud have a good time anyway with the people who showed up.

Your last studio album was “Rebirth: Metamorphosing into Godhood” from 2003 (not counting the compilation releases from 2003/2004). There are some new tracks on Acheron’s MySpace profile so when exactly should we expect a new album from you?
Early 2009! The album will be called “The Final Conflict: Last Days of God”. The three songs on our MySpace profile (www.myspace.com/acheron) are from the “Satanic Supremacy” demo which we recorded to help get us signed. And it indeed did!

Acheron is working together with the well-known Dutch label Displeased Records. Why did you choose to work with them? Wasn’t it easy for you to be on a label located in the US?
Displeased Records has had a long standing reputation in the Underground community for many years. We needed such a label. It doesn’t matter where the label is located, it is what they can do for you! And we hope they will support and promote the new Acheron release.

Displeased Records have some pretty serious bands in their roster. Do you like any of them?
Sure. They have a lot of kick-ass reissues!

Do you have any festival dates confirmed for 2009 and if yes – where and when?
We are talking about some but nothing is confirmed yet! We are playing in Brazil next week with Swedish Death Metal gods Grave for a mini-tour. Should be great! South American fans are fucking incredible!

Do you see a difference between the European and the US Death Metal fans? Where are the craziest Acheron maniacs?
I think Europe is better, because it’s not so polluted with that Hip-Hop culture promoted by MTV. Sure they get that music too but the Metalheads are a lot more loyal than the wishy washy American crowds. Don’t get me wrong, we have some great fans in the USA but they are a minority in the vast American music trends.

If you look back in the past which one is the most successful Acheron album and why?
I’d have to say: the “Anti-God, Anti-Christ” MCD. The song “Fuck The Ways of Christ” has become an anthem for many fans. But then again “Rites of The Black Mass” is still a cult album today. So it would have been one of those two releases.

I’ve noticed that in the first four albums you used to put an intro before each track but this practice stopped on “Those Who Have Risen”. Why?
I wanted to focus more on the music. We experimented with the intros and they succeeded in what we were going after. But many fans complained that they had to skip the intros to get to the songs. So now it is less intros, more Metal!

Are you still active with Wolfen Society? What’s going on there, any chance for a new record?
No, I think Wolfen Society is dead. We’ve talked about doing some shit for years but nothing ever manifests. Actually the new Acheron album is using the concept theme that I wanted to use for Wolfen Society’s first album but never got to do. In fact we have re-recorded the track “Blood Oath” for the release since it was a part of the concept.

You also used to be a part of the legendary Death Metal band Nocturnus. What do you remember from those days with Mike Browning and co.?
It was great! My first serious band! I was young and unexperienced in the music business. Being a huge Morbid Angel fan it was great to work with old Morbid Mike. We recorded a demo together and played out with bands like The Plasmatics, Death, Ravage (now Atheist) and others. Lots of dark dabbling and rituals in that band! I really enjoyed my time in that band. But that was Mike’s band and I had ideas of my own that I had to pursue. Nocturnus helped me to start taking my music more seriously. Thus Acheron was invoked!

Nocturnus are currently active again. What do you think about their reunion and this reunion craziness as a whole? Carcass are active again, so are At The Gates, Whiplash, etc.?
I think it is great! I mean many fans of those bands still exist. Why not let them have the chance to experience those bands again? Some fans may have missed seeing them back in the day. Now is their chance! And the new fans can see them too.

For so many years in the music business what is the most important lesson that you have learned? You certainly have a lot of experience so what will be your advice to all young Metal bands out there?
That if you are into music to get rich or even makin’ a living, you won’t! Even many of the bigger bands barely get by. The fact is that Underground music has a very selective following. You’re not going to sell millions of copies. Hell, you’re lucky these days if you sell 10 000! So do it for the music, not for the money. Because believe me, if a label can fuck you, they will! We have been fucked by so many labels we can’t feel it anymore haha! But always get a lawyer to look at your contract!

How do you see the Metal scene today compared to the one 20 years ago?
It just doesn’t have the spirit it used to have. There are still true Metal warriors out there but not in large amounts supporting the scene. Back in the day people were at all big and small Metal shows. A community of supporters. Nowadays fans are too fucking lazy to journey out for a show unless it is a huge one with several big acts playing. That is fucking lame!

What kind of man is Vincent Crowley outside Music? Are you still a practicing Satanist?
Normal to myself, abnormal to many others haha. My basic concept of living life is straight from the Satanic Bible so I guess I will always be a satanist. I enjoy life. A smartass and prankster but I still have my serious Dark side. Acheron is a true part of my being, not some kind of gimmick!

As a citizen of the United States what do you think about the new president Obama? Is he a good choice?
Who knows? I don’t trust the so-called ex-Muslim more than the other parasitic political scum that held the office. I’ve never voted in my life, nor shall I ever! Fuck Politics!

Will you give me the Top 5 of the Metal albums that have played the most important role in your life?
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break The Oath, Celtic Frost – To Mega Therion, Bathory – Under The Sign of The Black Mark, Slayer – Hell Awaits.

So it’s time for your last words for the readers of Archaic Magazine?
Many thanks for the support! I hope you all pick up the new Acheron album which will help us keep this Satanic warmachine alive! And to all of you Metalheads: go out and check out your local shows! Build a strong Metal community! You never see a lame Hip Hop show so do we really want them to be stronger than us? FUCK NO! Hail Metal! Cheers!

Acheron

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Sotajumala – “There’s just something about Death Metal that caught our interest and there was no turning back.”

Are you hungry for some fierce and straightforward Death Metal from the Land of the Thousand Lakes? Sotajumala are here to prove that Finland should not be linked only with melodic Power Metal and tragic Gothic Rock. Check out this interview with Sotajumala’s drummer Timo Häkkinen and what he has to say about the band, the music and the Finnish extreme Metal scene…….

Greetings! Sotajumala are not among the best known Metal bands from Finland so as a start will you please say us something more about the history of the band? When and why did you create Sotajumala?
The band was originally born in 1998 although it took a few years before there was an actual, full line-up. From the start the idea was to play uncompromising Death Metal with lyrics in Finnish. The name was also decided right away. Little by little things started moving forward. In 2001 first self-released MCD, some shows and line-up changes. This MCD found its way to Woodcut Records who signed the band the next year and in early 2003 ‘Panssarikolonna’ MCD was released. More line-up changes and in spring of 2004 debut album ‘Death Metal Finland’ was released. Again some line-up changes, lots of shows promoting the album, a split with Torture Killer and in finally in 2007 we released our sophomore album ‘Teloitus’ in Finland. The reason we are doing this band and the reason this band was originally put together? We just love playing Death Metal, plain and simple.

Your last album ‘Teloitus’ was released in 2007. What were the reactions of both fans and press to it? Was it well received or there were negative reactions as well?
We spent a lot of time working on this album and in the end we just knew we had something we would be forever proud of. In that light we all honestly that it didn’t matter if people liked it or not. We knew it was different compared to our debut album but we were really proud of what we had accomplished. Turned out reactions were extremely positive from both fans and press alike! In Finland we got only good or extremely good reviews and judging by the amount of coverage that we have gotten, the reactions at shows, from what I’ve read online and the chats I’ve had with fans, it seems like people like this album as much as we do. Couldn’t be happier!


Which studio did you use to record ‘Teloitus’? Are you completely satisfied with the final result or there are things that could have been done better?
We recorded the album in two studios in Vaasa, Finland. Drums and bass were recorded at Nordic Audio Labs and guitars, vocals and mixing were handled at Biotech Audio Solutions. We worked with Samo Koivisto at both of these studios. I think there are always things you could do a little better but with this album it really doesn’t matter as those are just tiny, tiny things. We did the best we could within the little time we had, we worked long days and we actually completed the album a week or so ahead of schedule haha. We are extremely proud of the way it turned out!

How do you see ‘Teloitus’ compared with your debut album ‘Death Metal Finland’? Where is the difference between these two records?
The difference is actually quite big. Our debut was a collection of songs written over the years, some recorded before as well and there were some line-up changes before the studio. With ‘Teloitus’ we had the same line-up for 3 years, we had a lot of shows promoting the debut album and so on so it’s safe to say that we are a much tighter band nowadays. All songs on ‘Teloitus’ were written specifically for this album and none of them had been released before.
As far as songs go we have matured a lot as players and song-writers. The songs themselves are a bit longer and more suitable for live setting and the album really sounds as an album, not just a collection of songs like we feel ‘Death Metal Finland’ was, to some extent. These are all changes that happened naturally within time – we didn’t plan anything really. These are the songs that came out this time – we’ll see what happens next time.

An interesting fact is that all your lyrics are in your native Finnish language. Why did you choose to write only in Finnish and what are your lyrics about? And what does Sotajumala mean?
-Sotajumala translates to Wargod. The decision to sing in Finnish was made at the same time the band was put together. It’s not a definite decision, it’s just something we’ve so far felt too comfortable with to change, you know? A year or so before we started writing ‘Teloitus’ we actually talked about possibly having a song or two in English, but in the end we just felt it wouldn’t have been fitting and sticked with the idea of having all songs in Finnish.
The lyrics used to be mainly about war but these days we do cover other objects as well even though they mainly deal with death, war, dying – all horrible things, thus extremely suitable for Death Metal. On ‘Teloitus’ all lyrics have been translated in the booklet.

What inspires you to write your music and lyrics? Where do you gain your inspiration from – real life situations or something else?
We love playing this kind of music. As simple as that. As long as we love doing this we’ll continue, that’s for sure. I don’t really know if there is something specific that inspires us to write music, it just comes from the heart, you know. We want to outdo ourselves. We want to get better at what we do and at the same time, we really don’t make changes to our music, they happen naturally. We just write what we feel like writing. As for lyrics I can’t say much seeing I don’t participate in that, but you just come up with a suitable setting or a storyline for lyrics and start working on it. It might come from a real life incident, it might be the product of imagination or something in between.

At your MySpace profile there is a video of Sotajumala’s performance at this year’s Tuska Festival. Tell us something more about your participation at the biggest Metal festival in Finland?
It was the best show we’ve ever played and we are still stoked about it! We had waited for our chance to play Tuska for quite a while and with ‘Teloitus’ we felt we had earned our slot and seems like the organizers felt the same way, haha. We played on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 and after soundcheck there were a handful of people there. When we go on stage an hour later, it was packed! The audience was the biggest one we’ve ever had, they were extremely loud and they loved being there as much as we did! Insane moshing, circle pits and even a wall of death! I tell you, it was an insane feeling seeing and hearing that many people going nuts in front of you! The festival itself is extremely well organized and we met a lot of friends during those three days – and saw a bunch of amazing bands – so all in all it was an amazing festival for us.


Have you played somewhere outside Finland? Which is the best and respectively which is the worst Sotajumala live experience ?
We’ve played Sweden and Estonia on top a lot of shows in Finland. There have been many, many great shows over the years but luckily not so many bad ones. Sure there have been situations where you’re just thinking “What the fuck is going on here honestly?” and usually it’s due to something the organizer has done (or hasn’t more likely) but in the end you are there for the show, you have the passion to play the music, you’re there to play and even though some things might be totally fucked up, you tend to forget about them. Some of the best experiences for sure have been the Tuska show this year, playing two shows with Nile in Finland last November, our one-off show in Estonia in 2005, playing Nummirock festival in 2004 with Rotten Sound and Morbid Angel and so on. Also some smaller, local shows have been just killer because of the crowd. We’re also playing with Obituary in a few weeks and that is a huge, huge thing especially for our bass player Tomy.

Who are the bands that have inspired you to start playing Death Metal? Can you remember which was the first extreme Metal record that you bought and the first Metal gig that you visited?
The first influences for this band were Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Nile, Obituary and Hate Eternal. There’s just something about Death Metal that caught our interest and there was no turning back. I really can’t explain it, I guess it’s the sheer aggression. The first Death Metal/extreme Metal that I bought were probably from Napalm Death, Entombed, Cryptopsy, Nile, Hate Eternal and Nasum. The biggest early influences for me to actually start playing Death Metal were without a doubt the following three albums: ‘Whisper Supremacy’, ‘Black seeds of Vengeance’ and ‘Conquering the Throne’. Later on came ‘Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas’ which kicked me in the face harder than anything had ever before and it completely changed the way I thought Death Metal could be played. That album changed a lot of things for me and it’s still one of my favorite Death Metal albums ever.

How do you see the Death Metal scene in Finland? Are there enough brutal and dedicated bands from the Underground? Will you recommend us any new and promising Finnish Death Metal acts?
It’s getting better all the time and I’m happy to see that! There have always been bands doing this type of music but the fact that more and more bands are putting out releases and doing more and more shows is what makes me happy. Shameless self-promotion as I played drums on this one but Kataplexia’s third album ‘Supreme Authority’ was released in early June. If you are into brutal Death Metal do check out this one! Other bands worth mentioning are Torture Killer, Ydin, Scent of Flesh, Inimicality, Lithuria, Goresoaked, The Zombi and Estrangulados for example.

What are you doing in your time outside the band? Do you work something to pay your bills or you are doing only things connected with music?
Just playing music as living would be nice but that’s not happening in a country as small with music like this,haha. Most of us do have other bands and then it’s the usual work and family life that takes your time.

Your final words to the readers of VM?
Believe it or not, but Finland really has some amazing Death Metal bands and the sooner you check us out, the sooner we will kick your ass, haha! Take it easy and hail the blastbeat!

Sotajumala

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Alghazanth – “The reasons for continuing to channel energy through Alghazanth are still the same as when we started”

One of the old 90’s bands still going strong, Alghazanth have been writing down pages of blasphemy since 1995. Line-up changes and other malicious projects have not plodded their death march, as they have just released ‘Wreath of Thevetat,’ a symphonic Black Metal monument. With all incantations completed, let’s follow along the Left Hand path and see what vocalist/bassist Goat Tormentor has summoned up this time…

How are things going in the Alghazanth camp after releasing ‘Wreath of Thevetat’? How do you feel about it?
Things are going rather smoothly at the moment. We’ve done a couple of gigs in order to promote the new album and we have also started to work on new material as well. So, we’re definitely not just letting things slide. We are still very pleased with ‘Wreath of Thevetat’, even after 5 months after its release which is kind of unusual for us. Everything just clicked the right way this time around and the result is something we can be proud of. If we are to trust the reviews that have surfaced thus far, it seems that the album has stricken root in the hearts of many others as well. That’s always great to hear/see even though it doesn’t really affect our own thoughts about the album one way or the other.

What has everyone been up to during the four year time period between the new album and ‘The Polarity Axiom’?
A lot happened during this gap between the two albums. There were some major line-up changes as half of the musicians on ‘The Polarity Axiom’ ended up going separate ways with the band. This obviously meant loads of work for us because we had to find fresh blood to replace that which had departed and to get things re-organized. It wasn’t easy but it certainly was worth the pain because now we ended up having easily the strongest line-up in Alghazanth’s history. In addition to these adjustments to the legion itself, we we’re also without a rehearsal place for a whole year during this four year period. Needless to say that slowed us down a bit. Even though we faced all these obstacles, we we’re never inactive. We just we’re a bit slower than usual but still keeping our eyes on the materialization of a follow-up to ‘The Polarity Axiom’.

How has the reaction been with the new album so far?
The reactions have varied quite a lot as some seem to praise it and some don’t like it because it’s too melodic, not old-school enough etc. In other words, it just isn’t up their alley, you know. Mainly the response has been very positive indeed. We’ve received some amazing reviews with 10/10 ratings but in my honest opinion the best feedback has come from people that couldn’t have cared less about our previous works but who now say that the new album has just blown them away. That tells us we’ve certainly managed to become reborn as a band after all these struggles in the past.

The music is better than ever before, in my opinion, and the album has very interesting cover art; care to explain its meaning and the meaning behind the title ‘Wreath of Thevetat’?
I don’t want to go too deep into explaining the title or the artwork because I want everyone to draw their own conclusions about all that. I can reveal some bits and pieces, though. According to esoteric legends Thevetat was one of the kings of Atlantis. He was born with the gnosis of the gods rather than being initiated into it. Under the leadership of this inborn adept the magickians of Atlantis took the path of Black Magick resulting in the eventual submergence of the whole island system. In this light, the title of the album hints at the legacy of this ‘pioneer’ which is at the disposal of everyone who desires to venture into the Darker Side of existence. This path is very dangerous and full of hardship but at the same time it is the path of the kings to come. This is the Left Hand Path and we tread it knowing that it may lead us to either godhood or to destruction. The cover art supports this idea very strongly but I will leave it up to you all to figure that out for yourselves.

I’ve heard that the name ‘Alghazanth’ came from a dream. What does the name mean?
That’s correct, I received the name in a dream around the time we we’re starting up the band. Alghazanth is the name of a death-bringer spirit that appeared to me in the shape of a talking white wolf telling me that I have one important task to complete before it would be my time to go with him to the realms beyond. I took this as a message from my Master and I’m still on the path of fulfilling this mission.

Does the band often use such supernatural sources like this for inspiration?
We draw our inspiration from wherever we can. Sometimes it can be a rather mundane thing like anger or the beauty of some landscape and other times it can be a dream loaded with occult meaning, a vision of the same sort or an experience that raises you above the normal dayside consciousness. Whatever gives us the right impulse at the right time, that’s where the inspiration comes from.

You started over a decade ago, so have the reasons to keep the band going changed any over the years?
The reasons for continuing to channel energy through Alghazanth are still the same as when we started. So no, the main agenda hasn’t changed one bit. We are still expressing our passion for Darkness through the medium of Black Metal in order to both feed ourselves with this black energy and to infect others as well with the disease that can turn a slave into a god.

You’ve had a lot of lineup changes. Care to share why and explain whether this or anything else ever made the band think about coming to an end?
You’re right, we have had a lot of changes with the line-up. Nonetheless, these have been necessary adjustments and not once has the thought of quitting crossed our minds when we’ve faced such challenges. We feel strongly that we still have more to give and more to do so as long as this feeling persists Alghazanth will keep on polluting the air of our terrestrial sphere. When the mission is complete, Alghazanth will ascend back to the subtler planes from whence it came.

With Goat Tormenter also from the doom styled Swallow the Sun, do you feel that he brings some of that into Alghazanth’s music?
I honestly think that the questions should be rephrased as ‘How much has Goat Tormentor’s Black Metal background influenced the doom styled music of Swallow the Sun?’ I mean, he has grown up listening to and playing Black Metal but became caught in the doom/death net as well a couple of years ago when they formed StS. So, to answer your question, there are zero StS influences on the new Alghazanth album. At least when it comes to Goat Tormentor bringing ideas from their rehearsal place into ours. Other not-so-conscious influences are possible since everything we listen to affects us on some level and we all do enjoy listening to Swallow the Sun amongst others.

How do musical influences differ throughout the band and do you feel that shows on the new album?
It’s kind of hard to start dissecting all of our musical influences because each and every band we listen to leaves a mark of some sort on our conscious and subconscious minds. But yeah, apart from the keyboard arrangements, the new album was composed entirely by our guitarists Grimort and Thasmorg so I guess it’s their preferences that shine through the most. Grimort is mainly into Norwegian and Slavonic Black Metal with a bit more folkish elements in it. Thasmorg, on the other hand, is more of a guy of the early 90’s bowing to Burzum and the like but he also happens to be an Iron Maiden fanatic and a friend of heavier guitar work in the vein of Bolt Thrower, Evocation and other mid-paced Death Metal groups. What comes to the keyboard arrangements composed by Ekholm, I can safely say he has heard a couple of Emperor albums some time during his life… I think these are the biggest influences that you may pick from our album. But then again, what do I know, hah.

Many have described your music as having too much of a mainstream sound, comparing you to Dimmu Borgir with the production and melodic/symphonic aspects, but you are obviously not a mainstream band. What do you have to say about that?
I personally can’t wrap my head around this comparison which seems to arise in almost every review and interview. Ok, I get it that we do have some similarities when it comes to the keyboard performance but I can’t see how this automatically draws an equation mark between us and Dimmu Borgir. I also realize that this association springs to mind quite easily with ‘Osiris-Typhon Unmasked’ and occasionally with ‘The Polarity Axiom’ as there are some passages in them in the same vein as those of these Norwegians. But with ‘Wreath of Thevetat’..? I simply don’t get it. I don’t mean to sound like I’m whining and bitching about this like a bitter old maid but it just makes me wonder whether people actually hear so strong DB-influences on the new album or is it a kind of ‘synths = Dimmu Borgir’ -mentality at play here.

What comes to the actual production side of our albums I have to point out that ‘increasingly good’ doesn’t mean ‘increasingly clear and clinical’. The production on ‘Wreath of Thevetat’ is quite far from being mainstream and over-polished. In my opinion, it is by far the best we have accomplished because it has edge to it, it is dynamic and it has both rawness and clarity. All in all, it supports the song material almost perfectly and this is the very point that makes the production ‘good’ in this case.

Do you think that the increasingly good production of your albums is changing your fan-base?
Yes, this has changed our fan-base (if you allow such an expression) to some extent. I mean, people who are more into primitive and underground Black Metal have disliked our previous works due to their clearer production but now with the new album this has totally changed. I am compelled to agree with them in the sense that the sounds and all that have ruined a lot on the older albums when it comes to the feeling and atmosphere of the songs. This time we managed to capture also the raw and aggressive side of the songs, thus making the outcome ‘more Black Metal’ than before, so to say.

Speaking of which, what do you think about the more ‘mainstream’ Black Metal bands versus the underground ones?
Even though I do listen to some more mainstream-oriented stuff (such as Keep of Kalessin and the like), there’s no question which end of the spectrum I prefer more. It is a simple fact that when production is topnotch a lot of the original atmosphere vital to the essence of Black Metal gets lost in the process. Triggered drums, polished guitars and too clean sounds just don’t do it for me. I may enjoy such a record as a good metal album flirting with Black Metal but when I want to sink deep into the blackness of satanic and otherworldly emotions, it’s ‘underground’ Black Metal that I turn to. As strange as it may sound to some, no ‘mainstream’ band can resonate with the very core of my beliefs and the darker passions deep within.

How would you describe your music? Would you say that your sound is closer to other Finnish Black Metal bands or to bands from other countries?
I’d say that musically as well as soundwise Alghazanth is closer to the Norwegian and Swedish scenes of the mid and late 90’s than to the current Finnish one. There are lots and lots of bands here that lean heavily to the direction of more primitive and minimalistic approach and in this light Alghazanth stands pretty much alone on the island of majestic Black Metal.

I see that you have played some shows to promote ‘Wreath of Thevetat’ so how do you feel about live shows?
Performing live is simply intoxicating when everything goes well and the crowd is enthusiastic. But, as one might expect, it is close to being agonizing when for example you are performing to a nearly empty venue or the sounds are so fucked up that you can’t hear shit of what you or the other guys are playing etc etc. All this put aside, I think that live shows are really important when it comes to spreading and maintaining the essence of Black Metal and the ideology that underlies it. A good Black Metal gig can be a truly spiritual experience for both the performer and for the person that receives all this. I have been privileged enough to experience both of these roles and they indeed can be devastating in the most positive sense of the word.

Does the audience seem to know the new material?
I’m not sure how well people know the new material but at least some seem to have learned it pretty damn thoroughly because I’ve seen a couple of people in the front row shouting all the lyrics to our new songs. It’s a strange feeling to notice something like that in the middle of the set.

Thank you for the interview. Anything else you wanted to say?
Thank you a lot for your interest in our horde, it’s been a pleasure answering to these questions of yours. Ecrin Saitan!

Alghazanth

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Master – “Although Mr. Burns did mix and master many successful CDs, he didn’t give any justice to the records of Master”.

A couple of weeks ago the first 2 official Master releases were re-released by Displeased Records. Some say Master is one of the bands who created the foundation for Death Metal and don’t get the praise the band deserves. Paul Speckmann was kind enough to take a trip through memory lane…First the period pre-Master…

Warcry was the real motivator for me. This was the band that brought me to the local stages in Illinois and really proved too me that success was on the horizon and for the taking. We played many local shows supporting many of the famous acts that arrived in or near our town. I suppose the biggest gig was with Twisted Sister and opener Queensrÿche. I remember laughing at Geoff Tate and the big round bald spot on the top of his head. But little did I know the guy would get transplant and have major success. What a joke this band was at the time with ‘The Queen of the Reich’, which was a Deep Purple rip off with the same effects in the beginning of the track. These guys were arrogant dicks even in the beginning. Twisted Sister blew those posers off the stage on that day.

I quit Warcry after this show and began jamming with Bill Schmidt who was in Warcry for one or two shows a year or so before. He had a shit attitude, and I suppose that’s why even today he has done nothing since I left his sorry ass in Chicago. Schmidt and I began rehearsing in a storage shed near my house called The Lockup, sound familiar? Anyway we practiced for about a year and never successfully found a guitarist that could play the tunes with the enthusiasm as well as the technique we were looking for. The band Master split up before it really began, and after my father died, and left me a house to rehearse in while on the market for sale, I wrote a song called ‘The Truth’. I called an ad in the Illinois Entertainer I had read, and Chris Mittelbrun showed up at my door. We auditioned this guy the year before. He left the twin guitar attack ala Judas Priest and came into his own. I wrote ‘Pay To Die’, and he wrote the classic ‘Re-entry’ and ‘Destruction’. Together we wrote ‘Mangled Dehumanization’ and the rest is history or so they say. We recruited John Leprich, an alcoholic that could hardly play, and my then girlfriend’s younger 16 year old brother Kirk Miller, and we began serious practice. We recorded the ‘Fuckin Death’ demo. Leprich had trouble with the last track ‘Pay To Die’ and I called Schmidt. Leprich would finish the track in the end, but this started new communication with Schmidt. This would be the biggest mistake in my life as we took him into the fold in July on Independence day 1985. After Schmidt returned again this would be the beginning of the end of the newly reformed Master. We proceeded to record nine songs including a cover of Sabbath’s ‘Children of the Grave’, but we subsequently split up for good after the recording. Mittlebrun was only interested in chicks, and Schmidt was only interested in drugs and his depression. Today both are still in Chicago, and I tour and travel every year with Master and with other bands as their tour manager, or merchandiser or even as a roadie as was with the case of Dissection some years back.

Who are some of the bands who have influenced you back in those days?
The list is very long. In the early days we were influenced by the Punk scene, including in no particular order, GBH, Discharge, The Exploited, MDC, Minor Threat and Battalion of Saints. I used to go and check out all the Punk shows that arrived in our town in Chicago. Of course Sabbath, early Judas Priest and Motorhead were major influences for the band. After meeting Steve Harris from Maiden a few times in the city, he would also become a major influence. But, I personally only enjoy the first three Maiden records. After this they sold out with that pop icon Bruce. I mean the ‘Number of the Beast’ was cool too, but after that they lost their direction.

How did you develop the sound of Master after recording the first album?
Actually the record was recorded shortly after the Deathstrike in the fall of 1985. We received a contract from Combat Records shortly after this, but blew the deal due to the original Schmidt’s outlandish demands and idiotic mistakes. the sound was developed naturally as we were looking to create the heaviest sound we could at the time. I played with four E strings on my bass at the time to get the maximum depth. Of course the tuning was CCFC, so this was a brutal tuning to say the least. Master was one of the first bands to tune to C. I realize that people later tuned to B as well, but we were the first and that’s a reality. Mittlebrun use two Marshall heads and one Orange bottom and one Marshall bottom. He also use two Boss distortion pedals. Schmidt had this old fashioned North drum set, with these strange tubular drums and Evans heads. This is about all I can say about it, really. Unfortunately we blew the first deal which incidentally Death signed and the rest is underground history. I read an interview with Chuck from Death some years ago, and he said he’d never heard of Master, but just recently I was on tour with Massacre and Denial Fiend in Europe, and I met bassist Terry Butler (Six Feet Under, Death, Massacre, Denial Fiend) again after not seeing him for the last 20 years when we played with Death in Chicago, and he told me that on the first Death Tour, they played the Deathstrike/Master song I wrote called ‘The Truth’, so, so much for the truth Chuckie, rest in peace brother.

This Death Metal sound was developed by trial and error. We just tried to be the most aggressive we could be at the time in 1984 and b5. We set out to be the heaviest band around and if you listen to the demos released by Displeased, this can clearly be heard. Many people copied our style, and due to the many mistakes we made early on in our careers, Master was lost in the shuffle as they say. But it’s never too late to discover a legend, so I suggest people check out the past few releases as well as the re-issues. I am sure they won’t be disappointed.

Napalm Death covered one of your songs. Did you hear it and what is your opinion on it?
Of course, a few years back Barney Greenway from Napalm contacted me and asked who the royalties were to be paid too. Of course I responded immediately and Century Media began sending royalty checks. Barney had said many times in the past that his biggest influences were Kam Lee and Paul Speckmann. After ‘On The Seventh Day’ was released in 1991, Barney as well as Max from Sepultura reviewed the song ‘Heathen’ for the German Rockhard Magazine and both of these fellows gave high marks for the song. Mitch Harris and I have been friends since his days in Righteous Pigs, followed by his joining of Napalm Death. We still see each other from time to time, as we are both always touring. It was quite funny as I sent the re-issue of the original 1985 recordings to Mitch Harris after the Displeased release in 2003, and he called me from the stage in a neighbourhood near me during my dinner and asked why I hadn’t come the mere 20 kilometres to the show. I explained that I was tired, and he laughed and said that Napalm was covering the song ‘Master’ and he received a package from me a few weeks before this, and it was just in time, because he couldn’t find the lyrics to the song. It’s really a small world in Metal.

Something else…the Czech Death Metal band Krabathor…
I met the boys from Krabathor while on tour in 1999 with Malevolent Creation, Master and Krabathor. The drummer Skull and I began doing sound checks together early in the afternoon, when time allowed. I actually became fast friends with the entire band. Anyway, we discussed jamming together at a later time. Guitarist Christopher and I discussed a possible project. The original Krabathor lineup was reaching its climax and Christopher was going to quit music, until I started calling him. I spoke with System Shock my label at the time, and discussed this project with the label and they were exited. They flew me to the Czech Republic, and we began recording a project called Martyr, ‘Murder x, the end of the game’. During the recording it was made clear that the current bassist was leaving Krabathor, and they asked if I would like to join the group. Of course I accepted and this was a clear way for me to fulfil my dream of living and staying in Europe. It was just the right time to leave America, as Bush came into power. I packed up my stuff, and sold what I had and proceeded to my new life. Krabathor and I recorded two CDS and toured extensively through Europe, Japan and Mexico, as well as playing a few selective dates in the USA. After the band split up, I continued with Master as always. Even during my stay with Krabathor, we recorded two Master CDS using the Krabathor members. So I never really lost focus on Master, I was just quite busy for a time with Krabathor. In 2002, we took both bands on tour together throughout Europe. Krabathor will reform possibly in 2009 or 10 for a new CD as well as a tour.

A compilation of your best tracks from various stages in your career, called ‘Masterpieces’ is available from Twilight Vertrieb. Could you say something about it?
I put this project together to give the younger fans a chance to hear some of the classics as well as figure out where the genre was started. The CD features tracks from 1985 until 2004. I picked some of my favourites and this was really a test to see how the new label Twilight would do for me. They passed with flying colours and we still work together since the release of ‘Masterpieces’ in 2005. Things are still going strong. Ibex Moon in the USA will re-release the latest masterpiece called ‘Slaves To Society’ in the USA over the next few months. this CD contains some of the best tracks that I have written over the years, so it’s must for any Speckmann fan.

Talking about your latest release ‘Slaves to Society’…
Well, it’s the fastest and most brutal CD that Master has released in years. The critics ate this record up this time around, even though I don’t really care about them. Many times they will write that a record is shit, when it’s killer, and more than most times they will write a great review about a shit record. Master has and always will stick to its guns and write the heaviest music we can. I write my music for myself first, not for the fans or critics. Many of today’s successful bands have sold out. I realize money is a great motivation, but if it was about the money for Master, I certainly would have given up long ago. People who want to hear the true originator of this particular style, should definitely check out ‘Slaves To Society’.

The first two master albums have been released on Displeased records, that came with a DVD (with live appearances from 1990 and 1992) and cd. Are you glad to see the remastered-releases of these classics?
Of course, the CDS and DVDS wouldn’t have been released without my permission. Yes, the original debut CD has been released in its original, intended form. The last version was re-mixed and re-mastered with Scott Burns at the helm. Although Mr. Burns did mix and master many successful CDS, he didn’t give any justice to the records of Master. I remember calling this fool, and telling him that he’d forgotten several guitar solos on the record. He merely said it was too late and he could do nothing about it. What kind of answer is that from a so-called seasoned professional? This re-issue features the original mixes that were mixed by drummer Bill Schmidt, and I at Solid Sound Studios in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. This is the way the CD should have sounded when it was officially released. Executive Producer Markus Staiger was looking for the flavour of the day at Morrissound, and he certainly got what he paid for. Both re-releases contain DVDS from the early nineties on the first European Tours of Master. These shows are very interesting, and at times humorous for me, but they are really underground productions that are aggressive and really true to form.

Thanks for the interview and health and success too you brother.
Paul Speckmann

 

Master

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Total Hate – “We want to bring back the spirit of the early nineties where Black Metal was about darkness, hate, misanthropy, war and Satan.”

Total Hate is a German Black Metal outfit that was founded in 2002 by band leader Adrastos as a side project. Throughout the years the band released several demos and EPs, and before a full-length was released, the band even managed to get on a European tour with acts like Elite from Norway and Blodsrit, where I first learned about the band and their music.

Earlier this year their debut, ‘Depopulating Planet Earth’, was released on Agonia Records. Okay, it may not be the most original metal (but which band is today), but it convinced me in every way, both regarding the band and the fact that there are still strong acts that translate the legendary Norwegian legends from the mid-nineties to 2008 within their music. Total Hate is a pure, raw Black Metal band and so we mailed band founder and guitarist/vocalist Adrastos to tell us more about the band and the album…

It has taken the band six years since the start to come up with a debut album; was that a deliberate move from the band to get all the things right, or is it a sign of how hard it is to get a decent record deal in today’s Black Metal scene and the world of downloading?
There were offers for a full-length a short time after we started Total Hate, but at that time I thought that it was too early to make an album. I don’t see any reason why a band should start with an album. I prefer the classical way to make a band known: releasing demos, EPs and, when the time is right, a full-length. I think it’s not very easy to find a good record label and so far we are really glad that Agonia Records has released our album and our mini CD.

In the review I state that when it comes down to chaotic Black Metal, Total Hate is on the right side of the balance; what is your view on that opinion made in the review?
Hmm, I don’t know if chaotic is the right word. I think it differs if you’re a listener or if you wrote the songs. I would say it’s just raw and hateful Black Metal.

What are, to you so far, the most surprising reactions to ‘Depopulating Planet Earth’?
I was not really surprised about any reactions so far. It seems that a lot of mostly underground people like the album and I read a lot of positive reviews.

When playing raw Black Metal there is always the discussion of originality versus conviction in performing the songs. How does your band cope with that eternal dilemma?
I read in a lot of reviews that we are not very original, but I really don’t care. We don’t want to be original and we don’t want to create something new. We want to bring back the spirit of the early nineties where Black Metal was about darkness, hate, misanthropy, war and Satan.

In the review I draw comparisons with old, ‘true’ Norwegian Black Metal, especially Urgehal. Coincidence has it that you are both on Agonia Records. Do you believe that the fact that Urgehal has been on Agonia since 2003 has made it easier for Agonia to sign Total Hate, the label that has released your material since 2005?
Well, I signed a deal with Agonia Records for the last ‘Seeds of Hate’ album when Urgehal were still on Flesh For Beast Records, so I don’t think that it was essential for us that Urgehal are also on Agonia Records. Indeed we have nearly the same influences as Urgehal and they are really a great Black Metal band and, of course, a source of inspiration along with some other Norwegian and Swedish Black Metal bands from the nineties.

The album has been out for a while now; what is the most satisfying aspect of the album for you and, if you had the chance, what would you like to adjust at this moment?
I’m satisfied with the raw, aggressive and hateful atmosphere of the album. That’s exactly how I wanted the album. Of course there are some things which I would adjust now, but I don’t believe in a perfect album. There will always be things which I’d like to adjust weeks or months later. Concerning ‘Depopulating Planet Earth’, maybe I would turn up the volume of the guitars a little bit more, but it depends on where I listen to the album.

Of course there is always the automatic accusation of especially German Black Metal bands and political incorrectness, which is often, like with Total Hate, an idiot accusation. Let’s put the joke back on such people: can these often leftist people, who know shit about the scene, be regarded as a kind of inquisition of this age, judging on the basis of an ignorant and non fact-based judgement?
Yes, it’s really like a kind of new inquisition here in Germany. Stupid children sitting behind their PCs and posting shit and spreading rumours about Black Metal and Black Metal bands. Of course there are enough bands who started mixing Black Metal with politics, but there are still enough bands who don’t give a shit about politics and so do we. Black Metal is a weapon of Satan. It’s about darkness, hate and the destruction of mankind and not about fucking politics.

Is that perhaps also a reason why so many Black Metal artists have a nickname, so that their personal life is not unjustly influenced by ignorant opinion-makers, instead of sheer traditional reasons for using stage names?
No, that’s not a reason why Black Metal artists have pseudonyms. Bands like Venom used pseudonyms and at that time there were really no political witch hunts. It’s a tradition and, concerning me, I would say that my pseudonym is the name of the inner demon who breaks out on stage or when I write new songs.

Since the demo from 2002 only the band’s title song has made it to the album; why haven’t more songs from the demo survived? Is it a matter of growth or a desire only to come up with recent material?
Yes, the new material is much better than the old stuff and it makes no sense to record old songs again and again. So far I re-recorded three tracks and the reason is very simple.

The first time I heard about Total Hate was on the road with Elite and Blodsrit two years ago. What were the major lessons or influences you took from that tour?
We had a great time with Elite, Blodsrit and Insignium and we still support each other, but it was also hard for me because we played every night and I was also the driver, and that was very brutal. We also made some miscalculations and so I lost a lot of money because the whole tour was more expensive than I expected. The best shows were in Poland, Holland and, in Germany, I would say Weimar. It was an interesting experience and I would do it again at any time, but without being the driver.

In six years of metal I see only very few live performances: one small tour with Blodsrit and Elite in 2006, yet for the rest only some individual shows. Can you tell us why Total Hate does so few live shows?
There are different reasons. Maybe we would play a bit more shows, but our drummer lives about 400 km away from us and so it’s not very easy to rehearse. We play just shows which are worth doing. It’s too much effort to play in front of just 20 to 30 people and besides this, I don’t want to make people bored seeing Total Hate everywhere again and again like other bands. A Total Hate show is a special event. At the moment I think it’s more important to record new albums. Maybe we get a chance to play a small tour again, but we will see.

When a band does so few live shows, isn’t it tempting to operate as a one-man project, where you can decide on everything by yourself? Such projects are not uncommon in the Black Metal scene.
In the past years it seemed that Total Hate was a one-man project, yes, but it also depended on how far the other members were interested in writing new songs too. In the meantime Erebos started writing a song for our second album and I think this won’t be his last one. The normal procedure of how a new song comes into being is writing, recording an advance track with a drum computer and possibly discussing improvements.

One last question, a hypothetical one. If you got the chance to play on five metal albums (not just Black Metal), which ones would those be and why?

– Wasp – Wasp
– Darkthrone – Under a Funeral Moon
– Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness
– Emperor – In the Nightside Eclipse
– Megadeth – Rust in Peace

But to be honest, I’m glad that I don’t play on those albums, because it’s a big difference if you are listening to an album just as a normal fan or as the musician who is part of that album. All the named albums inspired and helped me very much in my past life, so that’s the reason why I chose them, but I could also name a lot more.

What can we expect from Total Hate until the end of 2008?
I hope that the split EP with Norwegian Stillhet will be released in some months and besides this we are currently working on new songs for our second album. We need just one more song and maybe album two will be released even this year. Our drummer leaves Germany for a while and as it seems we are not able to play live shows in 2008 or maybe even in 2009.

Anything I have not asked yet that you want to be written down in this interview?
I have nothing more to say, thanks for the interview and support.

Total Hate

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