Hey, first of all, how are you doing in general and in particaluar during Covid-19 times ? I have seen that the next live appearances and festival gigs you wanted to do were cancelled or postponed due to Corona, unfortunately meanwhile normal condition concerning live appearances. When do you hope to play live again ? How did it happen to realize (the now postponed) gig in Turkey ?
Hey, thanks for asking! Overall, I'm fine. Of course, the whole current Covid-19 situation is extremely annoying, but this just can't be changed. Still, I miss all the shows and festivals a lot. I have no idea when it will return to normal for this. The planned show in Istanbul was organized by Mezar Organization & Bookings and will hopefully take place in 2021.
Purgatory now exist since 27 years. First of all it is noticeable, that Purgatory had not very much line-up changes aside the bass position. What do you think are the reasons for this ? A clear distribution of roles or / and a good comradeship within the band ? Did you remeber some low points, where maybe motivation was gone for continuing with the band ?
Yes, this band has been around for a damn long time and there have been ups and downs that have made it difficult to motivate yourself over and over again. I can't really tell you why we have kept up with the times with relatively few line-up changes, but good comradeship and especially the fire for the music certainly plays a big role! Somehow we obviously managed to do it again and again, because we're still there! And as long as the fire and the will to create extreme music burns within us, we will go on doing what we love.
I agree that our sound has developed in a more brutal and atmospheric direction over the years and that the band has also gone through a gradual development at the same time. I think basically the sound of Purgatory just got darker. With the change from Perverted Taste to Animate Records, we simply followed our intuition to go one step further or to position ourselves better on this path. The timing was more of a coincidence. I basically assume that a certain development of technical skills is very important for a band and is a basis for playing any music. "Omega Void Tribvnal" is probably our most mature album, but each album shows the status of the band at that point.
What are your feelings and memories when you look back in the earlier days or beginning of Purgatory ? In 1993 there were Atrocity, Morgoth, Disbelief, Fleshcrawl, Obscenity, Mangled Torsos, Ulcerous Phlegm or Dead if I think to bigger and more underground bands in the german death metal scene. Did you have contact with these bands ? What were the bands which inspired you most to found a band ?
The scene at that time was already quite active and filled with good bands! Besides the bands you mentioned, I would definitely mention Lemming Project and Torchure. Since the scene was still quite manageable at the time, there was already lively contact with each other. To strip it down to a few: heavy influences were bands such as Incantation, Autopsy, Asphyx or Immolation. Some of our local heroes also had their fair share in inspiring us to start making music ourselves, as there were two bands already playing extreme music called Hellion and Deathtrap. You can find a restored and remastered re-release of Deathtraps „Downfall“ at German Democratic Recordings by the way!
It is true that the scene in eastern Germany tended to prefer the more extreme styles. I think the peculiarities of the East German scene have their origins in the earlier days, i.e. in GDR times. Due to difficulties such as access to current albums, merchandise, etc., the scene was very intense and had a very solid cohesion. Everything was greedily consumed and absorbed. With the turning point in 1989, the whole situation became easier.
Did you have the impression that Purgatory did benefit from the „new wave of german death metal“; I mean the period some years ago where the interest in german death death metal grew and seemed to be exceptionally high, I think to bands such as Chapel of Disease, Arroganz, Slaughterday, Revel in flesh, Lifeless and so and to FDA Records which released some of these bands and records ?
I have never thought about whether we have benefited from the "new wave of German Death Metal". It was just good to see that German Death Metal in general got a little more attention. There were times when the local scene was (unfortunately wrongly) neglected, although there are many bands that could easily maintain the international level and were in no way inferior in quality.
I have never thought about whether we have benefited from the "new wave of German Death Metal". It was just good to see that German Death Metal in general got a little more attention. There were times when the local scene was (unfortunately wrongly) neglected, although there are many bands that could easily maintain the international level and were in no way inferior in quality.
What will the future hold for Purgatory ? What’s your next step, are you working on songs for a new album ?
After a somewhat longer phase we have now started working on another album again. Otherwise we will see how the current situation with Covid-19 develops, as concerts are particularly affected.
I saw that you did some contributions to the second part of a series of book which is called „The spiritual significance of music“ along other bands such as GWAR, Judas Priest or The Prodigy for example ? How did this happen ? What is it about in general and what did you in particalur said about Purgatory ? Cool story, to be in a book together with K.K. Downing from Judas Priest.. ?!
I can no longer tell you exactly how this happened back then. The author Justin St. Vincent wrote to me at that time and asked questions about the importance of music and my drive to play it. I did not pursue this any further and only now found out that this book was finally published...
Can you recommend some good local or international underground bands which maybe could still be unknown to the readers of Systematic Desensitization Zine, be it death metal or other styles ?
The whole local scene in our area is very lively again with great extreme bands like Abyssous, Vidargängr, Rumours, Musical Massacre, Lihamon, II, Bloody Vengeance, Evil Warriors et cetera. From the international szene I can recommend Bands like Lie In Ruins, Proscription and Lantern (all from Finland) this moment.
Are there some alltime favourite records or bands within the band which every member idolizes ? Otherwise: all time favourite lists or current playlists ?
Dreier:
Sepultura - Morbid Vision
Carcass - Symphonies Of Sickness
Beherit - Drawing down the Moon
Judas Priest - Killing Machine
Revenge - all
Wolfgang:
Carcass - Symphonies Of Sickness
Beherit - Drawing down the Moon
Judas Priest - Killing Machine
Revenge - all
Wolfgang:
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Suffocation - Effigy Of The Forgotten
Hypocrisy - Osculum Obscenum
Bolt Thrower- The IVth Crusade
Obituary - Cause Of Death
Lutz:
Hypocrisy - Osculum Obscenum
Bolt Thrower- The IVth Crusade
Obituary - Cause Of Death
Lutz:
Onslaught - The Force
Hate - Tremendum
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Dead Congregation - Promulgation Of The Fall
Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
Hate - Tremendum
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Dead Congregation - Promulgation Of The Fall
Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
René:
Immolation - Dawn Of Possession
Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark
W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P.
Voivod – War And Pain
King Diamond - Fatal Portrait
The last words are yours !
Thanks for the interview and thanks to all readers for taking the time!
W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P.
Voivod – War And Pain
King Diamond - Fatal Portrait
The last words are yours !
Thanks for the interview and thanks to all readers for taking the time!
