Howl from the coffin
interview
Some time ago I have been pleased by the recent Swedish Death Metal bands bringing new wicked blood to the fields of extreme music, it soaked very deep and fast. Even I am finishing an article on this special variety of bands, which should hopefully be out before the end of this year. One of the newest bands are clearly VAMPIRE from Gothenburg! The band appeared as a revelation in 2011 and a year later they already had their first "Vampire" demo, band get to know of themselves and underground received their music with enthusiasm. This year they released first full-length debut of the same name "Vampire" at Century Media and this step was fatal for them, reviews lavished praise and VAMPIRE grow as scary marvel with long fangs feeding on blood of the weak in the night. My review of the album was also positive, their old Death / Thrash / Crust sounding fresh and extremely atmospheric, offers highly turbid songs and the album as a whole is a clear win for the band. It was an honor to commit an interview with this promising band and collaboration took place as to include professionals. Take this interview as a little gift for you, since Necrosphere webzine celebrated the seventh anniversary last month. Questions were answered by Hand of Doom (vox).
Hell-o, you are quite young band, meaning in term of short time existence. What circumstances led to VAMPIRE formation? Who first came up with the idea about the band, how did you choose the members and what was the initial idea?
Hell-o Mortuary! There is no very interesting back-story concerning the way Vampire was brought to life. Me and Black String started hanging out when he moved to Gothenburg, being on vaguely friendly terms since our respective demo/fanzine days, and that’s about it. Some guys just need to play music to hang out. The other members were just added to the mix, little thought behind it, apart from them being great musicians.
As for defining moments for the formation of Vampire, I might mention the time Black String said to me: “We should form a band with lots of Svartsyn influences and only candle lights in the rehearsal room”. There was also talk one night of how exceptionally great/ugly-sounding Necrophagia were in their demo days.
The problem with aiming at what Necrophagia did on their demos is that they were absolutely hopeless on their instruments, even compared to the quite rudimentary skills we in Vampire possess. There is no way around that once you have reached a certain level with your musicianship. That is probably why no bands, especially from our part of the world, really succeeded in imitating what bands like Sodom or Sarcógfago did in the 80s; people are too good players today, something which obviously doesn’t serve the barbarity of the music.
Do all your members come from Gothenburg? Gothenburg gave the world a lot of interesting bands, often as if a band coming from this city would be destined for success in a Metal sense. Seems there you have many talented musicians and a lot of bands are linked together. Are you proud you are Gothenburg band?
No, not very proud. Most metal bands from Gothenburg are a waste of space. We are all from other parts of Sweden originally, and none of us really knew each other before coming here. Gothenburg is a bit like Portland, Oregon or whatever, where people move in their twenties to find likeminded people to form awesome bands with. Most of them turn out a lot less cool than Vampire, which you might have noticed.
The main feature of bands from this area is brilliant melody, composition and own sound, maybe you do not perceive it this way, but from the outside view it acts like this. There you have also an interesting band which is not too melodic, rather more dissonant and not very Swedish sounding. Irkallian Oracle, do you know this band?
I know what you mean. I guess many Swedish bands in all sorts of genres have a certain sense for a good melody. Where that comes from, I can only guess. I don’t buy the whole “melancholic Nordic folk spirit” crap, because I find some of the most haunting melodies ever recorded in like doo-wop ballads from the American early 60’s, and those guys were basically completely history-less, ultra-capitalist assholes who just tried to get by writing some radio friendly tunes for horny high-school teens, so that doesn’t really add up.
I know Irkallian Oracle, although I don’t know them personally. Last time I saw the singer was down at the University of Gothenburg campus, where I guess he is studying something relevant to what they deal with in their lyrics. Those guys seem to be into it, through and through. Good band! I like having them around, it makes for a healthily diverse local scene. I’m sure they all hate Vampire, though. That’s fine.
You have became well-known thanks to your the superb "Vampire" debut, I have read many reviews before the album release and they all disseminated only laudatory responses, I assumed the album will interest also me and it was so. How long have you been working on the debut and how has the songwriting process been going? Did you already know in advance this material is more than viable?
We knew that we liked the songs very much, and are happy that so many people outside of the band seem to share our awesome taste of music. Since the album features three of the four first songs we ever wrote together, I suppose we started working on the album already on our first proper Vampire rehearsal, which took place sometime early fall 2011. That means we worked on the album for a full two years prior to recording it.
Being even more precise, part of the lyrics for “The Night It Came Out of The Grave” and “Under the Grudge” and about 50% of the music of the former were written way back in the summer of 2006 for another band I tried to raise from the ground at that time. Who keeps count?
I appreciate you have not chosen path of shocking brutality or excessive technique, everything comes from you spontaneously, sincerely, without undue pushing the saw, while the songs sound exceptionally and strongly, there I can feel the artistic spirit and charm of VAMPIRE personality. Are you satisfied with your debut? Would you do something different today?
I think you got it right there. We definitively aimed for a “proper”, professional production for the album, more in the vein of 80’s Metallica than 80’s Necrophagia, and in that sense, I am very happy with how the album turned out. Then again, wouldn’t it have been cool to hear what a song like “Ungodly warlock” would have sounded like in a really gritty and murky basement recording? Bottom line is: you can’t have it all. An album is another thing than a demo tape, and we wanted to do it properly and somehow in the vein of how albums were done in the 80’s (not talking about a handful of under-produced “cult” albums now but proper major label products). I don’t know anything about studio recording, and don’t know what could be changed and what result that would have, but because you are asking, I wouldn’t have minded just a pinch more dirt in the drum production.
I don’t listen to the album regularly, but when I do, what strikes me is that those songs I liked the least when we recorded them are those I appreciate the most now. E.g., I recorded the vocals for “The Bestial Abyss” under time pressure when I really wasn’t feeling well and was on my way out of a bad cold, and was worried during mixing that it would shine through and wasn’t very excited about releasing that song at all. Listening now, I think the vocals are kick ass and the whole song has just grown on me. That we haven’t played it live once probably adds to it; I’m not tired of that song in any aspect.
Another impressing thing on your music is melody, despite the strong it is not sticky and after a few listening it is not tiresome and listener can not let play album only once a year, basically every listen to "Vampire" is always a charm. Would you prove to tell why is that?
I have no idea about any secret ingredient but if I did I would bottle it and sell it. We very consciously worked with the songs so they would both be catchy and drawing the listener in, and have long-lasting qualities that don’t wear out after three listens. I always thought mixing stuff up and having both really ugly, hideous-sounding riffs back to back with melody and harmony makes for a good listening experience. Most bands go for one of these ingredients, but our material is all over the place. By the way, that’s how one of my all-time favorite bands Abigor seemed to go about things during most of the 90’s.
In the case of Vampire’s relative success, I suppose that people (and Century Media) think we make quality music that is both lots of fun and emotionally challenging. Beyond that, the whole aesthetic with the horror vibe probably talks to a lot of people, especially those who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s on watching all the cool rental movies we all love. That means we stand on common ground with people from all sorts of sub-cultural movements.
Let's say you play a mix of old Death Metal, Thrash Metal with a drop of Crust. On the one hand you are old-school band (I don't know if you agree) and on the other hand you are somehow modern, bringing a new sound, new feelings and also some progress...
Old-school, sure, but you will find loads of old-school death/thrash with the occasional punk element thrown in for good measure, and I hope you agree we stand out from that crowd. Old-school or not old-school, I don’t really care, but it would be nice if people would appreciate what we do in and of itself, without having to refer back to some bullshit that was going down 25 years ago. There is zero nostalgia in Vampire, only haunting darkness!
How seriously do you take VAMPIRE? Some bands may take themselves absurdly seriously and others only for fun. Do you incline to one of these parties or it is a compromise? So what does your band mean to you?
I guess we are very serious, but not on the same level as people who profess some sort of religious dedication to what they do in the rehearsal room. I have never understood that attitude, although I was sometimes inclined to try it on at a younger age. That is probably where it belongs: among people in their early 20s and below.
The attitude we have towards this is that everybody in the band must have the space to make up their own minds about what is most important for them in any given situation. If we would try to coerce each other into doing things against our will, it would probably not come very much good out of it. As long as it’s fun being in a band you are doing it right, and as soon as it stops being that, something is wrong with the whole thing. My personal goal is for Vampire to be a source of energy that gives me more than it takes away. Setting up rules for what you may or may not do would sure ruin that. It would be interesting to know what experiences other bands have of this kind of situation, but most seem hell-bent on projecting some kind of braindead “all for one, one for all” ethic and would never admit to having discussions within the band where not everybody agree with everybody all the time.
I noticed in Sweden was established a new wave of Swedish Death / Thrash / Black Metal, I would say since the days of the 90's this is another and second original wave, bands like Miasmal, Stench, Graveless, Tribulation, Repugnant, Degial, Verminous, Maim, Bastard Priest, Reveal, Morbus Chron, Vanhelgd and more, all these bands create an amazing music, scene... Do you feel to be part of it? Do you like all these bands and which ones are your favorites?
To be honest, I don’t think any of those bands feel part of a scene or movement, but all of them are probably convinced they are doing something very special which makes them stand out from the crowd. I know we do. Then again, for the outsider looking in and judging from how all those bands sound, it’s basically same-same. The only band we are really friends with and we all think is really great musically and hang out with personally, which is also vaguely similar to us, is Antichrist. I have heard a few songs by Miasmal, Stench, Tribulation and Vanhelgd, I adore Repugnant, Reveal and Morbus Chron, and I have never heard neither Maim nor Bastard Priest, but know all the guys in Verminous, although I hardly ever listen to them. Makes for a strong scene? Well… It’s great all those guys are into what they are doing, but I don’t feel like listening to death metal everyday all day, so I don’t know most of their music very well.
I found you all are just over 30 years. What bands have you started with when you was captivated by Metal music? Do you listen to all the older and old bands till now? Do you also like some modern bands that are trying to be innovative? Do you think Metal has changed from those times when you started to listen to it?
As a kid, I guess everything changed with Metallica, as with anyone else of my generation. Trying to play the intro riff for “One” was probably my first ever attempt at playing metal. I would say that my try with the guitar didn’t have any higher artistic goals than blending in with the kids on my street, much in the same fashion I, absolutely terrified, watched “Friday the 13th” that same summer without any level of enjoyment of the craft. That came much later.
My brother used to hang out with a crowd of metal heads in his teens, which was on the pinnacle of the first Swedish death metal wave, and he sorted out a dubbed tape copy of Entombed “Clandestine” for me when I was about 8. I can’t say I understood very much of it, other than it sounded very extreme and dangerous (somewhat the same feeling I got from the first Dark Funeral MCD a few years later). I used to listen to it a minute or so at a time, which was more than enough. Once I brought the tape to class, which made my teacher look very skeptical and concerned. The first proper album I bought was probably Guns N’ Roses “Use your illusion II”. I know I got part I as a birthday present from my parents when I turned nine. Guns N’ Roses was, much like Metallica, a band that you heard everywhere and all the time when I grew up. Real, conscious appreciation for metal music came a little later for me, exploring bands like Judas Priest, Iron maiden and Helloween.
I listen to all sorts of music these days, and I in no way stick to bands that are somehow similar to Vampire or fit into some sort of old-school template. I think Sodom are great, but so are Xasthur and Cult of Fire, and so are The Smiths and The Paris Sisters. Good music is good music, and shit is shit, regardless of when or where it was released. I was at a show with Onslaught and Artillery the other day. You think that was really great and right up my alley? Well, think again. I enjoyed the show with Wovenhand and King Dude, which went down the night after, like 777 times more.
Have you already got some negative reactions to your debut album? If so, what they criticized?
I guess. Let’s see… some guy at www.metal-archives.com thinks our album is (referring verbatim here) “competent […] but feels almost calculated and is too stereotypical and predictable treating the listener with few surprises”. Ouch. 60% good, 40% bad. What else? “To truly rise from the sea, any aspiring retro death band needs to capture that essence of pioneering, that x factor found on the early works of bands like Death, Autopsy and Nihilist, or compose songs that are simple, yet still catches the listener off guard creating an exciting feeling of exploration despite actually having heard the bulk of it before. Unlike the debut full-lengths of, for instance, Repugnant, Tribulation and Necrowretch, ‘Vampire’ succeeds in neither.” Ouch again. This guy does the math for us as well: “Only ‘Ungodly Warlord’, ‘Jaws of the Unknown’ and ‘The Fen’ break the monotony with irregular song structures or tempo shifts and feel composed of really thoughtful ideas. 3 out of 10 songs are too few though and halfway through the album I find myself glancing at ‘Epitome of Darkness’ instead.” Triple ouch, no wait - what the hell is latin for seven? Fuck. Moreover, this guy thinks “this album never captures that underlying eerie feeling of something sinister lurking in the shadows”, which he assumes we must have been heading for writing the album, “given the lyrics, the cover art and the occasional Autopsy riff or eerie leads”. The conclusion is rather harsh: “it just doesn’t get there”. This guy goes on elaborating on the reason for this, and settles on the weakness of the production being partly to blame for this, being “too sterile and digital”. Arguably dwelling on the theme of the hidden track “Sleeper in the Deep” (that NOONE seems to have been able to unpack from the CD version) - or just simply running out of bombastic metaphors - this guy concludes that on our debut album, “Vampire stays afloat but does not rise from the sea”. And that’s just one of them! Back to the drawing board…
Your lyrics deal with morbid themes starting with death and ending with horror. Where do you draw inspiration for your lyrics? What does death symbolizes to you and what does it mean to you? Do you think death is a dot after the life, or the three dots?
As the main lyricist of Vampire, I obviously draw lots of inspiration from horror fiction, not least contemporary horror literature from Sweden (I can recommend Andreas Marklund and Anders Fager). I am a fan since childhood, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the other members in the band share that interest. I would say most of the horror flavor present on the album comes from me, being an avid follower of anything horror for the last 20 years or so and a big fan of that sort of inclusions in metal. But things wouldn’t appear on the album if not everyone in the band liked them. There certainly is a general idea to strive for a certain uneasy, uncanny or ghastly atmosphere in the music of Vampire, and where that impulse comes from I really don’t know.
Death for me doesn’t symbolize anything. Isn’t it enough in and of itself? I think of death the way I think of “the castle from the dream” in the Burzum song “Inn i slottet fra drommen”. It’s barely mentioned, but it’s all just about it at the same time. Why think too much about death? Think about life while there is still time. There will be nothing but death sooner than you might like.
Your recent work is split with Miasmal where you placed your old song from "The Night It Came Out Of The Grave" demo. Why did you chose exactly this song? Didn't you have any new one?
We chose that song because that what was left after the album recording and mastering, and would we not use it for that 7” it would just be lying around until someone wanted a “bonus track” for one release or another. Better get it out there. That 7” was more of a promotional stunt and not something either band was very involved with. For new, exclusive Vampire material, see next question.
An interesting question may be where will you go with the new material, will it carry the spirit of your debut or you does not intend running in place? Do you have any visions where it will all lead?
A sign of where we are going with our material is in the track “Pyre of the Harvest Queen” on the compilation LP “Whispers Through the Black Veil” released by Wyrd War this fall. Out now! We don’t mind striving away from some of the old-school antics heard on the demo tape and in some of the tracks on the album, to explore something more atmospheric, unexpected and diverse. One dimension of Vampire I would like to see developed further is the almost heroic heavy metal vibe you get from parts of the album track “The Bestial Abyss”. We are moving into unknown territory!
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something essential, you have the space. Thank You for answering the interview and wish VAMPIRE obscure inspiration, thanks again!
Thank you very much for your interest in Vampire! “Ut fra taken/Ut fra morke/Ut fra fjellets store skygge/Drommens slott.../Da stopper rittet/Som varte i en livstid/For herren gar (inn i slottet fra drommen)”.
http://vampireofficial.com/
Hand of Doom Mortuary 3. 12. 2014
Hell-o, you are quite young band, meaning in term of short time existence. What circumstances led to VAMPIRE formation? Who first came up with the idea about the band, how did you choose the members and what was the initial idea?
Hell-o Mortuary! There is no very interesting back-story concerning the way Vampire was brought to life. Me and Black String started hanging out when he moved to Gothenburg, being on vaguely friendly terms since our respective demo/fanzine days, and that’s about it. Some guys just need to play music to hang out. The other members were just added to the mix, little thought behind it, apart from them being great musicians.
As for defining moments for the formation of Vampire, I might mention the time Black String said to me: “We should form a band with lots of Svartsyn influences and only candle lights in the rehearsal room”. There was also talk one night of how exceptionally great/ugly-sounding Necrophagia were in their demo days.
The problem with aiming at what Necrophagia did on their demos is that they were absolutely hopeless on their instruments, even compared to the quite rudimentary skills we in Vampire possess. There is no way around that once you have reached a certain level with your musicianship. That is probably why no bands, especially from our part of the world, really succeeded in imitating what bands like Sodom or Sarcógfago did in the 80s; people are too good players today, something which obviously doesn’t serve the barbarity of the music.
Do all your members come from Gothenburg? Gothenburg gave the world a lot of interesting bands, often as if a band coming from this city would be destined for success in a Metal sense. Seems there you have many talented musicians and a lot of bands are linked together. Are you proud you are Gothenburg band?
No, not very proud. Most metal bands from Gothenburg are a waste of space. We are all from other parts of Sweden originally, and none of us really knew each other before coming here. Gothenburg is a bit like Portland, Oregon or whatever, where people move in their twenties to find likeminded people to form awesome bands with. Most of them turn out a lot less cool than Vampire, which you might have noticed.
The main feature of bands from this area is brilliant melody, composition and own sound, maybe you do not perceive it this way, but from the outside view it acts like this. There you have also an interesting band which is not too melodic, rather more dissonant and not very Swedish sounding. Irkallian Oracle, do you know this band?
I know what you mean. I guess many Swedish bands in all sorts of genres have a certain sense for a good melody. Where that comes from, I can only guess. I don’t buy the whole “melancholic Nordic folk spirit” crap, because I find some of the most haunting melodies ever recorded in like doo-wop ballads from the American early 60’s, and those guys were basically completely history-less, ultra-capitalist assholes who just tried to get by writing some radio friendly tunes for horny high-school teens, so that doesn’t really add up.
I know Irkallian Oracle, although I don’t know them personally. Last time I saw the singer was down at the University of Gothenburg campus, where I guess he is studying something relevant to what they deal with in their lyrics. Those guys seem to be into it, through and through. Good band! I like having them around, it makes for a healthily diverse local scene. I’m sure they all hate Vampire, though. That’s fine.
You have became well-known thanks to your the superb "Vampire" debut, I have read many reviews before the album release and they all disseminated only laudatory responses, I assumed the album will interest also me and it was so. How long have you been working on the debut and how has the songwriting process been going? Did you already know in advance this material is more than viable?
We knew that we liked the songs very much, and are happy that so many people outside of the band seem to share our awesome taste of music. Since the album features three of the four first songs we ever wrote together, I suppose we started working on the album already on our first proper Vampire rehearsal, which took place sometime early fall 2011. That means we worked on the album for a full two years prior to recording it.
Being even more precise, part of the lyrics for “The Night It Came Out of The Grave” and “Under the Grudge” and about 50% of the music of the former were written way back in the summer of 2006 for another band I tried to raise from the ground at that time. Who keeps count?
I appreciate you have not chosen path of shocking brutality or excessive technique, everything comes from you spontaneously, sincerely, without undue pushing the saw, while the songs sound exceptionally and strongly, there I can feel the artistic spirit and charm of VAMPIRE personality. Are you satisfied with your debut? Would you do something different today?
I think you got it right there. We definitively aimed for a “proper”, professional production for the album, more in the vein of 80’s Metallica than 80’s Necrophagia, and in that sense, I am very happy with how the album turned out. Then again, wouldn’t it have been cool to hear what a song like “Ungodly warlock” would have sounded like in a really gritty and murky basement recording? Bottom line is: you can’t have it all. An album is another thing than a demo tape, and we wanted to do it properly and somehow in the vein of how albums were done in the 80’s (not talking about a handful of under-produced “cult” albums now but proper major label products). I don’t know anything about studio recording, and don’t know what could be changed and what result that would have, but because you are asking, I wouldn’t have minded just a pinch more dirt in the drum production.
I don’t listen to the album regularly, but when I do, what strikes me is that those songs I liked the least when we recorded them are those I appreciate the most now. E.g., I recorded the vocals for “The Bestial Abyss” under time pressure when I really wasn’t feeling well and was on my way out of a bad cold, and was worried during mixing that it would shine through and wasn’t very excited about releasing that song at all. Listening now, I think the vocals are kick ass and the whole song has just grown on me. That we haven’t played it live once probably adds to it; I’m not tired of that song in any aspect.
Another impressing thing on your music is melody, despite the strong it is not sticky and after a few listening it is not tiresome and listener can not let play album only once a year, basically every listen to "Vampire" is always a charm. Would you prove to tell why is that?
I have no idea about any secret ingredient but if I did I would bottle it and sell it. We very consciously worked with the songs so they would both be catchy and drawing the listener in, and have long-lasting qualities that don’t wear out after three listens. I always thought mixing stuff up and having both really ugly, hideous-sounding riffs back to back with melody and harmony makes for a good listening experience. Most bands go for one of these ingredients, but our material is all over the place. By the way, that’s how one of my all-time favorite bands Abigor seemed to go about things during most of the 90’s.
In the case of Vampire’s relative success, I suppose that people (and Century Media) think we make quality music that is both lots of fun and emotionally challenging. Beyond that, the whole aesthetic with the horror vibe probably talks to a lot of people, especially those who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s on watching all the cool rental movies we all love. That means we stand on common ground with people from all sorts of sub-cultural movements.
Let's say you play a mix of old Death Metal, Thrash Metal with a drop of Crust. On the one hand you are old-school band (I don't know if you agree) and on the other hand you are somehow modern, bringing a new sound, new feelings and also some progress...
Old-school, sure, but you will find loads of old-school death/thrash with the occasional punk element thrown in for good measure, and I hope you agree we stand out from that crowd. Old-school or not old-school, I don’t really care, but it would be nice if people would appreciate what we do in and of itself, without having to refer back to some bullshit that was going down 25 years ago. There is zero nostalgia in Vampire, only haunting darkness!
How seriously do you take VAMPIRE? Some bands may take themselves absurdly seriously and others only for fun. Do you incline to one of these parties or it is a compromise? So what does your band mean to you?
I guess we are very serious, but not on the same level as people who profess some sort of religious dedication to what they do in the rehearsal room. I have never understood that attitude, although I was sometimes inclined to try it on at a younger age. That is probably where it belongs: among people in their early 20s and below.
The attitude we have towards this is that everybody in the band must have the space to make up their own minds about what is most important for them in any given situation. If we would try to coerce each other into doing things against our will, it would probably not come very much good out of it. As long as it’s fun being in a band you are doing it right, and as soon as it stops being that, something is wrong with the whole thing. My personal goal is for Vampire to be a source of energy that gives me more than it takes away. Setting up rules for what you may or may not do would sure ruin that. It would be interesting to know what experiences other bands have of this kind of situation, but most seem hell-bent on projecting some kind of braindead “all for one, one for all” ethic and would never admit to having discussions within the band where not everybody agree with everybody all the time.
I noticed in Sweden was established a new wave of Swedish Death / Thrash / Black Metal, I would say since the days of the 90's this is another and second original wave, bands like Miasmal, Stench, Graveless, Tribulation, Repugnant, Degial, Verminous, Maim, Bastard Priest, Reveal, Morbus Chron, Vanhelgd and more, all these bands create an amazing music, scene... Do you feel to be part of it? Do you like all these bands and which ones are your favorites?
To be honest, I don’t think any of those bands feel part of a scene or movement, but all of them are probably convinced they are doing something very special which makes them stand out from the crowd. I know we do. Then again, for the outsider looking in and judging from how all those bands sound, it’s basically same-same. The only band we are really friends with and we all think is really great musically and hang out with personally, which is also vaguely similar to us, is Antichrist. I have heard a few songs by Miasmal, Stench, Tribulation and Vanhelgd, I adore Repugnant, Reveal and Morbus Chron, and I have never heard neither Maim nor Bastard Priest, but know all the guys in Verminous, although I hardly ever listen to them. Makes for a strong scene? Well… It’s great all those guys are into what they are doing, but I don’t feel like listening to death metal everyday all day, so I don’t know most of their music very well.
I found you all are just over 30 years. What bands have you started with when you was captivated by Metal music? Do you listen to all the older and old bands till now? Do you also like some modern bands that are trying to be innovative? Do you think Metal has changed from those times when you started to listen to it?
As a kid, I guess everything changed with Metallica, as with anyone else of my generation. Trying to play the intro riff for “One” was probably my first ever attempt at playing metal. I would say that my try with the guitar didn’t have any higher artistic goals than blending in with the kids on my street, much in the same fashion I, absolutely terrified, watched “Friday the 13th” that same summer without any level of enjoyment of the craft. That came much later.
My brother used to hang out with a crowd of metal heads in his teens, which was on the pinnacle of the first Swedish death metal wave, and he sorted out a dubbed tape copy of Entombed “Clandestine” for me when I was about 8. I can’t say I understood very much of it, other than it sounded very extreme and dangerous (somewhat the same feeling I got from the first Dark Funeral MCD a few years later). I used to listen to it a minute or so at a time, which was more than enough. Once I brought the tape to class, which made my teacher look very skeptical and concerned. The first proper album I bought was probably Guns N’ Roses “Use your illusion II”. I know I got part I as a birthday present from my parents when I turned nine. Guns N’ Roses was, much like Metallica, a band that you heard everywhere and all the time when I grew up. Real, conscious appreciation for metal music came a little later for me, exploring bands like Judas Priest, Iron maiden and Helloween.
I listen to all sorts of music these days, and I in no way stick to bands that are somehow similar to Vampire or fit into some sort of old-school template. I think Sodom are great, but so are Xasthur and Cult of Fire, and so are The Smiths and The Paris Sisters. Good music is good music, and shit is shit, regardless of when or where it was released. I was at a show with Onslaught and Artillery the other day. You think that was really great and right up my alley? Well, think again. I enjoyed the show with Wovenhand and King Dude, which went down the night after, like 777 times more.
Have you already got some negative reactions to your debut album? If so, what they criticized?
I guess. Let’s see… some guy at www.metal-archives.com thinks our album is (referring verbatim here) “competent […] but feels almost calculated and is too stereotypical and predictable treating the listener with few surprises”. Ouch. 60% good, 40% bad. What else? “To truly rise from the sea, any aspiring retro death band needs to capture that essence of pioneering, that x factor found on the early works of bands like Death, Autopsy and Nihilist, or compose songs that are simple, yet still catches the listener off guard creating an exciting feeling of exploration despite actually having heard the bulk of it before. Unlike the debut full-lengths of, for instance, Repugnant, Tribulation and Necrowretch, ‘Vampire’ succeeds in neither.” Ouch again. This guy does the math for us as well: “Only ‘Ungodly Warlord’, ‘Jaws of the Unknown’ and ‘The Fen’ break the monotony with irregular song structures or tempo shifts and feel composed of really thoughtful ideas. 3 out of 10 songs are too few though and halfway through the album I find myself glancing at ‘Epitome of Darkness’ instead.” Triple ouch, no wait - what the hell is latin for seven? Fuck. Moreover, this guy thinks “this album never captures that underlying eerie feeling of something sinister lurking in the shadows”, which he assumes we must have been heading for writing the album, “given the lyrics, the cover art and the occasional Autopsy riff or eerie leads”. The conclusion is rather harsh: “it just doesn’t get there”. This guy goes on elaborating on the reason for this, and settles on the weakness of the production being partly to blame for this, being “too sterile and digital”. Arguably dwelling on the theme of the hidden track “Sleeper in the Deep” (that NOONE seems to have been able to unpack from the CD version) - or just simply running out of bombastic metaphors - this guy concludes that on our debut album, “Vampire stays afloat but does not rise from the sea”. And that’s just one of them! Back to the drawing board…
Your lyrics deal with morbid themes starting with death and ending with horror. Where do you draw inspiration for your lyrics? What does death symbolizes to you and what does it mean to you? Do you think death is a dot after the life, or the three dots?
As the main lyricist of Vampire, I obviously draw lots of inspiration from horror fiction, not least contemporary horror literature from Sweden (I can recommend Andreas Marklund and Anders Fager). I am a fan since childhood, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the other members in the band share that interest. I would say most of the horror flavor present on the album comes from me, being an avid follower of anything horror for the last 20 years or so and a big fan of that sort of inclusions in metal. But things wouldn’t appear on the album if not everyone in the band liked them. There certainly is a general idea to strive for a certain uneasy, uncanny or ghastly atmosphere in the music of Vampire, and where that impulse comes from I really don’t know.
Death for me doesn’t symbolize anything. Isn’t it enough in and of itself? I think of death the way I think of “the castle from the dream” in the Burzum song “Inn i slottet fra drommen”. It’s barely mentioned, but it’s all just about it at the same time. Why think too much about death? Think about life while there is still time. There will be nothing but death sooner than you might like.
Your recent work is split with Miasmal where you placed your old song from "The Night It Came Out Of The Grave" demo. Why did you chose exactly this song? Didn't you have any new one?
We chose that song because that what was left after the album recording and mastering, and would we not use it for that 7” it would just be lying around until someone wanted a “bonus track” for one release or another. Better get it out there. That 7” was more of a promotional stunt and not something either band was very involved with. For new, exclusive Vampire material, see next question.
An interesting question may be where will you go with the new material, will it carry the spirit of your debut or you does not intend running in place? Do you have any visions where it will all lead?
A sign of where we are going with our material is in the track “Pyre of the Harvest Queen” on the compilation LP “Whispers Through the Black Veil” released by Wyrd War this fall. Out now! We don’t mind striving away from some of the old-school antics heard on the demo tape and in some of the tracks on the album, to explore something more atmospheric, unexpected and diverse. One dimension of Vampire I would like to see developed further is the almost heroic heavy metal vibe you get from parts of the album track “The Bestial Abyss”. We are moving into unknown territory!
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something essential, you have the space. Thank You for answering the interview and wish VAMPIRE obscure inspiration, thanks again!
Thank you very much for your interest in Vampire! “Ut fra taken/Ut fra morke/Ut fra fjellets store skygge/Drommens slott.../Da stopper rittet/Som varte i en livstid/For herren gar (inn i slottet fra drommen)”.
http://vampireofficial.com/
Hand of Doom Mortuary 3. 12. 2014