WHERE ARE THEY FROM:- Fulda, Hesse, Germany
FOR FANS OF:- Early Kreator, Early Sodom, Nocturnal, early Slayer
LATEST RELEASE:- "Bloodthirsty Eyes" (High Roller Records 2013)
WEBSITE:- http://www.witchburner.de.
Witchburner have been am active teutonic Deutsch Thrash Metal force
since the mid 1990's and have weathered plenty of musical trend storms
that have battered the music scene since their formation but they have
bulldozed their way through the waves of flavour of the month bands
and styles and stayed true to their roots without ever compromising
and the band recently unleashed their 7th full length studio album
titled "Bloodthirsty Eyes" in Feburary via High Roller Records - It
was the perfect time to contact the band and get the lowdown on the
upcoming new blasphemic assault! Pino the bands latest vocalist who
made his debut on the new album answered my questions shortly before the release of the new album:-
Hails! Your new album "Bloodthirsty Eyes" is soon to be unleashed via High
Roller Records - what can the readers of Terrorizer expect from this latest
offering from Witchburner? More of the same ripping teutonic thrash?!
Hails! Pino here. Yeah in February "Bloodthirsry Eyes" will stare in your faces!
Expect fast, dirty, intense Teutonic Thrash Metal in the typical Witchburner tradition!
Can you please give us an insight into the tracklist for the new album and
the lyrical themes that run throughout these songs? Also what is the meaning
behind the new ablum title?
This time the songs are dealing with horror, zombie and endtime topics. I wrote all the lyrics.
Sermon of Profanity – The opening track. The lyrics are about a black ceremony of an unknown cult.
Possession – It’s about the eternal cult of Heavy Metal
Master and Slave - It's a little sleazy song about sex and perversion in the good old Mentors style!
Path of the Sinner - This song deals with the inversion of the ideals of Christianity and our fucked up society. Behave like an asshole and become your own master!
Apocalyptic Visions - The title says it all. It's about the downfall of humanity, chaos and death.
Bloodthirsty Eyes - This story is based on Seegels idea. It's about eyeless zombies. So they
need the eyes of the living to use them as their own.
Never Surrender - For this song the guys already had the title. They said that this song should be named "Never Surrender".
But I had the choice about the topic. So it is about a once proud but now oppressed tribe that breaks the chains of slavery and also the skulls of their oppressors. I think I watched/read too much Conan and Slaine movies/books/comics and stuff like that hehe
The Bringer of Disease - is an impure creature, a supreme rotten entity. He brings plague, pestilence, insanity and death upon mankind.
Spirits of the Dead - Again a horror story. It's about an ossuary on an old cemetary. The tortured spirits of the dead haunt this place. I got the idea for this one while watching "DellaMorte DellAmore" (this scene at the ossuary). However the lyrics have nothing to do with the movie.
Where was the new album recorded and why did you choose that particular
studio/producer?
We want to make as much as possible by our self.
We recorded at the studio of our axeman Mächel. The mixing was again done at Andys cellar and Patrick W. Engel of Temple of Disharmony is responsible for the mastering. We like the work of Patrick so we decided to work with him.
Who designed the killer looking artwork for the new album?
It was done by Jowita Kaminska. She draws for Witchburner since the “Final Detonation” LP. She knows what we want. I think the two drawings (front and back tell a story together) for “Bloodthirsty Eyes” are some of the best work she has ever done for us. We like it very much!
and offering a deal or did you shop promos around to labels?
The other members and Steffen of High Roller knew each other before. We were searching for a new label and he made us a good offer.
Do you plan to tour much in support of the new album? How active are you as
a live band in general? Can we expect any UK Witchburner shows in 2013? What
can people expect from a Witchburner live show?
No, there are no plans to tour around. We all have our jobs and our holidays are mostly used for gigs in other countries. So we play mostly at weekends. I also don’t think that a tour here in Germany makes sense.
When someone offers us a gig in the UK we will take the chance! We really like to play live, but we don’t play at the same surrounding area too often.
Our live shows are intensive, powerful and straight forward. We are playing songs from every LP.
You have a new vocalist on the new album Pino Hecker - how did you get in
touch with him and what led to the departure of your last vocalist "Metallic
Mayhem"? What can the readers and long time Witchburner fans expect from
Pinos vocal delivery? Why did you choose him? Did he contact you or was it
the other way around?
The members and I knew each since a while from concerts, festivals and Witchburner gigs.
As Metallic Mayhems behavior made it impossible to have him in the band any longer he had to leave. So Witchburner were searching for a new singer. Carnivore (Ex-Cruel Force) gave them the tip to ask me. Seegel called me and some days later I visited their rehearsal. I sang some songs, they liked it and I became the new vocalist.
Are there any notable differences between your last album "Demons" and the
new album? Or is it a case of "business as usual" and following more or less
in the same thrashing vein as it's predecessor?
One difference you will recognize directly is the vocals. My voice differs a lot of that of Metallic Mayhem.
The new songs are more aggressive and brutal. So there is more “variety” in comparison to “Demons”.
come together quite fast or was it quite a steady process?
How do you feel overall about the new material compared to the last album?
There existed already some song ideas and structures before I joined the band. But the real writing process began parallel to the rehearsals for the live set with me. It lasted approx. one year. Some songs came very fast and some needed their time. Normaly Seegel brings the riffs and structures to rehearsal and works them out with Felix and Andy. Then I get invited to the rehearsal (I live far away from the other guys). We record the rehearsal, I take recorded songs with me and write my lyircs and work on my parts at home. Then we rehearse again and work all out togehter. The new album contains some of the strongest Witchburner songs ever and we are very proud of them!
What is the secret to Witchburner's longevity? You have weathered a lot of
musical trend storms that have came and went within the music scene since
the band became active in the mid 1990's - how was it for you guys playing
old school style thrash metal during the years it was considered "uncool"
compared to many other music styles in the heavy music scene throughout
certain periods, the old style of thrash seemed to disappear completely back
into the underground shadows at one point
- did you guys ever get disillusioned during the "dead" years or did you
just think "fuck it - we love thrash and love playing it so fuck the trends
and posers"!?! How hard was it for you guys say in the mid-late 90's to get
gigs or media / record deal interest?
When your soul is truely possessed by Thrash Metal you will never stop to live the cult and celebrate the sound. Witchburner never cared about trends and logically never stopped to play and honor Thrash Metal. There is no secret behind the longevity of Witchburner – it is just pure passion what keeps the band alive!
In recent years old school thrash metal has started to enjoy a renewed
popularity with both older people and a whole new generation of metal
maniacs embracing the old style. What is your opinion on the recent surge in
peoples interest in thrash metal music both in the music media, with record
labels signing more old school thrash bands, more young kids forming thrash
bands, more older thrash metal bands who split up 20+ years ago reforming?
It can only be a good thing for bands such as Witchburner! But I am curious
to know your opinion on the recent "new old school thrash explosion" that
has taken the scene by storm in the past few years or so.
We don’t like this Thrash hype! Fortunately this hype seems to be over now. I still wonder where all this “Thrash Maniacs” came from? When Thrash became more important again it brought some real good new bands into the underground. But then it started to become a trend and countless needless bands appeared. However, beside all this crap and trendy kiddies, this wave also brought some real good bands worth to listen to with it.
For the reforming of old bands: It is cool to see some of the old hordes making records or playing live again but many of them sadly destroy what they once have been with their average new songs or disappointing shows. Better stay where you have been during all this years.
What is your opinion on the current Germany thrash metal scene – as well as
some older classic bands reforming there have been some great new bands
emerging in recent times such as Hellish Crossfire and more recently
Tormentor - what German thrash bands can you recommend to the readers out
there?
German underground scene is really strong, may it be Thrash, Death, Doom or Heavy Metal.
Young German Thrash bands I can recommend are Witching Hour, Nocturnal Witch or Division Speed.
What differences for better or for worse have you seen in the current
extreme music scene compared to say the mid 1990's/ Is there anything you
miss about the old pre internet days? Or do you think it is much better now
there is social networking sites, messageboards etc..where bands can get
their music promoted?
I was born in 1984 and started with Metal at the end of the 90ies. So I can’t tell that much about the mid 90ies. But when I started listening to Metal the internet wasn’t that big and so I had no internet access. I had to discover all the bands by myself (you know reading the thank lists from albums in search of band names, talking to older Metalheads, trading taped records and demos with friends…). This was a really fascinating time for me. Nowadays the internet makes it too easy for everyone to learn all about Metal, what brings half-assed idiots to the scene. I also hate this mp3 collectors, who rather spend their money for merch, Metal “fashion” and expensive patches on ebay(because they want to look cool) than spending it for the music. But the internet has also its positive sides. It’s easier to stay in contact with people via email, for example.
You have quite an extensive discography under your bulletbelts now - which
are some of your personal fave releases and why?
What older releases/ablums would you recommend a newcomer to your music to
check out if they got curious to know more about the bands history?
For the other members it is very difficult to name one single release because every record is special in its own way. They are proud of every release. I like every Witchburner record, but if you ask me as a fan, my favored albums are “Blasphemic Assault” and “Incarnation of Evil”. This are also the two releases I would recommend.
How can people get hold of the new album? And also is it possible for people
to hear some music from the new album yet? Please plug any merch and sites
you have available! Thanks for taking the time to answer this short
interview
You can order it at the site of High Roller Records hrrecords.de our directly from our homepage witchburner.de. Just drop us some lines.
Thank you for this nice interview. Hail the cult!
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