INTO THE LUGS OF HELL

GOD DETHRONED

God Dethroned are striking back after the successful “Ravenous” aiming at the top with their latest release entitled “Into The Lungs Of Hell”. The lyrics hit straight to the point and this interview will allow you to see these guys from a different but yet very interesting perspective. I am sure that they will prove wrong many people who consider them to be just another death metal band with antichristian thematology. Look more carefully…

1.FIRST OF ALL CAN YOU POINT OUT WHICH YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND’S CAREER TILL NOW AND WHY?

I don’t know if you can speak of most important. If it has to be a most important moment it must be that we signed a contract with Metal Blade. Without this contract we didn’t do all these cool things, Like European tours ,the USA tour and the Festivals. For example for us it was really cool to play at the Dynamo festival before 10000 people in our own country. And the Japanese shows where certainly one of the best things.

2.CAN YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS REGARDING “INTO THE LUNGS OF HELL”? WHERE WAS IT RECORDED, WHO WAS THE PRODUCER, HOW LONG IT TOOK YOU TO COMPLETE IT, ETC. ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH IT OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE?

This time we decided to record the album in Sweden at the Berno studio. After recording all the previous albums at Franky’s recording kitchen we thought it was time for a change. We decided to go there after listening to the new Vomitory album and since this is produced by Henrik Larson we asked him to do our new album as well .It took us 2 weeks to record all the songs and another week to complete the mix. And we are very satisfied with the end result, I personally think this is the best thing we ever done. It’s just what we always wanted, an album with a fat sound but still a bright production. Of course there are always points that could have been better but we keep that for the next album.

3.YOU HAVE RECORDED YOUR ALBUM IN A SCANDINAVIAN STUDIO. THESE PAST 2-3 YEARS WE SEE MORE AND MORE BANDS RECORDING THEIR ALBUMS IN SWEDEN. AREN’T YOU AFRAID THAT THIS WAY YOU MIGHT LOSE YOUR PERSONAL SOUND AND IDENTITY AND THAT YOU MIGHT SOUND LIKE ONE MORE BAND OF THIS GENRE?

I don’t think so. I think it depends on what your desires are and what studio you go to. I think when we went to The Abyss studio we would have had this typical sound and that is what we didn’t want. But if I listen to the new Amon Amarth album and compare it to our album I hear a big difference. I must admit that we like the Swedish sound and that we tried to create one but it still sounds like God Dethroned.

4.WHICH DO YOU THINK ARE THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN “RAVENOUS” AND “INTO THE LUNGS OF HELL”? PERSONALLY, THOUGH I FIND SOME DIFFERENCES, I’D SAY THAT THESE TWO ALBUMS SOUND TO ME LIKE AN ENTITY, LIKE A NATURAL PROCESS AND SUCCESS FROM ONE ALBUM TO THE OTHER. DO YOU AGREE?

I agree that there are some similarities. But when we started writing songs for “Into” we tried to do some things different. We wanted to cut down on the speed a little because we think that the previous albums where a little over the top. So we wrote some more mid tempo parts to give the fans something to bang their heads to at a live show. And of course our new drummer Arien also made some difference because he is a different drummer than Tony or Roel. By the way he is a really great drummer and we are very happy that he is in the band. Technically seen he is just as good as Tony and he also wrote guitar riffs for this album. So what more could we have wished?

5.”INTO THE LUNGS OF HELL” CAN’T BE CHARACTERIZED NEITHER AS A FAST NOR AS A MID TEMPO ALBUM. YOU HAVE BLASTBEATS BUT THEN YOU HAVE MID TEMPO PARTS AND MELODIES AND IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE MELODY AND AGGRESSIVENESS ARE IN A PERFECT BALANCE, LIKE THEY ARE EQUALLY DIVIDED. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO ACHIEVE THIS?

This is not difficult for us because we always did this. Although I must admit that on Ravenous the speed took the over hand. But since we all like different styles of metal and other kinds of music we try to write songs that don’t sound the same. There are so many bands that compose the same song over and over again, even album after album. When we write songs only the best riffs are good enough to work with. From these riffs we start to compose songs. We always try to keep the basic of the song pretty simple and make the song more interesting with the melodies and the lyrics, don’t forget that they are also really important to make the song sound good. But most things are done spontaneously because your first thought is always the best.

6.NOW LET’S GO TO THE LYRICAL PART…YOUR LYRICS SEEM TO BE MORE REALISTIC AND THE CONNECTION WITH CONTEMPORARY LIFE IS, I THINK, MORE THAN OBVIOUS. THIS TIME YOU DON’T USE SO MANY METAPHORS AND YOU HIT THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM. WHAT MADE YOU CHANGE?

When we entered the studio we only had 2 or 3 lyrics ready so we wrote most of it while recording. Most of the lyrics are written because this where subjects that we discussed in between recording songs. So all of this is not done on purpose, it just happened. For instance, we had a conversation with Berno about animal abuse, because he is a vegetarian. After this conversation Henri wrote Slaughtering The Faithful. When you read the lyrics without knowing what it’s about you think this is about the holocaust, so we hope that people see what we are doing to animals. Enemy of the state was written in a similar way, we also had a discussion about the government watching everything you do 24 hours a day. So the change came without us knowing this.

7.I THINK THAT YOUR MONICKER NOW MORE THAN EVER HAS A CONNECTION WITH WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND US. THERE WERE ALWAYS THROUGH OUT HISTORY WARS MADE IN THE NAME OF GOD ORIGINALLY SERVING MAN’S CAUSES AND AMBITIONS AND RIGHT NOW WE HAVE AN EXAMPLE. SO, AFTER ALL DO YOU THINK GOD AND RELIGIONS HELP PEOPLE AND SUPPORT THEM DURING THEIR HARD TIMES OR ARE THEY A SOURCE OF HATRED, WARS AND SEPARATING PEOPLE?

That depends. Most people don’t know how to deal with religion and take it way too seriously. I can understand that some one can have a lot of support from his belief. But what I don’t understand is that there are so many people that just do what they are told by their so called (religious) leaders. The leaders are to blame for all the hatred and aggression I think. And then there are also the people that take everything what is written too seriously. And try to do everything exactly as it is written in their holy book. This also evokes a lot of anger and hatred with a lot of people that are not that serious.

8.HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO PROMOTE YOUR ALBUM? WHEN WILL YOU TOUR EUROPE AND WITH WHICH OTHER BANDS? IS THERE A CHANCE TO SEE YOU AGAIN FROM OUR PLACES HERE IN GREECE?

Well for this moment there is not that much to tell about that because we are still working on it. The only things that are confirmed are 1 show on the New Jersey metalfest. And 2 summer festivals, Summer Breeze and The Arena metal festival in Vienna. But we will of course do a European tour and we try to do a US tour this year. And hopefully we will come to Greece again as well because the last time we had a great time.

9.WHICH DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST AND WHICH IS THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? IS THERE A FIELD IN WHICH YOU NEED FURTHER IMPROVEMENT?

You always want to improve something, because if you don’t want that anymore you better stop making music. I think that the best part in our music is that we are aggressive and melodious at the same time. Also the difference between the songs are a good thing in our music I think. There are so many bands that write the same song over and over again, album after album. But this is also a very difficult topic to discuss because it’s a matter of taste as well. And if there where any bad parts in our music I wouldn’t tell you, you have to figure that out yourself.

10.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THE ABILITY TO INVOLVE IN ANY WAY WITH MUSIC?

I don’t know if you mean that I also can’t visit live shows anymore. If this was the case I would probably shoot myself. If there still was the ability to visit shows I would be happy with the job I have now visit live shows and travel the world.

11.IF SUDDENLY ELECTRICITY CEASED TO EXIST, WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN TO HEAVY METAL? WOULD IT BE FORGOTTEN OR TRANSFORMED AND WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO EXTREME SOUND IN SPECIFIC?

It would probably die. But humans will always find something that will express their feelings, so there would be something in place for it. I would do probably something I saw when I was on the Dynamo festival a few years ago. There where maybe 20 people pounding with wooden sticks and metal pipes on a garbage container all night long. I think metal would sound like that.

12.WHAT WOULD YOU ADVICE THE YOUNG GUYS WHO NOW FORM THEIR BANDS? WHAT SHOULD THEY BE CAREFUL OF IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

Always follow your feelings. And try to get the best out of it for your band. And don’t be careful, only think over what you are doing. And don’t sign a record deal with the first small or crappy record label that wants to have you, because there is a lot of bullshit going on in music business.

13.IS THERE AN ALBUM THAT YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE CREATED YOURSELF OR SOME MUSICIANS THAT YOU’D LIKE TO CO-OPERATE WITH?

I wish we wrote “Slaughter of the soul” from At the Gates. Or “Reign in Blood”. Because I think that every one who is into Death or thrash metal has to think the same about this. Personally I would like to cooperate with Ozzy sometime. It would be really cool to see the mad man at work.

14.IF YOU COULD BE A HISTORICAL PERSONALITY FOR ONE DAY, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE AND WHICH PERIOD OF HIS/HER LIFE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE?

The captain of the Titanic at the moment the ship is going down so I could shout, oh shit we have a problem.

15.IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?

The universe is not made by a creature. It’s made by nature.

16.IF YOUR MUSIC WAS AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Music is emotion. All the emotions you like.

17. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO LIVE AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE?

That would be if we came back from playing a few shows in Greece and nine months later I hear on the news that there are suddenly on a strange way an awful lot of children born in Greece.

18.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION?

I would like to thank everybody that came to visit our shows that we played together with Marduk. We had a real great time and we hope to see you again soon.
Beef

Christine Parastatidou

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