Gomorrha
Wywiad przeprowadził Tomasz Osuch
A couple of interesting death metal albums were released on German scene in recent time. Let's only take a look on killer albums from bands like Kadath, Resurrected, and a few others. Some time ago I received the newest Gomorrha stuff called "Sexual Perversity By Autopsy" and this is another German band that knows pretty well how death metal music should be played! Yeahh, they know and on this album you can check it yourself! I like Gomorrha music and I asked their guitarist - Robert Friedel (who also sings in the band) about some things and what's new in the camp. 
Hello Robert, what are you up to today? Tell me, what did you listen to when you dragged your ass out of the bed this morning?!
"This morning?? Well, I think it was Prophecy, cool US stuff, death metal...höhö"
Without a doubt the name of your band tells us what kind of music you play. It is short and describes your music well - it kills!
"Yes, but we have this name since a long time and our style has changed over the years. We started with black/thrash metal and we are at the point that we play death metal. May you are right, I never thought about it."
The new album "Sexual Perversity By Autopsy" has been available for a few months now and I wonder what the reactions to this material were so far? Are you satisfied with the response?
"Yes, we are really satisfied. The reviews for it are very well and in my eyes the reaction of the critics too."
I can hear some influnces and similiarites to bands like Cannibal Corpse and Severe Torture in your music... I do not think I am wrong. Am I?
"Cannibal Corpse is a band we all listen to but we don't try to imitate them. That's not possible and necessary, they already exist. We like the style of the early American death metal acts. Why should I walk on my guitar if I can also run?? It's pretty cool to do this older technical style, we like it. Maybe because of this it's partly comparable with Cannibal Corpse but nothing more."
The cover of "Sexual Perversity By Autopsy" is really sick and perverse. This is also similar to cd covers of the bands mentioned above. Why did you choose such brutal and direct picture? I think that these days this is not that amazing as it used to be in the past.
"The picture is about sexual perversity and when you get a CD you should see what awaits you in the music. I told to painter about the things the song "Sexual Perversity By Autopsy" deals with. He drawn the picture for Gomorrha and we saw it for the first time when it was finished. So it shows his thoughts and feelings about this theme. You see, we didn't choose the picture, we got it. Maybe it was amazing in the past, I don't know, we didn't want to have a cover with the photo of an accident or a naked woman. I think the cover goes with the music and this is necessary, not if this style has been there before or if it looks similar to other covers."
Some songs on Gomorrha's debut album were written in German. Do you still write some lyrics in German and some in English? Your new album included lyrics to "Perverse Bakerman" only - but in both languages...
"Haha, we translated the German lyrics in English because we think they are really funny. That's why the song is written in two languages, we want everybody to understand it....so always think about what you are eating..."
How can you compare "Sexual Perversity By Autopsy" to "Time Of Apocalypse"? What is the main difference between these two albums?
"The songs on the debut album were written with more thrash and black metal influences. We changed our style and developed us step by step in the musical direction of the new songs. I think the kind of playing guitar and the structure of the songs are the main difference between this to albums. We don't want to make the same again and again so this came out, but I have no idea why it happened in this way...maybe the beer."
You signed a deal with Nice To Eat You Records and Mutilated Records. Which of them is the main label? Are you satisfied from the cooperation with these labels?
"The main label is Nice To Eat You Records. Yes we are satisfied. There is no reason to say something different. Vladimir is a great guy and he does a lot for us. We can only say thanks!!!!"
Gomorrha's vocalist – Timo Just was your bass player a few years ago, later he left the band and two years ago he joined you again but this time as a vocalist. Why did he leave and why did he start singing instead of playing bass guitar?
"Timo lives 100 km away from us. He had no time and no money to drive to us every weekend and so left us, but he and we were not very happy about this and had always contact. So we searched a new bass player and found Rene, he lives only 40 km away. Yes, and one fine day I had the idea that a main singer would be cool because I also have to play guitar and this is better if I needn't to sing the whole time. And so Timo came back to us as a vocalist. I think this was a really stroke of luck."
You are the gutarist, but you also sing in Gomorrha. How often can we listen to your voice on the new album?
"I have parts in every songs, partly alone and partly together with Timo."
Gomorrha's members are fans of strictly brutal music – bands like Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Immolation, Mortician and others... do you listen to anything else than extreme genres? I heard that you like Deep Purple?
"Not very often, we don't feel it as very brutal. If you listen to it every day it becomes normal... radio is extreme haha. But serious, we listen to a lot of music, many different styles: Helge Schneider (a German comedian), Limbonic Art, Rompeprop, Lymphatic Phlegm, Purgatory, Pink Floyd or even Rory Gallagher.... Robert likes Deep Purple. It's good handmade music, they have interesting guitar riffs. As an example, if you play the main melody from "Bloodsucker" on the "Deep Purple in Rock" faster it's nearly a death metal riff."
Are the members of Gomorrha involved in any other bands or projects?
"Yes, Timo plays guitar in a grindcore band and he is also a guitar player and vocalist in a black metal band in his hometown. Rene plays guitar in a kind of new metal band and Robert plays guitar in a local grindcore project."
So it seems you don't waste the time! It doesn't happen very often for a band to become a mile stone in death metal music. Most of the new bands play something that has been done in the past. Don't you think that we are in a kind of a circle with no way out? Have you ever thought about that?
"I don't think so. I think we will recognise this milestones only a few years later when new bands starting to sound like the album of these band nowadays. Of course, it's really hard to do something comparable with Suffocation's "Human Waste" again today but it is possible. We will see."
Thanks for the interview. What are the Gomorrha's plans for the nearest future?
"We are writing songs and try to get as much gigs as possible...like every year."
