INTERVIEW ASCHENVATER

"This music simply needs a voice that sounds like death itself and can convey all the horror that is dealt within the lyrics."

More or less by chance I came across Aschenvater from Saxony, Germany, who create great, primal death metal that should make fans of bands like Asphyx and Hail of Bullets extremely happy! I talked to singer Oliver and guitarist Marko about the not too long band history, the great EP "Landungsfeldmassaker", German lyrics, Martin van Drunen, Bolt Thrower and the influence of the Warhammer universe.  

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First of all, hello from the Rhineland area to Saxony. Please introduce Aschenvater briefly, who are you, when did you form the band? Did you know each other before and were you already active in other bands before, or are there any current side projects?

Oliver: Greetings, for those who don't know us yet, we are Aschenvater from the far east and all come from or around Görlitz. The band was actually founded as a studio project by Marko and me. I hadn't done much musically for quite a while and so I asked Marko if he could imagine starting a band with me. He's a very accomplished musician on guitar and drums and is also a co-founder of Soundheim Studio. Musically, we are on the same wavelength and we wanted to pay homage to old school death metal. We have known each other for a long time and over time the entire line-up of the band was put together. That's Julius (bass), Felix (drums), Manuel (guitar), Marko (guitar) and Oliver (vocals). Before our time together we were active in the bands Torture the Mass (Oliver), Apathie (Felix), Tomorrows Dying (Manuel) and Mouth of Madness (Marko). At the moment Felix is still playing in Inferit and Julius together with Marko in Heksebrann.

I found Aschenvater more or less by chance in the vastness of the internet, I didn't know the name until recently. Actually, it's all the more incomprehensible because your album "Landungsfeldmassaker" kills everything, to stick with the same terminology...I haven't heard such great, powerful old-school death metal for a long time. I think you're often compared to bands like Asphyx, Soulburn or Hail of Bullets, who I think you're in no way inferior to in terms of quality. Are these bands also your influences? What other bands?

Oliver: Thank you very much for the compliment. As for Asphyx and Hail of Bullets, definitely! We love their music and the way they celebrate total destruction. There are always bands that influence us. In the last few years some strong death metal albums have come out that combine a darker style with raw brute force. At the forefront are Dead Congregation, Phrenelith, Engulfed and Sulphur Aeon.

The booklet of the EP lists three band members, are there now officially five of you, or are the other two "only" there for live activities?

Oliver: Since we recorded the EP as a studio-only project back then, Marko did all the work with the two guitars and programming the drums. I contributed the lyrics and vocals and together we worked out the structure of the songs and the EP. The bass was played by our good friend Markus, who unfortunately could no longer be part of our project as he moved to Nuremberg with his family. Greetings go out! The rest of the current line-up joined us bit by bit and is now a permanent part of the band.

The vocals in particular are not so rarely reminiscent of Martin van Drunen. Is that simply your vocal style or is Martin van Drunen also a kind of role model in terms of vocal technique?

Oliver: The thing is that I come from a guttural and grind vocal background from my previous project, as Torture the Mass was a slam death band. But after a few years of abstinence, I just couldn't fulfill the performance I had brought back then. Also, my taste in music had evolved and I wanted to use a more intelligible vocal style. The way Martin van Drunen uses his voice used to put me off a bit. I just couldn't do anything with it. But when I heard "... of Frost and War" for the first time in years, it was a bit of a revelation. This music simply needs a voice that sounds like death itself and can convey all the horror that is dealt within the lyrics. It's extreme, but still concise. It's also a challenge to learn such a voice and to use it in such a way that it works with the music and not against it. And I notice that every time anew. At the same time, I consciously stay with the music and don't just work through a show.

I also think the production of the EP is very powerful and good? Where did you record?

Oliver: We have our guitarist Marko to thank for that. He either played, recorded or programmed the instruments in the studio and also mixed and mastered the EP. Having our own studio meant we could take the time to work on the record for a long time. The many hours of hard work were definitely worth it and I and the rest of the band are very grateful for that.

Does the German band name "Aschenvater" often lead to misunderstandings in the sense that you are not identified as a death metal band because of the name? Although I think German band names are great, I'm thinking of bands like Eisenvater or Totenmond.

Oliver: Personally, I didn't really care whether the name sounded like death metal or not. I just liked the sound. It's also a nod to the Warhammer 40k background, as it's an indirect reference to one of the four Chaos gods, the blood god Khorne.

Your texts are also completely in German and, as you already mentioned, are based on the "Warhammer 40k" universe; you even call yourself an "unofficial fan project".  As far as I know, Warhammer exists in various computer game versions as well as tabletop games. Are you all big fans? And what exactly do you play? Was the enthusiasm for forming a death metal band there first and Warhammer offered itself as a thematic superstructure or was it clear from the start that you wanted to create a musical tribute to the Warhammer universe?

Oliver: I simply love both. Brutal music and dystopian, fucked-up sci-fi. And combining the two just made sense to me. We're not the first band to do that. Back then, Bolt Thrower even had the official blessing of Games Workshop and did a promotional tour for the tabletop. Everything from their album covers of e.g. "Realm of Chaos" and "Honour - Valour - Pride" to the lyrics of the songs and the shirt designs was influenced by the Warhammer universe. 

Unfortunately it is very difficult to get in touch with Games Workshop and so we had to define it as an unofficial fan project. Our cover artwork was also originally a different one. But it was too close to the original and Games Workshop are very strict about their rights to licenses. Unfortunately, I'm not a big tabletop player, but I love the background. I got some of the others hooked, but the whole musical thing was more important to them and so I tend to use the text as a vehicle for the stories I want to tell. And this universe is more than full of them.

German as my mother tongue simply lends itself to this. It's the best way for me to express myself and to put feelings and images into words. The EP itself also contains a concept. The story is about the "Landungsfeldmassaker" or "Dropsidemassacre" in English, and is set in the background of the 40k or 30k universe.

The cover artwork for the EP is particularly impressive, but it's not exactly typical death metal artwork.

Oliver: As mentioned above, another cover was actually planned, but to avoid legal problems we decided on the current one. We still wanted to stay true to the character of the first artwork. Of course, it's difficult when you have to leave out all the cross-references. But we have a gifted artworker in our circle of friends (The Thundergoat), who has done all our shirt designs etc. up to now. He was very resourceful when it came to the cover. It still has the dystopian, battle-influenced feel of the original, but is far enough removed that we could release it without hesitation. If we had made an album about "Terminator", it would have been perfect!

Your EP is already from 2021, are you planning a new release soon? And do you want to look for a bigger label? Wouldn't FDA Records be suitable?

Oliver: We're currently compiling new song material and the first songs for the upcoming album have already been written. If everything goes well, we'll be able to present something new next year. But good things take time. A bigger label would be an interesting thing for us and we have already been in contact with FDA Records.

What about concerts in the near future? Which gigs have you already played in the past, which ones do you particularly remember - and why?

Marko: This year we want to concentrate on the songwriting for the new record, so we only have one show in Jena coming up. But we already have a lot planned for next year. 

I particularly remember our first shows. Due to our proximity to the Polish border, a colleague of Oliver's organized a few shows for us in Poland. Although the metalheads there didn't know us yet, there was movement in front of the stage from the very first minute. We had a lot of fun and met some great people.

For many years now, I've had the impression that more and more high-quality death metal bands are coming from Germany. Besides bands like Arroganz, Chapel of Disease, Scalpture, Revel in Flesh, Rexul, Vomit Spell or Atomwinter, I also think of Defected Decay, False Mutation or New World Depression. How do you see it? Which bands, especially from this part of the world, do you particularly like or can you recommend, even the deepest underground! 

Marko: You're absolutely right. A lot of really good bands have emerged in recent years, some of whom we've been allowed to share the stage with, which has been and still is a great pleasure for us. 

Not to forget Sulphur Aeon! With their new album, they show once again where the hammer hangs. From the underground I can recommend Carnal Tomb, Nekrovault, Sijjin and Abyssous. I'm definitely very excited to see what else the underground will come up with in the next few years. There's certainly a lot more to come.

Since you explicitly thank Boss for the existence of the HM-2, here's the question: What are the three best releases of all time involving the HM-2 pedal?

Marko: Only three ...? Oh man, that's a tough one. I think we can all agree that Entombed's "Left Hand Path" should not be missing. Oliver, as a big Rotten Sound fan, contributes "Consume to Contaminate". And not to be forgotten from our region are Deathrite (read an interview HERE ) with "Into Extinction". 

The last words are yours! Here you can get rid of everything you want to say!

Oliver: Thank you very much for the nice interview and that  Systematic Desensitization Zine contributes an important part to the scene. Join The Massacre!