Well very typical things, meaning that we were playing shows, not around the world this time but in Europe and we did Estonia and Russia, we played in Moscow, which was fucking killer! Then of course our guitar player Teemu decided to end his own life. It has been announced it was an accident, but this is not correct information…

He committed suicide that’s right! And what happened with the press is that his parents didn’t want people to know the truth, so we said back then “Ok!”, but you know I am sick and tired of lying about it. I decided when the new album was out, I’m gonna tell the truth and if they get angry at me I don’t care! 

Exactly! So, after he died we took one month break, got a new guitar player and of course at the same time we were doing new tracks and on the 1st of July we entered Astia studio to record “All That You Fear” and the rest is history!

Well, I suppose so, but you know I haven’t been doing any new music and I haven’t heard a new riff from anybody, so it is kind of far to answer at this point, but I am pretty convinced that we will continue on the same path that actually started already with “Nihil”. You know “Nihil” and then “Absence Of War…” and now “All That You Fear” are a natural continuation. 

Sure! Why not? I mean I wouldn’t really call it melodies, but I’d rather say it’s a catchy material. I think they are catchy riffs and not melodic riffs.

I am in Paris doing the promotion of the new album. I have been doing shit loads of interviews and…

No, not boring, but I’ve heard so many opinions about this album…Some say that it is more rock ‘n’ roll than before and I am like “Huh?!?!? What the fuck are you talking about???” Hahahaha…then some people say to me... Actually a journalist told me that this is a “happy” record, I said “What????” and she said “Yes, yes! This is a very happy music!!”…

Yes, yes! I agree! I told her – she was a female – What the fuck you mean with the word happy? She said “Yes, yes! Your album sounds very happy!”…Hahahahaha! So what can I say to that? I said “Ok! Whatever!”. Everyone has a completely different opinion. For some people we are nothing but noise and this might be a good thing! Hahaha!

Yes! And mixed at the Finnvox studio…

There are a few reasons. One of them is that since we have started working with (note: sorry, I didn’t catch the name) since 1999, we know him extremely well and he knows as extremely well. We get along extremely well and Astia studio is just so perfect place for us to record! I mean I don’t want to spend our studio money going to Sweden, you know spending expensive studio money for the plane tickets. It is a very simple reason and it is very close to Helsinki, so it is only 3 hours travel from Helsinki, if necessary you can go back home between the recordings, if you have to do something important!

I agree!!!

We spent exactly 2 weeks at the Astia studio and then we spent one week mixing it in the Finnvox studio.

Well, I don’t think so, because we have been doing this for 13 years now, so even if we stayed for let’s say 6 weeks in the studio for sure we know how we have to sound!

Yeah but we don’t work like that! Hahaha! We don’t work like that at all, so when you are talking about Impaled Nazarene, you can forget that kind of bullshit!

Absolutely!

On the new record?

I wouldn’t change absolutely anything! I am happy with how it is! 

You know I am REALLY happy! You don’t even know how fucking happy I am with it!!! (heavy laughter!)

8. IF I ASKED YOU TO PICK OUT THE MAIN DIFFERENCES AND MAIN SIMILARITIES MUSICALLY BETWEEN “ALL THAT YOU FEAR” AND “ABSENCE OF WAR DOESN’T MEAN PEACE”, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL ME?

I would tell you…No! I WILL say that this is a faster record, it is more brutal and we followed a completely different road in the production. “Absence Of War…” was a very digital sounding record, the drums were pretty much triggered and the guitar was really compressed. With this one, when we went in Astia studio we agreed that we were looking for a more “open” sounding, a more “live” sounding record, we wanted to have backed up an analog feeling of the old recordings, so this is how we started to build on the sound and that’s what we got and I am really happy with it! 

Oh! It is an extremely anti-christian record…

Yeah once again, but it’s a bit different story this time… You know we have a new government in Finland that got elected in April this year and the center party won the elections and they have lots of new political faces. These people got elected and it turns out now that they are extremely hardcore Christians, so they have already managed in a few months to make prostitution illegal. At the moment they are banning video games and horror movies, so I am sure that their next logical step will be the metal music, but thankfully in Finland right now metal music is very popular, so you can be sure that if they start to fuck with metal people, the metal community will fight back, because it is very popular!

Ok! So, I shall move to Greece! (laughter!!!)

Hmm…well…that’s one way to put it…

Hahahahhahahahaha! I mean there are also different kinds of stuff on the album, not only the anti-christian ones. Hey that’s happening, but there are also songs like “Suffer In Silence”, which talks about the suicide of Teemu and it has very brutal lyrics and I believe that many people will be surprised when they will read it! 

Can you imagine how many times I have been asked this question???

Hahahahaha! Well, since I don’t have any fears like phobias or such things, I will tell you that we have been doing this for 13 years and all these years Impaled Nazarene has been a major part of my life and since I am the vocalist, if I’ll get throat cancer or shit like that, that will be the end of my life. That’s clear!

Yes, actually we have already started. We were in Italy a coupe of weeks ago. We played in Rome and in Pavia. We have already done a show in Finland and there are a couple of shows in Finland coming up. In three weeks time we are leaving for the first time for the Baltic states, this means that we will play in Esthonia, Lithuania and Latvia and on February 26th we will start our headlining tour in Europe…

The one is Legion from Sweden, which has the Marduk drummer in its line up and the other one is a band called Inri from Holland.

Actually it was in 1999 I think.. oh sorry 2000!

3 years! Hahaha yeah you were right!

Yes, there is, because we are negotiating at the moment. I don’t know when…It might be in January, February or March. We will do a couple of shows in Italy and then one show in Athens. 

If someone brings us over, then of course we will come…

Yeah! We’d love to come to Thessaloniki. It was SUCH a nice place!

Yeeeeesss!!! I did!!!!! You know the Greek crowd is great! And especially you should see as now cause we are a fucking strong live band! We are much better than we used to being. 

Hhmm… I don’t know! Haha! You know we haven’t had trouble with anybody for a very long time, but like I said, I am expecting people to attack in Finland, the metal music…

Yeah, because of the government, so we will see what will happen. I hope nothing happens, but I will not be surprised if something happens. You can be sure that when they will attack it will be our band the first one to get all the shit!

Because of our lyrics! Probably they don’t even understand what out name means, but it’s our lyrics and who we are and what we say in the interviews in Finland. You know why the first song is written in Finnish?

It has extreme anti-christian lyrics in it and I wanted to make a strong statement in Finland in specific. So, that’s why is in Finnish and it’s the first song of the album, so that the people will get it, like what the hell it’s all about!

No! I don’t want to provoke people! There are some subjects that I feel so strongly about! Of course when I sing like I am going to kill you, I do have brains…I don’t want to end up in prison hahahaha, but who knows… maybe some day I’ll snap and go insane and start killing people…

Yeah! But so far the music has been an excellent outlet for me, for all the aggression and hate I have inside of me and it’s a good thing or otherwise I’d be probably dead already!

Well, the philosophy is pretty much the “fuck off and die”! (laughter) This has been since our beginning. This is a band that nobody has “held” us, nobody has been giving us support. So much shit has been thrown to us during the years, so our will is strong as iron. You can’t stop this band anymore and I know that there are lots of people that would love to see us stop but they can dream on! 

Ohh worst statement! We have been accused of anything you can imagine! You know…

We have been accused of being nazis, we have been accused of been…Ohhh I can’t even remember all the shit that we have got…

Well, sometimes I write a nice letter trying to explain and most of the time I just say “fuck off!”.

Yes! Exactly!

Well, I guess that in a way, when you think of bands like Venom, for me when I was young they were the best band in the world. Through Venom I got interested in all these things that Venom were singing about and you know all the image and shit. So, that’s one of the reasons why it’s going this way. They actually find it first in the bands they like and maybe some of them can dwell further in the occult field.

My vocals of course!!!! (laughter)

Hahahahaha!

Hahaha! No they are not! The rest of them are in Finland and I am in Paris.

Hahahaa! I don’t think so!

Probably my vocals!

Because they have a fucking good taste in music! (heavy laughter!)

Eeeexxxxploooding!!!!!!!

How could they collide? As I said before this means that people have an excellent taste in music! Hahahahaha! So, this is a proof that people all around the world have an excellent taste in music if they listen to Impaled Nazarene! Hahahaha!

The best countries for us at the moment seem to be France, Italy, Finland and the Benelux countries is a really growing market for us!

Probably a middle finger! Hahahaha!

Yes! Right!

Hahahaha!

I am trying to think that’s why! I had so many weird questions asked in my life… Ohh…Once I was doing a Dutch radio show and the guy asked me seriously “So is it true that you moved to Belgium to marry a man?” and I said “What?!?!?!?!”. And then he asked “You are a homosexual, yes?” and I told him “what the fuck are you talking about? I am not a fucking gay”! Probably he wanted to have sex with me! Hahahahaha!

Yeah! Hahahahaha! 

Hmm…Damn! You are asking different questions than everybody else! Hahaha!

No! It’s a good thing you know, but I have to think more! Hahaha! Yeah I don’t say what I have been saying to everybody all these days, so I am now “aaahhh! What??”. Hahaha!

Hmm… Actually I’d love to have met LaVey.

Actually, not because I’d like to ask him anything, but mainly to thank him writing the satanic bible because it was something that when I was 17-18 and first read it, it changed my life and it was kind of the thoughts that I already had and somebody has already written them. So, I would like to shake his hand and say “Cool!!!”. Haha!

Hmm… I don’t know if something really funny has ever happened…Once we played in Germany. There was this girl throwing all these teddy bears on stage while we were playing!

She was a fan of the band and she wanted to give our guitar player all these teddy bears! Hahahhaa! And it was hard because you were trying to keep a “straight” face when this girl was throwing all these teddy bears! Hahahahha! That’s not very extreme!!! Hahahahaha!

No it’s not!

Yes!

Hmm…I have a project band called Obscene Eulogy and we are signed to the Baphomet Records in U.S.A. It’s 2 Canadian guys and me and it’s kind of like, extreme death/black metal with a drum machine, but it’s nothing like the past projects.

If I was a fly? I would probably fly to the Vatican to see the Pope and take a shit! Hahaha! Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know! (laughter).

That would be something like “Armageddon” and “Still going strong”!

Ok thank you! Bye, bye!