NECROWRETCH have just unleashed the third full-length album, and I dare
to say that “Satanic Slavery” will be one of the finest death metal albums of
the year. As blasphemous, twisted and intense
as the album cover, the music hooked me up (or rather, enslaved me)
immediately. Guitarist/vocalist and
founding member Vlad answered the following questions…Now you are in hell…
Well you have a new album out so let´s
start talking about the newborn
creature, how happy are you with
how “Satanic Slavery” has turned out, in
terms of how it sounds but also in terms of how it looks and could you possibly
share with us few details of the recording process, studio time etc.?
Vlad: Infernal hails! I can
easily say that it’s our most diabolical release ever! We worked very hard to
push the maximum energy from each musician in order to deliver the most
blasphemous, furious, evil putrid death metal album.
I’ve worked around six
months to write the album and after a few home demos we entered the studio and
in a few days the album was complete. From the start I had a clear idea of how the
result would sound but the mix and master turned out so great that the final
listening was way above my expectations. Also, that was the first time we
recorded live, and it clearly adds a great dynamic to the music.
How would you describe the style and sound of this new album
compared to your previous stuff, the production sounds raw and old school
without sounding “trendy” “or “Swedish styled” if you know what I mean, what did you want to achieve with the sound
on the new album?
Vlad: We never wanted to sound like this band or
another… We just want to deliver the maximum overkill of death metal. I like
the Swedish sound of all the classic sunlight albums but I will never use this
kind of sound for Necrowretch. We need something rawer, more satanic to express
ourselves. For me a great extreme metal album is the kind of album where you
get smashed from the very first notes, for example: Beneath the remains.
What inspired and what´s the concept
behind the album title “Satanic Slavery”, Is there an overall theme to the songs on
the album?
Vlad: Satanic Slavery talks about our twisted
version of some of the so called holy texts. The lyrics contain many hidden
items that only some zealots will be able to find. To get this quick, the album
starts with a satanic disease spreading and turning mankind to servants of
darkness. The album ends with our life doctrine: follow nothing but sin and
lust. All in one, Satanic Slavery is a great title as it’s a perfect
description of our conception of extreme metal in our lives.
In my opinion the vocals are one of the highlights on the album, I
really dig this kind of sick twisted hellish type of vocals, are you inspired
or influenced by any particular singer?
Vlad: I like extreme metal
with extreme vocals, where you can hear that the singer pushes himself to the
maximum… I was inspired this way by vocals from albums such as Sepultura –
Morbid Visions, Merciless – The Awakening, Marduk – Heaven shall burn…
It´s difficult to choose just one song from the album, since the
whole album is equal in quality and intensity, but I´d say that “Evil Names” is
one of my faves, can you tell me more about the composition of this song and
its lyrics?
Vlad: Evil Names is a song
in which the lyrics take a very important place, because they are growing in
the same way as the music. The more intense your punishment gets the more
furious the music becomes. It was a very interesting challenge for me to write
a song with this goal and we’ll definitely play this song live.
Please tell us about the cover art concept and the impressive design
done by NekroniKon. How is it related to
the music and how should one integrate the two.
Vlad: As the aim was to
deliver the most satanic album so far, we contacted Nekronikon to submit the
idea for him to draw the artwork. So we sent him the lyrics of the album and
after a few sketches he came up with this almighty artwork, first in black and
white (used in the LP version) then he added colors (for the cd version). Again
if you look well at the artwork and the lyrics of the title song, you’ll
clearly see some links between the art and the music.
Why did you decide to
use a black and white version for the LP? (still looks killer btw!)
Vlad: As told before the
artwork already looked great in black and white and we thought that it was a
shame not to use this version.
Pls name some of your all time fave album covers.
Vlad: Almost all Iron
Maiden… Also Autopsy - Severed Survival, Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness,
Merciless - The Awakening…
Do you personally prefer vinyl before CDs? What are the LPs that
you love most in your collection and which is that one that you still don´t
have?
Vlad: LP are far way a
better item imo, but I also like CD for example to listen while driving… I
think my favorite LPs are the old ones signed by band members, it adds a lot of
memories and feelings when you listen to them.
You are using a new logo this time, How come you decided to change
your logo to a new one?
Vlad: The old logo was much too shitty to create proper shirts or
posters designs… Also it was very small and we were always put apart in
festivals flyers… So we redrawn the entire logo and came up with this new one,
but I prefer to talk about an upgraded logo, because apart of the symmetry there’s
not much changes…
What´s the significance of the name Necrowretch, and why did you
choose it as the band name?
Vlad: The Necrowretch is an ugly priest possessed by hell, leading an
inquisition upon the living… That’s a creature I created in my mind many years
before playing music. Also I like Necro- in a band name, it naturally sounds
killer.
You
left Century Media to sign with Season of Mist, how did the deal with SOM
initially come about?
Vlad: We felt that our collaboration with
Century Media wasn’t pushing the band enough… We simply had different views
regarding the future of the band… With this new unholy alliance with Season of
Mist the band is back into French hands in order to soil more ground!
The band has had several line-up changes, now you have Malik
replacing Amphycion on bass and Kev Desecrator, who played drums with the band
previously, now in guitars, do you see this line-up stable in long-term?
Vlad: I’m very upset of all these line-up changes… But at a certain
point you feel that you’ve taken the maximum of people and if you want to push
the band further you need to start working with more dedicated musicians.... In
Necrowretch, the band is the priority number one, and there is no space for
anything else.
You´ve recorded cover tunes of bands such as Death, Merciless,
Nihilist, Slayer…what other bands do you like to play covers for future
releases?
Vlad: I would really like to play cover of the great Mortem! But also crazier
things such as Judas Priest in a pure death metal version.
The French scene unleashed great releases lately, Cadaveric Fumes,
Necroblood, Venefixion…Skelethal are about to release a promising debut album,
do you listen to any of this bands? In your opinion what bands do we have to take a look at?
Vlad: Of course they are
great bands and we shared stage with them many times. You can also check out
Hexecutor, which slays in live!
And what about the legacy of old school bands such as Aggressor,
Massacra, Loudblast, Mercyless…how important is the early stuff of this bands
to you?
Vlad: You know at each interview/review there is always a comparison to
Massacra, Aggressor, etc… . Of course I really like their music but I don’t
feel grateful to them at any point, we’re simply another generation of maniacs
inspired by the same music (Slayer, Death, Morbid Angel…).
How important is for the band to play live and how do you feel
onstage? What kind of reaction from the crowd do you expect when the first song
is unleashed?
Vlad: The live performance is the part I prefer the most, alongside
with the tours… You know it will be a great show when the crowd screams “hail
satan” between each song !
You played a gig with a drum machine once, how was the
experience like? Which show was the most memorable to you so far?
Vlad: Aaaaah damn, it was so horrible, I don’t want to remember this
show… Our first drummer screwed us one week before the show and we simply
didn’t want to fuck the organizer of the gig, so we went with the drum machine,
but believe me, this won’t happen again!
I have a lot of great memories from shows in Istanbul, Malaysia and
also France, Germany… Many festivals, but the best is yet to come I think.
Who has been the best band you ever seen live?
Vlad: Judas Priest & Iron Maiden! And also I keep a great memory
from the Morbid Angel show in 2006 with a great line up.
A cool compilation titled Bestial Rites with your demos and early
EPs was released some years ago, what are your thoughts about the whole package
and how do you look back at your early material nowadays?
Vlad: I wanted to have all the demos and ep in one disc, because many
people discovered us after the first album and at this time all the previous
stuff was sold out… It’s a great compilation, the sound has been remastered,
but I don’t really listen to these songs today…
What´s your fave Necrowretch track? Please explain why.
Vlad: Today I’m very focused on the future of Necrowretch, so I will
tell you that all the new songs of Satanic Slavery kick ass! Regarding the old
material, the song I prefer to play live is “Putrid death sorcery”, for me this
song is perfect, nothing more, nothing less than pure death metal overdose.
Are you going to support "Satanic Slavery" with an
extensive tour?
Vlad: Of course! All the details will be unleashed soon!
What´s the strangest place and the
most shocking place you have been?
Vlad: Well Istanbul can be the both at same time!
What are the band´s future plans?
Vlad: To soil every ground where our music can reach
maniacs!!
Thank
you for the dedicated time! Last words are yours...
Vlad: Thanks a lot for the support! See you in hell!!!!
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