A cold swimming pool presents a challenge. Do you dip in a toe, and prolong the agony? I suggest instead holding your breath and jumping straight in, so that when you get over the shivers you’ll be ready to rip.
Exploring death metal is the same way. This genre rewards those who immerse themselves in it and figure out its nuances so that they can derive its purpose. Death metal is after all an intensely artistic movement that carefully rejects the world around it. To get into it, you need to leave the world behind and go to planet death metal.
Luckily, planet death metal is not far away. Since the genre birthed itself in the years 1983-1986, it has undergone many mutations, but no real changes since about 1996. That leaves 13 years, 17 years ago, as the vital time period. This means that death metal is now relatively cheap to acquire.
To immerse yourself in death metal, buy yourself a starter collection. This list of classics ought to do it:
This isn’t a complete collection, but it gives you everything you need to get immersed in this vital genre. There’s a lot more to explore, including the next generation of death metal and the many niches of metal’s evolution.
However, for less money than it takes to fill up a Suburban, you can have yourself the beginnings of a death metal collection. You could buy six nu-metal or metalcore albums for these prices, or you could simply score some real music and do yourself a favor.
Any band making music of a vaguely “Swedish style” is going to attract both absurdly high hopes and cynicism, and Terminate fulfills some expectations from each column.
Mixed emotions about Swedish-style death metal appear mainly because the recent “revival” of Swedish death metal is more like an “imitation” of the past using the bad techniques of the now. A lot of bands picked up Boss HM-2 pedals, dimed their amps and switched to flying Vs, then mixed a few classic Carnage, Nihilist and At the Gates riffs into their bog-standard death metal with the design philosophy of a cardboard box.
Terminate may or may not fall into this category, but their rendition of Swedish death metal is more like what happens now than what happened then. Its verse-chorus approach is sparse with riffs and heavy on repetition, and its songwriting is blocky, in that these riffs don’t particularly appear to relate to each other and the need to drop in a note-shifted favorite from Left Hand Path or Like an Ever-Flowing Stream cramps their songwriting. The other struggle this band faces is that their choice of notes, chords and rhythms is what we might call “obvious,” meaning that these will always be common variations of the most basic approach to writing this style of music, and they’re not particularly evocative ones.
As any reader with an IQ over his or her shoe size can guess, the overall style here is “Swedish death metal,” which is now as much TM as the Nordish foods at the front of Ikea. Terminate use the crunchy riffs that gradually create a melodic mood, although here it’s more like a side-step from crunch to melody, and build an architectural sense of the sonic space in which death metal moves. Vocals are equally gruff and guttural, sounding a lot like Carnage or Utumno on a bad day.
Ascending to Red Heavens distinguishes itself because it is not cynical toward its subject matter. The band dives right in and goes for the death metal thrills of thunderous riffs and dark passages culminating in near-nuclear levels of antagonism. Whether this rises above the average is an exercise for the reader, but at least this band, like other Swede-worshippers Disma and Decrepitaph, enjoys its subject matter and tries to be faithful to the idea of it as a whole.
Sanctifier craft fine quality vintage-sounding Brazilian death metal, straight forward and without the desire to pander to the elitist shit contingent wanting the next trend. These death metal maniacs have been kicking around since they were teenagers in the 80s and are not children of the tape-trading phenomenon but instigators of it.
For that reason, while Daemoncraft displays its Brazilian sound right off the bat with a warped rhythm weaving through opening track “Demon Ov Lava” (which is also added as a bonus track with Portuguese vocals at the end of this CD) they’re also influenced by their peers of the time such as Immolation and latter-era Morbid Angel (i.e. during Rutan’s relocation from Redbank to Tampa). To my ears at least, this mid-period death metal influence shows up musically on this recording and appears more prevalent than other pioneering influences the band naturally does have.
Getting robbed at gunpoint and thus losing his equipment didn’t hold sole song writer Alexandre Emerson back from creating some wicked songs yet again in the name of worshiping the ancient ones, even before it was a fashion with the young whipper snappers after this sort of music became available at the mall. The cult of Cthulhu remains central to the driving force behind the writing of this music. Lyrical content avoids any crypto-punk subject matter which was par for the course when this band were teenagers and is consistently so now that they’re seasoned elders of the genre.
Daemoncraft emerges as a compact album with some amazing guitar work that has just the right amount of more modern (i.e. early 90s style) feel meshed with the primitive proto-death metal of the 80s from which this band is forged. “The Enchanter” is a good example of this layering of feeling between the two realms. However, the song is consistently deliberate throughout and makes for an excellently paced album.
I agree with executive producer Everton De Castro of Dying Music when he says Daemoncraft is a work for metal brothers of the death metal old school; for those who aren’t just here for a trend, is there any other kind?
If you can imagine a hybrid between older Grave and Centurian, you have the essence of the new Sinister, which like side project Houwitser specializes in fast, simple riff-fests that evoke ancient feelings of ornamented function like the spires of historical castles.
Like fellow high-speed metal legion Angelcorpse, the songs on this album rush forward with unrelenting speed and battery but slow down for moments of melody or artfully-suggested pauses, like a knight resting on the crest of a valley before battle. Many of these riffs will be familiar patterns, not just from death metal but types of melodies famous in other ages.
To keep that from being overwhelming, The Carnage Ending features many of the fast and aggressive chromatic riffs that build tension and heighten energy in the way they did on the first three albums. While this album is not as carefully put together as Cross the Styx, and has more redundancy among riff types, it maintains its memorable moments in a sea of high-energy blasting.
The Carnage Ending erupts from a pure old school death metal background and does a more than credible job of rendering itself. Some of the chaotic material on here seems offhand, but the songs have been trimmed back so that they are expressive and not disorganized. The result is hard-hitting, raging death metal from more than one former age.
Mexican death metal legion Infinitum Obscure and U.S. death metal fixture Sorcery will tour together in 2013. The following dates will be on the map:
Apr 12 – The Black Castle – Los Angeles, CA
Apr 13 – Oakland Metro Operahouse – Oakland, CA
Apr 14 – Rotture – Portland, OR
Apr 15 – Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
Apr 16 – Burt’s Tiki Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
Apr 17 – Sokol Underground – Omaha, NE
Apr 18 – Ultra Lounge – Chicago, IL
Apr 19 – The Foundry – Lakewood, OH
Apr 20 – Sergio’s Place – Silver Spring, MD
Apr 21 – Freddies Tavern – Bristol, PA
Apr 22 – Swayze’s – Marietta, GA
Apr 23 – Matthews Bar and Grill – Birmingham, AL
Apr 24 – Walter’s Downtown – Houston, TX
Apr 26 – Til-Two Club – San Diego, CA
Apr 27 – Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
Burly, basic, and uncompromisingly fit together like ancient stonework in the war room of occult martial artists, the old school death metal of Remains is casually minimalistic but smoothly fit together into a series of visions of dark passages through life. Instrumentalism is good, composition is promising, and we’d like to hear more from this band.
Luckily, we were able to catch these up-and-coming metal wizards for a brief interview…
Hail Remains!
First of all, thank you to the support to our band; we are very happy to know that the EP has been well received.
Now, the questions…
Can you give us a brief history of the band? How did you start, how did you meet, how long have you been a band and what other projects do you have?
Miguel, Emmanuel and Leonardo knew each other because they are studying at the same university. On the other hand, Edoardo and Miguel know each other because they were in an old project some time ago.
Remains was originally proposed by Miguel and the project was born at the beginning of 2011 with a different line-up, but it wasn’t until of the middle of 2012 that it stopped being a project and became a band. With the present lineup Remains recorded the demo “The True Essence” and then in 2013 the EP …Of Death.
About other projects… Leonardo and Miguel have a melodic death metal project called “Fractal Entropy.” Emmanuel plays in two more bands which are “Sinister Mind” (black metal) and “The Light Of Dark” (brutal death metal) and Edoardo has a black metal project named “Fog of Chasm.”
This is a two-part question: (a) what bands influenced you most in your composition and songwriting; and (b) what bands do you think you sound like, even if you think you sound a little bit like more than one band?
a – Death Metal in general, bands like: Grave, Carnage, Dismember, Autopsy, Edge Of Sanity, Vomitory, etc.
b – Maybe something of Grave and Edge of Sanity, you know… old school bands, someone said that Remains sounds a little bit like Master.
Why did you decide to make old school death metal in a time when most of metal has gone on to newer styles, or just given up and become nu-metal?
The principal idea has been never been fashion; we don’t try to follow every new tendency. In my own opinion (Miguel) I grew listening to death metal because of my father (Miguel Angeles – Darkcreed, Pyphomhertum, Foeticide) I mean … death metal is my forte.
So… Remains was born as a tribute to the bands that gave origin to the Death Metal.
Do you think there is a metal “sound” for Mexico? How do you think of yourselves in the lineage of bands such as Cenotaph, Transmetal, Mortuary, Toxodeth and Xibalba?
Maybe there are features which distinguish a Mexican band from others, but is difficult to say that there’s a pure Mexican sound. Those bands are the best we have had in Mexico and we would like to continue that lineage and not lose it with the birth of new bands and styles.
We believe we can do something so the scene grows and doesn’t forget with the passage of time.
You decided to release your first EP, “…Of Death,” online as MP3 files in a downloadable zip archive. What made you decide to do this? How do you think it will help you? Are you worried that people will just pirate the MP3s and not buy the EP? Do you think musicians can make money even if they give away their MP3s? Does it matter?
The idea of the band has never been to get money. When we put out the EP we decided that it would be in the free MP3 format because someone who really likes what he hears will go looking for the CD or tape. (Now we do not have a label) If you want to buy or download our music… whatever, you are listening us and… that’s good for us.
What’s next on your agenda? Are you going to write more material, go on tour, or do something else?
Right now we are working in our first LP and we hope it will be ready in September of this year (of course, when we finish it, we would like that you listen to it).
These songs (on “…Of Death”) are well put-together, where every riff has its place and they fit together well. How did you compose these songs? Did you spend a lot of time after you wrote them, going over them to get the details right and make sure all the riffs fit together?
Every song came to its moment. When Miguel composes a song he always has a clear idea of what he is looking for in every riff and the way to adjust and mix them; then, every member of the group put their personal stamp on Miguel’s composition. We don’t spend too much time in details; if something doesn’t work, it stays out.
What do you think are the origins of death metal? Is it still relevant as a style of music today? What do you think motivates people to want to enjoy and eventually create death metal?
Since the metal was born, the trend always has been to be more aggressive. Bands like Possessed or Mantas gave us the guideline for this style; it continues being relevant since more bands of Death Metal are born every day, maybe what motivates people to listen to it is the aggression, the force that has death metal’s song as well as the theme of the lyrics of every band or the technique that is necessary to make it possible.
If someone wanted to hear some death metal bands from 2013, what newer bands would you recommend to them?
Maybe not bands but releases of Lie in ruins, Corpsessed, Massacre, Entrails, Hail Of bullets, Necronomicon and/or Carcass.
“…Of Death” has a very professional sound. How did you record this album, and how long did it take from songwriting to finished product?
It was recorded in MAT STUDIO under Miguel’s production, trying to respect the sound of the old school keeping the essence of the aforetime recordings. It took us approximately 4 or 5 months in total.
We can only know the present by knowing the past. In the case of heavy metal, it is a murky past obscured by both the grandiose rockstar dreams of individuals and the manipulative fingers of a voracious industry.
Metal arose through a complicated narrative worthy of a lost empire, and by knowing this history, we can know more of the music we enjoy today.
Specifically of interest are a number of threads that interweave throughout the history of the genre, both as outside influences and later as internal habits, which influence its twisting path from something a lot like rock to a genre entirely separate.
This story then is a tale of how many became one, or how they found something in common among themselves, and how it has taken years of creative people hammering on the parts to meld them into one single thing, known as heavy metal.
However, no one really likes a lengthy essay. Instead, here’s metal’s history the best way it can be experienced: by listening to it.
1968-1970 — the origins
Three threads ran alongside each other: punk, proto-metal and progressive rock. All three are on the edge of being metal, since the type of progressive rock in question is raw and disturbing and not of the “everybody be happy love friends” hippie style. This is music that thinks our society is disturbed, and that therefore many of the values we reject are worth a closer look. Some is fatalist-nihilist, like the self-destructive tendencies of punk, where progressive rock is more clinical, and metal more epic (looking for meaning in the ancients, in nature, the occult and conflict).
Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DIIPeUctP4
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_wnmai0tjI
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H678XUB77OA
1971-1981 — maturation
A lot happened here, but basically, metal became more like its ancestors (hard rock), progressive rock faded out, and punk got more rock-music-like. The punk from this era is more like normal rock music than the outsider stuff it originally was, but also gains some aggression from Motorhead, who may technically be metal but were born of a progressive rock band (Hawkwind) and sounded very punk and inspired the next generation of punks to be louder, lewder, etc.
Punk music arose from the earlier work by Iggy and the Stooges, but formalized itself into a pop genre that used guitars more like keyboards than like the guitar fireworks of conventional guitar-intense bands like Cream and The Who.
An exception to the metal of the period was NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal). DIY and extreme for the day, it left behind the Led Zeppelin-styled “hard rock” vein of metal and got away from Sabbath’s detuned doom and gloom to make energetic, mythological but also somewhat excited-about-life metal.
Iron Maiden – Killers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YKblxKglTY
Judas Priest – Sin After Sin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTBZK2-N_Gs
1982-1987 — the peak
Punk got its act together, in part inspired by the more commercial bands like Ramones and Sex Pistols. This is where hardcore punk really happened. That in turn spurred a revolution because music had finally left rock behind, and by mating the nihilistic (no inherent rules) composition of punk with the longer-phrase riffs of metal (derived from horror movie soundtracks), the riff styles of death metal and black metal were born, and the progressive song structures of speed metal evolved. At the same time, essentialist movements in punk hybrids (thrash) and metal (doom) emerged, sending many back to the roots of these subgenres.
Discharge – Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DmSbqmJaig
The Exploited – Death Before Dishonour
Amebix – Arise!
A second generation arose in the USA (all of the above bands are UK):
Cro – Mags – The Age of Quarrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUSzM9GB9s4
Black Flag – Damaged
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61q-yAtU5-E
Minor Threat – Discography
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAEzAjFZPys
1983 — the big branching: speed, thrash and death/black
1983 is a crucial year, and so it gets its own entry. Metal and punk cross-influenced each other. The result was a lot more metal. If you’re familiar with nu-metal or more radio style metal, start with speed metal, as it’s the most like really violent rock music with influences from progressive rock in song structure. If you like messy punk (!!!) try some thrash. And if you’ve already given your soul to Satan, try death/black. With death/black, there’s also some influences from progressive rock, although they’re balanced with punk technique which makes for a chaotic spawn.
Speed metal took the complex song forms of progressive rock, the muted-strum guitar riffing of the NWOBHM bands like Blitzkrieg, and added to it the high energy of punk hardcore and came up with songs that kept getting faster and faster. This shocked people of the day, and was the primary reason speed metal bands were different from the NWOBHM that came before them, hence it was dubbed “speed metal.”
Metallica – Kill ‘Em All
Nuclear Assault – Game Over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrG8vQEVYwo
Megadeth – Rust in Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l9WbnqFSw8
Testament – The New Order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqE3wz1J1ik
Thrash is a hybrid genre that takes punk songs and puts metal riffs in them. Its name arises from “thrasher,” or skater, and those were the people who embraced this style of music that was more extreme than metal or hardcore at the time. While it leans toward punk, it used metal riffs, and wrote short songs that in the punk style lambasted society but in the metal style tended to mythologize the resulting conflict.
Carcass – Reek of Putrefaction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz3l-5X4jLM
PROTO-DEATH/BLACK METAL
In 1983, these bands contributed just about equally to the new sound. In the largest part inspired by NWOBHM like Venom and Motorhead filtered through aggro-hardcore like GBH and Discharge, the unholy triad invented underground metal to come.
Bathory – The Return
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xAVpAPHehc
Once proto-death/black metal had occurred, people began to expand on the formula. One side decided to make it more technical, and riffy, and taking after Hellhammer’s “Triumph of Death” and the increasingly mind-bending riffing of Slayer, made it use mazes of mostly chromatic phrasal riffs. On the other side, some wanted to preserve the atmosphere of the simpler songs that Bathory and Hellhammer had to offer, but injected melody and loosened up the drums to keep it from being as clear and rigid as death metal. While that latter group went off to figure out black metal, the death metal team experienced a boom of creativity and excess during 1985-1995.
Necrovore – Divus Te Mortuus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R09JrN9aiso
Morbid Angel – Abominations of Desolation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCP-No1DcQI
PROTO-BLACK METAL
While death metal was just starting up, other bands were trying to figure out how to make melodic ambient metal, structured equally after early melodic metal and free-floating songs like Slayer’s “Necrophiliac.” The result had chaotic drums, deliberately bad sound quality to avoid becoming a trend or something which could be imitated, and high shrieking vocals to death metal’s guttural growl. Taking a cue from Bathory, Slayer and Hellhammer, it also embraced the occult and esoteric and rejected conventional social norms and religions.
As black metal matured, it moved into Norway, possibly inspired by the previous generation of melodic Swedish death metal bands who used high sustain through heavy distortion to make melodic songs which featured less constant riff-changing than the bigger bands from overseas.
Immortal – Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism
Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Darkthrone – Under a Funeral Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h08zTR0F-qQ
This is just the beginning; there’s a lot more after this in all of the genres, which kept developing in their own ways. This is only an introduction to the history of it all, and is not designed to be comprehensive…
According to a post on their Facebook page, California gore-metal morticians Autopsy are entering the studio in early April to record their next full-length. Described as “monstrous brutality” independent of all trends, this album indicate what insiders suggest could be a return to Autopsy’s roots in complex, esoteric death metal.
During the early days of death metal, Autopsy were distinct because of their ability to use multiple tempi per song, to employ harmony and theme, and to use seemingly sloppy, grotesque, overflowing riffs to convey themes of death, suffering and disease. Their career arguably peaked with 1991’s Mental Funeral, an album of many varied songs of different lengths and song structures, presenting a strange landscape for the listener to navigate.
Last year’s Macabre Eternal showed Autopsy returning to the sound of old school death metal and the abrasive aesthetics that came with it, but not quite entering the realm of the weird where obscure song structures and riffs contribute to mood as much as they did on older Autopsy releases. Although that album showed promise, its somewhat consistent approach created a uniform intensity which resulted in much of the content getting lost on some ears.
The Headless Ritual will be recorded at Fantasy Studios under the care of Adam Munoz, with cover art by the widely-acclaimed Joe Petagno. Slated to be released on Peaceville Records sometime in June, the album is the latest chapter in the continuing odyssey of Autopsy and promises a brutal dose of gore, rancidity and internal decay.
In the 1990s, mainstream media pretty much ignored heavy metal except to report on the hair bands. The fear of radicals of an unknown quantity scared them away. Then, gradually, media began to find some things in metal they could identify with. And so it became part of the news cycle, with NPR reporting on folk-metal bands and even double-breasted suit The Wall Street Journal getting into the game.
As a result, in 2013 it’s not surprising to see a mainstream newspaper covering metal, and including some of the more extreme varieties in its article. The New York Times ArtsBeat asks “Who are the best voices in heavy metal?” and comes up with a reasonable list, considering that they’re picking from four decades of metal and no conceivable list will satisfy any single metalhead or group of metalheads:
1. Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio)
2. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
3. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
4. Eric Adams (Manowar)
5. Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche)
6. King Diamond (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond)
7. Tom Araya (Slayer)
8. John Bush (Armored Saint/Anthrax)
9. James Hetfield (Metallica)
10. Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly)
Slayer made it in, as did Sepultura. How did that happen? It could be that, as with most things mass media, this data was culled from a series of press releases or advertising partners. It’s unfortunate that this is too often the situation, even at world-renowned major papers. Equally possible is that this is what an informal survey of the metalheads in the office produced. Either way, it’s good to see this list, and it probably deserves a list of its own.
As our domain name indicates (“deathmetal.org”), we are primarily a death metal site. This means that we treat all influences on death metal, whether heavy metal or progressive rock or even Kraftwerk, as part of our world, but not really the focus. Our focus is death metal and the genres it spawned, starting with the unholy trinity of Slayer, Bathory and Hellhammer back in 1983, following what Discharge unleashed the previous year. So we thought we’d do our own list of the best voices in death metal and associated genres:
This wasn’t an easy list. There are so many vocalists who perfected the death metal growl, or adopted it as their own style, that it’s hard to assess who should go on a list of only ten items. Yet each of the vocalists above contributed to a certain use of the vocal rasp or guttural howl, and thus they all deserve a place on this list, even if we’d like to add a few more (for example, Esa Linden of Demigod or John Tardy from Obituary).
We’d like to think the NYT will read this article, drop everything, and start rockin’ out to Morbid Tales, but that’s probably a bit much to expect. We hope someday they learn to enjoy this vibrant metal subgenre and appreciate it for the unique skills it requires, and the talents it has brought forth from these musicians.
Revel in Flesh brought their high-intensity Swedish style death metal into the light and terrified the meek with onrushing riffs, hints of melody, uptempo choruses and savage vocals attacking from the wings.
Although this band hails from Germany, they are full-on metal maniacs in the style of old school death metal. This makes them a rarity since they’ve avoided both becoming candy-retro and slipping into the “modern death metal trap” which involves intricate songs about nothing.
Instead, Revel in Flesh keep slashing out the vintage-style Swedish death metal and in doing so, keep the metal flame alive. We were lucky to catch guitarist/vocalist Ralf Haubersson for a quick interview.
What do you think made Swedish death metal exceptional?
Hi Brett and DeathMetal.org diehards! I can speak only for myself, but I think the Swedish way of classic Death Metal transmits more emotion and energy. It’s not about the technical path, but the massive saw-like guitar sound gives a killer boost. Raw energy, but also dark intensity. Just take a listen to some of the Sunlight Studio classics from back in the day and you’ll be captured by that special feeling. It’s a special sound and style; it’s a love-it-or-hate-it thing!
You’re a German band making Swedish death metal. Since bands all over the world make Swedish death metal, this leads me to ask: what about this style drew you to it?
Well, to be honest with Manifested Darkness we didn’t have the agenda of sounding as Swedish as possible. The thing we have in common with the classical Swedish output is the use of the HM2 distortion pedal and the five half–tone downtuned guitars. If we might play another “sound” we won’t sit that much in the IKEA category, Ha! Ha! I see REVEL IN FLESH as a band that is truly dedicated to the roots of classic Death Metal. Simply the way we grew up with in the 90s. For example on the new album we’ve done covers of DEATH and AUTOPSY as bonus tracks. Without those two masters of the genre there wouldn’t be any Death Metal in the way we hear and love it today. But about your question: We do not (!!!) deny our roots, but I think we try to add an own sort of charm to REVEL IN FLESH since you do not need another copycat band nowadays.
Your style of death metal is stripped down and more rhythmic than noodly or math-riffy. Do you think this is a newer type of death metal, like new school old school as in on Immolation’s Majesty and Decay, or is this how death metal always has been?
I do NOT (!!!) like this kind of “math–like” feeling in Metal. I think Death Metal has to give you a kick for some serious headbanging. It’s about delivering emotions and energy; not about showing egoistic bullshit on your instruments. I think it’s ok, when songs have some kind of depths and things to discover, but on the other hand –- especially today with a thousand releases a month –- it’s important that you have some first hand catchy moments, that rips into the ears of the maniacs on a first contact.
About taste: My fave IMMOLATION record is and most likely will always be Dawn of Possession; love all aspects of that album –- starting from cover, sound etc. — so I guess you easily figure out my taste in Death Metal, Ha!
What bands do you draw from as influences when making your music? There seem to be three influences: Swedish death metal, melodic heavy metal style death metal, and someting like Motorhead. Is that true? Do you have influences from all three, or is this me projecting?
Speaking honestly you’ve been one of the first writers that mentioned MOTÖRHEAD in an album review of us. I don’t think that we have a sort of “Death ‘n’ roll” style like ENTOMBED had on some of their records; but in the end it doesn’t matter how people categorise our album; it only matters if it’s good or not, but most of all REVEL IN FLESH is under all aspects a Death Metal band; but of course you get influences and inspirations from all kind of stuff; but we don’t think that much about it. We simply do it!!! For example my comrade Maggesson does a lot of songwriting also for his other band DAWN OF DREAMS and throughout the years you acquire your own style in melodies and arrangements; you always hear your own basics in riffing etc. Shorty said we do not have one blueprint of influence, but I think it’s not a secret that we stick to our roots in the classic Death Metal way.
Do you think old school death metal has come back to stay?
Within the Metal genre everything comes and goes and COMES AGAIN!!! Today there’s a lot of hype on the “old school” matter; maybe this will change again sooner or later. Personally I see it like this: Good music is meant to stay forever. For example: I remember being at an age of 14/15 when I got “Like an Ever-Flowing Stream” by DISMEMBER in my hands for the first time. It was like WOW!!! Today I still have that WOW feeling, when I have that album spinning rounds in my stereo –- it’s timeless and I think that also in the years to come there will be a dedicated sort of fanbase to this kind of subgenre of Death Metal, as you might know: Evil never dies!
One-half of Revel in Flesh came from Immortal Rites (now deceased). What did you learn from that experience, and why did you move on?
Well; actually I’m the only REVEL member that has had a backround in IMMORTAL RITES. I played in IMMORTAL RITES from circa 1996 – 2011. We did two longplayers and one demo CD. I formed a lot important impressions in this period like first gigs, first real studio experience, friendship, parties etc. –- throughout the years we’ve played single shows with bands like UNLEASHED, GOD DETHRONED, DISSECTION, DISBELIEF, DESASTER and many more. The band fell apart due lack of time and motivation of the other bandmembers; mostly caused by normal circumstances in life like marriage, children, jobs & career. I’ve continued because I love METAL and I also like the aspect of being creative in that way within that scene. It’s a passion and it prevents me from going berserk in the shit caused in daily life. Musically IMMORTAL RITES had a more melodic and mixed style of Death Metal, but deep in my fan heart I always wanted to a totally pure and classically inspired Death Metal band under all aspects like sound, arrangements, lyrics & artwork. It took me many years, but REVEL IN FLESH is to me the band I always wanted to have; so in some way it’s good to be Metal retard, Ha! Ha!
What does Revel in Flesh have that the other situation did not?
Heart, passion and bloody dedication!!! Writing music with Maggesson is like a real flow; it feels pretty good. There’s not much discussion; we simply let the things flow and see what happens.
How do you create your version of the legendary Swedish style distortion? Did you use any other production techniques in making this album?
As I’ve told you already; we use the classical Boss HM2 distortion pedal like all the Swedish bands do as well. We experiment a lot with the guitar sound at VAULT M. Studios, which is owned by our guitarist. We also got some healthy advices by Dan Swanö (EDGE OF SANITY etc.) as well. He’s our man for that kind of sound. The particular rest of our sound/production will be kept as a secret!!!
What is it that appeals to you about death metal? From a financial, social and political standpoint, you’d be better off making dubstep.
Yeah! Death Metal won’t get you laid, Ha! Ha! Man, we simply love this particular style of Metal with total dedication. 3 members of REVEL IN FLESH are already in the age of 30 +, so this ain’t a youth sin anymore. We listen and support this music with all aspects for many years and YES, it’s most certainly NOT (!!!) about money. Death Metal is financially a minus business under all aspects; if you play this style you simply havwe to like it from the heart!!!
Revel in Flesh has only been active for three years, but has already put out two albums. How do you write and record so quickly?
To outsiders it might look like we have a sort of rush; but it’s not that way. After finishing Deathevokation in January 2012 we’ve had a real flow on songwriting and wrote and recorded 14 tracks within 11 months. Of course it was a lot of work and time consuming stuff, but it felt more like enjoying what we do. Simply a good feeling. We usually write and record directly at VAULT M. Studios, it’s a totally productive way. So far (!) we have not been a conventional rehearsal room writing band; but this may change with the input of the other bandmembers in the future. Time shall tell!!! We simply do what we like to do and don’t think in any sort of competitive or business way.
Please tell us what’s ahead for Revel in Flesh. Will you tour? Human sacrifice? More recordings?
Yeah we will play with MOTÖRHEAD and ask Lemmy about his opinion on your review, Ha! Ha! I’m just kidding…We have several weekend shows within Germany already scheduled and we will do a sort of minitour inside Germany with Swedish PUTERAEON. It’s currently in booking process. Some festivals like DEATH DOOMED THE AGE, NRW DEATHFEST etc. are booked as well. So far we never played outside Germany, maybe this will change with the new album.
There are plans for two split Eps as well in 2013; simply keep yourself updated on REVEL IN FLESH by checking our pages at http://revelinflesh.jimdo.com/.
Thanx Brett for the nice chat and all the support for REVEL IN FLESH on your webtomb. Drink beer & listen to real Metal!!! HAIL THE DEATHCULT!!!
A cold swimming pool presents a challenge. Do you dip in a toe, and prolong the agony? I suggest instead holding your breath and jumping straight in, so that when you get over the shivers you’ll be ready to rip.
Any band making music of a vaguely “Swedish style” is going to attract both absurdly high hopes and cynicism, and Terminate fulfills some expectations from each column.
If you can imagine a hybrid between older Grave and Centurian, you have the essence of the new Sinister, which like side project Houwitser specializes in fast, simple riff-fests that evoke ancient feelings of ornamented function like the spires of historical castles.
A promising recent entry into the old school death metal world is a new band from Mexico named Remains. 
We can only know the present by knowing the past. In the case of heavy metal, it is a murky past obscured by both the grandiose rockstar dreams of individuals and the manipulative fingers of a voracious industry.
