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!