DIABOLICAL (English)

Das Interview wurde geführt am / The interview was realized:
14.03.2002

Den Fragen stellte(n) sich / The questions were answered by:
Vidar W.

Art der Interviewführung / Method of interviewing:
Per elektronischer Post

MEVI'EL: Would you tell us something about the history of the band, please?

VIDAR W.: I'll try to keep it short… DIABOLICAL was formed as MISANTHROPIC ORCHESTRA in 1996 by me. All the former members are now out of the band since many years back. We did a demo in 1998 called "Northern Triumphators", and also contributed to a lot of different underground compilations. We changed name to DIABOLICAL in the spring of 1998. We had a lot of different members in and out of DIABOLICAL in 1998, but in June 1999 H.Carlsson was invited to join the band, and he has been the permanent lead guitarist since then. We did our first recording with him in August 1999, when we did a song called "The Dreaming Dead". This particular studio session was also the first time that M.Ödling did the vocals in DIABOLICAL. In January 2000, we again entered Studio 4, to put our very first CD-release on tape. Three new songs were recorded, and this recording was what became the "Deserts of Desolation" MCD… "Deserts of Desolation" was released in May 2000 by Cadla Communications, and the response was mainly positive.

After the release of "Deserts of Desolation", we signed a multi record contract with the Italian record label Scarlet Records. We recorded the first DIABOLICAL full-lenght album, entitled "Synergy", in August 2000. "Synergy" was produced by P.O. Saether, who earlier had produced bands like CARNAL FORGE and EBONY TEARS, and it was released in April 2001. The reviews for "Synergy" were great, we did a lot of interviews around the same time, and we got a whole lot of offers to do live appearances too. We decided to turn all offers down. But in May 2001 we were asked to play with AMON AMARTH at a gig in Örebro, Sweden, and around the same time I asked J.Berndt (MÖRK GRYNING mastermind) to join DIABOLICAL as a live-bassist, and he thought that it'd be cool, so in June 2001 we did our first live appearance ever! It took us 5 years to get on stage, but it was worth it. It was then decided that DIABOLICAL should continue working as a live-band, and we have been a very active live band since then, and I must say that DIABOLICAL works quite well in a live situation! BAAM! It's straight to the point.

In August/September 2001 we entered the studio again to record the follow-up to "Synergy". It was again recorded with the help of P.O. Saether, and this is the album that now has been officially released in Europe. The album was entitled "A Thousand Deaths", and the recording session was followed by a Scandinavian tour in November 2001. The tour consisted of 7 gigs in Sweden & Denmark, and this was of course our first tour ever. We are looking forward to do more of them though!

In February 2002 J.Berndt told us that he couldn't keep on touring with us anymore, due to increased tour activities with MÖRK GRYNING. He simply had to take a break, so we had to start looking for a new/additional live bassist. We are now going to introduce the world to our new bassist during this very weekend, when we play in Finspång (Sweden) together with CENTINEX.

I think that most of the important facts around DIABOLICAL have been covered by now. If someone would be interested in getting some more information about the band, then I would like to recommend the official website at [http://come.to/diabolical]. It is supposed to be updated on a regular bassist - I hope it is!

How did the band's style develop?

The style has developed from recording to recording, and I think that it mainly is a matter of each members personal musical style. Each member of the crew ads something unique to the final soundscape. That's how a band's "sound" is created, and DIABOLICAL is no exception. You can control the development to some extent, but not completely. And it is very hard to control the sound of the band, without replacing members here and there.

Which influences on you are most important for your music (other bands, films, books, political issues)?

I believe that it is music of all forms. Mainly the Metal of Death, but also other types of music. I sometimes listen to Black- and Doom Metal, for example. Not too often, but sometimes I do. Film is not a very big interest of mine, and books is a bore. I think that books are written by people, for people, that are unable to do more than one thing at a time. But maybe I'm wrong. Political issues? They don't influence me in any way.

Where do you see the differences between "Synergy" and "A Thousand Deaths"?

I think of "A Thousand Deaths" as a big improvement in many ways. The music has become much faster, more aggressive, brutal, thrashier and more straight to the point than "Synergy" was. That's what we wanted, and judging from the comments that I have heard to far, we have definitely managed to produce exactly what we were after. The songs on "A Thousand Deaths" are better than most of the songs on "Synergy", at least in my opinion, and the production have improved a lot. One of the reasons why the new album has a richer sound, is the analogue recording session. Everything, except some very small parts, was recorded on an analogue multi tracker. That's the way.

Which are your trademarks?

Our trademark is of course that we play diabolical music.

Considering the number of Swedish Death Metal Bands, where do you see the difference between them and you?

The riffs and the sound are different. Every Death Metal band is unique. What you're asking is maybe what I consider to be original with DIABOLICAL? I think that's up to the listener to decide. And I honestly don't care about things like that myself. I just play the kind of music I like, in a way that I enjoy playing it, and I couldn't care less if people think we're doing something "original" or not. What's important to me is to play and worship the Metal of Death, the way that I like it.

DIABOLICAL consists of 4 members. Who of you is writing the songs? The whole band or just one of you?

The music for DIABOLICAL are usually written by me, H.Carlsson or L.Söderberg. And the lyrics are usually written by me, L.Söderberg or M.Ödling. So it is all, as you can see, a matter of team work. In the past, I did most of the stuff, but I now think that it is much better when everybody are working on new songs. Things are getting much better, and much more varied, in a very positive way.

I read that DIABOLICAL was never meant to be a live band, but you'll be on tour with AMON AMARTH, VOMITORY, CALLENISH CIRCLE and SINS OF OMISSION in April/May 2002. Are you looking forward to that? Who will play the bass guitar?

Yes, you're right about that, just like I tried to explain when answering your first question. I never had in mind, when forming DIABOLICAL, that we would do tours! But now we will. We will begin with doing 27 dates in April/May together with the bands that you mentioned. It is going to be very interesting, because this is the first long tour for DIABOLICAL. The countries we'll play in is Holland, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Italy etc..

It's really hard, if not impossible, to know what to expect from a tour like this. It will of course be a total mess in many ways. Permanent hunger and drunkenness, and the usual chaos surrounding each gig. But that's what's cool about being a touring Death Metal, and as long as the actual shows goes fine and people actually come to see us, then it's fine with me. That's all I want. I want to see violent headbanging in front of the stage every night.

It seem to be a very, very good package, in my opinion. The only band that we have played with before is AMON AMARTH, but we all know that VOMITORY are awesome, and I expect a lot from SINS OF OMISSION and CALLENISH CIRCLE as well. Especially SINS OF OMISSION, who started rehearsing for this tour already in January, ha!

Our new bass player will be announced this weekend! Stay patient. People can always check out the website for updated information, if they'd be interested [http://come.to/diabolical]

What changed for the band since your music is released by Scarlet Records?

We got a bigger budget, better distribution, better promotion, etc.. Cadla Communications is not meant to work on an "high level", the same way Scarlet does it. So of course it was a step forward for the band.

What future plans do you have with your band?

For the rest of this month (March), we're going to do gigs in Sweden with CENTINEX during the weekends. It's nice, because CENTINEX is a very cool band to play with! In April/May we're going to complete the full European tour together with AMON AMARTH, VOMITORY, CALLENISH CIRCLE and SINS OF OMISSION. After that, we're hopefully going to do some festivals, and we are also going to record the drums for the next DIABOLICAL album, in August! That is our full schedule at this point. Maybe it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is! After August, I don't know what will happen, but I hope that we'll be offered a lot of gigs during the Autumn as well. During christmas, we're going to finish the next album. It's going to be really interesting to see what we can manage to do this time. We have cool plans, for sure. Don't worry about that. Lets just see if we can realize them... - Big thanks for the interview, Mevi'el! For updated tour dates, and all sorts of other news around the band, please check out the website, OK?. It is also possible to download music, photos etc. from the website, so don't miss it. Every true metalhead should consider checking out "A Thousand Deaths", when it now finally is available. I think that it's worth it. Stay true to the Metal of Death!

D I A B O L I C A L c/o Cadla Communications P.O. Box 10008 SE- 850 10 SUNDSVALL SWEDEN

Hinzugefügt: March 20th 2002
Interviewer: MEVI'EL

Netzseite: DIABOLICAL
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Sprache: german