NECROWRETCH INTERVIEW April 2012

Necrowretch are France's latest Death Metal abomination. With two quality demos, a 12" and a new 7" under their belts, the band have recently signed to major Metal label Century Media. I spoke to front man Vlad to find out more...

Hi Vlad, how are things with Necrowretch?

Greetings from beyond! The Necrowretch beast is becoming more and more of a frenzy while the gigs and releases become more bestial than ever.

Congratulations on being signed to Century Media, did this come quite unexpected to you? 

 Yes it was totally unexpected, but I think that we can see it as a proof that Necrowretch is a promising band and is just at its beginning.

Necrowretch seems to have become very popular in the underground in a short space of time. Are you pleased with the way things are progressing? 

Of course I'm glad to see all these good critics with support for the band, but it wasn't planned at all, we're just playing Death Metal the way it has to be.

How did you come to sign to Detest Records? 

I have been in touch with Jerry (Detest Records' administrator) since the beginning of the band. 

He came one day to a gig and was blasted by the bestial performance of the band, quickly after that we made a deal for a mini LP.

How did your first demo 'Rising From Purulence' sell, and did 'Necrollections' also sell well?

 Something like 200 copies for 'Rising From Purulence' and 100 copies of 'Necrollections'. 

A repress of 'Necrollections' (50 copies) was made and afterwards a compilation tape limited to 350 copies of both demos was released called 'Ripping Souls Of Sinners'. 

You did a cover of a Nihilist song on your second demo, how did this come about or was it just something you guys always wanted to do? 

You can easily guess that we are dedicated fans of corrosive Death Metal such as the old Nihilist demos, so it was natural for us to play this song. Furthermore, it was easy to play and very catchy for the end of the gigs.

Who are your favourite older bands? 

Death, Carcass, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Bathory....

How would you describe Necrowretch's music? You obviously play old style Death Metal but personally, I also here a slight Black Metal influence especially in the vocals. Would you say this is a fair comment?

 Necrowretch plays 'Putrid Death Metal', which means music dealing with death, the unholy, the cryptic and the beyond! There is no Black Metal inspiration (not intentionally), the vocals are inspired by Dismember's demos, Nihilist, Sadistic Intent...

How has your debut 12" 'Putrefactive Infestation' been selling? Have you had a good response from people?

There was a lot of great reviews and many people discovered us through this Mini LP. That's a good thing because 'Putrefactive Infestation' is much better than the demos material!

How is the French Death Metal scene these days? Are you a fan of the original French gods Agressor, Massacra, Mercyless and Loudblast? 

There are some good bands around, but no real scene... I like the old Massacra and Mutilated material, but it's not my favorite type of Death Metal.

Can we expect a full length album soon? 

Yes... and it will bring you to your doom!

What do you think about the UK Death Metal scene? Are there any bands you like? 

The classics - Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Benediction, Cancer... But also newer bands such as Bonesaw, Grave Miasma, Nethilith...

Necrowretch is a cool name, how did you decide upon it? 

I was looking for something unholy as fuck and my brother came up with this idea: An evil priest possessed by hell who brings death upon the living sinners! That idea led us to the name of Necrowretch!

Detest Records have just released your latest abomination which is a 7" called 'Now You're In Hell'. Will this be the last time you release something on Detest now that you're with Century Media? 

Probably yes, but who knows? Maybe we'll make some special releases through Detest Records in the future...

What can we expect next from Necrowretch? 

Putrid music, death rituals and gruesome sorcery!

Any last words? 

Thanks a lot for your questions and your support to Death Metal! 

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR HORRIBLE DOOM!!!

And thanks to you as well, Vlad. Check out the new Necrowretch official website and be sure to support Necrowretch by ordering their material from Detest Records and keep checking Century Media for updates on forthcoming activities from the band!

DESOULMENT INTERVIEW April 2012

Desoulment are a top quality U.S Death Metal band who have two solid demos under their belt. I caught up with Matt Kruger who spoke to me about the band...

Hi Matt, how are you? What can you tell me about what you've been doing lately?

Not much, haha, we released a new demo song in December and have been

on a break do to personal reasons. We hope to start working on a full length CD soon.

Can you tell me a bit about how Desoulment came to be?

Tom and I have worked together in the past and wanted to do something new and be a bit more committed.

I understand you are currently working on new material for a full length album, how is that coming along so far? 

We have all the material written with the exception of lyrics for one song.

The music that Desoulment play is a brutal blend of traditional sounding Death Metal with some Thrash Metal influences. How easy is it for you to write such original sounding material in a genre which can sometimes be seen as quite limited?

It is easy for us, we like all different genres of Metal and don’t want to limit ourselves in our writing. 

You have released two solidsounding demos to date. Are you happy with the way they turned outand did they get a good response? 

Yeah for the most part. I think a couple songs could have been better but it’s a demo. They will be on

the full length. I think the response has been good to this point.

Who would you say are your main influences as a musician and in Desoulment in general?

Well I can’t speak for Tom on this but me, old school Thrash and Death Metal and just Metal in general, I could list a million bands here. I am just a huge Metal fan.

You wrote a song dedicated to Ed Veter who presents regular videos on You Tube. What was the story behind this?

Ed did a promo video for us. We gave him some stuff for doing it but thought doing this would be a huge honour for him .and for us to do it was an honour for us. Just glad he liked it.

Your lyrics seem to be pretty varied. What's your favourite type of lyrical theme or do you prefer not to keep it to one particular style?

Tom and I both write lyrics so they definitely vary. Some songs Tom writes all the lyrics some songs I write all the lyrics and some we write together.

You have already had a nice amount of merchandise available like different design shirts and even hats. Do you have more plans to release more garments like hoodies in the near future?

I have a very limited t-shirt available at the moment directly through me.

It has some sick angie decay artwork. I am sure we will have more items available in the future.

In your opinion, which country is the best for quality Death Metal, and why?

That’s hard to answer, quality Death Metal comes from a lot of different countries so I don’t think anyone is better than another.

What is the best thing about being in Desoulment?

We started it.

What can we expect next from you?

Hopefully a full length CD and then some live performances.

Any last words?

Thanks for your time and interest in Desoulment.

Thanks Matt. Be sure to check out Desoulment's official website, and also on Facebook and You Tube.

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ENTRAILS INTERVIEW March 2012

The Traditional Death Metal scene is strong, with lots of bands playing in the style of the old days. Entrails are at the forefront Swedish Death Metal, and having recently released their second LP, I spoke to front man Jimmy Lundqvist...

Hi Jimmy, can you give us a bit of background history on Entrails?

Hey Matt! Sure I can give you some short history, the long one is written on Myspace.

Me and some friends started Entrails in the very early 90´s and I think it was in early 1991 we had a complete band doing some Death Metal in my home village in South Sweden. After a few years the other half wanted to move and do other things so in 1994 I decided to close down the band, there was no other option since there was no one else around to take their place.

 During the years we had together, we tried to record some demos but with no money to get us a real sound engineer, the results of the songs were so bad that we kept them for ourselves, sad but true. We really wanted to have some songs released but it was totally impossible to have get it done well and so the years went on...

In around 2007- 2008 I found my old recordings and many more cool things in an old box where I kept all my tapes from the 90´s, and after some time listening I become so nostalgic that I said that "This shit deserves to be released.." and by June 2009 Entrails had put down their feet and risen one more time.

How did you come up with the band name? A few people say that your logo is similar to Entombed, was this intentional or was that just the way it turned out?

Haha, not a few - almost everyone just has to mention it! Well, in the beginning we were seeking a grotesque name and in a library we found the name Entrails, and at the same time we were also searching for an old looking font to use when our drummer at that time found the font that Nihilist, Carnage, Bathory, God Macabre and also Entombed used so we ended up in that font as well. Unfortunatly the first three letters are the same as Entombed´s so the similarities are not hard to miss.

Your two demos were a really cool slice of old school sounding Death Metal. Did they both sell well and were you happy with them?

Yeah they turned out to be pretty good. They become popular very quickly and a french guy had the first one 'Reborn' released on tape, and from that day Entrails grew a bit every day. 

They´re all sold out now i think, and many are asking for re-presses of the CD´s, so maybe later this year we´ll make some more..

I was glad finally have some of my old songs released even though I did used a forbidden tool in a drum machine in remaking them  but I just couldn't find me a drummer at that time.

What do you think about the explosion of old school sounding Death Metal in recent years? Are you proud to be a part of it?

To me its a good thing to be a part of it since I missed it first time. but I think this shit in calling it 'old school' has become too much, I mean every band is now saying they´re playing old school  and to me that's bullshit. For me old school started 1988 and ended 1992, then it progressed and the music became more technical stuff and involved. Today mostly all of the bands play too technical and without any passion from the old style and the simple riffs and to me that's more like brutal/technical/melodic Death Metal and not old school, this is just my own opinion.

You signed to FDA Rekortz for the debut album, did this work out well for you?

Yep, Rico from FDA asked about the first release and if  I am looking back, we are pretty satisfied. I don't know what we´ve missed by signing with him, we could have it re-released on a bigger label the near future which could sell even more, I don't know.

Are you pleased with both your albums and the way they turned out? Is there anything you would have done differently given the chance?

Hmm... yeah I am satisfied I think. There are some things here and there that could be done in another way but we are pleased with the way they turned out.

What do you think of UK Death Metal and are there any bands you particularly admire?

I must say am a terrible listener to music from other countrys but some bands I do know, like Carcass and Bolt Thrower, they were huge inspirations in the 90´s.

What future plans do you have with Entrails?

In 2012 we will release one more album if everything goes as planned and do some major shows at Summer Breeze for an example, and some other places in Germany and Sweden, then only the future can tell what will happen to the band.

22 years ago, did you think that Death Metal would still be around today? Does it surprise you that it has stood the test of time and do you think it will still be around in another 20 years?

At the time I didn't think so but as the style carried on along the years, now I'm not that surprised and I think people liked the past more than the new shit that's around these days.

Death Metal seems to have gone full circle and there are now many new bands playing in the style of the late 80's and early 90's. What do you think about this?

Very cool if they're doing it as it was done back then. There are many bands who are doing this very well and playing the way it used to be with no involvement of new shit.

There are a lot of bands who seem to have made a bit of a come back over the last few years like Autopsy, Massacre, Pestilence and Carcass. Do you think that this shows that Death Metal is stronger than ever?

Yeah I think so, if the good old bands still deliver then the Death Metal will always be strong.

To keep it alive is a must and to have the same passion for the music and not to mix with new shit,  it should sound and play as if it was torn up from the grave!

Any last words?

Keep on buying and support the bands you like, and they will continue to deliver damn good tunes to you.

Hope to see you out there some day banging your head off!

Thanks Jimmy. Make sure you support Entrails by buying their albums, both of which are available from  FDA Rekortz. You can check out the band on Myspace and also Facebook.