SODOMIZER INTERVIEW WITH LEATHERFACE TELES SEPTEMBER 2011

I came across Sodomizer who hail from Rio De Janeiro in Brazil a few years ago via a friend after he copied me their "The Dead Shall Rise To Kill" album which made a very big impression on me, these not so subtly named Brazilian maniacs have been active since the early 00's and notched up quite a few releases prior to that album, some of those songs from the earlier recordings appeared on a compilation called "More Horror And Death Again" which I also got hold of via the same friend. Sodomizer's music is basically a vicious raging black/thrash/metal attack which to these ears sounds very germanic in places, I guess these guys will have at least a bunch of old Sodom, Kreator and Destruction albums between them in their record collections! There is also nods to the old Brazilian blackthrash legends such as Sarcofago aswell as Venom, Bathory and Necrophagia and such bands, the comparison with the latter being in the very horror/zombie movie influenced lyrics which are a constant theme in the bands songs.
Sodomizer's music very much lives up to the band name...this band just evokes pure horror, evil and darkness!!.


The band are due to hit Europe and also the UK soon, in October for a tour with Italian Black Speed Metallers Sign Of Evil, one of those shows will be a Terrorizer Grindhouse show in Durham City on Monday 10th October @ The Fishtank. They will also be hitting London to aurally sodomize the capitals dedicated extreme black/thrash metalheads so in preparation for this impending live onslaught of bestial devastation I  thought it was a perfect time to make Sodomizer a band of the week/day and send some questions to the bands frontman and bassist/vokillist Leatherface Teles and here is what he had to say about the bands influences, the upcoming European tour amongst other questions I fired at him.


You can catch the band live in the UK on these dates:-
SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER -BULL AND GATE, KENTISH TOWN with Sign of Evil, Necrosadistic Goat Torture,, Sepuku, Diamanthian
MONDAY 10TH OCTOBER-THE FISHTANK DURHAM CITY with Sign Of Evil and Risen Prophecy
Hails Leatherface! Please give me a quick background info on the band and who plays what currently? 
Leatherface : Hell-o Kat. Sodomizer was formed by Me and My Brother Warlock in 1999, We change the line up sometimes and Sodomizer is now, Me now on bass and vocals, Warlock and Poison Hell on Guitars and Papa Jupiter on the drums. We recorded: 2 tapes: the demo-tape Helkult And Sodomy ( 2003 ) and THE DEAD WALK tape with our demo in side A and one rehershal in side B ( 2005 ), the compilation in More Horror And Death Again ( 2008 ), 3 albuns , Tales Of The Reaper ( 2004 ), The Dead Shall Rise To Kill ( 2007 ) and Jesus is Not Here Today ( 2011 ), 2 splits Sodomizer and Farscape  The Horror Can’t Stop – only in 7’ep vinyl ( 2008 ), Sodomizer and Hellkommander ( 2011 ) – Making The Devil Work( 2011 ).

Your most recent album "Jesus Is Not Here Today" came out this year via Deathrash Armageddon , are you happy with how that turned out? Please tell the readers in your own words what they can expect from your latest album?
Leatherface: Jesus Is Not Here Today, have a better production and we made every with more calm this time. It’s more obscure and speed metal work realesed till now for us. The maniacs will find all elements from our bloody influences and some news things but we never forgot or betray our roots.
 
Your previous album "The Dead Shall Rise To Kill" is a ripping black thrash attack, what do you think of that album looking back on it now?
Leatherface: Good question, we been very stressed when we wrote this musics and with many angry ( personal problems and a lot of shit with our old label ), and if you listen this album you can see it, The Dead Shall Rise To Kill is our beast, our Frankenstein, a monster unleashed, every is nervous and full of hate in this album, I love this work, its my evil son. Now I can understand when some guys speak about the bad times it’s perect to create some good stuff ( write musics, draw ....). Dark feelings and hate is a great fuel to build musics.

Do you have much new material in the works? When can we expect a new album/release from Sodomizer?Leatherface: A 7’ep Will realese by Horror rec ( 2 songs ). and after a ep, and we have songs ready for a fourth album. The fourth album will be not realese in 2012, we made many thing in 2011, The Dead Shall Rise To kill was realesed in a tape version by Heavy Steel and Jesus is Not Here Today and Making The Devil Work was realesed to in same year. Is good give a time to spread the plague to die hards maniacs, before realese some new stuff in underground.

You are due to hit Europe VERY soon for a tour with Italian black speed metal band Sign of Evil, which countries will this tour take you to? What are your expectations for it?
Leatherface: I wait the best and looking forward to play, meet metal brothers and sisters and make more friends of course, spread our metal nightmares soundtracks. I guess in South America the bands wanna play in Europe and Europes bands wanna play here in South America. We promisse give our Best to show the hell in stage for you maniacs.


You are playing 2 shows in England, have you ever been to England before? What are you expecting from this country? Anything you would like to say to the English metalheads reading this?Leatherface: Will be my first time in England, I Love some writers like Neil Gayman, Alan Moore and bands: Black Sabbath, Saxon, Angel Witch, Carcass,Demon and others taletous artist. In my opinion the most crazies bands, writers and others artists came from your land and Jack the Ripper is a legend here and in whole world, I finished a book about Jack The Ripper and your writer Paul Roland is a great musician too.


What bands fuel and shape the sound of Sodomizer?
Leatherface: Exorcist, Piledriver, Black Sabbath, Goblin, Sarcófago, Master’s Hammer, Bathory, Movies like: The Hills Have Eyes, The Beyond, City Of Living Dead, Zombie, Dawn Of The Dead, Mangue Negro, horribles acts from Richard Ramirez, Charles Manson, Jefrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Zodiac and Porn Sukubus like Belladonna, Tory Lane, Katsuni Lisa Ann, Joanna Angel and many others.


lyrically where do you draw inspiration from?
Leatherface: Horror movies and some dark stuff like Satanic Bible, Marquis de Sade, Stephen King ( GOD ), Clive Barker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, stuff  from directors like Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, Dario Argento, George Romero, Rodrigo Aragão, Miike Takashi... and porn movies hardcores ( Burning Angel from Joanna Angel Rules ).

I know your are also in Hellkommander, what is up with that band right now? Please tell the readers about this band.
Leatherface: Hellkommander is my other band of raw death metal, Hellkommander is: me on bass player, Poison Hell on guitars and Vox and Adrameleck on drums. Hellkommander is ungly, bad, primitive, raw, evil, and this is the best words that I can describe our noise. We have one album re-realese in cd now by EBM rec. Death To My Enemies with some bonus and a new art and etc, ( realesed by Dark Sun in cd and LP by High Holler rec and Iron Bone Head rec ), now the split with Sodomizer, wait for our second album Hell Is More Beautiful Than Heaven.

  What is the local scene like where you live? Any local bands or Brazilian bands you would like to recommend to the readers?
: In my state total shit, in others states better like São Paulo. The problem here is simple, We Don’t Have serious shows productors, We don’t Have good metal points and we don’t have zines, good metal magazines, metal stores... ,Rio De Janeiro suchs to metal, is sad say it but is the truth, we had a strong metal underground scene some years ago but now is pure bullshit, Yes we have some goods bands but only bands don’t make a underground scene. The thing is better to mainstream bands, but talking about underground this is crap. I like Farscape and Diabolic Force, some old stuff like Dorsal Atlântica, Explicit Hate, Genetic Deformation, Endoparasites. How can people get hold of Sodomizer releases and mercandise?Leatherface: With us in thesodomizer@hotmail.com or with our labels www.horrorrecords.com ,www.deathrasharmageddon.com.


What are your plans with Sodomizer after the European tour?
Leatherface: Record new stuff, with Sodomizer and Hellkommander, spread it like a plague, play here and back to europe more soon possible, we never stop, NEVER. The final words are yours! Thanks for answering this short interview! Europe awaits you!Leatherface: THANX A LOT KAT. FOR HELP FRIENDSHIP METAL SISTER, SEE YOU SOON AND ALL FREAK MANIACS DIEHARDS HELLBANGERS IN EUROPE TOO. METAL AND HORROR FOREVER ...666!!!!

EXHUMATIONS FROM THE CRYPT:- DEADMASK (SPA) FEATURE + INTERVIEW WITH DOPI DIABLO

I came across Deadmask for the first time only earlier this year after getting in touch with Dopi Diablo a little while ago and he told me about this doomrock band he had called Deadmask which he thought I might like after we exchanged some emails, he sent me a copy of their Mini CD "Under Lucferian Wings" and I was totally blown away by it and liked the band so much I made them a band of the week on the Terrorizer Magazine website the week after, here is that feature and interview posted up earlier this year. Read on...

Okay, first of all, how the fuck did this awesome band pass under my radar? I mean, I like to think I have my ear to the ground and my finger on the pulse when it comes to great new death, doom, crust bands, but this band's debut MCD (originally released in 2009 and only got to my ears last week) slipped under my musical radar like a stealth bomber!

Deadmask hail from Spain and play a hard rockin' brand of '70s-influenced doom, very much like a mix of The Obsessed and Mourn, with awesome female vocals courtesy of Nuria, which I have to admit are VERY bewitching! Her dark, dulcet tones glide over the music gracefully and seductively, like a siren drawing sailors in towards their impending doooooooom. Her vocals pulled me right in and caught my undivided attention on first listen and that was it, I was hooked.

I got sent the band's debut (and so far only recorded output), 'Under Luciferian Wings', last week by drummer Dopi (who is more well-known for drumming in death-grind band Machetazo and providing the vokills in d-beat punk mob Dishammer). I spent a whole day listening to it, seriously I just kept repeating the whole CD over and over and over again, I love it that much! The CD contains 2 original songs and 4 excellent cover versions including "Wicked Woman" by Coven and "No Rest For The Wicked" by The Coffinshakers, I sent some questions to Dopi about the band and its origins amongst other things and this is what he had to say:

Hails Dopi, first of all I love the two original tracks on your MCD, they kinda remind me of a mix of The Obsessed and the old UK female fronted doom band Mourn, just good solid ROCKIN' bluesy doom rock, what made you decide to form this project?

DOPI : “Hails Kat! The Obsessed have been a huge influence for us, but didn't know about Mourn until my buddy from Indesinence (from the UK too) sent me a CD two years ago, and they rule. I am a doom maniac, since [I was a] teenager, I always loved Black Sabbath and later around late '80s/early '90s got into Saint Vitus and Trouble and both blew me away. Anyway, I never played this style of music in my life (I used to be involved in extreme metal bands) until I played drums in a Sabbath tribute band named Wicked about six or seveb years ago. Nuria was the vocalist for that band, and when it disbanded we decided to make Deadmask just to record a couple of tracks we had in mind plus a few covers.”

You have released a MCD on PsycheDOOMelic, when can we expect to see a full length recording by the band? Your MCD only features two original songs along with 4 great varied covers of Pentagram, Abscess, Coven and even The Coffinshakers, why more covers? I thought the Abscess cover with normal female vocals was a great unique touch/approach and it really works very well!

DOPI: “The 'Under Luciferian Wings' MCD was just a demo, a recording just for ourselves, two tracks ours and a few covers of very different bands we really like and used to blast a lot, but when we heard the result we were really glad with it and decided to release it professionally, so we sent it to Mark (PsycheDOOMelic) and he agreed to release it as soon as he listened to the promo, and he made a good work releasing it in that beautiful digipack. Right now we're working on a couple of new songs to record a demo. Black Widow Records from Italy asked us about it to see if they're into releasing a full album, guess they'll do it cos' they loved the MCD and I'm sure the new stuff will be better, cos' we'll work harder on it this time. I'm talking about more rehearsals and time for polish the songs before going into studio.”

Have you thought of assembling a full line-up so you can play some live shows?

DOPI: “We're not interested in playing live shows, but we just got a full line-up to record the new stuff; Dis on guitar (from The Oath, already recorded some guitar solos on our MCD) and Santi on bass (from Nashgul).”

You also have your long running death/grind band Machetazo and crust/d-beat punk band Dishammer, what's up with these two bands?

DOPI: “Machetazo is my main band where I focus most of my energy, we have a few new releases coming out right now and some forthcoming shows too including the Maryland Deathfest in the USA. I gotta record the second Dishammer album, to be released again on Hells Headbangers, can't wait. Also gotta tell you about another new studio project I have with my buddy Lasse (Hooded Menace), it's named Ruinebell and we just recorded two songs for a 7”, total Axegrinder/Voivod worship!!”

Any last words or things you would like to share/plug to the readers?

DOPI: “Thanks for your interest and support to Deadmask! Anybody into getting 'Under Luciferian Wings' MCD go towww.shop.machetazo.org orwww.myspace.com/deadmaskdoom.”

In some up to date news the band have recorded new songs and have a split with Jess and The Ancient Ones coming soon via Doomentia Records!

VICTIMS OF A LEFT HAND PATH:- BASTARD PRIEST INTERVIEW WITH MATT MENDOZA

 Bastard Priest who hail from the Stockholm area of Sweden are a band that I have been following very closely and keenly for a few years now ever since hearing tracks from their "Merciless Insane Death" demo via Myspace, I was eagerly anticipating the 2nd full length album by Swedish death metaller's Bastard Priest after being blown away by the bands debut album "Under The Hammer Of Destruction" which was unleashed upon the masses in early 2010.

I was lucky enough to score an advance preview of the new album "Ghouls Of The Endless Night" in it's entirity thanks to Roy over at Pulverised Records who are putting out the CD version of this album (the vinyl version has just been released by Swedish label Blood Harvest) which features 8 ripping and devastating tracks and more of the same raw punked up death metal mayhem but with more slower darkly melodic parts thrown in which creates a great diverse listening experience from track to track, there is still plenty of full on heads down skulldozing aggression (see the song "Fucking Slaughter" for a prime example which is just fierce, like a short sharp shock, it kicks in, assaults your senses and before you know it has finished and crushed your ears like an aural bulldozer) and the emphasis is still very much on the uptempo scale of things and this album is what could overall be best described as Anti-Cimex having a fist fight with Nihilist and early Entombed in a graveyard on a cold fullmoon night with Death Strike, old Master and Autopsy watching on. That sounds like a dark and ugly scenario dosn't it...well Bastard Priest's music is suitabally dark and ugly.


This band get straight to the point with their music and don't fuck around, there are memorable riffs, vocal lines and hooks aplenty on this album that will embed themselves into your head like an axe blow to the skull from the opener "Pestilent Force" to the closing track this album just oozes death metal perfection to my ears and is like a musical adrenalin shot of old school nastiness which in this current musical climate is most definetly needed..

This album is definetly at the top of my favourites for 2011, no doubt about that. Great earthy organic sounding production aswell courtesy of ex-Dismember drummer Fred Estby.

The band is a 2 piece consisting of Matt Mendoza on drums/vokills and also Inventor on guitars/bass, I sent a bunch of questions to one of the duo, namely Matt and this is what he had to say about the bands influences, his thoughts on the current death metal scene amongst other things.

Hails Matt! Please give the readers a very quick background history on the band and who does what?

Matt: Hello Kat! Bastard Priest has been around since 2002/2003 but can only be considered active since 2007 when we did our first recording. The band consists of me, Matt Mendoza, on drums, vocals and occasional guitar lickin and Inventor on guitars and bass and occasional barking.

Your bio states that you set out to "create some filthy ripping death metal heavily influenced by hardcore punk roots", I would definetly say you have succeeded in creating a such a sound perfectly, someone described you as being like a cross between classic Nihilist/Entombed meets Anti Cimex...what do you think about that? 

Matt: Well thanks for that I guess - I can appreciate blazing fingers down the neck of an Ibanez and well educated drummers straight out of drumming high school but that’s nothing I want to do. When I do music it comes out hard and angry with no frills!

What bands would you personally say fuel and shape the punked up death metal beast that is Bastard Priest?
Matt: All the good bands - especially Bathory, Crow, Nihilist and the unreleased 1985 LP by Master. 

I first came across you guys before myspace started to suck, can't remember how I first came across you guys, it might have been via Fenriz's blog or maybes it was even before then but when I first heard the demo version of the song "Under The Hammer Of Destruction" I was totally blown away! What are your thoughts on that demo looking back now?

Matt: To be honest I don’t think much have changed since then - I think that demo still stands for what where doing now and there hasn’t been much progression... in a good way. The actual recording of the demo was a lucky shot cos we had no clue whatsoever at what we where doing - things just came out that way and that was very inspiring for future of the band.

The demo tracks appeared on your debut album along with a bunch of new songs, the album is perfect in every way to my ears, from the production to the songwriting, it seems to have really propelled Bastard Priest onto another level and there was quite a buzz surrounding that album, what are your thoughts on that album now?
Matt: Once it was out I’m felt quite satisfied with it. The album got overall good criticism also so people seed to be pretty into it. It was only a year ago that UTHOD was released so you’d have to ask me again in a couple of years I guess.

How would you describe your debut album in your own words to someone reading this who has never heard it but is curious to hear it? How do you feel about the response you got to that album?
Matt: Never mind, the first demo was better.

How did you initially hook up with Pulverised Records? The label seems to have done a great job getting it out into shops, I have seen it in a local store in Newcastle, England so their distribution network must be very good, I guess you must be very happy with the work they did for that release as you stuck with them for a second album!. 

Matt: Actually the deal with Pulverised goes thought Blood Harvest Records. Blood Harvest has an agreement with Pulverised for the CD release.  But anyway - we’re really satisfied with Pulverised and the work and distribution they put into the release of Under the Hammer of Destruction. They did a superb job at getting it out there both to record shops/dealers and for magazines/people to review - so it’s easy for us to say that we’re more than happy to be working with Roy & Calvin with this release again! 

You are also working with the Swedish label Blood Harvest who are taking care of your vinyl releases if I am not mistaken? How is your relationship with them, you happy with their work so far?

Matt: Yeah that’s right. Rodrigo and I go back a long time and he’s a good friend of both me and Inventor. Hes a good chap and super easy to work with, that’s why we do things with him - he just get ‘em done without any hassle. 

Speaking of the 2nd full length album, it is titled "Ghouls of the Endless Night", I must say having heard the whole album it is a total ripper of an album, from start to finish...all killer and definetly no filler to my ears, there is a great mix of tempos, from the fast paced punked up d beating aggression of "Fucking Slaughter" to the songs which have some slower morbid doomy moments in them...what did you personally want to achieve with this album songwriting wise and would you say you succeeded in your vision? What are your thoughts on this album, happy with how it turned out? Any fave songs in particular?
Matt: I wanted to base it on the original Bastard Priest formula - with some really fast songs, some songs leaning more towards hardcore punk and some slow more melodic stuff with cheesy guitar leads. On top of that I wanted to extend that formula and perhaps work a little more on the structures of the songs and try new stuff - I felt we did some of that but perhaps we didn’t do it to the extent I wanted. I don’t know why but sometime things just turns out one way or the other. I know for a fact that I’m always a little to hard on myself with what I create.
I’m really happy we decided to work with Fred Estby for the mixing part of the album - he really brought a different edge to the material and managed to fork out a totally different sound from what I expected. He’s such a genuine guy that’s really awesome at what he’s doing and so easy to get along with. 

The album is coming out on vinyl via Blood Harvest and CD via Pulverised...how can people get hold of these releases?

Matt: Well the CD is probably gonna be all over the place but if you wanna order it from Pulverised check their homepage at http://www.pulverised.net/ 
The LP is available from Blood Harvest at http://www.bloodharvest.se or your local underground death dealer!

Describe Bastard Priest anno 2011 in 5 words only...no cheating just 5 words!

Matt: GHOULS OF THE ENDLESS NIGHT!

You are only a 2 piece band, you don't play live shows, do you think you will ever expand to a live line up? Would you like to take Bastard Priest onto the stage and tour to support an album? I guess there must be quite a few people out there who would love to see you guys play these songs live! Or do you think playing live can be a pain in the arse too much at times and so therefore prefer not to have to deal with the shit that comes with gigs?

Matt: We’ve decided not to do live shows right now cos it would be to much of a hassle to get everything together and rehearse and stuff. That’s how it is right now - you’ll never know what happens in the future. I know Maim have played “Under the Hammer of Destruction” live a couple of times - check them out if you wanna hear our songs, or at least one of them, live.

Do you think if more people got involved in the band it could complicate things and spoil  the way you work and how things come together? Do you think it will just remain yourself and Inventor for a long while to come?

Matt: Don’t know - I mean me and Inventor we have our own way of working out things and our own language when it comes to music. Right now I’m just happy we’re a two piece cos it’s really easy in pretty much every aspect I think. It’s a lot less compromising, the decision process is short and so on.

I love the artwork for the new album, it looks kinda horror punk-ish, very striking cover anyway, who designed it?

Matt: Our friend Robert did the artwork. He’s a really talented tattoo artist and great at drawing. He got his own special style that I think is really cool! I’m more than satisfied with what he did for us this time! We decided we wanted it to have a lot of color cos too many other records are to black or grey or whatever.

There seems to be a very strong old school death metal scene happening thesedays, with plenty of bands returning to the roots of the scene for inspiration, there seems to be like an everflowing stream( pardon the pun) of great new generation death metal bands with the old school vibe and attitude coming out of Sweden and definetly plenty of Autopsy and old Swedeath worship happening, what are your thoughts about this revival of sorts? Who are some of your fave newer death metal bands out there? What do you think makes Bastard Priest stand out from other bands?

Matt: I think it’s great - more good music for everybody! I have no problem there being hundreds of death meal bands out there doing their thing, if it’s good - it’s good. I just like the general idea of people being creative and doing stuff - no matter if it’s death metal or space music to be honest. If the passion is there and the heart is there (and is in the right place) it’s almost certain to have something honest and special about it. 
About people playing “old school” death metal - I don’t really think “modern” death metal has progressed that much over the last 10-15 years or so - most of the big bands have become stale long ago are just repeating themselves. I mean - they sound “modern” cos the have this modern production and by today's studio standards a “good sound”. But these bands have had this sound for 15 years now and it’s not going anywhere right? I don’t like their sound - I have nothing against them as bands, they can do whatever they want - but I wouldn’t say the new Vader is that modern - they’ve done the same album since the late 90ties (perhaps even before that - I don’t know)...
People pay to much attention to this production-stuff - It’s just music the way I want it to sound and that’s that. My fave bands are Maim, Morbus Chron, Miasmal, Entrapment, Invidious, Antichrist, Nekromantheon and Obliteration.

What about your local scene, any bands locally you would like to tell the readers about from any music style that you personally like a lot?

Matt: A couple of weeks ago I went to see this band called “Gösta Berglings Saga” - it’s some sort of prog-rock I guess but it’s really good - highly recommended. I don’t know if they’re from Stockholm but Sweden’s so small anyway... it’s from Sweden. Other than that I think people should check out Infernöh from Malmö, good hardcore. Nitad from Stockholm has recently turned more towards some sort of darker and more introvert style that fits them really good - check that out. 
Don’t know if Totalitär is still around but it’s probably the best Swedish hardcore band that ever existed.

On the first album you did an awesome cover song of the old Uppsala  käng crust punk band Bombanfall "En Hälsning Från Helvetet" what do this band mean to you? why this song? I personally think their EP is one of the best and most intense punk recordings to ever come out of Sweden...too damn short though, I always find myself listening to it a few times in a row whenever I listen to it!

Matt: I got the Bombanfall EP from this guy in Linköping more than ten years ago. He was selling off his whole record collection cos he was getting more into cooking and other random hippie stuff. Anyhow - I hadn’t heard the band before but got totally knocked down! It’s as much death metal as hardcore can get I think - Bombanfall and Svart Parad plays this perfect blend of hardcore with death metal influences. Punk EPs are short - cos punk songs are short - that’s why they do EPs I guess - haha!

Have you done any other covers or do you plan to record any more?

Matt: Yeah we’ve discussed some options for covers - I won’t tell you now thought, that would ruin the surprise wouldn’t it?

What is your opinion on the current crust/ d beat punk scene in general? There seems to be quite a few more bands around thesedays mixing in strong old death metal and such influences with crust-d beat punk than there was some years ago...and the lines between metal and punk seem to have got very blurred in places...which I think is a cool thing how about you?
Matt: I think that’s cool - I haven’t got that much insight in whats going on within the crust or d-beat scene to be honest. I found some recent bands that I really like though - like Krömosom, Teargas, Giftgasattack. 
My all time faves of the newer bands playing heavy hardcore is Martyrdöd and World Burns to Death - they always rule - especially Martyrdöd!

Lyrically what topics do you touch upon with the new album? It all seems very sacrilegous, unholy and gruesome! Who mainly writes the lyrics? Where do you draw inspiration from?

Matt: Well it turned more against those kind of topics this time - I think I felt the songs were more dark and mysterious (yeah that’s pretty pretentious I know). We both write the lyrics and this time a friend of ours, who shall remain nameless, helped us out with some of them.

What are your plans for the year 2012 now that the new album is about to drop like a bomb on the scene? Have you already started writing new material or is it too early to start thinking about that?

Matt: Right now I don’t have any plans for the future - we’ve just released this album and that has to sink in  before I can go on and do new things with Bastard Priest. I have ideas and riffs for more stuff - I always have new riffs - but it’s gonna take a while I think.

What exactly is a bastard priest?! Who came up with the band name and did you call yourselves anything else before deciding on this name long term?

Matt: The band name comes from some discussion me and Inventor had about how many bands there are out there with the word bastard in them (this was in 2001/2002 I think). We were just joking around and came up with Bastard Priest - it’s just a name, nothing to pay any special attention to.

Have you guys been in any other bands that you would like to tell the readers about before Bastard Priest or do you currently have any other musical projects?

Matt: No.

The last words are yours Matt, please plug any merch or website address's thanks for answering my questions! Skål
Matt: Anything you wanna buy with Bastard Priest is and will be available from Blood Harvest & Pulverised. Thanks for the interview Kat! Cheers!

BASTARD PRIEST are also one of my featured bands on the Terrorizer magazine website this week. Check out http://www.truecultheavymetal.com and you will find my feature on there.

UNDEAD CREEP INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LUCIDO

In recent years a virulent plague of old school dirty death metal has sweeped across the metal scene once again with Autopsy and ancient Swedeath worship happening aplenty in all dark cobweb filled corners of the globe and in countries that were not so well known for producing much noteworthy death metal in the past such as Italy...well that country has now been put firmly on the death metal map and that is because this weeks band of the week Undead Creep, from Palermo have been creating quite a buzz for themselves in underground death metal circles with the release of their debut full length album "The Ever Burning Torch" which was unleashed recently by the prolific underground American, Colorado based death metal label Dark Descent who have also recently brought out excellent releases in hte past few months by Miasmal, Gravehill and Corpsessed and is a label definetly at the forefront of the current underground old school death metal scene along with the Detest, Me Saco Un Ojo and Blood Harvest labels.

The bands debut album is a fierce 10 track affair (with the Demo 2010 tagged onto the end as a bonus featuring 4 non album tracks) which comes bursting out of the speakers with a song ("Immolated for Reincarnation" that wouldn't have been out of place on Dismember's debut album "Like An Ever Flowing Stream", this song also comes complete with a great eerie style keyboard swathed part, reminding me of the middle section of "Left Hand Path", the bands unashamed and blatant old school Stockholm-Swedeath worship continues throughout the album and they also throw in plenty of nifty Autopsy worship and some morbid slow doomed passages which is always a pleasure for my ears to listen to in these days of over technical and overpolished metal. 


The band state in their bio that they formed because they were pushed by the urge to bring back the spirit of old school death metal the way it was meant to be and they have most definetly succeeded in doing what they set out to create as this album just reeks of the old school sound and vibe...coming across pretty much like the deformed bastard ovechild of early Dismember and Autopsy and I really can't recommend "The Ever-Burning Torch" enough to those out there who are seeking good old filthy putrid death metal/who is a fan of old school death metal, these guys can also write a great catchy tune and riff, something I always think is VERY important in such music, vocally Sandro sounds like a mixture of Chris Riefert and Matti Kärki , his lungs relentlessly spitting forth gruesome growls and lyrics, I sent some questions to drummer David Lucido and dared to delve deeper into the dark stinking underworld where the undead creep lurks in the shadows....

Hails please give a quick background history about the band and who does what?

Undead creep was born in 2009 from an idea of mine and it's meant to be a side project of Haemophagus (main band of Giorgio and me). it's a tribute to old school Swedish death metal. Daniel Ekeroth’s book gave me a strong input and also gave me the opportunity to know lots of underground bands. the original line up was with me on drums, Giorgio on guitar and later Maso (bass) and Sandro (vocals) joined the band.

You have recently had your awesome debut album "The Ever Burning Torch" unleashed by Dark Descent on CD, please tell the readers a lil about this album? Are there plans for it to be released on vinyl? Are you pleased with how this recording came out?

Yes, we’re lucky to have our debut album released by a label like Dark Descent Records, I think it’s the best deal we could eventually find for a band like ours. “The Ever-Burning Torch” can be described as a blast from the past, just nine tracks of putrid old school death metal mainly inspired by bands like early Entombed/Nihilist, Dismember, Grave, Unleashed, Autopsy, early Death, God Macabre, Crematory and many others. The album has been released on vinyl as well by Iconoclast Records, an Italian label officially distributed by Agipunk, 500 copies with a limited edition of 100 black splattered red ones for all the maniac collectors. Yeah, we’re very satisfied about this recording, done in few hours in a small studio in Palermo; we like how it sounds, we didn’t use any editing or triggers on the drums, no effect on the vocals except some delays so you can listen exactly what we have truly played and what we can play on the stage.

How did you hook up with Dark Descent?

I’ve known Matt from Dark Descent thanks to Dave from Unconsecrated who runs also a label, Dark Blasphemies Records. Dave and Matt proposed us a co-production for the release of our debut album after they got our demo, but some months after Dave cancelled the deal due to budget problems, so we remained with Dark Descent Records only.

Your music is very old school Swedish sounding with some obvious Autopsy influence, what bands would you say fuel and shape the sound of Undead Creep?

Yeah, Autopsy and the whole Swedeath style are the main influence, but we also took inspiration from old bands like Celtic Frost, Incantation, Winter, Asphyx or to stay in a Swedish context, Expulsion, Runemagick… so you can understand we also appreciate doom/death style, something that you can clearly hear in some songs of the album

You released a demo before this, is it still available? 

The demo is not available neither on tape nor on cd-r, but all of its songs have been included in the “The Ever-Burning Torch” CD version as bonus tracks, so you can get everything we've ever done.

What would an Undead Creep look like in your imagination?

The slow gait of a stinky living dead… we’re obsessed by this stuff.

Lyrically what themes do you write about? You have  very cool morbid songtitles! I guess stinking ancient cemetaries, old Italian horror/zombie movies are part of lyrical inspiration?

Yeah, macabre and horrorific themes inspired by horror/zombie movies or books are what we think about when writing lyrics to our songs, but we also take some hints both from scary and terrifying events of real life and from spooky visions carried out by our minds. Anyway I’m not the songwriter so I can’t give a detailed description of this process.

Describe Undead Creep in 5 words

Distortion Pedal BOSS Heavy Metal.

Do you play many gigs? Any plans to play outside of Italy/ What can people expect from an Undead Creep live show?

no actually we only played 3 gigs in sicily, but we're in a stalemate right now because some of us moved to northern Italy and we're also doing some line-up changes. We’ll give some news about this situation soon. Anyway our show is just a raw ears massacre, no frills just pure death metal in your ass!!

Please tell us about your local underground scene and Italian scene in general, what bands could you recommend to the readers? Any other old school Italian death metal bands?

To talk about a local scene here in Palermo is quite impossible, there are some good bands but we live in a very hick context, people are often narrow minded towards the underground movements, that’s why I feel better when I travel out of here and that's why I moved to Bologna last spring. The Italian scene is not that bad in general, I can surely recommend some very good old school bands like Eroded, Voids Of Vomit, Profanal, Bunker 66, Noia, Barbarian, Blood Of Seklusion, In League With Satan, Necro, and some others, but the main problem is the lack of a d.i.y. spirit in the scene with some exceptions, something that could balance the crookedness and the incompetence of some booking agencies…

whats your opinion on the current worldwide death metal underground/scene? The old school style seems to have became more popular again in recent years after going back into the shadows of the underground, why do you think this is?

I think that the current death metal underground is wonderful, there are a lot a new bands who play death metal the way it was meant to be, and also old bands who reformed or just musicians from the past who come back with new project in this vein. Of course, I’m sure that all this is not comparable to the genuine truthfulness of those bands who created this style between the end of the 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s, but, if we accept that this a revival animated by a true passion, it’s ok for me. I sometimes listen to some bands who are not particularly original, with riffs and arrangements totally or nearly ripped off from old ones. However this is inevitable if you want to reproduce that typical style, and we can probably be included in this kind, hahaha.

Some of you guys play in another band Haemophagus, whats up with this band, I understand you just did a split with the might Bonesaw? What other bands are members currently involved with?

Yes, Giorgio and I are also the founding members of Haemophagus, which is , as I said before, our main band and we’ve been pretty active lately, we just did an European tour with Canadian grinders Mesrine which started off at the Obscene Extreme Festival. And yes, we did a split with the mighty Bonesaw, with whom we’ll play the Bloodshed Festival in October. I love their stuff, they are totally Autopsy worshippers but they have also a personal sound, so I’m very satisfied with this split. The CD was released on May and it’s going to be released on vinyl as well soon, again under Aphelions Productions.

what are you plans for rest of 2011 and into 2012? 

We have to consolidate the line-up now, so we have no plans for the immediate future, but we’ll surely set up some gigs to promote the album by the end of the year and in the next one. Later we’ll think about doing some new stuff, but we have no rush for this.

The last words are yours David! Thanks for the interview!

Ok, thank you so much for this interview and thanks to the people who’ll read my shit here. Support our labels, Dark Descent Records and Iconoclast Records, and stay tuned with us on myspace (dead?), facebook and all those bullshits on the web.

http://www.reverbnation.com/undeadcreep http://www.myspace.com/undeadcreep Undead Creep are also a recent band of the week of mine on the Terrorizer Magazine website http://truecultheavymetal.com/blog1.php/2011/09/12/kat-s-band-of-the-day-undead-creep.