interview by: Abhishek Chatterjee

The first time I heard Aurora Borealis was on their Praise the Archaic Light's Embrace. While I was impressed by the speed, it really didn't catch my attention in a major way. They released one more album after that, which I never was able to get my hands on. And then came the masterpiece. The Time Unveiled CD. (My thanks to Rob for sending me a copy!) Great guitar work combined with stupendous drumming, this CD blew me away. I was more than glad to get in touch with Ron Vento, the brain behind the music and lyrics of Aurora Borealis and ask him a few questions. Read on...

Maelstrom: Can you tell us about your current line-up? There seems to be an ever-present Hate Eternal link with your band...

Ron Vento: Yeah that is totally coincidental. I had Derik Roddy who later joined Hate Eternal and since he was so busy with them I had to get a new drummer for my new CD so I got the guy I thought could handle it and he just happened to be the old drummer for Hate Eternal, Tim Yeung.

Maelstrom: Where did you record Time Unveiled? Are you happy with how the production has come out?

Ron Vento: I recorded that at my own studio called Nightsky Studios. I am pretty happy with it, I think it sounds just as good as most of the bigger albums out there. That's where I recorded our last CD at as well. We just keep expanding and getting a better studio. Now we have 124 tracks all automated Pro Tools system. I am trying to let other death and black metal bands know about it because we need a good metal studio here in the US.

Maelstrom: How much would it cost an underground band to record a demo in your studio?

Ron Vento: My studio rates are $50 per hour, however for most metal bands I usually slash that rate into like $25 or $30 per hour just because they are metal and I like to help out the scene. We charge full price to all other styles of music though. We use a totally pro facility; everything is top notch from our building to the gear.

Maelstrom: Well, I must say the drums in particular sound fantastic.

Ron Vento: I worked a little on the drum sound for sure. I'm glad someone noticed. The next CD will sound even much better than this one for sure.

Maelstrom: And where was Praise the Archaic Light's Embrace recorded?

Ron Vento: Praise was recorded at a place called Sound Lab with Bob Moore engineering. One of my drummers told me about it, it is where Nile has recorded every single CD they have done up to this point. I like Bob for sure but now that I have my own place there is no need to go anywhere else.

Maelstrom: Do you write all the lyrics?

Ron Vento: I write pretty much everything, all lyrics and most of the time all music as well. Although there have been a few other contributors here and there. As far as lyrics go, yes, I have written all of them since day one.

Maelstrom: Is it just my imagination or are the lyrics of the new album a bit more hate filled than the previous ones? A lot of the songs deal with death and destruction, and the writing style also has
more "brutal" tendencies...

Ron Vento: I would agree with you that the writing style is a bit more brutal, but there was no real plan to write more hateful lyrics. Just as in all my previous albums the lyrics almost always deal with some event from history. Most of the things from history I write about are battles or things that happened in some particular time period. There has been a lot of brutality throughout the years.

Maelstrom: Do tell us something about your previous project, Lestregus Nosferat.

Ron Vento: That was one of my first bands I was in. It mainly consisted of myself and a guy named Skully who was formerly of the old thrash band Hallows Eve. He played on the first album for them and then quit because they went into a more mainsream style and he wanted to go black metal. The other members were pretty consistently changing. The music was not as fast black metal as I play now but the writing we did was really killer. The guy writes some great songs but those guys had other responsibilities and I wanted to get a faster drummer, etc... so I went to Florida. He is still trying to do something with the band but he just can't seem to get off the ground. I still talk to him every so often.

Maelstrom: You are involved with only Aurora Borealis now?

Ron Vento: Yes, that keeps me pretty busy for the most part; between that and the studio and just life in general I stay busy. I eventually may get into some other stuff but now I am keeping it pretty simple.

Maelstrom: What about Tim Yeung?

Ron Vento: Tim was playing for a band called Agiel as well but I understand recently he is no longer with them so I'm sure he will be looking for other work soon enough. He is also doing the Decrepit Birth album right now as well. He will definitely stay busy because he is a great drummer and there is always a big demand for that in this style of music.

Maelstrom: Is Tim going to stick around for the next CD? Or is it too early to be thinking about such things now?

Ron Vento: Well he may do it. To be honest I don't know really. I still talk to Derik quite a lot as well, so when the time comes I will talk to both of them and see what the situation is, either way both drummers are great.

Maelstrom: How do you classify Aurora Borealis' music? The vocals are quite black metallish and the drums are influenced by death metal. However the riffing seems to alternate between the two genres (in my opinion)

Ron Vento: Yeah I would tend to agree with you on most of the points you raised. I think we also have a definite influence from early thrash stuff in some of the riffs. I try to take what I like from death / black / and thrash and combine the best elements from each style. Most people just tend to consider us black metal but as much as I like black metal that is definitely not the case.

Maelstrom: Have you started writing any material for the next album? What direction would you like to pursue on that one?

Ron Vento: Actually yes, I have three songs totally done for it so far. The direction is still the same as always. I may add a few new elements in but nothing over the top like clean vocals and stuff. I hate that.

Maelstrom: Do you play live shows?

Ron Vento: Not currently, with the drums being such a key part in my band, there are just no drummers in my area that can do it, so rather than compromise the sound of my band and go out with a mediocre drummer I just prefer not to play. If our label would get us onto a tour or something that would be different. Then we would love to go but to just play one local show here and there... we just can't do that because we live so far apart. Also to play what we play it takes rehearsing and as I said to rehearse for just one show here and there would be stupid and cost us all way too much money to go back and forth.

Maelstrom: What music have you been listening to lately?

Ron Vento: Well I listen to all kinds of styles but mostly metal. I really like Neglected Fields, Dark Funeral, Setherial, Behemoth, Vader and shit like that are pretty much always in my CD player. Anything that is pretty fast and clean

Maelstrom: Name your top five death metal albums of all time.

Ron Vento: I really hate this question man. That is almost impossible to do. I will name albums I like in no particular order and I could fill your whole zine up with stuff I like.
Vader De Profundis
Setherial Hell Eternal
Dark Funeral Diabolis Interium
Dissection Storm of the Light's Bane
Neglected Fields Synthinity and about 20 others that are all my top 5.

Maelstrom: Since you had so much fun in answering that question, how about this one...Name us your worst five extreme metal albums ever? Hehe...just kidding around here, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to...

Ron Vento: I could probably list about 50 actually but once again that wouldn't help the scene out too much. The whole intent of the underground is to help each other and not rival and fight with each other, otherwise we might as well be doing rap music if we all want to fight and down each other.

Maelstrom: In that context, what do you feel about NSBM circles and the skinhead groups in metal's underground? They dont care much about helping others out unless you fall within their circle...

Ron Vento: Like I said, to each their own, I cant tell them how to live, I just think if you want to be a part of the metal community you should help other bands out. This music deserves so much more than it gets, and for bands just to say "fuck off because you're not like us" is just stupid.

Maelstrom: Let us assume for a second that Aurora Borealis does not exist and are given the option of joining any currently active band. Which one would you choose?

Ron Vento: I don't know. I would just start another one of my own. I have been asked by some really decent and big bands to join but I always end up passing. I really enjoy doing my own stuff and creating. By joining someone else's band you are automatically expected to mostly follow their lead, and I can't do that. Any ideas I have that I like I want to be able to include them in album and for someone else to dictate to me what I can and can't use is absurd. I may not join any band at all.

Maelstrom: Would you like us to know which were the bands you might have been in now?

Ron Vento: Not really, that would be very cool of me to say which bands were turned down. But the bands that I did turn down were by no means because of the music. I think that most of them are great bands but as I said before I just want to do my own music.

Maelstrom: How long have you been playing guitar and on an average how much practice do you put in daily?

Ron Vento: I have been playing for over 10 years and I used to practice about anywhere from 4 to 8 hours a day. That has changed a lot since I have got a little older with work and stuff. Now I am lucky to play an hour a day unless I am writing then sometimes I just get lost and play for a long time. I wish I had more time to practice because I need to sharpen up a bit more.

Maelstrom: Ahh...Well, how old are you now and what do you work as?

Ron Vento: I am 28 now and I work at a recording studio as the manager and main engineer. I am lucky because I get to be around music all day, some of the music is not really to my taste but the job beats going to do labor type work any day.

Maelstrom: What is your guitar set up like?

Ron Vento: Well I have two main guitars, one of them was custom built to my spec as far as neck length, fret style and body, etc. It was built by the Jackson custom shop but it's not one of those pre- fabricated custom guitars; this one was built for me. The action is very, very low and the neck is unfinished to allow for an easier play with an ebony board so I can play it forever with not much wear on the neck. The other is also a Jackson custom shop but it is a standard custom king v, with a few additions like a kahler and lsr tuners etc. I really like the Jackson guitar company a lot.

Maelstrom: What about your amps and processors?

Ron Vento: On all of my previous albums it has always been old Marshall with a ADA preamp, however I was actually able to afford finally to go get a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and this will be on the next CD. It totally crushes all the sounds I've ever had before. I always had a problem with the buzzing in my guitar sound and now it's gone. I just had to get the cash to get one because they are not cheap. I will use no processing with it just the MESA. The new CD will be the heaviest yet.

Maelstrom: Thanks for taking the time, Ron. Wish you all the best with the band, and use the remaining space to post your contact address/site and last comments if any. Hails!

Ron Vento: Thanx alot for the interview man, I appreciate you taking the time out for us. I would encourage all your readers to get in touch with us, we answer all mail.
We can be reached at AURORA4DTH@aol.com or by regular mail at PO BOX 1327
Clinton MD 20735-5327 also check out the web page at www.auroraborealis.

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

The Israeli band Orphaned Land is a unique entity that blends its region's heritage with metal. You'll be listening to the band's latest album, El Norra Alila, as an excellent metal part will suddenly turn into a traditional Israeli or Arabic piece played on traditional instruments. The inclusion of Muslim influences is in itself is indeed remarkable, as Orphaned Land is a beacon of tolerance in a land where natural beauty is being spoiled by the fear and hatred of certain groups of people.

Through its weight, melodic vocals that have a strong Middle Eastern sense of melody and brilliant song constructions, Orphaned Land's music exudes the spiritually heavy yet positive energy that is contained in the lyrics and band concept. Here again Orphaned Land is special as the group manages to incorporate meaningful, spiritual themes into its music without attempting to proselytize the listener. The group has been quiet for the last few years, so I wrote Kobi Farhi to see if all was going well.

Maelstrom: Orphaned Land has been quiet for some time. Have you got anything in the works?

Kobi Farhi: Indeed we were quiet, we have been through a lot over these years but Orphaned Land always stayed as our dream, today we are working on our next album, Mabool!

Maelstrom: What does "El Norra Alila" mean?

Kobi Farhi: El Norra Alila is a Jewish prayer that takes place on Yom Kipur (The day of forgiveness holyday). This album is a journey and a concept album on that matter, the meaning of that is - Oh Mighty God and the lyrics of the prayer is - oh Mighty God, Find us Forgiveness in the hour of heavens locking...

Maelstrom: Could you please go into some detail about the name of your band?

Kobi Farhi: We are a concept band, we like to deal with paradoxes, to do the unexpected; it creates interaction...the fact that we use oriental instruments into electric distorted guitar or the fact that we sing about the light in general and we use it in a very darkened filter (the metal music)...same goes with our name, Orphaned Land, which is a paradox to the Holy Land/Promised Land...

Maelstrom: On the El Norra Alila CD layout, there is a highly detailed, circular piece of religious artwork (and also one that is more square). Could you please tell us more about the origins of these works? What is their significance?

Kobi Farhi: We use a lot of religious elements in our music and also in our artwork. We use the art of Islam - mostly from the Sahara - and on El Norra Alila we used Jewish religious ornaments and prayers, we also used some pictures taken from Buddhism.

Maelstrom: Contrary to what is the overwhelming majority of metal bands, Orphaned Land is overtly religious. Your lyrics are about love and improvement. My question is twofold: How do you see yourselves fitting into a musical genre that traditionally rejects God, and what do you think of the imagery that is so prevalent in this genre? This question is especially important considering the next question I'd like to ask you.

Kobi Farhi: The metal music we play is a filter to transform our massage (sic) of light, we deal with harmony of black and white, like the yin-yang symbol, we are not religious people in any so called societal definitions, for the religious people we will always be a dark band and for the metal scene we are considered as a "white" band, we call our concept - A TANGO BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN. I know so much about the light, Love and all the things that related to God only because I was in the dark side and learned a lot from it, and I owe Satan a thanks because of it, Satan is a good friend who taught me a lot about our father - The Creator of all. It makes sense to me that the best way to find your self is to create a harmony of your inner light/darkness. It's important to me to say that we are also sing about God Forsaken hate and wars as well, etc…

Maelstrom: What's even more, it has become increasingly popular in specific parts the underground metal scene to overtly profess hatred for Jews. Some believe in what they call a "Jewish conspiracy." I wonder if you could comment on your views of this risen "National Socialist" scene. How significant is it and how seriously should we all take it? Do you feel many people who might enjoy your music write you off because of your heritage and philosophy?

Kobi Farhi: We were born as Jewish and we are Jewish. On the other hand we sing and take parts from the Koran, which is the Holy book of Islam. We also use Christianity and many other beliefs in our filter, we are not involved in politics, we have friends from all over and especially from very un-friendly countries to Israel: I have friends from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Dubai, etc... All of them understood our concept and what we are trying to say. If someone will judge us only because of our nationality then it's a pity and I will learn to accept it. Probably he didn't bother to understand what Orphaned Land is about. I consider my self as a son of God more then I consider my self a Jew - this definition only makes damage... Judaism, Islam, Satanism, etc... are all paths for human to find them selves, everyone has his own way.

Maelstrom: I wonder if you've heard of a band from The Czech Republic called Lycathia Aflame. Lyrically, they remind me of you.

Kobi Farhi: I never heard about them, please send me a link or something so I will be able to search their stuff...Thanks!

Maelstrom: What's it like being a metal band in Israel? I think your scene is growing.

Kobi Farhi: The scene is growing, all right!! I don't know if its related to the social, political situation but it grows big every day, Salem just released their forth album, Nail Within has signed to Listenable, we have very good bands like Eternal Gray, Distorted, Rattle Snake, Threnody, Voltures, Lehavoth and more, which can be really successful in the future. Too bad that because of the situation here, bands are afraid to perform here...Bands that take pictures with swords and sings about Mythological wars will not perform here because they watched news at home. I call them from here to come and take a live show in the Holy "orphaned" Land of Israel.

Maelstrom: You have a bunch of guest musicians who play the traditional folk music parts on El Norra Alila. What was it like getting these people to play on your record? What do you think Israeli would think about your music?

Kobi Farhi: It was a great experience to us to work with them; we really felt and still feel that we create something new and we like to challenge our selves. Those people were not familiar with metal music till they met us and I guess for some of them it will not be possible to understand our music. When we recorded them, we had to mute the distorted guitars and just to live the rhythm section playing...it was funny... On the other hand, if I make a presentation to people about our music and what's behind the music, then they come to listen to it in the right attitude and they understand our point of view.

Maelstrom: Do you know the Israeli band Arallu? If so, could you comment on the contrast of imagery and philosophy that Arallu puts forth in its music?

Kobi Farhi: I know this band, I think they are singing from the heart of Jerusalem and the war inside it, I think they do a good job even though their music is not my cup of tea.

Maelstrom: What do you think of the scene in your country? I'm thinking of bands like Salem, Betrayer and Aztec (I wonder why they chose that name…?)

Kobi Farhi: As I said, the scene here today is great. I think that old Salem are a great band and people, they are very loyal to what they do for a long time. Betrayer and Aztec are no longer exist although I mentioned a few of the promising names in today's scene.

Maelstrom: In the west, I think people almost uniformly have a perception that life Israel is just one horrible string of attacks and retaliations. Maelstrom has been very lucky in getting an Israeli writer who has given some insight as to what the true life of an Israeli is. How about you? What are your lives in Israel like?

Kobi Farhi: Living in today's Israel is not easy, although it's far from what is described in the worldwide news channels... Israel is a very western country as well as eastern, living with an un-silent life is not easy at all, I think that Israel is the strongest earth in this planet, from this place will start the whole worldwide mass or from this place the worldwide peace and salvation will come. It is my home and I love Israel very much, I think its a very special place, the mixture of cultures, the food, the people, Tel-Aviv etc... In Israel - in a line of 500 km you can find snow on the north, desert on the south, sea on the west and the Dead Sea on the east - you will be able to find a special and a strong place like Jerusalem. When this region will live in peace, this place will be one of the most interesting places in the world to travel in, and this day is coming...amen.

Maelstrom: When do you think that will happen? What do you think it will take for that to happen?

Kobi Farhi: Regarding peace in this region, I don't know, I'm a man with low expectations; that way I don't have many disappointments. [Peace] will arrive when we will be ready and mature to accept it. I think people here need to learn about tolerance, patience, trust, listening and compromise. They need to understand the high value of human life and the low value of money, getting rich and creating new weapons. [Instead they should find] cures to new diseases. Once we'll have peace among us and our brothers, there will be no diseases in the world! Once we will realize that peace will come...

Maelstrom: I hesitate to call your spiritual lyrics "Jewish," as it seems you have at least heavy Muslim influence, like the Arabic chanting on the song "Like Fire to Water." Could you please tell us about Orphaned Land's perception of religion and spirituality?

Kobi Farhi: As I said, Orphaned Land is a tango between God and Satan. We think that human life is sacred more than anything else: We pray for mankind to wake up and understand it; With all the money that goes for making weapons you can finish hunger in the world. Our using of religions such as Judaism and Islam is just a use of inspiration we use by any path that leads to God and understanding. We are very open minded and it's important, especially when you deal with religion (and generally in everything in life) to not to be extreme or fanatic - It reminds me of Heroin... People must know themselves and must know to respect other ways different than theirs. Otherwise, they live in fear and they are so paranoid that they want to protect their way. If you are confident of your way, there will be no problem for you to accept other ways, because there are ways to the truth as the number of the world human beings.

Maelstrom: How long have you been together as this band? It seems that you have improved a great deal, at least from the two recordings that I've heard, El Norra Alila and what I believe was a self-titled album.

Kobi Farhi: We are together for 11 years, we did three albums - The Beloveds Cry, Sahara and El Norra Alila and today we are signed to Century Media, our next album, Mabool, will soon have a release date!!!

Maelstrom: Congratulations on signing with Century Media! Can you tell us about what the new album will be like?

Kobi Farhi: The new album, Mabool, is a concept album about the story of The Flood and Noah. It tells the story of three little boys, Snake Magick, Lion Wisdom and Eagle Force. They deal with Mystic while suddenly they see a vision of a flood that is about to fill the Orphaned Land of Earth...more than that I cannot tell!

Maelstrom: A friend of Maelstrom's likes to call you "Opeth, if Opeth were Israeli and incorporated traditional folk music." What do you think of that comparison. What do you think of Opeth?

Kobi Farhi: Of course I will take it as a great compliment. I think that Opeth are great and I can understand why your friend thought that way: On some levels we are much alike although that Orphaned Land are [about] much more than music, as it comes to concept and the issues [what] we [of] speak lyrically we are not alike at all.

Maelstrom: For that matter, who are your favorite musical artists? How about literary or graphic artists?

Kobi Farhi: There are so many of them. I like all types of music: I can listen to At the Gates, Pavarotti, Paganini, Dead Can Dance, Stephan Mikus, Omar Farouk, Om Kolthoum, Depache Mode and many more on the same day... As it comes to paintings I like Terner, Picasso, Giger, Dali and many more...

Maelstrom: Thank you so much for this interview and for your work. Orphaned Land's music is refreshingly unique in its presentation and energy. We hope to hear again from you soon.

Kobi Farhi: Thank you too for your support and the very interesting questions. Hope we will see each other after the Mabool!!!!
Please visit our web-site - www.orphaned-land.co.il Shalom/Salam

The storm still rages...

Kobi.

interview by: Abhishek Chatterjee

Putrid Remnants are a Dutch band you probably haven't heard of. Very new to the scene and very underground, they are the kind of band I love to discover. I happened to meet the bassist, Rob, online not so long ago and he sent me a little rehearsal recording of theirs. I was sufficiently impressed with their raw and uncompromising style of death/grind and thus conducted this small interview with Rob.

Maelstrom: Hi Rob. Do give us some background info on Putrid Remnants. How, when and where was the band formed?

Rob: Hails Abhi! It was Jelle, our drummer, who took the first initiative. At that time, our singer, Jan, was also involved. This was about a year ago, it took quite some time to find the right persons and to form a stable line-up.
At our homepage there is a more detailed reconstruction of this period.

Maelstrom: You had sent me a tape with three songs on it that I presume were rehearsal recordings. Is there any other Putrid Remnants stuff available on recorded format?

Rob: No, we haven't recorded anything in a professional way yet.

Maelstrom: When do you hope to have the next recording out? How many new songs are ready?

Rob: Good question, at the moment we're just picking up the old stuff again and are busy composing new tracks. As soon as possible we want to hit the stage again. The old material consists of three tracks, being "Erectal Bloodtransfusion," "Coffin Slut" and "4-eyes Ejaculation." For now the only stuff we can offer are the tracks at our page.

Maelstrom: Do you get to play a lot of live shows?

Rob: Problem at the moment is that our guitarist, Patrick, left the band. Before his departure we played one show in Leeuwarden. After this gig we got a lot of positive reactions, but unfortunately it will take some time now to find a new guitarist and to integrate him in the process.

Maelstrom: So what is the current line up now?

Rob: Since our guitar player, Patrick, quit some months ago we had to go looking for a replacement. For some weeks we had a new axeman but we had to split ways because it didn't really work out. Because we found a new drummer, our original drummer Jelle decided to pick up the guitar. He can play very good so the switch wasn't really a problem. For a little while we even had a second guitarplayer but both new members didn't want to continue. So it was the four of us again, without a drummer. One of our grunters, Martin, is also a very good drummer; he also plays drums for Morblast, Thy Withering Orchard and Zeal, so at the moment he takes care of the blast-section until we find a new drummer. Yes, that's right; drummer switches for strings and second singer beating the skins. To cut the story straight; Jan-grunts, Jelle-Guitars, Martin-Temporary Drums and Rob-Bass. Any drummers living in the region feel free to contact us.

Maelstrom: Tell us more about the side projects that you are in.

Rob: I myself also play bass with Thy Withering Orchard ('atmospheric twilight metal') and do the vocals for Morblast (Death Metal). Martin plays drums for those two bands and as if that wasn't enough, he also drums for Zeal (Metalcore). Jelle plays guitar in a band called Demigod; they play Power/Heavy Metal. Jan and Jelle are also busy getting people together to form a really extreme Grindcore band, so we'll see what sick twisted shit comes from that!

Maelstrom: The Dutch scene is exploding with great bands like Disavowed, Pyaemia, Severe Torture etc. Is this just a recent happening or have such brutal bands been around for a long time? I know bands like Sinister are age old veterans but where did this new breed of viciousness come from?

Rob: We ourselves are also amazed to see those bands become so big all over the world. It's a good development that those bands fix everyone's eyes at the Dutch scene, because there are more bands around that manage to hit the spot. But don't forget there have always been great death metal bands coming from this country like Pestilence, Gorefest, Altar and Asphyx. Also less famous bands like Polluted Inheritance and Nembrionic deserve attention. Actually, this 'new wave of Dutch brutal death/grind' is made up of bands that haven't been around for a long time. Interest in death metal has been growing a lot in recent years, probably that's the only explanation for the fact you pointed out.

Maelstrom: I remember some one from God Dethroned talking about how there are community clubs in Holland that sponsor for band practise rooms and stuff. Is that true?

Rob: We never heard anything about that, but possibly metal pubs and music clubs try to help talented bands by sponsoring them or helping them getting shows.
Anyway, it's not a structural phenomenon.

Maelstrom: How important is the internet for you guys?

Rob: The internet is a practical and easy way for the promotional part of a band. Since we have the homepage online we got in touch with a lot of people. It's an opportunity to get your name around the globe. But it's only that, we concentrate on the music in the first place because that is the only thing that matters!

Maelstrom: Is Holland a very liberal country?

Rob: Yes, there is no reason to complain in comparison to other countries.
Everyone knows about the soft drugs policy, which can be described as being very progressive. The government tries to make everyone as happy as possible between certain boundaries of course. It's a philosophy mostly based on freedom and respect towards other people. They do a good job, but the better the country is run, the smaller the things everyone is jerking about.

Maelstrom: How liberal are the girls in bed?

Rob: Good question, but you should ask the people who handle things the normal way. We're too ugly anyway to just go and ask for it. What we mostly do with women, or little children, or sheep, or rats, or rabbits, or dogs, or cows (hey, weren't they sacred animals in India? Uhum, sorry dude) is we rape them and kill 'em afterwards. Coming back to the girls, they tend to become very liberal with handcuffs around their wrists and tied to a bed, hehe.

Band contact: Rob at mijd@hotmail.com

interview by: Roberto Martinelli

This new power metal band from Finland's debut album has the distinction of not only being an excellently played one, but also being original, which is rather unusual indeed when considering that so many bands out of Europe, and especially Finland, are content with mindlessly emulating the styles of the two or three largest groups in the genre. I was curious about this "cannibalisation" (as Laurent puts it), and asked Requiem guitarist Teemu Hänninen some tough questions about why he thought things are the way they are. Hänninen was not only a good sport, but also had some insightful things to say.

Maelstrom: I think the thing that grabbed me most about your album, The Arrival, was the production. On my favorite headphones, the first few tracks sounded like they were in a near constant state of explosion, kind of like both bass and treble were maxed out. It was a level of bombast unlike the other over-the-top bands in the genre. Was this the intention? What do you think of the production?

Teemu Hänninen: The production came out surprisingly good, you know the whole album was recorded and mixed in two weeks. We spent one week recording, and the other we spent mixing. A week is really a short time to mix an album of 9 tracks and with dozens of guitars, huge keyboard orchestrations, choirs and backing vocals. I personally like these big sounding heavy metal albums with pounding bass and shrieking trebles. Arttu Sarvanne (the engineer) did a great job.

Maelstrom: I like the album art a great deal. It's warm and crisp and doesn't look like anything else in the genre.

Teemu Hänninen: At first, I didn't want a fantasy theme on the cover, but since I saw the first scethes of the Arrival cover, I was very impressed. Santa Claus with a magical wand in hand climbing the floating stairs made of stone towards the sky-floating fantasy castle!! Jason Juta sure has a sick imagination.

Maelstrom: So the trend in this interview is how you guys aren't like everyone else. It seems that a bunch of bands from Finland that I've been hearing lately make no effort to have any ideas of their own and would rather copy Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica; you guys don't. I think that's pretty great. In fact, I think you're the only band aside from Burning Point that I've heard from Finland that isn't a clone. What's really cool is that you've managed to do something different on your first album. What do you think about this opinion?

Teemu Hänninen: Thanks. I also think that we have our own sound. But all the Helloween copycats also think and say that they have their own sound and don't sound like anyone else ! For example some of the latest finnish power metal acts Dreamtale and Celesty. They both say in their interviews that their music is very original and shit like that. I think it's stupid trying to be something you're not. They are just poor man's everyday powermetal clones. Period. In fact they have copied some riffs note to note from Helloween, Stratovarius and Gamma Ray.

Maelstrom: Speaking of Burning Point, what impresses me the most about that band isn't necessarily the music but more that their power metal style isn't what seems to always come out of Europe: happy, peppy stuff with sing along choruses. Rather, their style is much more like power metal bands' from the US. Why do you think there is such a division between the styles and why are Euro bands make such happy music? Objectively I think it's remarkable considering that metal originated as a dark and largely negative musical genre.

Teemu Hänninen (left): I don't know... It's quite funny actually.. First, listen to for example Blacks Sabbath's song Black Sabbath, and then something from Sonata Arctica or Stratovarius. Quite a difference. It must be because the German folk music is really happy, and maybe that influenced the early Helloween and so... Well I'm not a music historian, and I don't try to sound like one, but if you listen to Mozart and Beethoven, even some Bach and Vivaldi, lot of their material, especially by Mozart, is written in major keys. And classical music is something that influences us all. I mean, you hear classical music almost everyday, for example many TV commercials use classical music as their backing score.

Maelstrom: I think it's kind of a contrast that some of the happiest sounding power metal comes from Finland, a country that is known for it's stern, hardy and grim people.

Teemu Hänninen: I think that the finnish power metal acts sound happy, because they all are trying to make the Keepers of the Seven Keys III. They all just copy Helloween, Iron Maiden and so on.. I'm bored of talking 'bout that psychological shit about the gloomy finns in every interview, we are not as grim you think. The winter is long, dark and cold, but we can handle it.

Maelstrom: Speaking of the great differences in style between the US and Europe, the European power metal sound is catching on more and more here. Bands like Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Edguy and Angra (who are Brazilian but have a Euro style) have recently come to play in the US for the first time in their long careers, and are doing very well. I remember that not too long ago it was perceived that such metal would never sell (or sell out) in the US as the music was too happy or "gay," and that American metal fans preferred heavier, more extreme stuff. Do you have any comment on this?

Teemu Hänninen: I don't really know a lot about the US metal scene. All I know that you have a great progressive metal scene there really. Many of the top-of-the-line progressive metal bands come from US, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Magellan, Cairo, Explorer's Club.

Maelstrom: Speaking again of a lack of originality or adventurousness, why do you think that so many power metal bands feel that their albums have to be fantasy, sword and sorcery stuff? Can power metal be fantasy without rehashing the same knights and dragons themes?

Teemu Hänninen: The most cliché stuff is the easiest stuff to write. Even if you have absolutely no talent in writing lyrics, it's still easy to put together some Might and Magic shit.... Don't get me wrong, I really like fantasy oriented computer/RPG games and fantasy art, but if you listen to the Rhapsody lyrics, they're just plain stupid!! I think Symphony X has handled this area quite well, they have fantasy lyrics, but it's not that childish stuff like most power metal acts write. Maybe that's because English (American) is their native language.

Maelstrom: What do you think of bands like Primal Fear and Gamma Ray?

Teemu Hänninen: Primal Fear, I've heard maybe two songs.. Great singer, great sound. Gamma Ray is one of the best power metal acts, tho I really don't listen to power metal stuff so much.

Maelstrom: Does the Euro power metal genre owe everything to Helloween?

Teemu Hänninen: Yes, and to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar and many many others.

Maelstrom: Please tell us about Requiem. How do you feel your band is moving along as a unit and what goals do you have in the music that you make?

Teemu Hänninen: Our band isn't moving at all. Not much has happened after the release of "The Arrival". I hope we get to record our next album as soon as possible and then gain more opportunities and fame. My personal goal is to get to the point I can earn my living with music. Of course it would be more than great if we got to do some touring around the world. So, see ya on the world tour, hopefully within ten years!!

Maelstrom: Thanks for taking the time to respond to these questions. The Arrival is an excellent debut. We hope to see your career move along successfully!

Teemu Hänninen: What is this magazine this interview's gonna end up in? If it's a printed mag, please send us six copies of it, if possible, or at least one copy to me? OK?

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

Roughly 10 years ago, the Peaceville label had a subsidiary called Dreamtime Records. It has long since folded, but while it was around it released two albums by this band called Ship of Fools. Now, this is just about as fresh a piece of news to me as it is to you, because I had never heard of this group before I was sent the promo. But it turns out that this was a group worth listening to. Fitting in very nicely in the genre of music that the Ozric Tentacles play, but with mid-80s Rush elements, this band is an excellent palate cleanser of relaxed but engaging music to break up the often dark and angst-out stuff we normally talk about.

It also turns out that the lead member of the Fools, Les Smith, is a man many of us have heard from before. The Yorkshire, England native is currently playing keyboard in Anathema, and spent three years with Cradle of Filth (as the vicar) during the Cruelty and the Beast period. Wanting to know more, I spoke to Smith on the phone.

Maelstrom: I really like this record a lot.

Les Smith: Oh, cheers, man. I'm glad.

Maelstrom: You probably won't be surprised, but I had never heard of you before.

Les Smith: I'm getting used to that.

Maelstrom: These records came out something like eight years ago, right?

Les Smith: Yeah.

Maelstrom: So why all of a sudden are they being reissued?

Les Smith: Peaceville has been going through the back catalog and reissuing everything, really. I always thought [Ship of Fools] could do with a bit of tidyin' up sonically. So I asked Hammy and Lisa (of Peaceville) "everything else is going out, how about doin' a Ship of Fools best of?" And so they did. There was an opportunity to do a couple of gigs with Anathema over the weekend, so we did those as well.

Maelstrom: You played in both bands?

Les Smith: Yeah. It went really well; we got a really good reception for the Fools. It was a good weekend.

Maelstrom: It says on the press release that the album was "mixed down" by you.

Les Smith: It got a full remixed because we couldn't get all of the original multi-track recordings - they disappeared into the ether somewhere. I digitally remastered it, which really improved the sound and brought out instruments that you couldn't hear at all the first time 'round. I edited it, chopped it around a bit, put new bits and pasted it all back together again.

Maelstrom: So there's music on there that wasn't on there originally.

Les Smith: Yeah, a bit; Not a lot

Maelstrom: The press release makes it sound like there's less, like it's more minimal. They make this joke about "Les being more."

Les Smith: Yeah…Oh, right, yeah, I see. I haven't actually seen the press release. Yeah, it's just a play on words. The new ones just sound a lot better, really.

Maelstrom: The press release compares you a lot with the Ozric Tentacles.

Les Smith: Yeah, we were in that genre, really. When we kicked off, we were in the same sort of circuit as them.

Maelstrom: Did you really like that band and wanted to have something like that?

Les Smith: Well, no. I mean, if you listen to [Ship of Fools], it's not really much like the Ozric Tentacles.

Maelstrom: Well, I checked out Ozric. I got an album called Arborescence. I can see how it sounds like you, but I think you have a lot more variety.

Les Smith: The Ozric is more spacey jam, and we're more song structured, without vocals, but with different sort of take on it. We're similar that we're instrumental and it's sort of head music. It's from the same background.

Maelstrom: When I reviewed your record, I hadn't heard the Ozric Tentacles; there was something about Let's Get this Mother Outta Here that made me think mid- to late-80s Rush. There's some sort of quality about it.

Les Smith: You're the second person who's said that today.

Maelstrom: What's kind of funny is, and hear me out on this, is that it's the most unfortunate time of Rush's discography. You sound like that, but what Rush should have been doing more.

Les Smith: I'm not that familiar with that period. I sort of left after Moving Pictures.

Maelstrom: That's a good time. The late 80s and then 90 was really bad, but they've gotten a lot better.

Les Smith: Yeah, so I hear. They're an amazing band.

Maelstrom: Oh, yeah, they're really good. I saw them last month and they played for three hours.

Les Smith: Their drummer rocks. He's fucking superb. They're all spectacular musicians.

Maelstrom: You went from the Ship to the Cradle.

Les Smith: Yeah.

Maelstrom: What on earth?

Les Smith: What on earth…How I ended up in Cradle is fucking beyond me, mate, really. (laugh) I've actually got one of 'em with me - Nick Barker (drummer for Dimmu Borgir, Lock Up, ex-Cradle of Filth) is sitting next to me at the moment. He's just come over. I was with Anathema after the Ship of Fools. I recorded the Eternity album with Anathema and did a few tours with them. I was doing that when the Cradle thing came up. They had lost their previous keyboard player and needed somebody to do a couple of festivals as a stand in. I got offered the job 'cause I knew the management company - Anathema were on the same company. I also knew one of the guitar players. I wasn't familiar with Cradle at the time. I had a look at it and thought, "oh, that's different, isn't it? (laugh). It's not the usual sort of thing I'd do in itself, but I'll do it. It'll be an experience." I ended up in the band for three years.

Maelstrom: How many records are you on?

Les Smith: Two. Cruelty and the Beast and From the Cradle to Enslave.

Maelstrom: So they have you all done up.

Les Smith: Yeah, I had the vicar's outfit on. I used to wear it everywhere we went. I'd go out and people would think I was the real thing. It was good fun. Everybody that was in the band at the time I've still got contact with. Dani is Dani, he's got his management and Dani thing.

Maelstrom: Is he easy to get along with?

Les Smith: Sometimes he can be; sometimes he can be a complete tool. It was like a heavy metal boy band. Fuck that shit. That's not what I got into it for. Keep the fucking money and fuck off. Bollocks to that.

Maelstrom: So I guess you didn't have a lot of creative energy going into the band.

Les Smith: No, I did a lot of writing. The reason I joined was that I really connected with Nick and Stewart - the musicians in the band. We had a really good working relationship and we were good friends; I had a lot of respect for what we were doing. All the rest came to light afterward. I wasn't particularly familiar with the black metal scene going in - I was from a standard metal background. I enjoyed writing the stuff, you know? It was different; it was challenging; it was good.

Maelstrom: You know that in terms of being black metal, many people like to spit on Cradle of Filth? You know about all that, right?

Les Smith: Oh, yeah. It's whatever… they can say that but they're doing well, aren't they? At the end of the day, people will buy what they want, won't they? If they want to fucking buy it, then that's up to them, you know what I mean? I wouldn't be a fan, myself.

Maelstrom: So looking back on what you wrote, 'cause it doesn't seem like your heart was really into it…

Les Smith: …It was when we were doing it. After Cruelty and the Beast it became a bit stressed, after when Nick left. All the music used to get written and then Dani would come along and screech over the top of it. (laugh) We didn't really have much to do with Dani until the very end of the process. We were a very self-contained unit almost.

Maelstrom: This is sort of becoming a Cradle of Filth interview.

Les Smith: I don't want to particularly slag Dani off 'cause I'm not after him. I'll leave that to it. In terms of the relationship with the rest of the band, we were into where we were at, but I think it could have turned out a lot better.

Maelstrom: I think I read that Ship of Fools is coming back together?

Les Smith: Yeah, we did some shows and hopefully we're going to put out a new record next year.

Maelstrom: is it going to be the same thing with no vocals?

Les Smith: We might try a track or two with minimalist vocals, sort of like a Chemical Brothers approach to the vocals. Or maybe Prodigy. Use a vocalist, but not in a conventional way.

Maelstrom: You were saying before that you had a metal background, but Ship of Fools isn't metal at all.

Les Smith: It's not metal, but it's pretty rooted in rock. The drummer's a (Jon) Bonham freak. He's into Bonham and Keith Moon, so he's more of a classic period rock rather than an 80s period and onward metal. This is my background, anyway. Before the Slayers and the Maidens, your Deep Purples and your Zeppelins were your heavy metal!

Maelstrom: I think that's one of the main things I liked about the record: I get a lot of stuff to review from metal labels. And so when I heard the Ship of Fools, it was so completely different energy wise - it was laid back and it wasn't angsted-out; it was a really good palate cleanser. Aside from the fact that I liked it for what it was, I think it was the contrast that made me like it so much.

Les Smith: It's like heavy metal chill out music. People who like metal connect with it for some reason, yeah? It's not hard work on the head. You don't want to live, breathe, eat and drink fucking metal 24 hours a day.

Maelstrom: I can't do it.

Les Smith: No, no. You need contrast and variety. You don't eat fries all the time. You need different colors.

Maelstrom: Let's talk about Anathema. You weren't on Judgement, right?

Les Smith: Right.

Maelstrom: But you were on A Fine Day to Exit?

Les Smith: Yeah.

Maelstrom: Ok, there's this part on the album where there's this track where someone says "what about dogs? What about cats?…"

Les Smith: "…what about chickens?" Yeah, yeah.

Maelstrom: What is that?

Les Smith: It's basically the content of John (Douglas) the drummer's head. He's a bit fucking mental. All of that section, you know, there's a conversation going on.

Maelstrom: If I remember, it's on the beach?

Les Smith: That's actually John talking to himself.

Maelstrom: Right, right, it's some sort of rant.

Les Smith: Yeah, walking up and down a pebbled beach. The bit about "what about dogs? What about cats?" that's John as well. It just made us laugh.

Maelstrom: Apparently it's not on the vinyl version. I made a fool out of myself: I went up to a friend of mine and did the whole "what about chickeeeeens?" thing. He said, "what is wrong with you?" I said, "didn't you hear that Anathema record?"

Les Smith: Yeah, it's not on the vinyl version. It's a hidden track.

Maelstrom: I went to go see Metalfest 2001, when Anathema played. Were you there?

Les Smith: Yeah, I was.

Maelstrom: That was a really funny scene. Speaking of palate cleansers, Anathema was so unlike any other band that played.

Les Smith: Yeah, especially at the Metalfest. It's very metal, isn't it?

Maelstrom: The same friend I did the chicken thing with describes most of the bands there as being "truck with a blast beat."

Les Smith: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, that sounds about right.

Maelstrom: It sounds like (blurting sound) and a blast beat. It's absolutely horrible. So then you have Anathema and you can actually hear all their songs. It's really funny that people with Graveland shirts will be listening to it. I didn't think your band would actually be there, but it was.

Les Smith: We feel a bit odd anyway, really, nowadays because we realize we're not like "metal" metal. And we got a lot of people who say, "uhhhh, it's not metal," but we get more people who say it's fantastic who are banging to metal of all sorts. A lot of the black metal fans are at the gigs, and we're nothing at all like black metal. I supposed it's about not being fooled into believing into the record company bullshit in which people can be characterized so easily. Just because you like extreme metal doesn't mean you don't like classical music or don't appreciate other types [of music]. And especially in the metal scene, I think people have always been - I know they have in Europe - been receptive to other stuff, just not the fucking manufactured crap. If it's anything that's got a bit of spit in it, a bit of rebellion, then I think people will go for it.

Maelstrom: Tell me about you. How did you get into this kind of music? You talked about Deep Purple.

Les Smith: Yeah, Deep Purple were a massive influence. I used to play guitar at 6. Then I played trumpet and I learned how to read music. I was always into music. Then when I was 11, 12, I started getting into Motorhead, Saxon, Black Sabbath, all that scene. It developed from there: I decided at that age that that's what I wanted to do, and I did. Over the years, amongst various other exploits, I've ended up doing what I've always wanted to do.

Maelstrom: Is being a musician your full-time job?

Les Smith: Yeah. It is at the moment. It has been for a few years. I mean, it's hard - we're not in the mega league.

Maelstrom: It's sad, huh?

Les Smith: Well, it's alright. You know, fuck fame - money's ok. But we earn a living out of it. We do what we want and the music is getting better all the time. We're happy with what we do, although sometimes you have to make sacrifices and sometimes you think, "fuck it, I'm gonna get a job. I've had it with this shit."

Maelstrom: Yeah, you probably wouldn't like it.

Les Smith: No, I know I wouldn't like it.

Maelstrom: Ok, last question. The press release has this slogan about "Ship of Fools… when the drugs worked." Is this another playing up of an angle or do drugs play a big part in making this kind of music?

Les Smith: Nah. I suppose a lot of it was around at the time, but most of it was written in a sober state apart from havin' a bit of weed.

Maelstrom: You have that song "L=SD squared"

Les Smith: The thing about "L=SD squared" is that it's really tongue-in-cheek, yeah? It's all Timothy Leary samples. It was a hippy theory that LSD was released on the world a nuclear conflict. The irony of it was that it was distributed by the CIA, who was testing it out on people and distributing it in the 50s as a mind control drug. It's not like go get drugs, it's cool. It's not what we're saying at all. We've all had our fair share, but we've all had our fair share of regrets and hangovers and fucking wanted-to-die-in-the-mornings. (laugh)

Maelstrom: It seems that the whole Ship of Fools thing really plays up the fact that you're hippies.

Les Smith: It was, but also you have to do something to keep the interest going if you haven't got a singer. So you go with the lights and you go with the whole kit 'n kaboodle. You could be on drugs and appreciate it but you could also enjoy it if you weren't out of your mind. (a baby makes a noise).

Maelstrom: You have a child?

Les Smith: I just had a son last year.

Maelstrom: Oh, congratulations. Is it your first one?

Les Smith: Yeah.

Maelstrom: And Nick Barker's over there?

Les Smith: Yeah.

Maelstrom: So it's like a whole family metal thing going on!

Les Smith: Yeah, there's a family metal thing going on here. Certainly, man.

Maelstrom: I'll let you get back to your friends, then.

Les Smith: Thanks, Roberto. Thanks for liking it and doing the interview.

interview by: ~Vargscarr~

For those who haven't heard their name, Skyforger are arguably Latvia's premiere Metal export. Blending a style of extreme Metal comprising influences from across various sub-genres with traditional Latvian Folk music; they have progressed over three releases from Black Metal roots reminiscent of a Folked-up Immortal to a truly original sound that - though still Black Metal in presentation - nonetheless defies easy classification, and is best described as harsh, aggressive, Pagan Folk Metal. Despite sounding closer to Nokturnal Mortum than Skyclad, Skyforger eschew tradtional Black Metal ideology, keeping their music free of the musical and philosophical politics that - while acting as a creative focus for other bands - might otherwise prove a constraint upon them, and as such each Skyforger album has been a marked development in the stylistic growth of the band. The soon-to-be-released Thunderforge CD promises to take the band's evolution even further, and with good promotion should bring them to the much wider audience they rightly deserve.

This interview was conducted with guitarist/vocalist Peter via e-mail. For more information on Skyforger, visit http://www.skyforger.lv. Many thanks to Andy (Skyforger's manager) for the photos.

Maelstrom: Congratulations on the recording of the new album! I heard the mp3 of the title track, "Perkonkalve" ("Thunderforge"), on your website (http://www.skyforger.lv) and I was very impressed - the addition of clean vocals to the Metal is wonderful, as you'd previously restricted them to the parts of your songs that were straight Folk music - with the exception of the odd song like "Naves Sala" ("Death Island"'). I love hearing them mixed in throughout the song in its entirety. Vocally, "Perkonkalve" is very reminiscent of Enslaved's Eld album. Would you say this track on the website is generally typical of the whole album - both regarding the vocals and the rest of the music?

Peter (above): In the new album there are a variety of songs and it's hard for me to describe this one (Thunderforge) as a typical for whole album, but I can say that the album contains strong folk feeling, parts with clear vocals, some real folk song arrangements and generally it is a little bit slower than previous ones; that's because of the album's theme: Latvian mythology.

Maelstrom: What else can listeners expect to hear on your new album? I know you experiment with keyboards for the first time on this release - are there any other new instruments or stylistic developments you're aware of including?

Peter: Ah, yes - keyboards, but we use it only for creating some mood, not for playing melodies like Dimmu Borgir or Rhapsody do. As for other instruments, we use all our old folk stuff here - pipes, bag bipes, kokles, giga, mouth harp and some percussion. New for us is that we try female vocals (Rasa from Heresiarh sings some folk parts). As I said above this album is slower than Latvian Riflemen, not so aggressive, but not a doom album of course. I want to explain that this does not mean that the band has started to play slow now and forever, this is because of the topic of the album. We try to make the music go hand in hand with its lyrics, if the song is a about ritual funeral I think it cannot be fast.

Maelstrom: Do you have any idea when the new CD will be released? I know you've been looking for a new label for a while...

Peter: Yes, that's our main problem now. We have contacts with some labels, but they think very slowly, and many refuse our album, I think that's because this one doesn't sound like Latvian
Riflemen. Therefore it's hard for me to say something about a release date; it looks like it will only happen in 2003. If there is nothing forthcoming, we'll try to release this album by ourselves.

Maelstrom: Do you know if the distribution of your albums will improve outside of Latvia? There are many over here in Western Europe - and I believe in the US as well - who know your name, but have huge problems finding your releases; even from the underground distros who stock far more obscure bands from various parts of Eastern Europe, and who often don't even have your desire to be heard outside the Black Metal scene! Why do you think distribution/publicity has been so poor thus far?

Peter: Kauja pie Saules and Latvian Riflemen were realised by Dutch Mascot records and they dealt with all promotion. We heard about their poor work and that is why we are now away from them, but Mascot had all rights on our first two albums and there was nothing we could do. Look, we are a band from Eastern Europe and are not so deeply into the music industry, we were very happy when we found some label who distributed our music all around the world. Now we have learned something and I hope things will go better in the future, because we want to spread our music to people. But after all, Mascot has done some work if people know our name.

Maelstrom: It's very refreshing to hear a band playing your style of Pagan-Folk Metal and having strong national ties to your homeland, but who seem to have no political agenda. In past interviews you've explained the firecross in your logo (the symbol many know only as the swastika, with all the associations that brings) has nothing to do with National Socialism; so for the record please explain what the symbol means to you.

Peter: This is the holy symbol of our thunder god, Perkons, as a firecross. In another way it means everlasting motion, the magic sign that protects you from all evil. Those who are into history know that this ancient symbol is found in almost every nation (I saw it on the clothes of American Indians too), but sadly for the rest of the people it is associated only with Hitler's regime. In our country it is not a Nazi sign and it is legal, because it comes from our folklore and culture, we have various complicated forms of this cross.

Maelstrom: What are your thoughts on other bands who deal with the same lyrical themes as you and play in a similar style that blends traditional Folk with Extreme/Black Metal - the best examples right now are probably Ukrainian bands Nokturnal Mortum and Dub Buk - who do have this NS political stance? Do you listen to their music at all?

Peter: Yes I heard Nokturnal Mortum and found their music good and interesting, especially the album NeChrist, but this does not mean that I like them because of their NS views and lyrics, I like the mood of album and the way they mix metal with folk. About other folk metal bands I must say that I heard much shit and those bands (I'd better not name them) degrade the whole style. Most of them had problems with folk singing, playing and fresh ideas. But of course I've heard many good bands, for example Obtest (Lithuania), Otyg, Bathory (of course), Isengard and Enslaved (sorry, I don't remember all the names).

Maelstrom: Why do you think bands from smaller European countries, particularly in eastern Europe, have such a wonderful sense of pride in their nation's history and folk culture - a willingness to embrace their roots and work them into their contemporary art; as opposed to the way those further west in Europe and across the Atlantic tend to grow away from them? Is this only true of those who happen to be musicians, or is it something you are aware of in all your fellow countrymen?

Peter: I think it's because all these countries and especially their history and national culture were oppressed for a long time by the Communist regime and now it springs out in various ways - such as metal music. The other thing is that we do not have such deep metal roots like in west Europe and the USA (and contacts with them) and we try to do something of our own, not simply copying all the big western bands. We find it in our culture and history and we try to make our own metal scene, something different from the rest of the world, but that's not to mean that we try to stand apart. And finally, as you say, this goes not only for musicians here, but for some fellow countrymen too.

Maelstrom: With you second studio album, Latvian Riflemen you really broke free of the Black Metal style that characterises your music in the previous two releases (the demo Semigalls' Warchant and debut CD, Kauja pie Saules); not just by changing your vocal style, but by introducing song writing techniques from other Metal styles, like the wonderful Extreme-Maiden-Folk song "Pulkvedis Briedis" ("Colonel Briedis"), and the Doomier "Tirela Purva" ("In The Tirelis Swamp"). Nevertheless, most listeners would probably still class Skyforger as Black Metal simply because your harsh guitar sound, extravagant drumming and even the inclusion of Folk instruments aren't heard combined together anywhere outside that genre. Is this something that you dislike, and want to distance the band from though changes to your music or image like so many of the old Norwegian bands; or are you happy to be pigeonholed as long as people are listening and you're playing what comes naturally?

Peter: Yes, yes we don't dislike it; people can classify our music as they like, the name of the style isn't important for us and we don't want to follow trends and boundaries; we play what comes naturally. We try to use and mix every style of metal and rock and folk that we like. Personally we don't use the term black metal for one reason: if some people read somewhere that Skyforger is a black metal band, they can become disappointed when they get our album and hear that musically it isn't true raw BM.

Maelstrom: Latvian Riflemen also had a highly original concept that links the traditional themes of fighting for one's land with the much more modern events of the First World War; and musically blends ancient Folk music with early 20th century themes that sound very militaristic. Though many other bands have dealt with Second World War topics, they rarely link those war themes to battles of the past in the way the songs on Latvian Riflemen do. I understand that you (who are responsible for lyrics, lead vocals, rhythm guitar and - like all the other members -folk instruments) were inspired to write these lyrics after reading a book entitled Storm of Souls by Aleksandrs Gryns. Reading the details on your website was fascinating - you visited various battlefields around Riga (your hometown) on a bike, as well as the Latvian War Museum; and made your own uniform before participating in First World War battle re-enactments. Are you done with the riflemen theme, or might it crop up again in future Skyforger songs? Are there any other topics of great interest to you that might find their way into the band's lyrics aside from the traditional topics of ancient Latvian gods and historical tribal conflicts?

Peter: We are done with the riflemen theme - of that all has been said. But of course there are some other topics that I have in mind, for example The Freedom Fights - this time comes after the Latvian riflemen when in 1918 - 1919, Latvians fought and created their first own free state - Latvia. The other one is damned World War II and a very hard and complicated story about Latvian soldiers in the German SS Legion - our fathers fought not for Hitler or Stalin, but again for their own country's freedom, but we are afraid that the rest of the people don't understand us and try to accuse us again of Nazism and NS things. And somewhere deep I have an idea to write something about North America's Indians.

Maelstrom: What do the Latvian Heathen deities mean to you? Are any band members practicing worshippers of these gods, or are the concepts more symbolic to you?

Peter: No, we don't practice pagan rituals or worship gods, the paganism for us is in some philosophical way - it is knowledge and feeling of our great mother - Nature, to understand and live by her laws. These ancient gods are only personified manifestations of Nature, they help to imagine and keep contact with Nature for our forefathers. I think our ancestors had greater knowledge about Nature than we do today.

Maelstrom: Now, I have to ask you about Folk music. You learned to play the instruments yourselves, and both write your own Folk themes into your songs as well as using old, traditional pieces. Could you describe some of these instruments and how they're played?

Peter: The most well known instrument is the 'kokle' (something like a board harp) another one is the 'giga' - something like an ancestor of the cello with one or two strings played with a fiddle stick, then 'vargans' - the rhythm beating hammer. The rest are well known: pipes, bagpipes, war drums, moutharp. We are not professional players of these instruments, but it is nothing hard to learn to play them, because thay are simple ones, of course you can become the virtuoso of kokle or pipe, but we are far from it.

Maelstrom: Before Skyforger there was Grindmaster Dead. From what I've read this was a Doom Metal band who also utilised some Folk techniques with the addition of a flute. How did you get into Folk music? Is it all around you in Latvia? In England if you want to hear traditional music you have to look damn hard - it could almost be described as underground. You can usually find a few CDs in a record store, and bands play at Folk festivals now and then; but aside from those occasions its invisible - most people never hear it. Distressingly, it's not seen as an integral part of our heritage.

Peter: Yes, I can proudly say that in Latvia folk music is on the national and state level, because it is a great part of our identity and culture. We had our first contacts with it already in kindergarten and school and therefore here it is nothing too hard to get into folk music.

Maelstrom: You've played several gigs as a Folk band; and I believe you have several Folk songs written that haven't been incorporated into Skyforger. I know you've been asked this before, but do you have any plans to release a Folk album one of these days? I think a lot of people into this style of Metal would be keen very to hear it...

Peter: We still have that plan, but I can't bring you the clear picture right now. We have no time now to start seriously working for a folk album, because we see that there will be more to do and we are busy with Thunderforge and new songs, but I hope someday it will happen.

Maelstrom: The band has always wanted to try new things and stand out from any particular Metal sub-genre. Does this mean that we might start hearing Industrial influences in Skyforger's music someday? I read that Rihard (lead guitar, backing vocals, folk instruments) has been listening to this kind of music - as a band do you see this as something you might wish to experiment with?

Peter: No, I think not. Maybe Rihard likes industrial music, but the rest of the band doesn't and Rihard even doesn't try to play or put industrial things in our music. (But never say never, I say to myself).

Maelstrom: Are there any artists who you would say influenced you musically nowadays; or alternatively, which bands do you just enjoy listening to?

Peter: Oh, this hard question! There are many and many various metal and rock and folk style bands that we enjoy and from whom we have some influences (one of our biggest influence is Bathory's Hammerheart). Personally, I am a great fan of heavy, power and fantasy metal, some of my most beloved bands are Saxon and Judas Priest.

Maelstrom: How about originally; which bands made you want to make music in the first place?

Peter: Hm, you ask me which bands are those who give me the push to start playing music? I really don't know what to say, there were not only bands, but the whole scene and heavy music, I have something inside and want to express myself and found it in the music. To tell you the truth; in the beginning I was into pop music, because in the USSR (at the years of 1985 - 86 Latvia was still under the rule of Communistic Russia) here no one heard heavy metal, because metal music was forbidden! And my first band was Bad Boys Blue.

Maelstrom: What is the Metal scene like in Latvia at the moment; and the music scene in general over there? Do you ever hear Skyforger songs on radio stations in your homeland? I ask because I hear that your popularity isn't limited to the Extreme Metal scene over there - you're one of the biggest bands in the country regardless of genre. Is Metal more a part of popular culture in Latvia, as is the case in Germany?

Peter: No, no, metal in Latvia is still underground. Our country is small and all is taken by money and advertisement. Here there are no zines or metal radio stations, but some people write about music in great state newspapers and sometimes they write about us and some radio stations plays our songs, and we become known to the masses. Some good points for us here are that we deal with national history and folklore; that is why we come in sight of non-metal people. But the Latvian metal scene is small as the country, there are few bands who play various metal styles. The gigs happen one or sometimes two times in a month. No special metal clubs, bars or pubs. But there is a big (for our country) pop scene. Some of those bands (as Brainstorm or BTH) were shown on MTV. Finally I can say that here there are all styles of music.

Maelstrom: Are there any Latvian bands you can recommend?

Peter: The best metal bands are Heresiarh, Sanctimony, Brute Chant and Neglected Fields.

Maelstrom: Your outlook seems very positive in your interviews, and indeed in your music too; but there's the obvious aggression of modern extreme music throughout your songs, and they certainly don't sound "happy," unlike for example Finland's Children of Bodom. Is there anything in your lives that frustrates you; that you might say was a source of anger or righteous indignation which inspires this aspect of your music?

Peter: Look, our music is about war and battles, therefore it is naturally angry, but yes, I'm frustrated by injustice, usurpation, oppression, lies, by dumb, unintelligent and evil people. That is what gives me anger and I put it into my music, it is a fight against all that shit. Naturally I'm a quiet and positive (for all good people) man and I don't try to show myself as a evil killer or great warrior. I am what I am.

Maelstrom: Many thanks for the interview - I wish you every success with the new album! The last words are yours...

Peter: Thanx, Vargscarr for this really cool interview. I found your questions interesting and I'm glad that you know about our band a little more than others who write me. Hope you forgive me for such bad delays with the answers. I wish you all the best!

PETER & SKYFORGER

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

Sourvein's Will to Mangle's mix of heavy, blues chords, fuzzy production and anguished, screamed vocals is a success. In a stoner rock - or doom, or whatever - genre, the angst coming out of this band is anything but doped out and warm. I met up with vocalist Troy and guitarist Liz during Sourvein's stop in San Francisco on their Fall 2002 tour.

Maelstrom: You bio makes a point of mentioning that the place where you're from, Wilmington, North Carolina, is Cape Fear.

Troy: It is. The mouth of the Cape Fear River starts over there.

Maelstrom: How did you get into this stuff?

Troy: By way of Black Flag and SST… Black Sabbath…one thing led to another.

Maelstrom: One of my favorite things about <Will to Mangle> are the vocals. They're so aggro and screamy.

Troy: Yeah. It's where I'm coming from: anger, struggle and sacrifice.

Maelstrom: Are you real angry in real life?

Troy: Nah, I'm a pretty mellow dude. But when it comes down to it, I release my anger that way. I feel that that's the place to let my anger out.

Maelstrom: What do you think of the tag "stoner doom" or "stoner rock"?

Troy: It doesn't really bother me. I think it's alright. The stoner rock thing seems to have gotten blown out. I think we're more of a druggy doom band, or sludge…just a dirty rock band. It should have the word "dirty" in there.

Maelstrom: I think people would want to put the "stoner" in there because you have so many of those blues chords in there.

Troy: That just comes from being from the South. We listen to a lot of blues. I like a ton of those patterns.

Maelstrom: Are you and Liz the original members of the band?

Troy: I'm the only original member. It goes back a little further, but Liz has been it for five years. In the early 90s it was more punk sounding, like The Accused.

Maelstrom: Going back to the stoner thing, how much do drugs really have to do with creating the music?

Troy: Not too much, really. I mean, we all get stoned, but we create because we love it, not because we get stoned. We may get stoned and do it, but basically we're a drinking band. I'm not even that much of a social smoker anymore. Liz don't smoke weed.

Maelstrom: I hear you're planning to your Europe. Have you got any lineup figured out?

Troy: The tour is being planned by Southern Lord. There isn't a lineup set yet, but we're probably looking to play with Boris.

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

The music of the ambient/drone duo known as The Stars of the Lid has the power to immediately reach out and grab you and change your emotional state to match the melancholically satisfying drift of its mood. This group's latest (double) album, The Tired Sounds of the Stars of the Lid, has the supreme quality of being what I like to refer to as "oceanic," that is, it reminds me of the awesome power and beauty of the massive movements of the ocean. In this case, the image is more akin to what I described in the review of this record as watching the aurora borealis at night while standing warm and safe on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.

My interest in this group increased even further when I saw them play in San Francisco during the Beyond the Pale Festival in November of 2002. I caught up with the two members, Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride, to discuss their project.

Maelstrom: What do you get out of playing music that's as lethargic as yours?

Adam Wiltzie: The Lid is a strategy for calming, a way of reducing one's mental traffic, a moment of simplicity and a way to pay homage to the tearjerkingly minimal.

Brian McBride: I wouldn't refer to our music as lethargic, so it's difficult to answer the question as such. Sure the music is quiet but I hope there's an emotional element that keeps folks engaged. We don't set out to be the heroes of the drowsy when we're playing out - continuity and slow evolution is the best way for us to focus on harnessing sound into something that reflects the tearjerkingly minimal. It is often very challenging performing for American audiences who seem to depend heavily on obvious stimuli to keep them out. We go out to get up, you know.

Maelstrom: What is "the lid"? Is this like the lid of a jar?

Brian McBride: Yikes, no.

Maelstrom: Ok, so then what is it?

Brian McBride: It's your own personal cinema, located between your eye and eyelid.

Maelstrom: I got into your band because of your latest album, Tired Sounds of the Stars of the Lid. Since then, I bought every Stars of the Lid CD from Kranky. I like them all, but I think that Tired Sounds… is clearly the best. It seems that you have perfected your sound on this (thankfully) double album and are using a more committed sense of melody and structure than before, while still retaining that drone sound. Do you find your creative force to have been stronger when making this latest album?

Brian McBride: Come on now! If our creative force was "stronger" on Tired Sounds…, wouldn't that imply that we were lacking creatively on our previous work? If we were committed to anything when making this record, it was to make a non-ambient record. Both Adam and I are fans of contemporary classical music, which I'm sure the record reflects. The record may move like an ambient record to some ears but in our design we tried desperately to sublimate the drone to the melody.

Maelstrom: I guess you could look at it that way, but that's not what I meant.

Brian McBride: I think the Tired Sounds… benefited from a clearer sense of direction and a more developed vocabulary on the part of Adam and I. Prior to that record we had recorded around six records together. We both knew what each other could provide to our own individual efforts. We also benefited from the geographic distance between us. Instead of working in the same room, we both had ample time to digest the other's parts. I think the end result was a record that made more sense because we didn't have the pressure of the immediate environment where we're expected to come up with movements on the spot.

Adam Wiltzie: I think the force of Adam's stomach is much stronger on this one. If you listen real close to Gas Farming you can hear his tum-tum trying to digest a feast of late night crunchy bits.

Maelstrom: Especially on Tired Sounds…, it seems that you use a whole lot of stringed instruments, like violins, but add this unique aura to them. What instruments/ manipulations do you commonly use?

Brian McBride: It's all EQ really and how you record something. Some of Sara's strings are recorded super dry and up front and there's also some experimenting going on with mic placement. Some of the string bits were arranged over six years ago, so you may be noticing the madness and wisdom of age - it takes time for all of this to make sense. But there's not some magical effect out there that we have up our sleeve. The string treatments change depending on what's going on in the rest of the piece.

Adam Wiltzie: Sometimes the manipulation is in the recording. Instead of drowning everything in reverb we're trying to think about sound more as we record. I walked down a hall to get a decent horn sound, set up a mic at the end of a church to get a piano sound, and we found someone who can really play the cello. It helps when they know what they're doing.

Maelstrom: I like the sample of what sounds like the puppy dog whimpering and pushing his water dish. Whose dog is that?

Adam Wiltzie: It is my dog, named Frog.

Maelstrom: I was under the impression that you guys were from Texas. It turns out you're not. How did you guys meet and where do you live now?

Brian McBride: We meet in Austin riffling through records at a University of Texas radio station meeting. I have lived in Chicago for four years and Adam has lived in Brussels for two years now. M: It's always interesting to consider how bands that play super slow, ambient music keep focus with other members of the band, or even stay awake for that matter. Do you ever fall asleep or get lost?

Brian McBride: We have a super deliberate structure that we've spent way too much time negotiating prior to playing. If one of us does fall asleep I think that would be a huge victory. Adam's been known to drool on stage before and if we can't pass out to a record while in production, it typically doesn't make the cut.

Maelstrom: Wait a minute. I thought you said before that you don't like to think of your music as lethargic. Perhaps that word has a negative connotation to you, and I'm sorry if it does. I meant lethargy as dreamy and emotive. I think it is pretty cool if you guys can fall asleep to it. I know I love to.

Brian McBride: Well's if that's what you meant then sure. I've rarely heard "lethargic" be used to describe anything emotive. But sure, we love lullabies, especially the nocturnal kind.

Maelstrom: It seems that Texas still has a big impact on you. One of the tracks on the latest album is called "Austin Mental Hospital." Indeed, the themes that appear in your music is often melancholic or depressing (like the track "The Lonely People are Getting Lonelier"), but in a way that makes you feel so relaxed and good (I guess kind of like the drowning girl). Do The Stars of the Lid have a message?

Brian McBride: Not one that you're gonna get out of me with that question. The message is like the music, maybe you have to drown in it before you can understand it.

Maelstrom: Why? Does the question suck that bad? That's how I feel about your music.

Brian McBride: We're hoping to communicate a bunch of different things at different times. Sometimes we're not even aware of what it is we're trying to do, it just seeps in with us for a while. The Lid has a lot of beliefs that inevitably influence the shape of a recording. It's too difficult to sum it up in a statement about our message. The message is like the music, maybe you have to drown in it before you can understand it.

Maelstrom: It was pretty neat seeing you guys play live. It was just the two of you, and I believe you both had guitars and at least one keyboard each. It was pretty amusing how Adam wears a spelunker's headset with a two flashlights on it to see what he's doing. Could you please explain to our readers how you manipulate the sounds from your records exactly? Do you record the string instruments onto a computer?

Brian McBride: Well it depends on the sound. I hate to be cryptic but there's no formula that we use. Do you mean in a live setting or recording?

Maelstrom: I'm mostly curious about how you pull off playing your stuff live.

Brian McBride: "Pulling it off" live is definitely the way to think about it. Translating what we do in a live context is probably one of the more challenging endeavors musically I have had the great ability to struggle through. We could take the easy route and start pushing play on some laptops but for some reason we're compelled to introduce more of a "live" element into a "live" situation. In the end I don't really know if we succeed in making the translation. Most of the time we're unsatisfied with what we do in comparison to our recordings, which I think a lot of musicians have to wrestle with. There are many recorded pieces that are near impossible to pull off. Since most of the record resembles single-instrument recordings we typically choose pieces that lend themselves to layering. We have tried to play pieces like "Piano Aquieu" during some shows in Europe during the beginning of the year: the piece has slowly evolving selections of simple piano melodies, which is incredibly difficult to play and keep the audience engaged. Since the piece is so bare, I think the silence presents too much of an opportunity for the audience to get chatty. This tour we sidelined that one and used our piano meanderings as just one instrument amongst several other instruments. Since there's only two of us, we depend on some live and preset sampling: a song may begin with just one guitar and eventually becomes 10 guitars, piano, pre-sampled strings from our friend Sara, etc. There's a lot to juggle for the simplicity of it. For example, we've tried to recreate the feel of some of recordings by sampling simple effected guitar chords onto a keyboard sampler and matching a separate guitar melody (all played live) along side a melody emanating from the keyboard sampler. The effect hopefully gives the impression of a strong single instrument or multiple similar timbred instruments speaking in a single voice.

Maelstrom: Tell us about your activities outside of music.

Brian McBride: By "outside" do you mean occupational or do you want to know about my girlfriend and my cats?

Maelstrom: Yes.

Brian McBride: Well I have two cats - Ead and Nadine. Ead is a rather large but solid thing and Nadine is a little on the nutty side. She loves to love and hate Ead and the humans around her. Occupation-wise, I'm a debate coach at Northwestern University. I have been involved with competitive debate on the college and high school level since I was a freshman in college. I also help inner city schools in Chicago develop their own debate programs.

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

Any time Wrest, the guy behind one of our favorite black metal projects, Leviathan, tells us that a CD that he bought weeks before has never left his stereo, then that's something for us to check out. The album in question was Nocturnal Poisoning by the band Xasthur, a one-man operation that once again proves that the best black metal in the US is coming out of California, as unlikely as it may seem.

Xasthur's main member, Malefic, has put out a classic of depressive and heavy energy. Plodding and epic, the music Nocturnal Poisoning is oblivious to the passing of time in its epic, monolithic feeling. I contacted Malefic to see what the man behind the music was like.

Maelstrom: You know, Xasthur reminds me musically of this "band" (well, like you it's just one guy - in his apartment in this case) called Leviathan. He just had his first official 2CD album put out on tUMULt. I know that Leviathan LOVES Nocturnal Poisoning. I wonder if you've heard of this band?

Malefic: I'd heard of tUMULt before; just recently I got a CD of a band called Weakling, which I thought was original stuff, not bad. Leviathan? I'm listening to it right now. So far I like disk #2 the best. He may be on the right (or left) track by remaining in solitude with his craft. I am glad to hear of his like for Nocturnal Poisoning.

Maelstrom: Yes, Weakling is a personal fave of most of the writers of Maelstrom. Where did you record the stuff for the album? Does it take effort to get it to sound perfectly "cult"?

Malefic: My house is old and grim for real! This is where I record and nowhere else. Everything is in ruin and decay. A low budget on equipment is all it takes to have this "cult" production, a terrible aura takes something else...

Maelstrom: What did it take for the other members of Xasthur to get kicked out of the band?

Malefic: Coming to practices late, pretending they were sick so they could leave early, forgetting songs on purpose, being preoccupied with methamphetamines, complaining, being trendy etc...They'll be sorry!

Maelstrom: I'd like to hear a "being trendy" story.

Malefic: I've had so many people kicked out and quit on me. I found out that some of the people that I kicked out were living a double life...one guy I found out had a hard time making it to practices cause he was 'busy' being a raver/techno idiot, another guy had a 'secret' cocaine problem and went out dancing on the weekends when he thought his 'metal friends' wouldn't find out... these people are too trendy, and if they're behaving like this, they have no idea where I am coming from and are total opposites of Xasthur. I hate them for wasting my time...and nearly killing my enthusiasm.

Maelstrom: I liked your trendy story. Sorry if I am interested in your hate list, but I can't help but asking: why Ebay? Why WWIII, Osmose and other labels? Did they ignore you? I can't imagine why you would be interested in being signed to WWIII. That doesn't seem like your style at all.

Malefic: No, not my style at all. I had no interest ever of being on WWIII or Osmose; I see them as labels trying to make a buck off shitty black metal and giving black metal a household name when it really isn't for everyone. Osmose will jump on any watered down form of black metal if the kids think it's 'cool' be it the retro black thrash trend or the war metal thing.

Maelstrom: How did you get turned on to doing this stuff?

Malefic: I always wanted to find a way to express misery and hate, but through a way that expressed myself...why not through a form of music called black metal!? It was a vibe I felt I could always relate to. I began doing this all on my own 'cause I had no choice if I wanted to continue.

Maelstrom: Do you use a 4 track?

Malefic: Yes, I do, but I bounce tracks on a CD-R burner.

Maelstrom: What does that mean? Is that like you combine tracks?

Malefic: The way it's done on a four track by cassette is a different way than what I do: I fill up all four tracks on a good quality cassette, put them onto CD-R, take that CD-R and put it into a Discman, then plug the Discman into a CD burner and plug guitar/bass/whatever into the four track and ALSO the four track into the CD burner and play along with the CD-R in the Discman. Both the Discman and guitar going into the four track are being recorded onto another CD-R. Repeat process for more tracks. It's an unconventional method, but it gets he job done!

Maelstrom: It was interesting to read about the complex way you record your stuff. Think you'll ever have more members, like a drummer, in Xasthur? Not that I think it's really necessary for the music you play.

Malefic: I really don't think I will have any future members in Xasthur. I never got any results with people. If possible, I might want to add a vocalist someday, as vocals have been a strain.

Maelstrom: How do you do your vocals? What kind of effect do you use on them? I know Wrest uses this thing called a guitar pod, or something. It's this little red thingy.

Malefic: I have a Dod G7 effects processor/rack that I use for just about everything, including vocals. On the voice I use delay and reverb. I'm getting fed up with vocals, not something I enjoy much, but I have to do it regardless.

Maelstrom: That's remarkable. The vocals are so well done. Thick and fuzzy and bodiless and omnipresent. I see that lyrics aren't something you're not putting in the forefront.

Malefic: Vocals and lyrics are more or less improvised, meaning I'll skip a verse sometimes. The lyrics are about taking of the soul, mind and blood, murder, winter, suicide, astral projection type of subjects.

Maelstrom: I was talking about Xasthur being perhaps the best black metal album of 2002. You disagreed. What do you think are the best (or, the best) black metal albums of this year?

Malefic: Of the year? Silencer Death Pierce Me and Shining Angst III, just to name a couple.

Maelstrom: I just ordered Silencer and two Shining albums from Supernal Music.com. Thanks for the recommendations. I'm psyched that Silencer is German. I think overall the best bm stuff now is coming out of Germany. Have you heard Nagelfar (not the Swedish band, obviously)?

Malefic: Silencer is like Bethlehem's Dictius Te Necare, but more insane, suicidal, traumatic. As for Shining, my favorite is Within Deep Dark Chambers. I have a demo of Nagelfar.

Maelstrom: Do you like Burzum? If so, I wonder if you prefer stuff like Hvis Lyset Tar Oss or Filosofem?

Malefic: Of course I like Burzum. Those two you just mentioned are my favorites...and in that order too.

Maelstrom: What's the music that's the least like Xasthur that you enjoy?

Malefic: Probably Thergothon and This Empty Flow Magenta Skycode.

Maelstrom: You embrace the style of slow and despondent, atmospheric black metal that is played by bands like Abyssic Hate. What do you think of the fast-at-all-costs styles, like Marduk?

Malefic: I prefer a variety of tempos in black metal, whether listening or performing. Fucking Marduk and Dark Funeral seem to make the same album over and over when they are just going fast all the time; there's only one emotion they're giving instead of many and unknown ones, whereas Abyssic Hate is really layered with dark harmonies/in disharmonic keys - octaves, if you will. And if I go too slow all the time (the one track minded equivalent of Marduk going fast all the time), I'll be sure to correct myself.

Maelstrom: I think that black metal, in order to be labeled "true" by the most conservative fans, is a genre of music that has some of the most narrow, stringent rules. Do you agree with this? How long do you think black metal can continue to exist under the guidelines that have been applied to it without being redundant?

Malefic: The blackest of roots need to be there, but some open mindedness here 'n there really shouldn't hurt black metal any. Some like it redundant, but whether they know it or not, if the redundancy continues, those same people will eventually drift away from it...sooner or later.

Maelstrom: How did you get signed to Blood Fire Death?

Malefic: I sent a CD-R of some songs, (I don't remember how many) to a Red Stream sub division at the time called Cicatrix, a label that didn't last very long and I think was replaced by Neil/Krieg's Blood Fire Death. Neil and I were talking shit back 'n forth at each other for a while, when it died down...he gave me an email saying that he wanted to release a Xasthur CD. We didn't get along for a while, but what a non-biased way to settle our differences...So, it was kind of by accident.

Maelstrom: So what does the mortal incarnation of Malefic do?

Malefic: There's not much to do: Sometimes I take walks in areas where there aren't many people, waste time on the computer, relax when I can with a cup of coffee. Sometimes I can even stare at a wall or at nothing and be amused, but about 80% of my time is spent in a black metal related way, whether keeping in touch with other bands, labels, people to trade, or writing music when I can etc... If I could, I would do some leisurely traveling to get out once in a while, 'cause I'm more or less a hermit due to being fed up with city people and all.

Maelstrom: If you could, where would you like to travel to? Where have you been that you enjoyed?

Malefic: Ironic you should bring it up, but the rare 'vacations' I take are about 70 miles north from where you are, Sonoma, CA, to be more precise; the Forestville, Monte Rio, Gurneville area along the Russian River. I lived there up until 11 years old. Other than that, I would like to travel to other states...and places like Holland, France and surrounding countries. I've been to Ohio and I liked it there.

Maelstrom: I like Sonoma a lot too. Mostly linked to the memories I had when I was a kid and I went there to the town square with the park in the middle and the turkeys in the trees. Where in California are you situated?

Malefic: I am situated in southern California, a real slum! I'd say I'm about due for another trip up to the woods of northern California to say the least!

Maelstrom: I'm half French - my education is French. What appeals to you about that country?

Malefic: I have the feeling I could learn to speak French easily. When I've seen pictures of France, it just looked very unlike America. Other than that...I don't know.

Maelstrom: How did you come up with the name Xasthur?

Malefic: I combined two names that interested me, Xenaoth and Xastur, and came up with Xasthur somehow.

Maelstrom: Where did you get those names? Are they just black metal like names that you liked?

Malefic: The name Xenaoth is a higher celestial spirit. I used to know this middle aged lady who studied Santeria and saw that name in a book of hers that I looked at. Xastur is from the typical Necronomicon paperback, which many other bands are guilty of taking their names from, haha. Xastur is a demoness who kills people in their sleep.

Maelstrom: It's pretty amazing how extreme metal stuff comes from two major
sources, HP Lovecraft or JRR Tolkien. Then there's the artwork that so many times is of Gustave Doré.

Malefic: True, that seems to be a source of inspiration and fascination for a lot of black metal bands. I don't really match an artist's name with their work, so I don't know of the name Gustave Doré.

Maelstrom: Shit, man, his stuff is all over metal. The one that comes to mind the most is the cover of Emperor Anthems... More readily all you have to do is go on my site- every page has a dore engraving on it. Once you begin to recognize the style you'll see it over and over again. Iced Earth Burnt Offerings, Agalloch, the back of Krieg's The Plague, so many more. It's really overused. it helps a lot that he did SO much excellent stuff. What do you think of the growing NSBM movement? Do you like any of that stuff? If so, is it for musical or ideological reasons?

Malefic: Growing? Seems like it's already past its peak, though still alive...I don't mind it, they have their reasons for their beliefs, who's really to say who are the real one's behind it and who isn't? I am not in any way affiliated with national socialism, yet in layman's terms I see it, or they may see it as a fist in the face of a liberal society. When humans are given too much freedom, they often abuse it, being free to overpopulate and let everything go to shit. But then again, if national socialism came into power, into effect in their own countries, I think there would end up being a lot of details to it that they wouldn't like about it. I would say I'm a fan of some of these bands like Gontyna Kry, Veles, Kataxu etc... as they play some dark, grim and hateful black metal.

Maelstrom: How did you first discover metal? How about the more obscure stuff?

Malefic: Some asshole my mom was dating at the time had a couple AC/DC tapes when I was about 9-10 years old. They seemed like they would be louder than the other tapes, so I asked to hear them. A few weeks/months later, I was hooked. At random, in 1988 I bought Death Scream Bloody Gore because it looked more extreme than the thrash stuff I had been listening to like Dark Angel, Mercyful Fate, Megadeth, etc... Then a couple years later I found some more death metal albums like Obituary and Morbid Angel at a store like around '91 and assumed they would be something like that Death tape I bought, and I was right. A couple years later I heard black metal like Darkthrone and....

Maelstrom: It's been remarkable to discover time and again what those involved in black metal are like. Invariably I've discovered that these people are really nice: Wrest, Fenriz, the guy from Winterblut, a bunch of black metal people in Norway (ok, Abbath is kind of a dick), and now you. I can largely identify with how sensitive these people are, and why they are drawn to this kind of music. (although Wrest gets annoyed with me because I have too much "fun" with black metal. haha)I understand if this is too personal for you, but what do you think of the contrast between some of the most hateful music on earth with the true personalities of the musicians?

Malefic: how can there be a contrast or difference? Extremely angry music can only be played by an extremely angry person, if you doubt the anger in their songs, then you might question some of those peoples anger...like Dark Funeral would be a good (or should I say bad?) example of that...sure it sounds 'furious,' but they're just going through the motions so to speak.

Maelstrom: Why hate people? What would it take to not have to hate them?

Malefic: I hate people because they are useless, lying, arrogant and judgemental, yet they hate to be judged even when they live up to all their negative stereotypes. People have no respect and other people can't seem to teach that to them. Typical people live to eat and 'create' other stupider humans of tomorrow. I do admit that there are exceptions to what I'm saying, and therefore nobody really hates everybody, not even the most misanthropic of people. To not hate them?...hmm… I would hope and they should hope that the hate could someday be reduced to a dislike. People are slightly different from country to country - state to state at the least - I'm sure people would piss me off less if I was living in, say, South Dakota, for example, where their 'agendas' are a little less pretentious. Wherever there are too many people, such as New York, L.A., Chicago, whatever, there are problems with people. People in places such as these are worthy of hatred. They're very stubborn and have made life a lot stupider and harder than it has to be...I have watched the lowest of lives dish out an unbelievable amount of pride, arrogance and ignorance...sickening. I don't deal with them... I stay away from them as much as possible, I don't really know what they live for, but whatever it is, it must not be the same as I often forget what it is I'm living for, if anything. But I can say it's not for them. ... That's probably enough outta me for now.

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

The North. A place that conjures up scenery of cold beauty and the crispest air. Please tell Immortal to put their corpsepaint away as we're referring here to Alaska, the land that inspired the first Beneath the Lake album, Inside Passage. This Wisconsin-based two-man noise/experimental group has the great distinction of featuring the talents of Nicolas Lampert, who was in the now (sadly) disbanded Oakland, CA, based Noisegate, a group that has put out two excellent albums, one of which, The Towers are Burning, being one of the best albums in noise music in existence.

While Beneath the Lake's sound relies very heavily on field recordings, there still is the essential element of playing instruments in a musical fashion, giving the ambient sounds a much necessary structure and appeal. From the gorgeous packaging to the grounding, classy music, Inside Passage is a stellar example of the genre. I contacted Nicolas to talk a bit about his art.

Maelstrom: Hi, Nicolas. I've tried to explore the genre that is commonly referred to as noise. Usually, I find it impossible to enjoy. However, it seems that the projects that you are involved with are different. Noisegate's The Towers are Burning is one of my favorite albums. I also like Suspended Animation a lot, too. Now you're in this thing called Beneath the Lake. In all of these bands, instead of the tedious, repetitive, seemingly structureless, talentless noise that makes up so much of what I've heard of other projects, your projects have strong musical aspects to them. How do you feel about the noise genre and what do you think sets your approach to it apart from the others?

Nicolas Lampert: I wouldn't say that noise bands without structure or musical elements are without talent. It is simply a different approach from what we do. A good example would be Merzbow, who are probably the most prolific noise band in the genre. I really don't enjoy listening to them at home but seeing them live is a different story, which happened literally in my home back in 1995. When I lived in a warehouse space in Oakland, California they set up in our kitchen and played to about 200 people! The volume and immense walls of noise that they created nearly put me in a trance. They had two musicians going through dozens of pedals and a vocalist. At one point the singer was standing on his head screaming at the top of his lungs. It was probably the most surreal experience I have ever witnessed in live music. So in that regard, I believe Merzbow is immensely talented. But, I really can't imagine listening to them outside of a live setting. I don't know many people who wake up and say "I think I'll put on some Merzbow to get my day rolling." I believe in general people connect more to melodies and musical structures on an emotional level. A melody will stay with you. With Beneath the Lake we mix up guitar melodies with soundscapes of noise elements. Each song has a structure that is composed. Beneath the Lake is less harsh than Noisegate's The Towers are Burning, but they both are very musical in approach.

Maelstrom: This debut recording of Beneath the Lake is made up primarily of field recordings of water and animals such as bees, whales and sea lions. I'm curious about how you get these sounds. Is it like you go out with a minidisc and a mike and press record, or did you get these noises from a pre-existing recording?

Nicolas Lampert: I would say the reverse is true. The majority of the sounds come from a guitar and a sampler. The guitar playing is going through multiple effects so it doesn't sound like a guitar at all. At times the guitar will sound like water or an animal cry. Most songs have a field recording to add to the overall sound. We use field recordings of the natural world to create a juxtaposition to the industrial sounds created by electric instruments. Some of the sounds are recorded by ourselves with a mini disc, others are lifted.

Maelstrom: Could you please explain how you manipulate the sounds?

Nicolas Lampert: The other person in Beneath the Lake, Dave Canterbury, has a home recording studio and he is the one who mixes all the material. I simply lay down guitar tracks and a rough sketch of what I imagine the composition to be. He then has free rein to alter and manipulate all of my guitar sounds to his liking. He runs everything through effects processors, delays, organs….Basically he manipulates my sounds and adds his own layers to the song. He then sends me a cassette and we both critique it and decide if it is completed or not.

Maelstrom: On Noisegate's The Towers are Burning, someone is credited with playing "film." What is that?

Nicolas Lampert: Laura Klein did all the film work for Noisegate. During live performances, she would project film loops out of three different 16mm projectors. The films changed for each show and the music essentially became a soundtrack to her collage films. A Noisegate show was a sensory overload of sound and sight. At one show at 924 Gilman St. in Berkeley, we set up another P.A. system behind the audience. So from the front of the stage the audience was hit by the amplifiers, the film visuals and Gilman's P.A. system. I had a mixer on top of my amp and during the last half of the 20-minute set, I slowly brought up the volume of the P.A. that was behind the audience. So in the end people were enveloped in a wall of sound.

Another good show was outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. We played a punk rock show at nighttime in a public park to about 20 people. Just as we started up, a rodeo across the way was getting out and all these people flooded over to the show in their pickup trucks because they saw the films from a distance. I remember looking up and seeing all these cowboy hats poking up from behind the first row of punks. It was great.

Maelstrom: The melody that starts off Beneath the Lake's track 3, "Tree Descendant," makes me think of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." Is this a coincidence or are you inspired by classical works?

Nicolas Lampert: That is a coincidence. Overall, I think noise music is closer aligned to classical music than popular music. Noise music and classical music takes you on a journey. I do not listen to much classical music. I like Stuart Dempster, who is a classical composer. He merges his classical work with noise drowns and ambient music. On one recording he played long sustained trombone notes deep inside a cave.

Maelstrom: I was reading a bit about your political views in the interview you did for Aversionline. Is the previously mentioned track's name part of this political message?

Nicolas Lampert: In a subtle way, the recording and the titles of the songs are political. The overall theme of the Beneath the Lake recording was for the most part inspired by traveling up to Alaska by boat. The impression that I was left with was that the natural elements were more powerful than the human element. The weather and the landscape in many parts of Alaska are far too harsh and immense to sustain a large human population. In Alaska, you can go for a hike and die very easily. That made a big impression on me. The overwhelming vastness of the landscape makes you feel very small and insignificant. I don't want to paint the picture that the environment isn't threatened in Alaska, because it very much is. The pipeline, the Valdez spill and the drilling in the Arctic are familiar to many yet these events are minor compared to the major climatic changes occurring in Alaska due to global warming. The looming environmental crisis should not be disregarded before it is too late to act.

Maelstrom: You've got a track called "kootna hora." Am I correct that this is in reference to Kútna Horá, a small town in the Czech Republic that features a little church famous for having the bones of 40,000 plague victims artistically arranged?

Nicolas Lampert: Yes, the reference is correct. Spelling is my downfall. For those interested in sculpture and installation art, Kútna Horá is the place to see.

Maelstrom: How did you first get involved with noise music?

Nicolas Lampert: I was first exposed to noise music in the Bay Area in 1993. San Francisco is one of the noise capitals and still is to this day. Back in the early 1990's, before the full on yuppie takeover of San Francisco, there were so many bands and so much creative energy in the music scene. I was completely tired with classic rock, metal, hip-hop and punk rock by that point. I still respected it but I had no desire to play that style of music. I started going to noise shows in the Bay Area that were in a way "anti-music." Basically destroying pre-conceived notions on how to play and perform music. When I hooked up with Noisegate in 1995, we started out very much in the Merzbow vein of playing unstructured blasts of noise with screaming vocals over the top. That became old quickly and we started composing our favorite parts into structured compositions. We were drawing of influences of noise, metal, punk, industrial, grind, ambient… Also we were drawing of the energy of living in the Oakland flatlands…the industrialism, the poverty, the anger, the feeling of living in a police state. A lot of local and touring underground bands like Neurosis, Man is the Bastard and Steel Pole Bathtub were using a lot of noise elements and we drew off those influences as well. We took it a step farther and wrote music with noise parts as the driving force. I still think to this day that Noisegate's The Towers are Burning is one of the heaviest recordings out there.

Maelstrom: Where were the pictures of the brilliant CD packaging taken? I really love this packaging, down to the paper stock: it's coarse and heavy and even smells ideal to the content of the album.

Nicolas Lampert: I took the pictures off the side of the state ferry heading up Alaska's "Inside Passage." I believe the islands photographed are south of Ketchikan. I also really like the packaging. The credit goes to Rachel Boaz-Scott from Glass Throat Recordings who completely understood how to combine her graphic vision with the feeling behind the music.

Maelstrom: Andee Connors, the owner of tUMULt, the record label that put out the Noisegate albums, refers to The Towers are Burning as having "squalls of noise that are like grindcore, but without the drums." What do you think of this description? Do you like any grindcore? I think tUMULt is my favorite overall record label. It's so diverse and always interesting.

Nicolas Lampert: I think it is a good description. Wood from Man is the Bastard said "Noisegate is the worm." I have no idea what that means, but I like it. As far as grindcore goes or any type of music for that matter - I like it if it is done well.

Maelstrom: In the Aversionline interview, you mentioned the desire to play one Beneath the Lake show a year, but that show would be 24 continuous hours. How realistic is this plan? How would you do that?

Nicolas Lampert: I think it is possible. I am not sure if it will happen this year but it will at some point. I am sure there would be times when we would sleep during the performance (same with the audience). I would just set up a loop and it would be time for the heavy drone! Robert Rich has done performances like these were his interest was in hearing about how the music affected the audiences dreams and so on. Because of our work schedules, we can't go out on tours so we want to make the occasional live performance a unique experience.

I am inspired by a story I once heard about Tangerine Dream. They played a live performance during the daytime in a small European city. I believe they started in the early morning and ended in the evening. What was so incredible was that they set up speakers all over the city. The music was literally the soundtrack to the entire population! They played ambient music and people went about their daily business.

Maelstrom: Speaking of this, it always interests me to think about how bands like Noisegate or Stars of the Lid - largely ambient bands - play live shows. Sure there is structure to what they do, but isn't it easy to get lost? There can't be any counting involved, can there?

Nicolas Lampert: In the case of Noisegate, counting was very much involved. Every song on the Towers are Burning could be played live note for note. We even set up a visual metronome that we could all see. Two of the musicians in Noisegate were trained musicians that were interested in the theory behind music. We rehearsed twice a week and played live shows on a regular basis. We would go as far as getting into arguments if someone missed a cue or played a wrong note. As far as Beneath the Lake goes, I think we would perform a more open structure. We would start with improvisation and then past songs would rise up out and fade out.

Maelstrom: What music that is the least like Beneath the Lake do you like to listen to?

Nicolas Lampert: Well today I listened to Johnny Cash, Nick Cave and Nina Simone.

Maelstrom: What are your views on anarchy? How about globalization? I've always been fascinated how so many people show up to G8 meetings to protest, but the media never really explains what they are upset about.

Nicolas Lampert: Globalization, the global economy, free trade are all very misleading terms. They are misleading because those who benefit from globalization do not want the public to know the real specifics behind the terms. Mainly that the global economy as dictated by the WTO, NAFTA, FTAA, G8… is an enforceable economic code that benefits those in power - the elite who make up less than 1% of the population. The terminology should be in layman's terms. A more accurate description would be "Free trade that allows multinational corporations to further pillage." When people find out about how Free trade harms their jobs, the environment, how it allows the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer - people get mad and they organize. The massive street protests in Seattle, Quebec, Genoa, Barcelona and many other cities were historic for so many reasons. They united working class people from all areas of the world - the idea that the interests of working class people are the same for those in the U.S. as they are in other countries. "An injury to Juan is an injury to Al."

This really was a great threat to the establishment and the corporate run media did everything it could to discredit the protests and try to split up the movement. In my mind, the anti-globalization movement was really gaining in momentum until September 11th occurred. That event and the draconian legislation that passed following 9-11 seems to have frightened people in the US from speaking up. Hopefully this will change.

As far as my views on anarchy goes, it is really the opposite of a corporate/government run society. The basis is on self-sufficient, locally run communities. The idea of a strong state does not exist. We are very far from that reality. A significant portion of Spain was set up in an anarchist society before Franco smashed it during the Spanish Civil War. George Orwell wrote about the event in Homage to Catalonia. He also wrote 1984, which is the direction our society is heading today. "War is Peace, Peace is War".

Maelstrom: I opened up my mail today (I'm on AOL) and saw this story about how the Miss World pageant, which is being held in Nigeria, has somehow caused a huge riot in which more than 100 people have been killed so far. The article gives reasons why the rioting started, but it really isn't very clear. According to the article a newspaper article suggested that the prophet Mohammed would have married one of the Miss World contestants. This sparked a bunch of killing. Have you seen this story? What do you make of it?

Nicolas Lampert: I heard about it and have no idea what to make of it. Best to get many different sides of the story and take the viewpoint of corporate media with a grain of salt.

Maelstrom: Ok, Nicolas, that's what I've got for you. Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer these questions. Take care.

Nicolas Lampert: Thanks for inviting us. If possible could you end it with our contact info: beneath the lake: www.crionicmind.org/gtr
P.O. Box 154
Black Earth, WI 53515-0154

art by Nicolas Lampert

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interview by: Matt Smith

I conducted an interview with Caliban via e-mail some time ago, and their response has finally arrived. I reviewed a couple of their albums for previous issues, and I was really impressed with their interesting and unique sound. The interview is relatively short (since there was no dialogue), but it offers a glimpse into the "mind of Caliban," which, judging by the music they make, is a bit schizophrenic. They use clean vocals to hardcore screams, and acoustic instruments as well as electronic, taking influences from many areas on the musical spectrum. Robert, the band's drummer, offers just a bit about what they might be thinking.

Maelstrom: Did you name Caliban after Prospero's servant in "The Tempest"? Why did you choose him? Did you know that "Caliban" is the name of the satellite that is 16th farthest from Uranus, as well as that character?

Robert (above): Hey, yeah, we named the band after the character out of shakespeare´s the tempest. We just thought the character is cool and the name sounds good. There is no BIG meaning behind the name. We just needed a name and thought Caliban would be cool.

Maelstrom: Tell me about your songwriting process. You have so many different styles, how do you fit them all together? Who is involved most? Who writes your lyrics?

Robert: Mostly Marc comes up with the guitar riffs and we all try to bring everything together. We´re all listening to many different styles of music, so we bring a lot of inspiration in the band. Andy writes most of the lyrics. He most probably writes lyrics when he feels bad. That might be the reason why many people think the lyrics are very dark and depressing.

Maelstrom: What about production? It compliments your style very well - who is involved with that? Are you happy with it? Any changes you'd like to make?

Robert: Our last CDs were produced in a small studio with producer Jens Schilling. For the newest CD, entitled Shadow Hearts we felt that we wanted to do something special and produced the CD with Siggi Bemm, who is responsible for some albums from bands like Tiamat, Grip Inc. and The Gathering. We're very happy with every single release, because we know that we always gave our best to make it an awesome record. The new record has some changes. For example we use more clean, singing vocals, which fits very good into the music. There are two new mp3´s up on www.prostheticrecords.com. You should check them out.

Maelstrom: Where is your favorite place to tour? Do you leave Europe often? Where do you think the scene is best? Who have your toured with that you really like? Where are you best received?

Robert: Europe is pretty good to us. We´ve always packed venues and the shows are insane. In the last two years, we played several shows in Japan and the USA too. The tours were an awesome experience and it was insane to see how well known our music is outside of Europe. Everyone welcomed us with open arms so we felt kinda like we´re home everywhere. We played with so many awesome bands, but, to be honest, the show with Slayer in Japan was something special.

Maelstrom: How is the German scene, in your opinion?

Robert: Germany has a huge scene. Weekend shows have constantly around 500-600 people. The shows are awesome, and the kids are going crazy. It´s not as brutal as in the US, it´s more singalong and stagediving, what makes the shows very intense. We´re getting attention not only from the hardcore kids, even metal and new metal kids are listening to Caliban right now, which is a little bit crazy ;)

Maelstrom: Do you like the direction Caliban is heading? What changes, if any, would you like to see made? Do you and the other members have a similar picture of the future? How do you like your label?

Robert: Yeah, we all have pretty much the same vision of the band. We want to be known by as many people as possible, and therefor we want to play as much as possible to get our music out to the fans. Playing live is very important for us. Lifeforcerecords is very good to us. Our relationship is kinda like we´re friends and thats awesome. They're supporting us in every possible way. It´s good to know that we´ve a label in our back that does everything to promote us!!!

Maelstrom: What made you choose acoustic, classical, and soft female vocal parts to throw into your songs? Is this perhaps some doom influence showing through? Who are your main influences?

Robert: We don't want our music to become boring, so we often think of specials to bring into our music. On our last cd we had female vocals and a breakbeat song, on Shadow Hearts we have clean male voclas. With this we want to make our music more interesting.

Maelstrom: I like your website. Who is in charge of it? Is there anything else you'd like to see on it (like Caliban's history or biographies or something)?

Robert: We're not really satisfied with our internet portal right now. You´re right, the biograpy section is missing. It looks great, but there is some stuff missing. With the release of the new cd we´ll have a new designed website with more features. Look out for that!!! www.calibanmetal.com

Maelstrom: How important do you think the internet is to marketing your music or broadening your fan base? What about metal in general? Do you think the internet is very important to the metal community? Thanks for the interview!

Robert: The internet is very important for promotion and marketing of bands. But it is also very hard to keep your whole CD off the internet. There have been many cd´s within the last year that where downloadable 3 months before the release. For marketing and promotion the internet is perfect. There's no better way to get the band out to the people.

THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW!!!

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

Heaven Shall Burn was my introduction to the growing genre of metalcore, a style that is essentially metal but whose vocals are in that screamy hardcore style and whose lyrics are more about real life issues and politics. Heaven Shall Burn in particular caught my fancy in their mix of a strong Bolt Thrower influence and the most intense screaming I've ever heard. I could listen to Maik, this group's vocalist (who it turns out can sing pretty well, too), all day.

The following questions were answered by Matthias, the band's drummer. The initial sending of the questions was about eight months prior to this posting, and thus there is little concerning the band's latest album, Whatever it May Take. The guys in Heaven Shall Burn are super nice, but they're a little slow. Follow up questions to this interview will probably be posted at a later time. In the meantime, please enjoy the excellent and in-depth answers that Matthias gave to the original round of questions.

Maelstrom: You cover Bolt Thrower's "The IVth Crusade" on your Asunder album. I was happy to hear it. Why did you pick Bolt Thrower and why that particular song?

Matthias: We just chose the song, because we think that it's one of the best death metal songs ever. Bolt Thrower wrote many outstanding songs, but this one is a real classic!!! Since Bolt Thrower is one main influence for Heaven Shall Burn, it was just a question of time to do this. There are also tons of other bands that have influenced Heaven Shall Burn so much in many ways, lyrically and music wise... Maybe we'll do some other covers in the future as well.

Maelstrom: Do you care to name the kind of music that your band plays? We at Maelstrom like to think of Heaven Shall Burn as a metalcore band: sort of taking the best stuff from metal and hardcore. What was the inspiration in choosing your musical style?

Matthias: We also think that we are a metalcore band, although we don't care that much about something like a "kind of music." Actually there's just good and bad music. Unfortunately you need to name the style of a band ...just to give the listeners a small hint what they have to expect. We always loved metal. I grew up with bands like Iron Maiden, Accept, Judas Priest, Slayer, Manowar, Anthrax and Metallica. Later we were fascinated by all the early 90s death metal bands like Dismember and such. One thing that always bothered us a bit was all those dumb as fuck lyrics. Okay, it's just entertainment, but we became kinda tired of it. That's why some of us got in touch with hardcore or even punk. I really don't think that there are more intelligent people, but some of the bands have lyrics that are much better than all this gore- and splatter-cliché. In the mid 90s this whole metalcore thing caught our attention. Belgian bands like Congress and Liar mixed the 80s thrash metal with hardcore attitude. That's what we liked... So I guess without these bands, bands like Heaven Shall Burn would not exist...at least not like they are now. Earth Crisis was also one of the most important bands for us...

Maelstrom: How long has Heaven Shall Burn been around, and what have you done in your careers?

Matthias: Maik (guitar) and me founded a band in 1995. This was the beginning. We both were in different bands before, but they are not worth being mentioned. It was during the summer of 1998 when we decided to change our name to Heaven Shall Burn. Formerly we were known as Consense. We just changed the name right before our first MCD In Battle There's Now Law got released on Deeds of Revolution. Our bass player, Eric, and our singer, Marcus, had no other bands before this one. Patrick was active in some other bands before...

Maelstrom: The last track on Asunder is entitled "***********," or 11 stars for the 11th track. This track has music and lyrics, both of which aren't credited in the booklet. Is this a cover song? This track also goes on in silence quite some time after the song is over. Why is that?

Matthias: Actually the 11 stars are for "Battlecries." It's a cover of the Belgian band Liar. As I told you before, Liar has always been a main influence for Heaven Shall Burn. You are right! The lyrics are also not in the booklet... We thought that it is not usual to print the lyrics of a cover song. We just did it once, when we did the cover of Point of No Return's "Casa de Caboclo." I guess next time when there are good lyrics in a cover song they will be printed, too. It wasn't that we didn't like the lyrics of "Battlecries" or "The 4th Crusade." We just thought that it's not usual to print them. The silence after the song is quite easy to explain: We just wanted a playing time of 66:06 minutes for the record...this was the only possibility. You know, we're EVIL!!!

Maelstrom: The first song on Asunder is called "Inherit the Guilt." It has lyrics like: "To erase three generations/ To slaughter millions of dreams/ (…) How many poets died, how many books were never written/ So many songs we'll never hear/ So many friends we'll never meet (…)/ No killers left to charge/ (…) our crime is called forgetting (…) our shame for ever." Am I correct that you are referring to the guilt that modern day Germany has about the actions of Nazi Germany in World War II? Do you think it's your responsibility to feel guilty about something that you have no control over?

Matthias: Well, actually Maik writes all the lyrics. But in this case, I can also say something about that. Of course the lyrics deal with our feelings about everything that happened in Germany between 1933 and 1945. I mean there is almost no one left you can judge for his crimes against humanity during Europe's darkest times, but so many people are still thinking about Nazism, fascism and racism when they think about Germany. My grandparents told me so much about their suffering during these years. My grandmother lost her brother and her father because of it. Other families got totally erased. It was the same in all European countries. Almost the whole German nation stood behind Hitler and his politics. They were blind! Without them the World War II would have never happened. But it happened. And today we all know about the history. We all know what happened during these years. So we have to do everything to not let something like that happen again. Of course, it wasn't just the war. There was also the persecution of homosexuals, Jews, gypsies, communists, handicapped people who didn't fit into the cliché of the Aryan superior race. The worst things one can imagine happened within these 12 years. It would be a crime to forget about it. We have to fight the roots of fascism, racism and any other kind of oppression by all means necessary. I'm not responsible for the things the generation of my grandparents did, but I would be responsible if this would ever happen again. This would be the crime of our generation...to ignore the danger of a 4th Reich. That's what the song "To Inherit the Guilt" is about.

Maelstrom: Considering your feelings, what is your reaction that Israel is now starting to behave a bit like Nazi Germany did by marking Palestinians on Jewish land so as to easily identify them?

Matthias: Well, it's a difficult topic and I have to be really careful with the vocabulary I'm going to use to describe my feelings. Unfortunately many people don't know the difference between criticizing the government of the State of Israel (including the IDF) and making disparaging comments about Jews. In my opinion Rabin was the last statesman of Israel who wasn't a criminal! It's a fact that the Palestinian people are oppressed for years and the IDF acts like fascists by killing and torturing civilians there. On the other hand, Palestinian fundamentalists are also killing Israeli civilians. Both sides have people who are not interested in any peace. I can just say that the Palestinians are the oppressed ones and some religious fundamentalists abuse the bad circumstances in the Palestinian refugee camps. They just want to increase their power, and the reason for their success is Sharon's politics. Palestine has to be an independent state. It would be the first step to a peaceful future. But as long as Sharon and the IDF will continue acting like they do right now, many school-buses or discotheques are going to explode in Israel...again and again. Marking Palestinians won't help them. Of course it reminds me a lot on the behavior of the Nazis when they marked Jews with yellow stars. So I didn't feel very comfortable when I heard about it. But like I said before, as long as the IDF acts like terrorists in the Palestinian areas, they have to expect also terrorism from the other side. I feel really sorry for all the Israeli civilians and their families as well as for all the Palestinian people who were killed. In my opinion the IDF and the Israeli government are the reason for all the hate and violence in this area. Their acting causes the power of the religious fundamentalists on the Palestinian side. And for me it's just disgusting when I see people wearing IDF shirts at hardcore shows. Tell me, how dumb one can be!?! The problem here in Germany is that the right wing abuses the situation in the Middle East to spread their anti-Semitism. But they don't care about the Palestinians, not even a bit. They just want to spread their stupid ideals. So if they shout out: "free Palestine!" they just do it because they hate Jews. There is no other reason. That's why I've said in the beginning that I have to be careful with the vocabulary I was going to use. This topic is so complex and there is more than just "black and white."

Maelstrom: How about you, Matthias? How long have you been playing drums? What got you interested in the instrument in the first place?

Matthias: I've bought my first drum set in 1993, but it was just for fun. I had no further intentions. A friend of mine sold his drums really cheap and at that time I had some money left. I was always a bit interested in [the instrument]. I've never had any lessons and it wasn't really serious before 1995, I guess. I just became more interested in it after I was already playing for a while. But I don't see myself as a real musician. I just play.

Maelstrom: What are some of the albums that you listen to the most?

Matthias: Well, my all time favourites are: Amon Amarth - Once Sent from the Golden Hall, At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul, Bolt Thrower - ...for Victory

Right now I'm listening to the new Amon Amarth album, Versus the World...

Maelstrom: What do you and the other members of Heaven Shall Burn do outside of your careers in the band?

Matthias: Hehehehe, I would say that we do the band outside of our everyday life. Although it takes a lot of time, our "careers" still have the first priority. Our bass player, Eric, is doing an education as an ergo-therapist. Marcus (voc) is becoming a nurse and Maik (g,lyrics), Patrick (g) and me are studying.

Maelstrom: By the way, how did you pick the name Heaven Shall Burn? I'm asking because it seems more like a name for a Satanic band, whereas your band seems to write lyrics about social issues.

Matthias: We got the name from the Swedish black metal band Marduk. They released an album called Heaven Shall Burn...When we are Gathered. I like the album, but that was not the reason for choosing the name. We are also not satanic...hehehehe... well, just a bit. The reason why we chose the name was that it sounded provoking and powerful. For us the term doesn't stand for killing Christians, raping their wives, nor burning down their houses, of course. The word "heaven" should stand for something like a fake-paradise. Many people live their lives in a world far away from reality. They build up their own world and don't realize what's up around them. We hope that some of them will wake up really soon and see what's reality. So their "heaven" - their fake paradise - shall burn...

Maelstrom: I've read that Heaven Shall burn has released a new album. Could you please tell us about it?

Matthias: Well, the new album called Whatever it may Take was released in December 2001. So it's already one year old. We're still really happy with the result, although we already know that some things could have been better, just like always. I guess we changed a bit since <Asunder>. The songs become better because of some progression in our songwriting. We've all developed on our instruments of course. There are also more thrash metal influences in it. We move a bit away from this typical 'bolt thrower-riffing' which you can hear on 'asunder'. Everything is more melodic and the songs are catchier. Right now we are already working on new songs for our next album. I guess that we'll hit the studio again in summer 2003, but there's nothing sure yet. We'll see...

Maelstrom: When I first learned about your band, I also learned about Caliban, which is indeed quite similar in style to Heaven Shall Burn. In fact, Caliban is not only on the same label but also from Germany. What's more, you have released a split CD with that band. (we also hope to have an interview with Caliban alongside yours in this issue) Are the two bands very close friends? Have you influenced each other?

Matthias: We are friends with Caliban and it's always nice to play with them. I don't know if we have influenced each other that much. Many people say that their style is quite similar to our style, but I don't agree. We don't have these emo parts and we go even a bit more into the metal direction. I think our styles are different. Anyway, it's no problem if the people compare Heaven Shall Burn to Caliban. It's always hard to say something about one's own style. In my opinion just the listener is responsible for it.

Maelstrom: Do we outside of Europe have any hope to ever see you play live?

Matthias: We'll we already toured outside Europe. Last January we went to Brazil for 10 days. We've also tried to confirm something for the USA or Canada for December 2002, but it didn't work out. It's always really difficult to find a time when everybody in the band is available. Heaven Shall Burn really have to tour North America and I think we'll do this in 2003. I hope that it will work out next time...

Maelstrom: Thanks for answering our questions. Take care and keep up the good work.

Matthias: Thank you for the interview. I hope to see you on tour in 2003...keep your fingers crossed.

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

The Hope Conspiracy's latest album, Endnote, is an excellent little album that keeps things short and sweet. Jonas Feinberg, the short black haired, 23-year old bass player who went from Minnesota to Boston to join the band, may also want to add on "…and real" to that description. As tired and meaningless as that term may have become, it's true that what will win you over about this hardcore punk band is the heart and passion that comes through the speakers when you play their records. The music is simple and energizing.

I met up with The Hope Conspiracy before their show in San Francisco while they were on tour. The following interview is with Feinberg and Kevin Baker (guitar, vocals), an easy going, approachable guy that is the archetype New Englander with his Bostonian accent and light but at the same time no nonsense energy. Baker's relaxed demeanor and the way he sometimes looks at you almost timidly behind light brown hair that conceals part of the top half of his face, a look that made me think of Adam Sandler's Little Nicky character, is a pretty strong image contrast to his armfuls of tattoos.

Maelstrom: Endnote is the exact, perfect length. It's 26 minutes, it's nice and intense, and it's over. Is that what you intended it to be or do you have a hard time writing long albums?

Jonas Feinberg: I think we're all retarded and have short attention spans. I mean, I can't listen to songs that are over three minutes, for the most part. I think in the history of our band we have like two songs that are over three minutes.

Maelstrom: I haven't heard the previous one. How is the new one compared to that?

Kevin Baker: It's way angrier; way more hard.

Jonas Feinberg: More punk.

Maelstrom: Yeah, I can feel that. It's really simple and it really kicks ass. The production's great. How do you think it turned out?

Kevin Baker: We're all super psyched on it. We had a great time recording. We all went down to New York for three weeks. Nothing was rushed. It was like, "let's try this!… that didn't work. Let's try this!" All day in the studio with our friend Dean who recorded it. No tension; real laid back.

Maelstrom: I don't know if many people who read interviews have a clear idea of when someone says it takes three weeks, what that means. Does it mean you're in there every day? How many times do you have to do a take?

Kevin Baker: For instance, on the first three or four days were getting the drum tracks done.

Maelstrom: That always comes first?

Kevin Baker: Yeah. And Aaron and Jonas play along with Jarrod (on headphones). Their tracks are scratch tracks, to keep him on time. When Jarrod finished up we went to bass. When bass was done, we alternated between guitar and vocals. Then it was pretty much vocals; mixing a song, vocals; mixing a song, vocals. We pushed that all into one week.

Jonas Feinberg: It's weird how tired you get sitting around all day watching TV while Dean mixes. That dude just works hard. He'll be up and ready to go to the studio by noon, and he'll stay there until 3AM. Then he'll go out and party.

Maelstrom: It seems the more aggro the music, the more nice and laid back the guys are in real life.

Kevin Baker: Well, Jonas, when he gets mad, you don't wanna be…

Maelstrom: Do you find that the music you play clashes with your personalities (other than Jonas ;) )?

Kevin Baker: No, I think it reflects who we are. Everyone's got their dark side.

Jonas Feinberg: Yeah.

Maelstrom: Looking at the song titles of your record, you've got words like "Holocaust," "Violent and Gray," "suicide," but then you have this song "For Love." What's that song all about?

Kevin Baker: It's about pouring into your heart into something and in the end feeling like you got nothing from it. Finally just saying "I give up. It wasn't worth it. All that time, all that effort, all that pain wasn't worth it."

Maelstrom: Is that coming from any specific experience?

Kevin Baker: Yeah. Relationships, whether it be with a girl or friends; you feel like you could have trusted somebody, but in the end you ended up being stabbed in the back. I think it's something that everybody can relate to in one way or another.

Maelstrom: Tell me about name The Hope Conspiracy. Why did you pick that name and what does it mean?

Kevin Baker: It stems from a U2 tour. There's also a book called The Hope Conspiracy about undermining the moral majority, whether it be elitist religious figures, arrogant politicians, racist cops… you know, all the shit that all the authority figures in the world do, undermining that - being who you are at all costs.

Jonas Feinberg: We wanted a name that would make it hard to pinpoint us. We didn't want to be "an emo band," "a hardcore band," "a punk band," whatever. We just wanted to be a band.

Maelstrom: What's the best thing about being in Hope Conspiracy?

Kevin Baker: Getting' to come to the Bay Area! (laugh)

Maelstrom: What do you like about the Bay Area?

Kevin Baker: It's a beautiful, beautiful place, and a fun place to hang out. We love it here. For the whole tour you just think about coming to California and Seattle…

Jonas Feinberg: Certain spots. When we're on tour, it's like, "I can't wait to hit this spot." Nothing against other places, but I don't find us saying, "I can't wait to get to Baton Rouge, Louisiana."

Kevin Baker: It's almost like climbing a mountain. The peak is California.

Maelstrom: What made you want to play this kind of music? What did you listen to when you were growing up?

Kevin Baker: Misfits, Black Flag, Integrity, Slapshot, Cro Mags.

Maelstrom: Your press release compares you with Deadguy.

Jonas Feinberg: Joy Division, Black Flag…

Maelstrom: That's right, and Carcass.

Kevin Baker: I don't understand the Carcass [comparison], do you? (to Jonas who is dealing with something else) Do you know we're compared to Carcass in the press releases?

Jonas Feinberg: (from the other room) Yeah! Who the hell did that?

Kevin Baker: I mean, Carcass is great! But we don't sound anything like them. I think we sound more like the later Entombed than anything, the bluesier stuff. Uprising, that's a great record. You ever heard that? It's awesome! I love that shit.

Maelstrom: That's more their death and roll stuff.

Kevin Baker: A lot of die hard Entombed fans will write that shit off, but I think it's great.

Maelstrom: Yeah…I like the first couple records the best.

Kevin Baker: Yeah, see?

Maelstrom: So you must like Wolverine Blues, too.

Kevin Baker: I think Wolverine Blues is good. I like Uprising better.

Maelstrom: Which band defines the genre that you're in?

Kevin Baker: That would be like, "what band would you like to go on the road with the most?"

Maelstrom: Yeah! How about that? Let's start with that. It doesn't ever have to be in your genre; just for whatever reason. What band would that be?

Kevin Baker: I would love to go out with A.F.I. or Hatebreed. I think they define hardcore and punk. A.F.I. has the melodic, sort of sing along punk thing, and Hatebreed is as refined as moshcore/ hardcore/metal, you know, can be. It's the best formula ever. Sick of it All, we've done a tour with them. I'd love to go out with them again. There's so many cool bands out there, I wouldn't know where to start.

Maelstrom: What do you think of the big Christian or straightedge part of hardcore? Like Zao or Norma Jean?

Kevin Baker: Well, I know members of Zao and Norma Jean. They've always been complete gentlemen to us. As a matter of fact, Norma Jean has asked to go out on the road with us. I'd do it. I think the clash between the scenes isn't between the bands: the kids in the audience are the ones that take things to extremes. They decide that certain things shouldn't be involved in hardcore, like speaking your mind.

Jonas Feinberg: The kids take what the bands are saying more seriously than the bands do.

Maelstrom: It seems that's the case in a lot of scenes.

Kevin Baker: I've always been from the school of thought that hardcore and punk was speaking your mind against the elitist bullshit. But then again, you get these bands that are involved with some very elitist things. One time we played a show and kids were coming up to the table and asking us about what we were about. They picked up our CD and said, "I like you guys. I think you're great. Are you Christian?" We said, "no, we're not." They put the CD down and walked away. They wanted no part of us. And that to me is like is the antithesis to hardcore punk. It's kind of a weird little dynamic.

Maelstrom: It's a topic that we've been discussing in my zine a lot. We cover stuff that's really right-wing political. We've been considering, "well, some of these people are neo-fascists. Should we cover the music and should we be able to separate the art from the political views of the artists?" Do you think it's possible?

Kevin Baker: I can respect a band musically. Like 108 is one of our biggest influences, and they're a Hari Krishna band. I'll never be Krishna. That was their philosophy. Anyone that is passionate about their music and can write a good song, I'll listen to 'em. Anybody can get up there and scream their guts out about whatever it is that they love or hate or would die for.

Maelstrom: What do you guys love, hate or would die for?

Kevin Baker: ….umm…(Jonas returns) Jonas!…(laugh) Our friends, our families. Any day of the week. Ask him the question that you asked me, about what bands define our genre.

Jonas Feinberg: I have a certain small amount of bands, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Unbroken.

Kevin Baker: Oh, Jesus…

Jonas Feinberg: Minor Threat and Bad Brains were the bands that, when I was 12 years old and got a record, I was like, "what the fuck is this?!" You know. Those bands blew my mind. And then Unbroken came along later. Those bands to me showcased the aggression that this genre is all about. It's funny, because I look at how it is these days - I'm not old by any means, and I haven't been around a long time in this scene - I look at kids that haven't heard these bands who are like, "Earth Crisis…my dream band! Snapcase…my dream band!" Not saying they're not good bands. People like those bands, but kids don't look into where it came from, what it's really about. I guess for us as a band, in a sense it's about…keeping it real…

Kevin Baker: HAHAHA!

Jonas Feinberg: …to use the shittiest term ever.

Kevin Baker: Like 25 ta Life, "keepin' it real! Rick ta Leefay."

Jonas Feinberg: But at the same time I can't imagine being the same and hearing one of those newer bands that are like gods to the younger kids and being like, "wow, that blows my mind!"

Kevin Baker: We discuss this all the time: bands that we've never heard of - we're like, "who are they?" - and the next thing you know we go to see them play live and there's like 2000 kids killing each other to them and we're like, "who the hell is this!?"

Jonas Feinberg: For a band that tours as much as we do and plays with as many bands as we do, we're so out of touch.

Kevin Baker: Yeah, we are out of touch. I say it all the time, I just stick to what I know.

Maelstrom: I don't think that's unusual. I think it's really common that bands not know who the other bands are. It's the fans that know all the bands.

Jonas & Kevin: Yeah, true.

Jonas Feinberg: They have the time to invest in that. Whereas us, we're running around the country, we don't know what's going on!

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

It's common that bands of the harder, heavier genres try to add some dynamics to their albums by throwing in acoustic tracks or some kind of quiet to prevent losing the listener's interest. Generally, this means that you'll get harsh and brutal that comes to a full stop, followed by pretty and melancholic that also comes to a full stop. Many times, these individual tracks are good, but there isn't much cohesion between them.

Hopesfall's unique brand of mixing technical hardcore with mellow, melodic breakdowns and vocals is seamless. It's a refreshing thing to hear a group make not only music that is outstanding in creating music whose individual parts are exemplary for their particular genre, but also mesh so well together, in turn creating a signature style all its own. I talked to Josh Brigham, guitarist of this young Charlotte, North Carolina band about Hopesfall's wonderful new record, The Satellite YearsThe Satellite Years.

Maelstrom: You play guitar. Do you also do vocals?

Josh Brigham: No. Jay, our lead singer, does the majority of the vocals.

Maelstrom: The melodic and hardcore vocals are from the same person?

Josh Brigham: There's a couple (vocals) from our old guitarist Ryan, but the majority of it is Jay.

Maelstrom: Have you ever heard of a band called Aerogramme?

Josh Brigham: Aerogramme? No, I haven't.

Maelstrom: You guys remind me a lot of them.

Josh Brigham: Where are they from?

Maelstrom: I think they're from England. They're not a hardcore band at all. They sort of sound like the Smashing Pumpkins - not that you guys sound like that, but you sound like Aerogramme, but hardcore.

Josh Brigham: It's funny that you brought up the Pumpkins, 'cause that's like probably one of my favorite bands of all time.

Maelstrom: Yeah, I like them too. I don't know about the last couple records (to be fair, I'm counting the second to last record, Adore, as the last couple records. - Roberto )

Josh Brigham: Oh, come on, dude, Machina was great.

Maelstrom: I gave up on them after Adore.

Josh Brigham: Really? Oh, man, is like one of my favorite ones. I'm a diehard Pumpkins fan. Siamese Dream was one of the first records I ever got on my own. To this day, like, when me an' my friends are driving around, we call it "old faithful": it doesn't matter what mood you're in or where you are or what you're doin', when you put that record in, you're gonna enjoy it.

Maelstrom: Why is your album called The Satellite Years?

Josh Brigham: We kind of had a lot of themes that we were dealing with that we thought were dealing with space and separation - kind of like being suspended. Honestly, we trying to think of names for the record, and we couldn't think of anything that we liked. I was asking one of my friends, "what should we call it?" I tried to explain to him what we were covering, and the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "why don't you call it The Satellite Years?" And I was like, "oh, that's awesome." So I went back and told everybody, "hey, I thought of a great title for the record: The Satellite Years!" I admitted to it later that I didn't really think of it. I figured I'd better claim responsibility for it initially 'cause I wanted everybody to like it, 'cause they were all really skeptical about taking suggestions from other people.

Maelstrom: It all falls into place really marvelously: the name of the album, and then you have this blue color all over the booklet; the blue - and there's something about the record: Whenever I listen to it, it just makes me think about…have you ever been to California?

Josh Brigham: Yes, I have.

Maelstrom: Have you ever driven up Highway 1?

Josh Brigham: Uh, no. I've driven up Interstate 5.

Maelstrom: Oh, that's the worst one. That's the ugly one.

Josh Brigham: Yeah, I have some stories about Interstate 5.

Maelstrom: Oh, ok. Tell me about that in a minute. Highway 1 is the one that goes along the coast.

Josh Brigham: I haven't had a chance to do that yet. We were on a tight schedule: we had to drive from LA to Sacramento.

Maelstrom: Yeah. Anyway, Highway 1 goes along the coast and it's really beautiful. Listening to your record and thinking about the blue makes me think of the sky and driving along the ocean and the breeze, and having this really wonderful feeling from all the melody you have in your record. It's just really free and really great. It just ties together in with the whole concept. I don't know if that was intentional, but you did a great job with it.

Josh Brigham: I would honestly say thank you very much, because that's a great compliment. You would have no way of knowing this, but the guy who designed our record, Chandler Owen, lives in Costa Mesa, California. He's one of my good friends; I grew up with him. Some of the very first art that he sent me were pictures of the hills of Pomona, overlooking the ocean. I told him that I liked all the blues and the vibe of that, but I wanted to do something more space oriented. He came up with all of that. He's totally inspired by the exact same things that you just mentioned. Our first EP, No Wings to Speak of , I don't know if you've ever seen that, the artwork is the California Hills and the skyline.

Maelstrom: Wow. I gotta get it. Is it like The Satellite Years?

Josh Brigham: What Chandler did for the art (of Satellite...) was he took a bunch of pictures of buildings in California. Those little pictures of spaceships are actually pictures of those buildings: one of 'em is a sewage plant, one of 'em is a high school. He cut 'em up in a collage. If you look at it, you can see building pieces. The other one (No Wings...) is all pictures of hills.

Maelstrom: In terms of what it sounds like, is it the same in terms of style?

Josh Brigham: I think The Satellite Years is definitely a progression.

Maelstrom: This new record is definitely going to make my top five; I really like it a lot.

Josh Brigham: Well, thank you.

Maelstrom: You're welcome. It's just so seamless: the way you have the hardcore parts and how it drifts into these mellow, quiet parts. There's no seam between the two parts. I don't know if you've heard the new Zao? I thought that was terrible: they tried to go quiet, but they didn't change their sound. They kept the same vocals, they kept the same production, and it sounds really bad.

Josh Brigham: Yeah…I'm kind of friends with those dudes, so I don't want to make a comment about it. I can see where you're coming from. When we were writing the songs, it was really important for us to have good bridges and make it flow. Like some of the bands I really admire, like Drowning Man and Botch, those bands have great transition work. That's something that I've always been inspired to have. Fluidity is very important. When we're writing a song, we'll write a bunch of parts and put it together. If it doesn't flow, we'll scrap the whole thing.

Maelstrom: Yeah, I just got the new Botch. I haven't heard it yet, but I'm really keen on it. I really like the artwork. Lately I guess I've been really into artwork. The mountains on the new Botch are so cool.

Josh Brigham: I love Botch. They're a great band. Seriously, they're one of my favorites. I feel the same way. I really like the artwork for the Anthology of Dead Ends.

Maelstrom: Talking about themes, you have a graphic in the album that says "escape" (with a silhouette of a spacecraft) and "renewal" (with the silhouette of an astronaut). Could you please talk a bit about this theme and how it fits into the album?

Josh Brigham: Lyrically, we wrote about things that are personal to us. Our singer, Jay, asked me to not explain lyrics. He hates when he reads bands explaining what their lyrics mean; he wants people to read what he wrote and apply it to themselves (if they want to look into it that far). We were going through hard times as a band: we had a lot of lineup changes and a lot of disappointments and setbacks. That happened in our band as well as in our personal lives. We were dealing with a lot of issues of separation. We felt that the album was kind of cathartic.

Maelstrom: That's the absolute best word to use, "catharsis." The album is hard and brutal in some parts, but it has this feeling to it that just makes you feel really good.

Josh Brigham: The whole renewal and escape thing, "A Man Exits" is about that. It's about as much about escapism as possible. The record itself doesn't necessarily deal with the theme of renewal, but that whole piece of art was renewing to us. It brought the band back together, it got us started again, it got us touring again, got us with a label. There's a lot of that there. I have to give a lot of credit to Chandler Owen. When we were doing the art, I came to him and I was like, "I have these specific themes, and you have a free palette to do with what you want."

Maelstrom: What are the other themes that are prevalent in The Satellite Years?

Josh Brigham: Feeling suspended, feeling distance from others, from the Earth.

Maelstrom: What are the main influences on Hopesfall?

Josh Brigham: My formative years I spent listening to The Smashing Pumpkins and Hum, and Dinosaur, Jr….The Pixies, The Smiths. That was what I got into when I was forming my own opinions about music in my early teens. Then I got into hardcore and heavier music later because I was so fed up with what was on the radio. Looking for other things, and I kind of stumbled upon it. Musically we've always tried to be somewhere between the two.

Maelstrom: Do you think that puts you at a disadvantage? You're different from much of the hardcore I've heard: you have this dynamic. Does this put you at a disadvantage to some of the fans who want to hear brutal hardcore, mosh, jump up and down stuff?

Josh Brigham: I kind of thought the same thing when we first started out as a band. We got a lot of shit from fans: "You guys aren't hardcore, blahblahblah." We were like, "we don't really care." We don't want to be your typical hardcore band. We've always tried to do something original. If our audience decides that, hey, we sold out hardcore, then that's their opinion and they're entitled to it. I just want to keep writing music that makes me happy. If we write a sick mosh part that we really like, we'll use it. Honestly, it's a selfish endeavor. We write music because we wanna have a good time; we do it for ourselves.

Maelstrom: How hard is it for Jay to switch from the hardcore vox to the clean ones on stage?

Josh Brigham: I think that he enjoys it. He likes the heavy parts; he likes the melodic parts. He sees it as a challenge. "Hey, I've got to train my voice to be able to do both on tour for 40 days in a row."

Maelstrom: I was going to ask Adam what his drum influences are.

Josh Brigham: Oh, I can tell you EXACTLY what his influences are. Puller, Shiner, and (although I hate Phil Collins) Phil Collins.

Maelstrom: When are you coming back to San Francisco?

Josh Brigham: We played there in September, and it was awesome. Honestly, San Francisco was THE best show the entire summer.

Maelstrom: What made it your favorite show?

Josh Brigham: Driving in to the town. It was just a beautiful day. My grandmother lives there. We played really well; we did really well with merch; we had a great crowd. It was a really good day. But then that all ended on Interstate 5, though. Early the next morning we had to drive from San Francisco to Portland, which is quite a hike. We slept for a couple of hours on the side of the road near Sausalito, in the van. We got up, and it was about 6:45 in the morning, and I'm heading north on Interstate 5. We have a 15 passenger van with a trailer. We're going 70 miles an hour, we're good, and it's early, so I go up to 76 miles an hour. At that point a cop pulls me over. I'm like, "officer, I'm really sorry I was going 6 over," and he says, "no, you weren't. You were going 21 over." I said, "what do you mean? It's marked 70." He said, "since you have a trailer, you're considered an 18 wheeler, and you can't go over 55." I got a $400 ticket that I'm still in the middle of by a trial by declaration where I'm writing letter to this judge where I'm trying to get the sentence reduced or completely wiped clean. I'm not paying that ticket.

Maelstrom: That's not even a good bad story. That's a bad bad story.

Josh Brigham: It's a shitty story, and the cop was a real asshole. It was a start to a really bad day. San Francisco was a really good day; Portland was a really bad day. 

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interview by: Matt Smith

I talked to JF Degenais, who does guitars for Kataklysm, a few weeks ago. I was expecting to interview Maurizio Iacono (vocalist), but he was apparently sick. I had to throw out many of my questions because of that, and, since I'm not all that familiar with the group to begin with, I was left with a mainly general line of questioning. Also, I ran into some technical difficulties toward the end of the interview, so I'm missing what exactly was said for about a minute. The main points are summarized, however.

Maelstrom: How long have you been with Kataklysm?

JF Degenais: I've been with Kataklysm since the beginning - Since it was formed in '91.

Maelstrom: How have you liked the way it's progressed so far?

JF Degenais: I'm very happy about the results from the last three albums. I think before we were just young guys trying to play in a band (chuckle). Yeah, I think we just, what happened with Kataklysm was just trying too early, because we got signed when we were all 16 years old. We started to play our instruments, and we were starting to learn them, pretty much all of it. And then they'd sit there telling us, "Hey, we've got to make a record," and then we'd have to go on the road with all those big bands (chuckle #2). But now, ten years later, along the way we learned how to play, and we learned music, basically.

Maelstrom: So you feel that you've matured a lot as a group?

JF Degenais: Yeah, I think we're, for me, I'm very satisfied with the last three records because that was when we started to be very mature about songwriting and then we could play our instruments.

Maelstrom: So you're happy about the melodic direction in which Kataklysm has gone?

JF Degenais: Yeah, I'm happy a lot because even in the beginning I tried to bring a lot of melodies to Kataklysm, but most of the time people didn't notice because of the bad production in the first records.

Maelstrom: So you're pretty happy about your label and the production you're getting, then?

JF Degenais: Yeah, we haven't had any problems and they're doing a great job for us, so I'm happy about that.

Maelstrom: Is there anything you'd like to change?

JF Degenais: Right now, for me everything's perfect. I think I like it because we handle all the production ourselves. We do all the production work, and so we have the album sounding the way we want. And they are handling the promotion very well. They are pushing us, so I have nothing to complain about. I'm very happy about the situation.

Maelstrom: How do you find the scene in Canada?

JF Degenais: I think the scene is very good. It's just hard to tour because the cities are very apart from each other, so if you go on the road to tour Canada it's very hard because you have to travel 10/12 hours between every city. But it's a great scene there, because if you're a true road warrior and want to do it, it's great to play there. We're gonna do it next week. We're starting this weekend, we're going on 17 shows across Canada. And I'm sure the shows are gonna be good. The last time we toured there, the worst attendance we had was like 100 people. Of course, in the east the scene is great, because in Montreal, every band that plays there tells us it's one of the best cities to play in in North America.

Maelstrom: What's the most popular metal genre in Canada, or in your area, anyway?

JF Degenais: Of course, where we come from, the more extreme stuff is pretty big. That's why bands like us and Cryptopsy do so well, coming more from the Eastern part of Canada. But, pretty much, metal is big here. Even power metal bands that come from Europe see a good turnout here. Blind Guardian is coming soon and they're going to pack the place. I think it's already sold out, like 2,000 people. And bands, when they come, like Dimmu Borgir, they fill the place also, like 2,000 people. I think even though our tours do good, death metal, black metal, power metal, everything. The scene in the east of Canada is great for every kind. The rest of the country I don't know, because I don't go there often. But I know when we tour we do good pretty much everywhere.

Maelstrom: How has your unique sound ("Northern Hyperblast") been received, do you feel?

JF Degenais: I think it's gotten received, first in Europe, it got received very well. Everybody liked us.

Maelstrom: Here's where I encountered technical difficulties. My recorder cut out for minute, during which time I wrote really fast. I didn't get every quote, but here's the gist of the conversation:

JF Degenais: ~ "Europe is definitely my favorite place to tour. The way they treat bands is completely different. It's like they pull out the red carpet for you. The food is great, and the shows are always good. It's rare to have a bad night in Europe. America is so big, you have to play some gigs just to keep touring." He said something about having three good shows and then getting desperate. I asked him about the website, and he said that a fan in California does it for them for free, which he appreciates a lot.

Now the tape comes back on:

JF Degenais: The new design should be online soon, but I haven't seen it yet, and I think he worked hard, no less than a few months, on it. It's gonna be online in the next few months.

Maelstrom: How important do you feel the Internet is for metal in general, and for your band in particular?

JF Degenais: I think the Internet made a huge difference. It sucked maybe a bit sales-wise. A lot of the albums get downloaded by too many people. But when you play live at shows because everybody knows all the songs, you play like, "Wow, everybody knows them." They sing along with the lyrics. It's very impressive, the difference. It's not that much a bad thing, I think. It's bad for the record labels, but I think for bands it's a good thing.

Maelstrom: To finish up, are there any funny stories you've got from touring, or anything you'd like to say?

JF Degenais: (laughs) I think it was the funniest thing ever. When we were in Spain, Stephane (the bass player) went to a laundromat with his clothes to get them washed. When we came back after the show, the Laundromat was closed, so he lost all his clothes. He did the rest of the tour with the same T-shirt and pants. He was washing his underwear in the sink (laughs again).

Maelstrom: (laugh). Yeah, that's pretty good. I think that's all I have for you. Thanks a lot for the interview, though.

JF Degenais: Thank you very much.

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

H.P. Lovecraft would totally dig Kemialliset Ystävät. The image of the blind, idiot god at the center of the universe making music by his most primal instinct really jells with the sound of this Finnish folk group. If you can imagine a sinister group of idiot savants playing instruments that are so old that they are on the verge of disintegration, then you're on your way to understanding what kind of magic this wondrous band weaves. The following interview is a conversation with Jan Anderzén, the "Christ-like" leader of the group.

Maelstrom: Kemialliset Ystävät totally fascinates me. What does that name mean?

Jan Anderzén (above): It's "chemical friends," but I think it's less stupid in Finnish.

Maelstrom: Does that mean drug buddies? I would understand if drugs had a part in making your music. Is this what the name is all about?

Jan Anderzén: We didn't invent the name - it was given to us, and believe it or not there's no drug reference. The drug we use when making our sound is the pee of fairies we gulp once in a while. The "friend"-part of the name is much more important.

Maelstrom: Are these Finnish lake fairies?

Jan Anderzén: As you might know, Finland has thousands of lakes. Nowadays they are all surrounded by summer cottages, and I'm afraid the lake fairies are fading away. The grove fairies around the seashore of southern Finland are the ones we collaborate with.

Maelstrom: Indeed, your first two albums in particular (the CDR and Pieni Palatsi, what does that mean?) sound super lethargic, almost like you are stumbling over your instruments.

Jan Anderzén: Pieni palatsi is "a small palace." Those aren't our first two albums. We've been releasing music since 1995.

Maelstrom: In my reviews, I imagined the instruments you play as being dug up out of some forgotten antique store. I imagine strings missing from the guitars and the wood eaten away by termites and mold. The sound of the instruments and the way they are played gives your band its charm. It's sort of part the charm you feel when you hear an old, scratchy record, and part the charm of venerable, timeless objects. How do you approach playing your music and what are your instruments really like?

Jan Anderzén: Thank you. All our instruments are from flea markets, stores who sell second hand goods and god knows where. Your vision of them is incredibly correct. I think most bands wouldn't no what to do with our equipment. We approach our instruments like toys.

Maelstrom: There's also this kind of thing you do on your albums that I call "evil music box" music. You know, like those wind up, hand held music boxes you had as a kid and that some people collect like maniacs. What makes this music on your records?

Jan Anderzén: We have material that is inspired by the art of ornaments, the cycles and the patterns. We tune the strings with intuition and pluck them without too much rational thinking. Give it a try and you might come up with an "evil music box" of your own.

Maelstrom: What are your songs mostly about?

Jan Anderzén: Beauty/absurdity of life/world, nature, childhood, anti-fanaticism... we don't sing with words anymore.

Maelstrom: Anti-fanaticism... That sounds interesting. What exactly do you mean?

Jan Anderzén: I think it's dangerous when people think they know the truth. You know, I always try to remind self: "Jan, you know nothing."

Maelstrom: That sounds like a Buddhist principle.

Jan Anderzén: Maybe so. It works for me.

Maelstrom: Of course, I can't tell that you aren't using words. What sounds are you making?

Jan Anderzén: The new recordings have fewer lyrics than the last few albums. Lately I've gotten into the idea of music as a nonverbal communication. Human voice can be a beautiful instrument and we try to discover different ways to use it.

Maelstrom: I think that's cool. There's this kind of music that we talk about in my zine called death metal. I don't know if you've ever heard any. Anyway, the vocal style is generally completely incoherent (as are many, many other vocal styles in so-called "extreme" music). Objectively, not only are the vocals pretty absurd, but it's pretty ridiculous that people take the time to write lyrics and then deliver them in a way no one could possibly understand.

Jan Anderzén: I agree, that is strange.

Maelstrom: You have at least a few fans in California. I got your albums through Aquarius Records in San Francisco. One of the Aquarius guys said I'd like your stuff. Sure enough. I started with your CDR, fuzzy case album. What's that called? I was hooked.

Jan Anderzén: The CDR is called Varisevien Tanssi / Silmujen Marssi (something like "the dance of the falling leaves" / "the march of the buds"). For a reason unknown, most of our fans seem to live in California.

Maelstrom: That's funny. It's weird how illogical things get in so called "cult" or "underground" music. My friend's local band just released a split with a Finnish group on a Malaysian label. At the same time, it's not so surprising you guys caught on in California. Maybe the combination of latent/ neo-hippy culture and just general liberal "far out" ness makes Kemialliset appealing.

Jan Anderzén: The friends of far out sound are everywhere and that is wonderful.

Maelstrom: How did you get into music and specifically what inspired you to start Kemialliset Ystävät?

Jan Anderzén: I wasn't that interested in music as a child. I think it was some artsy punk rock that gave me the idea to grab an instrument. Kemialliset Ystävät was born without too much thinking.

Maelstrom: How old are you and what do you "do"?

Jan Anderzén: I'm 24. At the moment I'm doing a 13-month civil service for not going to the army. I got some education in the fine arts and now I'm wondering how to make my living.

Maelstrom: Andérzen...that's not a Finnish name, is it?

Jan Anderzén: It's a Danish name. Son -> sen -> zen.

Maelstrom: I have a Kemialliset Ystävät album on Fonal Records that comes in a digipak. There are lots of pictures of people inside. How many people are in your band and which guy are you?

Jan Anderzén: There are only three of us playing on almost every track of the album and then there are about seven people who pay a visit. I would be that Christ looking guy far right.

Maelstrom: When I traveled through Hungary, I got myself this Lonely Planet guidebook. I read this really fascinating thing in it. It was saying that the Hungarian language didn't at all resemble the languages from the countries around it. It said that the only language that was close was from Finland, which is pretty far away. It was also talking about how Hungary has this cultural infatuation with suicide, almost to the point where it's romantic. It said that Hungary has a very high rate of suicide, and that Finland is close behind. What do you make of these words? Would you care to comment?

Jan Anderzén: There are many similarities in these two languages. For instance, they're both very complicated. As they say, we are prisoners of our language and maybe the high suicide rate really has a connection to the strange words we use.

Maelstrom: By the way, do you consider Finland as being part of Scandinavia? I've gotten some conflicting stories about this.

Jan Anderzén: Finland is between east and west and it's an interesting place to be.

Maelstrom: I'm going to check out a Finnish band called Avarus. It's supposed to be a bit like your band. Have you heard of them?

Jan Anderzén: They are my good friends and we share members. I've played with Avarus many times.

Maelstrom: Do you have a different feeling concerning the music of the two groups?

Jan Anderzén: It's a very different experience. Avarus is jamming with friends and not paying too much attention to recording, while the Kemialliset Ystävät approach is a more personal one, concentrating on the details.

Maelstrom: what music do you find yourself listening to a lot?

Jan Anderzén: I do spend plenty of time listening to records. I have a great hunger for magical sounds and most of my money is spent to obscure audio. I try to be aware of the contemporary actions but mostly it's the stuff from the past: folk, psych, experimental, kraut, jazz, prog, etc...

Check out the Kemialliset Ystävät site at http://www.vip.fi/~anderzen

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interview by: Roberto Martinelli

When presenting the band Napalm Death, it's inevitable to talk about how influential it has been. Since Napalm's original drummer, Mick Harris, popularized the rhythm known as the blast beat in the mid-80s, the music world had been introduced to grindcore, a style that mixed hardcore, punk and metal together into something altogether new, ugly, and jarring.

Since these early days, the genre has developed, as has Napalm Death. While there was a time when Napalm's songs rarely topped the 25 second mark (and some were as short as two seconds), this band that originated in the metal hotbed of Birmingham, England has refined its sound several times, which brings us to the year 2002 and the release of the latest Napalm album, Order of the Leech. Since Napalm Death's signing to the Spitfire label, the band has released two albums and regained a freshness and urgency that had gradually died since the release of the excellent Fear, Emptiness, Despair in 1994, which incidentally was the first extreme metal album I had ever heard and enjoyed, without a doubt eventually leading me to start this zine.

Mark "Barney" Greenway joined the band as the 80s came to a close. Since then, he has always been in my mind one of the best and more recognizable death barkers around. I spoke to Greenway about the new record and his band's political message.

Maelstrom: The new record, compared to the last record you put out, Enemy of the Music Business, seems a lot more brutal and straightforward. It's a lot more pummeling. Anything that was even remotely playful about the previous record is gone.

Barney Greenway (above): When we go into a studio, we don't always know what's going to come out on the other end. We know what we want, roughly; probably more of an idea of what some bands do. We just let it go in its natural flow, and whatever came out, came out.

Maelstrom: The main idea of a Napalm Death album is to not let the listener have a break.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there. One thing I don't like, myself, from a listening point of view, when I'm listening to an extreme band, I don't like it to be metronome perfect, you know? It takes a certain shine off it, you know what I mean? The organic nature of it is far better for me.

Maelstrom: So the drums on Order of the Leech are absolutely organic?

Barney Greenway: Well, obviously there's a certain trigger sample on there. I don't get involved in the whole production side of things. In all honesty I find it slightly tedious. I came in, listened to some of the guitars that were going down, did my vocals, and left.

Maelstrom: It seems that every time I listen to one of your new albums, Danny Herrera's drumming gets better and better, especially on the last one. Despite that, my favorite Napalm Death album is still Harmony Corruption, which I think is a lot of people's favorite record. How would you compare Mick Harris' (the band's original drummer) style with Danny Herrera's?

Barney Greenway: With Micky, it had very much to do with character. I'm surprised Danny can still drum, he's had so many cakes and pies and stuff. That boy's sportin' some pounds.

Maelstrom: Yeah, he's put on a lot of weight since he joined.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, he has. I mean, I'm only sort of joking with that. They both run quite parallel to the character. Mick was fucking nuts. His whole character was like the Tasmanian Devil.

Maelstrom: What's a nuts Mick Harris story that you could tell us?

Barney Greenway: I remember we went around his house - a house where his mum and dad used to live in, a modest sort of house - and he said, "come on, man, let's go out and fucking knock our garage down." Just out of the blue. And I said, "do what?" And he said, "Let's go out and knock the garage down." The garage in England is on the side of the house, the car port, I guess you'd call it. So I thought that his dad must want us to knock the shit down - he doesn't want it anymore. His dad came and he said, "Michael! What are you doin'?" He said, "I'm just knocking down the wall." It turned out that his dad didn't know anything about it; we were doin' it just because Mick thought it would be fun.

Maelstrom: Is he still doing any drumming? He was doing Scorn for a while and Lull, but that's all ambient or with programmed drums.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, that's why Micky left. He wanted to turn the band into Killing Joke, with like ambient and stuff in it. And of course we were like, "no." You know? You can't do that, man, it's fucking Napalm Death! Don't do that!

Maelstrom: It's kind of a shame, because he doesn't do all that much drumming anymore.

Barney Greenway: No, no, he does a bit. I think he wants to get back into real drumming, from what I've heard. He wants to do a real band again, I guess in an extreme hardcore mold. But I don't know where that guy's head's up. It was good to have him drumming because he's a good friend, but the other side of it was he could be a complete dick. He was a funny guy. When he was funny, he was hilarious. But Danny's drumming is kind of chaotic. Danny's (left) quite a funny character himself, but unintentionally so.

Maelstrom: Is he American or is he English?

Barney Greenway: He's American. He's Mexican. He can be kind of spaced out. He can be a quiet guy - he's kind of reserved. He's not very animated when he's moving about, but when he gets on the kit he's quite effective. At least he plays a proper blast beat.

Maelstrom: Ooh, that's a big dig against Mick!

Barney Greenway: No, you're missing the point. I'm not making a dig against Mick. I'm not making a dig against anyone. I'm just saying that those two drummers play a proper blast beat.

Maelstrom: Does Danny use two feet? It sounds like two feet on your record.

Barney Greenway: No, he uses one.

Maelstrom: Holy shit.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, yeah, it's one foot.

Maelstrom: Do you keep up with the current grind or death scene?

Barney Greenway: Yeah, I do. I've always been interested and always will be. The grind stuff these days is quite a wide description.

Maelstrom: I wouldn't even call you guys grind anymore, really… what do you think?

Barney Greenway: I still think we are, yeah. The term grindcore was invented by Micky.

Maelstrom: I think when people think of grindcore, they think of like 25-second songs.

Barney Greenway: Uh, yeah, but there's not a time constraint. It's the style more than anything: that mixture between hardcore and death metal. Obviously the tuned-down guitars and the sound of the bass that sounds like a fucking tractor. That's "grindcore" within the parameters, if you want to put any sort of parameters on it. But then there's other descriptions: extreme hardcore, extreme punk.

Maelstrom: I think a lot of people identify grindcore as sort of the punk version of metal.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, exactly, exactly. With the metal infusion. I would still say we are. Whatever people want to say, it's all fine.

Maelstrom: What you think about Pig Destroyer?

Barney Greenway: I like Pig Destroyer. I think that album was pretty good.

Maelstrom: I think in terms of what I consider true grind, I think that they're the best grind band now.

Barney Greenway: I think Nasum are the best.

Maelstrom: I disagree. I mean, I'm not saying they're not good. Pig Destroyer just reaches me in a way that Nasum doesn't.

Barney Greenway: That's cool. I mean, one thing about Nasum is that they're actually closer to Napalm in term of stylistics. This is being slightly anal about it, maybe, but Nasum used that classic riffing style in terms of there being not too many notes in there. The way Miesko actually plays the riffs on his guitar is very much like Bill (Steer) would have done it before, or Jesse (Pintado) or Mitch (Harris) does it now. Pig Destroyer is slightly different: they use a lot of harmonics and stuff like that. I like them, but Nasum is my favorite by a long shot; I say that without hesitation. (Napalm Death guitarist Jesse Pintado, left)

Maelstrom: We were talking about the punk influence. For me, a major defining thing about punk is the political lyrics. Would you agree with that?

Barney Greenway: Yeah, I would say that not only are we influenced by it lyrically, but also musically. Obviously a big influence is Discharge. GBH is still an influence. Lyrically, Crass.

Maelstrom: Your lyrics in Napalm have always had a political message. Has the message that Napalm has been putting out always been the same?

Barney Greenway: I look at the political lyrics another way: if you want, as common sense. But a lot of people don't always acknowledge common sense or indeed use common sense, you know? Not to be patronizing, but I think that's quite true. It's not been diluted down the years; the same things are still prevalent where we're at today in terms of the general world community. The message has never changed, it's just new things come along - new things that you kind of think one day, "shit, I've always thought about that, why didn't I ever write about it?" Of course there are always new situations coming about in the world that provide good ammunition. One thing that I've never written about but that I felt it was about time that I did ('cause there was a few episodes), was my stance on pro-choice [abortion].

Maelstrom: Is that a big thing in England, too? (It's a major controversy in the U.S.)

Barney Greenway: The conservative right aren't as active in aggravating or harassing abortion doctors. It's less so (than in the U.S.). Bush is apparently trying to head towards a situation where abortion is banned. It would appease the conservative, Christian right in America, which is of course very, very powerful. It's easier to get an abortion [in England]. At the end of the day, in my opinion, it's a woman's choice on what to do as she pleases with her body.

Maelstrom: I've heard metal fans say that political lyrics are for punk, and there's no place for lyrics like that in metal. What do you think about that?

Barney Greenway: I think that's very blinkered. The point is that music is a very emotive thing, so why shouldn't you have emotive lyrics that actually are trying to achieve something? Metal can be escapist if it wants to be, but why shouldn't it also possess a bit of common sense?

Maelstrom: I think that was one of the main things that separated the punk guys from the metal guys.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, but why does there always this emphasis on separation? I've never quite understood that. You know what I mean? What? Are you gonna take offense to someone because they've got a Mohawk? And equally, I know kids with long hair back in the day that used to get beat up at punk shows. It's just ridiculous.

Maelstrom: It's gotten even more ridiculous in this hardcore scene with like, you know, "I'm a Christian vegan, and you're not a Christian vegan, so I'm gonna beat you up."

Barney Greenway: I'm glad you mentioned that, because the whole Christian vegan movement has just lost its way. Not everyone, 'cause I'm not going to generalize, 'cause there are some very well-intentioned vegan activists, but the whole thing about going to shows with socks with snooker balls (like pool balls - Roberto) in 'em, and swinging them around in the pit and knocking someone's teeth out… I'm sorry, man, but that's never the way it was about. And call yourselves punks? That ain't punk. It's got nothing to do with punk. Punk was about respect and tolerance and having a good time. It's about creating an alternative community where people can make a difference, and you're not making a difference by letting someone leave the show spitting teeth out of their fucking head. I've done some shows where someone will deliberately pile into someone with a knuckle duster (I think that's what he said - Roberto) or something. I'm sorry, but that's just fucking stupid, and it shouldn't be encouraged. So there you go. The whole (Christian) thing about people knocking drinks out of people's hands and attacking kids just 'cause they're wearing leather jackets is missing the point. This is coming from a guy who's vegetarian for 19 years, I'm totally into animal rights, but [what these people are doing] isn't achieving anything - it's actually turning people against the ethos. (Napalm Death guitarist Mitch Harris, above)

Maelstrom: It's almost like a trend thing - like the extreme flavor of the month. Let's jump on it.

Barney Greenway: Yeah, I get that. These Christian vegan guys, they want to argue about abortion. It almost becomes a conservative movement in itself. If you ask Ian McKay (of Modern Threat and Fugazi, who talked about animal rights back in the day) what he thought of what it has turned into, I'm sure he's got his opinions that it's quite sad that people are picking on other people at shows because they're drinking. That's not what it's about.

Maelstrom: Do you think listeners should read and agree with your lyrics to enjoy the music properly?

Barney Greenway: I think they get wholesale appreciation of it if they read the lyrics. I don't think it's a set in stone requirement that they agree with the lyrics. At least read them and see what's going on. If people just want to listen to it for the music, that's [their] choice. Where I draw the line is ignorance rather than people being too bothered about lyrics. And it's not necessarily what I'm talking about, but more about what's going on around. Ignorance and apathy are probably one of the greatest enemies to living in a peaceful world. If people just want to listen to the music and don't care too much about the politics, then that's cool.

Maelstrom: Do you think it's equally acceptable to listen to national socialist bands and enjoy the music, but not necessarily agree with the politics?

Barney Greenway: Oh, god, I know all about those national socialists we have in England. I would urge people to boycott that stuff, not necessarily for the listening side of it, but, obviously, as I said in an interview a long time ago that did rub some people the wrong way, is that if you're giving money to these people, you're giving money to possibly to small pockets of people who are going to go out and harass people and put hate literature through the letterboxes of black families and Asian families. Think about where your money is going.

Maelstrom: I think it's really chicken shit. I went over to a friend's house. He has a bunch of NS stuff. He has this CD called Aryan Terrorism. It's full of Aryan this 'n that, and "we hate niggers…" But what's really chicken shit about it is that inside the booklet it says "these lyrics are not printed to incite any sort of violence. They're for entertainment value, or whatever…"

Barney Greenway: Yeah, right…

Maelstrom: And I'm thinking, "if you're going to be a racist dick, at least stand up for what you're saying."

Barney Greenway: Ironically enough, in the land of the free is where you get the most harassment. This subject has popped up in quite a few interviews. As much as being critical about society around us, a lot of people shy away from upsetting the scene, 'cause it's not cool, or whatever. I'd like to see Napalm Death as a counter balance to a lot of the negative shit - and there is a lot of negative shit in the metal scene as much as the positive. There's always been some sort of rampant homophobia, and an (not necessarily genuine or wholesale) element of racism.

Maelstrom: It's so hilarious, because so much (objectively) of metal is homo erotic.

Barney Greenway: Yeah.

Maelstrom: The whole thing comes from Rob Halford, who is homosexual, but metal fans don't really notice that because it's become normalized.

Barney Greenway: We play festivals occasionally in America. When you talk about equality and stuff like that, some people just don't like it. They get quite aggravated. You're probably going to go to the festival and play with bands that have the opposite agenda. I'm going to go and stand up and say, look, all this fucking shit: people talking about fags or niggers, and shit like that. We see it when I'm in America (more so than most places). I'm going to stand up and say, no, you can fuck yourself, because that's not us. If people want to say it to me, man, I'll readily admit that I've got a feminine side to me, and I'm quite comfortable with that. Just 'cause I'm into metal and I'm into punk and I'm into hardcore, doesn't mean I have to live this great, macho, good ol' boy fucking shit.

Maelstrom: I guess you don't relate with Manowar, then.

Barney Greenway: I like Manowar. I think they're funny. I like the band. I like some of the music. To be honest, I think those guys have been taken out of context. I think they are an entertaining band; I think they write some pretty good stuff. They do the metal sort of thing that Judas Priest used to do, for example. It's quite funny that you should mention Manowar: there's a few neo-Nazi bands that took Manowar and embraced them - true Aryan, Viking. If you talk to Eric or Joey - I say this without patronizing them - they're like goofy metal, "long live metal, raise the fist" guys. There's no Aryan messages in there. There might be references of Viking culture and this whole fantasy supremacy sort of thing. But people using Manowar as a barometer of National Socialism in action will find that they are very wrong. Joey Demaio and a couple of guys in that band are of mixed blood, so that puts your little Aryan argument right out of the equation, I'm afraid. So there you go. I always found that Resistance Records to be a fairly odious sort of label. It's quite funny to see 'em set up at Metalfest, with them knowing full well what we're about, and that guy (the Resistance Records guy) sneering at me as I walk past. That's quite amusing. Are there many record labels like that in America? (Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury, above)

Maelstrom: You know, I knew about Resistance, and I believe there's another one called Unholy. I don't go out of my way to listen to NS stuff. If I get something and I like it, I'll like it. I like to try to be able to separate what I think the politics are from my appreciation of the sound of it. But I'm not like, "ooh, that's NS. Let's go get it!" Not surprisingly, it's hard to find, as a lot of stores don't want to carry it.

Barney Greenway: As much as I'm against censorship, the thing with a lot of National Socialist movement music is that it obviously doesn't encourage freedom of speech. In an ideal National Socialist society there is no freedom of speech, so how can you advocate that as a democracy when people decide not to stock it in their stores? I think it's a positive message, not so much that they want to censor it, but the hatred behind it, it doesn't encourage free thought. There is no free thought behind National Socialist music.

Maelstrom: It seems like you got a new lease on life when you signed to Spitfire Records. Can I call it a second of even a third wind for Napalm Death?

Barney Greenway: With all due respect to Spitfire, I don't think the label necessarily gave us that new breath of like. But what I can say that was refreshing was having worked with Jon Paris of Spitfire Records. Jon's a real good guy, and to have a label showing enthusiasm, is real rare! (laugh)

Maelstrom: For me, there were a few records there, like Diatribes and Inside the Torn Apart that just didn't have the energy or the urgency that your records before or after have.

Barney Greenway: I agree. I totally agree. This is the whole point. You have to remember that at that time with the whole experimental thing, as much as it creating a split between opinion outside the band, it was also creating the same split within the band. That was kind of a real difficult time for me. Although looking back at it now, I can appreciate a little more what we were doing at the time; no other bands were really doing that - with that experimental (something, couldn't tell), for want of a better adjective - a groovy sort of thing. I think you find a lot of that influence in some of the hardcore stuff now, you know, the noisecore stuff. I think it's similar to what we were doing back then.

Maelstrom: Is Napalm your full-time job?

Barney Greenway: Nah, I got a job. I work for a company that distributes video games.

Maelstrom: Oh, which one?

Barney Greenway: It's not a publishing house. It's an independent distributor. I lasted as long as I could in the band without earning money, but I had to take the job because I needed to. But I enjoy my work, so it's kinda good. So my life's pretty busy. I got some magazine work which I do as well. I work for Kerrang! in England.

Maelstrom: How did you get the name Barney?

Barney Greenway: Oh, man, it's a nickname from many, many years ago. Do you know the band Doom? The old hardcore band? The drummer from that band, Stick, was an old friend of mine. When I used to drink, many, many moons ago - before I got sick with it - I was a real clumsy drunk. I used to bump into everything. For example, I'd go into someone's house and pull the heating radiator off the wall without even knowing that I was doing it by leaning on it. Or I'd go bundling through a load of a friend of mine's plants. I'd be totally out of control without wanting to be out of control. So, "Rubble" (from the Flinstones cartoon) and then "Barney Rubble," and then just Barney.

Maelstrom: So what's your biggest vice now?

Barney Greenway: Probably video games and chocolate. And football as well.

All photos and logo taken from the official Napalm Death site.

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Considering the kind of uncompromising music that exists on this CD, the first track by Gerbe of Life is absurd to say the least. Some kind of experimental ambient tracks with tribal sounding drum beats, which reminded me of those last few songs on Meathook Seed's Embedded album. And then the carnage begins.

Gerbe of Life play fast, furious grindcore with touches of old school death metal in their riffing. It really isn't possible to play good old school, crusty grindcore without the influence of Terrorizer shining through, and such is the case here. There are slight variations in style, like as I mentioned, death metal touches on tracks like "Trafic D'Organes," and an almost punkish flavour on "Chretiente Demagogie Supreme." Yes you guessed right, they are a French band. I liked their side of the split but I did find their production to be slightly lacking in punch. Maybe it feels that way because the bass is too high in the mix. But musically, Gerbe of Life are tight, and definitely a band with loads of potential.

Now to Repudiate. I think this was being touted as brutal death metal in the flyers accompanying this CD, but I really wouldn't use that term to describe them. They are a very good blend of old school, brutal and melodic death metal. The guitar work is absolutely stellar! Every song has at least two wild and beautiful solos to go along with their dark death metal sound. It's a good thing the Gerbe of Life songs were before this, or they would have been completely overshadowed by Repudiate's material. This is excellent stuff. Morbid Angel fans, get ready to love this band. Fred (Inhumate, Skull Fucked Productions) must be a very proud man to have these two great bands on his labels' first release.