INTERVIEW MANDATORY

"When I personally think back to the last really great death metal records from Germany, whose songs I can always remember, I can only think of Morgoth's "Odium" and the debut album by Crack Up, which was released twelve years ago."

Here is an interview with German old school death metal outfit Mandatory, which I conducted in 2007. Bandleader and guitarist Sascha Beselt talks about the German death metal scene in an interesting way- from a music-historical point of view alone this interview is interesting. The new wave of German death metal bands - names such as Chapel of Disease, Lifeless, Slaughterday, Arroganz, Sulphur Aeon, Wound or Revel in Flesh, many of which were or are still based at the busy label F.D.A. Records - only started a few years later. The album "Adrift Beyond" announced here was finally released in 2010 via the renowned Spanish label Xtreem Music, and in 2012 the band released their previously unreleased debut album "Ripped from the tomb" from 2003. Nothing has happened on Mandatory's Facebook profile since 2015, so the band is probably no longer active, even if there was never an official break-up. Looking back, you might think that Mandatory should perhaps have stayed active with their old-school sound for a few more years in order to gain more attention in the course of the aforementioned revival of more traditional sounds. But be that as it may, enjoy this little trip back in time to an era when most bands were still on Myspace instead of Facebook.