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
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