Monday 21 November 2011

MAIM INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN "CHRILLE" SANDBERG


Sweden has produced some old school death metal gems this year, and Maim are another band to add to the list alongside the likes of Miasmal, Morbus Chron, Bastard Priest, Bombs Of Hades, Repuked and Entrails.
The band's first release, the 'From The Womb To The Tomb' debut album, which reeked of old Autopsy influence. The band followed up that with an even stronger second record, released this year via Soulseller Records, titled 'Deceased To Exist' which is one of the strongest new wave of Swedish death metal albums since Repugnant unleashed 'Epitome Of Darkness' upon the underground scene in 2006 - appropriate, since Maim do have a sound strongly reminiscent of Repugnant in places.
I sent some questions to guitarist Christian "Chrille" Sandberg about their latest album, their live UK debut at the Fenriz-curated Live Evil Festival.


Hails Christian, Please give me a quick history on the band and who does what currently?!
 
Hello! We started out late 2006, with the purpose to play some serious deathmetal. Me and Scott had played togheter before,so we started to look after more members.Then we hooked up with Rikard and Henric. We recorded our first demo and began to play gigs. In the spring of 2009 we released our full-lenght album ”From the womb to the womb” and played abroad for the first time.In 2011 we released our second album ”Deceased to Exist” and have been playing around europe on really cool festivals and tours. Now we are focusing on new material and a mini tour in sweden in december,together with Vanhelgd and Miasmal.Scott has also joined Morbus Chron as live guitarist. 


My first introduction to the band was the "From The Womb To The Tomb" album, a great album which has everything I love about death metal in it, please describe this album in your own words to the readers? Are you totally happy with how it turned out and the response you have gotten to it so far?
 
Thanks for the sweet words! From the womb… was not acctually supposed to be a full-lenght album. It was originally a demo wich we wanted to release, but after some discussions with the record company(Soulseller Records) we decided to re-record the album and add some tracks.I still think the demo sound is better(of course..) but we are totally satisfied how it turned out. I think we really have that old grimy/mouldy sound on that record, wich we aimed for.And the response have been great! We got some really good reviews and a lot of gigs.



How did you hook up with Soulseller originally was it a case of you just sending them a demo? Are you happy with the work they have done for you so far?
 
It was a friend of us, Andrés Furukawa, who plays in Darkcreed. Soulseller was going to release their mini-album and he mentioned us. We sent our demo to Soulseller and they signed us. Soulseller has been really good to us, making sure that we can release albums the way we want it.



Is your debut album still available? If so where can people get hold of it from?
 
I actually dont know, we have sold out everything we have. And I think Soulseller have sold everything as well.We are doing a re-press of both albums in the beginning of next year.If you want to get hold of it, send an email to Soulseller. Or check Ebay and amazon haha.



Your 2nd album "Deceased to Exist" is another fine slab of old school rotten death metal and to my ears is one of the best newer Swedish death metal albums to come out since the Repugnant album. I am actually reminded of Repugnant in places when listening to Maim, I guess that is because they have the same influences or maybes they are also an inspiration on Maim?
 
Thank you! Repugnant’s Epitome of Darkness is an amazing album. It inspired us and a lot of other bands I think.But the main influences for us is the old stuff from the late 80s/early 90s.Mostly the american scene. Bands like Death, Morbid Angel, Autopsy and Obituary has been a huge influence to us.



Are you happy with how the 2nd album turned out? Did the writing process come together quick after the debut? And are you happy with the overall response so far and work done by the label?
 
 We are very happy about the release of ”Deceased to Exist”.It turned out exactly as we wanted. We already had songs for it during the release of our first album.And the rest we wrote for like half of a year. I think the songs are more structured and balanced than the songs on ”From the Womb to the tomb”. And people seems to like it very much. The sounds of Napalm death and Brutal Truth was a serious influence to the overall sound. And the artwork is just amazing.It fits well to the filth 
inside.Soulseller did a great job putting the vinyl and cd release at the same date.Vinyl is important, this album is mixed and mastered for vinyl.




Who designed the artwork for it?

A great friend of us, Mattias Frisk. An amazing artist! Check out his band Vanhelgd.



What bands fuel and shape the sound of  MAIM?
 
Many different bands, both punk/thrash/death and rock n roll bands! But if I had to say the main influence it would be bands around late 80s/early 90s. Like Entombed and Death and all them classic bands.



Lyrically where do you draw inspiration from?
 
Mostly old obscure horror movies.



Love the bands logo, who designed that?

 
Inventor from Bastard Priest designed the logo! 


Describe MAIM in 5 words only
 
Rotten-Dirty-Fucking-Death-Metal



Do you play live often/ What can people expect from a MAIM live show?
 
Yeah,from time to time.Some months we have several gigs, and sometimes we dont play for like months. But it varies, we cant play every weekend even if we wanted.We have jobs,studies and other things to do in life.If you come to a Maim show,you can expect some serious rotten deathmetal, headbanging, beerdrinking and hellraising! Thats what it’s all about!



Do you have many shows planned? Any tours on the horizon?
 
Not for the moment, just a mini-tour with Miasmal and Vanhelgd in december! (FUCK YEAH!- KAT!) We will play in Gothenburg,Stockholm and Linköping.Then we will see whats happening. Book us and we will come!



You played the Live Evil fest in London recently, how was that experience for you? What other Fenriz approved bands made an impression on you there? How did your set go and were you pleased with the response you got from the London crowd?
 
Live Evil was a fucking blast! Best festival ever,with loads of good bands and free beer! It was nice to come to england for the first time to play. Fenriz has really good taste in music, so almost every band on the bill was just amazing.We went there with our friends in Morbus Chron, wich is an awesome band. Antichrist and Nekromantheon crushed us to fucking death as always. I think our set went really well, good sound and and an incredible audience!Nice to get togheter with all our friends and raise hell!



Talking about Fenriz, what was your reaction to being chosen as a band of the week, are you big Dark Throne fans?
 
We were fucking stoked! I have listened to Darkthrone since i was like 14 years old, Transilvanian Hunger and Panzerfaust made a huge impact on me.Lying alone in my boyroom with these classic albums in my freestyle is really good memories.


 
What other bands are you guys currently active in that you would like to tell us about?

 
Were just into Maim for the moment.Scott plays live guitar for Morbus Chron.I did some guitar solos for Bastard Priests album ”Ghouls of the endless night”, but thats it.



What is your local scene like? Any cool bands you could recommend?
 
The local scence here is pretty dead in my opinion. But you really should check out Vanhelgd .The new album Church of Death is killer! Also check out Skogen Brinner, sounds like a Swedish Black Sabbath!



What is your opinion on the current death metal scene both in Sweden and worldwide? Current fave bands?
 
Sweden has a lot of good bands for the moment, such as Morbus Chron,Vanhelgd, Miasmal and Bastard Priest. More and more good death metal bands are coming out worldwide. One of my favorites is Obliteration from Norway. Great band with a really killer sound! Nekropsalms is like a modern Mental Funeral!




What are your current plans for rest of 2011 and into 2012??
 
We are just focusing on our mini-tour in sweden for now. And we also have started rehearsing new songs. We will focus on getting a 7” out next year,before next full-lenght album.In 2012 we will go underground to just listen to good music and create new deadly Maim-tunes.



The last words are yours, please plug available merch and websites etc. cheers Chrille!
 
Thank you Kat! See you guys out there!  For contact, bookings and merch you can write to maimmusic@gmail.com, also check out Soulsellerrecords.com  Cheers! / Christian
 

Thursday 10 November 2011

THE HOOKERS INTERVIEW WITH ADAM "ROCK 'N' ROLL OUTLAW" NEAL


Back across the pond for this weeks pick. Back in the late 1990s and start of the 00's I really started to get heavily into the whole garage punk/punk rock 'n' roll scene, bands like Gluecifer, Turbonegro, Puffball, Electric Frankenstein etc were on heavy rotation on my stereo, and I had a friend back then who had been into that whole scene way longer then myself and who would hook me up with cassette tapes featuring all kinds of garage punk rock 'n' roll bands, and on one tape he did me some stuff by this band The Hookers who I had never heard of before but as soon as "Satans Highway" (title track of the debut album) came raging out of my stereo speakers I knew that this was going to be a band I would get into big time....I asked him to tape me more stuff by them so he did and I would play those songs from various recordings on repeat, rewinding the tape backwards, playing the songs and rewinding again to get myself another Hookers fix!!. Then a good friend of mine came to my place armed with a Hookers CD I had never heard before which was the 2nd album and this album also blew me away totally, this album had a more old 70's rock/NWOBHM influence running throughout it ( the album in question is called "Black Visions Of Crimson Wisdom") mixed in with the full on gritty garage punk rock 'n' roll, I remember loving it so much I loaned it off my friend and never gave him it back for months..or was it a couple years?! I can't remember but I had it for quite a while and would blast it on a regular basis whilst kicking back with some smokes and beers.


The band have put out a few album and numerous splits with the likes of Electric Frankenstein, ANTiSEEN, Speedwolf since they formed in the late 1990's and have a new full length album which will soon be unleashed upon the world titled "Horror Rises From The Tombs", I was lucky enough to score an advance of the album tracks from vocalist and all round rock 'n' roll outlaw Adam Neal and I can safely say without any hesitation that it is possibly the strongest Hookers album to date, full of catchy hooks, plenty of rockin' riffs and captures all the best elements of The Hookers in one foul swoop, it's a rollercoaster of tempos and the band are definetly firing on all cynlinders and are sounding as mean if not meaner than ever! I sent Adam some questions about the new album and the upcoming European tour and here is what he had to say:-

Hails Adam, ok first of all please give the readers a quick background history on the band and who does what?
Current Line up is

AN:
The Rock n Roll Outlaw (Adam Neal) - Vocals
Doug Walker - Lead Guitar
Juan Badmutha - Bass
Chris Hamilton- Drums
Stoney Tombs and I Formed the band Loosely in 1994, after I quit Nine Pound Hammer, doing a more Johnny Thunders style of punk, but came into the sound we are known for in 1995. After that we released our first couple of singles, then the album "Satan's Highway". That album changed everything for us and allowed us to tour, put out a lot more stuff from big labels like Sub Pop and Man's Ruin to tiny ones like Sack o Shit and Devil Doll. Played tons of U.S. Shows with the likes of Antiseen, Dead Moon, Candy Snatchers, High On Fire. And even did a small euro tour before we split up in 2000. After that I did a couple of other bands, Brothers of Conquest and Blade of the Ripper, before we reunited in 2008 for a Black Lung records Showcase show. That went great sp we decided to do some recording and put out a couple of new single, which brings us up to now.



You guys have been active for a long time now and have a bunch of great albums under your belts, looking back which album or albums are your faves and for what reasons? Is there anything you would like to be able to change on any of the past albums or are your satisfied with those recordings?.

AN:
There are always things you want to change, usually its my vocals. My favorite recording of our is the Zombiemaker 7". Its a raw and rough one, but the energy is what I like about it and the full blown horror motif.

Please tell the readers a little in your own words about each Hookers album and where they can get these albums from? I presume some of them are still available?.

AN:
Actually most of them are out of print at the moment, vinyl is extremely scare of both of our Scooch Pooch records albums. Both are possibley being re-released next year. Satan's Highway-Our first album seems to be the fan favorite, its fast and mean. Drenched in early Venom/Motorhead meets Dead Boys style punk sound. Maybe our rawest sounding album also. We recorded it in 48 hours!
Black Visions of Crimson Wisdom- Also pretty popular with the fans, however when it was released every other person I met told me it was to metal, or two heavy or just not punk enough. now it seems to have found its audiance. The album its self is a slight departure for us, mainly because of the fact that we went to an actual studio as oppossed to a basement, where all the recordng before this album had been made. All we were listening to at the time was Manowar and Deep Purple and it shows. Bigger guitars and weirder song concepts, but its still just a heavy metal rock n roll album! Equinox Beyond Tomorrow-This was our last release and it was really along the lines of "Black Visons" but with more rock n roll attitude, but also songs like "Burn Witch Burn" and "Horse Named Misery", which are some of our heaviest tracks.


You have a new album called "Horror Rises From The Tombs" due for release in early November, I must say this album is a ripper from start to finish and features in my opinion some of the best Hookers songs to date such as "Crypt of The Living Dead" ...please tell the readers abit about this new album in your own words and what they can expect from it. Are you totally satisfied with how it turned out?

AN:
I am pretty happy with actually, and I rarely am. Its really a mix of the two sounds were are known for. Its certainly the  fastest album we have recorded and maybe the meanest, especially lyrically. All the songs are Horror obsessed and the production is stripped down and very raw. Hopefully people will dig it? Weve got another one written and ready to go.

So there was quite a gap inbetween the new album and the previous one...what happened with the band? How does it feel to be back, you sound like you are firing on all cylinders and are definetly kicking ass just as much as ever.

AN:
Thank You! Yeah its been a while, but yeah im glad that we are back doing it again. We broke the first time due to our guitarist and founding member Stoney Tombs had family commitments. Sadley he still cant tour due to his job and family, but it will always be our band, we started it togehter so he will appear on the new records in some compacity.

After listening to the new album a couple of times I must say that I think it is quite possibly the best Hookers album to date! It is just RIPPING from start to finish. What formats will it be available on?

AN:
Vinyl Only with a download code that comes with 3 extra songs not on the album for now. I just dont have faith in any other format at this point. The people who will want to buy it, will want it on vinyl

How did you hook up with the current label initially?

AN:
Currently were are dealing with Green Mist Records. We have been friends with them for years, Larry and Leslie did a magazine called Carbon 14 and we did an interview with them. They also used to do a label called Steel Cage record that put out a ton of cool stuff, great people with great taste in music!

You are due to hit Europe for a tour at the end of this year, what are your expectations for that? What can people expect from a HOOKERS live show, what does a regular show for you guys involve? What are your fave things about coming to and playing Europe?

AN:
There isnt anything I dont like about Europe except flying over there. Our shows now are maybe a little better than in the past, the band is tighter and everyone is on the same page. Primarily we play things from the first two albums, the singles and a few new tracks. Were also currently playing a song called "Teenage Blood" that comes out next year on Black Lung Records.

What are the chances of HOOKERS hitting the UK for some shows in support of the new album? Any plans? Have you actually played the UK in the past?

AN:
We have never played the UK, hopefully we will make it there next year at some point, we would certainly love to. We want to go everywhere we can with the new album.


How active are you guys on the live front thesedays? Have you been playing out live a lot in recent times? Throughout the years what are some standout shows and tours you have done? Any funny anecdotes you care to share from the road?!

Nothing that wont get me into trouble at home, haha! But yes we are playing out alot at the moment and plan to do even more next year. The biggest tour for us was the first tour we did with Nashville Pussy. That got us and the name out there and really helped alot.

Where do you plan to play and tour in support of the new album?

AN:
For right now its  Europe in December, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and Austria and the back to the U.S. for soem Texas dates. We would practically kill to get to Australia and Japan

The lyrical themes on the new album seem very horror movie influenced, please tell us a little about some of the lyrical themes and inspirations on the new album.

AN:
Yeah im a huge horror fan, its my life outside of music, has been since I was a kid. Most of the songs are based around horror movie themes, songs like "Black Past" and "The Lying Witch" are figurative, while some of them like "Dont Go Near the Park" and "Crypt of the Living Dead" are about actual movies, sort of? But we still do satanic stuff to, like "The Devil Is His Name" and some sexploitation type shit in "25 To Life". But for me at this point in my life, I cant imagine writing non horror/satanic themed music.

Who designed the great looking new cover art? 

AN:
Leslie from Green Mist designed this one, the image is from a poster of a movie called EXORCISM, starring one of my favorites, Paul Nashy. I usually try to control the album art or do it myself, but I gotta say Leslie really knocked me out with that cover Idea. I think the rest of the package turned out very good to.


What bands fuel and shape the sound of HOOKERS? Main influences that make you wanna write your own songs and kick some musical ass?

AN:
Well im a big music fan so really it could be pretty broad. But really its still the records we listened to back then,The Devil Dogs, Zacherle, Danzig, Manowar, Dwarves, Antiseen, Didjits, Deep Purple, Roky Erickson and tons of other old school punk, metal and horror movie soundtracks. Me and Stoney have also always been obsessed with 77/Killed by Death style punk and N.W.O.B.H.M., both of those show through on the new album I think.

You had another band going for a while called BLADE OF THE RIPPER, and released two awseome albums with this band which to my ears was some kind of horror punk/thrash metal type hybrid, what happened to that band? Are the albums still available? What do you think of those albums looking back on them?

AN:
Yes horror punk thrash, both are still available I believe. My biggest problem with that band was, I just couldnt get the right guys to do it. To many jobs, girlfriends and pure laziness killed it. I like both of the albums, Probably like the second one best. But both albums are filled with things I wished we would have changed.




Also tell us about the ROCK 'N' ROLL OUTLAW band, you only had one album released on I used to fuck people like you in prison records, I have only ever heard a few tracks from it personally...fucking hard to get hold of!!! What do you think of that album you did looking back on it? What was the main purpose of that project/band/

AN:
Really that album just came about as a what if? What if I went in and recorded an album by myself? So I did and thats what came out. There is a U.S. version to on vinyl. Very limited pressing, so nowadays its more a people talk about but nobody owns. Plenty of fun stuff on it though, my only song that is about Halloween and even a Brady Kids cover.



Describe The Hookers in 5 words only

AN:
Heavy Metal Thunder From Kentucky

What the local scene like where you live? Any cool local bands you would care to recommend to the readers out there?

AN:
No not really. We live in Louisville Kentucky now. Which is known as an indie rock town. Not much of a  real Punk or Metal scene has ever existed here to my knowledge. In the 90's there was a hardcore scene here that spawned a killer band called Kinghorse and a handful of other good bands, but past that its all pretty derivitive. We do better almost anywhere but here. Still appreciate the fans we do have here because of the situation

Back when you guys first formed and hit the scene, the whole scandinavian garage punk rock n roll scene was really starting to take off and make waves, did that whole explosion have a significant impact on you guys and was it even an inspiration to start making such a hardrockin form of music?

AN:
No we werent into most of those bands actually, we always liked older music and were really into classic heavy metal and also bands on the Crypt label at the time at that time. But we did like Turbonegro, who were friends with our friend Steve Bass from The Devil Dogs, he was actually the first person to play them for me, it was the song "Midnight Nambla". I did a bunch of coke with him and the Candy Snatchers and he played a cassette of it, we all loved it. We also dug Glucifer at the time and got to play with them twice. Both of those had some great albums. Otherwise at the time we didnt care for much of it, or were just unaware of it at the time.

What other bands in a similar style to the Hookers do you personally enjoy and would recommend?

AN:
Thats a really hard one. Speedwolf, Mongo Ninja, The White Barons

"Ride the Dragon Into The Crimson Light" is an older Hookers songtitle, I guess you are a big Sleep/Doom fan?! You ever thought about doing a band in that style?

AN:
I do love tons of those records. not so much the stuff like that now, but the older stuff. I would love to do a bluesy Doom band at some point

As a musician what keeps you going and what has kept you going throughout the years and the good times and bad times with the band(s)?! Any advice out there for people who are just starting to form bands and getting actively involved in playing and creating their own music?

AN:
What keeps me going is just releasing new records, thats what I love the most about it. Getting the finished product in my hands and playing live. As far as advice goes I would say. first of all it  certainly isnt easy to do it or  keep doin it, its hard and people need to realize that. The one thing you gotta do is work hard at it and dont stop. If this is what you want to do, then do it and dont give up on it. Find what you like and what you want to sound like and fuck everyone else's opinion. Work hard, it's your dream not theirs.

What bands have current members been involved with or are currently involved with that are worth mentioning?

AN:
Our Bassist Juan Badmutha has killer band called Spreadeagle and our guitarist Doug Walker has a current Prog Punk band called Nixon



Another question, you have also done quite a few cover versions, everything from ANTiSEEN to Pentagram, which covers are your personal faves? Do you play any covers live currently? How many covers have you done overall in the bands history?


We have done so many, I dont have an actual number. My favorites were the Krokus song "Ready to Burn" that we did on the Sub Pop Single and "Two Wheels" by Centurion on the new album



A live and unreleased album called Ripped From The Crypt was released a few years ago, what was the purpose of that release and whos idea was it to put that out? Its a very rough and ready sounding release showing the live energy of the band!


Yeah it was really just stuff we had laying around. There were only a hundred or so made I think. Mainly those were made to sell at our first reunion show. They also feature the last songs we recorded in Germany before the break up

Who are some of your vocal influences? When did you first start singing and when did you find out you could sing like you do in The Hookers? 
What are in your opinion the most vital ingredients to make a band ROCK successfully like The Hookers...I would say plenty of catchy riffs and vocal hooks are important! You guys have those in abundance!! What is the songwriting process usually like for new songs? Is there a lot of jamming in the rehearsal room going on?

Biggest vocal influences were Elvis Presley, Howling Wolf, Glenn Danzig, Jeff Clayton and Stiv Bators. Sometime after the first album I really started to be able to sustain my vocal style. now if I raise my voice at all it sounds like that. Thankfully i dont have kids
 I think people forget how important good songs are! Also cool lyrics are important, it doesnt have to be poppy or comercial, just something that people can remember and rock out to. On stage its all about attitude and action, dont be a statue. If you dont like your own music enough to rock out, then why should anyone else? More than anything get into it and lose yourself in it. thats what its all about right? Escape?
As far as our songs, I usually write all the material alone and bring it into the band. We will jam on the songs and make slight changes here and there, but for the most part it is written outside the band room. Inspiration comes and goes, you just have to jump on it when you feel it and dont forget to write it down.

What are the plans for rest of 2011 and into 2012? Do you have much in the pipeline?

AN:
Tour, tour and more tour!
And another new album next fall!

The last words are yours.....plug available merch and anything else. Thanks for answering my questions!
Hear us and add us here

Thursday 3 November 2011

EXHUMATIONS FROM THE CRYPT OF TERROR- REPUKED FEATURE

Here we have another exhumation from my Terrorizer mag website archives, here is a little article I wrote on the band earlier this year.


Just what in the hell are they putting in the water (and beer for that matter!) up there in Sweden? I am convinced some mad scientist is holed up somewhere deep within the suburbs of Stockholm and has extracted DNA swabs from all the members of Autopsy and various members of Entombed and Murder Squad (as well as the rotting corpse of GG Allin in this bands case!) and has been creating mutant bastard death metal offspring and then letting them loose into garages across the east coast of Sweden armed with instruments and an endless supply of strong alcohol, a punk attitude and old Nihilist recordings for inspiration. Yet another killer death metal band has been vomited forth from the sewers of the Swedish underground scene; this week's pick Repuked are a punked up hybrid of all of the bands I have mentioned already with some of Motörhead's rock 'n' roll swagger and some of the punkiness of later DarkThrone as well as nods to Repulsion thrown into this filthy dirty stinking musical mix!
The band started out in 2007 and quickly started making demos, they puked forth their first musical abomination in 2008 titled 'Excremental Funeral', a 5-track affair, which includes an Autopsy cover of 'Fuckdog'. They quickly followed up this with another demo, 'Vomitfilled Baptism', a 6-track affair which includes a Pungent Stench cover.
I want to focus on the band's debut album 'Pervertopia', which was recently unleashed by underground label Soulseller Records (who helped bring Repugnant to the attention of the worldwide underground masses) and which currently seems to be kicking up somewhat of a stink in the underground scene with death metal freaks the world over seemingly lapping up this album like a dog eagerly slurping up the remnants of the dinner it has just ahem... repuked.


This debut album vomits forth 11 tracks of pure filth (with such titled songs as 'I Wanna Puke On You', '...Fucking Something Dead', 'Pervertopia' and 'Orgasmic Death Deliverer'). There is no other word to describe it... it is just dirty, depraved, disgustingly delightful DEATH METAL, from the outrageously tongue-in-cheek, crude songtitles via the killer brutal Chris Reifert-style vocals (A DNA test is definitely required to prove if these guys are actually related or not!!) to the punked-up-as-fuck, old school influenced death metal music that is on display here, just pure stripped-down, punky death, as stripped down as GG Allin onstage at a spoken word show naked and covered in his own faeces hurling abuse at the crowd!.
The band made a very cool and very amusing promo video for the title track as well, which is what first grabbed my attention towards this band. I pressed clicked on that video due to already being very curious about the band and was met with what could only be described as an infectious musical hybrid of Motorhead, GG Allin and DarkThrone having its wicked way in a seedy public toilet in Stockholm with Autopsy, Abscess and Entombed with Death Breath and Murder Squad looking on while drinking beer, laughing deliriously and screaming drunken degrading obscenities in Swedish, with some graphic images added into the visuals, which made me kinda flinch a bit at first, which are mixed into footage of the band playing mostly in what looks like their rehearsal room, but I must have replayed the video 6 times in a row, maybes more actually, you know its kinda like when you drive past a car accident you just can't help looking, then looking again at the carnage that has happened.


So you pretty much know what to expect from this band. The musicians responsible for this killer music go under the amusing monickers of Rob The Slob (vocals and bass), Kinky Stieg (drums and vox), Nicke Piss(guitar and vox) and Richie Rimjob (guitar and vox).
I recently quizzed one of the band members about the bands upcoming plans and this is what he puked up in reply:
“Our current plans, at this very moment is to get shitfaced and have a puke-a-mania! But soon, April 30th we are gonna play with Interment here in Stockholm, its gonna be a riot. And we are looking to get out and play as much as possible, spreading the horror and disease! We are also gonna release a split 7" with Haemophagus and we are also releasing an EP also 7" on Singapore label Slap Bet Records. Plus we are featured on two tribute albums, one Regurgitate and one Impetigo.”
What really is left to be said?! If the above comparisons and descriptions sound appealing to you then go and grab yourself a copy of this album, which has also been released on heavy duty vinyl, which someone described as being “heavy as a grave stone”. Sounds very appropriate!



EXHUMATION FROM THE CRYPT OF TERROR:- MIASMAL INTERVIEW

Ok, here is another exhumation from the archives of my Terrorizer Magazine website band of the week blogs, I have chosen to exhume the feature and small interview with old school Swedish death metallers MIASMAL,  there is just so much great music of all different styles pouring out of  Sweden's extreme music scene in recent times that is making a big impression on me! Miasmal is one of the bands that have really blown me away and they are going back to the roots of death metal with their brand of Svensk DödsMetall, but there is also clear crust punk/d-beat influences that rear their ugly heada in places - but that isn't surprising when you know that this band features a member of Swedish blackened käng crustlords, Martyrdöd! Miasmal sit perfectly alongside such bands as Tormented, Bastard Priest and Bombs Of Hades,so if you are familiar with those bands then you know what to expect from Miasmal.


I first became aware of this band's existence when Pontus, their guitarist/vocalist, posted a thread up about them on a punk forum a couple of years ago, prompting people to check out his newly-formed death metal band,  so I was immediately curious and checked out their tracks, and was very impressed with their old school sound and approach. I got hold of the demo via a friend a little while later and played the hell out of it, along with the Bastard Priest demo I had gotten on the same CD!


The band's debut full-length was recently unleashed by Dark Descent on CD in the States, and on vinyl by Detest (Belgium) and Me Saco Un Ojo (UK) in a joint collaboration. The debut is an eight-track affair, with the 2010 EP and 2008 demo material tagged on, so what you are getting is not just eight new songs, but the entire Miasmal recorded discography in one entire package! Also, the album comes packaged in excellent artowrk courtesy of Viral Graphics, which is a great and fitting preview to the evil atmosphere contained within.


This album musically harks back to the days when early Entombed were at their peak and releasing such classics as 'Left Hand Path'; full of evil atmosphere and raw, dirty aggression - just the way death metal was meant to sound! In this modern age of bands focusing too much on virtuosity and technicality, and forsaking writing actual songs and riffs, it is always ,refreshing to hear a modern band that is doing things the old school way - no glossy, polished, pretentious noodling or showing off how technical they can play! All Miasmal care about is playing heads-down, straight-up DEATH FUCKING METAL, with killer riffs and songs in abundance! I am not going to even attempt to pick out any standout tracks from this album, because each song is pure class. There is not a filler track to be found, and each song oozes quality.

1/ Hails Pontus! Please introduce the readers to the members of Miasmal and who does what?! 
Hey Kat! Well, Miasmal was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2007. We started out as a 3-piece and then completed with Ruben on bass in early 2008. Then we recorded the demo and the rest is history, haha. Miasmal is Pontus – guitar/vox, Magnus – guitar, Ruben – bass and Micael – drums. Currently we rehearse with stand-in drummer Björn who is gonna play with us on our upcoming US tour.




2/ What inspired you to form a band playing in such an old school death metal style, what was your mission statement with Miasmal when you formed?!  what bands influenced you to take this musical direction?
I guess we felt that no one really did death metal the way we liked it back in 2007. We wanted to do dirty death metal with a focus on songwriting and groove instead of virtuosity and technicality.
See early Entombed or Autopsy as a good example of that.

3/ You have just had your debut full length album released both on CD and vinyl, by different labels. This is a very strong powerful debut album I must say, what are you thoughts on it, are you happy with how it turned out? Please tell the readers abit about what they can expect from this debut album. There definetly seems to be quite a buzz about the band and this album right now! I must say the artwork for this album is awesome, who designed it?

Yep, we are satisfied with the album and it feel very honest and ”Miasmal”. 8 tracks, no filler all killer. I'm also very happy with the lyrics this time. The whole thing was written as an album with continuity and variation in mind. Combined with the stellar artwork Viral Graphics did for us this makes for a complete package, just the way I want it when I buy records myself. Check out Viral's other artwork at http://myspace.com/viralgraphics

4/ You are also due to cross over the Atlantic soon to do your first tour in the states with Miasmal, what are you looking to most about this tour?any plans to do some UK dates at some point since you are affiliated with a UK based label?

I've been in the US once before with my other band Agrimonia and have nothing but high expectations. US is a nice country to travel in and most people are friendly and supportive. Back then we just did the west coast, now we're going all over the place so it will be great to see all those cities. Also we're playing the Maryland Death Fest and Chaos in Tejas Fest which means we'll get to see a bunch of killer bands there. Personally I'm really looking forward to see Killing Joke at Chaos in Tejas – wow! We've discussed some UK dates later this summer yes – stay tuned.

5/ the Swedish underground death metal scene seems very vibrant now, full of great bands playing in the old school style, it is definetly the most vibrant it has been since the late 80s/early 90s, any up and coming bands from your country you recommend to the readers to check out who they might not be familiar with?
I'm usually always a couple years behind on discovering new bands, but check out Vanhelgd and Maim.







6/You also play in the crust bands Martyrdod and Agrimonia, please introduce the readers to these bands who might not have heard them and also what are the current plans of both bands? You are definetly very busy musically, do you find it hard to prioritise things with your different bands? Do things end up clashing a lot or have you got a good system worked out?

Martyrdöd has been going since 2001, I joined in 2003. Heavy epic käng with 3 full-lengths out. We're very sporadically active but last months has seen us doing a couple gigs, and new songs are written too. Agrimonia has been going since 2005, it's more dare I say ”progressive” still heavy and dirty. My love for melodies and lush arrangements finds it way out in Agrimonia, but there's still a metallic heavy crust feel seeping through it all. Two full-lengths out and currently writing on a new one. Anyone interested more in those bands check out http://agrimonia.info andhttp://myspace.com/martyrdod. No, it has never been any major problems to make time for it all. I try to stay away from steady jobs and Martyrdöd's acitivity goes in cycles. But now we're gonna do a 10-day Martyrdöd US west coast tour right after I'm done with Miasmal. First time Martyrdöd goes outside of Europe.

7/ Lyrically what subjects do you tend to touch upon, what are some subjects the lyrics on the new album deal with?

I didn't think of it too much when writing, but afterwards I realize several of the songs are about apocalypse. I think it's hard not to feel the impending doom around us. Which got me thinking on ways to survive it, mutation, alchemy etc. Twisted, inhuman ideas mostly, which connects to the apocalypse being strongly related to human failure and the human condition.

8/ Any last words /things you want to plug to the readers out there?

Thanks for reading, and thank you Kat for the interview! We just launched an good old web page at www.miasmal.netas an alternative to the cluttered mess of Myspace. Here you can read all of the lyrics, new and old, as well. Hope to see any of you US citizens reading this on the tour. Cheers!