Denata
Wywiad przeprowadził Michał Kowalski
Denata comes from Sweden and plays - simply saying - death thrash metal armageddon! When I first listened to their music I thought they must be old, dirty, angry metalheads! ha, ha. And I wasn't wrong, these guys are just like their music is - furious, rebellious! So join this interview and then buy their second CD "Deathtrain" Unless you like keyboards, female voices, violins, and other shits! If so - go and destroy yourself! Denata is not for you, Denata is true metal!What means a word Denata? Do you know other swedish bands named very similar to your band, I mean Anata (melodic death metal), and Zonata (power heavy metal)?
"The word Denata is Latin and is translated into dead. When we picked the name Denata we hadn’t heard about the band Anata but we knew about Zonata. Some year ago Fredrik Schälin of Anata signed our guestbook and also told us there are 2 more bands you didn’t mention here, Sonata and Sonata Arctica so it seems to be like a fucking virus with the NATA up here in Sweden hehe… It doesn’t bother us and I hope it doesn’t bother any of the mentioned bands either."
The reason we are doing this interview is not your band's name (ha, ha) but the music from your second CD entitled "Deathtrain". It seems to be easy to label. It's pure thrash/death metal without any oryginal influences. I bet you don't want to be original, but just to kick asses with your aggressive music, am I right?
"Yes you are very right here. I have noticed there are some out there that complains on our music, that it all have been done before and it’s so boring as it don’t contain any new elements. This is the best critic we can get because it’s how we want it to be, like back in those old days and like a pure fist in the face."
How old are you and how long do you listen to metal? I ask about this because people may accuse you guys for being just another retro metal band.
"For me the young one I bought my first Dio album back in 1983 and I was born in 1978, I guess that’s a pretty young age to start mosh, did I pass? For the other two oldies born in 1970 I don’t know exactly when they started to be possessed by the devil but it must have been sometime in the middle or late 70’s. When we write material these two real old school bastards have the experience while they hold me back when I start to use too modern elements, it works great hehe!"
In the 80's Roger and Ponta played in a local band Total Death. Are there any recordings from that band left or was it just for fun? When have you started to think seriously about being a musician?
"Total Death did one really good recording that never got released not even as a demo tape. I don’t know why cause it’s really good stuff. I know the master tape got stolen some years later when Roger had a burglary in his old apartment. Total Death also featured Mique & Toxine (Séance, Witchery, Satanic Slaughter) and Bino (Diabolique). You have to ask them about if it was for fun but I know they worked hard with the music. Well I don’t know when you are aloud to call yourself a musician but for me everything is about music all the time so I guess in one way I’m a musician."
What bands would you like Denata to be compared with? Who are your metal masters that inspired you to play this kind of music? Do you often headband while listening to their music?
"We don’t wont to compare Denata with any bands we want folks to hear it and make their own opinion 
but if I had to explain how we sound for someone that haven’t heard us I would say we are in the same vein as early Venom, Kreator, Sodom added with some modern touch such as Vader and The Crown. Some of our common metal masters are Sodom, Kreator, Destrucion, Celtic Frost, Possessed, Infernal Majesty & Venom. Oh yeah we head bang all the days long and the whiplash hurts like hell."
In my opinion your music stands in the same line with the bands like The Crown, The Haunted, Hypnosia. I don't mean that you copy them, but that I feel very common, rebellious atmosphere when I listen to your songs, do you agree?
"Thanks a lot for those words. The Crown is one of my all time favorite band and I enjoy Hypnosia and The Haunted as well. Yeah I agree about it and I’m glad to hear you got that feeling of our album."
Stuff from "Deathtrain" CD sounds so fucking raw that I'm wandering if it was recorded in the real studio? Don't get me wrong, I really like it, because I hate all those modern bands trying to sound so pure, polite... in one word - shitty!
"The album was recorded in our hometown in Guja studio that is a medium budget studio but quite good. Actually everything went wrong from the beginning and we had to re-record all drums as the tape recorder broke, Ponta couldn’t get away from work so we had to wait another week to continue everything. We started to get frustrated and because the lack of time we had to make a compromise about the sound quality. Now afterwards I can’t say this was the sound we had planned to get but I like it a lot and it makes the music even rawer, I agree. Yeah there are too much over cleaned productions today and sometimes you loose the feeling when you are too finicky behind the mixer."
Intro on "Deathtrain" was composed by Phanatos which is not a Denata's member. This short introduction part was quite OK, but I am glad that you haven't used keyboards on the whole album! Its non-metal instrument, don't you think?
"I don’t think keyboards fits into the metal genre but it can be ok to use it in Goth metal maybe but when it comes to brutal stuff there shouldn’t be any keyboards. Phanatos composed an intro on our previous release "Departed To Hell" as well and we think it’s a bit nice way to set the listener in the right mood before it all brakes loose."
Are you a devilish band? Lyrics like "Pentagram", or "Upon The Hill" seem to confirm that... After all metal was always meant to be satanic, rebelious...
"If hating the Christian religion is devilish I have to say yes but we are all atheists. Our lyrics are not really meant to worship Satan it’s just reflections of the dark side of life. We are fascinated by everything that deals with the dark forces even thou we don’t believe in everything we write about."
What do you think about metal bands singing about policy, social problems and the shits like that? Do you agree that this world is falling down to an unavoidable desaster?
"I have no problem with bands writing about stuff like that if it isn’t too detailed and taken too serious. I don’t like bands that take everything 100% serious all the time, you have to give yourself time for a big laugh sometimes as well. I mean that even whatever you play for kind of music. I have never been interested in my surroundings and I have nothing to compare with except from the Scandinavia so I don’t know… But I’m pretty sure everything will fuck up if it continue like this and I don’t think there are room for all people as the population will explode in the future. But anyway I don’t give a fuck the world is good now and I live now and that what counts."
In the song entitled "The Funeral" you present own visions about the afterlife. What do you think will happen with your body and soul when you die?
"I believe the body and soul will rot in the earth when we pass away but I wish I had different believe cause it’s easier to die when you think you will continue living. If there is afterlife I wish I will be reborn as a hedgehog and just go round all nights and fuck all the beautiful hedgehog female he, he"
What had happened in the year 1349? This date is the title of one of your songs. There are guest vocals in this song (by Johan Larsson from Toxine), so I think it's very specific song for you, isn't it?
"In August 1349 a ship came to Norway and all of the crew was dead. The goods were unloaded of the ship and that was how it started to spread. In the spring of 1340 the plague came to Sweden and “they” say a 3’rd of the Swedes died by the plague. Yes this is one of the greatest songs of our album and it fit really fine with some guest appearance on that song."
You have got two vocalists but the main one is Ponta which also plays drums in Denata. Do you have any problems with that when you perform the music live on stage?
"Believe it or not, we haven’t done a single show with Denata. I don’t know why but I guess the right offer hasn’t shown up yet. To be honest we enjoy the rehearsal and studio time better than playing live but as soon the time is right and there is a cool tour to join we will do some shows. When performing live we will probably add a session drummer so Ponta can focus only on the vocals or otherwise I will take the song and Ponta will just make some choirs behind the drums. It will sound best that way as Ponta have to hold back on the drums if he should sing at the same time."
As I have read in your promo note "Deathtrain" is faster and more powerful than the previous releases. Do you think it's worth to seek for these materials (released by Ghoul Records) in the underground labels and distributions?
"Yes our previous release is fucking great and our debut CD got a really professional production. Maybe the EP is for the most fanatic ones but "Departed To Hell" is a great piece and I recommend you to check it out."
Today you're represented by the American label - Arctic Music. Have you tried to interest some european label? With what results? Who will care about your albums distribution in Europe?
"We did submit our material to many different labels out there but Arctic Music was the first to show their interest and we thought they would fit us great. This far the work with Arctic Music Group has been really good and they really support us in all ways so we are satisfied. The distribution in Europe is handled by Plastic Head."
Where is the deathtrain forwarding to now? What are Denata's nearest plans?
"Right now we are focused on the pre production of our next album and things are going really well. We will enter the studio for another full length album sometime this autumn/winter. That’s the most important right now and maybe we will make some shows if there are any good offers but we don’t have anything planned at the moment."
OK, I have no more questions. Thanx for your answers. I hope we meet one day and drink 666 skulls of beer. Hail satanic metal!
"Thanks as hell for the interview Michal and keep the flame alive! I wish I had those 666 beers here right now. Thrash till death!!!!!!!!!!"
Michał Kowalski
