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". 

INTERVIEW DEAD HEAD

"Musicians pretending that they never listen to their own music. It’s a great way to come across as cool, interesting or nonchalant. But frankly I don’t believe them."

This interview with Rob, one of the two Dead Head guitarists, is really worth reading. Quite apart from the fact that Dead Head from the Netherlands are one of the greatest thrash metal bands on this planet and have once again recorded an extremely strong piece of extreme music with their new EP "Shadow Soul", the answers are captivating in their entertaining honesty, self-reflection and above all the fact that someone here simply emphasizes that he is pleased with what he and the band have achieved instead of lamenting what has not been achieved. A very healthy attitude to life that would probably make our planet a better place if everyone thought like this. But enough talk, read for yourself...

REVIEW SUFFERSYSTEM "DISINTEGRATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL"

Suffersystem from the beautiful half-timbered town of Hattingen in the Ruhr area will release their sixth album "Disintegration of the Individual" in mid-March, like its predecessor from 2021, once again via Black Blood Records. The two band members Dirk and Daniel, who are active in other bands such as Defected Decay (read a detailed interview in English here, in German here), False Mutation (who are also releasing a new album in March this year) and - relatively recently - Seeds of Torment, have added a new, fantastic chapter to the history of Suffersystem. The music on the ten tracks, which have a total playing time of 45 minutes, always moves between death and thrash metal, with a clear edge towards death metal.

INTERVIEW MASTER

The release of the strong new Master album "Saints Dispelled" provided a good opportunity to talk to Paul Speckmann about the new release as well as other topics.

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Hello Paul, how are you doing with the new record, is it a kind of relief when a work sees the light of day, people can buy it and you see the reactions? Or are you already totally experienced after all these years, so that it’s just routine? 

Sure it’s a relief when it’s finally released, considering the album was recorded nearly a year ago! Nothing is routine in the world of recording, it’s by far one of the best things in the world! We always have a blast recording! It’s killer to get your thoughts and ideas out on the market! It gives people a chance to read your thoughts on what’s happening in the crazy world around us at this moment. I use this platform to share my thoughts and ideas with the world, obviously not everyone is going to agree with all of them, but at least with a recording contract, it gives you a chance to put things out there!  

REVIEW MASTER "SAINTS DISPELLED"

Master have also honored us with a new album via Hmmerheart Records.The strong predecessor "Vincictive Miscreant" is already six years old, so it's high time for new Master material. Mr. Speckmann and his bandmates once again offer an insanely good mix of death and thrash metal, as only Master can. Even though Master's music is of course not innovative these days, which is not the band's aim at all, you can still recognize the band among legions of death metal bands, and that's pretty much the highest compliment you can pay an extreme metal band, which on a spontaneous consideration on my part only applies to a maximum of two dozen bands. 

INTERVIEW TANKARD (ENGLISH)

„They also only boil with water!“

When the Frankfurt thrashers Tankard  visited the Groove Bar in Cologne-Wahn for the second time towards the end of March, it was a good opportunity for an interview with frontman Gerre. Due to an unforeseen delay, and the fact that both Gerre and myself didn't feel like doing an interview under time pressure, we decided to make a second attempt a few days later via video link. Read here what the likeable frontman has to say about the lyrics of the last album "Pavlov's Dawgs", the Corona pandemic, the social skills of metal fans and his, even after all these decades unbroken enthusiasm for metal and new albums.

INTERVIEW TANKARD

„Die kochen auch nur mit Wasser!“

Als gegen Ende März die Frankfurter Thrasher von Tankard bereits zum zweiten Mal die Groove Bar in Köln-Wahn beehrten, bot sich dies als gute Gelegenheit für ein Interview mit Frontmann Gerre an. Aufgrund einer nicht vorhergesehenen Verzögerung, und der Tatsache, dass sowohl Gerre als auch meine Wenigkeit keine Lust auf ein unter Zeitdruck geführtes Interview verspürten, entschlossen wir uns, das Ganze einige Tage später per Videoschaltung nachzuholen. Lest hier, was der sympathische Frontmann über die Texte des letzten Albums "Pavlov's Dawgs", die Corona-Pandemie, die soziale Kompetenzen von Metal-Fans und seine, auch nach all den Jahrzehnten ungebrochene Begeisterung für Metal und neue Alben, zu sagen hat.

INTERVIEW MILLE / KREATOR

"Global problems are also difficult to solve at the local level. As long as humanity does not see itself as a world community, it will hardly be possible to carry out rules that effectively counteract climate change."

After I had already conducted an interview with Mille more than five years ago in the run-up to the release of "Gods of violence", the new strong "Hate über alles" album, which this time managed to land at number 2 in the German album charts, offered itself as a good reason to repeat the matter. Since then, a lot has happened in Germany, Europe and globally, just think of the Corona pandemic, the increasingly apparent climate change, the war in Ukraine and also the, at least in the social networks seemingly clearer division of society. I talked about these and other topics with the band leader, who now lives in Berlin.

INTERVIEW MILLE / KREATOR

"Globale Probleme lassen sich auch auf lokaler Ebene nur schwer lösen. Solange sich die Menschheit nicht als Weltgemeinschaft begreift, werden kaum Regeln durchgeführt werden können, die dem Klimawandel effektiv entgegenwirken."

Nachdem ich vor über fünf Jahren im Vorfeld der Veröffentlichung von "Gods of violence" schon einmal ein Interview mit Mille geführt hatte, bot sich das neue starke "Hate über alles" -Album, welches diesmal auf Platz 2 der deutschen Albencharts landen konnte, als guten Grund an, diese Angelegenheit zu wiederholen. Seitdem hat sich vieles in Deutschland, Europa und global getan, man denke nur an die Corona-Pandemie, den immer stärker zu Tage tretenden Klimawandel, der Krieg in der Ukraine und auch die, zumindest in den sozialen Netzwerken scheinbar deutlich werdendere Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Über diese und weitere Themen sprach ich mit dem mittlerweile in Berlin lebenden Bandkopf.

REVIEW PROTECTOR "EXCESSIVE OUTBURST OF DEPRAVITY" (DEUTSCH)

Mit "Excessive Outburst Of Depravity" veröffentlichen Protector, die deutsch-schwedische Band um Martin Missy, dem einzig verbliebenen Mitglied der Originalbesetzung, das vierte Album nach der Reunion im Jahr 2011, diesmal wieder über High Roller Records. Seit der Wiederbelebung der Band sind Protector nun erfreulicherweise einer größeren Anzahl und vor allem einer neuen Generation von Metal-Fans bekannt, dennoch gehören Protector leider zum Club der unterbewertetsten Metal-Bands aller Zeiten. In einer fairen Welt hätten Protector den Status einer Band wie Sodom, aber gut, das ist eine andere Geschichte...  

REVIEW PROTECTOR "EXCESSIVE OUTBURST OF DEPRAVITY"

With "Excessive Outburst Of Depravity" Protector, the German-Swedish band around Martin Missy, the only remaining member of the original line-up, releases the fourth album after the reunion in 2011, this time again via High Roller Records. Since the revival of the band, Protector are now fortunately known to a larger number and especially to a new generation of metal fans, yet Protector unfortunately belong to the club of the most underrated metal bands of all time. In a fair world Protector would have the status of a band like Sodom, but well, that's another story...  

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 THE TROOPS OF DOOM

The Troops of Doom are a new Brazilian band consisting of ex-Sepultura guitarist and bassist Jairo Guedz, who can be heard on the mangy Sepultura early works "Bestial Devastation" and "Morbid Visions". Besides Jairo, the band consists of other deserving scene veterans. The band's first official release, the EP "The rise of heresy", released on Blood Blast Distribution (a sub-label of Nuclear Blast) indulges in the good old raw thrash / death that characterised Sepultura in the early days of their career. Consequently, there are also two Sepultura covers on this EP, namely "Bestial Devastation " and "Troops of Doom". Read the interview with Jairo here.

Hello Jairo, how are you at the moment? What is the Corona pandemic doing in Brazil at the moment?

Hello Gerald, things are kinda crazy over here. People politized this pandemic shit too much and it is far from ok, but we are trying to do our best concerning new music, the band and our next steps. Hope you are fine in Germany.

REVIEW DEATHMACE "COFFIN' MAGGOTS"

Almost exactly two years ago I reviewed Deathmace's debut album named "Bleeding Frenzy" (look here for the review) which convinced me very much with its powerful mixture between death and thrash metal.

INTERVIEW CENTRATE

Some weeks ago I found more or less by chance this band called Centrate in the depths of the world wide web. Their logo reminded me of Slayer, so the musical direction wasn't difficult to guess. 

Hey, first of all please introduce the band to the readers of Systematic Desensitization Zine. Who are you, when did you found the band and so on…

Hey, we are an underground Thrash Metal band from Dillenburg (Hessen), Germany and we founded the band in 2010.

We are: Niki – Vocals, Marcel – Bass, Tobi – Guitar, Jonas - Guitar and me, Manu –Drums. Jonas left the band a few weeks ago, but he will join us for the next few live shows.