DISKORD interview 2007

If I mention Norway you probably think you’re going to read an intie about a black metal band or something pagan/Viking or whatever cheesy stuff. Let me introduce yourself to DISKORD which plays death fucking metal! Deeply rooted in the 90’s death metal wave, DISKORD incorporates elements from 70’s heavy/rock/doom influences. If some old acts also switch to a kind of death n’ roll with more or less success, I can guaranty that DISKORD keeps its death metal strong with twisted and quite technical riffs and the combination with rock elements is just amazing. Interview with Hans Jørgen Ersvik (drums of doom).

-Hi Hans Jørgen, how are you, dude? I can’t believe that I am doing an interview of a Norvegian death metal band! Just kidding man! Some people, especially the youngest, may don’t know that Norway got death metal act like early DARKTHRONE, THOU SHALT SUFFER, CADAVER, etc…before the black metal wave. Where you a black metal adept at its very beginning?
Hi Jim and readers of Putrefactive Effect, how are you? Finally there’s a bit of summer in this godforsaken Northern hell, so I’m feeling fine right now, thanks! It’s true like you say, back in the late 80’s, early 90’s, death metal was really on the rise in all the Nordic countries. The Norwegian bands sounded somewhat similar to those of the Finnish scene (DEMILICH, XYSMA, DEMIGOD, NECROPSY, ABHORRENCE, CONVULSE, PHLEGETHON, VOMITURITION, early AMORPHIS etc.), namely more doomy and less melodic than their more well-known Swedish contemporaries. Many decent bands never left the demo stage, like THOU SHALT SUFFER, THYABHORRENT, OLD FUNERAL, MORTEM, BALVAZ, AMPUTATION, while bands like CADAVER and DARKTHRONE (before they moved on to black metal) went on to release great albums. DARKTHRONE’s ‘Soulside journey’ is one of the best death metal albums out there, in my opinion. I myself was a death metal kid in the early 90’s. I never was a part of the black metal scene. My bus used to pass by the infamous ‘Helvete’ shop, but I never went in, he-he. By the way, today there’s a bakery there called ‘Our Daily Bread’, so going from one biblical term to another, huh?

-OK, let’s focus on your band DISKORD which can be considered as “your creature”, right? Can you tell us the story of DISKORD which seemed to be a meeting of three lunatics? Did you meet at psychiatric hospital?
Oh no, DISKORD is not my “creature” at all! I do the main vocals in addition to the drums, but we all contribute to the music. It’s a very democratic band, so to say. One of our biggest assets, the way I see it, is that we are three individuals coming together with three partly different, partly coherent views on what good music should sound like. We started the band in ’99 with me on drums, Eyvind on bass (still there!), and Chris/Channard on guitars. Chris is now in scum-death metal-punk band LOBOTOMIZED, and our new guitar player of 2007 is Espen from NOPLACETOHIDE, cross-over noise band KILLL and various other projects.

-When I got your first album “Doomscapes”, looking at the cover I was wondering “what is that?” I didn’t expect this particular death metal. I put the CD in my stereo, listened to the first track with care and in fact I sat down and listened to the whole album without doing anything else. I was talking to myself (was I becoming crazy?) and wonder how can someone can create this piece of weirdness? Is this aim at creating this twisted, technical and old school death metal, a clear aspect of the band at the beginning?
He-he, it’s good when music enchants you to actually sit down and listen to it. If it’s only for vacuumcleaning, then who cares? When we started up we definitely didn’t sit down and say ‘We are going to start a progressive yet old school death metal band’. We just jammed out songs from bands like AUTOPSY, DEATH, ASPHYX, and as we started to make our own stuff, it was natural to bring in elements of the last decade and other genres as well. Sounding as if 1990, being ‘just’ another retro band never crossed our minds.

-How is the feedback about DISKORD music? It’s barely impossible to be insensitive towards this maze of twisted tracks but isn’t it hard to get attention in a land where mostly black metal and alike prevail? In other terms how is the response towards your music in Norway?
Black metal for sure is THE thing here in Norway, then you have black thrash, then you have thrash metal. But the last few years there has been a new rise of death metal bands, so hopefully this will change. Check out bands like ABOMINAT, GROTESQUE HYSTERECTOMY, OBLITERATION (great band with debut CD out on Peaceville now), LOBOTOMIZED, EXECRATION. I would say the Norwegian crowd has been very kind to us. Lately we played two shows with more than 150 people here in tiny Oslo. One of them we supported cross-over band SHE SAID DESTROY (debut CD on Candlelight), and the other we headlined.

-“Doomscapes” is a gathering of old school death metal like AUTOPSY, ENTOMBED, PUNGENT STENCH, DISHARMONIC ORCHESTRA with some old heavy metal like BLACK SABBATH and even some 70’s rock influences especially with the use of wha-wha pedal. At least I have all these things in mind when I listen your album. Did my description can give an idea to the readers of what you’re playing or am I totally wrong or restrictive? Your comments.
Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes! Those bands have been very influential to us. I think I own pretty much everything from the four first bands you mention in my record collection. But there are so many others that have inspired me as well, early GORGUTS, early IMMOLATION, early ATROCITY (Germany) - pretty much everything ‘early’! When you mention BLACK SABBATH, I wouldn’t say no, but I’d also mention death metal bands with doomy parts or sounds, like ASPHYX, DISEMBOWELMENT, WINTER, MAGUS, NUCLEAR DEATH, IMMORTAL FATE, and so on. I’m the most narrow-minded in the band, only death metal, grindcore and goregrind for me. The other guys listen to pretty much everything from death metal to PANTERA, MESHUGGAH, indiepop, doom, raw punk, noise, you name it.

-Did the actual stoner/heavy/doom scene have an impact on DISKORD in any other way: BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, DOWN, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY and the use and abuses of weed and whiskey maybe?
There is no doubt you will find a lot of connections with doom in our music, we play doomy death metal (hey man, its called DEATH metal, how can anyone play it differently??) with some slow parts and dissonant tones, our guitar sound is warmer, less razor sharp than most metal bands, and we employ the wha-wha guitar pedal. I would say we are indirectly connected to the doom scene, because some of the bands that inspire us, like AUTOPSY, were inspired by doom bands like TROUBLE. None of us are particularly big weed smokers or whiskey drinkers, I guess. Espen is a doom fan though, this weekend we had a few beers in his place and tormented his neighbours with stuff like SLEEP and YOB on volume 11.

-Some bands who were completely death metal at their beginnings like CONVULSE, DISGRACE or ENTOMBED for example, slowly moved into a death/rock style with more or less success. Is this an orientation you would follow with DISKORD? I would hardly imagine DISKORD without its death metal roots. Are there boundaries you wouldn’t go over?
Yes, why the hell was that? The whole Finnish scene went into the death rock style. ENTOMBED got away with it nicely with the ‘Wolverine Blues’ album, I think. I guess it’s natural if you’re tired of the style you play in. We’ve been into death metal since the early 90’s, so I hardly can imagine we will turn our back to it. DISKORD is more about being open to different inputs, that’s all.

-The 8th track of “Doomscapes” called “Pervasive discreteness” really stands out from other tracks. I mean, it’s the only one which is not extreme, musically speaking of course. Call me crazy but it reminds me a song from THE MELVINS!!! Why did you include such an intermezzo, which is not so discreet, referring to the title?
The track you mention is written by Eyvind. I am not sure if he is a MELVINS fan, but I wouldn’t exclude the thought. Actually it’s ‘discrete’, not ‘discreet’, he-he.

-You recorded other stuff before which are Demo 2001, “Aural Abjection” demo 2003 and a 7”EP “HDFH” in 2005. How does this material sound compared to “Doomscapes”?
I would say each release is a brickstone to our distinct sound of today. ‘Demo 2001’ was fairly crude stuff, but ‘Aural Abjection’ is a half an hour long demo with some quite nice stuff on it. Our 7” EP has two cool songs, too bad we didn’t make it longer.

-DISKORD has performed more than 20 gigs in Norway, sharing the stage with WATAIN, ZYKLON, DISIPLIN and CADAVER. What were the reactions towards your freaky music? I wished I was here to see the reaction of WATAIN fans watching your performance. They certainly felt confused, didn’t they?
Certainly it felt natural to share the stage with CADAVER (R.I.P.), and I guess the other gigs came quite natural because the Norwegian crowd know us. The WATAIN gig was set up by Tommy of Worship Him Records (cool label), but WATAIN wasn’t yet the ‘talk of the town’ like they are today, I guess. I don’t mean to bad-mouth the WATAIN guys, but I have to tell you a funny story. Norway is usually fairly mild during the summer, but this particular day of the year it was really hot, probably nearly 35 degress Celsius. We got a ride with the WATAIN van to pick up some equipment before the gig, and there was this lurking smell of old unwashed crotch in the car. It turned out the WATAIN crew had set off all the way from Stockholm with an open 10 litre bucket of their trademark pig’s blood, probably unsuspecting of the hot day to come. You can imagine the smell!

-Hans, you also heading a small label/distro called “No Posers Please” where you distribute 7”EP and fanzines, and you have released lately bands like ABOMINAT, ENDWARFMENT and LOBOTOMIZED. Can you introduce us to these bands and how they sound like? How everything started about “No Posers..”?
No Posers Please! is indeed my small label. I call it “DIY” because at least so far I play in half of the bands released (DISKORD and ENDWARFMENT). The first release was the DISKORD - ‘hdfh’ EP, which was a collaberation between No Posers Please!, UK/US webzine Nocturnal Cult, and US cross-over label Vendlus Records. By the way, it’s still available from www.nocturnalcult.com, send Brad an e-mail. All the bands released so far are Norwegian, ABOMINAT is a death metal band which could be called SUFFOCATION worship (but they get away with it), LOBOTOMIZED is Chris’ death metal/scum punk band, and ENDWARFMENT is (was) pure grindcore in the vein of early NAPALM DEATH. My aim is to release old school death metal, old school grindcore, and old school goregrind. Grindcore and goregrind are both practically non-existing here in Norway, so I guess it’s an uphill battle. My next planned releases are a REGURGITATE/DEAD INFECTION split and a LOOKING FOR AN ANSWER/INSECT WARFARE split. Check out www.noposersplease.com. Espen also runs a label called Entartete Musik at www.entartetemusik.com, where he has released such stuff as NOPLACETOHIDE vinyls and an EXECRATION CD.

-You actually only release 7”EP. Is it a way to piss some internet music downloaders off? Will you release one day LPs, Tapes or CDs? Blood Harvest Records from Sweden also has a similar releases policy. What do you think about DIY labels releasing Tapes and CDR stuff?
Actually I am not that big enemy of downloading. I find the CD worse, such a dull piece of plastic. Of course it’s annoying to see the DISKORD album available on the internet, but what can you expect when it’s only released on CD, a format not much different from a bunch of files? I really admire the balls of bands like SKITSYSTEM, who have made practically their entire discography available online. One day maybe I will release LP’s as well, who knows? My label is just a small contribution to the scene, it’s not my new line of work, you know. Blood Harvest is a great label, I admire his ability to dig up cool new old school death metal bands. Surely a future cult label. DIY = yes, please! “You say our music is fucked, but what about yours ? At least we are creative, autonomous and more” (AGATHOCLES).

-Tell us how things are doing about “No posers…”, did you experienced some bad times? Did you have regular buyers getting in touch with you? Do you think it’s worth doing such an activity today? Do you witness a drastic change in the today underground?
I wouldn’t say bad times, but sales are going a bit slower than I had hoped. The domestic market is small here in Norway, so I have to give it some time, I guess. Also, it is somewhat difficult to expand my distro stock to the extent that I would like, because a lot of labels don’t bother to answer my e-mails for a trade. But still it’s a nice hobby. A lot of my customers are people who run labels and play in bands themselves. Sometimes I feel like the underground community is very small, just a handful of people who buy stuff from each other back and forth, he-he.

-Another good point about your distro is the fanzines distribution. Are you conscious that more and more people read webzines and don’t give a shit about paper zines, so in a sense, your run the risk of losing some money and accumulating an amount of zines?
What are the latest zines that kick you ass?
Correct, my sales figures for printmags are abominable, he-he. Webzines are a good place for news and stuff like that, but for in-depth interviews and some real musical inspiration I turn to printmags. The last zine I really enjoyed was Cerberus from Finland. Their in-depth interviews with bands such as KAAMOS, NOMINON, DR. SHRINKER and DEMILICH, combined with great layout and artwork just blew me through the roof. Too bad the current issue was the last. Deadly Illness from Hungary is a cute A5 size homemade xerox zine which is fairly new and still active. Contact: http://www.myspace.com/deadlyillness

-Let me know what are the latest releases you used to listen to? What did impress you recently? OBLITERATION - ‘Perpetual Decay’ CD, DEAD INFECTION - ‘Start human slaughter’ LP, REPUGNANT - ‘Epitome Of Darkness’ (LP soon!), MACHETAZO - ‘Ultratumba’ CD, CRETIN - ‘Freakery’ LP, DARKTHRONE - ‘The Cult Is Alive’ LP, NASUM - ‘Grind Finale’ 4LP, FRIGHTMARE - ‘Midnight Murder Mania’ finally on LP, LOBOTOMIZED - ‘Norwegian trash’ (yet unreleased album, hopefully out soon on Last House On The Right), CYNESS - ‘Our Funeral Oration For The Human Race’ LP.

-I feel I ask everything. Did I forget to ask you anything? Maybe about your future plans, releases, tours or whatever?
Hopefully there will be a New DISKORD album early next year, we have slowly started the process of writing new material, but we don’t have a deal for more than our debut album, so we’ll see. For now please check out our debut CD ‘Doomscapes’. It was released by Edgerunner Music through VME (Voices Music Entertainment). You can also buy it from us at www.diskord.net. Samples at www.myspace.com/diskordnorway.

-This is all for today, Hans. I would like to thank you for your time. Good luck to you and your mates in DISKORD. Keep creating such weird but personal death metal like you did on “Doomscapes”. I invite you to conclude this interview before going back to the absurreality.
Cheers!
Thank you Jim, for including us in your nefarious underground depravities. “It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.”

Discography:
-Demo 2001 (Self released)
-Aural Abjection demo 2003 (Self released)
-HDFH 7”EP 2005 (Vendlus Records/ No Posers Please!)
-Doomscapes 2007 (Edgerunner Music)

YDIN interview 2007

Things went pretty simple; I like both YDIN’s demo so I send them this intie. These sociopaths really convinced me with their malignant brutal death metal. They sing in their native tongue but without understanding a single finnish word I just feel enough ferocity in their music to enjoy it and dare to say that YDIN is able to stab and please any bloody death metal freaks out there; now enter the morgue for a mutilating lesson.

-Hell-o all members of YDIN, how are you doing guys? What are you going to listen while answering this bloody interview? It’s time to introduce our readers to the musical “core” of YDIN, please sum up the band history.
Ahmis (guitar):
Hey, just came from rehearsals…going to open a tequila bottle and listen to some Finnish punk band called “Puhelinkoppi” (phone booth)…
Ydin philosophy is that when you think about the sickest things in the world –
you find out that the one of those things is a human mind, the human's core (ydin). Sick, twisted and brutal sides of mind. These things Ydin creates in music and lyrics.
About the history of Ydin, it was year 2003 when Kangas was gathering some musicians from Ylivieska…and lineup was found almost in a couple days.
Our musical direction was crystal clear from the very beginning – fucking brutal and raw death metal sung in Finnish.
Well, we trained like maniacs and soon we had 5 tracks ready for the Verityöt (blood works)
and the recordings started in year 2004 in Coffin-studios that was operated by Löytynoja.
Silvottuna ja häpäistynä (Mutilated and dishonoured) recordings started in February 2005 and after we finished the recordings, Löytynoja decided to leave his drummer position in Ydin.
Kuusisalo joined Ydin in August 2005 and nowadays Ydin is more ruthless than ever.
That´s about it - our history in shorter version...
Kangas (guitar):
Hi. Nothing more to say about our history. I´m listening a new Watain album and drinking coffee. Basic shitty ordinary evening.
Kuusisalo (drums):
Hey. At the moment I'm listening “Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas” by Origin. Ahmis already told the history so...

-I discovered your band through an ad you put on “Voices from the Darkside” webzine’s forum promoting your last material. How has been the response towards YDIN’s music so far? I guess you have more feedback coming from Finland actually, right?
Ahmis:
Feedback has been very good and surprisingly it has been better from the foreign zines.
That shows that there is no problem with language barrier and there is a demand for us.
I have promoted Ydin almost every place, hopefully you aren’t the only one who finds or contacts us.

-YDIN is a very young band but did the members have others bands before or do they have other bands/side projects today? Why do you choose to play death metal? What are the elements you find attractive about death metal?
Ahmis:
Somewhere in 1995 I got my first bass guitar and joined to punk band, not sure when it broke up and my bassist career ended also…. my first metal band called Malignus was formed in 1997 and nowadays I have second band called Teardown – it’s very different kind of metal than Ydin…but that is why it’s interesting. I like to write/play many kind of music, but death metal is surely my main genre after all, I like its honest brutality.
Kuusisalo:
I’ve had few bands in the past but none of them really achieved anything so they aren’t really worth of mentioning. At the moment I play in two bands, Ydin and another band called Fatal
Sound Project which is also some kind of death metal I guess but not nearly as brutal or dark as Ydin. It’s more melodic and so on.
Kangas:
Main thing that I like in death metal is the crushing and suffocating feeling that it brings. It is just so ruthless. Every member has some playing experience in bands before Ydin, which is very good thing. I´m playing also bass in a metal/rock band beside Ydin.

-Listening to “Silvottuna ja hapaistyna”, I would describe it as brutal and raw death metal with black metal touches (because of some riffs and some raging dark atmospheres). Is black metal a conscious influence and do you have any interest in this style? A song like “Verivaltias” is close to black/death metal stuff like for example ANGEL CORPSE.
Kangas:
It is not any considered thing that “lets put some black riffs here and death riffs there...” Riffs just come from our twisted minds and if some riff does not work it will be modified or replaced with some better. New songs will continue quite same line that Silvottuna ja Häpäistynä.
Kuusisalo:
I guess we all have listened to black metal pretty much so it’s natural that you can hear it in our music. Some people seem to dislike our black metal influences but I think it's only good because it brings more variety into our songs.

-As said previously, YDIN unleashes death metal with a particular
sombre and suffocating vibe. How do you manage to make us feel your evil intents? The alternation of guttural vocals and screams ones are also enforcing these feelings. What makes you create those sick and disgusting tracks?
Ahmis:
In my opinion, a range of thoughts must be in anger and disgust, these elements are present in every day life, then you don’t have to try to make vicious music, it comes naturally from you. A discontent should be present in everyone’s life, it pushes you to develop things - if you are satisfied – you stay on your own false loop and stay there.
So what makes me to do this? – Anger, ambish.

-Is there a label that would fit to YDIN’s brutal music and imagery? Do you feel close to this wave of ultra brutal US bands spread by labels as Unique Leader or Unmatched Brutality? According to you, how a band shall act to get apart from the numerous death metal bands of today?
Kuusisalo:
I haven’t really thought of any label that would or wouldn’t fit to our music but I guess it’s pretty obvious that it has to be a label that spreads extreme metal. I don’t think we are really close to those really brutal bands music because after all, we have pretty many different “wibes” in our music. Not only full speed blast beats all the time etc. I'm not saying that there's something wrong with the bands that do that (I listen that kind of bands too) but that isn't “our cup of tee”.

-I guess horror movies are a creative fuel for YDIN members. Do you see the “Saw” movies where a diseased man punishes people he considers not appreciating life as it must be? I think YDIN tracks would have been nice soundtracks for these movies? Are there Finnish horror movie makers who released sick shit?
Ahmis:
Yeah, I have seen those Saw movies and those were quite good, very cool ideas.
From my childhood, I have loved horror movies. Nightmare in Elm Street is one of my favourites…so perhaps it can be said that horror movies have influenced me because I have grown up with those.
We had in one gig this so called “ MassacreMedia “ that contained war and horror movie shit build in quite mind blowing form, it worked very well aside with our music so perhaps we use it again in the future.
Sadly I don’t know any horror movie makers here in Finland but I am sure there is many.
Kangas:
Saw movies are great. Haven’t seen the third one yet but I wait a lot about it. Horror movies in generally are great because the atmosphere is so good. Evil Dead is one of my all time favourites.
-YDIN lyrics are sung in Finnish and give a particular touch to the band; it strengthens the aggressiveness. Was it an aim to take distances with other Finnish bands? Did you try to sing your actual songs in English just to hear if it could sound different or better?
Ahmis:
We haven’t wrote any songs in English or tested how it would sound like.
It isn’t impossible idea that we would someday write material in English but so far there hasn’t been any reason to do so.
As I said, it was a natural choice to sing in Finnish and it felt right thing for us all, if a bad makes this kind or any kind of decision based to something like
“we want to be different that you guys…” – it would be false start even to make music in my opinion.
-Finland has always been a nest of talented death metal bands like DEMILICH, DEMIGOD, FUNEBRE, DEPRAVITY, ADRAMELECH, etc… The actual death metal scene is promising as well with bands like yours, NERLICH, TORTURE KILLER, STENCH OF DECAY, DEEP RED, SLUGATHOR, etc… Do you have any contacts with the bands mentioned? Can you name some more talented you would recommend?
Ahmis:
We live in the middle of nowhere so it means generally that we don’t have any contacts.
Surely it would help to know right peoples, for example it’s almost impossible to get gigs around this area or nearby…but when we will get Ydin to the position we want, it will be sweeter accomplishment than anything.
Band called Incarnate is one great act from Finland, you should check them out.
Kuusisalo:
I think that a band called Fornjotr is really going to get far with their music. They are really young and they are playing pretty brutal and technical death metal and I really recommend all to check them.

-Talking about 90’s Finnish death metal wave, one can notice that very few acts kept playing death metal but evolved in weird or non-metal orientation like SENTENCED, CONVULSE, DEMIGOD, XYSMA or DISGRACE. What do you think about those bands and their nowadays musical orientation? A band like ADRAMELECH kept playing pure death metal. Do you like their shit? How do you think YDIN will evolve with the years?
Ahmis:
Ydin will stay in death metal for sure. I don’t judge the decisions of those bands that have chanced their ways, but surely I respect more those kinds of bands like Adramelech or anyone who believes in what they are doing and keep their flag high.
I believe that Ydin will develop more and more after every release, it cannot be said in this point what kind of changes there will be but in death we stay.
Kuusisalo:
Like Ahmis said, we don’t want to limit our music really but I also think that because we started to play death metal, it shall also be that in the future. Nothing against those bands you mentioned. Everyone is allowed to choose their own styles like they want.

-Metal is very popular in Finland and it’s not rare that some bands reach the charts or play at national contests as witnessed recently, if you see what I mean. What’s your view on this? Don’t you consider metal as a restricted and underground thing which is something that shall scare or repulse “normal” people? What’s your opinion in the way that metal becoming more and more mainstream?
Ahmis:
Thing is that there might be more opportunities now for bands because metal music has grown popular – but that haven’t brought us anything. If talking about mainstream metal, you can always choose not to take part to that “carnival”, so I don’t give a shit if there is a mainstream or not, important is that you know your place and what is for you…
Kangas:
I think that heavy boom in Finland has grown too big. Metal is so fucking cool thing that everyone “loves” it and shows devil horns in magazines and in television. I think that the boom will go away in few years or at least I hope so. Good thing about popularity is that there are a lot of good gigs.

-Can you tell us about YDIN and gigs? How many of them did you perform? With which bands do you hare the stage? Have you had some memorable moments (bad or good) you would share with our readers?
Kangas:
We have done only few gigs so far. The reason for that is that we live in a small city in the middle of nowhere and our music is too brutal for local gig places. And another thing is that we don’t have contacts to the right people.
In the next week we will throw our third gig and I hope it will beat the shit off from the audience. There is nothing special to mention about our gigs so far. First we throw a gig as good as possible and then drink a lot of alcohol.
Ahmis:
We have played our gigs in band events with many kind of bands.
Hopefully we will get more chances to play live in future when we’ll release new material and people will start to know us, we sure are ready.

-YDIN is currently working on new material to release an EP, right? In which format will this stuff be released? How many tracks are there? What can you say about them compared to your previous demo-tracks?
Kuusisalo:
We’re not sure about the format yet but maybe something more “professional” than CD-R but like I said, not sure yet. It will contain five tracks that in my opinion are stronger than the old songs. The new ones are more crushing but they still have really dark atmospheres at some points.
Ahmis:
The drums have been recorded to five tracks in this point and soon we start to record rest of instruments and vocals.
Material is more furious, cold and sharp than our latest releases for sure, I have been eager to record and release new songs with Kuusisalo, his drumming skills have brought more power to Ydin and of course we all have developed with our instruments.

-Beside YDIN, do you have any other activities (musical or not)? Has your drummer any training to keep healthy as he plays intense drumming?
Ahmis:
I do some visual arts like CD layouts, web-design etc. I have made so far Ydin artworks and am planning to continue this way. More can be found in my personal websites (ahmis.com)
Beside that, I am keeping the fluid balance stabile with alcohol… Hahah!
Kuusisalo:
Training... well besides drumming, I try to drink a lot of beer to keep myself fit. Seriously, it would be a great help for my drumming if I had time to do something like running, biking etc. but because I’m so damn busy with my bands and studying, I don’t have time for that.
Kangas:
I like to walk in the woods with my shotgun. It is very relaxing.

-What’s your knowledge about my country? Do you have any contact with French bands, labels, zines and distro? How do Finnish people consider France and its president for example?
Kangas:
Well, something about France. Hmm, I think that we don’t have any contacts from there. Deathspell Omega comes from France and it is awesome. I remember the riots and immigrant problems in past years. I think that basic Finn don’t have any special image about your president and main thing about France what they think, is that it’s one of the biggest authors that effects in EU´s policy.

-I think I asked almost everything, so thanks for your time. Good luck with YDIN. If you wish to add anything, it’s time for final punishment.
Ahmis:
For those who don´t know us yet, go visit our website http://www.ydinband.com/, we offer all our releases for download etc.
Thanks for interview, cheers!

CHARNIER interview 2007

Really impressed I was when I heard the first demo of French CHARNIER. Not that it was absolute original death metal but the intensity of this brutal death outfit should occur some blasting promising outcoming stuff.
Here some words by this infernal trio with massive killing capacity.

1-Infernal greetings to you all in CHARNIER. Please, can you sum up the band history and introduce us to your first 2006 release “Eradication Massive”. Are you satisfied by this first carnage?
J’Hell’M : Hail to you !! The band started with the meeting of J’HellM (guitar/Vox) and Charognard (Drums) in November 2000. We began with thrash/death influenced songs, then after several changes of line up, we composed more death metal influenced stuffs…PK joined us in 2005 and we recorded our first demo in summer 2006. For a first try we can say that we are satisfied even if it’s not perfect..
PK : We are satisfied, but we know we can do something better next time, because we have learn a lot of things with the recording of this CD

2-Why do you play that kind of fast brutal death metal? I mean it’s quite uncommon in our nowadays French scene to perform such a style. How do you manage of not getting infected by metalcore or any modern metal crap some fucking greedy labels are displaying nowadays?
J’Hell’M : because we love it !! We’re a death metal band and we don’t want to play
Heavy death metal or so called modern metal. No clear vocals or female vocals in CHARNIER. Extreme music for extreme people !!
Charognard : What’s we like in that kind of fast brutal death metal, it’s that there is no compromise, and when you are listening to this, you feel rage. This rage is like our passion for this music. As you say, there is not a lot of french bands who perform an extreme music because metal bands prefer playing sweet and melodic metal. We’ll never be infected by this shit of metalcore and modern metal because we don’t make music for money!
PK : We play music we like, that’s all.

3-Do you know and like bands such as IMPERIAL SODOMY, DISASTER and KRONOS who play brutal death metal? Are you also into grindcore & grind/death? Do you feel close to these bands and styles?
J’Hell’M : I know IMPERIAL SODOMY and KRONOS and I like their work. We have a grind/death band called VAGINAL HOLOCAUST so we can say that we are close to this band and style more than melodic death metal scene.

4-“Eradication Massive” is an intense death metal demo with pounding drums. Did Charognard always have this style of drumming since the beginning of CHARNIER? Does he always have used triggered drums?
Charognard : At the beggining of CHARNIER, I wanted to play fast and brutal, but I wasn’t good enough. I played a few songs and I was tired. I have worked very hard in order to have this style of drumming and my progress encourage me to continue by this way. It’s the 1st time I use triggered sounds. But the drums were recorded with acoustic sounds. It has been triggered in studio during the mixing and I’m very happy with this pounding sound! It sounds like war and eradication!!!

5-CHARNIER remained a three pieces band. I think the adding of a 2nd guitarist unleashing some deadly guitar solos would make your music sicker. Do you agree with this? According to you which things can be improved in CHARNIER?
J’Hell’M : yes, I think you’re right, a second guitarist could bring more power and sickness in our music but infortunately we haven’t found him yet and believe me, we really try…
Charognard : Of course, a 2nd guitarist can improve our music but we’re looking for a serious guitarist for 6 years!
PK : We just need to find the good guy, that’s not easy.

6-Which bands do you feel close to musically speaking? I would name South American bands such as KRISIUN and ABHORRENCE, and US stuff like MORBID ANGEL (“Covenant”) and early DEEDS OF FLESH.
J’Hell’M : the bands you named have influenced us but we can add bands like VADER, LUCIFERION and many from European death metal scene
Charognard : KRISIUN, ABHORRENCE, MORBID ANGEL.

7-How do you intend to promote CHARNIER in the coming months? Will you focus only on the French scene or will try to get in touch with foreign countries by trading for example? How do you consider the use of internet towards promotion?
PK : We will play live concert as much as possible, we are interesting by foreign coutries too. An american journalist have recently contact us... we answer to any people from any countries, it’s very important to show that France have some great extreme metal bands!!!

8-All your lyrics are written in French. Never been interested in English ones? Is it a will of strengthening your identity? The vocals are done in the old school way; an aggressive but with an understandable manner. Very different from US brutal death metal with their gory voices. Can you comment this way of singing?
J’Hell’M : I write in French because it’s my language and I think it’s a powerful and aggressive language for extreme metal. So my English is too bad for good lyrics. For my vocals I’m more influenced by band like VADER than DISGORGE for example.

9-Don’t you fear that your extreme lyrics, your band name and the demo title can create some misunderstanding by narrow-minded people that can reduce death metal as Nazi shit? Have you ever faced censorship or local authorities because of CHARNIER extreme imagery? Some years ago, black metal had a bad reputation because of sulphurous gigs.
J’Hell’M : for the band name (Massgrave in English), I don’t know why people can reduced “massgrave” to the second world war events. From the beginning of the humanity mankind has created some massgrave in all the wars and even while the pest plague taken Europe in the middle age so it’s stupid to think that “massgrave” is a “nazi” word. We play extreme music so we write extreme lyrics that’s all. If people have some problem with that fact I don’t fucking care because that’s the way it is. They just have to listen sweet music with sugar lyrics not death metal or black metal!!
PK : We haven’t had any problems for the moment. We have no politics implication, and we don’t want it, we just play death metal, that’s all... if some people can’t understand that, it’s a good proof of their stupidity...

10-You are from “Les Bouches du Rhône » (13), how is the scene in your area actually? Which bands do you share the stage with and sound promising? Can you give us some infos about black metal band URIS ASTYR.
PK : There’s some great band here... ARTEFACT, MALLEFICUM ORGIA, NOT A BRAIN, and many more. But the problem of most of these bands is that they don’t see further than our region. MALLEFICUM ORGIA is an excellent band, and it’s one of the older french black metal band, but they are unknown out of our area... We recently share a stage with ANNIHILATION, it’s a good new band from Marseille, their music sounds good and they are very young, I think they will do a good stuff in future. URIS ASTYR is the band I come from before playing with CHARNIER, it’s a good symphonic black metal band which was created on 1997. I started to play with them on September 2004 and I have recently left the band because I have not the time for 2 bands, so I was obliged to make a choice... I have chosen CHARNIER because I have an intense feeling with this band... but it was a difficult choice, I love URIS ASTYR too, these 2 years passed with this band will stay in my mind forever...

11-Are you supported by local metalheads? Can you briefly talk about the “Bataillon Thrash” association? More widely, do have any interest in our death/black/thrash French scene?
PK : Yeah! Local metalheads support us, and we thanks them for that all the time we can! (this is one more!) Let’s hope that French metalheads will support us too! About Bataillon Thrash, they organize concerts and support the local bands, they done a good work.
Of course we have interest in metal french scene, I support and buy the CDs of many artist, we have a very good scene, I love bands like CARNIVAL IN COAL, MALADAPTIVE, STEREOXYDE, HEOL TELWEN, ANOREXIA NERVOSA, CRUSHING BLOW, and many more... All these bands could have a bigger succes if the french metalheads have a minimum of interest for french bands, I have heard that CRUSHING BLOW have sold more albums in Brasil than in France... isn’t it incredible?

12-You covered VADER‘s “Carnal” song. Do you like the actual musical orientation of VADER? Are there any other covers you have done in the past?
PK : I love their last album “impressions in blood”, it’s one of the best death metal album I have bought recently.
J’Hell’M : yes their last album is a killing album !! “Carnal” is the only cover song we have done for the moment.

13-Do you feel concerned by veteran bands; for example what do you think of latest releases of SLAYER “Christ Illusion” and DEICIDE “Stench of redemption”?
PK : “Christ illusion” is a good SLAYER’s album I think, but as strange as it can seem, I prefer “God Hates Us All”...
J’Hell’M : yeah it’s strange…”Christ illusion” is a good album but my favourite is still “Reign in blood” the latest DEICIDE album is one of the best they’ve done since many years I think.

14-Can you understand this so called crisis where labels complaining about download abuses and CD rips even though these same labels keep releasing dozens of albums every month with a certain amount of shit?
PK : I think someone who download and never buy CDs is not someone who will buy CDs anyway... before internet there was audio tapes... if someone want to copy a CD and don’t want to buy it, with or without internet he will find a solution to do it... For the other people (the most) downloading is just a way to listen an album before buying it. I think that true metal fans buy the CDs they like. So the downloading abuse is a false problem, and as you say, the day the labels will sell less shit, they will sell more CDs... But the problem is that the labels are the only ones who decide which band is shit and which band is not... Hope that one day, they will decide that we are not shit!

15-What are you listening to while answering my questions? Do you have any album to recommend to our readers?
Charognard : I’m listening to KRISIUN : Live Armageddon, Fucking Hell!!! You may listen to BENIGHTED. It’s a french brutal death band. Their last album is really excellent.
PK : KATAKLYSM “the arms of devastation”, KATATONIA “the great cold distance”, HEOL TELWEN “An diez ruz”, MALADAPTIVE “maladaptive”, VADER “impressions in blood”, DIR EN GREY “Agitated screams of maggots”, METALLICA “...and justice for all”... that’s the CDs I listen the more these last times.
J’Hell’M : I listen SUFFOCATION’s latest album….personally I recommend the first LUCIFERION album “Demonification – the manifest” which is for me a death metal cult album !!

16-I let you conclude this interview by talking about your projects for 2007. Thanks for your time. Keep it fucking brutal!
J’Hell’M : For 2007 we hope many shows everywhere in France and why not in foreign countries…we work for that. A second demo will surely be released with more songs in few months.
Thanks to you for the support!! And don’t forget that you’re welcome in the delicious world of CHARNIER!!
Stay brutal!!!

http://www.myspace.com/charnierdeathmetal

BANISHER interview 2007

-Hello Hubert, firstly I must say that your two demos blow me away, be it musically or sounding. The two demos “Sorrow of death” and “Human sacrifice” show a real mastery and awesome tracks composition. Can you tell us the story of BANISHER as well as your musical background which seems to be undeniably an important part of your musical activity?
- Hello, thanks for your opinion dude! Banisher was created in July 2005, in December we've recorded our first demo "Sorrow of Death", than we had a little break (high school, matura exam etc). After Summer Holiday we have recorded our first album, but we have released only a forerunner of that cd, which is "Human Sacrifice". You know, problems with money and of course we didn't like some parts, so we must re-record few tracks. we didn't want to release a nice album, haha, our debut must be a killer one! In the second half of 2007 we will finish full-length cd, the name of that album isn't known yet. About band members - in June 2006 our bass player left the band, so we had to find a new man for his place. Our team for today is Hubert Wiecek - guitar, Michal Wyrwa- guitar, Kuba Gawronski - vocal, Michal Such - drums and Bartek Kies on bass. About our musical background - we listen almost to every kind of music, the only condition is that it must be good. I listen mostly to jazz-rock, funk, fusion, classical, jazz-metal, technical metal and grind. I also like "instrumental onanists", haha

-It seems that BANISHER got hard times with line-up changes? Do you find a worthy bass player as you have used different session bassists on both demos?
-You cannot imagine how hard is to find a bass player who could play this stuff, haha. Finally, about month ago, our bass player has been found, his name is Bartek Kies. On both our cd's bass parts were recorded by Tomek Trzpis, by the way that guy played with us at the beginning. Tomek played in several bands from Rzeszow, and he knows how to play his instrument, so I knew who will record that stuff if we wouldn't find a bass player. Now we have a permanent bass player, so we shouldn't have problems

-When listening to your stuff some bands like CORONER, DEATH and ATHEIST come to mind. I also find similarities with Canadian bands like NEURAXIS, MARTYR or even GORGUTS. Do you agree with the brand “technical brutal death metal” that fits to BANISHER?
-I think that our style is something between the first group of bands you've mentioned and brutal technical bands like Cryptopsy, Suffocation, Dying Fetus etc. But we don't fit to any of the "brands" because we are to br00tal for the stricte "technical death metal" and not enough br00tal for "br00tal death metal", hahaha. we have really agressive vocals, fast and twisted guitar parts, but our drum parts are quite different than usual death metal bands. Maybe you have spotted, but we don't have blast beats, which for many of death metal bands would be a misunderstanding or even blasphemy hehe. We'd rather make broken-twisted drum parts, we use blast beats as short bridges haha

-Technical music like yours isn’t very widespread in Poland. I mean we usually find death and black metal, except BANISHER and SCEPTIC who are the few bands into this type of technical metal. Are there any other bands close to your style? Why do you choose a more elaborated music style?
-Thats why we chose to play music what we play, because nobody plays like that. Bands play fast and brutal or technical like Death, Nocturnus. In Poland it is really hard to find a band that could fit our style, you've mentioned Sceptic, but they are as I said "less brutal" hehe. There are/were only few bands that really impressed me - Yattering, Ingenium, Necropsy, Parricide, Decapitated and Redemptor. Besides, I don't listen to metal as much as I should, only our stuff on reh's and gigs hahaha!

-The second demo “human sacrifice” is in fact a promo EP whose aim is to get a deal with a label that should release you first album. Actually, do you have any proposals? Can you give us info about that upcoming release? What will be the title of the album and how many tracks will it contain?
-Unfortunately for us, 2 track EP was not enough to impress any label, if you want to sign papers you must have ready LP with cover art etc. This is the condition for every label in the world. It is sad, but it is true. Time when you were sending demos to big labels and signed contracts for first LP has gone. There are thousands of bands like us, better and worse that have the same situation. Sometimes I see a really shitty band, guys who cannot handle their instruments and those bands have signed contracts etc. This is so unjust... But you cannot give up, the only way to sign a label is poisoning their asses, maybe you will have some luck. Actually, we didn't send so much of this EP to labels, maybe 10-15. Soon we will make a massive spam to labels that responded when we were asking them if they're intrested. So maybe we will have luck

-The guitar sound on both demos is rather powerful and heavy. Which guitar tuning do you use on those records? What types of guitars do you handle? What do you think of 7 strings guitars used by neo metal but also by MORBID ANGEL or CANNIBAL CORPSE (Vile), and 8 strings guitars used by MESHUGGAH? Do you think those instruments are able to make disappear the actual 6 strings or that it’s a just a trend or maybe experiments?
-This is a very interesting subject... On Human Sacrifice we used a Hohner the Jack Proffesional guitar with Seymour Duncan SH4 pick-ups, tuning on the whole album is D exept intro where one guitar is a seven string Carvin DC 727 with standard tuning. We prefer the D tune, it is not too low and not too high, perfect for music that we are playing. This tune is low enough to sound heavy and brutal (see Deeds of Flesh) and isn't too low to have clear sound. What do I think about 7/8 string guitars? Hmm, First of all, to play those instruments you should play well on 6 strings, then you must have really great amp to sound really good. Also there is a diference between for example 6 string tuned to A and a 7 string tuned to A, the sound is kind of different. In my opinion, nobody should go lower than B, because when you're getting lower you are actually playing music in frequency which only whales and dolphins are able to hear, heheh. Besides that 7 string guitars are a good idea for experiments. Of course it depends also on kind of music you play - if your priority is heavy and low sound - why not? But are those low tuned bands really need to go so low? I liked Meshuggah much more when they were tuned to Bb( Destroy Erase Improove, Chaosphere).

-Regarding the actual metal scene, do you think that technical abilities are being more and more used and put forward? If so, can you tell us why? Do you think everyone can enjoy extremely technical bands such as BENEATH THE MASSACRE, NECROPHAGIST, CAPHARNAUM or PSYCROPTIC without getting bored?
-I think that people are getting bored listening to bands where actually nothing is happening. I really enjoy bands like Psyopus, BTM or Necrophagist, you listen to them and say - Duuude!! They are insane! Technical metal is getting more and more popular, bands know that in those days you will never get a high status band when your playing like bands in the 90's. I think that most of that well known BIG bands would never sign a label starting now instead of 15 years earlier. Some people just had luck to be born earlier, haha. I think that bands like Necrophagist, BTM, Spawn of Possession are the future of metal.

-Let’s deepen the previous question. Do you think today it’s possible to get amazed in terms of speed, technicality, brutality, etc…? Do you think it’s still possible to remain interesting with always going further?
-This is very hard thing to improve, but you see that it is possible. Of course it is not true that the faster/more brutal/technical you are that you are better. The band must have that "something" that will impress the listener. When you are playing as fast and brutal with no sense this will never be good. You must know the basic theory of making music, harmonies, pitches, scales, progressions and you must have talent. And luck. Or your uncle must be a boss in Sony or Roadrunner, hahaha. When you have that, success is a matter of time

-Music had always gone through barriers and many bands evolved deceiving some fans (and getting new ones); bands like ATHEIST “Elements”, PESTILENCE “Spheres” and GORGUTS “Obscura” & “From wisdom to hate”, CYNIC “Focus”, etc… all these bands released personal and adventurous albums at their time. What were your reactions when you first heard those freaky releases? Can BANISHER evolve with drastic changes or surprising new elements?
-I love all those albums, especially Cynic. Those bands where really important bands in history of music. I don't know how far Banisher could go with experiments, considering the fact that for almost 2 years I listen actually only to jazz-funk-fusion, new songs will be(are) very psycho-jazzy-progressive, hehe. But i think that when you establish that you are playing death metal or heavy or anything else, it is good to stay in those tunes. If you want to play different music, create another band. Of course you can't play the same for 40 years like AC/DC, hehe. Your music should improove, but drastic changes aren't good. When you put new suprising elements to your music, it shows that your band can evolve and you are good musicians. But when you push it up too far, it might go really bad for your band.

-In your biography it is written that you played gigs with SEQUOIA, MESS AGE, DEMETER, DEMISE and CLIMATE. Can you talk about those bands and especially SEQUOIA which is supposed to come from France but I don’t know them? What kind of music do they play?
-Sequoia is a French hardcore band. We were supporting them on our first concert a month after the band has been created. Bio on our website is actually year behind us, as far as now we also played with bands like Sceptic, Virgin Snatch, Thy Disease, we were playing on a big fest in Malbork with 20 other bands, also we had some gigs abroad in Slovakia and Czech Republic, where we are going to play much more abroad, concerts in those countries were fantastic! We would also like to play in Ukraine, Belarus, because in those countries there is lack of concerts and people are thirsty hearing some metal!

-You are a very young band but you released your first demo the same year of your creation. How many times do you rehearse a week? Do you really kill people with rehearsals? ah!ah!ah! What’s your everyday job?
-At the beginning we were playing every day about 4-8 hours/reh, now we cannot play as many rehearsals because we are studying in different cities. Now we are playing only before gigs, because we don't have time and conditions to play more. We count that on Summer holidays we will kill ourselves with every day rehearsals, haha! Of course, every member of our band is practicing( I think so, I am) their own instruments, so we won't get out of fit.

-Out of the metal sphere, do some members of BANISHER have interests in other musical styles? Do they play in some non-metal bands as well? Does it give you fresh idea when composing/rehearsing new stuff for BANISHER?
-As I said before, we are interested in many kinds of music. Very often on rehearsals we play quite different things like jazz, fusion funky stuff, even popular Polish songs, game stuff etc. I don't remember that one of us is playing in other band, maybe this is good because nobody shares time for other band. But I would really like to join other non metal band, especially a big one, heheh. Fresh ideas come to Banisher from things that I listen at the moment - when I have some ideas, I just simply write them on my computer, if there are enough ideas I create a song. As an interesting thing I will say that most riffs on new songs are created with no guitar in my hand, I write songs in notes, heheh. This kind of writing has better and worse sides - you will never create crazy broken parts without writing them anywhere, programs are really helpfull, but sometimes you can write a riff wich is totally impossible to play. But at least I have something to practice, heheh

-According to you, what are the bands you are the most proud coming from Poland? What are the bands you consider the most representative from your country?
-I think that now no1 is Decapitated. Also we have Behemoth and Vader, which are killer on stage. We've had Yattering, they were my favorite band, but they have split up. Also we have many not well known bands that are really kiler - Parricide, Necropsy, Eskaton, Ingenium, Redemptor, Cremaster, Ketha, Esquarial, Vedonist and many more wich I do not remember at the moment.

-Do you keep yourself informed of what is released today in extreme metal? What has impressed you lately? Have you heard last SUFFOCATION album?
-I heard maybe one song on myspace, but I don't remember it, heheh. For today, in my brutal "top 5" 2007 is Psyopus, Beneath the Massacre, Martyr, Negativa and Despised Icon. Of course Necrophagist rules, Cryptopsy also, Dying Fetus, Cynic, Coprofago, Meshuggah, Psycroptic, Spawn of Possession and Suffocation. When i was younger I was buying all those metal zines and I was well informed about the metal scene, now I'm not really interested in it. Once a time someone gives me a link to a band wich is worth of listening and some of those bands are killer.

-Well Hubert, It’s over for today, I covered everything I think. Thanks for the answers, be sure I will wait for your first release. I let you conclude this chat. Cheers!
-Thanks for the interview, it was nice to talk, stay tuned for our debut album, also visit our myspace profile: www.myspace.com/banisher you can listen there to our demo and EP and find there always something new and interesting. Big thanks and see ya!

ENTHRALLMENT interview 2007

We all heard about South American scene or Asian scene being the most interesting, creative or uncompromised worldwide. Lately I discovered ENTHRALLMENT from Bulgaria that, even if not the most memorable band on earth, manage to create strong trendcrushing death metal that proves that eastern Europe scene is still there and able to explode if you give them a chance. Here are the words of Chris (guitar), prepare your skull to get smashed!

-Hello Chris, how are you? Let’s start this interview by introducing yourself and your band ENTHRALLMENT. We can distinguish two periods in your biography with many changes.
C: Hello brother and Happy New Year in first. Thanks, I’m ok! So, what to talk about me? I’m one of first extreme maniacs in our country Bulgaria. My first band (BLOODY DEATH) is from 1988. I have chance to play in best bands in our country (CORPSE, ODIUM, GRAVEWORM, etc.). In 1998 I and Ivo (also play with me in CORPSE) start one new band called ENTHRALLMENT. In first months we play only covers of bands like MORTA SKULD, AUTOPSY and others. To band we include other two guys – Yassen (vocals) and Simeon (bass). With this line-up we record and our demo “The Scarlet Difference”. Two record labels (Dark Mist Productions & Brutallica Records) street some copies worldwide and we got our first reviews. In 2001 we sign with biggest Bulgarian label Butchery Music for our mini “Burning Fields”. In great for this moment studio in our country “Max Sound” we record 4 tracks + 5 intros. To be honest with you, we never like this mini, but you know – contract. Have and one biggest period, when we change musicians (like DEATH ;)). From 2003 we stand and active live band. In 2006 we record and our first full length album called “Smashed Brain Collection”. The CD is released by Grindethic Records (UK) and Grotesque Prods. (Spain). Now after album release party, we play in great festivals and shows with acts like NAPALM DEATH, OBITUARY, SINISTER, DESTRUCTION, MYSTIC CIRCLE, etc.

-ENTHRALLMENT plays brutal death metal without compromises, reminding the US style, but listening carefully one can hear some old school influences like OBITUARY, DEICIDE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, BOLT THROWER, etc… What do you think of that succinct description? Which bands or scene do you feel close to?
C: I think that we mix the all extreme styles – Death, Grind and Gore and their old and new sounds. We don’t like bands, who play as machines, but like speed and technical parts. Of course, we are influents from bands like DEICIDE, DEATH, IMMOLATION and others. It will be fucking stupid to talk that we play total new death metal. No, we only mix the best of this style and I hope that the result is good.

-Your first album “Smashed brain collection” had just been unleashed few months ago through Grindethic Records and Grotesque Productions? How do you get in touch with them and does the deal go right? What are your expectations about those labels?
C: The offers from these two labels we receive in one week. Some time we talk what to deal, they sent us offers and we have choice – Grindethic or Grotesque. But we offer them to co-operated and now you have the final product out by two companies.

-You have recorded “Smashed brain collection” in your country in Marinov Sound Studio. How many days did it take to record it? Are you satisfied by the result? I think the kick drums sound could have been better with a thicker sound. Is Marinov Sound Studio specialized only in metal music or does he record other styles?
C: “Marinov Sound” studio is the first studio in Bulgaria specialized only for metal, core and rock bands and ENTHRALLMENT is the first band recorded on this studio. We have offer to record in Poland, but for this, that we financed our production, we calculate that we don’t will have money and prefer to record in Bulgaria. The sound is not bad for first product on this studio, but we will wish more for our next stuffs if we record on this studio. I like guitar player don’t like my sound for example.

-How did your previous releases sound like? I talk about the demo “The scarlet difference” (in 2000) and the MCD “Burning fields” (in 2001). Do they sound far different from the actual band’s music?
C: Maybe our demo is more to our actual sound toward our mini “Burning Fields”. Maybe I need to listen the all our releases;)

-You have just released your first album in 2006 but you also have recorded three new tracks recently. What will happen in 2007 for ENTHRALLMENT? Is there a European tour on the way? What have you planned about your next recording?
C: Yes, we record three tracks promo. Two of songs we add in our My Space profile and we got very positive reactions. We are ready with all songs for our next album and by this promo wish to street to all, who interest of our band, what to wait from us in future. We think that the material in more aggressive.
About the tours in Europe. From days (1st January) Bulgaria is the new member of European Union and we are free to travel in Europe normal, out of any borders, taxes, visas and others. We have plans, but nothing sure on this time. Hope to visit and France soon!

-Gore, murders and many other perversions seemed to be the main fuel of ENTHRALLMENT lyrics, right? Are you into gore/horror movies? Recently I saw a movie called “Hostel” where American tourists get trapped in Slovakia and have to suffer from many tortures before being killed. Do you have similar moviemakers in Bulgaria?
C: Fuck the US films. I know perfect film from your country – “DOBERMAN”. This is film brother!!! So, our lyrics are from our real live. In everyone country have killers and maniacs and we represent this stores by our lyrics.

-You are the first Bulgarian death metal band I have been listening to. Can you talk about other interesting bands from your country in death, black, thrash…? Is it hard for Bulgarian bands to get attention? Do you have enough live playing opportunities?
C: In Bulgaria have bands, but small number of them is interesting. In last year I see only two interesting of them – ABLEPSIA (Black Metal) and HAEMA (Death Metal). The all others mix … for example doom, black and death and the final result is one total shit. Of course, our previous band CORPSE is interesting too – the first grind core band in Bulgaria in TERRORIZER & REPULSION vein.

-We all know the zine Brutallica which spread metal plague for years and actually reach its 11th issue. What do you think about this magazine? Did they help ENTHRALLMENT in any other ways like reviews, interviews or promotions?
C: Of course, Brutallica zine is from our city and we know very good the owner Chavdar. Yes, he helps us to street our demo and my two of zine compilation CD’s some peoples know for us.

-What are your feelings about the Bulgaria entering the EU this year as well as Romania? Can you talk a bit about your country, what’s the best thing you enjoy in your country and in the contrary what is the worst thing? Do you have hard times with the bands regarding different factors such as musical material, places to rehearse and criticism about your violent music?
C: Yeah, we are in EU. Some peoples in our country don’t understand what is to be added in union like this. In Romania the situation is same. But really hope that the peoples from old EU countries like your to help us. With band don’t have problems. We are one of popular names in our scene and on this moment we have free rehearsal room + free hall for 500 – 600 fans. In Bulgaria is great to play Pop-Folk music, but soon will have some changes.

-Bulgaria is bordered by countries like Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. You have played abroad with ENTHRALLMENT, right? How was the feedback then? Do you have troubles at some frontiers?
C: We play in Romania, Yugoslavia and Macedonia to this moment. Of course, have some problems and they are general from our history. Macedonia is one very interesting country. Before 100 years their territory is part of Bulgaria. After this they left, but now 4 countries talk that Macedonia is their territory – Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. I remember the talks of peoples when we play on this country - “We are from Greek Macedonia” or “We are from Bulgarian Macedonia”. And the all don’t wish to have communication with us. By this problem we have and “conflict” with Greece special. But this is fucking politic. Let’s to talk for music…

-We have to face a swarming metal scene today with more and more bands and styles using the fast promotion internet can provide. How a band like ENTHRALLMENT can stand out against the masses according to you? What your opinion on our whole metal scene?
C: In first I’m very happy that the death metal return. But if we talk for the whole scene and the all styles I think that have some fucking bands, who kill the music for money. And direct talk for fuckers like IN FLAMES, AMON AMARTH and AMORPHIS. It’s un normal to play Death Metal and in one moment to play Pop and to talk that you experiment. F U C K E R S. Really hope that ENTHRALLMENT will have chance to help of world metal scene to be hard like I and you know!!!

-To a musical point of view, what are the recent releases you dig a lot? Have you heard the last SUFFOCATION album? And tell me what you are listening just know while answering this interview?
C: Yes, I have the last SUFFOCATION’s album (I have the all releases of this band) and … SUFFOCATION is SUFFOCATION. I have critic only to their sound. On this moment I listen one band called ARHONT (death metal like NILE).

-I think I covered everything about your band. Is there something I forgot you to ask?
So now Chris I wish you a good and brutal luck with ENTHRALLMENT. Thanks for your time, if you wish to add something for our readers it’s more than welcome.
Putrefactive regards!
C: I thank you for interesting questions too. It’s one of best interviews for us ! Hope that some peoples will know about ENTHRALLMENT and will interest to listen our music. I hope that very soon we will have chance to present our band with gigs in France and your fans to see what is real Balkan power. For informations and dates you can visit our page www.myspace.com/enthrallment. See you soon !!!