UN: When I first heard about Mausoleum I was somewhat expecting what you’d normally hear from Razorback, which is grind influenced gore metal, but you guys are much different. You guys definitely are playing dirty and old school death metal, which is a nice change of pace. How did you guys come into contact with the Razorback crew and how does it feel to be a part of their hive?

ROB: Razorback is known for many of its gore grind bands like General Surgery, TCME, Impaled, Hemorrhage, Machetazo, and more that are influenced by grind particularly Carcass type stuff. That sound is what they are into when they want to write music. For us it is about Autopsy, Death, Necrophagia, Impetigo all that late 80’s early 90’s stuff. Initially we created music with almost no intention of releasing something except maybe a promo cdr. It was for us at first and for always about having fun playing music we love to hear. It was our goal to be “cult” and probably not accepted by the “new” death metal fans of today. Christ! Most of us are in our fucking 30’s, so what made us “tick” and what “drew” us into playing metal was early 80’s stuff. Most of these “new” people hate that stuff, but I respect that. It’s not what they grew up with, so why should they give a fuck? We kind of knew that there are only so many people who would understand what we were doing and that could appreciate what CDOGG is. We just want to reflect a time in death metal where 100% heart and attitude weighed in much more than precision crystal clear 1000 mph super 48 track production. It’s a pleasure working with Billy, Jill and the rest of the crew at RAZORBACK RECORDS. Billy actually contacted us a few weeks into recording CDOGG, how he heard about us I had no fucking idea!! Anyway it was cool because RAZORBACK was something we actually talked about because we saw how dedicated and how many releases they were turning out. To work with them has been great and we think we found the right home!

UN: This may have been an ideal question to start off with, but we’ll use it second instead. Tell us about how Mausoleum came to be. I know that all of the members have been in other bands, was there a lot of things you learned from previous bands that you didn’t want to happen with this one? After all, you guys aren’t a part of those bands anymore.

ROB:Mausoleum came to be shortly after me quitting Incantation, I felt drained and depleted when I left, so I was not really planning to do anything for a while. I ran into “Sllim” and he asked if I would be interested in doing something with Adam, Phil and he, they had all been in the band Necrotomie and the group was in a defunct state at the time. Soon we started rehearsing together playing covers and having fun. We decided to form MAUSOLEUM and play music like AUTOPSY, DEATH, SACRIFICE and more!! We try to be original to a point, but also make our influences known. I known I have learned much from my previous experiences. I feel I have a better grasp on how to have fun with what we do, to enjoy trying to move forward and give everyone involved say in the band. Though I plan on doing something again with Morpheus Descends hopefully sometime next year, MASOLEUM is the only band any of us is doing at the moment.

UN: Is there any story behind how you guys deciding on the name Mausoleum? Of course it’s a horror movie, and I’m assuming that’s why you chose it. Did you guys just like the ring of it? It’s a pretty memorable name. It actually surprises me that it hasn’t been used up until now.

ROB: No real story there at all really, I asked the guys if they liked it, they did. So we did it. It was that simple. Actually it wasn’t from the movie, though I imagined the logo being something like the movie logo. We just wanted a creepy name for some creepy music and the name fits well.

UN: When you guys started writing the music for the band was it an conscious decision to try and write music that differed from what the current death metal bands are playing? To me this whole brutal death metal style has become a bit too much. Sure it’s heavy, but Suffocation did it first and they still do it better then anyone else. You guys definitely leave the current trends alone and have more in common with the gods of gore metal Autopsy and older Death I’d say.

ROB: Absolutely, we did not want to be “brutal”, we just wanted to play music inspired by Horror / Zombie movies and early Death Metal. Having formed Morpheus Descends in NY in 1990 I understand what you mean about so many bands now sounding like Suffocation. They all want to be the better at it than each other, I’m actually astounded that trend has lasted that long. Sure there are some bands that do play that style well. But it isn’t where our heart is, its playing music that influenced us and that’s what keep us interested. Everyone claims to be “old school death metal” then we check it out and it’s just rehashed Cannibal Corpse or 10th generation “Suffo-clones”. We are not anything like that at all. When we hear people say “Autopsy” or “Death” we consider that a complement not a criticism.

UN: It seems like a lot of bands these days think that they have to play a million miles an hour to be heavy. But if Black Sabbath has taught us anything about music it’s that they slower you play the creepier it is and the more it gets under your skin. Would you say that slower riffs are a big part of the Mausoleum sound?

ROB: In Mausoleum this is common knowledge about slow creepy songwriting. Again we are fans of doom / dark riff writing. It’s an aspect of heaviness that far exceeds bombastic blast. Without tempo change there is no peaks or bottoms in the tempo it’s just blasting away, which becomes mostly boring. The speed means nothing without slow the same way just slow is boring. As contrasts they always work well I think, we have variance in our song structures but I must admit doom like riffs probably the most.

UN: Let’s talk about your debut cd for a little bit; Cadaveric Displays of Ghoulish Ghastliness (has quite a ring to it!). For starters, are you guys happy with the way the album turned out? Has the response been good so far?

ROB: We are happy with the response so far, and we are quite happy with Razorback Records and their help also. Also to receive all the great emails from bands that we respect so that’s also great. The songs for our first attempt I think reflect what we set out to do. We are 100% DIY and we are pleased that we can achieve the effect we were looking for. We want it to sound really “cult” like it was something not recorded today.

UN: Was it a conscious decision to try and get a dirty and unpolished sound? I don’t mind a big dollar production for certain styles of music, but if the band has any sort of dirge or slower riffs they need a dirty and gritty sounding album. Just out of curiosity what did you guys use to record? It’s pretty safe to assume that it wasn’t anything digital.

ROB: Yes, to a degree, we wanted the recording to sound raw and pure, to capture the right essence. Also this was the first project we recorded at our studio “The Funeral Home” and we produced 100% of the entire thing. When we first began the recording, we had no idea that Razorback would want to put it out ASAP. There were a lot of “first time” methods of doing things and we didn’t record CDOGG thinking “This will be on an album”. We didn’t know how things would sound. In the end it worked out to “capture” the correct production for this DIY underground offering to the ears of yester year. In the future you can count on that it will never sound polished and clean, but you can expect the next one to have a better production. The studio originally consisted of a combination of analog mixers linked to digital storage. Since then we have “upgraded” a decent amount of new equipment and have been redoing the studio. We like having the time to experiment with ideas and to not “clock watch” and worry about some tiny budget and making it work. We do want to make the recordings we do sound the way they are meant to be, raw and pure but capable of hearing everything.

UN: I was definitely impressed with the cover of the cd. Who did the cover painting for you guys? I think it would look pretty damned good on a t-shirt as well. Any plans for you guys to have any printed?

ROB: The artwork was done by a acquaintance I knew in NY when I lived there. He was friends with Jeff Riemer, our old singer in Morpheus Descends, I do not recall his actual name but “Hector the Diesel Head” has always stuck in my head and its who I accredit the artwork to for now. You see, most of those guys used to smoke tons of “angel dust” or”Diesel”. Anyway sometime people we would be around all the time, and then some you met once or twice and they would be into metal and be cool, but they would disappear never to be seen again. Maybe jail, rehab or moved away, anyway I met him like twice and the second time was when we gave me the artwork. It would be to get his name but as of today it still”Hector the Diesel Head”. We would like to do t-shirts but as of now we haven’t made any merchandise or have plans to anytime soon. Sly from Fondlecorpse did a fantastic job on the layout as well and we are pleased with the overall package.

UN: It’s fairly obvious that you guys are heavily influenced by Autopsy, and you don’t really hide that by covering Destined to Fester. I was wondering why you chose that particular song! It must have been hard to pick just one! They had so many great songs!

ROB: Just a great Autopsy song! Some of the older ones have already been covered. During early rehearsals we would also play “Pagan Savior” but decided to not record it for the CD. Our cover of “Destined to Fester” is to appear on an upcoming Tribute to Autopsy with bands like Murder Squad, Machetazo and more!! We plan on doing other covers in the future but they won’t be Autopsy.

UN: This one sort of goes along with the previous one. Does it disappoint you that probably 9 out of 10 people who listen to death metal these days probably haven’t heard Autopsy? There are far too many people listening to the newer bands and not taking the time to check out the bands that got the ball rolling. I still remember the first time I heard them. They were truly one of a kind.

ROB: Nah, if I got disappointed every time I knew there were people who didn’t like what I liked, or if they never heard something that was groundbreaking to me in metal, I would be depressed or let down all the time. Death Metal is now like household words, everyone including people who don’t like, know what it is. Of course there will be those kids who say “I like Death’s early stuff like Human” or people who think that bands of old suck. Leave them to their stupidity; if they don’t like it, who cares? If you never heard that stuff like Autopsy, chances are you wouldn’t care for us.

UN: It’s pretty safe to assume even before listening to the disc that you guys are big fans of horror movies. After all, you’re on Razorback! Do you guys try to get a horror type soundtrack vibe across in the bands music? The slower more atmospheric riffs definitely have a creepy horror vibe. Any particular soundtracks you guys enjoy or look to for inspiration?

ROB: Yes Horror movies, Metal, etc at the moment we are working with some people who are remaking the B&W Mexican horror film cult classic "The Brainiac," which was originally released in Mexico in 1961 as "El Baron del Terror" starring Abel Salazar and German Robles. It will be a feature-length motion picture shot entirely on location in western Pennsylvania. Veterans from such shows as Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Deep Space Nine have been corralled for this production and I have been to the set to see the crew at work. Their idea is to use a Mausoleum track in the scoring of the film. This would be a great honor for us to have our music in a horror film being shot in our town!!

UN: I just have to say that I have to commend you guys for writing a song about the Tombs of the Blind Dead movies! It’s one of the series that definitely doesn’t get its due! Those creepy zombie dudes give me the chills!

ROB: Those films are so classic!! In the beginning of Mausoleum we talked about this subject a lot. All of the guys in the group are fans of horror, Adam is a real avid horror fan, his brother owns a video store too! He comes across a lot of great stuff and is always a good source of info on the subject. There’s plans for a box set of the trilogy due out in 2004. That’s a must have item for any fan of the zombie / horror genre.

UN: That’s all of the questions I have. Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions and also thanks for releasing a death metal album that breathes a breath of dead air back into a somewhat stale genre these days. Feel free to let everyone know how they can get in touch with you.

ROB: Thanks for the interview and for the comments about Mausoleum, for any information or to contact us go to www.hornedmoon.com the official home of Mausoleum. 2004 expect a split cd/ picture disc with Spain’s Machetazo and our second full length CD “Back from the Funeral”. We have been real busy writing and recording new material for both these recordings. Also be sure to go to www.razorbackrecords.com for other great underground music!!