"(...) one guy put on KREATOR´s „Endless Pain“ CD. This was like a rebirth!" - a "Stormbringer" retrospective interview with Okkulto (ex Desaster, Eurynomos)

1. Hi there, Okkulto! I’m glad that you are to answer a few questions. Want to move back to the past, to Desaster’s “Stormbringer” minialbum. You were after the release of “A Touch of Medieval Darkness”, Thorim left the band replaced by Tormentor. How do you recall that time between these two releases?

Well let´s got back with the time capsule to the years ‘95-´96. I think this was an important time for the band. We got more and more gigs, Tormentor had returned on drums. He had improved a lot casue it was always his dream to play in DESASTER on a permanent basis. So we became a real unity, doing also a lot of things together in the spare time, aside from band things. When we came to gigs, we appeared as a real serious unity, not some of this childish weekend-warriors, which were around at this time. Black Metal had become a huge trend meanwhile. There where countless zines and bands popping out each week. Even the big magazines couldn´t ignore it anymore. But every little youth band was trying to jump on that. We were really pissed off by that, cause to us BM had to be dangerous, wild and extraordinary, not every mothers darling. So we were writing more material which was a bit anti-trend containing less „Black“ but more „Metal“, haha. Stronger rooted in the 80´s glorious Thrash Metal times.

2. “Stormbringer” might be considered as a bridge between the first and the second album, your started to shape your original sound, your vocals changed a bit as well. Could you share some memories on the process of writing this material and influences that accompanied you back then?

Yes, as I said, we were really fed up with the whole trendshit. One could publish some evil photos in the mags, but when you came to gigs, seeing the guys in reality, you had a good laugh. So we wanted to distance us from all that money-printing train which was rolling faster and faster. We just wanted to produce some dark underground metal songs. On a meeting with some friends from the HELLBANGERS one guy put on KREATOR´s „Endless Pain“ CD. This was like a rebirth! in a moment there were 20 guys standing in a circle banging their heads off during the whole album from the first to the last song. We were all electrified by this old nostalgic feeling. From this moment we started to re-discover many of the old records trying to soak up the feeling of this pioneers of the mid-80´s, like when they were in their youth. Also going to many 2nd hand markets, buying rarities or some more obscure stuff from that period. This all influenced our songwriting and thinking for the next years. We always tried to distance us from all the trendriders and typical new BM-outcomes.

3. The cover art of the vinyl and CD is probably the most iconic when it comes to Desaster and matching the atmosphere of your music – heavy and furious metal combined with a unique medieval touch. Who came up with the idea to use this piece of art?

It was always difficult to find a nice cover, fitting straight to the titles. In this case I went through some book stores, searching for medieval/historical stuff which could reflect the title. When I saw it, I knew directly that this would be what I was looking for. Showed it to the other guys and they also liked it from the first moment as well. Still a good choice, as you said, representing our musical theme very good. I prefer simple but effective covers with not too much details. So this one here could also represent the energy of our music very good. 

4. You seemed to be the one in the band who was more into black metal, the same with Odin. Am I right? What bands from that genre were and are the most favourite for you, the ones that had the most significant impact on you? You and Odin were the ones that used corpsepaint. 

Haha, this is a question often asked. It just came from our demo times, I guess. The painting was just not Infernal´s „thing“ so to say, while Odin and me were very, very deeply into black in the early days, so it gave us a special aura, a special feeling. We did it also at some specials out there at some meetings in the wilderness. Later it became something like a trademark that half of the band is painted, half not. You could see it also as representing our special mixture of BM and oldschool Thrash Metal. But the other members also listened to the black stuff as much as we were Thrashers. But I was taking things very, very serious at this period. More serious than many others did maybe. I was completely into it, always looking for the darkest stuff. I liked DARKTHRONE a lot with their „Under a Funeral Moon“ album. This was very influential to me. Also BURZUM was a highlight, ‘cause it was so special in it´s riffing combining melancholic aura. We soaked up everything, even some obscure demo´s or 7”.

5. “Stormbrniger” seems to underline your own way when it comes to music and position on the metal scene. There was a statement on the release that wimps and poser should leave the scene and that the minialbum is dedicated to your own fanclub Hellbangers Moselkranken. Did you have any problems with a more radical/extreme part of the scene, the black metal one mostly? What was the response on this paricular release?

As I said earlier, we just tried to distance ourselves from that trendwave, which was getting bigger and bigger. It was clrear that this would blow in pieces one day. We had ever seen us as an older band with a history rooted in the end 80´s. So we just wanted to point out that we are not a completely new band.

I guess even the BM-Hardliners respected us as a old band, cause everyone who saw us in real could see that we were completely serious, not any kiddies.

Yes, we fixed an own position in that whole circus back then. When we were playing live there were 3 or 4 bands before us who just played blast-beats the whole time, so the audience was finally taken away from that when we entered the stage, playing real riffs, with real rhythms to bang your heads to. The live-set mostly ended with a cover, for a long period this was „Tormentor“  by KREATOR. We presented a good mixture to the audience, not just fast stuff the whole time. I think we became in a way famous for that, so the live shows became better and better. We´ve grown a lot with that as a unity. Years later, at the time of „Tyrants of the Netherworld“ we were nearly perfect in that. It´s the image as a band, as a whole. A band has to be a unity on stage, otherwise it´s just like 4 guys playing some instruments.

6. You were the author of Desaster’s lyrics during the period you were in the band. You seemed to share the passion towards the dark side of the medieval aesthetics that Infernal had and still have. What themes/sources from that specific area inspired you mostly when writing lyrics for “Stormbringer”?

We have a lot of castles here in our area, which was always a great source of inspiration. Aside from band-things we were meeting there from time to time just to soak up the aura. So this surly was a huge inspiration to be put into the lyrics, as well as historical myths or simply black aggressive „hate-stuff“. You know, we were young and really wild, metal was around us 24/7. We wanted to distance us from the „normal“ society as much as possible, being metal outlaws, but being proud about that, haha.

7. When it comes to the vocals itself. What where your most favourite singers, those and had any special inpact on you and they way you shaped your voice?

On the fist recodings I started with more black metal-like vocals but I realized that there are simply too much singers in that, to get an own identity. So I tried to bring in more and more of my own voice into it. One can hear that with each release I think.

For sure I always like Quorthon’s voice and the dirty raw expression in it. Later Nocturno Culto made it perfect on „Under a Funeral Moon “ but also Cronos was great, early Tom Araya, Evil Chuck, Jeff Becerra, Stace Sheepdog. So as you see, one can just learn from the best!

With the years, I think, I found my mixture of raw extreme vocals in combination with my own voice and higher screams. Also important were all those „uuh´s“ and „ahh´s“ which were mostly a homage to the 80´s. It all had to be still natural, not in a wannabe way. Many guys sounded very extreme on their records in the 90´s, but seeing them live, they lost their voice after 2 songs, so it all was faked. I never got problems with that. So the people at the gigs realized that we were 100% serious in doing what we did.

8. You started to play live more and more, cloud you share any gig stories/ tour stories from that time? Infernal told me, while talking about “Hellfire’s Dominion” that is was a great adventure despite many problems.

Yes, gigs were always an adventure so to say, hahaha. You know, when we started, we were driving hundreads of kilometers in our little VW-Polos completly full of stuff. Mostly me and Odin were sitting on the backseat and we had a Guitar-case on our legs for a trip of 400-500km. Music from cassette-player (mix-tapes mostly) was always playing, 4 guys smoking into this car and it could happen that we were drinking the first beer at noon during the driving. The difference, in my opinion, in comparison many other bands today, is that we lived this thing 100%. With the feeling that no one could stop us. Many guys today are simply to „nice“ for that I think, haha. There was no real organisation, most gigs were organized by other fans. We were just sleeping somewhere in the dirt, but happy to have played a good gig and meeting other great metal-guys.

The gigs made us a unity and we became more comfortable in our playing with each gig. It could happen that we had to sleep in a backstage room or on the stage itself, after a trip of 400km, gig playing, partying the whole night until 4:00-5:00 o´clock, then driving home 400-500km the other day. This was just normal. A total chaos but in the end it made us stronger and stronger as a real band. We had suffered the dirt and all the difficulties a band could get through, as well as shitty clubs or soundwise chaos. So waht else should come after that?

Years later in the times of „Tyrants...“ we were able to play as a headliner with getting 300-400 (at times more) people, which was very good for that time. So after working so hard for many years we were seeing that something is returning to us, you know, we putting so much energy in that.

9. “The Swords will Never Sink” and “Sacrilege” are my favourite songs from “Stormbrniger”. Could you share with me the story behind both songs and tell me which ones are your favourite and which you prefered more to perform live?

There were just dark myths, like for example in the title-track, where the Stormbringer is a warrior of revenge. „The swords...“ is more about regaining back our land, which has a heathen/ germanic tradition, from before the chains of christianity. „Sacrilege“ is just a straight „blasphemic“ lyric, which is about the fact that we don´t accept any holy indoctrinated rules of the church and destroy the chains of slavery while having our own believe, so to say. Many times it was this theme of breaking shackles of the christian laws of the church, keeping the people down as eternal sinners instead of full human beeings with own powers and inelligence. Oh, I ilked them all. We had a good repertoire with that, some faster, some thrashy... Good bangers which the audience liked a lot! The strenght was that one song not sounded like the other. 

10. There is a cover  Kreator’s “Tormentor”. Why you have decided on this one? Were you all fans of this cult band? Seems old Kreator stuff was always with you during 90s.

As I said in the beginning of the interview, KREATOR´s „Endless Pain“ started a phase of re-dicovering in the mid 90´s for us, when the BM-trend became so huge and we were really, really fed up with seeing all those countless young bands jumping on that. Even many bands who started as Death Metal went into a BM-outfit later.

So playing such cover by the old Thrash Metal heroes was more like a bit of an anti-trend thing, showing where this music is rooted and what is our personal fave-stuff at that time. We played that song for a long period. That was the very last title, people were totally full of sweat and a bit tired, but activated all their powers once again for this one to scream along with me into the microphone. A better end of a show one couldn´t have. Infernal was wearing often a „Pleasure to kill“shirt on stage and also got the huge backpatch on his vest. „Pleasure to kill“ is still one of the best Thrash Metal albums ever done. It´s wild, raw, that aggressive outcome was also a huge inspiration for us. So you see, KREATOR was alsways with us in a way. Later resulted in a guest appearance of Mille.

11. “Stormbringer” introduced your new drummer back then – Stefan “Tormentor” Huskens. How it turned out that he was to replace Thorim and you got to know each other?

Thorim was a very young, talented drummer, but he was a bit unhappy with the whole gig-thing, driving hundreads of kilometers and so on. He had another musical background which he wanted to follow instead of all the chaos and the extreme people he met with DESASTER, haha. It was a real loss at that time, cause he had a great talent. Then Tormentor returned, who was  a friend of the band for years. He had helped us out in demo times, so after really improving a lot, he was the first decision for the position of our drummer. The fact that we were all friends before made things much easier. He brought in a lot of his energy for creating a new rehaersal room, organising gigs or recording stuff. He was hungry for rehearsing every day, so that man was the right guy for us.

12. Around that time you have also issued the 7’’ “Ride on for Revenge”. There was another cool artwork and great songs. Why you have decided to issue this EP. Were the songs written especially for this release not to be published anywhere else?

Looking back now I regret a bit, putting 2 of our best titles just on a 7”. We should have put this on an regular album,’ cause they simply would have reached more attention. But at this time there were tons of releases by bands popping out, which were never in the underground. They never released a demo or a 7”, but were pushed by huge labels directly into the magazines. We, on the other hand, were rooted strongly in the underground. So releasing such a single was a bit like a statement against all the fashion, the huge advertisments all these bands getting into the magazines and the way they were hyped by the media, coming from nowhere.

As you see, as the time passed,  no one talks about most of them, nor the labels anymore. But the underground with it´s vinyl-hunters is still there. Yes the songs were written exclusively for the release. We were in good shape and one can hear that we improved a lot. They would fit well to the „Hellfire´s Dominion“ material as well, but that became another chapter.

interview by: Przemysław Bukowski

30 Years of "Bloodchilling Tales" - Interview with Paul Johansson from Sorcery

 

1.Hi there Paul! This year you celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sorcery’s debut album – „Bloodchilling Tales”. It’ already a classic title in the history of Swedish death metal. How do you feel being one of the originators of the death metal scene in Sweden and do you look at this album after all these years?

Hi Przemysław! Of course I’m proud of what we have done. Our album meant a lot for some fans and maybe we have inspired some other band to create music. I’m so thankful for what people has done for us - being interested in our music, creating our band merch, records and other stuff. 

2. Let’s get back to the demos period. Your music back then, just like Merciless, was more close to the extreme thrash metal inspired by bands like Kreator. Were the any other bands that had that serious impact or you? What was the moment when you said to yourself – “yeah, we are staring our own band”?

When I and Ola first met and talked about music it was about who is the best guitarist. Iommi or Blackmore. I can’t remember if we have sorted that out yet- anyhow it led us into a deep friendship. I played Mercyful Fate for Ola on a school journey -83’, and we decided to start to play together. We started a band that we called “Acid queen”. It was like a heavy metal band but with an urge to go faster and more brutal-  but we come from a very small town and there was not a bunch of guys who want to play metal. But in the summer of 86’ we did meet a guy from a village nearby - Patrik Johansson (who had the biggest drumkit we had ever seen and, he could play on it too) and his cousin Fredrik Nygren and that’s how Sorcery was found. It was many German thrash bands that inspired me also ones like Sarcófago and Bathory. 

3.After the demos the time had come for the debut LP. How long did it take for you to create the material and record it? Do you have any memories from the studio and the recording session? The album sounds original despite being recorded at Sunlight studio which has its characteristic vibe.

I think “Lucifers legion” is the oldest song on the album and that is from 87’. So it was song from 87-90’. If I remember correct, we were at the studio for 5 days. We had to sleep on the floor in a weaving workshop which was next to the studio. We were young without money - but damn, it was fun. I was trying to play drums back then and I had a real hard time with the kit. It was D-drum kit combine with an acoustic so it was messy. Sound was leaking in the headphones and so on. We didn’t use Hm-2 pedal but I can’t remember what pedals they used and we were in a hurry so I think that made a big part for the sound.

4. “Bloodchilling Tales” was released only on vinyl back in the days. Why there was no other format available? How was it with looking for the label and finally signing with Underground Records for this release?

Cds where new to the world and expensive to print I guess. UGR was a small company with little resources so he couldn’t do it, or so I think. We didn’t have a bunch of deals to choose from so we took the first, haha.

5. The cover art of the debut LP is more in the vein of a heavy/power metal record, that’s the first impression. Its aesthetics refers more to stuff such as Blind Guardian for example, than to a pure death metal record. What is the story behind it, how was the author and how to you bring this art idea to life?

The title “Bloodchilling Tales” made us think of a creepy evil wizard reading from book. Every song from the album is a bloodchilling tale of evil and death. That was our toughts anyway. Then the artist, which I don’t know the name of interpreted our words and painted the cover as he thought we meant. It was not that we screamed with joy when we saw the cover but it had to be that way. There was no possibility then to change it.

6. What’s very unique about “Bloodchilling Tales” is the useage of keyboards in the background here and there. They fuel the sinister, evil atmosphere of the record, provides the climate that no other record from Sweden had at that time, as far as I’m concerned of course. Who came up with this idea? 

I think I have to take the responsibility for that. We used keyboards on our demos too. Creating intros, and I was very into combining metal and keyboards just as you say - to create an atmosphere. The others had to stop me many times.

7. I think you had and still have one of the best logos in death metal. Was it created by someone from the band? Where there any other projects of the logo you considered using or it was just a perfect much right from the start?

Yes, it was Fredrik Nygren, one of the guitarists who drew it. He had done some other before but he was working on new ones all the time and finally we were very pleased with one we have for over 30 years now. I think he drew logos for other bands to but I can’t remember which.

8. The album was released in 1991, so the same year as many classics of Swedish death metal. What was the response on your material and what are your reflections on that special year in Swedish metal history. How do you recall being part of it nowadays?

When we had recorded the album we lay back and waited for something. I don’t know for what, but we were lazy and a little bit naive I think, so nothing happened-  at least as we thought. But we did something for a few people which I know now, but not then. I did meet a guy who said: “It’s because of you I started to play music”, for example, and we are nowadays seen as a cult band for some people. I can say that we had a chance to work with a big management company, but a guy from the band was drunk on a gig and behaved like an idiot, and just on that evening they checked us up, so you know what happened. Anyway, with no CDs, only 1000 copies of our record and with no distribution we didn’t have a real chance.

9. Early 90s and late 80s was a period of massive tape trading around the world with Sweden in almost in a centre. I will not be wrong saying you participated in that as well. Do you still have the stuff you got those days in your collections, are you still after collecting metal stuff? How it was back then and how it looks now in your case?

I was not a big trader, I got music from my close friends. I didn’t have pals all over the world. Yes, I have boxes of cassettes in my hidings and some original demo tapes form our big Swedish bands like Mefisto, Agony, Morbid and so on. I remember a band called Deathlord, I think they were from Australia, that had a big impact on me. Hmmm, I had forgot about that band. I think I have to go down in the cellar and try to find their record.

10. Starting with the end of the 90s, already after Sorcery disbanded for several upcoming years, “Bloodchilling Tales” was re-released several times on CD, LP and even cassette (starting with No Colours Records and ending with Xtreem). Which of the reissue you like most, which you willrecommend to the people who are new to Sorcery or those who had only the 1^st press vinyl? Could you tell something more about the one with changed title – “Legacy of Blood”?

I would go for “Legacy of blood”. A great cover and you will have the 7” Rivers of the dead on it too. We change cover just to be sure that nothing could be hold at us and Xtreem in case of legal issues. That’s all.

11. Just to end with something special. Once I was going through your thanks list on the album there was something like this: “The Swedish custom service for being fooled (helpful and understanding) twice”. Can you uncover what happened here? Seems like some sort of a funny story.

Well the story behind the custom service being fooled twice was that when the first pressings of the “Rivers of the Dead” EP arrived from France, they were stuck in the hands of the custom. They thought that we somehow had imported a large amount of records to sell without paying tax for it. We came up with some other story for them and they finally let the EP’s through. Some months later the same thing happened again when the second pressing arrived. We told them the same thing again and for the second time they bought our bullshit and let the EP’s through and we never had to pay any import tax at all.

I can tell a funny history about when Ola and I met at my home and I wanted him to sing. I didn’t have a microphone but I had some headphones that were broke. They worked as a microphone, so when Ola was growling to them it sounded in my stereo. And I had a little Casio keyboard with a drums in it. If you pressed the button it played a drumbeat salsa or whatever. It had some rocks beat too, so I turned the bpm (beats per minute) to max, plugged in my guitar and we started to make a song out of it. We had to start with something.

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Interview by: Przemysław Bukowski

A blast from the past! - interview with Anders Brorsson (Ablaze My Sorrow)

1. Hi there, Anders! Thanks for your time to recall a bit from the band’s history. Ablaze my Sorrow is not that well known round the world but for sure among Swedish death metal enthusiasts. Please tell me how it all started with the band, what pushed you to play and join the scene and why you have chosen such name for it?

We started Ablaze My Sorrow during 1993, for a couple of weeks the band was named Mournful but we changed that prior to the recording of our first demo. We all knew each other since before and had been playing in other bands together before forming Ablaze My Sorrow. It was our original drummer Fredrik Wenzel that came up with the band name which means something like “make me mourn”. 

2. It seems to me that your demo materials were closer to black metal, then to death. Even your very early pictures are supporting this. Do you have the same opinion? What bands inspired you back then. Will it be lie to say that Dissection made a huge impact on you? 

Our first demo “For Beareavement we cried” was heavily influenced by the early works of Katatonia amongst others. When Fredrik left the band and Alex joined in 1994 our influences changed into something more in the line of At The Gates, Eucharist and Dissection. Bands that still to this date are our main influence. 

3. Years 1994-1996, so the demo and debut period were already the days when the most famous Swedish death metal has been released and all the movement started by Merciless and Nihilist/Entombed was already gone at some point. How do you managed to find a place for your band with “If Emotions Still Burn”? What was the response for the album?

I don’t know how or if we ever found a place for our band. We did what we wanted to do and No Fashion Records sent us a deal which we signed. There have never been any plans or strategies with the band. We write songs, record them and release them. The response concerning “If Emotions Still Burn” was really good and it sold well. I don’t have the numbers but I remember a list with the best-selling albums at the time that was sent to us from House of Kicks (distributor) at the time. 

4. “If Emotions Still Burn” consists of elements of death, black and even a little of gothic metal, it’s melodic and very unexceptional, a real jewel of Swedish Metal that deserves far more attention back in the days. Could you share some memories connected with its creation and cooperation with No Fashion Records? As you know opinions on the label remained very bad. 

We were between 17 and 20 years old when we recorded the debut album in 1995. It was the first time ever in a “real” studio and we had no idea what we were supposed to do. It was during the summer and we had a great time.  

The artwork for “If Emotions Still Burn” was created by Necrolord, if I’m not wrong. Why you have chosen his work for the debut, were there any other possible artwork you consider using? How do you recall the work with Mr. Wåhlin?

Well, Necrolord was and still is one the absolutely best painters out there in my opinion. He was our first choice so nothing else was discussed. He has created some amazing covers and it’s an honor to have his artwork as a cover for our debut. 

5. “The Plague” was a serious step forward and a step in a different sound and attempt to the compositions. Previous influences seemed to develop with an addition of thrash metal catchiness. The album seems less extreme when compared to the debut, more into stuff that we were able to find among albums of Finnish Sentenced or your colleagues from Cemetary. What influenced that changes and how you recall this material after all those years? It’s a great piece of melodic death metal.

I guess that “Slaughter of The Soul” might have something to do with this, it’s one hell of an album. As everyone else we are big fans of bands like Slayer, Kreator and Testament but I really think that At The Gates was a just as big part of this development. It’s interesting that you mention Sentenced, a band that since their debut has had a huge impact on Ablaze My Sorrow, even though it’s not always that easy to notice. I think that those influences are easier to hear on our more recent material. They are one of my absolute favorite bands, albums such as “Crimson”, “Down”, “Frozen” and “Amok” gets their fair share of listening every week.

6. I have asked about the art put on the cover of the debut, I must also ask about “The Plague” in this case. I don’t exactly like it to be honest and always wonder what was behind the concept of it. Could you uncover some facts?

I can’t remember that we did more than send him the lyrics for “Plague of mine” when it comes to that cover. We leave it at that.

7. Back in the 90s you were probably in contact with a lot of bands sharing letters, tapes, records and so on. Could you tell with which bands you had the best contact and stay in touch to this day? Do you still collect records?

Yes, there were lots of letters written and lots of demos bought and sold. At that time everything went slow and you had to wait for weeks to receive the music you wanted to get hold of. There were no youtube or spotify where you could pre-listen to bands before you bought it. This means I own tons of crappy demos and records, but it sure was exiting times. You were in contact with so many great bands and other people within the scene.

8. Now something connected with playing live. Do you remember any gig from the 90s that is is still left in your memory? Whim whom did you play and what makes this memories so special?

I remember a gig in our hometown Falkenberg, I think it was in 1992. The bands that played were Dissection, At The Gates, Eucharist and a local band called Afterlife. That gig made a huge impact and could be considered as a big part of the startup of Ablaze My Sorrow. A couple of years later we played a show in our hometown together with At The Gates, probably 1995/1996 somewhere or something like that.

9. There were two logos of the band, one created by Thoth from The Ancients Rebirth and the one you started to use with the debut. Who created the second one and why you have decided to change it? 

We used the first logo until we released “If Emotions Still Burn”. We needed a more fitting logo for the cover art so Necrolord created the “new” one when he painted the album cover. We have used that one since then. 

10. Finally, are there any plans considering the reissues of the old albums or demo materials? I think they deserve a second youth.

I really do agree with you here. Unfortunately, it’s not we who own the rights for those recordings. If someone wants to re-release they’ll have to make a deal with MNW.

11. This is the place when we can end. Thanks a lot for this short interview and an opportunity to talk about the old days of the band and your classic records!

All things come to an end. Thank you for the support and cheers to everyone reading this. Hope to see you if we come to your town.

Interview by: Przemysław Bukowski

The story behind Desaster's "Hellfire's Dominion" - an Interview with Markus "Infernal" Kuschke

Hell-o again, Infernal! Let’s start with this great record namely „Hellfire’s Dominion”!

Hi! I have listened to this album for this interview as I have not checked it as a whole for a very long time already. It was cool to listen to all the tracks in a row. Great memories.

Let’s start with the period when it was about to be released. You were already after the “Stormbringer”, so you had strenghten your position on the scene. How it was then with a band, you had you first bigger gigs in Germany. How do you recall that time? 

Yes, I remember it was a very active time. We did a lot of shows, especially in east Germany, and were on the road nearly every weekend. We travelled in our small cars, we didn’t have any van back then. It was very narrow inside, it was like 5 of us sitting there with our guitars and other gear & beer on our knees. We had also my ex girlfriend with us to sell some t-shirts at the shows. We were not that well organised those days, no hotels and so on. We slept on the stage after the gigs or in a shitty backstage room. But it was all a great adventure. 

Hard, but good times. If we are mentioning gigs now, some time ago I have watched the video from the Under the Black Sun festival. It was back in 1998 but just before the release of “Hellfire’s Dominion”. You did not play any song from that album yet. Any memories from that show? 

It was a great one for sure. This festival was organised by a good friend of ours – Jorg from Folter Records. As far as I remember we had also played on the very first festival organised by him, still under the name of Folter Records festival. It was in 1995, I think.  It was one of a few gigs we played with Thorim behind drums. All in all both were a great experience. We already have the Wacken back then but still such festivals were not that common yet. We had such ones in Underground, like the Under Black Sun, not hat professional but it was fun to play there. We were able to reach bigger audience. 

Ok, so let’s move to the album itself. When I listen to “Hellfire’s Dominion” I have an impression that this one is  different than any other with Okkulto on vocals. It’s the most raw-sounding one from the albums you have recorded in the 90. Was it planned or it just came like that? 

The rawest? Really? Well, it just came like that. Back in those days we never knew what will came out after the recording.  We were of course very well prepared when we came to the studio, but we never knew what sound we would achieve. We didn’t have enough experience. We just trusted the producers. That time we were recording at a studio in Velbert. We have arrange it with a help of our friend Atomic Steif who used to play in Violent Force, Sodom or Living Death. Due to this connection we also got in touch with a Velbert Heavy Metal Fanclub. When you take a look at the old pictures of Sodom or Kreator you can find guys wearing t-shirts with this name. “Hellfire’s Dominion” was also the period when Hellbangers came together. We met the guys from Heavy Metal Fanclub to get inspiration and feeling of the old bands once again. During the recording session were were visited by the guys from the fanclub. We also stayed for like 2 weeks at Atomic Steif’s house after the recordings where we drink every night and had fun. It was a great time. 

You have mentioned the Heavy Metal fanclub and now I just have to ask about Hellbangers Moselkranken because that’s the period when it started really. I want to ask what was it, who was behind it? The mark of the Hellbangers appear on quite a lot albums from German underground scene. 

Yes, and not only on Desaster records. On Witchburner ones, Metal Inquisitor and many other bands. Hellbanger’s started back in the 1996. It was a time when we met a lot of maniacs from our region, especially Mosel. There was Costa who is currently running the Iron Pegasus Records and playing with Okkulto in Eurynomos, some other guys who were very active in the scene like King Wolle who was running the Desecration of Vrigin zine (mostly obscure South-American bands there, killer stuff). We gathered with this guys drinking, headbanging, playing music from our cars. Once we thought it would be good to give this whole shit a name, to gather together as a group, a club. That’s why we had an idea to start a heavy metal fanclub. I remember we had two suggestions for the name of the club. My was Hellbangers and Costa suggested Metallians. We were voting, there were like 15 of us back then, and my idea won. 

And who came up with the logo, that Flying V guitar? 

I don’t remember who came up with it but you are probably familiar with that guitar. It’s stolen from Accept “Restless and Wild” cover. The arm with bracer was painted by one of the fanclub members. The logo itself is inspired by Possessed of course. 

And I can see some Hellhammer here as well! 

Yes! So you know where the roots are. 

Ok, let’s return to the album. I must ask about the hit from the release – the “Metalized Blood”. Three guests on vocals there. What is the story behind creating this anthem? Because it is one, to be honest. 

Yes, it’s our smash hit. It’s a cool song. I remember that Okkulto came up with an idea of writing some sort of a hymn dedicated to heavy metal and our passion towards this music. We invited some great singers, not only from extreme metal but also from other styles. We got Lemmy from Violent Force and Wannes from Pentacle – our good friend. It was hard to get Toto from Living Death. That’s the singer you love or hate, we totally loved him. We asked Atomic Steif to help us reach him as we really wanted to have him on this song. Toto was no longer doing anything connected with music but it turned out that he was really eager to cooperate with us. There is a funny story about him coming to the studio to join us. Okkulto was opening the door with a cigarette in his mouth and when he saw Toto standing there he was just left with his cigarette on the floor and mouth wide open. Toto told us that he was rehearsing “Metalized Blood” while driving his car to the studio. He had the window opened and other drivers were looking at him as he was some sort of a weirdo, you know, singing “Metalized Blooood!” with his specific high pitched scream. 

Cool story! Now I want to move to two other songs I have picked up for discussion. First will be my favourite from the album – “In the Ban of Satan’s Sorcery”. It perfectly mixes the black metal vibe from the debut album with an oldschool Teutonic thrash. 

Thank you. It was my idea as I wanted to mix all our influences in just one song. There is some black metal blasting with melancholic melodies at the beginning and then comes that even speed/heavy metal riff. A bit in a Running Wild style. We were wondering if it fits together but we didn’t  take much time for us to get into it totally. This song was later an inspiration to write “Necropolis Karthago” which is done in the same style. That’s our trademark at some point. 

Now it’s time for “Teutonic Steel” – another anthem of yours. Another composition with this incredible medieval feeling. It’s the same atmosphere that “A Touch of Medieval Darkness” and “In a Winter Battle” has, it’s cream of the crop. Could you tell me more about it, that’s the song you play on every gig. 

Yes, we have to play it on every gig together with “Metalized Blood”. If we wouldn’t the fans would have killed us. There was a funny thing when we were rehearsing “Teutonic Steel” during album recordings. We had that little casette recorder for recording ne wsongs and ideas and the quality of it was not that good. The other guys thought that “Teutonic Steel” sound was rather terrible but I was convincing them that it will grow with a proper production and equipment and will become a hit. It’s sometimes a bit boring to play these songs on and on, but the reaction of fans is just priceless. They not only sing the chorus but also the intro melody of my guitar! 

Do you remember any memorable moments connected with the studio recording of “Hellfire’s Dominion”? Just like the ones you have shared with me last time when we were talking about “A Touch of Medieval Darkness”.

You know, it’s always different when there a new producer. The one we worked with that time told Tormentor to put bricks, gig stones into his bass drums. The reaction on this idea was like “what the hell is that?”! He told us that it will improve the bass drums sound, that we had to do it. We were also visited by members of the Heavy Metal Fanclub almost each day at the studio. 

Now let’s move to the visual aspects of “Hellfire’s Dominion. There was another cool photo session but a bit different, without all that gear, I mean swords, candles etc. Could you recall how it went?

This time it was more in a thrash metal style. I remember we had two locations then. One at the ruined castle at the river Mosel and one at the old monastery. At the castle we were frequently looking at our backs as there was a danger that some stone may fall on our heads. 

T-shirts you are wearing on that photos give a clear sign about the feeling and influences on the album. 

Yes, you are right. “Stormbringer” was a turning point for us, that was the moment when we started to play in a more oldschool thrash way. On the debut it we were still looking to the North and Norwegian scene. Later we decided to focus more on our roots. We wanted to underline our own style, not to become Immortal clones or so. “Hellfire’s Dominion” was the album that strenghten the chosen path. At the beginning of the 90s everyone wanted to be evil, traditional heavy metal was not evil enough. We rediscovered this music getting into for example Manowar or Iron Maiden again.

The cover art – it corresponds of old fantasy stuff from like Morcock or Howard. Why you have decided to move this way in case of graphics? 

I don’t know what is the story behind it. We probably stole it from somewhere, from a book probably. I remember that on the flag there was originally some different sign. We asked our layouter if there is a possiblity to exchange it and he managed to do it. I hope the artist of this paint will never find out that we used his art, otherwise he will demand a lot from money from us for the sold album copies haha. 

I know that around the “Hellfire’s Dominion” you got to know the guys from Sabbat. You played shared some gigs, released two splits so far. How you got to know each other? 

I remember it very well. It was around 1997. They were on tour in Germany, there was Behemoth as well. Our tours met together in Schweinfurt. We met those Japanese guys and it was so fucking great. Gezol – the singer nad bassist of Sabbat – is a total maniac, so crazy. We couldn’t speak any English, our was shitty as well but we still had a great time. It was a beginning of a long friendship. Tormentor joined Metalucifer back then, the other project of the Sabbat guys. 

I know recall Gezol running with that leather pants of his on stage, damn, haha. 

Hahaha, I remember when he was staying at Koblenz to record some Metalucifer stuff. He was staying at Blumi’s house, the guitarist of both Metalucifer and Metal Inquisitor. Blumi once told us that he loves the bratwurst – the German sausage. That loved it that much that already in the morning he was at the kitchen cooking bratwurst. Fucking great!

Let’s sum up this chat of ours with some information considering the reissue of the “Hellfire’s Dominion” on CD this year. Could you uncover some details about it? How it will loook like, will there will be anything special added? 

Want to do something special as it is a classic Desaster album. So it will not be a simple jewelcase edition. It will be a kind of black box with a CD and booklet in it plus something more. When re-releasing stuff we always remember about the people who have the first edition, so the second must be something new. I think it will look great and hope everything will go according to our plans. I think the layout will be similar to the vinyl reissue.

Interview by: Przemysław Bukowski

"This time I don’t have to try to fit in a certain type of sound or direction. It’s just music that comes out of me naturally." - interview with Serge Streltsov, a man behind Selfgod.

 

1. Hi there Serge! First of all, how are you doing during this hard times? Is Covid that much a pain in the ass or you manage to deal with things easily?

It was definitely hard to deal with last year but now I’m kinda used to the situation. I still do everything I usually do except for playing live but I’m not even in the position regardless of the restrictions. Definitely miss going to concerts. It’s hard to find things to do outside of that.

2. What do you think about the current situation of the metal scene, both underground and more commercial one, not only in present Covid rality? Are you in favour of more physical releases or digital form? What you prefer yourself.

I haven’t been up to date with what’s going on in the scene to be honest. I just listen to the old bands I grew up on. Haven’t really discovered anything new. I have seen bands doing live streams and such but that’s not really my cup of tea. But I get it, musicians must find ways to make money. I prefer physical releases. I still buy vinyls and cds all the time. I love going to the record stores to check out albums. Also order stuff online.

3. I must ask about the Automb. There was a really nice response for this band and its records, I have seen very positive reviews, it was simply a very good music. What happened that the band split-up?

Thank you! Me and Danielle were dating and broke up. We agreed on the fact that Automb is about both of us and it would make most sense to disband the project.

4. You have started a new solo project – Selfgod. What can we expect from it? As far as I know you are a fan of Pagan Metal as well as the bands like Dissection, Belphegor or Behemoth. Generally Death and Black Metal. Will Selfgod be a continuation of the path taken with Automb or will turn into different direction?

Selfgod will feature material I wrote both for Necrophagia and Automb. So it’ll be a mix of both bands. It’ll definitely be a blackened death metal project with more death metal undertones and it’ll be more riff oriented. I think it’ll satisfy the fans of both sub genres. It’ll truly showcase what I am as a song writer. This time I don’t have to try to fit in a certain type of sound or direction. It’s just music that comes out of me naturally.

5. Will you consider Selfgod as a full band or just as a solo project without plans for regular releases?

I definitely want to take it on the road when the time comes. I will definitely put together a full band and will hire live musicians like I did in Automb. But for now I will just focus on studio stuff.

6. Do you already have a label that will pick up your project? What about Witching Hour? The way they issued Automb’s “Chaosophy” was splendid.

I had a few offers but nothing stuck out to me so far. I definitely would like to shop around and see what else I can get. Witching Hour is one of the options. They did a great job pressing the physical copies of the last Automb album. 

7. You played with Necrophagia. Could you share some memories with us when it comes to this band? How do you recall being a member of this act? Did it have any kind of impact on your music taste, composing and so on?

I have lots of great memories with that band. The best memory is definitely the first European tour supporting I am Morbid. That was my first tour ever and it was on a tour bus. It was definitely a full rockstar experience. I remember having a lot of pressure trying to fill those shoes but once I got comfortable it felt like I was in the band for decades. It definitely restructured my song writing abilities. It changed how I viewed a lot of things. Definitely opened my ears more to everything. It was a huge learning experience. I still write in that mind set sometimes and have remained with that guitar tuning for years after. Music taste wise it just pushed me back to the older bands that I grew up with. Made me realize how good those early rock and heavy metal records are. It’s not always about blast beats and growls.

8. Returning to the subject of labels, you seem to choose these from Europe. Is it a coincidence or you just prefer the stuff that European labels create and issue?

It was the labels that had the most interest. Me being European almost seems like it magnetized those opportunities.

9. As far as I know, please correct me if I’m wrong, you come from Ukraine. What is your opinion about the scene from there, past and present. Do you consider to relate in any way to the music created by the most famous extreme groups of Ukraine in Selfgod? Like Nokturnal Mortum, Khors or Drudkh?

Yes I am from Ukraine. I do enjoy the Ukrainian black metal scene a lot and it has inspired me over the years. These are all great bands but I don’t think I sound anything like them musically. I do relate to the Slavic pagan themes that they used on certain records. Im definitely not a fan of all their work. Just certain albums.

10. You are also a member of Haxxan. To my surprise I once reviewed Haxxan’s debut album and it was very good. Do you still play with this band and are there any plans for the next Haxxan album?

That’s cool to hear that you reviewed that record. Haxxan just like Necrophagia are done because Killjoy has passed away and both of these bands featured the same line up.

11. Your session drummer in Automb was Scott Fuller from Morbid Angel. How have you guys met? Do you consider to get in touch with him in case of Selfgod? Or you are planning to record everything on your own?

Me and Scott met at a Morbid Angel show years ago and have remained friends ever since. I have been in contact with him and yes he will be on the Selfgod debut album.

12. Are there any dates when we can expect the new recording from you? I mean singles, full album?

No dates yet. I still have to finish writing the album. I’m about 90% done with that and I also have to record it. So I’m not exactly sure when I’ll be able to release it. Hopefully at the end of this year. There’s no record deal yet. So it all depends on the label I go with and their schedule. But I will post some teasers.

13. If there will be any plans for future gigs of Selfgod would you consider visiting Europe and Poland? Have ever visited our country before?

Yes. Europe has always been in mind. I would love to do a European tour whenever that will be possible and of course Poland would be great too. Yes I played in Bielsko-Biala in 2017 with Necrophagia. It was one of the best shows of that tour. Would love to play there again.

14. That will be the end. Thank you for your time and an opportunity to talk and introduce your new band to my readers. Last words belong to you!

Thank you for this interview! All the best! Stay Metal!

Interview by Przemysław Bukowski