VM-Underground

VM-Underground

Underground Extreme Metal Fanzine

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.

Latest Updates

+

Interviews

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Rotting Christ – “Yet I don’t believe that metal is fit for mainstream, it should be underground!”

One of the few bands I know from Greece is Rotting Christ, a band that has been active since the end of the eighties (first album, ‘Passage to Arcturo’ in 1991). After the underground classics ‘Thy Mighty Contract’and ‘Non Serviam’  the band went into new musical directions, something which the fans from the very beginning did not always like as much. Even their logo was changed in 1997 at the release of ‘A Dead Poem’…

Well, this year Rotting Christ came back with an album that was louder than ever before, and the old, evil logo. Reason enough for VM to interview this band, and during the interview it proved that both Sakis and I are from the same metal generation, with more things that we have in common, such as our love for Exodus’ album ‘Bonded by Blood’. We even have a scoop about the next coming Rotting Christ album! Sakis speaks, enjoy!

Hi Sakis!
Hi, this is Sakis calling from Greece, I saw your website you know; it was really good…
And did you also read our review on your album?
Yes, thanks
Well, if you had not liked it, you would probably not have called me. Well, to kick of the questions to the band… According to the bio from the record company it is brought like Rotting Christ has returned to their roots; do you agree on that one?
Well, ehm, not in the way that we have completely gone back to our old style of music. I mean; a decade has passed since then… So in a way, yes. We have always tried to live to our roots, we’ll never forget our roots. Yet I believe it is more like that than just musically referring back to ‘Thy Mighty Contract’ or so, we do try not to copy ourselves. So in that way we are fresh.
The reason I ask you this because labels sometimes come up with those kind of things. Of course it is their job to come up with a good looking story, yet…
Well of course, labels can write whatever they want, so…
I thought it was more about going back to an earlier used studio, the old logo rehabilitated and the song titles, yet when I listen to the vocals for instance, I can hear a huge difference, a real evolution so to say… It is miles away from the level at that ‘Thy Mighty Contract’…
Oh absolutely, you grow up, you know… We learned a lot more about how to use the instruments, how to compose, to record. So yes, I believe that we are miles away from the situation of ‘Thy Mighty Contract’. You are absolutely right about that. It is all about ability you know.
Well, I learned about Rotting Christ only later, so I do not have that early fan feeling (some kind of nostalgia), and I really feel that ‘Genesis’ is the best I’ve heard so far from Rotting Christ, by far.
That’s okay, haha

So, personally, I believe that you have released an excellent album with ‘Genesis’, which is one of the finest in the kind of extreme metal releases that has been released lately (with Susperia). The best acts from this new extreme metal, like you and Susperia, and within soon Forlorn, all have Black Metal roots; what is that ‘thing’ you believe that is taken from Black Metal which gives these band the edge over others?
Ehmmm… Well, we were born, or baptized, as a Black Metal band. We came up late eighties, early nineties in the so called second wave of Black Metal. I believe we have always captured and held some of that dark atmosphere. I mean, we do not sound like all those Norwegian bands. We come from the South of Europe, where the mentality is different than in Northern Europe.
We didn’t want to create something like the Scandinavian bands. Don’t get me wrong, I love their music. You have to create something different, something that comes from deep inside yourself. We have a dark atmosphere from ourself, which we tried to maintain within our music….

Is that perhaps a sort of typical Greek style/atmosphere? I mean, when you look at Deviser (album ‘Running Sore’) for instance… Apart from the cover of both albums, I feel that there are also similarities in sound…
Sakis says already ‘yep’ when I am referring to the similarity in the album covers…
Well, I listened to the latest Deviser and there is a bit of a Greek style in it, yet… Also with bands from for instance Italy and Spain you will find this southern European feeling, different than the ‘Northern’ Black Metal atmosphere. I think that is good; play something different…

In an interview with Metal Eagle you state about the experiments on the last album that “You felt that the band has experimented enough all those years, that it can’t go any further and become mainstream.”. Now that is an interesting statement!
First of all, what do you mean by mainstream. Which mainstream and what is it about mainstream that you don’t like?
Hmmm.. Well, sometimes as a band you come at a stage where this mainstream looks interesting… And I don’t want to hide the fact that even Rotting Christ has tried to do so as well. We wanted the band to be more known, wider accepted and so on. Yet after one or two years you find out, or at least we did, that sometimes that does not work. It is fake, yet as a band you have the right to experiment. Well, at least we know that now, we have learned. Yet I don’t believe that metal is fit for mainstream, it should be underground!
Rotting Christ is too much a band, we are not that suited for the modern day music business…
In other words; fuck the charts, we are metal?
Yes, in a way. I mean, take for instance NU-metal; that is no metal in my opinion (Neithan: Completely agree on that one ). It has nothing to do with metal. That is mainstream….

The album is now out since a bit more than a month; any reactions from people/fans that you didn’t expect and which ones (reactions)?
How do you mean?
Say reactions from the so-called cult fans; you know, the people that will stick to the old albums (until ‘Non Serviam’) and so on…
Well, yeah. From several ‘old’ fans, so to say, we get very positive reactions on ‘Genesis’, more than we had hoped before. That feels kinda good…We did not expect them to be that positive. Speaking about that subject; of course you will always get bad reviews, yet we did not expect such good reviews, worldwide, especially as well from these cult fans.
There are always people that write a bad review just because they want to, yet you can not prevent that from happening. I get a great deal of positive reactions, also from those cult fans.

Of course, not so much from people who are thirty years old or so. People really accept us. And that is nice, as we really put ourselves into this one. It is not a fake album; this is really us, Rotting Christ.

Yet for me personally that feels great. It has been a tough year working on it, putting everything in it. You know, writing the songs, the lyrics, working on it from 9 a.m . in the morning with my guitar and my PC composing and recording it all.  I really put myself into this album.’
Your soul so to speak
Yes, my soul, that is the word, exactly…

So what about those review; do you really do something with them or are you just going your own way?
Of course I am going my own way. First of all I  am done with those bad reviews, because many were just bad on purpose. I can do nothing with that. In the earlier day I could feel down sometimes, like ‘Oh no, why???’, yet after all these years you will grow into it…. I don’t mind the nature of a review anymore. Sometimes I even like to read a bad review. Not the ones that are written that way on purpose, yet those serious bad reviews make me think about doing things better and better. Yet they don’t get me down in any way like in the past…

Well, I now know that you have read the VM review; what is your comment?
Well, I like your review, especially in the way that I can see that you have listened to the album very carefully, not like others reviewers that often listen to an album only once or twice and then just write a review. I mean, how can people really say whether they like or hate an album when they have hardly listened it? Take for instance the fact that they could be in a bad mood at the time of listening the album; that will have it’s consequences on the review. Your review is fair, and it shows that for you the entire album does not have to sound the same, so I have to send you my greetings for the support for our new album…
Okay, thank you very much, yet, don’t thank me; that is my job/task, you made the album!

Then we speak some more about the album, and I confess that especially the second and ninth song  (‘Lex Talionis’ and ‘Ad Noctis’ are favourites, as these songs are so damn evil…
Going on about the album… After ‘Khronos’ (the father of the Greek ancient gods) you have again chosen for a Greek title, Genesis, which stands for a new beginning, a birth. What is the Greek word for Rebirth and why have you not chosen that one? I mean, is the Phoenix a Greece story originally, for instance? When again looking at the article in Metal Eagle, that would have been perhaps a more appropriate title, also regarding your visions about a needed rebirth of the Greek metal scene… Is that word too difficult?
That is a very good one! We have already used Latin and German lyrics, yet most of all we wanted to use this title as it is the birth; the birth of a new era. That also has to do with the lyrics we do on this album, which are more worked out this time. They have to do with moral values, updates to ‘our’ values, the so-called modern values. And so a birth of evil came up very much as the title for this new album.
We want to express your hidden desires, your hidden part of your soul.

Another thing; Greek titles; can we ever expect a sort of Pagan Greek album from Rotting Christ; by that I mean an album which is full of the ancient Greek stories, about the evil that the gods did… Could be a very interesting subject…
No, not so much. Maybe we might be fed up with it, coming out of Greece ourselves. Yet we want to belong to the international (Black) Metal community, not so much emphasize that we are from Greece. For me we are people of this world, not from Greece, France or whatever. We want to write about things that touch the soul, whether you’d be from the north pole or the south pole…
Well, the reason I ask that as from Scandinavia, many dark metal bands do involve their folkloristic influences…take for instance the Viking metal bands. And right now I am also working on a Basque band called Numen. People might think Metal fans are stupid, yet I like it when bands put something from their own culture into the music.
Well, I don’t think so about ancient Greece you know. First of all, the ancients weren’t that proud on all their wars. And what about the roots of democracy/democratia. I believe if I was to write about that, it would be kind of boring to me. To me metal is one whole; it should not be separated into –typical- things like Scandinavian bands, Greek bands, South European… and so on. That would not work for us.
So I guess the answer is “No”…

You’ve recorded it all in May and June of this year under the direction of Andy Classen. What is it about Andy that makes him so special as a metal producer in general and as producer of Genesis especially?
Well, first of all I like the way he works with ProTools. In my opinion working with ProTools is the best way to have a really nice production. Also Andy is a very cool guy. He lives somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Germany. So there is enough time to record your album and not to hang around, okay? His work and his studio and the area are really better for the band, so that makes the band very concentrated on what you are doing.

The recordings were done in June, why was the album released only at the end of august; artistic reasons or commercial?
That was a choice of the label, to release it end of August or the beginning of September… Not so much because of the festivals, it is just a better time to buy and therefore release then in mid summer.

What is/are your favorite tracks?
I really can’t say, as I have no real favourites. It all depends on my personal mood of that moment… There is no One favourite. If I am in a kind of cool/cold mood, I prefer something like ‘Lex Talionis’, and in another mood it would be ‘Under The Name of Legion’. And if I want to hear something satanic, I like to hear ‘In Domine Sathana’ for example. And I composed all of the music, so for me it is really hard to point out a favorite.
You’ve said that with the lyrics you want to express the dark side that is hidden inside everyone; I think you have managed very well to get a dark atmosphere into the vocal parts on the album; was that easy or did you go through great difficulties to get that atmosphere?
It was very difficult! I just told you that I spent more than a year on writing this one. And you have to take things in account when you start working on it every day from 9 in the morning. For example, when I am working at home I try not to be happy. The reason for that is that I am too fast satisfied with things when I’m happy, I could not come up with an album sounding like this one. It is all about instincts so to say.
Going on about those vocals, and especially the female vocals: do you regard them as vocals or as an instrument of atmosphere?
Well, those aren’t real female vocals, yet all samples I put into my computer. I programmed them myself.
That is an answer…

Apart from Rotting Christ Sakis is also busy on Thou Art Lord, together with Magus from Necromantia; can we consider Thou Art Lord as a true band, or is and will it always be a project?
No, that one is much more of a project. I don’t have enough time to work on more. Yet speaking about it. We have just finished the pre production, and in a few weeks time we’ll enter to studio to record a new album, which will be released very soon.
Is Gothmog from Mortify still in it?
No, not anymore… Ehm, Neithan, by the way, how old are you?
I am 35 years old…
I am thirty too, well, 31 now… So you are also an old metal fan?
Yes, I am an old headbanger, haha. I grew up on the ole British Heavy Metal. Somehow I stayed metal after I became thirty. I think it is too much in my blood…
Exactly…. I too believe that metal is a way of life. Not in the crazy stuff people think it is or should be. True metal people stay metal. You know, when some people start their career, or start having kids, things change in their attitude, also about metal.
Well, I intend to stay metal… Even when my girlfriend don’t likes metal..
Mine too!’
Well, I’ve learned her one, or better said, two things. One is that NU-metal is no metal, she hates it as well (haha), and the other one is that Ozzy is God! She even accepts that in my car there is some kind of photograph of Ozzy in a ‘remember me, drive carefully’ frame, in stead of a picture of herself, haha! Ozzy is my absolute idol.
Haha, me too… I would die without never seen Ozzy Osbourne. Beautiful about that Ozzy thing
Yet on the other hand; I don’t like people judging for others what is and what isn’t Metal; I will see it when I come across it…
Exactly…
Back on Thou Art Lord… When can we expect the release, the end of this year?
Yeah, that one will be very soon; I believe December, end of November

On the site I can see six gigs coming up; two in Poland (on which on October 7th the material for a DVD will be recorded) and 4 in Greece (between October 19th and November 3rd)… Why have you chosen for Krakow?
First of all, that number has grown. Six in Poland and six in Greece, and we are working on 10 shows in Greece. And then we will tour Europe as usually, and hopefully we will also play in Holland. I love to play in Tilburg, there is a great venue there.
We come to speak about that venue, and then I mention that end of this year I will certainly go to No Mercy, with my absolute favourites Exodus playing there, and other great bands too, and the subject goes to my alltime favorite album, ‘Bonded by Blood’…
They come here too. I have seen them once, at Dynamo for some five years ago, with Paul Baloff. I will see them here. ‘Bonded By Blood’ is maybe the best album ever!’
I love you!
Haha… Well, I was, when I first listened to it, fifteen years old or something, and I absolutely loved that album.
There have been faster bands, harder bands, yet no one as aggressive as that one; the hammer in the face.
Exactly!
And sometimes taking back the paste makes the aggressive and fast parts sound stronger, more impressive..
Exactly, certainly…
Yet about Rotting Christ again; do you plan a headliner tour?
If possible, yes! And we would also very much like to play in South America, as the people over there are really crazy about us. The tour in Europe will probably be somewhere around January 2003.
What may the people expect live, apart from that the band taking its best shot!
Of course we will give at our best! I guess people may expect something different live-style.

Back to the recording of the live DVD; why in Poland and not in Greece?
Because someone we know there has all the needed equipment. It takes a lot of money, all that technical equipment. So that guy from Poland came up with a proposal that was was very positive… And we’ll be going there in a couple of days…
After 9 albums without a best of or greatest hits live album it is about time for something special like a DVD; what can we expect? A greatest hits live album or some obscure tracks from the very dark past in remixes/new versions? In other words; can we expect something special to celebrate 15 years of Rotting Christ or so?
Well, we were formed in 1987, yet we only started with albums in 1991.  Yet I agree that we have to release some special, something like a DVD.
I just had an idea, you know, you (VM) are the first I am telling this, to do something special with the music. Like recording some of the old cult albums as a sort of orchestral tracks; Songs with a different orchestration so to speak, yet not in the way like Metallica did…  This might be the next project of the band.
So we can expect an album of remixes?
Yeah, but in a different way. It is something that just came to my mind.

In the article in Metal Eagle you say something about the attitude of many bands (towards criticism for example); is that the only reason why the Greek scene is not that big internationally seen? I mean, having an own opinion often brings an own identity and sound, which in the end should pay off?
No no no no….Important thing is that it is very hard and expensive to play all over the country. It is not like for instance Germany or so… Those transport costs are an obstacle because of the fact that Greece has many islands. So it means that often you have to buy plain tickets to get somewhere. The scene is not too big, and it is far away from the centre of the European scene… There are many good bands here, and the scene is getting better and better.
Another thing is the military compulsory service; all of a sudden, the band has to stop because someone has to join the army for two years. That will hold a band down.

Well, and of course you learn a lot abroad. I remember when we first got to Germany t record an album. We were feeling like we knew it all, like we were gods or something. And then we saw what techniques were being used and so on, the things there were to be learned… It made us feel quite humble again…
Like mortals again?
Yeah, like mortals again, haha.

Anything you regret in 15 years of Rotting Christ?
Some labels we signed to, yet I don’t want to call names. Some live shows that were not too good to/for us, yet you learn a lot form these things. It is exactly like you say, hardship is the best teacher.
Yet any tips from an experienced person like you to new, beginning bands? Apart from ‘Stay away from NU-metal’, haha!
Well, first of all, NU-metal is NO metal….It has nothing to do with metal, as I told you before. Metal will mean something when it comes from inside, not in the dressing of the band… I believe that that scene will go away in a couple of years, like grunge and glam… There is no creativeness in it. Yet label it extreme metal and there will be always 16 years olds that will listen to it. Although I believe that that is more the case in the USA. And I don’t like no strategies in our music, like it is with such bands that are made/pushed by their label…
Like Helstar once wrote an an album, ‘A Distant Thunder’ I believe, yet I am not sure about that album: all glam and no jam
Haha, exactly!
Dream Evil once said to me: take a lawyer!
Now, that lawyer is another one! It is a perfect thing. I see it myself, when Greek bands come to me and say “Sakis, what is it about my contract?”. So I agree with that one, the first thing to do is to take a lawyer! It has to be fair with what you are and what you are doing… Be careful when to enter the music business, as when you are not careful, in the end you always will loose… You have to be concentrated on your band, so a lawyer is a very good idea to deal with those other, business things…
And another thing; don’t risk a job because you want to be a musician, make sure you’ll learn a job/trade or something…’

Anything you wish to add?
Something I always do: ‘Keep the dark half alive!’ And I hope that you have no troubles with my accent, haha
Well, I have it on tape, so that kind of helps.
What about photos?
Well, I plan to steal ‘m from your site.. Speaking about the pictures… The things with chains, the light and so on, it reminds me a lot of cult movie ‘Hellraiser’…
Yes, I think you can compare that one to our music. We are so to speak the audio equivalent of that movie!. I like the whole atmosphere in that movie too
It is done very stylish, not in a cheap way…
Thank you. No, we really tried our best
Well Sakis, thank you very much for your time and efforts!
It is always nice to know people that they are working up there to keep metal and underground alive, and that have metal in their blood. Like you at 35 years old, still very much into metal. If we happen to pass in Holland, hopefully that will be, I hope to share a beer with you, okay?
I will remember that!
Just be there, right

 

Rotting Christ

Information

We have 14 articles: 12 reviews and 2 interviews.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Corpus Christii – “There is no interest in reality, cos what is real, is what we despise the most”

Corpus Christii is one of the most unusual bands in today’s Black Metal. Hailing from Portugal, they spread the Black Metal message, keeping the banner high for those truly devoted to the dark side. Ofcourse, we at VM give them an opportunity to let Corpus Christii tell their tale. Also, we ofcourse talked about the new album ‘The Fire God’ and other releases that are coming up.

The songs on ‘The fire god’ sound slightly less chaotic then the ones on ‘Saeculum domini’, in my opinion. Do you think this is due to the production or did you try to write more accessible songs?
It was all a question of progression, we didn’t sit and think what we should do, it just happened that way. When I recorded ‘Saeculum Domini’ I was playing the guitar for only some months, so things could not be better, but I am damn pleased with that album, it has a very dark feeling into it. On the ‘The Fire God’ album we made things more complex and harder to deal with. Some people think our first effort was harder to hear but I think it’s the other way around. We thought a lot of what we would do for the second album and it came out that way. It was a very natural process, we do not care what people may think about it, it’s just the way we want it, we are damn pleased. We always do different works, we never do something twice, so that’s about it.

On the website of Hiberica, something is said about you being awarded the “most hated and worst Portuguese band of the year 2000”, so what’s the story behind this?
Yes, that is true, A big mag over here did some kind of votes regarding bands and “Metal people” voted us as the worst and most evil band in Portugal, the most hated, or something. I don’t really care, we do not stand in the standard Metal scene, we dont want anything to do with that. I couldn’t care less of what is happening in the ‘Metal world’. My fascination is towards Black Metal and its principles. Metal is just a form of music, nothing more. I am a big fan of old school bands like Iron Maiden and WASP etc. but that scene is long dead. I belong to the veterans, new scene only cares about gay shit like Moonspell and Cradle of Filth and fucking Nightwish, so everybody can just fuck off.

Friday, September 13th you will release ‘In league with Black Metal’, could you tell me more about it?
This album will be a tribute to Black Metal and all the true forms it can be represented in, more related to old school or modern approaches like Mysticum. We did a very varied work and it won’t be easy listening to it. It’s an album for the ones who truly understand Black Metal and its Ideology. You will have to wait and see what is expected.

On ‘The fire god’, you covered the Mayhem classic ‘Buried by time and dust’. Why this particular song?
I consider it to be the most ‘Brutal’ MayheM song ever, it fits very well within the Corpus Christii world. I could have also covered ‘Life Eternal’, but this song has much more to do with this particular band. I think we did a very interesting version of it, most people who have listened to it think we did a way better version than on the MayheM tribute released by Avantgarde rec. I won’t mention the band that did the cover though. (I will, it’s Keep of Kalessin; Stijn)

How did you get Necrobutcher to participate on that track?
I met him in Milano 1998,for the famous Milano concert they did, I became cool with him. I went to visit him in Norway and I invited him to do this session playing and he accepted the same minute I invited him, so it just happened. Besides this, he also played with us in one show, but only played the cover version of MayheM of course. It was a long time ago though.

It is also said you will release a 7’ on Drakkar Productions this year. What will be on that?
That EP should be already released, but we had some problems regarding the cover art work. It is not a very appropriate cover for Drakkar records but I don’t know. I don’t know yet if it will be the one we did or not, things have to be our way. I do not accept being manipulated by labels, but besides all this, I am big friend of them and nothing will go wrong. The plan is that it will be released in September limited to 500 copies. It will have two new songs recorded one year ago or so. Some people have told us that it’s the best tracks we’ve ever done so far, so I don’t know, it will be a special EP for me. It will be called ‘Master Of …’, you will know why after seeing it.

What made you part ways with So Die and how did you get in touch with Hiberica?
So Die mother fuckers were rip off and didn’t understand shit about Black Metal, they treated us like shit and never answered our calls. I want them to fuck off, they are fucking sleezy mother fuckers. Hiberica is a true label dedicated to the true side of Extreme Metal, they are good friends of ours and they deserve the support. We will continue working with them, be it for albums or EP’s or whatever.

So far no concerts are planned. Is this a choice, and will Corpus Christii play live in the near future?
We are planning a small tour here in Portugal for September, for the release of ‘In League With Black Metal’. The 4 date tour will be with InThyFlesh and Flagellum Dei, good bands from over here, good friends of ours. It will be fucking intense to do this, cos we will for sure wreck the fucking posers in every single gig…..Be scared you assholes.

Are you planning on keeping the band a duo, or will you ever get more members in the band?
The band will continue as a duo for sure, we will have and already had the collaboration of different people like Guardião, Draconiis, Ainvar and Vulturius, but the main band itself will be a duo, I am the main composer and it will be like that. I already asked some people to do some riffs for future works and they have accepted of course. Corpus Christii is more than just a band, it’s a Family, a Union of Souls that fight for the true essence of Black metal and it’s Ideology.

The promo copy of my album didn’t contain any lyrics, could you tell us more about them?
The whole album is about the meaning about ‘Domination’, the whole concept around it, the ways and different ways Domination can be done, especially regarding Our Father. His ways on controlling our little and stupid little lives, he is the Supreme Ruler of all Forces that uphold our ways to extermination. In a way the lyrics seem to be really direct and with no second sense, but it’s wrong, all the lyrics have second sense into it, more spiritual and not so physical as they might ‘teach’ one. but that is for me to truly know and for all of you to understand and reach it if there’s any interest.

I assume the lyrics for Lusitânia (de orgulho e honra) are in Portuguese. Do you think a ‘warmblooded’ language like Portuguese fits with icy Black Metal?
I think it’s curious you ask that, cos last week I was in Germany and France and it was way hotter than here and there everybody thinks it’s a ‘true’ place to do Black Metal, so I really don’t care about lame comments like that, all I can say is that when Black metal is well done, it comes from the heart and soul, and not from the land you live in.

What is the essence of Black Metal according to you?
All that is Dark and Obscure in one’s soul, if one can transfer all that Darkness into the ‘music’, if it is being ‘well’ done. Black Metal is not a form of music, it’s our Art, a Maniphesto towards humanity, a fuck off to what is real and what matters. There is no interest in reality, cos what is real, is what we despise the most. People live their lives to just try and get more money or whatever, we live to feel and feel the Wrath of the Horned One, we are the true sons of the Light, knowledge is upon us, only the Ones who truly understand, will ‘survive’ and reach the end of the tunnel.

Anything else we can expect in the future?
Pure Darkness and Kaos.

Last words…
All Hail The Horned One!

Corpus Christii

Information

We have 6 articles: 4 reviews and 2 interviews.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Immortal – “Piledriver has given us something extra.”

Does this band need any further introduction? Not really, yet there are a lot of new fans who might not know about the backgrounds of this band. Immortal started in 1991 (founded by Abbath & Demonaz Doom Occulta, and no, they are not brothers in a familiar way) and have now released 7 official albums. Meanwhile they have become one of the most important Black Metal bands. On the basis of support for their last album ‘Sons of Northern Darkness’ they were – again – on the road in Europe and VM was lucky enough to interview them at No Mercy in Tilburg (April 1st). What started as a brief interview with Abbath & Horgh (we hoped for half an hour) ended in a great talk about Immortal, their drive, Heavy Metal and all for almost two hours. Most of the interview comes from Abbath, yet Horgh really participated too, often nodding to Abbath’s statements. Enjoy…

Reading Iscariah’s statement on the Nuclear Blast website of March 25th we can sense the following things: 1) It is completely Iscariah’s own decision, and 2) 2 The split is on a friendly base Is this correct? What more can you add to this?
Abbath: Well, we have plans to kill him, you know…(great laughter) This kind of life is not for everybody. For Immortal this life (performing on stage – John) means everything. It has a great deal to do with the extensive touring (in one row), which became too much for Iscariah. That is his decision, but no one will hold me and Horgh back, so he had to make that decision. Yes, it was own decision.
Horgh: Last year we had only 3 shows live. Right now we are very hungry to get up on the stage, and we’ve had this perfect opportunities for a European tour (the current No Mercy tour) and the States (the upcoming tour with Manowar).
Abbath: We can’t let those chances pass by just because the bassplayer wants to stay home with his kids.
(Neithan: detail; Horgh and Abbath do have kids too, Abbath’s son (lets call him Abbath junior) will become 8 in June this year)

Well, touring is part of a musicians job, right?
Horgh: well yeah, it’s a job, yet…
Abbath: This is not only a job; it is more than a job. It is our fuckin lifestyle. You know… (long silence). It is a part of Iscariah that we had never seen before. He definitely was the right guy. Yet we are a touring band. We have to play live, meet the fans, meet the people we need to see. We are conquerors, and conquerors never stay at home!

When you see that Iscariah’s departure was announced last week and yet the tour goes on, this must not have come to you as such a surprise.Where did you find the new bass player?
Horgh: Well, in december last year I was touring with the band Pain (Peter Tägtrens side-project apart from Hypocrisy) and there I met him. Saroth was playing the bass during that tour.

So Saroth is the name of the new bassplayer. Tell us more…
Horgh: Well, he had been into Immortal for years and he is very dedicated, so I mentioned him to Abbath and said maybe we could try him. That’s it..

On the remark that Immortal had now become an international band because of the Swedish nationality (Saroth is from Norrköping) Abbath says it doesn’t matter, because Immortal has always been an international band.
Abbath: We now know that he is the right bass player for us. We know how to pick our people…

What will mean Iscariah’s departure for the music of Immortal. From interviews you and Horgh (musically the main composers of the band) seemed to are really influenced by the (Heavy) Metal bands from the eighties, where as Iscariah was more into the Black Metal bands. Is that perhaps the reason that the Immortal sound has gone from pure Black Metal to a mix of Heavy and Black Metal?
Abbath: Well, of course there was a difference in age between Iscariah and us. Horgh is the oldest in the band (apart from Demonaz, who is of course still involved in Immortal). Iscariah was much younger.

It all started back in 1990. At that time the you had only Venom and Mayhem, but for the rest the scene was dominated by Death Metal bands, like Immoliation, Carcass, Entombed, Morbid Angel,and so on. The music scene from today misses that rock ‘n roll feeling, and there is no metal without rock ‘n roll. We have that roots…  We believe that the music should do the talking, and that the show around it has to do to the music. It is the complete atmosphere, it is a whole. Iscariah didn’t have this kind of roots.

Demonaz didn’t have this roots too originally by the way. In the beginning he was the extreme metallist. I was the imagist, the melody maker…

Nowadays, Immortal is a real team of Horgh and me, and of course Demonaz. Together we have this perfect team effect; Horgh has his wonderful thing and views, I have mine and so does Demonaz. That all together makes Immortal…
Iscariah’s departure was a kind of premature decision. He didn’t pick up the chances there were; You know Iscariah, he is a great guy, he’s still a brother, but we feel he quitted too early. We now had the feeling that he would be ready to get involved in the song writing.
That is a pity, but his influence never showed up in our music. The doors were not open to him, mostly due to himself. He didn’t find the lock so to speak. But in the long term I think that this all will be the biggest pitty for him, not for us as Immortal.

Although not mentioned on the album, Horgh is already part of Immortal since may 1996 and on Blizzard Beasts (1997). Yet Immortal is still very much regarded as Abbath’s and Demonaz’s band. Nowadays Horgh and Abbath write the music and perform life, where as Demonaz still works on the lyrics, so I would say Horgh is at least equally important to the band nowadays. Apart from that fact of the line-up, you now have a new bassplayer; how big are the possiblities of adding a second guitarist, especially since the Heavy Metal influences have become a bigger part of your music?
Abbath: Well, Horgh would have been nothing without Immortal, and Immortal would have been nothing without Horgh. When he came came came into the band, I and Demonaz were struggling for years to find the wright drummer. It seemed totally fucking impossible. Touringwise it was fucked up; until that time we never made it wright. He was not used to playing our style (Neithan: Horgh comes from a Heavy Metal band called Heavy Duty, a title from Priest’s Defenders of the Faith – album), yet he caught on our music like this (snaps with his fingers).
Horgh: I was listening and playing to bands like Judas Priest, Motörhead and AC-DC and all those bands. I had a lot of respect for Immortal; they already had something that Ialways wanted to be part of. So when I was at work (Neithan: Horgh has been a detonation expert for 10 years) I one day saw their add in a paper, and I immediately called them up. Demonaz’s girlfriend took up and I told her I wanted to try. They were at a cabin somewhere by the sea to work on songs, yet they called back the same day…
Abbath: We really had given up hope on finding a drummer in or around Bergen, we couldn’t think of anyone suited for that job from our area. But I and Demonaz nevertheless tried one last resort in a local Bergen newspaper. Then his Demonaz’ girlfriend called, mentioned Horgh and I went immediately like “Yeah, we know this guy”. We never thought of him that he was occupied (which in fact he wasn’t). Well he has been in the band since then and it is great; he is still so motivated, he is always on time (30 minutes or more early) for rehearsals.

Some times later we start talking about the scene in Bergen and it shows that both Abbath and Demonaz had seen Horgh in action with his former band Heavy Duty in 1989 where they were impressed by Horgh’s perfect immitation of the drumwork of Dave Holland on a specific Priest track, and later they had talked about it, but never thought of Horgh because they associated him so much to Metal. After that I wanted to tell Immortal that since ‘At The Heart of Winter’ Immortal has moved away from the underground. Abbath immediately responds by asking me what underground is; like non-quality? I try to explain that it has to do more with the kind of riffs and arrangements/compositions they use since ‘At The Heart of Winter’. Abbath has a special view on that…
Abbath: You know, when you mean no more underground, is like saying that we have become a known band. You know Piledriver?

I start to scream “If you’re not a metalhead…” and the three of us scream “You might as well be dead, we are the metal inquisition!” Here the interview becomes really surprising and more giving insight to what metal is according to Abbath than every structured question I had ever thought of… Especially when I mention that I thought Piledriver was kind of a joke, a parody on the typical metal lyrics of that era. Abbath stands tall:
Abbath: No, Piledriver definitely was no joke, no way! When you hear how the music is played, that can never be done in such way when it is a joke. They are serious, though they never were taken serious. But you just can’t do a fuckin album like that without being serious! At least when they did that album they must have been serious, afterwards I don’t know. We love to listen to Piledriver before going on stage!

Piledriver has given us something extra. Piledriver is a totally unknown band, we got this record and definitely that attitude and atmosphere contributed to what Immortal is today. Apart from the known influences (Bathory, Slayer, Celtic Frost) Piledriver definitely had a great influence on us just because of that.

After speaking a bit about all metal (quote “Halford’s Resurrection is more Priets than Priest itself”) I try once more to ask about the possibilities of adding an extra guitarist, just because all the classic Heavy Metal bands that we were discussing during that conversation had two guitarists. So how big is that chance?
Horgh: Well, on the one hand we always have liked this three-piece construction… but there is always a possibility we will attract a second guitarist.
Abbath: I have thought about it many times, even in the old days (with Demonaz on guitar). I feel that now I have taken Demonaz heritage, but often I think/thought “damn, we should have a Zakk Wylde or a Trey Azagtoth in the band”, but on the other hand, I think it just wouldn’t be right for/as Immortal… If it happens, it happens. It would not change the music of Immortal, well, perhaps maybe better leads (Abbath laughs)

We go on about the topic of guitar playing. I say that Immortal with virtuosal solos somehow would not be Immortal, just like Slayer. No offence meant (I promise Abbath he may kick my ass afterwards), but you’re not a lead guitarist like for instance Yngwie Malmsteen. Although Abbath admires him and likes to listen to his stuff (especially the solos); his favourite guitarist is Manowar’s Ross the Boss.
Abbath: He has such a great feeling, to his leads. It is very obvious to hear that he is a self tought guitarist, same as for instance Ace Frehley. They never went by the book. I have been playing for years now. For me the feeling/soul I put into my music is what counts. It comes from the heart, from the stomach, not from the book.

Okay, I have the basics now. Perhaps I can now start build in some virtuosity, now that I have/master my own style. But I won’t overdo it…

What about the stage names; what do the names the band members use stand for?
Abbath: Well, in the first place it’s pretty much a freak of nature kind of thing… We didn’t want names that actually meant something, but the names should express our evil side, as we believe that there is a dark/evil side in all of us. Not in a schizophrenic way, but names that take us away from every day’s life/occupations.  That is the background about how we started thinking about our stagenames.
Horgh: Well, my name Horgh is somehow derived from my real name. I won’t tell you that name (Neithan: he does, yet I have to promise him that I won’t betray it), so it has nothing really to do with some kind of primal scream (an idea I asked). By the way Abbath, weren’t you about to call yourself Demonaz?
Abbath:No, no…. OH YES, that’s true. I originally had the name Demonaz…it just popped up from my mind…and then Demonaz came into the room and said “No way, that is my name!!!” And later I made up Abbath. Funny thing is that many people think or say it is derived from Sabbath, yet that has completely nothing to do with it. I found that out later when people spoke about it. I even thought about names like Blackthorne….
Horgh: Maybe I should change my name to Varg; cause Christian is not a good name (Neithan: laughter all around)

Finally it seems that Immortal are having a major breakthrough. In what way has the fact that you always did your own thing contributed to this?
Abbath: Well, in all those years we always did what we felt was wright. Back in the nineties everybody was into Death Metal, yet our heart was not there. We were not that desperate for success, what we do is a life to us. In September we’ve been around for twelve years now with Immortal. The reason that we are here today, and still going strong, is that we are true to ourselves!
We have not sold out to struggles within the band. The spirit has always been there. We love each other as brothers, we believe in the thing we are doing, it is our life.

An issue in Black Metal. Big bands are often regarded as being sellouts. There is a lot of complaining about Mayhem’s direction on “Grand Declaration of War”, Dimmu Borgir and Cradle are often called sellouts, and now also bands like Marduk and Immortal get criticism. Do you bands talk about that among each other or does it bother you?
Horgh: What a laugh… I feel we have our feet truly on the ground. We love to do our rehearsal, play the music we like to hear, we give it to a record company and they give it to the people. And then it is up to the audience. If they think we are sellouts because we do the things we like, they have to deal with it. It is not a problem for us. They should make up their own decisions.
Abbath:We have made a foundation of what we have become. Our home is the stage, all around the world; Bergen is our home base, yet the stage is our home! That is why we have to go there, around the world, to check our legions, our sons and daughters of Northern Darkness (Neithan: by which Abbath means the Immortal fans worldwide). It is our goal to give them what they deserve.
Although I appreciate and love for instance Bathory…and Darkthrone, as they have a similar live policy as an act…that would definitely not be Immortal. Immortal is live!

When the deal with Osmose happened the opportunities for signing to a new label were there. In the light of Cradle of Filth signing a major deal, and one Norwegian band (I have forgotten the name) signing to EMI Norway, was that an issue for Immortal; although you finally signed for Nuclear Blast?
Horgh: At the level Immortal is at this point, Nuclear Blast is the perfect label…We now have a good distribution, also in the USA.
Abbath comes in from the bathroom and starts talking about reunions, yet then goes on on this subject…
Abbath:  Well, we would never sign to a label like EMI or something. We now have both a great deal and also a great dialogue with Nuclear Blast. With Nuclear Blast we can reach out to all our fans in the world. They can now go to a record store everywhere in the world, they don’t have to order it anymore. It is wrong for a band like Immortal to don’t have the right distribution, because we are messengers of the right shit.

Of course we have absolute artistic freedom; that is a main issue. I mean, yes, we were into negotiations with other labels, yet Nuclear Blast draw the longest straw.

I have read somewhere that Abbath is working on a solo-project. What can you tell about that?
Abbath: No, I am not busy with or working on a solo-project. Yes, I do have some stuff which is not fit for Immortal, it is good stuff, we’ll see. Maybe one day.
What can we expect? Is it Heavy Metal; or perhaps even dance music, or reggae?
Abbath: GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!! No, just wait and hear. I know I’m a bit unpredictable, just wait and see. It is not gonna be Immortal, yet (after a long silence) it is kind of linked… It is like with Zakk Wyllde kind of thing, you will recognize that it is me!

Now, some time after the release of Sons of Northern Darkness, how do you look back on it…
Horgh: Well, there’s one song I am not completely satisfied with. Do you know ‘Antarctica’? It is still a great song, yet… Abbath and I both thought it was too long, yet… Yet Demonaz completely freaked out on Antarctica.
Abbath: Yeah, that one and ‘In My Kingdom Cold’; afterwards we still have something like great songs, yet they could have been better. Some of the arrangements and riffs of those two songs have been wrong for quite a while you know, and I and Horgh feel that this should not happen again, so the next time we will go to record something, we will make sure that we will everything together. I really thought they were ready.
Horgh: For example, don’t you think that the beginning of ‘Antarctica’ is too long? I think the first part of the song is too long, yet the second part is great. We just didn’t find the balance in those songs. We love the arrangement and the lyrics of those songs, yet we don’t have the right feeling to those songs, something is missing in our opinion. Yet we like to hear him, just not love to hear them, which is the case with the other songs.
Abbath: Yet only me and Horgh know those two songs could have been better. You feel like you’re ready when going into the studio, yet when you are in the studio, you suddenly kind of miss something. We did the best we could. It is like with ‘Blizzard Beasts’. After this time I sometimes get the question “if you had the opportunity; would you redo the songs of that album?” and I go “NO FUCKIN WAY”. Don’t fuck up with the history!
We have though once thought about a re-recording of ‘Winter Of The Ages’ from that album, because we feel that one is the most fucked up, just to put it on a Japanese pressing…

At that moment we are disturbed by the tourmanager Bobo who has some more interviewers outside the dressing room, yet Abbath tells him to wait. Everybody has to wait until this one is finished. Bobo says that he will get pressure from Nuclear Blast. Abbath replies that he prefers one great interview face to face; this one is for the fans, not for the masters!. Talk about their astistic freedom… I promise not to take more than 15 minutes, which will become eventually some extra 45 minutes.

In what way is the band happy with its current success and the sales of the albums?
Abbath: Happy? What makes me happy is my son…. And what me and Horgh and Demonaz have achieved in all this time, especially me and Horgh. When you look at the struggles we’ve had, the difficulties with Demonaz’s arm injury, and how we got out of that situation. That is what makes me happy! It has never been mental, we always chose the right people.

What makes me happy is that we can tour for two months now; that is our life.

Speaking of touring; how did this tour in the States happen; was it on request by Manowar, or by the label Nuclear Blast.
Abbath: No, we got the offer from Manowar… That is why they changed/postponed their tourdates a bit.
Horgh: We wanted to finish the European dates, so that why the US tour starts a little later. We had some offers, of which one was a Danzig tour. Yet just before we had decided what offer to take, came the offer from Manowar…
Abbath: Manowar is a very interesting band… We all think so. Joey de Maio was one of my heroes in the old time. We did about three gigs with Manowar in 1999. They (Eric and Joey) were nice guys actually. They liked our melodies and our stuff.
The package is very interesting… They are the heroes/kings of metal, and we are the demons. And the demons will kick their ass. We have something extra to add for the American tour.

Is it perhaps too because Black Metal is not that great in America, and this tour might open doorways to you?
Abbath: Well, it is a great package, and Manowar should headline, and they will, yet they invited us to play 60 minutes with the complete stage; backdrops, sidedrops, full stage, everything…
Horgh: I think we will draw a younger crowd. Perhaps not as many fans as Manowar will do, but we will certainly draw some extra crowd.

How will the Manowar/American fans react to corpse paint?
Abbath: Well, we did some shows already in America & Mexico, although that tour (the US part) got fucked up due to the organizer of some gigs, we were surprised how many people showed up at our gigs. My first experience with the American audience? (Neithan – makes up an American accent): Hey man, where the hell have you guys been the last 10 fuckin years, we waited for 10 years for guys to show up. The audience there is fuckin A!!!

Finally I ask them about the Photoshopped pictures I took from the internet and ask about their comment…
Horgh: We love it, it’s great. I love what they’ve done.
Abbath: How can you survive without self-irony? If you did this to Manowar they’d probably sue you. Yet we are not the heroes, we are the demons of metal…. We know who we are; people on the outside can make up their own mind. This only shows we have charisma doesn’t it?
(Neithan – Abbath points at the basketball picture): You know what this means? Everybody has a demon inside, yet they need Abbath to show that. Look at the fear at their faces…
Immortal always try to look at things different than others, so if other people want to make fun of us, go ahead. We don’t mind. They will laugh at it first, we will have the last laugh. And although we may be demons; we are not evil… The reason for that is because we do this kind of shit. It gives the balance and adrenaline for us. Some people just don’t get the right stimulance to control themselves, to get rid off their demons (in a figurative way of speaking). We do! So they fuck up somehow. It has nothing to do with religion, but those who can’t find the balance with their inner demons will lose, and we are winners!

That should also go for our fans, our sons and daughters of northern darkness; perhaps it may help them to get a positive view on life, a bigger view on life. Get some strength to carry on. Music is a drug, and we want our music for everyone to be a drug! Let the music fuck you up! Off stage I am relaxed…

Finally Horgh asks me what I think of their album; well, the review is put right next to him so I give a short summary, and too that Immortal and Slayer are two of my absolute favorites. At that time Horgh reveals that Immortal will be playing together with Slayer at this year’s Graspop. He mentions that it was finally arranged the day before.
Horgh: Although the other bands were complaining about the relaxed easy audience in Antwerp we got a real great response.  It was announced last evening after a stage by the organizer of Graspop, and the crowd was enthousiastic like a storm.

That concluded the end of a very long interview; last statement perhaps for the fans?
Abbath: DIE HARD!!!
Thank you very much Abbath and Horgh for a great talk and Bobo for his patience.

Immortal

Information

We have 3 articles: 2 reviews and 1 interview.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Salacious Gods – “Bands will vanish because there are too much and they can’t bring anything new into the scene”

Born in 1994 Dutch black metal band Salacious Gods have managed to establish their name in the black-metal underground scene by releasing a demo and 2 full length albums on Dutch record label Cold Blood Industries. Their newest Opus “Sunnevot” will be released later this month and was reason enough for me to send some questions to lead vocalist Steakelhorn. Check out what he has to say about one of the most promising Dutch black metal bands…

Hail to you mr. Steakelhorn, how’s life ?
Good thanks

First of all could you please explain your nick name to the readers ?
Steakelhorn means as much as horn of thorns, it is a combination of two Drents words that makes it so special. So it is not a Nordic Mythic word.

Were have you found it and what does it mean to you personally?
I think a lot of people have nicknames even outside the black metal scene. So what can I say it’s just an artist name. Never though about how it felt. But it feels good, I react when the call me by my nickname. That’s all I can say.

You have recently recorded a brand new album called “Sunnevot” which is filled with bombastic black metal songs who are all very diverse from each other in my view, do you agree with this statement?
Yes I agree, the songs are very diverse indeed, but personally I think that the songs on the new album our less bombastic then on the previous album. Due to the fact that the keys are less dominant.

How did the recording process go?
First the Drums were recorded, guitars, bass, keys and at last the vocals. Recordings were done in the weekends over a period of three months. This album was recorded in the KITCHEN of Franky. Same as the previous album.

And what is the main difference between The first album “Askengris” and the new album “Sunnevot” ?
If you mean musically, the keys are less dominant on this album as on the previous. So this creates a sound that is more aggressive then the sound on our previous album. Recordings were actually the same for each album.

Who’s responsile for the art work?
The dude is polish and his name is Jacek Msniewski.

What do you think of today’s black metal scene? There are still a lot of good black metal bands now a day. A lot of smaller bands vanished into thin air and ofcourse the death-metal scene is getting bigger and bigger everyday.
What happened to the death metal scene 4 or 5 years will happen also to the black metal scene. Bands will vanish because there are too much and they can’t bring anything new into the scene. But we will try to survive this period by releasing more albums and do more gigs. And it will become harder for new bands to earn a record deal as before..

How’s the black metal scene in Holland?
It’s small but we’ve got some high quality bands like Liar of Golgotha, Cirrith Gorgor and Ordo Draconis.

Do you think it makes a difference if you’re from Scandinavia or Holland? If so what’s the difference !
YES, In Holland we can only copy what’s done in Scandinavia. I can’t name any band or country that was that important in the death and black metal scene like Sweden and Norway. Of course a lot of good bands emerged after a while in Holland and in other countries. But is makes a difference everyone knows that. And I think they will be always one or two steps ahead of us .

What do your lyrics deal with ?
Our lyrics mostly deal with occult themes. Were as we don’t want to spread a message to the people. My suggestion is just read the lyrics yourselves and judge for yourselves were they are about. Because over a 50% of the people don’t have intersed in the lyrics.

Do you consider yourself a satanist and what does satanism mean to you ?
No, just another religion.

What can we expect of a Salacious Gods live-show ?
Aggression

Do you play live very often ?
What is often, I think as often is possible. For our Askengris promotion we performed not enough I think we did about 5 gigs. I was a way too the US for a year, so we had to find a replacement for that time. I think that explains it all. As we just discussed the black metal scene will reduced so it’s harder to perform these days. Therefor we just want to make good albums to earn our performances. So, in the future we will try to do a lot of performances. At the moment we are on the road with God Dehroned and we have a gig in Berlin with Eminenz.

How is the co-operation between Salacious Gods and Cold Blood Industries ? Are you satisfied with the work that they do for you ?
Of course there are always some points of discussion but overall we are satisfied with the job they did for us. We can’t complain. The work that they and we have done over the past years worked out fine which resulted in two good albums if I may say so.

What are your personal goals for Salacious Gods ?
My personal short-term goal is to find a good new label that will support our music as coldbloodindustries did. After that we want to make some good albums as SUNNEVOT.

I would like you to give me some comment on the following words:
I’m not fond with these sorts of questions but anyway I’ll give some short reactions.
I know, why do you think I ask those questions? Haha
-Corpsepaint: Have to wear it otherwise you are not evil!! haha
-Dimmu Borgir: made some excellent albums if you ask me.
-Death metal: Still one of my favorite music styles
-Cirith Gorgor: Black metal from Holland
-Warlust: Black metal band from Holland (heard some stuff of ‘m, sounds good)
-Norway: Black metal country number one.
-Drugs: That is a material were you can make loads of money with.

I know it sucks and it’s very standard but any last statements or comments for the readers of Vampire Magazine ?
Yes I know it is indeed very standard so I will give a standard answer. So, thanks for the interview and good luck with the zine , keep on drinking alcoholic fluids, fuck some women for me or no, I rather do it my self. CHEERS!! If you have any additional questions feel free to contact me.
Thanx for your time and I wish you good luck for the future….

Salacious Gods

Information

We have 8 articles: 5 reviews, 1 interview and 2 news items.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

News

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Aeternus – “We got connected way too much to Black Metal, something that wasn’t in our interest at all.”

Aeternus a name that probably rings a bell to most metalfans, who doesn’t know them by now? After 3 full length albums, 2 mini albums and numerous tours they sure have managed to establish their name in the metal scene. Today Aeternus is on the edge of releasing their 4th full length opus which is entitled “Ascension of Terror”. Another classic masterpiece that is filled with extremely powerful battle hymns, brutal lyrics and overall intense power. I was fortuned enough to receive a copy of the new album and decided to stalk main man Ares the exact same day. Check it out and let the wrath of Aeternus curse you all…

Hail Ares. How’s life treating you these days?
Great, we just did a kick ass show here in Bergen last saturday. Now I’m cooling it.

Cool, Was this the first show without Morrigan on bass?
Yes, she was there and she liked it alot. It was kind of weird not having her there. She was in the crowd at the front.

Who replaced her? And will he stay as a permanent Aeternus member?
We now have V’gandr of Helheim on session bass. For now he’s just a session member, a permanent session member one could say.

So he will accompany Aeternus on the future gig from now on? Aren’t you afraid his work for Helheim will be a problem in the future?
Yes, he will be there with us as long as he is available. Not too much will happen with Helheim and Aeternus at same time I think, we’ll take those problems as they come anyway….

What’s up with you and Vrolok? Are you still involved in any other bands? I know you quit Immortal and Gorgoroth but what’s up with Corona Borealis (Ares’ folk project)?
Erik has a band now, with Janto from Hades Almighty and Arve from Malignant Eternal It’s called Bourbon Flame, Heavy Metal Rock’N’Roll stuff. 1980 shit U know? I am not involved with anything besides Aeternus these days. I couldn’t either due to lack of time for that. I don’t think much will happen with Corona for a while either.

Too bad… you’re wasting your talents! When I spoke to you last time you were really enthusiastic about your project? Why did you end this? Lack of time?
Yes, lack of time is the thing here, it’s sad too cuz this I really burned for..

About your new album. I was fortuned enough to receive my copy extremely early and have listened to it 6 times already today….My compliments. Aeternus has changed its style a bit over the last years, you have grown a bit more  Death Metalbut still keeping your own elements in it. An excellent combination! How did the recording process go? Went to Grieghallen again?
Yes, we used Grieghallen again. Here we get what we want, Pytten, the Producer understands our stuff 100% and this means alot. We needed more shred and cleared up sound this time, dryer vocals and it all worked out very well. The idea to mix Death Metal with our own stuf did alot of good to our style.

Yeah some vocal-parts got even deeper and heavier this time, you often remind me of Glenn Benton…. Has the touring with death-metal bands involved aeternus in any way?
Ares First of all we are not trying to turn into Death Metal! But yes, the inspiration was there, yes, Benton inspired me a bit too on vocals. I felt like doing some deep, deep shit like i did on “Denial of Salvation”.

The songs got also a bit shorter and easier to get in to in my opinion. This is a big improvement for Aeternus in my view. You have also lost the corpse paint and now Erik goes under his own name instead of Vrolok? Why is this?
He wasn’t into the artistic name anymore as it simply didn’t appeal to him any longer.

And what about the corpse paint?
We got connected way too much to Black Metal, something that wasn’t in our interest at all. For us it was War Paint, but it was so boring and stressing telling everybody it hadn’t anything to do with Black Metal so we dropped it. About the shorter songs: We felt like doing shorter song due to the fact that we were mixing Death-elements into the songs. This was then suitable, also the songs becomes more suited for live-performances. Doing long songs with a thousand riffs are now an era that basically belongs in the past I think…

I fully agree with you both statements. The album was recorded in February and the release date is November? What takes Hammerheart so long? I heard you had some problems with the cover?
Man, I don’t wanna get into all that stuff. We recorded this album last summer, it was suppose to be out around April 2001. Problems occurred, disagreements, shit from Hell in different shapes… It’s in the past now anyways, no need for remembrance really. It took us 2 months to do the cover because of the low working conditions. This caused the last delay, not on Aeternus’ shoulders though. It was out of our control anyways, November IS the month now…

What’s the link between the titel and the cover?
Well you got the band there in the sky, lightning coming down under us which hits the ground and that conjures and unleashes a Red demonic Tornado of War and Terror. Right on brutal Aeternus atmospheric stuff man.

Aeternus has done so many tours and all, what is there left for you to achieve? What are your goals?
Make more music, maybe get some more money in from it so we can spend more time making more music and not work our asses of to get food on the table you know? For me that stands first I think….

What are your plans to promote the new album? More tours i guess? With what band would you like to go on tour if you could choose?
We got some shit going on for January at least, that’s 1 good thing. Plus we’ll do a show here in Bergen in December to promote the album. Maybe some German shows. It would be damn cool to do a tour with Morbid Angel for sure or with Enslaved or Immortal…….

What is your favourite country to play in and why?
Holland and France perhaps? The crowd is cool there! I mean, that goes up and down all the time, one never really knows how people are gonna be…

What do you know about the dutch scene any bands you know or like?
Yeah i know some: God Dethroned rules…. Ancient Rites Rulez……..and Pentacle was it? or Pentecle? Dutch Heavy Metal band who knows their good old Metal.

It’s Pentacle and yeah they are extremely cult and old school! What about internet? Aeternus now has it’s own official website AT LAST! What do you think about internet?
It’s BIG and great, you are right too, at last we got that shit going as well…… The web-site is a very good tool, we have a great web-master and I work closely to him so updates and news are at all times fresh. People who’ve seen the site really like it as it’s fast, simple and very much to the point.

Ok, well we all know that you are an alcoholic that’s not a secret anymore (i have been on tour with you guys myself so i know..) haha! What else do you do besides aeternus and drinking?
I’m not an alcoholic yet, but I do drink in the name of Metal man. Not much actually, I have no spare time as I need lots of time to work on new material and do interviews, write lyrics etc etc…

Ok man great! Anything else you like to add or share with our readers?
Check out the new CD when it comes. Tours and shows will always be announced on the web-site that you can find through www.aeternus.ch Stay fucking Metal and seek knowledge and wisdom nowhere else, but within yourself. We are the Gods or Godesses. Know it, it lies within us all.

Good luck with Aeternus and thank you very much for your time, see you in January for some pure ASCENSION OF TERROR in the lowlands!
For sure man, thank YOU for this interview.

Aeternus

Information

We have 7 articles: 5 reviews and 2 interviews.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Polluted Inheritance – “…but on the other hand you can’t create your own style, because then they will say it won’t sell enough!”

One of the best bands (if not the best band) in our little country is without doubt Polluted Inheritance. They developed their own extremely technical Death Metal style and it’s time that people start to notice this great band! I stalked singer/guitarist Ronald and sent this too long interview to him. Fortunately, he answered all the questions. Read all about one of the most interesting bands in the Death Metal scene!


Recently, you’ve released your 3rd album called ‘Into darkness’ and you did it yourself. Were the labels so deaf to hear the quality music you offer, or were they afraid that your music is too much for many people?
I really don’t know what the labels these days are looking for in (Death Metal) music!
You can’t sound like, for example Death, or Morbid Angel, because then you’re a copy, but on the other hand you can’t create your own style, because then they will say it won’t sell enough! I understand labels have to sell to make money, but we offered them a completely finished product. They didn’t have to pay one cent for it. All they had to do was try to sell it, so I don’t know why they didn’t dare to take the “risk”!

How are the reactions so far? I think that this album is your best album so far. You also proved that a band does not really need a label to release an album. The production is extremely good (in contrast to the production of ‘Betrayed’ which was overproduced) and the artwork and packaging of the album is very good too. Did you arrange a deal with the studio to be able to pay for the production? I mean normally bands aren’t able to pay for a decent production (or at least they say so) but you pulled it off.
The reactions so far are very very good! Just read the reviews on our site and you can see for your self. This album is for sure our best album yet! It’s a perfect mixture of our first two albums. We paid for this album all by ourselves, (as we did with ‘Betrayed’, for those who didn’t know), and it has cost us a lot of money to get this result. Having a label to finance you is a lot easier, I tell you! We found a small studio in our neighbourhood who told us he could do the job. We believed in him and as you can hear…he did a great job! It is indeed very expensive to get a really good production. Luckily we found this “not so expensive” studio.

In the booklet I saw several interesting piece of a programming part. A lot of terms on quantum are mentioned, as well as some, to my field related, terms like for instance Turing machine. Is one of you guys a professional programmer or studied physics?
The booklet is made by a friend of us, Danny van Nes, who has also made the ‘Ecocide’ booklet, and the Betrayed booklet. He is a graphic-something and is also in computers. Whenever we ask him to make a cover for us he gets total artistic freedom. There is most of the time a hidden message in his artwork, for example: when you open the booklet you have to “read” it from right to left. You see the ball with all the “nerves” coming out, this means BIRTH, you can read the word if you look close. Then you see one “nerve” in the middle of the page and the letters DK (read: decay), and at the end, as it gets darker you can find the word DEATH (look very good!). There is also on the front of the cover a message written (in black letters!), see if you can find that one!

You didn’t order your songs by numbers but you used the letters of the alphabet to indicate the song order. Is there a deeper meaning to this or is it just to draw attention or make a difference from the usual?
There’s no deeper meaning in that one, just to do something different than the rest. This was also the artist’s idea.

Who came up with the album title? Does it represent the lyrics? You don’t write about gore topics or other ‘usual’ subjects for Death Metal bands (although “Final fantasy” could be seen as a typical lyric). What topics interest you to write a lyric about? Are the lyrics an important aspect of Polluted Inheritance?
At first Danny, the artist, came up with a title (God bug), but we didn’t like that one. It was not very “Polluted”. Then Menno came up with Into Darkness and we liked that one. The title is from a sentence from the song ‘Broken’ (the opening song), and, yes now I think about it, you can say it represents the lyrics from the album, as well as the Artwork of the album. The lyrics are usually about things that are real in life (Final Fantasy is a TRUE story! you can read this on our site). Some things are even autobiographic, about how I felt in some period of time (Inner peace, Growing distance). But the most songs are about what is happening in the world, for example: Angels Masquerade is about children used for sex tourism in Asian countries, Divine Capture is about people who are in a depression and then suddenly see “the light”, that kind of stuff. The lyrics are not the most important thing in our music, but they have to mean something to me.

You signed to DSFA Records for the release of ‘Betrayed’ but you left them a couple of years ago. Probably, because you weren’t satisfied with their work and promotion for you, right? You’re not the first band leaving them dissatisfied, Callenish Circle had the same experience. Don’t DSFA Records realize that they should put more work in the bands?
I don’t want to talk about that too much. At the moment he’s doing great with Within Temptation, so you can’t say he’s not doing a good job. Maybe he’s just a bit too selective in what band he should put his energy in, I don’t know. We had a deal for one record at that time, we did that one and that’s it.

After the release of ‘Betrayed’ you did a Dutch tour with Ministry Of Terror and Threnody in 1996 (I think it was). I saw you perform in Sittard, and I was the only one really enjoying your performance, and was banging my head. How did you experience this tour?
The tour was actually with Orphanage (Sorry, I have this condition…(Saldiac)). We have also did a gig with Threnody but we did not tour with them. The tour with Orphanage was great. We have seen a lot of stages with them and met a lot of people. I can imagine that people didn’t understand our music at that time, and couldn’t enjoy the show as you did. It is a very complex album (‘Betrayed’) and you really have to listen to that album several times to understand what is going on.
But the tour was great.

It became quiet around the band and as we (being Ricardo, Berry and me) started an underground magazine back in ’97, I decided to check up with the band whether it was still alive. As a result I did an interview with Menno. It appears to me that you did not play at many concerts in the last few years (am I wrong about this?). However, I did see your name at a few concert billings of gigs in Belgium. Did you build up a fan base there?
Because we live so close to the Belgian border we have more gigs in that country than in Holland, that’s why we are a little more popular over there. We haven’t played a lot the last few years, that’s a fact, but we are going to try to play a bit more, now that the new album is going to be released.

When I found out that you released the new album I sent an e-mail to Menno’s e-mail address. However, you told me that he wasn’t in the band anymore. Tell us why, did he leave or did you threw him out? His replacement is Steven Vrieswijk, who is also handling the guitar in the reunited Burial. Did Steven play in another band prior to Polluted Inheritance and Burial? How did you run into him, was he a friend of the band already or did someone recommend him to you?
Menno has stopped playing in Polluted after 12 fine years. We did not throw him out, it was his own decision. There was no hate involved, we parted as friends. His last gig was in April in De Piek in Vlissingen. Steven Vrieswijk has played the bass in a project where Friso played drums (El Nino), that’s how we met him. He is actually a guitar player but when we asked him if he wanted to play bass in Polluted he immediately said yes! He is working really hard to get the songs in his head (and fingers)…Polluted is not the easiest music to play. He’ll manage!

It’s obvious that you really dig technical stuff. Your music is without doubt some of the most technical stuff played. Is it a challenge to play as technical as possible without loosing the grip on the songs? You must realize that playing at this high technical level makes it a lot harder for the band to appeal to many people. Although I must admit that the current scene has several bands that play at a very high technical level too (e.g. Nile). You deserve respect to continue your own mission, but wouldn’t you like to make a record that will increase your popularity and result in a high selling rate? In other words, would you be prepared to write a more ‘commercial’ album to reach more people or become more popular? Probably not, as you would have done this already if you would have wanted this.
The first album we did was more straight ahead Death Metal. For the second we wanted to make it a little harder for ourselves, so we made the songs a little more complex. This was for most people a little bit too complex. With ‘Into Darkness’ we think we have found the perfect balance between the first two albums. It’s, for us, still interesting to play and for the people easier to listen to. I think we will continue making music this way. Making music is something from the heart. You don’t make music for other people, you make music for yourself. If other people like that music, then that’s great. If you start making music that you know people are going to like (even if you don’t like it) you will never last!

I already, very shortly, mentioned that the current Death Metal scene has reached a very high level of musical skills. Bands like Cryptopsy, Nile, Aurora Borealis and Dying Fetus all play very technical stuff but are also able to write some great songs and still sound brutal. Do you think that there is a limit to how technical a brutal Death Metal band can play?
I don’t think there is a limit to that. As long as you really know how to handle your instrument. You gave the examples yourself (you forgot Morbid Angel!) (Oops, my condition again (Saldiac)). They all play at a very high technical level, but they sound absolutely brutal!

One of the main differences between you and other brutal technical Death Metal bands, is that you seem to have no “need for speed”. That is you don’t have the urge to play fast. Why not? Is it because the fast stuff or blast beats tend to bore you?
Our speed is mainly in the bass-drums. Most of the time, when you hear bands playing this ultra fast music, they all sound alike. There are a few bands I like to listen to (mainly Morbid Angel) but most bands do bore me after a while. Don’t get me wrong… It’s technically very difficult to play the drums that way! But we just don’t like to make that kind of music.

In my review of Sceptic (a technical Polish Death Metal band) I make a difference between technical bands that play music that is more kind of accessible to many people, and bands that are hard to understand for most people. Some examples I gave were Death and Pestilence for the first sort of bands, and Cynic and Atheist as examples for the second sort of bands. Would you agree with this distinction?
Yes I agree. The second sort of band is what I call “musicians music”.

In the album review of ‘Into darkness’ I make a rather insane comparison of Bolt Thrower meets Watchtower to describe your music. Can you see some truth in this comparison or was I momentarily in a state of insanity?
It is indeed a strange comparison but I don’t care. As long as you like the music, it’s fine by me!

To what music do the band members listen to, is it mainly metal or also stuff like jazz or classical music (which can be very complex and technical too)?
Steven is the only member of Polluted who only listens to Metal, and keeps track with every new album or band that is released. Erwin, Friso and I are listening mainly to other kind of music, like Jazz, Guitar music (Steve Vai, Alan Holsworth, Mike Keneally, Frank Zappa) Friso is the only one who listens to classical music (The more modern composers like Edgar Varese). We don’t know anything about the new Metal bands that are around these days.

There are various technical metal bands that left their mark on the metal scene. Would you care to give your opinion on them? I have enlisted just some of them, or else the list would be endless.
-Atheist: One of the bands that really inspired us to play technical music.
-Pestilence: This band is one of the best bands the Netherlands have ever had (I mean only the first two albums)
-Cynic: Like the music but I’m not really fond of the vocals.
-Death: I have seen Death (and I really mean Chuck) a few times and he is my greatest inspirer. Seeing this man perform is brilliant.
-Meshuggah: Real brutal
-Queensrÿche: I only know them from the early beginning, just the first album, so I can’t give an opinion on that one.

Some of these bands (Atheist, Nocturnus, Watchtower) have reunited and Pestilence are trying to reunite too. It seems that the reunion virus has really infected the metal scene. What’s your opinion on this? Even bands that might be better off laid to rest, reunite, let’s hope the virus will stop soon. Particularly because there already are so many bands around, and we used to think that the scene was overcrowded in the early 90-ties. How could we have known?
If the music is still good, I don’t care if they reunite.

You told me that there was interest from a Canadian label to sign the band. Tell some more about it. Will they do a worldwide distribution?
The company is called GWN-recs.(Great White North) and has just started an office in Holland this year. The album is going to be distributed worldwide. Two Dutch bands have already signed at GWN…C of E and Necrology. We contacted GWN a few months ago. In Canada they said it was a “KILLER ALBUM”, and they wanted to distribute the album. GWN was the only company who dared to take the “risk”.

You’ve just released the album, but have you written any new stuff yet? Will it take another 5 years before you release a new album??
We are writing new material, and we hope we can release these songs a bit sooner. The reason why it took so long to record this album was mainly because of the finance.

What touring plans are currently being developed? Will you try to do an European tour as a support act for a bigger act? If you had the possibility to play anywhere you want to and with any band you want to, where would you go to and with which bands would you like to perform?
There are no plans at this moment, but who knows maybe with the help of GWN, we can do a tour someday. We are doing gigs here and there, mostly in Belgium (one gig coming up in Germany). If I could choose to play with someone, it would be Chuck Schuldiner (who isn’t doing very well at this time) (Yes, Chuck health suddenly went downhill again and he needs another operation to save his life, some fucked-up shit, let’s all hope he’ll survive…(Saldiac)).

You also have a website (http://rocking.to/polluted), so you must like this new media format. Do you think that it’s a new and improved version of the older underground thing like magazines and tapetrading?
This Internet and E-mail thing is much better than the tapetrading we did years ago! It’s not necessary to go and buy stamps and envelopes, or to buy magazines…one click and you’re there, download a song in a few minutes and you directly hear how a band sounds. No more waiting, much faster and easier.

What’s your opinion on programs like Napster (which is crap nowadays) and it’s better alternative Audio Galaxy? Can you understand that fans can’t resist the temptation to download an album before it’s finally released?
I did that too with several albums, and I don’t blame anyone doing this if you look at the prices you have to pay for buying a CD nowadays!

I though that it would be a short interview, but as it turned out, I kept on making new questions. But here’s, finally, the last question. Comments, stuff I forgot, contact address on so on. Cheers!
I really hope that people will take the time to listen to our ‘Into Darkness’ album! It’s worth it! And please visit our site and leave us a message. (http://rocking.to/polluted) Hope to hear from you all….p.s spread the word: POLLUTED RULEZZZ…

 

Polluted Inheritance

Information

We have 4 articles: 1 review, 2 interviews and 1 news item.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

News

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Impetigo – “We practiced for the first time in 13 years this weekend and decided to do it, for better or worse”

All good things to those who wait. Indeed, this is true, I waited for a couple of years to get the answers of Stevo back in my mailbox. But fuck, it was worth the wait, great answers! This band will always be remembered by me and my fellow Impetigo-adepts. For those of you who don’t know this band (??), read this interview as it’s your final chance to get acquainted with one of the best extreme metal bands ever. The lesions of Impetigo are still festering…

First of all, please tell us whether the rumors that you have reformed are true or not?
No, they are not!! Without going into too much detail, at one point in time it could have happened – but it didn’t, and it most definitely will never happen; Mark and I are adamant about that.

Whose idea was it to re-release your stuff, was it Morbid Records who contacted you or did you came up with the idea?
It was Morbid who initiated the project at first. It really began several years ago, when they contacted me about releasing “Giallo” on a 10″ picture disc…I did a lot of work towards getting it together, but had some problems with it, and ultimately the project stalled through my own fault. Some years later, Mark picked it up again, and when this happened, one thing led to another and the decision was made by all of us to allow them to re-issue the entire back catalogue.

Which releases will be re-released, if not all of them?
All the Wild Rags material will be re-issued, along with the “Giallo” demo tracks.

Does the re-releasing of your old stuff give you an itch to reform Impetigo?
When this all started happening with Morbid, there was some intense discussion about the remote possibility of getting together again for something, but as I mentioned earlier, we strongly believe that no matter how cool it may seem to us or to anybody else, it’s just a bad idea to do it, period. IMPETIGO has quite a legacy behind it, and it would be unthinkable to even consider doing anything that may alter the reputation we have earned over the years, whether in a negative or positive manner. IMPETIGO has a finite existence; it began here and ended there, and that’s it. Some bands reunite and fuck yeah, it’s cool…but many, many times it’s just a bad idea!

Which year was it that you disbanded Impetigo? What were the reasons, were you dissatisfied with the achieved ‘success’, with Wild Rags or did you think you reached your ‘peek’?
The decision to end the terrible tenure of IMPETIGO was a very difficult one, and had a lot to do with our philosophy and beliefs about ourselves and our relationship with the true underground…’success’ was never a goal or a priority with us. It’s difficult to lay out the circumstances of our demise the way they looked to us in 1993, but in short, it seemed then and seems even now that for us to have continued beyond the stage of our existence as a band at that point in time, many things would have to change and we were very happy with the things we had done up until that moment. Without expounding in any greater detail than I have already, let’s just put it in a general light…how many bands out there should have broken up a long time ago, seriously? How many times must this band or that band put out record after record when their greatest moments have long since passed them by and they are too proud to admit it? Is it worse for an artist to refuse to create before his craft has stagnated, or after it has become far too late for him to save his face and do anything else about it?!?

As a lot of negative things about Wild Rags have been going around, how were your experiences with them??
I come to bury Ceasar, not to praise him. He had a lot of good times and great laughs with Richard C., and I personally wish things could have gone better for him…there are some hard feelings between us, but they are only minor and relatively unimportant. In his defense, I want to say that I still believe that a great deal of the things said about him are either untrue or have been blown out of proportion and that I also believe that in his heart, he really wanted to be remembered as a fellow who was a working part of the true underground, and in effect he was…whether anybody likes it or not. Maybe the world has all but forgotten about BLOODCUM, but I sure haven’t. And let’s be honest about it…if it wasn’t for Richard C., we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all! He gave us a shot when nobody else would, and that’s the bottom line.

The infamous bio-question: when did you actually form Impetigo? Were the band members in other bands before Impetigo, am I right that you started as a trio?
IMPETIGO was formed in the summer of 1987, out of the ashes of an S.O.D. rip-off band I was in called SGT. ROCK…in fact, the bulk of our earlier material was SGT. ROCK songs with different lyrics and in many cases, different arrangements. We did start as a trio (SGT. ROCK was also a trio); IMPETIGO was Mark’s first band (unless you count his solo project P.G.L.S., which only 5 or 6 people have ever heard or heard of), and at the time Dan was the full-time drummer for NAKED HIPPY and only played for us on a temporary/part-time basis. I was in several bands prior to IMPETIGO, but none of them are important…the only reason SGT. ROCK is even mentioned is simply because of the unique connection to the early IMPETIGO material.

If I’m right there were never any line-up changes (except adding Scott), how did you manage to keep the band intact as nowadays many bands have many line-up changes?
There were never line-up changes…I can’t cite a direct reason why. I suppose that we worked hard and worked well together. I had a definite direction for the band in mind (not at first, but we had to evolve to that point, just like anyone else!!) and we all worked together and had instrumental value individually and as a whole in achieving our goals and sticking with “the plan.”

Was the “All we need is cheez”-official live demo (1987) your first release? Where was it recorded? How many copies did you sell, what are your thoughts about it nowadays?
It was our first release, a soundboard tape of our second live performance…hasty? Yes. Economical? Indeed! Many band release a studio-recorded promo or demo tape very soon after they have formed, and it’s a sincere mistake to do this. IMPETIGO is not as much proof of this fact as they are an example; it would have been a complete waste of cash to complete a studio recording after having been together only 3 or 4 months and when we heard the quality of the live tape, we realized that we had paid no money for a decent recording of our current body of material at that point in time. We were yearning for exposure, and we basically distributed our live tape with a cover on it for demonstration purposes…hence, a live demo tape! As for my thoughts on it nowadays…I listen to it once every 2 or 3 years, and I just laugh and laugh and laugh…and remember how cold it was outside that day!! My mom was there, and she still talks about it sometimes.

It includes many songs which didn’t turn up on other releases, why not, will they appear as bonus tracks on the re-releases?
No, studio recordings of those songs (and others from later days…has anyone ever heard “Block-Mania” before?!?) do not exist…howwever, Bizarre Leprous Productions in the Czech Republic have released the demo on CD in a limited edition.

In 1989 you released your first studio-demo called “Giallo” which has recently been re- released on vinyl by Morbid Records. Where did you record it, how come that there are more songs on the re-release than on the original demo, are these bonus tracks of the same recording session?
“Giallo” was recorded at a relatively new studio in our area called KJ Productions (they later became Soundlink and then went out of business…) what happened was that we recorded a group of songs intended for release on the demo, and then we recorded a couple extra intended for compilations and promo use only that didn’t belong on the demo. “Giallo” was remixed on two different occasions following the initial release of the demo for promotional use only, and re-eq’d for the pic disc release so for hardcore IMPETIGO fans there are four (4) different versions of “Giallo” (not counting the four tracks remixed and remastered for the “Buio Omega” 7″!!) and if it ever turns up as a Trivial Pursuit question I’ll shit my pants.

In 1990, the time was right to release your debut album called “Ultimo mondo cannibale”. How was it received back then? How many copies did you sell?
The LP had really mixed reactions at first…a lot of people unfamiliar with us or with the kind of music and events that influenced our work were unnerved by our existence, and were not ashamed to admit it. In retrospect, the album had poor production and was not as cohesive (in terms of the material) as I would have liked, but still not a bad first effort. I’m not sure how many copies were actually sold, you’d have to ask Richard C. and he’s not talking.

Where was it recorded, why are there different bonus tracks on LP/CD and tape?
It was recorded at a place called Creative Space that also isn’t there any more by a person whose problem wasn’t that he misunderstood our kind of music, but felt that he understood his technique better than us. The original final mix of “UMC” was far better than the version you’ve heard; we brought it back to the studio to tweak a few things and after this guy was done with it, it was far worse than it was to start with. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. There are different tracks due to a bizarre idea of Richard C.’s to make the LP and the Cassette different from each other, and therefore unique in relation to each other…a “selling point” if you will. It’s one of the many curses that have surrounded “UMC” since we signed the paper to record it in 1989. Did you know that many song titles on the Wild Rags cassette release were misspelled and that several songs are out of order? The curse!

This one has also been re-released by Morbid Records but on my version the bonus tracks aren’t mentioned.
Your version is the first pressing of “UMC” which was not submitted to us for approval prior to its release. It was supposed to have different artwork too! The curse strikes again! The current pressing of “UMC” is correct, and if you have the first version of the MORBID CD it will be worth lots of money.

Also the outro after Mortado (the prank phone call) has disappeared, why??
The curse! You should know by now!! We put that in there because we were great friends with SPLATTERREAH (the prank callers) and think their phone calls are hilarious. About 3 months after “UMC” was released, it soon became obvious (and it sure wasn’t originally!) that one of the callers is yelling “die, nigger” in the background. Thankfully, nobody really noticed it or became upset about it (Travis of SKELETAL EARTH; fantastic ears, heard it right away) and we’ve kind of been sitting on it for so long…when the re-issue opportunity came up, the first thing we did was cut that damn thing out!! (Ron: too bad, it was a great prank call…)

The following year you released 3 EP’s: “Faceless”, “Buio omega” and “Antefatto”. Where were they recorded, how many copies did you sell? Will they also be re-released?
“Buio Omega” is 4 tracks from “Giallo” remixed and remastered. “Antefatto” was also recorded at KJ Studio (the session was sadly cut short by a broken drum head!!). “Faceless” was a ‘test run’ at Pogo Studio, a place we were hoping to record our second LP at. I have no clue as to how many copies were sold!

On “Antefatto” is written “Dedicated to Macabre for divine inspiration”, do you see them as an influence or do you see them as a band that is somewhat similar to you: no line-up changes, started around the same time, having a unique style?
Maybe a “yes” to all the above; we met them very early in both our careers, and became great friends immediately. They are an immense influence on the band, perhaps one of the only bands that all four of us appreciate on the same level, and so fucking intense live! MACABRE RULES!! (Ron: Amen…)

Being full of inspiration, your second album “Horror of the zombies” was unleashed upon mankind. Where was it recorded, how were the reactions and how many copies did you sell?
It was recorded at Pogo Studio a few months after the “Faceless” EP was finished. Pogo was a much larger, more professional place than KJ studio or Creative Space was and it was a blast working there!!! The reaction to “HOTZ” was much more favorable it seems than with “UMC”, but lately I am surprised by how many people love and worship “UMC”! To me, the vocals and production and material are far inferior to the work expressed on “HOTZ”.

After the “Horror…” album it became very quiet, and not until 1999 Impetigo came back into the picture because of the re-releases. And also because of the split EP with Transgressor. Who came up with the idea of this EP, how were the contacts made with Transgressor and the labels? Why did you choose 3 live tracks for that one?
This was all arranged by Mark. The concept was to use live tracks from both bands, and IMPETIGO quality soundboards through 1989 are in abundance, so some material from one of those was selected. It’s unfortunate that only one soundboard from the 90’s exists, and its quality is very questionable.

It seems that all your releases are being released on CD too. Morbid Records did the re-releases of “Faceless”, “Ultimo mondo cannibale” and “Horror of the zombies”. Bizarre Leprous Production re-released “All we need is cheez”, Obscene Productions re-released “Buio omega” with a lot of bonus stuff and Half Life Records is gonna re-release “Giallo” and “Antefatto”. How were all the contacts established?
Again, most contacts were arranged by Mark, although the initial contact with MORBID RECORDS back in the early 90’s (as far as re-issuing back catalog items) was with me…I was part of an honest effort to release “Giallo” on a picture disc 10″ in 1994 or so, but it didn’t work out, mostly through the fault of mine. Many years later, Mark was approached by MORBID RECORDS to re-visit the “Giallo” idea, and the rest of the catalog came soon after that, with Wild Rags’ permission. Truthfully, the Wild Rags material rights returned to us completely as of 1997, but we wanted to be sure Richard C. was okay with the re-issuing, as he was still selling our records at the time.

Did you still have all the master tapes of all the recordings which the labels could use??
Yes, and no. The “Giallo” master tapes do still exist, but a DAT was made from the very last remix. The “UMC” tapes we returned to us from Wild Rags, as well as “Faceless,” but the “HOTZ” tapes seems to be lost, along with all the cover artwork, photos, slicks, negs, etc. This wasn’t a problems, as “HOTZ” was released on compact disc, a DAT was made an re-eq’d using the digital material.

Will these labels have better distribution as I can’t seem to find all the re-releases except those on Morbid Records??
Well, don’t count on the Czech label releases to be found at your local HMV, because it ain’t gonna happen!

After searching for a while, I found a great tribute website for Impetigo which is also the official one. What I really appreciate is the listing of the intro’s you used on your releases, it’s really hard to find them out if you have no clue whatsoever!
Yes, Mark got in touch with this fellow (from France!) and his “GoreGrind” website is great, his exhaustive work at providing the sick universe with more of an IMPETIGO website than the universe probably needs is applauded throughout the four corners of the earth! Remember its address, http://members.xoom.com/impetigo/.

What’s your opinion about the Internet, do you see it as a great expansion of the underground or isn’t underground anymore? There are still many people who fear this kind of development.
I think in a general sense, it provides a more economical way for people around the world to get together. I mean, I have no time in my life right now to glue stamps!! It’s a big step for the underground, but a very valid point exists…you’ve gotta have a computer (or access to one) to enjoy its benefits! A few years ago, this was a point of contention; however, recently I get lots of e-mails from Bulgaria and Indonesia, and places like that…rock and roll! I would like to ask everyone though, PLEASE don’t ask for free stuff!! I am raising a family on a single income, and every buck counts; I could never and now cannot afford to send free stuff in the mail to ANYBODY!! It’s hilarious to think of how much money I chucked down the drain “back in the day” when even a response to a fan from an Eastern Bloc country would cost me more than a dollar; simply to thank him for writing and tell him that I can NOT send him any free records!! And now, I get e-mails requesting free stuff! It’s cheaper for me to say NO on the internet, and that’s great!! But, much better than that are all the great e-mails I get from fans and friends who DON’T want free stuff and just wanna say hey! Y’all RULE!!

Are you still active in the underground, if so how do you see it nowadays, is it overpopulated with too many copying bands?
I am in no way active in the underground…Mark, on occasion, will send me magazines like “Metal Maniacs” and “Terrorizer” and I look through them and go “who the fuck is this?” over and over and over…

Are you still in contact with many people/bands?
Thanks to the internet, I am in contact with many old and new friends, and it’s a wonderful thing!! They may get annoyed by my “internet silence” from time to time (ahem…sorry pal!) (Ron: it’s okay, at least it was worth the wait!), but my life is really involved at work and with my family…I don’t do a whole lot of surfing!!

What music do the band members listen to, is it extreme metal only or do you also listen to other kinds of music?
I can only speak for myself (and Mark as well) when I say that I still listen to heavy metal/HC/punk and mostly old-school death and grind, and some great new bands too. Mark and I are big fans of Japanese music, all kinds…pop/rock/punk/metal/HC/etc.

What bands did influence Impetigo during the years?
Way too many to mention, but off the top of my head, I can give you: MASTER, CARCASS, NAPALM DEATH, CASBAH, KREATOR, CELTIC FROST, AUTOPSY, MASSACRE, DEATH, SODOM, MORTICIAN, REPULSION, HELLHAMMER, BLACK SABBATH, ACCUSED, SEPTIC DEATH, FRATRICIDE, JIM JONES & THE KOOL-AIDE KIDS, SOOTHSAYER, MACABRE, DECEASED, VERBAL ABUSE, and so many more…

Could you please give me a top 5 of your all-time favorite albums and a top 5 of your current albums?
Ah! You’re killing me with this question!!! My all-time favorites in 5 places is almost as difficult as asking me to perform sex-change surgery on MYSELF!! But, for this week, let’s say that I will list the following as my “all-time favorites” (and, be advised, it will change next week, I think!!)

1. CARCASS “Symphonies of Sickness”
2. X-Japan “Dahlia”
3. THE WHO “Live at Leeds”
4. CELTIC FROST “To Mega Therion”
5. CASBAH “Bold Statement”
6. JIM JONES & THE KOOL-AIDE KIDS “Trust Me”
7. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART “Strictly Personal”
8. FRANK ZAPPA “We’re Only in it For the Money”
(see, I can’t even fucking count to 5!!)

Okay, now you want my 5 current faves (you’re KILLING me!!):
1. GLAY “Drive”
2. ALICE IN CHAINS “Dirt”
3. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE “Battle of Los Angeles” and “Renegades” (tie!)
4. X-Japan “Dahlia”
5. NAMIE AMURO “Concentration 20”
6. SEIKIMA-II “Living Legend,” and “News” (tie!!)

Where did you get your lyrical inspiration from, was it mainly horror movies, stories about serial killers and books?
You hit all that right on the button…a tender combination of horror film prose and true stories about sick people.

If I’m correct, in “Dear uncle creepy” you address to the fact that most “current” movies bore you. Do you like older movies who have more dark and creepy atmosphere in them more than those in which gallons of blood is spilled?
Hm, not really. You have to understand, gallons of blood are wonderful! I think my biggest beef with “horror” films is when they have a large budget or some hot-shit dickhead directing it and it has zero percent soul. “Blood Feast” is a million times the horror film that “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3” will ever be, that’s a fact! You also have to consider that throughout the years, since the early 80’s “horror renaissance” (I really should write a book about it someday!!) there’s always been two very small corners of the “horror film” market; the corner where sick masterpieces like “Last House on Dead End Street” and “Nekromantik” are created, and the corner where crap like “Species” and “Tremors” are shit out like little dollar-puppies. In between lies the big-budget, big-name stuff, from which some serious gems emerge (like “Angel Heart” or “The Sixth Sense”, for instance…true classics!)

Have you seen the Blairwitch project, what’s your opinion about it, is it all just a big hype over nothing?
I watched “Cannibal Holocaust” for the first time in 1987. Someone told me a few years ago it was remade, but I didn’t bother to go see it. Is this the movie you’re speaking of? (Ron: it’s not really a re-make but it’s also in a documentary filmed-style) I still watch “Cannibal Holocaust” on a regular basis, and I can’t imagine a re-make of it could ever top the original!

What’s your opinion about Jane Fonda (hehe!)?
Well, honestly…good thing she’s not married to that piece of shit Ted Turner anymore!! He’s a COCKSUKCER in every sense of the word!

Could you please give me a top 5 of your all-time favorite horror movies and a top 5 of your current horror movies?
Fuck, you’re doing it again!! Okay, here’s my “all-time” this week:
1. ZOMBIE or any movie by Lucio Fulci!
2. Any H.G. Lewis flick, not to be topped by “Wizard of Gore”
3. I still think “Deep Red” is the shit!! And most of Argento’s horror films and giallo thrillers are great watching fun! Love that “Suspiria” too!
4. “Tombs of the Blind Dead” and “Night of the Seagulls”
5. uh…fuck…how about “Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue!”

Now, you want my current faves…
1. “Bio-Zombie” (great Hong Kong zombie film in the great early 80s style!!)
2. “Faith Fear Revenge 303” (awesome creepy Thai horror film!!)
3. “Soul Guardians” (I guess it’s a horror film…it kicked my ass!!)
4. “He Lives by Night” (great mid-80s HK horror/slasher flick, with extreme Argento influences!)
5. “Evil Dead Trap” (if you haven’t seen it, you’re FUCKED…I think it should be in my all-time favorite list, too, but I’m too lazy to go back and change it! Also heavily Argento-influenced!!

Have you played live a lot, if so give us a couple of reports on the cool gigs you played.
Really, IMPETIGO only played a handful of gigs…our most active live period was our first few years, and there are some forgettable performances throughout that era. It was a good thing to play select shows as we matured, because the experience was better for us, and our audience as well. Our greatest live moments were the Rhode Island Death Fest and Puerto Rico, both in 1992, and of course, playing Milwaukee Metal Fest 6 and 7!! Someday, I’ll write a book with all the “road stories” in it. You will die laughing!!

Have you also played abroad, in Europe for instance?
Nope!

My ultimate gore night would be: Impetigo, Macabre, Pungent Stench and Mortician!
Sounds like a “killer” lineup to me!! (ha ha, great pun, eh, Stevo?!? Ron)

What are the band members doing nowadays, do you have normal jobs or are you still active in the music business (e.g. label)?
We are all working and enjoying our private lives, I guess. As far as being active in the music business, Scott and Dan are both in bands in Illinois, Mark and I are not in any bands and don’t plan to be, music is over for me as far as performing and recording is concerned!!

If you’re not going to reform, is there still contact between the band members or have you parted ways?
There is some contact, Mark is mostly the “hub”, but now that he lives in Singapore, it will be up to me to keep in touch with the others, but I live 300 miles away, so it’s a long-distance thing, if any.

How do they reflect on Impetigo, does it bother you that it seems (if this is the case) that you’re more appreciated nowadays then when Impetigo still existed?
We all had a great time, and are amazed at the attention we are getting nowadays, with the re-issues, tribute CD, etc. We are speechless! Doesn’t bother any of us at all, we are very happy with the work we did together in IMPETIGO, and it’s a wonderful memory for us!

An Impetigo tribute-album has recently been released on Razorback Records. How does this make you feel? Do you like some cover versions better than others, if so tell us which ones?
It’s a fantastic honor, that’s for sure! I’ve always felt that our “masterpiece” (the ‘act’ we’ll be remembered for throughout history) was “HOTZ,” but after listening to the tribute CD, I feel sincerely that rather than “HOTZ” being our legacy, the tribute CD is an example of our true legacy; the relationships and “cult following” we established by being ourselves, never fucking anyone over, and as Kurt Hubert called it, our “honest enthusiasm”…it was the driving force of IMPETIGO, and the tribute CD is a great way to cap our career and the body of our work!! All the cover versions are great, I’m not going to pick one over the other, except to say that they are all amazing!

Are there some memorable events (gigs, contact with people or whatever) in Impetigo’s history that you would like to share with us?
The most memorable events in our history are always when we met our friends here, there, and everywhere…I can’t tell you honestly if it was more intense to meet Scott Carlson of REPULSION, Paul Speckmann of MASTER, Will of MORTICIAN, King of DECEASED, or Josh Restivo, a 16-year old kid from Wisconsin or Michigan who walked up to us on the steps of the Mecca arena in milwaukee and showed me our logo tattooed on his leg, or Barry C. Dekyne from New Jersey, who wrote to me for years and finally met me in Rhode Island, he was like my fucking brother!! The people were most important, and the times we spent together will never leave my heart. Staying at Jim Fleet’s house in Rhode Island, the incredible people in Puerto Rico, my boss’ truck catching on fire in Indianapolis, playing pranks with Jeff of VITAL REMAINS in milwaukee, riding in Brett Fugate’s van, watching kids stage dive on my wife in milwaukee, hanging out with MACABRE in my apartment after a show…the memories flow like fucking excellent beer!! I love it all!!

Okay, that’s all I could think of right now, here’s some space to mention the things I forgot or to give your best Jerry Springer final thoughts, merchandise, promotion, contact address or whatever you wanna let us know! Cheerzz, may the corpse be with you!!
Thanks for putting up with my “tardiness,” may your corpse ever fester in the marshes!! Don’t forget my e-mail address: Yoshiki89@aol.com, I have a list of groovy merchandise, so everybody e-mail me now!! STAY SICK!!!

Impetigo

Information

We have 11 articles: 10 reviews and 1 interview.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Impaled Nazarene – “If your opinions don´t change at all in ten years, then you are fucking sad piece of shit”

Of course the most provoking and extreme band from Finland. Ten years of madness celebrated with the release of ‘Decade of Decadence’, full of 7″s and unreleased songs. Time to look back on these ten years. And with whom could we have done it better than with mr. Mika Luttinen.

Not all the 7″ you released are on ‘Decade of Decadence’. Why not?
I left out ‘Satanic Masowhore’ as it was just released on ‘Ugra-Karma’ reprint and the split with Driller Killer is still on sale plus we don´t own the rights for it.

How do you look back on ten years of Impaled Nazarene? The albums, 7″-es, demo’s you released, your provoking behaviour, especially during the ‘Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz’ and ‘Urga-Karma’ times, an album such as ‘Tol Cormpt…’ which, I read in underground zines then, was received as one of the most violent releases ’till then, the way everything turned out from the beginning of Impaled Nazarene ’till now? Please explain it all…
What can I say?? We never thought we could get a deal with any label, we were just thrashing out the shit we felt was right. ‘Tol…’ is a crazy album, I had just gotten out of the army and was pretty fucking pissed off person. It was total alcoholocaust session, as was ‘Ugra-Karma’. My bro was in the army at that time. There has been line-up changes and of course things like that affect your sound plus the fact that we are older now.

What do you think of the early Impaled Nazarene material when you listen to it nowadays?
I stand behind it 100%. Some of it is not so great but you have to start somewhere.

What’s your personal favourite Impaled Nazarene album?
‘Nihil’ definitely as everything finally clicked on it. Production, songs, artwork etc.

What is the reason you’ve recently moved back to Finland?
Personal reasons.

Are you satisfied with the still growing quality of the albums after the rather disappointing “Suomi Finland Perkele”?
We do what we want to and if people like it, good, if not, whatever. ‘Suomi Finland Perkele’ still remains our biggest selling album to date.

Is there any new material written? What can we expect from the new material?
We have five new songs written. Three of them are typical, fast Impaled Nazarene shit. One slow and moody song and one total Heavy Metal track that we have never tried before.

Are there any tours/gigs coming up?
No, we are concentrating on the next album. We did pretty much nothing with ‘Nihil’ as the tour offer we got from Metalysee was fucking insulting one.

Why did Alexi Laiho join Impaled Nazarene and not a guitar player who didn’t have any other occupations yet?
He joined the us because he likes Impaled Nazarene a lot, BUT he won´t be on our next cd. We made the decision a couple of weeks ago, he is replaced with Somnium from Finntroll. Our bassist Jani Lehtosaari isn´t member anymore either, he left to concentrate on his record company. We are checking out a new bassist in January.

Are the ex-Impaled Nazarene members still active in music? What are they doing at the moment?
Taneli Jarva and my bro play in The Black League and have an album out on Spinefarm records. My bro still has Legenda as well. Laiho has Children of Bodom and Sinergy. The rest… one of them is fire chief in a small Finnish town, the others I have no idea. I know that they all have kids and shit and don’t play music any more.

As being one of Osmose’s ‘oldest’ bands (if not thé oldest still under contract) have you always had good contact with each other? Never have you thought of changing from label?
Of course there has been times when some things didn’t really work the way we wanted but 99% of the time they have been really supportive. We have a special relationship with Osmose as we are more friends than business partners. I really cannot imagine other company for us. We are rather a top priority on a small company than just a small band in a big one.

Whatever happened to the labelling of your music as “Industrial Cyberpunk Sadometal”?
Or whatever happened calling our music Satanic Death Metal, Black Metal, Sodomatic Sadometal, Suomi Finland Perkele Metal etc. Nothing happened.

You state on your website that a lot of your earlier quotes and exclamations are no longer valid. Do you still know what you’ve all said back then? I got some interviews in which you really ‘went for it’… 8 Years or no 8 years…(hate against Norway, Poland and other Eastern countries…)
How the fuck could I stand behind some of those statements??? We have been on tour with Norwegian bands (and we had a good laugh about those idiotic “We are true, you are not” times). I cannot believe that we still get questions like these. If your opinions don´t change at all in ten years, then you are fucking sad piece of shit. We went to Russia and after talking with the local fans, it was clear they share the same hatred for communism as I do. I don´t hate Russians, I hate communists and most definitely they are not all commies there. That Poland statement was our own inside joke and we have explained it in every fucking Polish interview we have done. Metallion of Slayer mag said it to me the best: Nothing made sense in 1993. I apologized for him some shit I have said and his reply was that. I can see that this kind of attitude is now “in” in USA, they are always 10 years behind us.

First Impaled Nazarene would almost never tour, and now, we see a lot (well, not really a lot) of you, even with Morbid Angel. What happened concerning touring? You now get a bigger budget, or want to go abroad more? Please tell us.
Simple; My brother did not like touring and once he was gone, we started touring much more. Touring is the best part of the whole business, we have been to fucking places where I normally couldn’t afford to go… and even get paid to do it.

What do you think of your ‘labelmates’, such as Dementor, Demoniac, Cirith Gorgor and so on? Do you see changes compared to bands which were under Osmose several years ago (e.g. less Black Metal)?
Dementor I have not heard, Demoniac rules totally. Cirith Gorgor I don’t like. For me the best Osmose band is Driller Killer. Of course there has been changes on Osmose but I don´t run the label so I see no point of commenting this one.

Impaled Nazarene

Information

We have 9 articles: 6 reviews, 2 interviews and 1 fanzine.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Fanzines

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Immolation – “No, I played my own parts thank you!”

Some bands just don’t need to be introduced! And when Immolation keep releasing great albums, you’ll be finding a new interview after they’ve released another new album! Guitarist Robert Vigna was kind enough to answer our questions, check it out.

You’ve just released your fourth full-length album, how have the reactions been so far? Are you still satisfied with the production, artwork and songs now that it’s been out for a while?
The reactions have all been outstanding! This is the best album we’ve made and it is starting to show in the feedback! The production is strong and powerful, the music is catchy and intense, the artwork is phenomenal and the whole album just flows from beginning to end non-stop and does not let you go!!!

I heard that John McEntee played the guitar parts of you (Robert Vigna) for the new album, why couldn’t Robert do it himself?
No, I played my own parts thank you! Hahaha! John is a good friend and helped us out when we were on tour, so he filled in for Tom who can’t come out on the road now due to the fact that he runs his own business. Hopefully John will join us again soon, or we will have another guitarist help out.

The thing which was, at least in my opinion, not good about your previous album ‘Failures for Gods’ was the production. The balance wasn’t good as the guitars were way back in the mix. Do you agree or do you still think that that production was the best you had till that moment (as I read in Dutch Aardschok)? What’s your opinion on it nowadays?
The production was good, but it could have been better. It was Paul’s first attempt at this kind of music, but seeing how ‘Close to a World Below’ came out, it was worth going through a few rough spots, because Paul made a very powerful and big production that really kicks your ass this time!!! Hahaha! He is a great producer!

What tours did you do to promote ‘Failures for Gods’ in America and Europe? How were the audience responses?
We did two headlining tours in the States and one headlining tour of Europe, then we supported Six Feet Under in Jan/Feb of 2000. We also destroyed both the March Metal Meltdown and the Milwaukee Metal Fest this year!!

The covers of all your albums are part of one concept, each new cover tells a further step of the story. ‘Dawn of Possession’ was the invasion of heaven, ‘Here in After’ was the continuation of the battle between good and evil in the hereafter, ‘Failures for Gods’ marked the victory of the evil forces and ‘Close to a World Below’ pictures the burning in Hell of angels and saints. At least as I interpret the covers. What does the white pigeon encircled by flames on the back cover of ‘Close to a World Below’ mean? For how many albums can you continue this concept, I mean what comes after the burning of all good forces? Will you start a new concept?
We always try new things. This album we wanted a more abstract and different artistic way of doing it as the artwork uncovers itself the more you look at it. The dove represents the holy spirit, you can look at it in many ways… One way to look at it is that organised religion has spilled the blood of generations of people through its wars and its child abuse, etc, and you can say the blood of the innocent is on the church’s hands, or in this case the body of the Holy Spirit. But you can perceive it in more ways than even that. There is no wrong or right, it is whatever it means to the individual, we like to be meaningful and symbolic in our artwork as well as our lyrics so people can look deeply into them and whatever relates to them is what they see.

Your lyrics are and have always been very anti-Christianity. Aren’t you getting bored with this subject or do you still get inspiration occasionally? What’s your opinion on Satanism, isn’t that just the same as Christianity?
Yes it is, and we don’t promote Satanism. We actually can relate to parts of the teachings of both, but do not follow or push either. We feel people should believe in themselves.

What ever happened to former band members Andrew Sakowics, Dave Wilkinson (he’s Thomas’ brother right?), Neal Boback and Craig Smilowski? Are they still active in the metal scene in any way or are they settled down with their families?
No not really, but most of them do still appreciate the music. Actually Craig has started his old band Goreaphobia again, so we’ll see how that shapes up.

In 1995 (if my memory is correct) you released an extremely cool compilation album called ‘Stepping on Angels… Before Dawn’. This album contained your demos, stuff from Rigor Mortis (the band before Immolation), live songs, old flyers, reviews etc. How do you look back at the album and the stuff on it?
It’s great! That is an awesome release for what it is. It’s just a look back/history thing, but it is obviously not an actual album. Anyone who is interested in how we started, that is the CD to get. We actually will probably be releasing a new version of that at some point soon.

What tours are planned to support ‘Close to a World Below’? Will Metal Blade try to get you on a No Mercy festival?
Well they tried, but it’s not going to happen! Haha! So we will do something else, we will get over there as soon as we can, probably in the earlier part of next year. You can keep an eye on our website for details.

About Metal Blade, are you satisfied with their work and support for you? Do you agree that they are far more metal and less trend-followers than Roadrunner?
Yes, but I think we are still proving ourselves with each album. The big guys at the top need more convincing it seems, but we’ll keep pushing forward, hopefully this album will get some attention. The European office does all it can and the US is actually starting to make ads for us, so we’ll see.

To what bands do the band members listen to, is it mainly metal or also jazz, pop music or maybe Britney (Pierced from Within)? By what bands is Immolation influenced?
We like all kinds of music from Tori Amos to Ulver, from Slipknot to Billy Joel, from Incantation to The Dave Matthews Band, from Bjork to Portishead. We are fans of lots of different kinds of music and are inspired by it all!

Could you give me a top 5 of your favourite albums of all-time and a top 5 of your current favourite records?
Immolation – Dawn of Possession
Immolation – Here in After
Immolation – Stepping on Angels… Before Dawn
Immolation – Failures for Gods
Immolation – Close to a World Below
Hahahahahaha!! What an asshole I am! Hahaha!

What’s your opinion on the internet? You also have a website, will you try to update it more often?
Yes we just changed the look of the whole thing recently. The computer is a very important tool and a great source of communication to the world!!!

I read on your website that you’ve already written or are already writing new songs! Are you trying to make up for the time between your debut and second album or are you fast writers?
Yes absolutely!!! We are fucking around this time! Hahaha!

At what point would Immolation be these days if the time between ‘Dawn…’ and ‘Here…’ wouldn’t have been so long, according to you?
Who knows. I mean the more we have to struggle the better we get, so I think this has all done us a lot of good and only strengthened us for the long run!!!

In my opinion many of the old Death Metal bands like Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower etc. have their own sound which you recognise even after a couple of seconds. Many new bands don’t have (yet?) developed their own sound. However some of them have, like for instance Cryptopsy, Dying Fetus and Nile. What’s your opinion on the Death Metal scene nowadays and on the new bands in particular?
I agree, but as you mentioned there are some really good ones out there. The bottom line is that people should try and be more original and try new things rather than copy what’s been done. Develop the music, don’t just sit on it!

What’s your opinion on Black Metal? Are there bands you like and some you don’t like or do you hate them all, musically, production-wise and band-image?
Some are really good and some are really bad… it’s just like everything else. We definitely can appreciate certain bands that do it right.

Are there any cool drinking experiences or other bizarre stories you would like to share with us?
No… Hahahaha! We drink water! We’re boring! Haha! We do like to eat though!!! Haha!

Okay, that was all I could come up with, here’s some space for mentioning anything I forgot, love statements or whatever you want to say. Thanks a lot for doing this interview!
Thanks a lot for the cool interview and support!! We appreciate it greatly! Look out for ‘Close to a World Below’!! See you on the metal road!! In the meantime you can visit us at www.ImmolationDirect.com or email us at Immolation@ImmolationDirect.com!!!!

Immolation

Information

We have 9 articles: 5 reviews, 2 interviews and 2 fanzines.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews

Fanzines

Filter by: Bands

% 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Labels

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Filter by: Styles

A B C D E F G H I M P S T V

Filter by: Countries

A B C D E F G I L M N P R S T U

Filter by: Authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z

Info

Incantation – “We know that there is a demand for us to play in Europe, but we aren’t sure that Relapse fully realizes it.”

Ever since I joined the Vampire Crew, I wanted to do an interview with Incantation, one of the best and most brutal Death Metal bands ever. Latest album “The infernal storm” is a good reason to ask some questions, but of course I also had some other questions. My interview partners are Mike Saez (guitars/vocals) and John McEntee (guitars).

Hey how are things at the moment?
Mike: Things are going very good with the band right now. We did a 2-month U.S. tour for our latest album, and plan on going on the road again in early November with Impaled and Nile.

I know Incantation has been around for quite some time but could you give a short bio nevertheless?
John: Well, Incantation has been around for about 11 years now and has always stayed true to what we are and that’s a brutal blasphemous Death Metal band! If anyone need to know more about our history you should visit our web site at: www.incantation.com

How are the reactions so far on “The infernal storm”?
Mike:  Very good. We are all happy with the overall response that the album has had. Of course, there will always be people that aren’t into it, but we cant please everyone. The main thing that we are concerned about when it comes to writing music is that everyone in the band is happy with it, and with this album we all are.

On your home page you’re asking fans to send an e-mail to Relapse, so that you can play in Europe. Is Relapse being difficult in giving you tour support?
Mike: Kind of. We know that there is a demand for us to play in Europe, but we aren’t sure that Relapse fully realizes it. We get plenty of mail from fans over there asking us when we are going to play there, and we tell them that we want to, but its just a matter of us getting over there. It really helps if fans from there, that would like to see us email Relapse and tell them. That increases the chances of us playing there. Its been a few years since we were there, and we do have something in the works right now for early next year, so we will have to see what happens.

How does it feel to have Kyle Severn back in the band? Are you satisfied with the current line-up?
Mike: Great.Kyle is super cool, and an amazing drummer. We are all very pleased that he is playing with us again, and he is also psyched to be jamming. He sounds better than ever, and is 100 percent dedicated, so we are all confident that it will work out.

Will this finally be a more stable Incantation line-up?
Mike: We are all satisfied with this line up. We have confidence that this line up will last. All of us get along great, and we all share the same vision of the band, something that John had a problem with in the past. We have all worked together for a while now and things are going very smoothly.

In the past Incantation and Mortician helped eachother out pretty often. Mortician is doing pretty good right now. Do you think Incantation will get some more recognition too in the near future?
John: I think it’s great that Mortician is doing real good now! Both Mike and myself had helped out Mortician at one point or another. We didn’t do it to gain polarity we did because we are friends with them and like their music! If it helps up then great but if not it’s not we still have great memories of jamming with Mortician!!

How was touring with Immolation?
.John: Killer! It was great they are great guys and long time friends! And on top of that they are one of my favorite bands too! So it was a great experience and we hope to get a Incantation and Immolation tour happening sometime soon!

Is it still relatively easy for you to write brutal yet “original” music?
John: No problem! It’s natural to me!

Besides “The Infernal Storm”, which Incantation-album is the most special for you?
.Mike: My favorite album will always be Onward To Golgotha. I remember going to the store and buying it, and just being totally blown away by the music on it. It was brutal as hell, the production was muddy, and it just had such and evil feel to it. Since that album I was always anticipating Incantations next releases.

Your home page www.incantation.com looks great. Who created this?
.Mike: Rob (Yench, bass; Stijn) is the person behind the website. He really dedicates a lot of time to doing it, and I really think that it shows. He is doing an excellent job on it, and a lot of our supporters seem to think the same. He spends countless hours updating the site, and trying to add to it on a daily basis. I was even shocked when I saw it. Not at all to doubt his ability to do a good job, but I was really surprised when I first saw how it looked. Now it’s good because a lot of the fans go there, post questions to us, and we are able to talk with them more, and get feedback from them directly.

What do you think of the current condition of metal in the U.S.? Where can you find the best metal scene in the world, according to your opinion?
Mike: I think that over in Europe the scene  is a lot better. The people there seem very dedicated to metal. They play real metal on the radio stations, and even on MTV. That is something that you hardly ever see in the US. All that they play here is trendy rap rock now. Don’t get me wrong. The U.S. does have a lot of dedicated metal fans, just not the extent as other places.

Are you able to put enough energy in the band? Do you also have a regular job besides the band?
Mike: I have to have another job besides the band. A lot of people think that just because you are in a band and you tour that you are rich or something. With Death Metal that is sadly not the case. It just simply doesn’t pay the bills. Especially because I live in New York, and the cost of living is so damn expensive. I would love the day though that I could sleep late, and just hang out and do what I want, and know that my music is paying all the bills, but I just don’t see that happening any time soon.

Your 5 all-time favorite albums and your 5 favorite new releases?
Mike: 5 all time favorite albums are: Iron Maiden – Powerslave, Slayer – Reign in Blood, Grave – You will never see, Entombed – Left hand path, and Gorguts – Considered dead. As far as new albums this year the new Iron Maiden, Vader, Krisiun, and King Diamond.

Are you still in contact with many of the former Incantation members?
John: Some of the former members I’m in contact with, I’m always interested in what they are up to because they are like my brother. And there will always be a connection!

Do you follow the new bands entering the scene? What new bands do you really like?
John: yes, I follow the scene as much as I can, I’m pretty busy but I do what I can! One of my favorite newer bands is Migauss from Greensburg, PA. Also Kyle is doing a side project featuring Lord Ahriman (Dark Funeral) – Rhythm Guitar, Vincent Crowley ( Acheron) Bass and vocals, Ricktor Ravensbruck (Electric Hellfire Club) – Lead Guitar and Thomas Thorn (Electric Hellfire Club) – Keyboards and Samples. Wolfen Society recorded their debut EP called ‘Conquer Divine’ in September.

Your final thought…
Thanks a lot to all of our fans. We hope to be in Europe early next year. You can find out what is going on with the band, tour dates, merchandise, etc at our website at www.Incantation.com. Thanks for all of your support and we hope to see you all on the road! Hail the goat!

Incantation

Information

We have 13 articles: 10 reviews and 3 interviews.

Publications

Reviews

Interviews