INTERVIEW MACERATION

"I think it was just a different time back then. You ended up in a studio and the result was also somewhat coincidental."

Maceration from Denmark released their debut album in 1992. After many years in which the band went dormant, the extremely strong follow-up "It never ends" was released in 2022, exactly thirty years later. In September this year, a new album called "Serpent Devourment" will be released, once again via the energetic Danish death metal label Emanzipation Productions. A good reason to talk to founding member Jakob Schultz, who was also part of Invocators line-up on their legendary debut album "Excursion Demise". 
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Fortunately, I happened to find "It never ends" in a record store and the cover immediately appealed to me. To be honest, I had never heard of Maceration before. In my opinion, your debut "A Serenade of Agony" from 1992 offers a special kind of atmosphere, although I can't describe exactly what makes it so special. But it is precisely this special atmosphere that you no longer find on many of today's releases. Nostalgic reasons can't be responsible for this perception in my case, see introduction above, I didn't even know Maceration back then. Darkthrone's "Soulside journey" also has a similar mood in my opinion, even if it is a little more mystical. How do you see this?

I actually think the songs on "A Serenade of Agony" are pretty okay today, considered it being so old. Much could have been better when we recorded back then and the production could have been a lot better. But it has its charm and the style of the songs is pretty cool and difficult to put into a box. There are inspirations from different styles and sometimes you also hear the influence from Invocator in some riffs. I think it was just a different time back then. You ended up in a studio and the result was also somewhat coincidental. In Denmark back then there was no producers who knew what and how to mix death metal. But again, it has its own special charm and feeling.

Is it the case that many people didn't know Maceration at all and only discovered you with "It never ends" and thus the debut in retrospect? Or is there still a lot of feedback from fans and press who already knew the debut back then? In general, the reactions to "It never ends..." were very good, weren't they? How do you rate the two albums, which are exactly 30 years apart, in context?

I guess we had some kind of role, but we didn’t think about it back then – we just had fun doing Maceration. When we did the album and got Dan Swanö to do vocals and we were two members from Invocator we automatically got attention from the scene, because then people knew the album was serious business. But off course it was Invocator that pawed the way for both Maceration and also for a band like Illdisposed. But yes, we hear from people from back then still and also a lot of new folks have been looking back when they heard "It never ends".

Is the title "It never ends" also an reference to the fact that you are back after 30 years and - to use a death metal comparison - like the undead you keep coming back?

Yes it is. But it started kinda like a joke and we ended up using it because it fits the album pretty good and has a great reference to the fact that we did an album 30 years ago.

You also shot some videos for the comeback album, which I think are very well done, and which remind me of those old death metal videos that were always pretty low budget, but still - or probably because of that - had a lot of charm. Was that intentional? And do you have any particular favorites regarding death metal clips from the 90s, I'm thinking of videos by Dismember like "Casket garden", or the first videos by Vader, Sinister or Hypocrisy for example.

It wasn't intentional, but again all videos were done with no budget at all, so it came out looking like something old from back in the days. But I think it was pretty okay considered it was done by ourselves. I think the death metal video I remember best is "God of Emptiness" by Morbid Angel - great video, great song. 

What I noticed is that despite very different drawing styles, the two cover artworks of both your debut and "It never ends..." contain many intricate, octopus-like elements. Do you have a soft spot for this, was it a conscious decision, was the second album intended to create a visual link to the debut?

Ola Larsson who did the new artwork is amazing, so we just knew we wanted to work with him. The underworld creature just sums up everything pretty good in the style of metal we do and also fits well to the lyrical themes about death, passways, afterlife, other dimensions etc. There are no conections between his art and the debut album. The cover art for the debut was just something the label ordered from a local artist. They told him to do something surrealistic in the vein of "Alters of Madness" and he came up with that. We where disappointed but they used it and today i kinda like it just because of the story and the naivity of the drawing.

What strikes me in terms of visuals is that Maceration never had a typical, ornate death metal logo on the album artworks. That's quite atypical, especially for the time in the 90s. Was that a conscious decision to stand out or was there no one who could give you a satisfying logo?

I think from the album we wanted to stand a bit out from the typical death metal band logo. We like a lot of progressive metal bands also so I think we wanted to do something different.

What is the situation on the live front? You play concerts regularly, maybe some in Germany soon? Soon you'll also be playing with Vltimas, with whom David Vincent also works. Is it the case that you are only now, after 30 years, getting recognition and suitable concerts, does it feel a bit like that?

We play more shows than ever before. Mostly in Denmark, but the scene is so much different today. To get outside Denmark is difficult. We do everything ourselves and have been lucky to get on the billing of some great festivals, but it's difficult when you don’t have an agency. And it's difficult to get a agency that take you in. But we keep on doing what we can. And of course it's great to get gigs like the job with Vltimas.

You have already announced your next album called "Serpent Devourment" for November. Has the songwriting already been completed? What can you say about the album? Was this third album also a result of the many good reactions or would you have continued if the Maceration comeback hadn't received such favorable reactions?

The songs are written and the recordings will begin in a few weeks. Its just natural do keep on doing music. We have the spirit for it now and the label have an option for another album. And its great doing new music.
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"Dan Swanö has done his last growling ever when he recorded 'It never ends'".
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Will the new album be recorded again with Dan Swanö as vocalist and Jan Jepsen as live vocalist? Will Jan's part in the recordings be increased?

Dan Swanö has done his last growling ever when he recorded "It never ends". He cannot growl anymore without destroying his voice so he will not sing on the next album. But he will produce and mix it again. Jan will record vocal for the new album. He already did some parts on "It never ends", so we are confident it will be awesome. Also it's natural since we have Jan in the band permanent and he's part of the live line-up.

Following on from the aforementioned Darkthrone- there's a book called "Incombustible Remains" which covers Maceration’s gig with Darkthrone in Esbjerg, Denmark in the distant 1990. What memories do you have of that? And wouldn't it be nice if the book was also available in English, there is only a Danish version. By the way, there is also a book about a Darkthrone /Satyricon/Dissection concert in Oslo in 1996.

I don’t know if it will come out in English. I doubt it. That was our first show. We had not rehearsed for a long time and it got recorded through the soundboard. Jacob was penpals with Gylve (Fenriz) and tape traded with him and asked if they would play in Esbjerg. Gylve actually was not interested in playing live, but he did it because the other guys in the band wanted to do it. It was just before “Soulside Journey” was released, so it was before Darkthrone went all black metal and stopped playing live. So it was quite special that Maceration played with them at one of their very few shows, which of course we didn’t know back then. We where just hanging out and drinking some beers with them; Gylve was just tired because of the long journey with train from Norway. But it was fun and cool that they did the show. Maceration sounded pretty awful but at that time it was more a side project and not that serious. Some of the songs we played later appeared on the album.

What can you say about the Danish death metal scene - Maceration are back, Detest have been around for a long time, Illdisposed and Konkhra have always been around. I also really liked Exmortem, who unfortunately disbanded a long time ago. Apart from Thorium, Panzerchrist, Konvent, Koldborn, Undergang, Baest and Iniquity, I can also think of Dominus and Asinhell, the latter two being very closely connected, even if there was a lot of time in between. I can't think of many more names off the top of my head-which bands would you like to mention, how do you see the Danish scene, especially in comparison to Sweden and Finland?

Well, there are many bands in Denmark these days and the scene is very active. Compared to Finland and Sweden, Denmark has always been the little brother with no bands getting that big like in Sweden. But the old bands keep going. Some of the newer death metal bands coming from Denmark are e.g. Crown the Beast, Terrorpy, Bloodgutter, Temple of Scorn, Strychnos, Livløs etc. Some of the older bands you didn’t mention could be The Arcane Order and Dawn of Demise. And great you mention Exmortem, because Rune Koldby, our bassplayer, used to be the bassplayer in Exmortem.

This raises the question: was the relationship between the Danish bands perhaps always closer, precisely because there weren't as many bands as in Sweden? What was more important at the beginning in the 90s, competition and rivalry or cooperation? Which Danish bands, especially lesser known ones, would you like to recommend to the readers of this blog?

Back in the days there weren’t that many bands and the scene was smaller, but we tried to help eachother out and play shows. Today the scene is full off bands and I think there is a good connection between bands and musicians. If I should recommend a few bands to check out I would talk about the before mentioned great Temple of Scorn and also Crown The Beast and Terrorpy.

Didn't Invocator already play with Dead Head, as I remember reading in the book "Streams of ancient Wisdom", which describes the history of Dutch death metal? Dead Head are about to release a strong new EP, so I did an interview with them 

( read here ) as well. And do you still follow what's happening internationally in terms of new releases or do you stick to the old classics?

I'm still in contact with Robbie from Deadhead and both Maceration and Invocator played many shows back in the days with them in the Netherlands and Denmark. In 2022 both Maceration and Deadhead played the Odense Metalfest here in Denmark.

Please list your personal extreme metal all time faves, maybe with a short explanation why exactly these.

In no particular order it will always be "Left Hand Path" by Entombed (closely followed by "Clandestine" and "Wolverine Blues"), Morbid Angel's "Blessed are the Sick" and the other three albums from that period: "Altars of Madness", "Covenant" and "Domination". Both Entombed and Morbid Angel has probably been the two death metal bands meaning most to me. And off course Slayer's "Reign in Blood" and "South of Heaven" have influnced me a lot. But also the older albums. But for me it all also began earlier with Venom and Mercyful Fate, bands which shaped me and throw me into more extreme metal.

The last words belong to you! Here you can get rid of everything that has not yet been said.

Thanks a lot for doing this and thanks for the support! If you want to see us live in your area don’t hesitate to tell your local organizers to book us or get in touch and we will come to destroy! Check out "It never ends" and keep an eye out for "Serpent Devourment" out in November 2024.