INTERVIEW ECOCIDE

"We always stayed in touch, supported each other's endeavors, and maintained a friendship which laid the foundation for the eventual reunion."

When I heard some time ago that the Dutch death metal outfit Ecocide had reunited, I was very pleased. Now, ten years after the already awesome debut album "Eye of wicked sight", the band has released a great second album with "Metamorphosis", which enriches the strengths of the debut with experience and the resulting focus. Read for yourself what the band has to say about the break and the new album.

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Hello, you recently released your powerful new album "Metamorphosis", congratulations on that. How did the band break up back then and how did the reunion with the second album come about? In between you were also briefly at the start, was there always the ulterior motive to reactivate the band at some point? And you're all back in the original line-up now, right? Were you always in contact outside of the band when it didn't really exist, or did you only meet up again for the band reunion? Did band members make music elsewhere during this break of Ecocide, in other bands or projects?

Hey there! Thanks for giving us this interview and the kind words!

Initially the band experienced a break-up in 2015 due to creative differences and personal reasons among the members. Each of us pursued individual projects and explored different musical avenues during the hiatus.

While we were all involved in separate bands for a while, there was always a shared passion for Ecocide that lingered beneath the surface. The idea of a reunion was not necessarily on our mind,but as time passed we found ourselves gravitating back towards this band.

The decision to reunite the band for the second album, "Metamorphosis," evolved pretty organically. We just happened to reconnect both musically and personally, realizing that the creative energy of our collaboration was something special that deserved another chapter. Regarding the original lineup, yes, we are thrilled to announce that all members are back together for "Metamorphosis"! We always stayed in touch, supported each other's endeavors, and maintained a friendship which laid the foundation for the eventual reunion.

What has been the reaction to the new album so far? And did many buyers and purchasers of your new album know you from before, from your debut album, or have there also been many new fans who have now heard of you for the first time? The vinyl version of the album seems to be sold out already, right?

The response to "Metamorphosis" has been incredibly positive! The album seems to resonate with our fanbase who have been with us since the debut album from 2013. We’ve also been very fortunate to attract many new fans by releasing this album and performing some live shows again.

Our vinyl is sold out on our bandcamp yes, but you can still order the record through the label Violence In The Veins!

Where do you see the differences between the debut album "Eye of wicked sight" and "Metamorphosis"? I think the new album seems a bit more focused, compelling and powerful in some places, without losing any of its heaviness. In what period of time did you write the songs for “Metamorphosis”?

We recorded our debut album "Eye of wicked sight" in 2013, we were all around 17-18 years old at that time. We think you can hear the fact that we were still very new to playing our instruments on that album. So in that sense yes, Metamorphosis sounds more mature in terms of songwriting and musicianship. Most of the new songs were written during the summer of 2023, right before we announced our reunion. Only the title track was already created way back in 2014, which basically laid the foundation for all the other songs on the album.

To what extent has the band structure, or rather the way you deal with each other as people in the band, changed compared to when the band started? Personally, you do change quite a bit in more than ten years as a person. What significance does the band have for you today, what has become more important, what less important?

I think we pretty much left off where we ended. This band has always been a bunch of friends making music, and not much has changed in that sense. Now that we are older we do try to take some elements a bit more seriously when necessary, but mostly we are still exactly the same band we were in 2013.

You have released a great video for the track "Metamorphosis". Apart from the horror elements, it reminds me a lot of the old, first death metal videos from bands such as Vader, Sinister or At the Gates. Relatively simply filmed, the band in an old industrial hall. Where did you shoot? And was the video also a conscious reminiscence of the old death metal videos? One indication of this would be that you even released it in a limited edition of ten copies as a VHS video cassette, right?  Although very few people these days are likely to still have a video recorder at home…

We shot our videoclip at a huge old abandoned factory in ‘Ter Apel’ , a small place in the east of The Netherlands. Our main goal was to make everything look like it came straight out of the 90’s. We shot everything digitally but later on converted the image to a VHS-look using actual tape and a video recorder. The whole process was pretty intensive, but in our opinion the result is very convincing. The aesthetic of the "Metamorphosis" album is 80s/90s horror after all, so we wanted to match that with the video clip. 

What are the plans for the near future? What concerts are coming up? How have the concerts and the release show been so far?  And will we have to wait another ten years for the next Ecocide album?

Right now we are very busy planning new shows for 2024, we are hoping to really get the ball rolling again and play all over the country like we used to back in the day. At the moment we have a few shows confirmed but nothing we can announce just yet. As for the next album, no promises but our goal is not to take another 10 years, haha.

Which bands from the death metal scene have impressed you the most in recent years and currently? I stylistically associated Ecocide most with Massacre, hence the question; what did you think of their albums "Back from Beyond" and especially the 2021 album "Resurgence”?

To be completely honest we are not that up-to-date with the current big death metal acts. All of us listen to very different types of music in our free time, most of it not even metal. There is a big difference in music we love to write and play versus music we listen to!  

How do you see the current Dutch death metal scene? Are there any special, perhaps even lesser-known bands that you can recommend? 

The underground (death) metal scene is very much alive in The Netherlands! We really noticed a lot of new younger bands on the scene once we decided to get this band started again, and most of them sound really good live. Some examples of lesser-known Dutch bands that we have met and impressed us are Obstruktor, Headless Hunter and Violent Silence.

You come from Haarlem, a few kilometers away from Amsterdam. Haarlem seems to be a medium-sized, very idyllic city with lots of old buildings. How would you describe the city? Are there many concerts in Haarlem?

Haarlem used to have a very active and vibrant underground metal scene, but unfortunately some key-locations for smaller metal shows have disappeared over the years. Nowadays most shows take place at a place called Patronaat, which is a bigger venue so the vibe is a little different.

The last words are yours, here you can say whatever you want!

We want to thank everyone who supported us and decided to read this interview. We hope some people who have not listened to our music yet might check us out!

black&white pictures used with kind permission of Seth Abrikoos / Sethpicturesmusic