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Drummer for Darkthrone, Norwegian, and overall metal ambassador Fenriz hardly needs an introduction. Todd Nief cornered the metal legend for a few quick questions regarding riffs, his tastes and “Band of the Week”, as well as the writing process. The results of said conversation is below.

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You’ve become something of a taste curator over the last several years with your Band of the Week posts and your eagerness to mention your influences. Have you had this role before? Did you ever run a fanzine?

No, I always wanted to but I was IN fanzines since 1988 so I figured I’d just take it from there, talking about other people’s music a lot in interviews and such. And when I finally caved in and bought a computer in 2005 (to avoid phone interviews) I quickly found MySpace and I started promoting other bands there and ended up doing the Band of the Week blog after. I have been dj’ing for nearly 20 years and making compilations for friends, until that escalated to podcasts too. Being a music freak since 1973 I have now got a pretty cool network of music experts around the globe.

Do your friends all share your fascination with digging into music? What got you started obsessively listening to music? I believe you’ve mentioned John Peel in other interviews…

Yeah, but I only read about Peel and understood his position with the BBC and the vinyl series. MUSIC got me into music, and that’s the only way it must be. Not creating a fanzine (I did, though, try to write newsletters) was because I realized I needed to interview bands and I am really not comfortable doing that (I once interviewed BASEMENT JAXX face to face!), I’m used to being on the other end of an interview AND ALSO I just want to LISTEN. Always just LISTEN. ONLY HEADPHONES IS REAL, to paraphrase Hellhammer. It started with my uncle playing me Pink Floyd in 1973 and when he saw my reaction…well, he soon gave me The Doors’ Morrison Hotel later that year, and a whole bunch of stuff in ’74 including the life changing heavy record for me, Uriah Heap’s Sweet Freedom. Since then I was mostly into just listening to music alone, and on headphones is best, that’s when you REALLY can rate what you are going through.

There is a very typical downstroked sliding black metal riff style that has been present on all of your records starting with “A Blaze in the Northern Sky.” (reference: 10:50 in “Leave No Cross Unturned“) This style of riff seems to be tied very closely with the Norwegian black metal scene. Who invented this riff style?

That’s pure ’84 Celtic Frost! And also stuff like MESSIAH by HELLHAMMER. It’s the kind of riff I’m best at making, and I’ve always done it. Others started doing it too, but it was Tom G. Warrior that is the initial master of this kind of black ’n’ roll vibe. I used to say it’s slow doomy and dark but at the same time it’s like sitting in a truck drinking cans of beer. That’s the vibe you gotta have to make those kind of riffs.

Similarly, the melodic riffing on “Transilvanian Hunger,” along with some of Varg’s riffs on “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” have pretty much defined the “Norwegian black metal” aesthetic. Where did this sense of melody come from?

It came from Bathory’s 1987 Under the Sign of the Black Mark (only a couple of riffs) and especially BLOOD FIRE DEATH in 1988 where there were more riffs with that finger moving technique. Now, later on, it would be disputed who brought it to Norway, but it’s safe to say that Euronymous, Snorre Ruch from Thorns, and Varg did try to evolve that riffing over the next few years. I think Darkthrone kept the progress to a minimum, using a rather Bathory-ish style. I’m not a good enough guitarist to elaborate on any style, so I rather make it work instead.

Over your last several albums, you’ve transitioned into more of a conglomeration of styles (some NWOBHM, some speed metal, some Scandinavian hardcore) in a way that actually reminds me of your “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” album (some death metal riffs, some black metal riffs, a lot of Celtic Frost, etc.) Is it fair to say that both your current output and your earliest output are more a reflection of your influences, whereas your more black metal albums were a reflection of your own mind?

I think we are a bit more back to our first three demos, where we were very varied and just mirrored our influences. I did a lot of the material then, but I didn’t have the know how to make it efficient. I had to let that go and let the others IN to Darkthrone to make Darkthrone work. So I quit singing in Darkthrone then and made Ted take over, and then it was just one demo that was a soundboard recording of a live gig at the bootleg stage in Oslo that got us our record deal. So it was a right decision. I think we always made very varied albums, but there were exceptions to that rule too. Then I think we started to freestyle again on the Hate Them album we did in 2002, and then more and more of that. Back in 1988 we would have also needed our own studio to make our direction at the time work, but I think I had too many ideas then and not enough playing and arranging skill to make it work. With the NECROHELL II studio that we bought in 2005, we had the arranging knowledge, we just needed to work that portable studio. Then we’ve worked on baby steps with that studio, and we got Jack Control to master our new album, and so we are close to, IN A WAY, how we needed to be in early ’89 to make Darkthrone work. Instead we went on a long journey of death metal, black metal, black ’n roll…and so we return, it’s kind of like the circle game now. But the only things that were constant were bass in the bass drums, always vinyl, and always ’80s metal as the main influence. It’s also reason to point out the difference in the writing style and vocal style between Ted and me. And, last but not least, we make the songs on our own and don’t discuss styles or direction. Darkthrone is a natural project left to regress/progress like all humans do. ‘Whatever happens happen’ (to quote GRIFFIN from 1972, great album). However I think your closing argument is excellent. I amazingly never reflected on that influences/own mind angle, but I think it is valid. Congratulations. But we are more fleeting than that.

When writing songs do you start with an idea in your own head or do you start with an influence? How does the creative process start for you? Do you make time for it, or is it spur of the moment?

It can often be a rhythm of a riff. The last riff I made in my mind was like that, and those riffs often works best than pure melody stuff that pops up in my head, which was the way I always wrote in the beginning – and that I never really succeeded to get off the ground. Now I can arrange better. But I mean, having made so much music, I am certain that I have used most angles in making music. But usually I just wait, or I don’t even wait, but when the good shit hits my brain it’s time to hum it into an mp3 player or grab a guitar. And often when I have one riff and I gotta play it, another comes along in that process. But it’s not like the best songs are made in a jiffy and the ones I gotta work with a long time never works. There are no absolutes, it’s just journos and tired musicians that tell it like that. Both cases can work and both ways can fail. You never know.

All of your songs have a very clear sense of melodic resolution in your riffs. Do you write riffs with a melody in mind, or is it a more intuitive “jamming” style process to find the riff?

Again, I can’t talk for Ted, and he made like half of the music just like I made the other half. I am definitely not trying to make anything avant-gardish or dissonant at all, at the same time I almost loathe the standard riffs that were so present in early ’80s asphalt heavy and cock rock as well, so I am trying THESE DAYS to make effective simple riffs with good rhythm and original and well-crafted details as well, or something that just works for a vocals line without it sounding soulless and standard. I am winging it all the way, and it’s always taking a huge chance instead of having found a formula and sticking to it. But I am not trying to fly off either, I just wanna make proper old metal with old sound here.

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Darkthrone’s new album, The Underground Resistance, is now available from Peaceville.

L-R: Carroll, Perun, Kuizin

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Cianide‘s new album Gods of Death (Hells Headbangers, 2011) is essential listening for fans of Massacre, Asphyx, and, well, Cianide. Cianide have been stalwarts of Chicago death metal since the late 1980s. Although not prolific, the band has been remarkably consistent in producing crushing, mid-paced death metal. As a Chicagoan and a death metal fan a generation younger than Cianide, I was excited to talk to guitarist Scott Carroll on the phone.

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I would describe your music as particularly primitive and heavy. Where does this come from?

It’s basically just who we are. We are kind of primitive, and we are kind of heavy. I think it’s always been [that] we wanted to be heavy. I’d never played guitar or anything like that. I picked up a guitar when I was just out of high school, and by listening to Hellhammer and Venom through my high school years, I was like, “That’s what I want to do”. We were fans of this insanely heavy shit, and we just figured, “It can’t be that fucking hard to do”. So we just went with that, and we ended up being really heavy.

As years go on, we just retain this same style because, honestly, we’re just not really that good of musicians, other than our drummer, Andy [Kuizin]. Andy’s an awesome drummer. Mike [Perun, bassist/vocalist] and I, we basically don’t know how to play. I never practice at home.  The guitar at home could really be an ash tray for me. Or a beer stand. Could that guitar stand hold a beer for me, please? Because I have no interest in playing guitar at home. It’s boring to me. I love when we get down to Mike’s house in the basement- you know, down in the dungeon. But, honestly, I put that primtive shit down to the fact that we don’t have any fucking idea how to play anything else.

I couldn’t play you a Dream Theater riff, and I couldn’t play you a Sonic Youth riff. I don’t fucking know how. I just know how to play a dumb-ass death metal riff. We’re cavemen, basically. I don’t even have a fucking cell phone. And neither does Mike. We’re just neanderthals. I’m cutting my lawn with a Venom shirt on, just sweating. Total neanderthal shit, man. [Laughs]

. . .

What do you do other than death metal? What’s your job?

I work down at the Chicago Board of Trade. I’ve worked down there for 20 years now. I’ve been with my girl for 20 years. I’ve been with my band for 20 years. I’ve been with my job for 20 years. It all adds up to some sort of 666, I think.

Well, three times 20 is 60, right?

Something’s gotta give. Either I’m going to hell, or I’ll just keep doing exactly what I’m doing. Be a normal person and get on with it.

Yeah, I’ve worked down at the Board of Trade for 20 years, being a clerk and working for the wealthiest people in America and watching them fucking bitch about how much money they don’t have. And meanwhile they’re making 30,000 dollars a day. [Laughs]

But the guy next to them is making $31,000 and it pisses them off.

Oh, it pisses ’em off to no fucking end! That’s exactly what it is! “And that motherfucker, he made $35,000! I’m losing!” [Laughs]

At this point, I’ve been there so long, and it’s not what it used to be. I used to be out there on the floor, in the pit, in the action, but now it’s just all computers. And I’m just disgusted with everything! [Laughs]

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. . .

What makes a song heavy?

That’s simple. It’s just feeling. You have to have that gut feeling of complete heaviness. It has nothing to do with technical ability – and technical bands can be fucking heavy as shit, too. In my eyes, it’s just simple, just bottom-heavy, simple riffs, catchy choruses.

People say death metal can’t be catchy, [that] it’s all just barking. That’s ridiculous. Honestly, you just don’t understand the music if you say that. Death metal is some of the catchiest, heaviest shit out there. When you hear fucking Massacre and Death and Slaughter, it’s hard to say that’s not catchy.

The bottom line is, it’s simple. Simplicity is the easiest way to put it. If you’re like, “Well, what do we need to do?” then you’re already overthinking it. It should just come from the heart.

As soon as you question anything, then you kind of lose it. We question shit when we’re writing, and then we’re like “We’re overthinking, this is fucking gay, what are we doing?” Then we’ll just stop thinking and have a beer, and all of a sudden shit starts pouring out.

I think just being as honest as you can with your band and your music and what you love doing is the way to go. There’s no trying to be heavy. You either are or you aren’t. We don’t set out to be heavy. This is the only thing I know how to do. People questioned the Ramones, like, “Why do you guys play so simple?” They’d say, “That’s the only thing we know how to do”.

“We’re just simple guys”.

Right, we’re simple-minded, and we’re simple guys. I like fucking AC/DC, and I like Black Sabbath, and I like Hellhammer. I like drinking beer, and I like tits. Call me crazy! And I like a good hot dog. And a beef sandwich.

It’s the American dream, right? [Laughs]

. . .

So, speaking of songwriting, how does the process work? Does one of you write whole songs, or do you guys just jam it out or what?

Basically, we just get in the basement and fucking rock. Sometimes, I might have a riff at home – if I actually decide to pick up a guitar at home, which is very, very, very, very few and far between – but, if I have a riff, it’s more in my head. I’ll come down to practice, then I’ll play it down there.

It’s 90 percent down in the practice room, us just banging shit out, arguing, fighting…I mean, we fight a lot. It took us six years to write this new record. And people will be like, “It’s the simplest record! I can shit these riffs out!” Well, it took us six years! Sorry, we’re not exactly Jaco Pastorious over here! We struggle with this shit!

Everything’s relative.

You can like it or not, but it took us a long time to write this simple shit! We’re trying to figure out how we can put this riff with that riff, and we’re just like, “This sounds like shit!” Next thing you know, it’s six months later, and we’re still working on the same goddamn song! And when the songs done, it’s only like four riffs! We really need help in the fucking mental department. [Laughs]

That’s beautiful.

That’s how we work, man. There’s no elegant way to put it.

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. . .

You’ve been in the same band for 20 years. From my perspective, things are much different now than they were 20 years ago. Does your music relate to the changing times?

That’s a hard question to answer. I don’t know how it relates to people now. Take someone who’s 23 now. We’ve been playing for 20 years, so I don’t fucking know how our music relates to him. If a 23 year-old kid gets into it, that’s kick-ass! But I don’t know.

I would think that it’s all kind of the same idea if you’re a metalhead. Like, “These are crushing riffs. These are fucking great songs, and it just makes me feel like I’m different from the guy across the room from me when I’m sitting at McDonald’s”. You know? It’s like, “Fuck that guy!” [Laughs]

I know where I came from. I know what that’s about. But I don’t know how it relates right now to somebody younger. Sure there’s a bunch of old fucking farts listening to us. I’d love to hear someone younger be like, “You guys kick ass!”

Well, I’m 26, and I love Cianide, so there you go.

Well, then I hope you feel the same way that I felt when I was listening to Morbid Angel when they were putting out demos. Like, “This just annihilates everything around me that’s coming out. It’s honest, and it’s pure. And when you look around, no one even has a fucking clue. This is some of the best music ever, and it’s completely underground. People don’t even know”.

It’s kind of strange, but it made me more of a confident person as I grew older. I really cared less about what people thought. I understand that you gotta get a job and all this shit, and that’s fine, but that way of thinking never leaves you when you get into this kind of music. And that type of thinking is that you’re truly free because you feel that fucking power of the music. It’s hard to put into words, honestly.

I know exactly what you’re talking about. You listen to tons of music, and some of it has that quality to it, and that’s the stuff you come back to.

Exactly. It takes you somewhere else. It makes you feel good. And you want to play it for somebody else, and when they don’t hear it, you’re like, “Why don’t you hear how good this is? Are you retarded?” [Laughs] “What the fuck, man? This is one of the best things I’ve ever heard!”

It makes you who you are. It makes you a stronger person. I’m a 43 year-old dude. I grew up with this shit. I saw fucking Celtic Frost at The Metro with Voivod and Megadeth opening up.

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How was playing Maryland Deathfest for you guys?

We just played Maryland Deathfest a few months ago, and we were freaking out. We just got up on stage, and we were the first band on the outside stage. It’s like, “Ah, OK, we’re the first band. Might be a couple hundred people watching us”. All of a sudden, the fucking whole place fills up. And I’m looking at my drummer Andy, and I’m like “Andy, what the fuck are all of these people doing here?” And he’s like, “I have no fucking idea”.

Then we go out there and we play our fucking dumb-ass songs. Oh, my god. I’m playing a song from an album I wrote 20 years ago, and I’m like, “Are you kidding me? There’s 4000 people listening to this song I wrote 20 years ago”. And they’re headbanging. A whole fucking crowd of headbanging people. I was dumbfounded. I was like, “Maybe we’re onto something! Why couldn’t this have happened when I was 23!” And then I remembered that I was too stupid then. [Laughs]

A whole bunch of that has to do with the Internet as well.

Yeah, yeah. Take a band like Pentagram. Nobody gave a shit about Pentagram. The Internet just made them huge. And now they’re touring the world. I saw Pentagram last year in Ireland! I happened to be in Ireland, and Pentagram just happened to be playing, so I was like, “I guess we’re going to see Pentagram”. And the place was fucking packed!

The Internet is a great tool. Maybe even for a band like us, there might be a little bit of hope! [Laughs]

Since I’m a generation younger than you, the Internet is absolutely how I got into Cianide. You know, I was looking around like, “I love Celtic Frost, I love Morbid Angel”. I’d read the liner notes on my CDs and start downloading stuff from bands on thank you lists.

Yeah, and that’s how I got into fucking bands! The same way! I was reading Metallica thanks lists. Reading fucking Exciter thanks lists. The same exact way! So that’s honestly really fucking cool. That’s good to hear.

And it’s awesome that at this point in your career you can go play Maryland Deathfest, and there’s 4000 people like me who care about what you did 20 years ago.

In the end, we’re just total fans. We’re not like band guys. We’re just total fans of metal and hardcore and underground nonsense. All I do is buy records. I’m a record fanatic.

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. . .

As a band, you’re relatively inactive, but you’ve been consistent over the years. Do you think there’s a relationship between those two things?

Well, we’re inactive in the sense of playing live. If playing live means playing out for people, then, yeah, we’re inactive. But you know, we play every fucking week in our basement. So we’re not inactive in our heads. We’re kicking ass! The three of us go down there and just knock out songs and just go for it.

We’re always thinking and writing new songs, and it takes us a long time. I think our last record came out in 2005. So it’s been about six years. But, you know, we put out the split with Machetazo from Spain, and we put out the single with Coffins, and we did the Chicago Metal Hell single, and we put out a demo anthology. So it’s not like we disappeared and are coming back. We were always here.

Those two songs with Coffins and Machetazo, those are great songs, in my head. Those are better than the songs on the new record! [Laughs] And we’re actually going to make a release of those seven inches and all of that shit so somebody can hear ’em for a change. Rather than some bullshit fucking seven inch that’s like 200 copies. “Yeah, 200 copies! It’s super kvlt!” Ahhhh, fuck you!

I just want one for myself! Cuz I’m a fucking vinyl retard. “Ahhh, vinyl sounds so much better than CD!” No it doesn’t. CDs sound just as good.

Although I like vinyl because I will sit and listen to a whole side of a record.

It’s a commitment. With a CD, it’s too much of a commitment, because I only want to listen to five songs! I want to listen to five songs, then I want to play a song from a different band. After I hear “Number of the Beast”, then I want to put on “Balls to the Wall”. If I’m feeling crazy, I’ll put on side two! [Laughs]

Anyway, I’m done with the whole argument. Put on an .mp4! Ohhh, it’s one better than an .mp3! Good for you! You’re like Spinal Tap now with your digital format! Fucking iTunes!

This .mp3 goes to four! [Laughs]

No, shit does it!? You fuckers!

. . .

. . .

HEAR GODS OF DEATH

“Desecration Storm”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rANrXW3Y38

. . .

“Forsaken Doom”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFOKLXV6qBI

. . .

BUY GODS OF DEATH

. . .

Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
Hells Headbangers (CD)
Hells Headbangers (LP w/ poster)
Hells Headbangers (CD + LP package)

. . .

. . .

Incantation are one of death metal’s elite bands. After a genre-defining debut album in Onward to Golgotha, they’ve continued to put out compelling albums for almost two decades. While many of their peers from the late ’80s have fallen off creatively or strayed into questionable territory, Incantation have kept to their murky, darkly melodic style. John McEntee founded the band with Paul Ledney in 1989, and has been its main creative force since then. In this interview, we delve into his creative process and what has kept Incantation so consistent over the years.

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You sent me a replacement copy of The Rack recently since mine was warped. Thank you!

Oh yeah, no problem. I like vinyl, but it’s just not quite as durable. There’s so many things [that can happen] between shipping and even just getting them from the pressing plant. I like it a lot, but it just sucks because with CDs – even though a CD is not so kick-ass, I guess – it’s a little more durable. I’m a vinyl guy. I like vinyl.

I try to do a thing where I make a meal and just sit with a record and listen to it, rather than listening to it in my car or on my computer. I’ve found that I’ve lost that “immerse yourself in music” type of thing that I used to do when I was younger, so I’ve been trying to recapture some of that.

I think it’s always a good thing, if you like a band, that you’re able to really sit down and really listen to it. Especially with stuff that’s older than modern-age recording, where everything’s a little bit sterile. With the older stuff, you can get – I don’t want to sound artsy – multi-dimensional. Whereas now, everything is up front, and everything is what it is. I don’t know how to explain it. There are a lot of awesome things about modern technology and recording, but, at the same time, there’s something really cool about being able to capture a vibe with a recording and then to be able to hear whatever kind of magic was going on between the band.

There’s always a lot of good stuff out there in all different areas of music, but unfortunately the way things are recorded these days affects the personality of the actual band. Especially drums, which are all mechanical. There are aspects of it which are good. I mean, you can hear stuff more clearly. But there’s something about when you listen to an album, and you really feel like you’re in a room with the band, that I think is important. Most of the stuff that I really like has that feel to it: a personality, not just kick-ass production and kick-ass playing.

Yeah, and that tends to get lost if you’re listening through computer speakers…

I think a lot of people listen to music on the computer, and that’s it.

I know I’m guilty of that, because I’ll be working on the computer, and it’s just like, “OK, I’ll listen to this thing, then I’ll listen to this thing”. And also, when you look at all your records and CDs, I have thousands of dollars worth of music. It’s an investment that I feel like I should enjoy.

I agree. I don’t have as much time as used to, but it’s definitely really cool when I get to immerse myself in something that I might have forgotten about or something that I never really got a chance to focus in on. To get a chance to really sit down and listen to something, to me that can make it really special. Or it can make it suck, I guess. (Laughs)

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. . .

Do you feel constrained by what you’ve created in the past and by what Incantation means?

I don’t feel constrained by it at all. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to accomplish with the band early on. Before Incantation, I played in a band called Revenant. When I left the band, we were in negotiations with Nuclear Blast to do an album. And I had to make a decision on “do I want to do an album with Revenant and not have it be 100% representative of me and what I want to do, or do I say ‘fuck it’ and start a new band, take the chance of totally failing, and have fun with it?” Basically, I made the decision that I wasn’t going to have my first album be something that wasn’t representative of me. It turned out to be the best decision for me, and also for Revenant, since they didn’t really need to have me arguing about everything that I’m not happy about.

If I want to do a different style, I can do it under another banner that isn’t Incantation. For me, the idea wasn’t to be all experimental. Our core concept was to be a straightforward death metal band and to do things the way that we wanted to do things. Sometimes you get together with a band and it’s like, “OK, let’s all jam and see what happens!” That kind of a band is a different thing.

It’s difficult for me to explain, since what we do in Incantation is more of a mental state for me. It’s not something I can always put my finger on. We’re a pure death metal band, but, at the same time, we’re totally untraditional. That’s always something that I’ve taken as a great compliment, because we always wanted to be a straightforward death metal band. But, at the same time, it’s nice to know that our own personalities are there.

I really get a lot of flak from both sides. People say that the band sounds totally different, while other people say that the band sounds totally the same, and that we don’t change at all. So, I think that if both sides are getting annoyed, we’re probably doing something right. We’re not trying to do Diabolical Conquest or Golgotha over again. We want to be who we are now. But, at the same time, if it’s not in the ballpark of what Incantation is, we wouldn’t be doing that with Incantation.

It’s been about five years since we’ve done an album. We’re not going to think about doing another album unless we’re sure we’ve got something to contribute. We don’t want to just become one of those bands that does an album every year. We’re to the point where we have enough songs. We don’t need to just keep throwing extra songs onto the discography that aren’t special.

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. . .

You say you want to be a straightforward death metal band, but a lot of the stuff that you guys are doing is very unique sounding. You have a tendency to play a lot of bending single string riffs with a lot of pinch harmonics and things like that. To my knowledge, you and Immolation are the first to do that. Did that come from somewhere in particular?

The Immolation and Incantation connection – there’s a connection, but not in the way that people think there is. They’re really good friends of ours. I got to know them when I was playing in Revenant. We heard their demo, and we thought they were so fucking kick-ass, and we wanted them to play shows with us. Since that time, I just knew that they were stand-up people, really cool guys, and also that we had a lot of the same influences. Both bands were really influenced by the early thrash, black kinda thrash, bands like Possessed and Venom. But then we were also really underground at the time, so bands like Necrovore and Necrophagia…Master…just the bands that were really pushing the limits of death metal [also influenced us].

I remember when I first met Ross from Immolation, we realized that we’d been to almost all the same shows, but never met each other back in the mid-’80s. I know that aside from being friends, we were both fans of each other’s bands. But I don’t really think that either band wanted to rip each other off at all. We both wanted to do things our own way. But a bit of healthy competition… if you see a band, and they kick your ass, it inspires you to want to be better as a musician. I hate it when I go to a show and I’m not blown away, because I want to go home from that show like, “I gotta fucking step up to play!”

I actually learned a lot when I was jamming with Paul Ledney [drummer for Revenant and the first iteration of Incantation, also in Profanatica and Havohej]. He was always into the way riffs sounded and writing riffs from humming ideas. I started to do that more when I started to jam with him. He would come up with some riff ideas, and he’d just hum them to me. It was kind of funny, because he’d just stand behind his drums and pretend he’s playing guitar and just hum these riffs, and I’d try to follow what he’s doing. And I realized, “This is a really good way to write riffs”, because you just hum what you’re thinking.

When you play an instrument, you have habits of wanting to go where is normal for your fingers to go to. When I started jamming with Paul, he’d just come up with these cool patterns where I was like, “Whoa, awesome, I never would have thought of that”. Maybe Paul was the one who came up with that. Maybe he deserves credit for me writing like that. It wasn’t like we were thinking, “Oh, we’re going to start this new awesome way of doing things”. It had nothing to do with that. It was just like, “Let’s write what we feel”.

. . .

. . .

What about Celtic Frost? The intro to To Mega Therion sounds like the root of a lot of Incantation songs.

That album is absolutely devastating, just that whole epic vibe. Celtic Frost is probably an influence on everybody who heard it at that time. Most of their stuff is pretty basic, but it had that feeling to it. Not necessarily just a talent show.

They weren’t good enough to have a talent show.

That sometimes helps, because if you have a lot of ideas that want to come out musically, but you’re not Yngwie on guitar, sometimes you have to find other ways to get it across. Honestly, the majority of really good riffs from bands that I like come from people that aren’t necessarily super-talented musicians, but they just know that “this sounds cool!”

The thing with To Mega Therion is that it wasn’t as meat-and-potatoes as Morbid Tales. They were able to add a whole epic vibe to it while still keeping the core, heavy-as-fuck kind of vibe going. To me, that’s probably one of the best albums of all time.

Voivod was another band that had totally weird fucking riffs, and the chords that they were using…you can’t even tell if they knew what they were doing, or if they were just insane. (Laughter) It’s great, you know? The music that comes up from that is stuff was a big influence on me, because they’re totally thinking outside the box, but they’re able to make it work in an amazing way. Both those bands were definitely really big influences when I was playing in Revenant. Voivod was definitely a huge influence. They just wanted to take it a bit more into that cleaned-up, technical vibe. I really liked that War and Pain, Rrröööaaarrr, and Killing Technology insanity. They’re still keeping that barbaric heaviness, but they’re totally out there.

I really like the comment about “do they know what they’re doing, or are they just insane?”

(Laughs) It’s true!

If I think that, it probably means I really like something.

(Laughs) I don’t know if you’re familiar with Necrovore. They only did a demo. I listened to that, and I was just like, “What the fuck is going on here?” I didn’t really understand 100%. There was just so much insanity going on. It made sense, but it was also just totally out there at the same time. Those were the kinds of things that I really found interesting back when I was younger. I liked the bands who had killer songs, but when you tried to listen to it you’re like, “Where did they come up with that progression?”

Being a young kid and trying to write songs, I’m doing really basic structures, and I’m hearing all this stuff where people are just letting go of anything that might be sane. And it’s in outer space, but it just sounds fucking awesome! I don’t even know how to explain it. You listen to it, and you’re just like, “What the fuck? This fucking rules, but what the fuck are they doing?”

. . .

. . .

Especially on that Necrovore demo, because the production is pretty awful.

(Laughs)

It’s borderline. Maybe if it was mixed a little better, you could maybe tell what’s happening, but probably not.

The thing is that I listened to that demo so much when I was a young kid that I was able to figure out most of the songs just by default. The thing that was great about it is that there was a crazy personality, almost psychotic or something, about the music that I just like a lot.

I’m very fortunate, because I grew up in New Jersey, and I played in Revenant, and we did a few shows with Morbid Angel in ’88. Jon from Necrovore was actually their sound guy on that tour, and I got to meet him. Even the Morbid Angel guys at the time – they were all really into this psychosis form of playing death metal. I really learned a lot from that experience, because there were great bands from around our area, but for me, these were bands that were already legendary in the underground. Morbid Angel wanted to take on the world and destroy everybody, which was great. But they were also really into being over-the-top with the idea. and just making it total insanity. Same thing with Necrovore.

When I was talking with Jon, he was just like, “It’s all about the feeling. It doesn’t matter about the riffs, it’s all about the feeling you’re getting from them”. It’s almost like being mentally deranged at times. Something might be repetitive, but it’s repetitive in a way that’s intense, and you start hearing more than you’re actually hearing. I’ve almost been like that with Incantation. Really early on, especially when people are asking me about the riffs, I try to explain that it’s the feeling you get from the riffs, it’s not the notes. Who cares if it’s a lot of notes or a few notes? Do you feel something when it happens? It’s not just about the talent show.

. . .

. . .

HEAR INCANTATION

“The Ibex Moon” (1994)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVEl_leZlmA

. . .

“Primordial Domination” (2006)

. . .

INCANTATION LINKS

MySpace
Facebook
Ibex Moon Records

. . .

Todd Nief plays guitar for Like Rats and blogs at Primitive Future.

. . .

. . .

Todd Nief plays guitar for Like Rats and blogs at Primitive Future.

. . .

HEAR WAR OF THE VOIVODES

“War Machine”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVVEeGWUGCA

. . .

“Sado Soldiers”

. . .

BUY WAR OF THE VOIVODES

Relapse
Selfmadegod
Abyss Records

. . .

[audio: KRYPTS_DAY.mp3]
[audio: KRYPTS_DORMANT.mp3]

When current bands play in a style that is over 20 years old, the question of whether the music is merely an acceptable throwback is inevitable. Asphyx and Unleashed have bludgeoned with mid-paced power chords for decades, and Incantation already perfected dark, murky tones and chromatic melodicism. Krypts, however, transcend categorization as copycats. Although they use the aesthetics of death metal of the late ’80s and early ’90s, this form is merely a framework for their artistic statement.

The melodies on this demo (download here) pull at a fundamental part of human nature. When I listen to it, I feel a deep sense of beauty and ambition. Krypts portray a world outside of modern comforts and stresses. Each doom passage makes me feel unbearably small; each rumbling stomp makes all of existence swirl around me.

One of the most admirable traits of this demo is the deliberateness of its song construction. The structures are minimal, containing only three or four riffs. However, each riff has room to ripen through variations in lead guitar and percussion. A theme will serve as a melodic playground for thick octaves, then become a forceful rumble as throaty vocals settle into the rhythmic pocket. Riffs intertwine and grow together, forming a cohesive whole. This is not just a tribute to the past – this is a living, creative vision.

Demo free download
Order demo CD from band
Photos of LP at CultMetal
Order demo LP from band
Order demo LP from Me Saco Un Ojo