"Without Slayer nothing would exist."
Deathstorm from Austria are a really cool band and a must-listen for maniacs who are into brutal thrash metal and worship bands such as Slayer, Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, (old) Sepultura and the mighty Sarcofago for example. In the following weeks (May25th ) they will release their great Deathstorm third full-length record called "Reaping what is left" via german high-quality record label High Roller Records. So read what vocalist and bassplayer Marco Stebich has to tell us!
First of all, please introduce Deathstorm to the readers of Systematic Desensitization Zine. Who’s in the band and how did you find together ? Some other interesting aspects about the band?
Hey and thanks a lot for doing this! We are Deathstorm and we deliver deadly deathrashing violence since 2010. We actually formed under the banner of Damage in 2007 and released two demos before turning into Deathstorm. We actually have known each other since at least 2001 due to school and stuff. In our early teenage years we picked up instruments and started playing music together due to the fact that the kinda music we were into was simply not available anywhere when it comes to the local musicscene. There was a lot of total crap going on and we simply got frustrated with it which led to the formation of Damage. Fast forward a few years and after releasing our debut record "As death awakes" we added Markus (Steindl) to the line up since we wanted to sound bigger when playing gigs. However a few weeks ago we decided to part ways with him which means Deathstorm is nowadays again operating as a three piece consisting of Ferdinand Reinbacher on guitars, Manuel Röxeis on drums and me (Marco Stebich) on bass and vocals. This is actually the first time we mention this officially besides telling the audience at the Raging Death Date-festival a few weeks back.
What are and has been your main influences and reasons to start Deathstorm? Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Sarcofago, Slayer, Sepultura, Exhorder, Demolition Hammer and so on or another special band?
As mentioned above our main reason to start a band was the musicscene we were, and actually still are, surrounded by. There were lots of so-called metal bands who’s members for incomprehensible reasons loathed bands like Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and so on. We of course embraced those bands and couldn’t understand how they could call themselves metalheads on one hand but on the other only care for bands such as Slipknot and other abominations.
In the beginning Metallica was THE most important band (and actually still is, but nowadays more in the way of how they did things back then than from a musical point of view), however when we discovered Kreator's "Extreme Aggression" and Sodom's "Agent Orange" things slightly changed and we started to play as fast as possible (one can hear this transition when comparing the Damage Demos "Time to attack" and "Less Silence, More Violence"). So Kreator and Sodom are definitely the most important influences when it comes to our earliest days. Sepultura up to "Arise" also had a huge impact on us. We also discovered other bands like Sadus, Morbid Saint, Dark Angel or Merciless but this was actually after we found our sound so to speak. I’m not mentioning Slayer here on purpose because to us they are on top of it all when it comes to evil Thrash, which makes everybody else more or less a clone. Slayer are everything.
Please describe the new record in your own words. Do you think there are big differences in comparison to the prior releases?
It’s the first perfect Deathstorm record, the total package. It is tight as fuck, the production is spot on and the cover-artwork is the best we ever had. The songs are more to the point songwriting wise and in general the best ones we have written up to now. When we finished "As death awakes" and "Blood beneath the crypts" we immediately knew what went wrong but this time it’s more like “we found our formula, that’s how it’ll be done from now on”. We matured without losing our identity.
Music-wise I think a lot of people connect black and death metal Bands such as Abigor, Dornenreich, Pungent Stench, Disharmonic Orchestra, Disastrous Murmur or Belphegor with Austria, but thrash metal acts less…Are people sometimes surprised that you come from Austria ? And which other, maybe less known bands you can recommend from Austria or your local area ? And are there a lot of scene-activities in Graz/Styria ( but you come to be correct from this little town Stainz ?)
We actually don’t really talk about where we come from because that’s rather unimportant but there indeed does occur some wonder in people’s reactions when they hear about it from time to time. Nowadays however it’s fair to say that the quality of the music coming from Austria definitely has improved. There’s bands like Kringa, Ewig Frost or Triumphant who are more or less established underground acts. In our area however still things didn't change. There’s no band coming from Stainz, Graz or even Styria in general that’s worth mentioning here.
Do people often confuse you with this other Death Metal band called Deathstorm from Poland (of which I was not aware as well until now) ?
No.
Do you (still) have some special goals you hope to achieve with the band? Touring with Slayer for example will be nearly impossible (due to their coming end)….But maybe some more realistic goals, a special band you would like to play with etc.? Or are you less ambitious and simply take things as they come?
Writing better songs, releasing better records, playing better shows, going to countries we haven’t been to yet. The struggle is eternal and that’s the fun part about it. Things like touring with let’s say our idols are nothing we really strive for since this is more or less an issue of money. Money in the sense of you either pay to play or you are commercially successful enough in order to get a slot on such a tour. As a band that sells approximately 500 lps of a release this is of course out of reach.
How many gigs did you play yet and with which bands ? Is there a (small) tour planned ?
I don’t know exactly but the first Deathstorm gig happened in 2013 at Muskelrock in Sweden (and was a total disaster, nevertheless a lot of fun, haha). So playing around 10 gigs a year in a timespan of five years means approximately 50 shows. We mostly play weekend shows and festivals and have played with a lot of bands we really admire, old and new ones.
When it comes to touring, I guess it can be said that for a band like us it’s better to keep playing weekends/festivals due to the fact that we simply don’t sell enough as to gather more than 15-20 people somewhere across Europe on a weekday. One of course can give it a try but from today’s point of view heavy touring is nothing we’d consider. But who knows what the release of "Reaping what is left" will bring.
We still love everything we loved back then. The early Sodom and Kreator -releases are still our holy-grail and Slayer are the undisputed gods. Metallica is still the best band to have ever walked the earth. Those things never change.
What however has changed is what other stuff comes into the mix. When you’re 16-17 years old it’s only this or only that. Nowadays we listen to a lot of different things and I really mean a lot by saying that. Can’t speak for the others here but besides heavy metal and hardrock I’m really into bluegrass and country for example, real country – Hank (1 and 3), Coe, Waylon and all these dudes. Something I probably wouldn’t have liked back in my alcoholic heydays at age 17.
When it comes to current bands there’s quite a lot going on of course, both good and bad. But that would be too much to be discussed here in greater detail. What I can say however is that I really look forward to hearing the new Vomitor record and the upcoming Aura Noir release – probably two contenders for the record of the year in my book.
Here are some terms, please give a short comment:
Old school: Stupid term when mentioned in relation to music. Within heavy metal there’s no old school or new school. It’s good or bad, that’s it. There’s old stuff that’s good, there’s old stuff that’s bad. There’s new stuff that’s good, there’s new stuff that’s bad. Nothing more and nothing less.
Austria: Home. A nice place to live. Provides us with a lot of inspiration when it comes to writing music. Especially within the last few years I really started loving this country.
Politics: Stupid. Politics is just for grown-ups, and the most important rule in life is to never grow up!
High Roller Records: A great label which offers a lot of possibilities. We are happy to being a part of their roster.
Kreator: Up to Coma Of Souls a 10/10 band. Nowadays they are a joke unfortunately.
Pungent Stench: Never really cared for them. Their releases up to their debut record are quite good but nothing I really need seen from a personal point of view.
Max Cavalera: From hero to zero. Too much pot will turn you into a greasy dreadlocked Rastafari – and that’s not kool kids, mkay.
Slayer: Everything. Without Slayer nothing would exist. They provided the basis of total diabolic deathrashing madness and I therefore will eternally worship them!
The last words are yours!
First of all thanks for showing support and doing this interview with us! Keep your eyes open for "Reaping what is left" which will be out on May 25th via High Roller Records. In the meanwhile check out our earlier Releases deathstorm.bandcamp.com. Prepare for the slaughter!
