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Malevolent Creation – “We don’t get annoyed with each other”

malevolent creation – “we don’t get annoyed with each other”

Info

Negotiations during wars are always difficult. Phil should know that as he is very interested and knows alot of wars in general. After hearing “Warkult” I decided to kidnap Dave Culross. As Phil was very happy with the return of his sergeant behind the drum kit, he was willing to do anything to get him back. Ofcourse…I’m no rookie and demanded a ransom which was “Answering some questions”…

Ninth album and still going strong…..Where several bandmembers getting annoyed with eachother after 2 albums and split up you guys are like an undestructable warmachine. What is the MC secret and were there times that you thought “man, I’m quitting this band!”?
No secret really, we don’t get annoyed with each other.  We all have our own lives and don’t see each other that often. When we get together to write music and record is when we see the most of each other. Also touring brings us together and we have no problems with that either. The only thing that has annoyed us over all these years is the buisness part of the music industry. We are musicians and hate to be bothered with the buisness end of this, but it’s part of the job and can sometimes fuck band’s up. As for wanting to quit the band and put an end to it, there was one time after an European tour in 1997 for our “In Cold Blood” album where me and bassist/vocalist Jason Blachowicz had some major differences and resulted in a fist fight and me kicking his ass. We were friends for over 10 years when that happened and I was not proud of what I did. I knew when that tour was over he was going to quit and I wanted to as well. Guitarist Rob Barret talked me out of putting an end to MC because he had just quit Cannibal Corpse to rejoin MC and he was pissed. So we talked and did what we needed to do to keep MC alive and I am glad we did.

You see “Warkult” as a history of war with your music behind it. Can you tell us more about this? And your vision behind the cover? Who’s idea is it? Statisfied with it?
Everything we have ever recorded since our 1987 demo tape has had songs tied to war themes and stories. We just decided to make the new album completely about the history of war over the years. We are all really into the history of war so it only made sence and is an easy topic to cover mant death related issues. War = Death!!!! We had a few problems with the artwork for the new album because we didn’t want to piss anyone off so we kept it pretty simple for the cover artwork. The cd. booklet is a bit more detailed and we are happy with it. It was done by Mircea Gabriel Eftemie from the band Mnemic from Denmark. It was his idea after sending him the song titles for WARKULT.

Starting with “Dead March” and ending with “Shock and Awe” my vision on “Warkult” is that you have chosen for a more “pounding” feeling than “blasting all the way”. It sounds heavier. Comparing it with “The Will to Kill”…what’s your vision and how do you look at “Warkult” right now after some months of recording?
Yeah, we definately wanted this album to be heavier and we made an effort to have heavier slower sections. The album is still fast as hell but there is a lot of variety as far as tempo’s and drum beats are concerned. Speed rules and will always be a major part of our sound but it does get boring just playing fast. We just like to mix it up to make it interesting for us and the listener. We have our grind band Hate Plow to unload full on speed (new album out by the end of the year hopefully). We’re happy with the new album since we recorded it and are looking forward to recording another one next year.

I’ve read and heard that alot of people have to give “Warkult” some spins before they can say that it’s a typical MC album. Almost all say that they didn’t have this with “The Will to Kill”. As creator of both albums….can you understand this? Have you heard this too from people that are close to the band?
I don’t really understand the question that well but I have only read 1 review of WARKULT so far and it was a 9.5 out of 10 from Tartarean Desire Webzine from Sweden, so they seemed to like it. I have played it for my friends and they all seem to like it a lot and say it’s a lot easier to get into. I don’t think it is a typical album for us because we wanted to make sure the songs all sounded different from each other and I believe we have done that but after listening to it you know it is Malevolent Creation.

Well, the question was about the difference between “The Will to Kill” and “Warkult”. I’ve read and heard alot of comments like “The will to Kill is a direct fist in your face…and “Warkult” need some spins”. 

Nice to hear a Hobbs Angel of Death cover! I’ve read that you have chosen that Australian thrash band because the style was similiar with your first demos. First you wanted to record Hobbs Angel Of Death’s song “Crucifixion” from their debut album in 1988. Why changed it into “Jack the Ripper”? And tell us more about the Leviathan song you wanted to record?
Glad you like the Hobbs cover song. That debut album is a classic for me. I bought it on vinyl when it first came out because I had heard 2 songs from a compilation album called “Scream Your Brains Out” which featured my friends band Leviathan from Buffalo,NY. Hobbs sounded Slayerish just like Malevolent Creation (and Leviathan) so I liked them as soon as I heard them. When their debut album came out in 87 I loved it and always wanted to do a cover song from that album. Well it finally happened all these years later and we chose to record “Jack The Ripper” because we thought it was the one that most resembled the MC sound and had the best riffs. Actually Peter Hobbs suggested we record the song “Crucifixion” but we went and did “Jack The Ripper”; I hope he’s not pissed!!! I just sent him a copy of our new album and I’m waiting to hear what he thinks. I hope he likes it and thinks we did justice to one of his song’s.

MC and drummers. Yes sir, an issue that is quite funny as you have and had individuals on that spot that have a reputation. A good reputation that is. Dave Culross, Tony Laureano and Derek Roddy are drummers who are considered as high quality. How is it possible that MC can recruit 3 good drummers where others almost quit because they can’t find a suitable drummer? Which other drummer would you like to jam with and record a song? Dave Lombardo…or Gene Hoglan maybe?
Fortunately Derek and Tony are friends off ours and live close to us and have played with us in the past but Dave is the man for MC. I love jamming with Dave,everything comes very naturally with him and is very easy to work with. Tony and Derek are definately some power house drummers but they both have there own bands and are busy with that, hopefully our drum problems are over, it’s becoming a real pain in the ass for me. As for jamming with any other drummers it would definately be the 2 drummers you just mentioned. Gene Hoglan and Dave Lombardo have influenced me massively as a guitarist and without the existence of Dark Angel and Slayer there would be no Malevolent Creation. Both bands have made a huge impact on me when MC formed in 86-87. I’m sure you can still hear there influence in our music even today.

Any plans in the near future? You come to Europe for a tour…but you are also busy with a live album and a DVD. And talking about DVDs…you’re not that happy with the DVD released by Metal Mind Records aren’t you? And what about Hateplow?
Yeah the Metal Mind dvd is a bootleg and is total shit. It is being sold illegally and they should not be involved in the metal scene. We are working on putting together a dvd right now and we recorded a live album in Brasil 6 month’s ago but I’m not sure how we are going to release it just yet. Hate Plow is still alive and if we have some free time this year we are going to record a 3rd album of pure speed. We are playing some festivals in June in Europe but I think that will be it for Europe this year. We are going to try and do some touring in the US and will be doing a South American Tour in November. We’re waiting to see what the future brings for WARKULT. We Will See!!!

Thanx alot for doing this interview, if you would like to promote “Warkult” even more… last words
No problem, thank you and hope you enjoyed our new release. Warkult will be released June 28th in europe and everywhere else sometime in July. Check our website for tour dates and news and get out there and steal yourself a copy of our new album WARKULT !!!!
Phil Fasciana