INTERVIEW REXUL

Rexul hailing from Gummersbach in the Bergisches Land region, Germany, recently released a strong debut album (read the review HERE )that should convince every fan of sophisticated death metal with its great mixture of brutality and atmosphere.

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Hello, please introduce Rexul in short form. Who are you, when did the band start, how long did it take you to write and record the album? How were the reactions of the press and your environment so far?

We, Benny and Simon, formed Rexul from the ashes of Diabolical Imperium and Eklipsis in September 2018. In the same month we immediately started writing the first riffs and lyrics; it took us 31 months to write the whole record. So far, the reactions from the press have been good to very good. For some listeners the songs are too long or some riffs or melodies are repeated. For us, the songs were perfect at the moment we recorded them, but we don't know any musician who wouldn't change something in the recording or songwriting afterwards.

It's rather unusual for you as a new band to come out with a full album straight away, no demo, no EP. Was that consciously planned or did you suddenly have so much material that you had enough to release a full album?

Benny and I set ourselves the goal of simply producing a fat album. Since Benny has been busy and experimenting with recording, studio stuff and also other band projects for many years, we just locked ourselves in Benny's home studio and spent a lot of time there. As with many other bands, the lyrics come first and you create the music around the lyrics or you have some riffs and then write lyrics and over time "Erebus...Virtuosus...Alpha.... "came into being. We were able to gather our experience over the last decades and simply decided to go straight for a debut album.

What exactly was the reason for a new start under the name Rexul? After all, the style is not that different. Did you just want to open a new chapter, maybe because it never worked out with Diabolical Imperium, although the band's potential was actually much bigger?

We wanted a different name, because Diabolical Imperium had already existed three times in its original form since 1993. We needed something fresh and catchy and that's when I had the idea of "Rexul". Rexul is short and has a meaning that not everyone sees at first. To your question: Diabolical Imperium had real potential in the end, but when you have to drive many kilometres to rehearse and three musicians have to travel from three different directions, it's no fun any more. Jan still has his main band Rheinchaos and I also had a side project with Eklipsis and then you have to decide. So we decided to give up Diabolical Imperium.

I just have to ask now: Who plays the drums on the album? Nowhere is anyone stated who is responsible for the drums. Or is that a drum machine? If so, you can't hear that at all, I think.

About the recording of the drums... Benny does the keys; means not only synthesizers can be worked on, but also the drums. He programmed everything. In this day and age, you can edit the tracks in such a way that you can't tell if someone is really recording the drums or not.

I once did an interview with Christian Krieger from Chapel of Disease (read HERE) about the metal scene in Cologne and the surrounding area. In it, he drew my attention to a Diabolical Imperium concert in 1999, where you played in the middle of the forest, partly in full rivet gear, which is very exotic from today's point of view. How did that happen? Were there only friends, acquaintances and fans, or were there also strangers who were shocked, some of the faces of the performance on Youtube might suggest that. But at that time you were still called Diabolic Imperium, weren't you? In any case, Christian said in the interview that he thought you were one of the strongest bands in the German scene at that time. Especially this video seemed to have left a lasting impression on some people back then.

Best regards to Christian and Chapel of Disease. What he meant was a concert by Diabolic Imperium in its original line-up in 1995, which no one can imagine nowadays. It was pure underground, the more studs and chains there were on stage, the better I felt, hahaha. The scene used to be much more crowded than it is today. In Gummersbach we organised several concerts and met regularly. But I wouldn't let "everything was better in the past" stand. There are things that are much better today, especially when it comes to recordings or instruments. You can get in touch with bands, labels or magazines via the internet, whereas in the past it was all about word of mouth or writing letters. 

And to follow up on the aforementioned interview: how do you think about the scene in Cologne and the surrounding area, or in the Bergisches Land region?

To describe the scene in the Cologne area and Bergisches Land region, I don't need to say much, just look at the bands...Lifeless, Reckless Manslaughter, Rheinchaos, Kingdom of Salvation, Ketzer, Selfdevoured, the aforementioned Chapel of Disease, Sabiendas... There are also the concerts that are regularly organised here, whether by some bands themselves or by metallers who organise Rhein in Blood or NRW Death Metal with several bands. So we can't complain about bands and locations on our region.

Especially in Europe, most bands are more oriented towards Swedish death metal, if you compare the two epicentres of death metal - Sweden and the USA (Florida). What fascinates you so much about US death metal? What are your favourites, maybe also lesser known ones apart from Morbid Angel, Deicide, Acheron and the likes? And your opinion about the Swiss guys from Amon, I always found them very good, but they were never really known.

The sound of US death metal is simply more brutal and richer from our point of view, although the Scandinavians are musically just as strong. Maybe it was also the time when we started listening to music and recording music ourselves. That seems to have shaped us in such a way that we just let it out. It's simply the combination of what makes the music of the Americans so special - fat riffs and solos. With the Scandinavians it's more the powerful melodies that characterise the music. 

To your question about which other bands we like: Luciferion, Deus Inversus, Eternal, Kronos, Aeon, Decapitated, Bolt Thrower, Purgatory, Vile, Cancer, Blood, Punish, Headhunter D.C., Disinter, Christ Agony, Thornafire, Obscure Infinity etc.  From Amon from Switzerland I own the album "Shemhamforash" from 1995 and it's ok, but for me not outstanding. For example, we found Convent from Poland really good, we played with them in Hagen in 1998 or '99, it was really outstanding what they played.

Here in Cologne there was Baron at that time, who played very good Death Metal, partly reminiscent of Morbid Angel, and unfortunately only made it to two demos. I assume that you know the band. Did you also find the demos so strong? Were there any concerts together with Diabolical Imperium? 

Baron was a very strong band; they could have become something really great. But a band can break up very quickly. We've had enough experience with that. We look at a band like a small family and if one little thing is not taken into account or some things are not recognised in time, it's usually already too late.

How did the deal with FDA Records come about? Was that the label you preferred? Were there other options?

We sent out a total of three mails to labels and the label FDA Records gave us a huge chance and we took it immediately.

What about live gigs? Is there anything planned? Are there any guest musicians who would be willing to do so?

Live performances are difficult with two men, but we don't give up. We have learned over time and just have to wait and see. The right ones will come along...

The last words belong to you!

First of all we would like to thank Rico & Marc from FDA Records. A big thank you goes to everyone who supports us, metal zines, fans and bands and those who are very close to us and always stand by our side, our families who have and will support us every fucking day.