Italian masters of the Old School Death Metal sound Undead Creep have had their 'The Ever Burning Torch' debut album out for a while now and with a new release on the cards soon, I spoke to vocalist Sandro and here is what he had to say...
Hi Sandro, how are you and what have you been up to recently?
Hi Matt! First of all thanks for this cool interview. I’m fine; I’m just passing my summer holidays in absolute calm, just like the Dudeism professes. Going to the beach, listening to music, getting drunk and so on. Good shit in short.
Can you tell us a bit about Undead Creep and how the band came to be in existence?
Undead Creep is mainly a side project founded by this “two freaky brains” that are friends of mine: Giorgio (guitar, backing vocals) and David (drums), who mainly play in Haemophagus, a really nice Grind horror band, I absolutely recommend them to you. Undead Creep was born (literally): “pushed by the urge to bring back the spirit of Old School Death Metal the way it was meant to be”. A tribute to the old way, primarily influenced by the sound characterizing that musical movement born in the early nineties in Sweden (in a few words, Sunlight Studio scene). After the entry of Maso (bass) and me (lead vocals) the band recorded its first S/T Demo in 2009 (on CD self produced and on Tape by Unholy Domain Rec.). A year later, the debut album with the american Dark Descent Rec. “The Ever-Burning Torch” introduced us to the European and global Old Death scene. After the exit of Maso this year, we’re really proud to have our two new members: Claudio (bass) and Fausto (guitar). We roamed around Germany (early this summer) to play some gigs and now we’re waiting for the d.i.y. Kill Town Death Fest (in Copenaghen) where we’ll play with: Master, General Surgery, Interment, Hooded Menace etc and where we hope our new work will be available: an EP 7’’ produced by Blood Harvest rec. entitled “Enchantments from the Haunted Hills”.
How did the demo sell? Were you pleased with the response you got from it?
The demo went well. We sold all the copies (both cd both tape). The response was really pretty cool.
To date, you have released one demo and one full length album, which has been your favourite and why?
For me the demo will always be important. Because it was our first work, and especially it marked my personal entry into this genre. For what concerns “The Ever-Burning Torch” it has characterized the first point of arrival for Undead Creep. A good step of maturation toward our identity. So, in the end, I think I prefer both in the same way.
How do you view the new wave of Old School Death Metal at the moment?
It’s nice. There are so many band that play so good, especially all the stuff produced by the mighty Dark Descent rec. is awesome. But seriously, personally I think that the return to the old school is primary a failure of the new scene. The twisted technicalities perpetrated by a portion of this new Death Metal has definitely made it: self-referential. Something that is not the real genre. Complicated riffs that seem like exercises, speed taken to the extreme consequences etc… to go where? Bitch please. So you know, when you've lost the right road the best you can do is to turn back to your own way.
How did you guys come up with the name for the band?
Is a simple union between two words that recall the sphere of horror movies. Undead and Creep. They don’t have a real meaning together, but if you want to see absolutely something… Undead Creep could be the “creepy walking of the undead”.
You are soon to release a new 7" EP, can you tell me a bit about it?
Yes, this 7” EP as I said before will be called “Enchantments from the Haunted Hills”, it will be released by the Swedish Blood Harvest Records. Hopefully it'll be available at the Kill Town Death Fest this Summer. This 7” includes the title track that you can listen to on Youtube and another track called "To Be Condemned" with an instrumental intro inspired to Fulci’s and Argento’s movies.
What UK bands are you particularly into?
We're especially into the old gods like SABBATH and PRIEST (eternal influences) Napalm Death, Monolith, Bolt Thrower, Benediction, Lords of Putrefaction, Sabbat, Iron Monkey, Acrimony, new acts like Cruciamentum and Indesinence... not to mention dozens of punk, crust and more experimental bands and artists. It was always such a hotbed for music of every kind.
Are there any plans for some new Undead Creep t shirts or merchandise?
Yes, thery are now some for sale, which wew printed a few months ago. When we went to Germany we have sold quite a bit. For anyone who wants them, please contact us by email.
Your debut album has been out for some time now, are you happy with the way it turned out?
Sure, we’re really proud about the result of the full-length. Matt of Dark Descent did a perfect job with the production and distribution
What kind of subjects to Undead Creep deal with lyrically?
They are different. We speak about classical horror b-movie stuff, post-nuclear scenery, esoteric and dark worlds (Lovecraft reigns) but I prefer those speaks about introspective states of mind, obscure ruminations and the correlations between the world of the living and other, black spheres of spiritual existence.
Do you listen to other forms of music besides Death Metal, and if you do, do you feel that this influences your part in Undead Creep at all?
I’m an ardent supporter of stoner rock, in fact it's been a year now since I've started playing in a stoner/sludge band with Giorgio too. It's called Elevators to the Grateful Sky. In Undead Creep there many influences but very often I don’t know their roots. You must ask this question to Giorgio (our first composer), He is a great musician with an infinite musical knowledge, you must listen to his personal projects: Furious Georgie, it's really amazing. So I think that he will be more capable than me to answer to you.
Have you been playing many shows recently?
As I said we played the “Into the Void Fest d.i.y.” fest organized in Bologna by our drummer David. Add to this two gigs in Germany. We can’t wait for the KTDF, it will be awesome.
On the first demo, I personally heard an influence from early Dismember. What bands are an obvious influence for you in the band?
Our mainly influences are: Carnage, Nihilist, Grotesque, Nirvana 2002, Evocation and early Therion and Unleashed but the list goes on and on. Primordial thrash like Bathory, Slaughter Lord, Mercilles and non-swedish bands like the masters of horror: AUTOPSY.
These days there seems to be a lot of fashionable scene kids defiling real Death Metal with this abomination they call Deathcore, which is something I hate. What are your views on this sub-genre?
I respect them, they do what they love. Ok, sure you know… but when they describe that stuff with the word Death, I just go crazy. Kids, come on. Death Metal is ANOTHER THING. Call your genre pink sky metal, or super cool metal. But DON'T use the word Death. As I said in another interview literally: Death Metal is born to be dead. This is the real essence of this genre, to lie in a rotten catacomb infected by the evil. Not jumping kids, with unlikely haircuts. Come on!
What is the Death Metal scene like in Italy these days? Do you gain a lot of support in your own country?
I don’t really know at this time. We have bands like Horrid, Eroded, Voids of Vomit and Blasphemophagher, but as my drummer David says: it seems like Death Metal (the way I mean it) will forever dwell in the dark corners of the Italian underground.
If you could tour with two bands of your choice, who would you choose?
What plans do you musically at present and for the future?
I don’t have plans for the future. The only things in program are: playing the KTDF and recording the full length with Elevators to the Grateful Sky on September. Maybe next year we will do a European Tour with Creep or a gig in a big Festival, who knows… the only sure thing is that we should write new stuff soon.
Any last words?
What should I say? Matt, thanks for this cool interview and for the video reviews. We really appreciate your work! For the people out there, come on and listen to our new 7”, we hope you'll like that, and keep on supporting the old shit. Remember, the gates are open for you to see, the horror of the Undead Creep.
Thanks to you Sandro for doing this interview with me. Be sure to check out Undead Creep on Facebook, Myspace and Reverbnation.
cool interview
ReplyDelete