CHASTISEMENT

Chastisement's "Alleviation Of Pain" is one of the best death metal albums I've listened to lately, ideally combining melodies with harshness they offered us an album that will accompany us for a long long time. So, for this and many more we had Johan Klitkou, Chastisement's vocalist, answer the questions...

1.CONGRATULATIONS FOR "Alleviation Of Pain"! GREAT ALBUM!
  • Thanks, our previous album, our first official demo, “blwa” generated great reviews which inspired us to work even harder this time, aiming for bigger and greater things. 
2.FIRST OF ALL TELL US THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN THE CHASTISEMENT'S HISTORY AND INTRODUCE THE CURRENT LINE UP.
  • It might sound like a cliché but I think every moment in Chastisements history is important and never too small to be labeled as an unimportant event. Everything along the path of Chastisement has made us what we are today, including sucky gigs like one we had in a barn with like ten people in the crowd. If I have to name a few important moments that stands out from the rest it must be our first demo (blwa) and first gig, maybe it sounds sentimental and somewhat silly but those things were very important.
  • Lineup
  • Vocals: Johan Klitkou
  • Guitar: Marcus Edvardsson
  • Guitar: Tommy Larsson
  • Bass: Nicklas Linnes
  • Drums: Nils Fjellström
3.IF I ASKED YOU TO INTRODUCE THE ALBUM YOURSELVES TO THE READERS, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT? ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT? IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING NOW, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
  • AOP gives the listener diverse music fuelled with raw and honest anger. Every song has its own unique way it goes, sounds and feels. I’m convinced that on this album there is a song for everyone. Considering we did all the work ourselves we are pretty satisfied with the album, as always when you look back you find things that you would have done differently today. When it comes to things we are not that pleased with it differs from member to member but most of them we only hear ourselves. If we could change something now it would be to add more flow to the songs, small things that appear in the songs that gives them the little ‘extra’. Also, it would have been awesome to work with a producer when making the album, maybe we will do that next time.
 4.WHERE WAS THE ALBUM RECORDED? I DON'T SEE A FAMOUS STUDIO OR SOMETHING... HOW COME YOU'VE DECIDED NOT TO GO TO ONE OF THOSE VERY FAMOUS STUDIOS YOU HAVE OVER THERE? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU EARNED FROM THIS AND WHAT DID YOU LOSE?
  • The album was recorded at TLS AB Studio in Östersund (RIP) for two main reasons, firstly; We payed for everything ourselves and simply couldn’t afford a big, fancy studio. Secondly, we work best alone without too much interference, at TLS we could work whenever we wanted and stay there for as long as we needed. Without having to pay a shitload of money, that’s a huge benefit. We learned a lot from that experience, when making everything yourself you get everything the way you want in the end. Yes, we are bunch of egocentric bastards ;) The downside is that it takes a lot of energy from the band which could affect the songs in a bad way. After working 18 hours in a row it’s easy to say “Well, thats good enough” , thanks to mainly Tommy Larsson, who was the one in charge of the recording, he very seldom let us get away with that, so we had to work until we all were pleased with the result. Even though this way of working has downsides I’m pretty sure we will work in the same way on our next album.
5.HOW MANY DEMOS HAVE YOU RECORDED BEFORE "ALLEVIATION OF PAIN"? WHICH ARE THE MAIN SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG THEM AND YOUR DEBUT ALBUM?
  • As mentioned above we have recorded one official demo called “...but lost we are”. I find it very difficult to put in writing the similarities and differences between the albums. Maybe “blwa” is more old-school and “aof” is more professional in the way it is carried out. Throughout the albums we have the same concept; strong melodies, diversed music and unexpected things. I strongly believe the listeners actually can answer this one better that I.
6.YOU COME FROM SWEDEN, A COUNTRY WITH A BIG HISTORY IN THE MELODIC DEATH METAL SOUND. YOU BELONG TO THIS GENRE TOO, HOWEVER, YOUR SOUND IS NOT THE TYPICAL GOTHENBURG ONE... I MEAN WE LISTEN TO MANY INFLUENCES FROM THE AMERICAN BRUTAL DEATH METAL SCENE AS WELL. WHICH ARE SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS AND ALBUMS?
  • Well first of all, I’m proud of living in a country that delivers much quality metal but it’s not anything that makes you relax, it’s quiet the opposite; you have a huge pressure of delivering just not the typical “swedish death-metal” but to deliver something fresh and somewhat “new”. We have never tried to sound like any other band, that’s a very pointless way of making music. Our influenses come from a various number of bands, such as: Edge of Sanity, Death, Kreator, Hypocrisy and of course some older music too like Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Annihilator and Faith No More. 
7.WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING TO AND HOW IMPORTANT ARE THEY FOR YOU? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS AND WHAT CAN TAKE THE INSPIRATION AWAY FROM YOU?
  • I have a lot inside of me, and the way I’ve chosen to get it out is to weave my personal thoughts, opinions and worries into a fictionary story. The demo “blwa” dealt with pre-chaos scenarios. Humans have been fighting each other for centuries and failed to see where it led too. Based a lot on the bible, please do not make the mistake believing we are a christian band, nor satanic for that sake. “aop” takes on where “blwa” ended. The world as we know it has changed into a much darker place. We have succefully destroyed our world and ourselves, the few that are left abandon earth and seek happiness out in space, just to realize that leaving the worries behind doesn’t change the fact that humans are still humans; the biggest threat to humankind is ourselves. Once again the lyrics are a mix of my own very personal thoughts and above mentioned fiction, all weaved into each other. On the upcoming album, yet untitled, I will continue the story but I will focus more on the personal stuff and have a clearer meaning of what I’m trying to say. The lyrics are very important to me, without a deeper meeing in the text I find it hard to sing the words. 
8.I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN WITH THE ALBUM TITLE "ALLEVIATION OF PAIN". HOW CAN WE ALLEVIATE OUR PAIN AND FOR WHICH PAIN IN SPECIFIC ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
  • Throughout the work with the lyrics I relized that I somehow was searching for a simply way to end the pain and worries, for me and others. I do not promote suicide or anything of such a kind but it’s a simple equation, living means getting both good and bad, without the bad you wouldn’t see good as good. If you really wanted to take away all the pain you would have to take away everything. The ultimate alleviation of pain is to surrender to the void and taking your life.
9.LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ARTWORK A BIT. I LIKE IT BUT I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS... WHAT DOES THE FRONT AND BACK SHOW? THE FRONT LOOKS LIKE AN ALIEN SKULL AND WHAT IS THIS NUMBER 13 WRITTEN ON THE SKULL?
  • The artwork is a gleam from the future, in future I mean; what will come on the upcoming album. I don’t want to reveal too much of the concept of the upcoming album but what you see is the corpse of one of 13 “enhanced”-humans that chose an alternative way too seek happiness in a distant world. In the mountains on the back you see the entrance to what started the whole scenario. I still haven’t made up my mind to what degree I will continue the story on the upcoming album, right now it feels like it’s about time a do a naked album lyric-wise without a sorrounding story, we will see how it turns out in the end.
10.YOU ARE ALL SKILLFUL MUSICIANS. HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS FOR THE SONGWRITING? WHICH ELEMENTS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY FOR YOU WHILST COMPOSING? ALSO A CREDIT MUST BE GIVEN TO YOUR CHARISMATIC DRUMMER! IT'S A DIFFICULT THING TO FIND A GOOD DRUMMER NOWADAYS...
  • Thanks, being a skillfull musician is an absolute must in Chastisement. If you can’t handle your instrument you have no business being in Chastisement. We demand a shitload from ourselves and that we do our very best at every single occasion. Our drummer is awesome, we were lucky enough to get to know Nils at an early stage, he has been with the band since the beginning. 
  • (Marcus adds): The most important things when composing is that every single part and every single riff has its own say in the songs. They have to make a certain feel and nothing is ever written just to be a passage to the next riff. Sometimes it is very hard to come up with something “extra” when we are dealing with the songwriting. We in Chastisement are always chasing new ways of writing as we always want to improve our skills.
11.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? YOU ARE ALREADY ESTABLISHED AS A LIVE BAND. SO, WHAT DO YOU OFFER TO THE METALLERS IN YOUR SHOWS? WHAT SHOULD THOSE THAT HAVEN'T YET SEEN YOU LIVE EXPECT? 
  • We don’t have a tour planned in the near future. We are busy writing and recording new material, Chastisement never rests. At a live-show we do our very best to pour anger over the crowd so they get what they payed for. We really love standing on stage, I think it’s very important to let go of the “I’m so angry, I’ve never smiled in my life”-attitude a lot of death-metal bands have. The audience is there to see angry music but also to have a great time and if we can’t show them we are having fun, we cant excpect it from them either.
12.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK YOU GOT THIS FAR? IS THERE A COMMON STATEMENT YOU READ IN ALMOST ALL THE REVIEWS YOU RECEIVE?
  • Yes, we are very happy with the response we´ve received so far, the one common thing is us being compared with and liked to the swedish metal scene, sometimes reviewers say we are just what they expected from a swedish death-band, in a good way. However that isn’t always good.
13.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
  • Emotion; rage.
  • Painting; It would be a shot taken from high above earth, showing the population with minds wide open, their worries spreading upwards into the sky. Connecting them to each other with lines, showing that regardless who you are and what you have we go through basically the same things. Which makes everything kinda silly if you look at the big picture.
14.WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHICH THE WORST ELEMENT IN YOUR MUSIC? WHICH IS YOUR TRADEMARK?
  • The best element must be the combination of many styles, the diversity music. The worst is the lack of “impulsive-driven” music. 
15.LET'S SUPPOSE THAT WE LIVE IN A WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN SUCH A CASE?
  • In a world without music I would spend my time creating in some way or another. Maybe write or paint more.
16.WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK COULD BEST DESCRIBE "ALLEVIATION OF PAIN" AND YOUR MUSIC IN GENERAL?
  • Diversed, intensive and directed rage.
17.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
  • Well, I think I’ve written far too much already so I’ll just thank you for doing this interview with us and a hail goes out to anyone that reads this. Don’t hesitate to contact Chastisement if you have any comments. Embrace your rage!
Christine  Parastatidou
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