Beheaded
Wywiad przeprowadził Michał Kowalski
Death metal! Brutal death metal! I would even say grind/death! Yeah, Beheaded, no less, no more! These five metalheads come from... Malta! Wow! So let's find out some informations about metal scene on that small island.
Your picture shows that you have heads on the right places! ha, ha. So why did you call your band 'beheaded'?
"The name Beheaded was picked up 9 to 10 years ago and you have to consider that we were still very young back then. We wanted to come up with a cool name for a brutal death metal band and that's what we managed to come up with. Nowadays the grammatical meaning does not hold any significance whatsoever and to us it's just the name of a brutal death grind band from Malta."
As I've read in your biography you were the first death metal band in Malta. Is it true or is it just a kind of advertising catch phrase?
"It would be quite stupid in my opinion to lie about something such as this just for the sake of advertising matters. After all our music is not the kind that could benefit from such means of advertising. It's just a sentence included in our biography, we never used this on our fliers or any other promo material, even though it is 100% true that we were the first Death Metal band in Malta."
Malta is located about 100km on the south from Sycylia. Do you have any connections with the famous Italian mafia? I am asking about it because your music is as brutal as gangsters mentioned above ha, ha.
"Let's say we have not made any contacts so far, but I am not excluding anything for the future. These guys can help us a great deal; they can make us big in no time and in exchange we'll take care of their business over here which is much better than having a regular job - so we'll see."
Beheaded is an 'exotic' band for me. I don't know any other death metal acts from Malta. Could you recommend some interesting bands to the readers of Masterful magazine?
"Well Malta is obviously more associated with sandy beaches and nice weather than with Death Metal but the brutal truth is that yes Death Metal exists here in Malta and there is a couple of bands that kick serious ass. In my opinion Lithomancy, Achiral, Archean Harmony, Martyrium and Dysmenorrhea (sorry for any spelling mistakes guys) are all bands that could find a place in the foreign underground scene. The problem is that they have to work on it harder and make more contacts with the scene itself."
Do you have a music underground in Malta, or is it too small country to have a metal scene?
"We do have a small scene, and lately it's been showing some signs of improvement. When we started it was a very strong metal scene considering Malta's size. There were several good locals acts, and kick ass summer metal fests with audiences reaching up to 1000 people. However between 1997 and 2000 there was a huge decline in the scene in every aspect. Many bands have split up, metal fests were no longer being organized and consequently the metal scene suffered a lot. During the last months though there has been an increase in activities and also more bands are playing regularly which are all positive signs for the future."
Some people say that death metal is just a meaningless noise. But when I listen to that music I want to live, I want to breathe, I love this 'noise'! What about you?
"Well let's say that those people are too stupid to understand what death metal is all about. They are just happy listening to all this commercial bullshit music that's made for the sole purpose of making money and nothing else. Death metal is not about money and therefore the artist can experiment and play whatever is felt inside not what the masses or the producers want to hear. The approach in itself is very extreme and not very friendly so I understand that many people may not accept this style but this does not mean that death metal is meaningless noise. I doubt if there is any other genre in the entire music spectrum that involves so much accuracy and stamina. Death metal is like extreme art, it has its particular themes and techniques, which may not appeal to many but are of great value."
Isn't strange that the music which puts life and hope into our hearts owns so pessimistic name - 'death metal'?
"Death Metal is as I said above an extreme form of art - a morbid creation in itself. Since its formation bands wrote lyrics that dealt with death, after death experiences and other such topics and therefore it was inevitable that this genre would be labeled Death Metal. The effect it has on the listener does not matter much otherwise each would have his own favorite term for it."
I was shocked when I've read that you were using an "atmospheric guitar and keyboard passages" in the past (on the "Souldead" demo'95)! Any comments?
"Yes, that's totally true. In our demo days we had different tastes and a different view of what we wanted to sound like. We used to play a mix of old school death metal, with melodic guitar solos and keyboard intros/outros. It was brutal in certain parts and more atmospheric in others. This direction was taken a step further in our full length CD, 'Perpetual Mockery', which had a lot of Swedish death metal influences in it.
I'd like to ask you now about Beheaded's debut album "Perpetual Mockery" which was released by X-treme Rec. What kind of reviews the CD received in the underground press?
"'Perpetual Mockery' received very good reviews from various underground publications. It was praised for the fact that it mixed brutal death metal riffing with more atmospheric passages and melodic guitar solos, in the right doses. Other high points were the good production and the lyrics, which have always been given great importance by us since day one."
The release of "Perpetual..." was severely delayed due to problems with the cover layout and other shortcomings. Was that the reason you've left X-treme Rec. and dealt with Mighty Music?
"Obviously it played an important part in our decision to quit with X-Treme Records. It's not a nice thing to have a recording that's 2 years old and still waiting to be released. It was a very negative moment for us. On the other hand X-Treme Records were not totally to blame for this since we too had our own difficulties with completing the cover artwork and layout. So sometime after the CD was released we had talked with X-Treme Records regarding our future and in the end we both agreed that it was better to bring the contract to an end. We are still in good terms with X-Treme Records and we still get in touch occasionally."
"We'll still be metal when you have short hair, an ugly wife and work 9 to 5". Is the following sentence true when it comes to Beheaded? Do you agree with the Mighty Music's watchword?
"We'll still be metal as long as we feel metal inside - that's how I see it. Moreover it looks like that we'll still be metal for quite some more time since we're still 100% into what we are doing and there has never been a time when the band was so healthy and concentrated. It could be that by then many of you could have had their hair cut, married an ugly bitch, and work 9 to 5, and that would be your fucking problem not ours!!!"
Music on the "Resurgence Of Oblivion" MCD reminds me a little of what Deranged did on their "Sculpture Of The Dead" MCD'94. What other bands Beheaded was compared to?
"Once in a review for our demo tape we had someone comparing us to Deranged already even though I don't see much likeliness between the two. Deranged is an established top-notch death metal band and that some people say our music reminds them a bit of Deranged I take that as a compliment. However the most frequent bands that pop up in our reviews are Suffocation and Dying Fetus."
In my opinion Beheaded's music is not original at all. But that's not a problem for me, because I enjoy your songs for their power and heaviness. Do you think is creating original music possible nowadays, "when all was said and done in death metal"?
"The way I see it is that there are very few bands these days that can claim to be original. It's not a matter of "all was said and done in death metal" because I believe that it is still possible to put out something different nowadays. On the other hand though, originality is not something that can be imposed in music just to be labeled 'original'; it is something that has to be felt inside, as a musician, in order to make sense otherwise it won't work. As regards Beheaded it does not bother us to admit that originality never was on our priority list, we always wanted to play good quality death metal and I think that so far we have done just that."
In your photo one is wearing the Slipknot T-shirt. What other non-metal bands do you like?
"Besides death/grind we listen to many different types of music. The spectrum is very wide and I'm not going to waste time listing bands that we just listen to occasionally. Slipknot is one such band and there are others in that genre that deliver good amounts of energy in their music, that we do not mind listening to. We are quite open-minded and we have no problem with that, although many others may not share our same opinion. But it's not our main thing for sure, we are 100% addicted to extreme death metal."
What's this 'thing' on the cover of "Resurgence..."? In my opinion it looks like a piece of an old pizza ha, ha...
"Unfortunately it's since our demo tape that we could not boast with some fine cover artwork. In our last two releases we had to settle for what came our way. Not that we are disappointed with them but I agree, there's nothing spectacular and could have been much better. Regarding the contents of the cover for "Resurgence..." I can't figure it out myself but it looks quite cool. This kind of abstract art fits any title and makes life a bit easier. We hope we will not disappoint you in this regard with our next album!!!"
I've noticed on the "Resurgence..." MCD's greeting list that every Beheaded member said 'hello' to guys from Dying Fetus. Do you know these American deathers so well? Are they good friends of yours?
"We have been into their music since their demo days and in contact since 1995, both through snail mail and e-mail. In September 1998 when we were on tour, we had the opportunity to meet Dying Fetus who were promoting their 'Killing on Adrenaline' CD and also spend some time with them. So, yes I think we have quite a good friendship going with these masterminds of brutality."
Beheaded had played 14 shows across the Czech Republic and another 2 shows in Germany and Slovakia. How european metal maniax reacted on your music?
"Being our very first shows far from the coast of Malta, we really did not know what to expect. Many people who were at our shows did not know what we sounded like, but as soon as our set got going we have seen quite some energetic reactions before us. I can say our music was very well accepted and we really had a great time. In a particular show we did with our brothers in Fleshless, there were people coming up on stage and head banging, something we never experienced here."
What bands have you played with? Who invited you on this tour? Who paid you for your appearance in these events?
"In most of the shows we did we played as a supporting act for Vader. We also did some shows with Fleshless, Purgatory, Pandemia, and Scabbard. On our first show we opened for Deranged, Dying Fetus, and Defaced Creation as well. Vladimir of Fleshless organized this tour, and it was something he set up in a very short time to replace the original tour we had to do with Mortician. This tour went up in smoke a few weeks before it started after Mortician had to drop out for unforeseen reasons and being the headlining band most of the venues decided to cancel their shows. However Vladimir did an exceptional job and it still was fun doing the shows he set up for us. Many thanks to Vladimir and the guys in Fleshless."
You're working on the new material for a full length CD, aren't you? I know it's hard to talk about songs which aren't finished yet, but imagine you are a fortuneteller and tell me if you are able to record a better stuff than the MCD'00?
"So far we have nine finished tracks and we will try to finish another one before heading for the studio, a difficult task but not impossible. By far this is the best shit we have managed to put together. There's still the feel of "Resurgence..." in most of the songs but there's more variation, going from groovy riffing to bone crushing old school death metal, hyper grinding parts, and a good dose of tight and technical passages. We are convinced that the new stuff will go down very well with all those that are familiar with this genre and we will put particular attention on the sound production, which will add that extra touch of brutality. Hold on to your seats this release is going to shred!!!"
Scream 'goodbye' to your Polish fans now! Save your prayers! Thanx for being my slave for a while! Sweet dreams!
"Mega thanks for this interview and support, Michal. Hailz to all the Polish death metal scene. Feel free to contact us!"
Beheaded, David Bugeja, 'Melbourne', Pellikani Street, Tarxien. PLA 14, Malta, Europe, bhdd666@yahoo.com
