INTERVIEW HYPNOS

"I never was a real musician. I was a fan of music, who wanted to join a metal band to be close to it, even I didn't play an instrument. I was and still am crazy about music in general, not just metal."

Recently I saw that the Czechs of Hypnos will release a new EP "Deathbirth" towards the end of April. Frontman Bruno, also with Krabathor, can now look back on more than 30 years as an active death metal musician and has experienced quite a bit, which he has also written down in a book. So this was a good moment to talk about the new release as well as to look back on Hypnos and Krabathor in particular and death metal in the Czech Republic in general. And don't miss to see the band at the Munich Dark Easter Metal Meeting on April 08!

Soon your new EP will be released, what would you like to say about this release?

Actually, it's an interesting story. In the covid times, our guitarist Vlasa, who is together with the second Hypnos guitarist Canni, member of another band called Six Degrees of Separation (SDOS), came with an idea to swap the cover songs between Hypnos and SDOS. I liked that but I didn't want to organize a studio session just because of one song only. But when our drummer Pegas decided to leave the band and Sataroth was joining, it was the right time to test the new line-up during recording. I wrote two new songs plus we rehearsed two of my past songs, one from Hypnos and another one from Krabathor. The result will be out in the end of April to be judged by the public.

The two new songs „Deathbirth Part I“ and „Deathbirth Part II“, what do they deal with exactly? In the beginning you hear a woman breathing, that could be the beginning of a birth process, after that you hear a baby crying. The song also talks about the "Point of Innocence", as a contrast to the Christian idea of original sin?

Not really. Both songs deal with our past as musicians in the band through the metal history. I personally was at the beginning of death metal in Czechoslovakia, this is the “Conception” and “Birth” tracks, I personally watched when death metal was conceived and born. "Pt. 2 death"  is about the core of death metal philosophy. During its whole existence it deals with death, therefore DEATH metal. Both songs with intro symbolize my history of being a metal musician from the beginning till now. You know, we are not teenagers in the band anymore, all Hypnos bandmembers remember a lot already. This EP is about us all.

The newly recorded songs, "Infernational" from the first Hypnos EP from 2000 and "Short report on the ritual carnage" from the 1995 album "Lies" by Krabathor are more focused, more powerful, more brutal. Why did you choose these songs in particular? "Infernational" was the first Hypnos track, so to speak, the first one on the first release. Was that also a reason? The lyrics to "Infernational" can also be related to today's political situation, unfortunately, right?

During the last years, I'm missing more aggression in our music, sometimes I feel we are a bit “soft”. I have a passion to write and perform really brutal, extreme death metal songs. I tried to go to more extreme expression on the "Blackcrow"- album, but it ended up in a half way, I still wanna go more far. To the core of metal, when we were extreme, not only in music, but also in our look and refusing the boring family lives. Having long hair, steel jackets and so on. Many of people who call themselves “metalheads” nowadays, are more like “photomodels” for me. Visiting barber shops, buying expansive brand clothes, taking selfies in bathrooms in front of a mirror. Nothing agains that, but this is not metal in my understanding.

With "Lies" Krabathor became known to a bigger audience for the first time, was that also a reason for the choice of the "Short report..." track? The cover version of the Six Degrees of Separation track differs just alone because of the much more brutal vocals used now. Your thoughts about it?

Simply, with an exception for SDOS track, I decided to cover songs I wrote by myself because I didn't want to pay any extra fees to original authors. I do not need that. But SDOS are good friends, we have the same guitarists and they write great songs. I am happy that we realized this cover exchange, because especially that “Light Hates Me” song really kills from the 1st second!

Following the theme of death, on the very strong "Blackcrow"-album you have the song "In grief/Too old to cry" In the accompanying video clip you commemorate some musicians who unfortunately died much too early, especially from the Eastern European scene, such as Doc from Vader. The song captivates by the rather carried and slow stylistics... In the first fade-in to the video it says "Dedicated to those who have already gone before". What do you think about death? Is it a subject that concerns you a lot, or rather at a young age (in adolescence this is often a topic). Do you believe that there is such a thing as life after death, in whatever form?

I do not believe in afterlife, I am an atheist from my early childhood. And death, what do we know about that? Nothing, until we die ourselves…. Of course, no one wants to die even so we know we have to…but we are forcing such thought out, as we should never die. I am deeply sorry of all persons close to me, that are gone. They will be missed forever and my life will never be the same as before. They make a hole in my heart which will never heal up. You can live with that but….it hurts…

Let's move on to the discography of Hypnos: is there a particular release that you would like to highlight, be it positive or negative? How would you describe the evolution of the band over the years?

I wouldn´t point out any of our records, because each one is a print of the time and personalities of that time. State of our friendship, musical skills, mental state, life situation an so on. I like that we are changing during the time and that we aren't releasing the same albums, I am happy they differ. Anyway, common denominator should always be extreme metal. I wanna follow the same ideas and goals as when I was 16 years old and mad for Celtic Frost, Venom, Slayer, Kreator or Metallica. I want to honour the legacy of that metal who started in the 80ies.

You wrote the book "Revoltikon", which seems to have sold well. Unfortunately, it is only available in Czech. Can you tell us more about the content, will there be an English version someday?

That book is actually my life story, since the day I was born to 2014 year, when we were standing at the edge of the Krabathor-comeback. I would be happy if an English version would appear one day, but it isn't easy economically. There would have to be someone to translate the whole book and someone willing to publish that. All of this cost bunch of money and nobody can guarantee good sales abroad, to get this investment back. In Czech, two editions were published. 1st one in 2014 in amount of 800 pieces, which got sold in three months. In 2018, an second edition (re-release) of 500 pieces was published, which was sold in ca. 3 years. In total, we sold 1300 copies of that book. But I still gotta believe that an English version could appear one day.

When you look back on all the decades as a musician, and also as a fan: What is important to be able to pass this "test of time"? Which qualities and skills have always been important to you, also not to lose the fun in the matter? Would you have thought at the beginning as a teenager that you would still play death metal after more than 30 years?

I wouldn´t say so. I never was a real musician. I was a fan of music, who wanted to join a metal band to be close to it, even  I didn't play an instrument. I was and still am crazy about music in general, not just metal. I must say, after so many years, I am still enthusiastic about being a metal musician, and still enthusiastic as a listener. Music surrounds me for most of my days.

If Krabathor or Hypnos were from the USA, do you think you would have reached a completely different status?

It´s an useless question. Nobody knows what would happen “if”. We are from the Czech Republic and things happened as happened. I am personally happy for being Czech, I love my country, culture, language, nature…I would never change anything in my life.

On your Facebook page, you write most of your posts in Czech. Do you have the majority of your followers in your own country, wouldn't it be a good idea to communicate in English, even if there is a translation function on Facebook?

Yes, we have majority of fans from Czech but that´s not the reason. In the past, we used to publish all our Facebook posts in Czech and English as well. But since the times where automatic translators improved and all posts are being translated automatically, I expected that this doubling is needless. So far we have no complaints, but if there would be more voices like that, I would seriously think about that.

Let's get back to the Czech or Eastern European scene, which always had this certain exotic status in Germany as well, not least because of the Iron Curtain that existed at the time. I have seen, more by chance, that Masters Hammer probably doesn't exist anymore? Your opinion about this band? And do you know the LP "In numele Metalului Est-European" of the German black metal band Ungod, on which they pay tribute to the Eastern European scene and bands like Root, Tormentor and Masters Hammer? Which Czech band impressed you the most in the early days?

Concerning Master´s Hammer, they reunited a decade ago with two original members in line-up (Storm and Silenthell) but currently they are on hiatus. I never listened much to Master's Hammer, even so they have maybe the best status of Czech bands abroad, which they deserve. Czech bands that had the greatest impact on my in my early metal days were definitely Citron, Törr, Debustrol and Arakain, from Slovakia it was Tublatanka.

What is the current status of Krabathor? Do you play live again, will you release something new soon?

Hard to say. 2^nd mainman Christopher lives in USA for almost two decades already and in this moment, he is not involved in music at all. No interest. If there will be any chance in future to record something again together or to play live, I will say yes definitely. Time shall tell. But I am not sure if your readers are familiar with the fact that tow years ago we released a new studio record entitled “Demonizer”, containing remakes of our songs from the 1988-demotapes, recorded in classic line-up with Christopher-Bruno-Pegas (from "Lies"- album) with many attractive guests from Root, Törr, Debustrol and almost all ex-Krabathor members. It's an nice 4-disc digipack with rare remasters and an DVD included,  so check that out.

Is a new edition of the first two Krabathor albums being considered? Some of them are only available at astronomical prices.

Unfortunately, re-releases of 1^st and 2^nd Krabathor album are not planned in this moment.

What can you tell us about the city and the region where you live? How is the mentality of the people there? How would you describe the landscape of the region? What are the sightseeing places there? As a tourist, what should you see in the Czech Republic in general? So far I've only made it to Klattau, near the border to Bavaria, and looked at centuries-old corpses in some catacombs there, very impressive and also very related to death metal!

I am living in the south-east part of Czech Republic called South Moravia, or even closer Moravian Slovacko. Land of wine, plum alcohol, sun and hearty people. Our “capitol” is Uherské Hradiště, it contains much of culture and history, no big hills, therefore last years the bicycle tourism increased rapidly, there is a lot of new bike roads, stops and accommodation. And even so we aren't a typical beer area, we also have a great beer here with many small beer breweries. So, if you like easy atmosphere, good drinks and cuisine, you are welcome.

Is it true that the Czech Republic is suffering very much from inflation? How would you describe the current political situation in your country?

Yes, there is increased inflation last months, especially since Russians started that terrible war on Ukraine, but I wouldn´t say it is any dramatic. There are and were still people shouting how bad they are doing but they have no comparison with other countries and they are complaining in any regime. So, yes, our prices went higher, for food, living expenses etc., but it is the smallest tax we pay for that war. Generally, we still have great living. Living standard of most of the Czechs increased rapidly during the last 2-3 decades. Concerning the political situation, I would say we have kinda stable government (even so I didn't vote for them), which are not shouting populists and recently we went through presidential elections that happened the best way in my eyes, because new president Petr Pavel is very promising personality to me.

You have played with many known bands like Morbid Angel, Vader, Napalm Death or Behemoth. What was the best tour or live memory? Were there also disappointments when musical idols turned out to be idiots? Is another tour with Hypnos planned?

Yes, there were also idiots but I will not mention them. It is gone already and there is no reason to spread the shit about someone. Of course, absolute majority of people we met on touch were really cool and many of them are really missed. I personally would love to tour again for example with Vader or Cannibal Corpse, I miss Mika from Impaled Nazarene with whom we did our very first Eurotour. I have great memories on Behemoth, we toured with them several times in their earlier days. We are still great friends with bands we toured in 90ies, and many of them does not exist anymore, for exmaple bands such as Darkside, Judgement Day, God's Tower, Purgatory, Rising Nation, Groinchurn and Pandemia. In this moment we are touring with a great band from Slovakiacalles Doomas. Well, and when our next full length album will be released, we would definitely want to book some European tour for us. But it's not easy. 

Which death metal albums or metal albums of other subgenres have impressed you lately? And are there any insider tips of unknown bands, gladly also from your local environment or Czech Republic, which you would like to recommend?

I am big fan of Hate from Poland and I must say that their second last album “Auric Gates of Veles” blown me out totally and crushes me till today. I also love the last albums of Czech Inferno “Paradeigma” and Slovak Doomas “R´Lyeh”.

What does the future hold for Hypnos (or also Krabathor), what is planned for the near future?

I can´t say anything about Krabathor but concerning Hypnos, soon we will release the new MCD and this release will be accompanied with almost 50 live shows booked for this year to support our band.

The last words belong to you!

Thank you for your interest in our band and for your support through your zine. Any, even the smallest part of support matters and is welcomed by us. We hope to reach German stages more often…..our nearest show in Germany will be at 8.4.2023 at Dark Easter Metal Meeting in Munich, so see you there!