Interview with Frank/guitarist

UN: There seems to be a lot of praise being said about Rise to Ruin. How has the response been so far? Are you guys happy with how the album turned out?

Frank: Very much, yes. It feels and sounds pretty much how we wanted it to feel and sound like, so that's good. Response has been great, so that's an added bonus, definitely.

UN: Rise to Ruin seems to be a bit more extreme and faster then the last album. What would you say inspired the new aggression in the band?

Frank: Several things. As a band, we're gaining more confidence with every song we write, which really helps in getting some of those extra decibels out. Also, we had so much shows and tours cancelled since releasing La Muerte; there's was quite a bit of frustration finding its way in these songs. Thirdly, we've decided to try and stick to the stuff that suits us best, which is the kind of music we started out with. We've gotten most of the wild experiments out of our system now, so I wouldn't be expecting too much of that anymore from this band. Just bonecrunching, spinepulling, skullcrushing Metal.

UN: Was it intentional to have old school flavored artwork? I think it matches the sound of the album perfectly. Its a nice change to see a death metal album cover that isnt ridiculously gory.

Frank: We realized pretty early on in our career we'd best leave all the outrageous gore-lyrics and imagery to bands who do that kind of stuff much, much better than we ever could dream of, so that's something you won't be seeing us do any time soon. JC gave Mid, the artist, the lyrics to these songs, and I guess these are some of the images he came up with. I really like it, as you say it does match the feel of the album rather nicely.

UN: What do you guys find so appealing about the old school death metal sound? I find it to be one of the most distinct sounds for death metal. The classics are considered classics for good reason. The newer bands somewhat miss the point and have nothing memorable about their sound.

Frank: The thing I miss most in a lot of current bands is a sense of personality. A lot of these guys seem to be afraid to sound even slightly different to everyone else. I think most of that is down to proving yourself, you know, 'listen, I can do this stuff just as well, if not better, than anyone else', and that's perfectly fine of course. A lot of those bands won't be around in 5 years, and the ones that will be will probably have discovered something to set them apart from the others, so that'll keep things interesting.

UN: Do you think the band will have a chance to the in the US to support this new album? Have you guys toured in the states much in the past?

Frank: We've only been over once, in '93 as support to Death on their Individual Thought Patterns tour. That was one of the best experiences we've had, as a band, loved every minute of it. These days, I'm afraid even touring in Europe is not as easy for us as it once was. We all have our daytime jobs and lives beside the band, it's hard enough to try and match all our schedules as it is. At this point in time, I don't think we could afford a decent US tour, but who knows, you know, if the right offer comes along, we'll be over before you can say 'Four work permits and some US visa, please!'.

UN: This album is the bands first with Candlelight. Just out of curiosity what happened with Nuclear Blast in North America? I know they are still releasing the album in Europe. Candlelight is my opinion is one of the best metal labels around right now.

Frank: I think you're right there. Candlelight have some of my favorite bands on their roster, like Obituary, Enslaved, Entombed, Candlemass, Vader, Zyklon. I don't really know what happened with NB America, one minute they were doing it, next thing I know Candlelight have taken over. I guess NB-America didn't feel they could do anything with our album. Fair enough.

UN: How do you guys keep the spark going after being together for so long? Do you still get the same rush from playing fast music?

Frank: Well, splitting up in '98 and being apart for 6 years definitely helped putting things in perspective. We've all realized why we actually started out as a band, and what drove us to writing this kind of music in the first place. We're hardly the fastest band in the world, but if a song calls for fast, we'll do fast. It just comes down to writing the music you yourself want to hear, I guess.

UN: Looking back, are there any Gorefest albums that you are not so proud of? Do you guys listen to the older albums often? What would you consider the album that perfectly defines what Gorefest is all about?

Frank: No, I don't listen much to older albums. I wrote those songs myself, I know how they sound. Once in a while I'll put on Chapter 13, because I love the flow and the ideas on that one. I still dig most of the La Muerte songs, and the new one is great. The only thing I'm not too proud of is the mix on Erase, that could've been much, much better.

UN: Just out of curiosity, what do you think of newer death metal bands? There are a lot of good bands but some of them are downright ridiculously. It seems more about playing as fast as humanly possible instead of being about writing classic riffs and having a powerful sound.

Frank: It's the Quest For Extremes, and that's something the genre is partly based on. It's not something that I find particularly interesting, as most bands just don't know how to pull it off. Only a few bands seem to maintain a decent amount of weight and power when playing at those speeds, and then they still need to write a decent song. But, you know, whatever floats your boat, right?

UN: Do you notice a big difference between the metal scene right now and the scene of the early 90s? Communication is much easier, but the increased exposure means there are far too many bands around right now. It seems like bands are also doing it for the money right now as well and just writing albums to have a product to push while touring. A lot of bands are doing it for the wrong reasons right now.

Frank: Yeah, well, a lot of these guys depend on their band to make a living, you can hardly criticize someone for that. With a lot of bands, I view it as practice, as you do hear quite a bit of development throughout their recordings. Once in a while, a band will put out something that will get them remembered for some time, and that's more or less what we'd all like to do. Apart from the arrival of the internet, I don't see that much difference to the early 90's. There's always been loads of bands in Metal, and there's still people busy in their local scene with bands, labels, clubs or whatever. People still get drunk and try to forget their bad day at shows. Bands still tour. Lots of shit gets written, and now and then someone comes up with a cool song. No, I don't think that much has changed, hahaha.