INTERVIEW BJÖRN KÖPPLER (MALADIE / GOD ENSLAVEMENT / TOMBTHROAT)

„Maladie ist sozusagen die Essenz dessen, was ich immer machen wollte.“

Vor etlichen Jahren veranstaltete ich ein Konzert mit Tombthroat und lernte dabei deren Gitarrist Björn Köppler kennen, der heutzutage seine Kreativität mit der von ihm 2009 gegründeten Band Maladie auslebt. Dieses momentan aus sechs Musikern bestehende Extrem-Metal-Kollektiv ist doch um einiges komplexer und vielschichtiger als der Großteil der nationalen als auch internationalen Death/Black-Metal Bands. Ich sprach mit Björn über Maladie, seine ehemaligen Bands Tombthroat und God Enslavement, über seine Heimatstadt Ludwigshafen sowie über den kathartischen Effekt des Texteschreibens.   

Hallo Björn, wie geht es Dir, gerade auch hinsichtlich der Einschränkungen durch die Corona-Pandemie?

Servus Gerald. Mir geht es eigentlich ganz gut. Zumindest abgesehen von Corona, denn das betrifft natürlich auch mich. Ich betreibe ja eine Videothek und die ist nun seit über einem halben Jahr im Lockdown. Das zehrt natürlich an den Nerven, aber da ja die Impfungen so langsam Fahrt aufnehmen (ich bin diese Woche auch dran), hoffe ich natürlich, dass sich die Lage bald etwas beruhigen wird und ich den Laden endlich wieder öffnen kann.  

INTERVIEW DESASTER (DEUTSCH)

Desaster aus Koblenz sind seit gefühlten Äonen eine Institution im Black und Thrash Metal sowie zumindest jedem halbwegs informierten Underground-Kenner ein Begriff, und das wohl mittlerweile weltweit. Nichtsdestotrotz sind die Bandmitglieder immer auf dem Boden geblieben und-so habe ich und bestimmt viele andere auch den Eindruck-verstehen sich immer noch als enthusiastische Fans, die eben auch Musik machen. Diese überaus bescheidene und grundsympathische Art einer Band, die sich selbst nicht superwichtig nimmt, sollte hier doch nochmal Erwähnung finden, da es leider keine Selbstverständlichkeit ist. Wie viele bestimmt wissen, ist gerade das Musikbusiness das beste Pflaster für Narzissten und Egomanen-in meiner jahrelangen Erfahrung musste ich leider die Erfahrung machen, dass es Bands und Musiker gibt, deren Arroganz auf nur einem Bruchteil des Erfolgs einer Band wie Desaster beruht. Diese überaus sympathische Art spiegelt sich auch in den Aussagen von Gitarristen Markus „Infernal“ Kuschke wieder. Wir sprachen über das bald kommende neue Album „Churches without Saints“, das  sich gerade in der Mache befindliche Buchprojekt über die Band und gruselig-lustige Anekdoten aus den goldenen Black Metal 90ern.

Wie sieht es bei Euch im Moment aus, wie ist die Stimmung ? Viele Gigs mussten ja ausfallen bzw. verschoben werden, wann hofft Ihr wieder spielen zu können ? Und was macht das neue Album, wie weit ist da der Prozess bisher ?

Natürlich sind wir heiß darauf, endlich wieder live spielen zu können! Der letzte Gig war im März des letzten Jahres am 6. März in Schweden! Ich denke, vor Mitte des Jahres wird live wohl nichts passieren. Trotzdem ist die Stimmung gut bei uns. Wir sind ja (zum Glück in der jetzigen Krise) keine professionelle Band, sondern haben alle unsere regulären Jobs, die auch mit ein paar Einschränkungen (Odin musste Kurzarbeit machen, aber das kriegt so´n nordischer Gott auch locker weggesteckt!) mehr oder weniger normal weiter gingen. Leid tun mir da echt alle in der Veranstaltungsbranche, deren Existenzen jetzt bedroht sind, da ist echt jetzt und in der nächsten Zeit Solidarität gefragt. Deshalb: wenn das nächste Desaster-Album im Juni rauskommt, kauft lieber die Alben der Kollegen, die das hauptberuflich machen! Ja, das neue Dingen ist fix und fertig, wird "Churches without saints" heißen. 

INTERVIEW DESASTER (ENGLISH)

Desaster from Koblenz have been an institution in black and thrash metal for ages and are known to at least every halfway informed underground connoisseur, and probably worldwide by now. Nevertheless, the band members have always remained down to earth and-as I and I'm sure many others also have the impression-they still see themselves as enthusiastic fans who also make music. This extremely modest and basically likeable way of a band that doesn't take itself too seriously should be mentioned here again, because unfortunately it's not a matter of course. As many people know, the music business is the best place for narcissists and egomaniacs-in my years of experience, I have unfortunately had to learn that there are bands and musicians whose arrogance is based on only a fraction of the success of a band like Desaster. This extremely likeable nature is also reflected in the statements of guitarist Markus "Infernal" Kuschke. We talked about the upcoming new album "Churches without Saints", the book project about the band that is currently in the making and creepy funny anecdotes from the golden Black Metal 90s.

What is the situation like at the moment, how is the mood? Many gigs had to be cancelled or postponed, when do you hope to play again ? And how is the new album coming along, how far is the process ?

Of course we are really looking forward to playing live again! The last gig was in March last year on the 6th of March in Sweden! I don't think anything will happen live before the middle of the year. Nevertheless, the mood is good. We are not a professional band (fortunately in the current crisis), but we all have our regular jobs, which went on more or less normally with a few restrictions (Odin had to work reduced hours, but a Nordic god like him can easily cope with that). I really feel sorry for everyone in the event industry whose livelihoods are now threatened, solidarity is really needed now and in the near future. Therefore, when the next Desaster album comes out in June, you'd better buy the albums of the colleagues who do this full-time! Yes, the new thing is ready and will be called "Churches without saints". 

INTERVIEW SCARABREED

Scarabreed is a relatively new band from Switzerland that plays really good death / black metal. That shouldn't be surprising, since there are old scene veterans here, who already played with earlier, well-known bands. These days the band released their debut album called "Throne of the dark ages", a good reason for an interview.

Hello, I hope you are well, especially in times of the Corona pandemic. Please introduce the band, when did you form, how did it happen, did you know each other before? What did you release before the debut album? In which bands were you active before ?

Scarabreed: Thank you for your interest in Scarabreed and this interview.

Phillip: I have played with Denial and Amputate so far.

Markus: We have all been active in bands before, with Riccardo and Phillip I played in Amputate.

Riccardo: Also Amputate and Denial.

Thomas: I had played with a few bands and also helped out live a lot. I played with Azrael, Sabaism together with Marco from Damnatory and Chris from Sickening Gore, later with Innocent F.F. and 2Black and now you can see where this has brought me.   

INTERVIEW SOULBURN

Soulburn from the Netherlands released their fourth album called "Noa's D'ark" these days, which should definitely be heard by fans who like Asphyx, Celtic Frost, Pentacle and listeners who like Death / Doom and prefer high quality dark music in general. Apart from that, Soulburn have of course long been a brand in their own right and need no comparison with other bands. Furthermore, l would like to point out that the lyrical concept of the new album perfectly reflects the state of our times, which are characterised by climate catastrophes, pandemics and environmental destruction. But more about this in the interview. Guitarist Eric Daniels answered my questions. 

Hey, how are you doing? How are the reactions concerning the new album?

Hey there, we are doing very well, thank you. The reactions on our new album "Noa’s D’ark" are very overwhelming. People like the new album as much as we do, we see a lot of reponse and it makes us proud and happy to see our fans like our new album very much.  

INTERVIEW ANCIENT GATE

Here's an interview with Ancient Gate from Argentina, a very interesting band that is deeply rooted in 90ies black metal. Their music contains the perfect mix between rawness, melody, and some subtle symphonic elements. Besides the fact that band leader Ildrac strongly recommends not to visit his country, he has a lot interesting things to tell...

How are you ? What about the situation concerning Covid-19 in Argentina actually ?

Greetings! Here’s Ildrac, from Ancient Gate, listening to some Diamanda Galás while answering your questions. First of all, thanks to your zine for this oportunity and to everyone reading this interview. Regarding this Covid matter, here in Argentina we are still under quarantine. It has extended from March up until now (November). The situation sucks of course. I have even been diagnosed with covid in September (I’m ok now) so you can say that I am more than fed up with this whole situation. I don’t really know how other countries in the world are dealing with this virus, but here it is tearing the economy apart. A lot of people lost their jobs because of the restrictions imposed by the government. And (from a musician’s point of view) it has affected a lot of bands, not being able to rehearse and release stuff. So a cure can’t come soon enough.

INTERVIEW CHRISTIAN KRIEGER (CHAPEL OF DISEASE)

This time I spoke with Christian from Chapel of Disease about the metal scene in Cologne and surroundings, past and present. Being the same age, I remember some things in almost the same way as Christian. By the way, because of his answers I think I found the perfect name for an old school death metal band: Massive Rat Infestation, haha. 

Hey, please tell us who you are: age, your musical socialization, your local origin, and your previous bands and all other relevant stuff you want to share.

Hey Gerald, yes, like you said, I've been playing bass for Chapel Of Disease for over ten years now and so far there's no end in sight. Before that I was active for many years with Grabnebelfürsten, who were able to make a name for themselves nationwide, which the band name was probably not completely innocent of, haha (Indeed, I remember people who weren't into metal in general talking about the band  just because of that spectacular band name). My first "real" band after various school projects was a punk band in the nineties, with which I had enough for at least two or three gigs in local youth centres. In the meantime I am 42 years old and have been musically active for more than 25 years.

I grew up in a small village of 100 souls near Gummersbach, about 40 kilometres east of Cologne. My musical socialization was probably the classic school of metal, starting in 1990 with AC/DC and then quickly moving on via speed and thrash to death and black metal, although I would still call the latter two my musical home. Even though I now have an extremely wide range of musical tastes, even outside of metal, it always feels a bit like coming home with every new good DM/BM record. With mum it still tastes best, haha! 

REVIEW BOVARY "MES RACINES DANS LE DESERT"

Maybe France is not the first country which comes to mind while speaking about Black Metal, nevertheless well known and / or outstanding bands such as Mütiilation, Antaeus, Osculum Infame or Gorgon, Vlad Tepes (and other "Les Légions Noires"-bands) are or were based there. By the way, there is an very interesting documentation called "Bleu Blanc Satan" about French black metal  including deeper insights in the minds of some of the protagonists.

Bovary from France are often labelled as Depressive Black Metal or "DSBM" ("Depressive suicidal black metal"). Let me go back a bit further, to be honest I never was very attracted by the subgenre called Depressive Black metal or bands labelling themselves using the acronym "DSBM". Yes, I like some records by Shining and sometimes I listen to Wigrid (which surprisingly came back from the dead and released a third full length last year), but in general I was relatively bored by the always same mixture of slowly or mid-tempo orientated  black metal combined with pictures and covers of knives cutting into own flesh or people who hung themselves etc. Often "DSBM" was used to cover up the lack of musical abilities and ideas of the bands concerned. 

INTERVIEW ENTHRONED

Enthroned are one of the big continuities in the world wide black metal scene. Since 1993 this belgian horde delivers great pieces of more or less agressive and traditional black metal. Their newest output "Cold black suns", also the debut for their new label Season of Mist, shows dome deviations from this path, which means that Enthroned added some new elements to their sound and yet, or perhaps exactly for this reason, it's still 100% black metal. Reason enough to talk with Nornagest, longest running band member, part of Enthroned almost since the beginning.

Hey, first of all, how are you ? Did you remained spared from COVID-19 ? How ist the situation in Belgium concerning this virus and how does it affect the band’s situation in general and concerning cancelled and/ or postponed gigs ?

The Plague did not only sneaked into the health of thousands but also and mostly within the music scene and public events, so everyone within the scene is basically affected in one way or another. We did loose a huge amount of opportunities, shows and even rehearsing as a whole is basically impossible as Menthor lives on the other side of the North Sea, as you know, some trips are simply not allowed. We are mostly doing what is possible regarding the situation… On my side, I took this as an opportunity to write the whole of the lyrics of the next Enthroned release and we are working each one on our sides on the musical support. Now, on a personal note, everyone in the band is healthy and none of us has been affected by the virus in that manner. In Belgium, some areas are considered “code red” like the town and province of Antwerp, but the rest of the country is safe in a manner of speaking. We hope the situation will slowly come back to normal as soon as possible, I cannot wait to go back on the road to be honest. 

REVIEW HYEMS "ANATOMIE DES SCHEITERNS"

German black metal outfit Hyems released their new album called "Anatomie des Scheiterns" (which means "anatomy of failure") on May 1st via MDD Records. I really was looking forward to the new record, because the predecessor "Devianz-dem Menschen ein Wolf" (which means "deviance-man is a wolf to man" aka homo homini lupus-you see, these German guys prefer using their native language for their lyrics, but more on that later), released in 2015, is a really great record which received too little attention. The band exists since 2000 and released after some demos three full-lengths and two EPs in all, including the new record.  

INTERVIEW YOTH IRIA

The release of YOTH IRIA's first release (review here) was the perfect reason to talk to one of the legends of the world wide metal scene, namely Jim Mutilator, mostly known for his work with the mighty Rotting Christ and Varathron. By the way, allow me to note that I remember reading my first Rotting Christ-interview in Italian extreme metal Magazine Grind Zone (which published a German edition for a short period) back in 1995. So, 25 years later I myself conduct an interview with Jim, so circles are closing once more.   

First of all I hope you are doing well in this unordinary times. How‘s the situation in Greece concerning the corona-virus ? How does it affect peoples daily life ? What about today's economical situation after the beginning of the financial crisis in 2010 ? Is there a lot of fear, that Corona will throw the Greek economy back to earlier state again ?

At the moment I'm back at my village sided in the Pindos mountains and I keep myself as isolated as I really can. At least the situation in Greece is quite under control compared to other European countries. Very few people have died and all of them were aged over 70, but of course all the people have the right to live the longest. Of course the daily life has been totally different as there are limits on all activities and you can go out only for specific reasons like buying foods, medicines, gas....
The economical situation is still bad and I think after this unexpected pandemic the economy will go even worse. 

REVIEW HOR "EXITIUM"

After the great return of some legendary Greek black metal musicians with YOTH IRIA, this review is about another Greek black metal band called HOR. To be honest, I haven't heard the name of this band before Vangelis, the label manager from Sanit Mils Records contacted me and introduced this band to me. If this hadn't happened, this really astonishing band would have passed me and maybe I would never have taken notice of their masterpiece called "Exitium". HOR was founded in 2017 by two musicians which use the pseudonyms Ophion and Throne and "Exitium" is their first official release. 

REVIEW YOTH IRIA "UNDER HIS SWAY"

I don't remember exactly where I read it first, but when I took notice from a new black metal "supergroup" consisting of members from legendary bands such as Rotting Christ,Varathron, Necromantia, Thou Art Lord, Diabolos Rising and Ravencult for example, I was very excited how the final tracks would sound. Could the band fulfill the high expectations me and a lot of people have because of the prominent bandmembers and their glorious past ? To become concrete YOTH IRIA is Jim Mutilator (ex-Rotting Christ, ex- Varathron etc.), the Magus (Necromantia, Thou Art Lord, ex-Rotting Christ, ex-Diabolos Rising etc.), George Emmanuel (Lucifer's Child, ex-Rotting Christ) and J.V. Maelstrom (Ravencult etc).  

INTERVIEW JASON NETHERTON / "SEND BACK MY STAMPS"-FANZINE ARCHIVE / MISERY INDEX

Hey Jason, first of all, how are you doing ? Some months ago I found your fanzine archive (look here), which is really great ! So I think you are a very busy man, playing with Misery Index and running this fanzine archive, furthermore you published this book about death metal history called „Extremity retained-notes from the death metal underground“-so are you somekind of workaholic ?

Haha, no its just a labor of love; I’ve been dedicated to metal since I was a kid, and extreme metal since I was a teenager, so although it takes up most of my spare time, its never a burden. In fact all of my projects (band related and fanzine archive) are kind of like part-time projects now. Aside from real work, I do what I can when I can. Lately the fanzine archive has slowed down a bit, but I have not forgotten it. Once things settle down I will get back into it more actively. Right now I try to add one zine a month, and I already have a few hundred in there, so its growing slow and steady (but probably not as fast as some people would like, I know).  

REVIEW ELÄNDE "DÖDENS RIKE"

ELÄNDE is a Swedish three-piece black metal band from Gothenburg which exists since 2010. Before the release of their current album named "Dödens rike" they released a demo and an EP.
Most prominent member of this band is for sure Trish, who plays drums in ELÄNDE, I think some people know her through a lot of bands and projects such as DödsÄngel, Djevelkult or Skitliv. Besides ELÄNDE, she actually plays for example in Urarv, an avantgarde black metal band in which Aldrahn, well known through Dodheimsgard /DHG, does vocals and guitars. But enough of that namedropping, I only mentioned this to point out that ELÄNDE consists of well-experienced scenesters and musicians.

ROMANIAN SCENE REPORT

To be honest, I don't know much about the (extreme) metal scene of Romania. Like most people involved in extreme metal I have listened to Negura Bunget and Dordeduh and of course I know (very metal related) the story of Dracula (Vlad III Draculea), that lyrically inspired countless metal bands. But after that I have reached the end of my knowledge concerning Romanian metal. Mihai ”Coro” Caraveţeanu of Axa Valahă Productions wrote a really interesting scene report and I can't express how grateful I am for these deep insights !

ROMANIAN SCENE REPORT

A dark letter from the land of Dracula

Hi! First of all I’d like to say I’m honored that someone invited me over to write about the Romanian metal scene, I did that several times before in this life, but my last attempt happened more than a decade ago, when I thought there was still hope that something will change here for good. As most of you most probably know already, Romania is a country in the Eastern Europe, with a tragic past, including more than fifty years of different totalitarian regimes, the longest being the harshest communist regime behind the Iron Curtain, a dictatorship built on fear and a spiral of silence that affected and still affects the nation as a whole even three decades after it was supposedly finished. It happened in the final days of 1989 when the dictatorship was over, the dictator executed, with his execution broadcasted on the national television and with more than 1000 collateral victims of the single bloody revolution from all the social and political movements which happened in the East around the same time.  

REVIEW EKPYROSIS "DEATHTRIPS"

At the Magoth-gig last saturday I met the guy behind The Crawling Chaos Records who sold some stuff on his distro table. We talked about black metal in general and Ildjarn in particular and he advised me a band named EKPYROSIS, whose latest release is published by his label. To be honest, until then only knew the Italian death metal band of the same Name ( I found out that there are some other bands called EKPYROSIS). On their newest release named "Deathtrips", that is only available on tape (limited to 150 handnumbered copies and as digital download here), you can hear six tracks with a duration of 18 minutes. EKPYROSIS are labeled as avant-garde black metal, and I don't totally disagree, but hearing the term avant-garde within a black metal context I think to bands such as newer Dodheimsgard / DHG, Arcturus, Fleurety or Ved Buens Ende, and all these examples sound totally different, much more progressive, more complex and technical.

INTERVIEW NORDLYS

"Of course the glory old days are great to remember, it was a really magic time when the whole Black Metal thing started in the early nineties, musically and spiritually. " (A. /Nordlys)

When I heard about the fact about the re-creation of an gig which took place 20 years ago including NORDLYS, LUNAR AURORA, NAGELFAR and MIGHTIEST I decided that I had to visit this, even if I and my attendance had to travel to Freiburg / Black Forest, Southern Germany. For the first time I visited the "Crash"-Club, the dark vault cellar is predestined for black metal gigs. LUNAR AURORA and NAGELFAR  ceased to exist, so the line up was completed by KERMANIA and a project band called WELTENGÄNGER (named after LUNAR AURORAs debut album). The concert itself was a great experience (here you can see some pictures published by the local news portal), so some months after I decided to do an interview with A. from NORDLYS.

First of all: how did you experience The „Past is alive“ concert at the Crash in Freiburg with MIGHTIEST, KERMANIA and WELTENGÄNGER ? In my opinion (and my attencance felt the same) NORDLYS was the „strongest“ band on this evening. And how exactly did the idea of took shape, who had the inital idea ?

It was a great event and experience, we really appreciated the effort the guys from Mightiest, especially Oliver, put into making this possible and as enjoyable as possible, not only the gig itself but also everything around it. The initial idea came from Mightiest to re-create an event that I had organized 20 years ago in Bad Wörishofen with Lunar Aurora, Nagelfar, Mightiest and us. First plans were simply to meet up after all this years but the whole thing turned out a bit bigger. Great to hear you enjoyed the performance, it went surprisingly well in regard of us meeting up for rehearsing only a couple of times before the gig.  

INTERVIEW GRAFVITNIR

GRAFVITNIR from Sweden released their fitfth album named "Keys to the Mysteries Beyond", which is a a really outstanding black metal release. So I decided to to an interview with Niantiel- we spoke about black metal, occultism and their aversion to public relation - hope you like it.

First of all, how were the reactions towards the new album ? I think most of the listeners like it a lot, right ? In my opinion  “Keys to the Mysteries Beyond“ is one of the best black metal albums within the last years and I hope in some years it will be regarded as a classic! It can be described as fast tradtional Swedish black metal in perfection, I can hear similarities to Sacramentum, Svartsyn, Sorhin, Dissection and (old) Watain. Do you agree ?

Thank you very much for your words of appreciation. The reactions have been mostly positive, but what is most important is that we ourselves are satisfied with our creation, the rest is only a bonus. 
I would say that I personally can hear the similarities with Sacramentum, Dissection and of course early Watain (which at that time was hugely inspired by Dissection). The reason for this is probably because music usually is derived from the soul and music created by swedes tend to have noticeable characteristics that are audible and well documented. 

The cover artwork from Daniele Valeriani is a really outstanding piece of art as well, how did you get in contact with him? I have seen that this artwork also was published in an art book together with other cover artworks from other artists.

In fact, our good friend Daniele contacted us and offered us cooperation. When I later saw the first sketch of what was to become the cover art for "Keys to the Mysteries Beyond" I instantly knew that this was going to be what we were looking for. Our cooperation runs smoothly and we are extremely happy to work with such a magnificent talent that he is.  

REVIEW ORTUS "WHERE SHADOWS GATHER"

There are some rare moments in life where you find a really outstanding piece of art, although you didn't expect something great....This case happened to me with the band ORTUS from Mainz (not to be confused with a Black Metal band named ORKUS from the Rhineland area, which split  up some years ago ).

ORTUS exist since 2013 and this EP named "Where shadows gather" is their first official release released by Worship Tapes. It contains of four relatively long tracks with a duration of ca. 29 minutes and is limited to 102 tapes.