It's
great to have Usurper back. The ancient feeling and the 80s metal spirit that runs
through the veins of these old school metallers from Chicago is stronger than
ever. Good proof of this is the magnificent "Lords of the Permafrost"
LP. Answers here were given by Dan
Tyrantor (vocals) and Rick Scythe (guitars). Read on...Beyond the Walls of Ice.
“Lords
Of The Permafrost” was released on March 22nd through Soullseller Records. When the title track was premiered I thought it was awesome, I was hooked after the
first 5 seconds of the dark heavy opening riff, classic and crushing Usurper style. Tell us about the creation of this new LP. 14 years have passed
since his previous album, so I would like to know details of the songwriting
process. How long did it take to complete the whole album? Did anything change
in your method of composing and arranging the new songs?
Dan Tyrantor: Rick
Scythe reactivated Usurper to commemorate the 20th anniversary of
the Diabolosis album for a show in Chicago. The response was amazing. We then
began writing what would ultimately become Lords Of The Permafrost. As for the
songwriting, it was the same. Rick will outline the song with some sinister
riffs, Joe Warlord adds the thunder, Scott does something with the bass, and
then either Rick or myself will write lyrics, and occasionally collaborate.
The new tracks sounds brutal, and as I said before
it has the classical Usurper trademark, powerful riffs, brutality, old school
vibe and musicianship. Does the rest of the songs follow the same direction? Is
there any difference between this new album and its predecessors? Tell us your
own vision of the new material.
DT: It feels,
to me, like a cross between Cryptobeast, and Skeletal Season. What it is for
sure, is an Usurper album from start to finish.
Please, explain us the lyrical concept behind “Lords
Of The Permafrost”. The press release said that the lyrics explore topics such
as monster folklore, the paranormal and other obscure tales. Something
outstanding and characteristic in your lyrics, like the two historical stories,
the tracks “Shadowfiend” and “Wolflord”' from Skeletal Season, also “Dismal
Wings Of Terror”, which deals with the "Mothman", so I'm very curious
to know what each song on the album is about…
DT: The title of the album, and the song deals
with the Native American legend of the wendigo. "Cemetary Wolf" evokes the tale
of the seventh son and lycanthropy. "Mutants of the Iron Age" was inspired by an
acheological discovery of animals sewn together, some with extra limbs or heads
in an apparent attempt to create mutated creatures. "Skull Splitter" is about the
barbarian invasion of Rome in the early 5th century, "Gargoyle" is a
song about all of us Metalheads out there like gargoyles. Hard as Hell, and
frightening to “normal” people. "Warlock Moon" is about ascending to the astral
plane and exploring dark magic.
Lycanthropy is a very present theme in your
lyrics, apart from Wolflord and Shadowfiend, there are also the songs Lycanthropic,
in Twilight dominion, Return of the werewolf by Cryptobeast, and in this new
album is the song Cemetery Wolf, What do you find most appealing about
lycanthropy? Where does the interest and inspiration come from this topic? Name
your fave film and book about lycanthropy?
DT: I’m fascinated with werewolf tales in any
style, to be honest. From old ancient texts and passed down folklore to the
shittiest VHS werewolf movies ever made. My favorite movie is still An American
Werewolf In London. The transformation scenes were the most convincing at the
time. Both the book and the movie Wolfen are pretty great too.
Another great thing is the visual aspect, the
album covers are very cool. How is the process usually when choosing the art
for the album? Tell me about his new winged, skeletal beast and also about your
favorite Usurper album cover.
Rick Scythe: Thanks. I always draw a lot an contribute artwork
and ideas. Lately I have been painting quite a bit too. I used one of my
paintings for the inside booklet and clear disc tray for the CD / Label of side
B for the LP.
As for the Lords of the Permafrost cover concept. It
is a hybrid creature to represent many different song concepts on the album.
Sort of like the Wendigo, or a creature from Mutants of the Iron Age. Also has
some similarities to a Gargoyle. It is sort of a marker warning people not to
go Beyond the Walls of Ice. It sits under the Warlock Moon.
As for my favorite Usurper artwork. It depends, I like
all the covers after Threshold of the Usurper. Skeletal Season might still be
my favorite, but I like them all. The same artist, Juha Vuorma who did Skeletal
Season also did Lords of the Permafrost painting.
Do you have plans to make a promotional video
clip? (Return Of The Werewolf was cool!) How should it be the perfect video for
a Usurper song?
RS: So far we only have a basic lyric video for the
song, “Lords of the Permafrost”. I want to do a promo video for, “Beyond the
Walls of Ice” but we have to wait until it snows again.
Let´s talk about your early days, what are your
memories of the band´s formation and the recording of the “Visions from the
gods” demo. Also, what are your memories from the scene back then?
RS: It was weird, but fun. In the USA everyone was
claiming “metal is dead”. Even the Big 4: Metallica cut their hair and dressed
all fancy. Anthrax sort of copied Metallica into alternative music. Megadeth
put out some non-metal sounding stuff. Even Slayer did like a modern Korn
version of Slayer. Even in the underground, classic first wave thrash/black
metal bands were breaking up or changing their style. We just wanted to be
extremely metal in a time when people said metal was dead. We loved metal and
hated alternative, industrial or emo music. We wanted to do the opposite of
that style. We were one of the only bands, if not the only band in the USA
doing this style.
It was the early 90s,
when a lot of bands started playing black metal, were you interested in the
black metal scene? Are there bands from that old god days that you respect and
like?
RS: I thought some bands were cool, as long as it
sounded like 80’s black metal. We often got lumped in with black metal in the
mid 90’s because of our image and certain elements, but we never considered
Usurper to be black metal.
What, in your eyes, differs the US scene from the
European Scene? Do you miss anything from the old scene?
RS: European scene was always more passionate then the
USA when we fisrt toured Europe in 1998. Now, I’m not sure. Europe has more
festivals, but USA more kids are into this style than were back in the
early/mid 90’s.
Do you remember how were the conversations with
head Not Found, and the deal for the release of “Diabolosis…”?
RS: Metalian, “I like Usurper a lot. I would be
interested in putting out your album.” Usurper, “Cool, let’s do it.” Then in 1995 it came out.
I have Diabolosis (R.I.P Records) and Skeletal Season
(Merciless Records) LPs, both vinyl are awesome releases, I bought them when
they came out and I liked the whole design, it was clear that you put emphasis
in the details. What is the most prevalent in your collection? Are there any or
some that you consider special?
RS: Thanks. I love those 2 versions as well. I love
gatefold LP’s. Both RIP and Merciless did great jobs. Skeletal Season LP is my
favorite though. Lords of the Permafrost Blue LP is the best now.
Why did you use different designs for the CD and
LP versions? In my opinion the LP looks much better. Do you remember why you
chose it?
RS: I agree. The LP is much better. That was what we
wanted, but we didn’t have access to that cover in time for the CD release so
we just ripped off something close from an art book. I dislike the CD cover and
if I have my way, if it is released again on CD, I want to use the LP cover
art.
Why “Deep in the forest” wasn´t included in the
LP version? It's one of my favorite tracks, it was included later in the “Visions
from the gods” compilation (I still have to get that vinyl, though is quite
difficult nowadays, aaarrrgh). A special edition on 7" with that killer
track would not have been bad (you're still on time, just an idea ha ha)
RS: Deep in the Forest kicks ass, but we didn’t want
to have every song from the demo. We wanted to keep the demo special.
King Diamond and Proscriptor McGovern did guest
vocals on Necronemesis, who did come up with the idea of this guest appearances?
What was it like working with them? If you had to choose only one album of King
Diamond / Mercyful Fate and one of Absu, what would you choose?
RS: We liked both Absu’s and King Diamond’s latest
albums when we were about to record our next album. Necropolis Records asked
where we wanted to record. We looked on back of both albums and both were
recorded at Nomad Studios with producer, Kol Marshall. So we told Necropolis that
is where we wanted to record, and we wanted Kol to produce out album.
Proscriptor agreed to do backing vocals from the
start. King Diamond was a bit different. The owner of the studio called before
we left for Texas and said, “Rick, we got a problem. King Diamond is finishing
his album House of God and needs a couple extra days to finish mixing. He said
if we can bump your days, King will sing on your album.” I was like, “Fuck
yeah! No problem”. Still a highlight to this day.
I would like to know your opinion of the current
music industry, or if you prefer, you can tell me about the positive aspects of
the current scene and the new bands that have caught your attention.
RS: I haven’t bought an album since 2003.
DT: I honestly don’t listen to much newer music,
or go to many shows.
What are the tour plans to promote Lords Of The
Permafrost?
DT: Right now we are going to be headlining
Spring Bash in Milwaukee, playing a one-off headline show at St. Vitus bar in
NYC, and the 2020 Turkulu Sataanalle Fest in Finland. As of this interview, we
are in the process of finalizing some other shows.
Among so many concerts in your career maybe you
have some good anecdote that you want to share.
DT: Somebody once smashed a glass ashtray in their
hotel room bathroom, and then shit all over it. I’m not saying who, but it was
Joe.
What´s the strangest place and the most
shocking place you have been?
DT: For me, the strangest place was playing in
the basement of a bagel shop. Shocking was the outdoor sculpture park in Oslo.
There was supposed to be a gigantic statue of an angry baby that towered over
the whole city, but in actuality, it was only 3 feet tall. I’m still very upset
about it.
What will be the next steps for the band, do you
plan to work soon on new compositions? (at least I hope it does not take
another 14 years until the next album)
DT: We are trying to play in as many places as
we can right now. Haha, I don’t think it will take that long again.
Thanks you for your time, last words are yours...
DT: Thanks for the interview!
