INTERVIEW TOMBTHROAT

"This omnipresent arrogance is the reason for all the shit that happens in this world."

Here is an old interview with the death metal band Tombthroat from Ludwigshafen am Rhein in Rhineland-Palatinate. The band was founded in 1996, it took them four albums, two EPs and the obligatory demo at the beginning and disbanded after almost two decades in 2015. Back then I organized a concert with the band in my hometown of Brühl (Rhineland), shortly after which this interview took place in the summer of 2007. Band founder Björn, who I'm sure some people know from his band Maladie (look for an interview in German here) and who recorded a really great, recommendable death / grind album with (ex-) members of Misery Index and Dying Fetus under the name God Enslavement in 2016, talked about the then newly released album "Blood red history", live gigs, the tour with Vital Remains and also about somewhat different topics such as his beard. In 2012, the band released what I consider to be thier best work, the truly exceptional album "Eden apoacalypse". Now reading the interview,  it's also interesting how time flies, 17 years later, many of the bands mentioned, such as Necrophagist, Veneral Disease and Lifthrasil have since passed away.  But read for yourself what Björn had to say back then...

INTERVIEW DEPRESSION

"I'm sure that if we should ever call it quits, the friendship will remain."

Some time ago, I rediscovered the Depression albums in my personal collection and listened to them again very intensively up and down. If that's not a good reason to take a closer look at this German veterans of the scene, which have been playing great, goovy death/grind since 1989. This year also saw a split release with Swedish death metallers Repuked on vinyl and CD.  I spoke with band founder, drummer and guitarist Kai and vocalist Ron. 

REVIEW SICKENING GORE "DESTRUCTIVE REALITY"

This time I would like to present you the only album of the Swiss death metal band Sickening Gore. This band from Zurich, which previously went by the name Reactor, released "Destructive Reality" on Massacre Records in 1993, only to disband a short time later. I still remember a review of a concert in a big German metal magazine, the band played in Zurich as support of Carcass. A review in the then issue of Metal Hammer compared the band stylistically to Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse. This is quite accurate, even if the world class of the compositions of Morbid Angel could not be reached, but which band can claim this? Nevertheless, the band varied on their only album skillfully between high-speed bludgeoning, grindcore influences and dragged parts. 

INTERVIEW VOMIT SPELL

The name Vomit Spell had been known to me for some time. In fact, I had listened to the demo some time ago, but then lost track of the band again. A mistake, as it now turns out, as the debut album released on FDA Records a few months ago offers great stuff for all fans of dark sounds who know what to do with a dark and intense mixture of death metal and grindcore (read the review of the album HERE) !

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Hey, first tell us something about the band. When was Vomit Spell founded? Did you all know each other before or did you at least partly get to know each other through the band? In which other bands did you play before?

Hi, Markus (guitar) and Jochen (drums) met in 2015 through an ad and first met in a friend's rehearsal room to see if it would fit. The first song was then written and rehearsed in Jochen's gazebo (!!!). Then we rented a room and recruited Philipp (vocals) and Sepp (bass), both buddies. Marco, our second guitarist, joined us shortly before the demo was written. Sepp has left us in the meantime and since then we have been desperately looking for a replacement on bass. Markus used to play in the grindcore band Nyctophobic and since a few years in the crust/metal band Hellknife. Jochen was active in Hafrm, a local hardcore band from Mainz, and the death metal band I am Havoc.

REVIEW VOMIT SPELL "VOMIT SPELL" (ENGLISH)

Vomit Spell from Mainz released their self-titled debut album on FDA Records in October last year, after a first demo was released in 2019. In 2020, this demo was also released officially on CD by FDA Records.

Vomit Spell play a great mixture of death metal and grindcore. I just throw names like Terrorizer, Repulsion, Napalm Death, Carcass or Autopsy into the round. But, to name a band that doesn't belong to this circle of old masters, you can bring the Danes of Undergang into play. So you see, this is not about technique and sophisticated aspects, but Vomit Spell dig deep in the dirt to create these ominous sounds. So on this release, atmosphere and authenticity take centre stage over the course of a good half hour!    

REVIEW VOMIT SPELL "VOMIT SPELL"

Vomit Spell aus Mainz veröffentlichten im Oktober letzten Jahres ihr selbstbetiteltes Debütalbum auf FDA Records, nachdem im Jahr 2019 schon ein erstes Demo veröffentlicht wurde. Dieses gelangte 2020 schlussendlich ebenfalls bei FDA Records nachträglich zu offiziellen Veröffentlichungsehren auf CD.

Vomit Spell spielen eine großartige Mischung aus Death Metal und Grindcore. Ich werfe hier einfach mal Namen wie Terrorizer, Repulsion, Napalm Death, Carcass oder Autopsy in die Runde. Aber, um eine Band zu benennen, die nicht diesem Kreis der alten Meister zugehörig ist, kann man die Dänen von Undergang ins Spiel bringen. Ihr seht also schon, hier geht es nicht um Technik und Schöngeisterei, sondern Vomit Spell wühlen tief im Dreck um diese unheilvollen Klänge zu erschaffen. Auf dieser Veröffentlichung stehen also Atmosphäre und Authentizität im Laufe der guten halben Stunde im Vordergrund!    

INTERVIEW ULCEROUS PHLEGM

"Even my parents still tell me today how nice they all were, and so polite at the breakfast table together at my house." 

I recently discovered on some sites an English version of this interview with Bernd from the legendary Bavarian grinders Ulcerous Phlegm, originally published in German (read here) in November 2017 via Systematic Desensitization Zine. Well, Ulcerous Phlegm were - as can be seen from the numerous cover versions of their most famous track "Consequences"- an internationally known and influential band. So an English version makes all the more sense, which I would not like to withhold from you at this point, of course.

Here is an interview with Bernd, who used to play bass and do vocals for the legendary Bavarian grinders Ulcerous Phlegm, who disbanded in 1993. I'll start the time machine...here you can see Bernd in action, wearing a chic Shelter shirt...

Hey Bernd, let's get started. First of all, I have to say by way of introduction that I - born in 1978 - never really got to know Ulcerous Phlegm during their active time. When you disbanded, I was 15 years old... I came across the name Ulcerous Phlegm from time to time over the decades, but I only really took notice of the band when the discography was released via Power It Up. Did you hear from several people who felt the same way or did the Discography CD/LP rather go to the people who already knew you anyway (although a slimmed down Discography CD had been released before or even two ??)?

Hi! Yes, you are definitely not the only one. Thanks to the discography on Power-It-Up I even got in touch with people who are now just 20 years old and interested in grindcore / death metal of the 80s and early 90s. But that was also a time that was style-defining. Nevertheless, I don't think you should only dig in the past. Musically, every decade has exciting developments to show. 

INTERVIEW MANGLED TORSOS

Some months ago I re-discovered both Mangled Torsos-albums in my collection and while listening to them I noticed again how good (and unfortunately underrated) this band from the southern part of Germany has been. So I found an "unofficial" Mangled Torsos-facebook page and got in contact via this page with ex-member Frank, who played bass for Mangled Torsos. So, to be honest, this page is maybe "semi-official", haha. And because I am this kind of nostalgic person, I like to do interviews with bands who ceased to exist long times ago very much, maybe because it reminds me to my own youth, and I think most people will agree, that youth is a very specific time in life that can't be repeated. Musicwise it has been the most intense and exciting times in my life,  discovering all this new and great stuff via tapetrading and so on. So enjoy this conversation about times where death metal began to start and thereafter to explode in Germany. A time where a label such as Nuclear Blast sent copied order lists in black and white via postal mail. Besides Frank, Patrick who played drums, answered my questions. Here we go...

Please tell the readers of Systematic Desensitization Zine who you are and some facts about Mangled Torsos: when did you start the band, what were the main reasons and inspiration for starting an own band and did you know each other or did you get in contact because of searching for musicians to start a band ?

Frank: Hi and first of all many thanks for your interest! I'm Frank and I didn't start the band but played bass in Mangled Torsos.

We all knew us before the band was founded, Patrick visited the same school like me, and as we were obviously metal fans, we got into contact pretty soon. We started hanging around after school and Oli was a good friend of Patrick so I also get to know him. We listened to everything we could get and were evolving our taste more and more from thrash metal (Slayer/Kreator/Sodom/Destruction... ) to death metal- and grindcore- bands like Entombed, Autopsy, Death, Carcass, Napalm Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower... 

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).  

INTERVIEW DEATH TOLL 80K

This is an interview with Finnish grindcore outfit DEATH TOLL 80K. They released their second album entitled "Step Down" which should be a listening pleasure for all lovers of old school grindcore.Join us on a trip in the deepest Finnish underground...

First of all, please tell us more about the new record "Step Down“. How do you feel about the new record ? What about the  process of writing and recording this album ?

It’s very much the album we wanted to make. Faster, noisier and more out of control than "Harsh Realities", but still having the same type of recognisable songwriting. The oldest songs were written back in 2011 and have appeared on the split with Sete Star Sept and the rest at different points between that and 2016. Now we had a clearer vision of the album as a whole than with "Harsh Realities", so instead of just writing songs we were writing songs for this album. How we write really varies, sometimes a song feels ready the first time we play it together, sometimes it keeps changing from rehearsal to rehearsal. And considering how rarely we’re able to rehearse that can literally take years. Finding time was the most difficult thing about writing and recording the album, it was actually recorded at four or five different sessions in various places during a couple of months. Big thanks for how the record turned out goes to our friend Mikael who recorded and mixed the whole thing, and who really helped us achieve our vision.  

INTERVIEW ULCEROUS PHLEGM

Hier nun ein Interview mit Bernd, der früher bei den legendären bayerischen Grindern von ULCEROUS PHLEGM, die sich damals im fernen Jahr 1993 auflösten, den Bass bediente und für die Vocals zuständig war. Ich schmeisse die Zeitmaschine mal an...hier seht ihr Bernd in Aktion , mit schickem SHELTER-Shirt...

Hey Bernd, lass uns mal anfangen. Als erstes mus ich zur Einleitung sagen, dass ich -Jahrgang 1978-Ulcerous Phlegm zu ihrer aktiven Zeit gar nie richtig mitbekommen habe. Als Ihr Euch aufgelöst habt, war ich 15 Jahre alt...Der Name Ulcerous Phlegm begegnete mir im Laufe der Jahrzente immer mal wieder, aber so richtig habe ich die Band erst zur Kenntnis genommen, als über Power It Up die Discographie erschienen ist. Habt ihr von mehrere Leuten gehört, denen es genau so ging oder haben die Discography-CD/LP eher doch die Leute gekauft, die Euch sowieso schon kannten (wobei eine abgespecktere Discographie-CD ja wohl schon vorher erschienen war bzw. sogar zwei ??)

Hi! Ja, da bist du definitiv nicht der einzige. Dank der Discographie auf Power-It-Up kam ich sogar mit Leuten in Kontakt, die jetzt gerade mal 20 sind und sich für Grindcore / Death Metal der 80er und frühen 90er interessieren. Das war aber auch eine Zeit, welche stilprägend war. Dennoch sollte man, finde ich, nicht ausschließlich in der Vergangenheit wühlen. Musikalisch hat eigentlich jedes Jahrzehnt spannende Entwicklungen vorzuweisen.

Gleichzeitig kam ich durch diese Discographie auch wieder mit Leuten in Kontakt, welche ich zum Teil seit knapp 30 Jahren völlig aus den Augen verloren hatte! Das ist dann sehr spannend, weil sich natürlich jeder irgendwie weiterentwickelt hat und der gemeinsame Nenner nicht mehr zwangsweise vorhanden sein muss. Umso schöner dann, wenn es trotz all der Jahre wieder harmoniert.

Es gab um 2005 herum mal den Versuch, eine Ulcerous Phlegm Discographie als Doppel-CD herauszubringen, aber das wurde dann wieder fallen gelassen. 2008 erschien unter dem Namen "Make-Up your mind" ein Tape auf einem amerikanischen Labels, wo ich alte Übungs- und Live-Aufnahmen zusammengestöpselt habe. Hat Spaß gemacht! Die Discographie auf Power-It-Up ist aber definitiv die "amtlichere", was die Vollständigkeit der für Ulcerous Phlegm relevanten Aufnahmen angeht.