Imperial Foeticide
Wywiad przeprowadził Tomasz Osuch
I'm not sure if you know this band - but if you haven't had a chance to check Imperial Foeticide music, you should do it as quickly as possible! You can find some of their stuff on Czech Assault and on the Despise/Imperial Foeticide split cd . I recommend you these releases and guarantee that you will not be disappointed! I also hope that thanks to this interview you will find some useful info about Imperial Foeticide. I talked to Michal (the vocalist) who - as you will see - took some time to answer my questions. Enjoy it!
Imperial Foeticide is among these bands which played lots of shows in my country in last year, I guess. You did two tours in Poland, so first of all tell me my dear bro about your recollections? Are you satisfied? Was everything ok during these two tours?
"Hi Tomasz!!! First of all I want to apologize to you and all the readers of Masterful Magazine for the big delay. I am really sorry about that. It's not being a rip-off or playing a star, I started a new job and the last three months have been rather demanding."
"Anyway, Poland is my dream metal country!!! Even before I started playing in a band I had been a big fan of mighty Damnable above all, Reinfection, Dead Infection and why not say so - old Vader too. At that time the Polish death/grind scene was undoubtedly the most brutal and sick in Europe!!! It's not just the bands but also the fans - I remember watching some videos from shows of various bands in Poland and it was true hell to see what the people were capable of... and some personal experience with Polish fans at Obscene Extreme Fests. So my dreams came true when we first got the chance to participate at the Grind Tour de Pologne along with Damnable, Epitome, Deformed and Mental Demise and all the other bands we played with there.. I always knew the Polish people appreciate brutal blasting death/grind music and this is what Imperial Foeticide came to offer. And we were not disappointed!!!!!!! Actually, we were shocked and amazed by the sincere welcoming and acceptance!!! Each show was complete massacre, at some shows people even created pit during sound checks :-). Some people knew our music from earlier times, but everybody seemed to appreciate the music even when they did not know our musis. Man, I mean this is great - this does not happen in our country at all - I mean when a new band from abroad comes to play a show in our country not many people turn up. If they do come to the concert they just stand and watch. So can you imagine how we were captured by the hell the fans created for us during our shows? We had to spill our guts and bleed for them!!! We played each show until we were dead but it was fucking worth it!!!! It was the best experience any musician can get!!! I mean nothing is better than running into the wildly moshing fans who are absolutely crazy about your music!!! I also want to mention that it was so great to see 10 big cities all across your country, meet so many great people - both fans and other bands, eat great fish and drink 'Mocne Pywo'!!!! So I would like to thank Andy from Damnable for giving us this chance - he is such a great man, as all in Damnable. Yes, we had really great time.. For my personally it was a tremendous experience to share the stage with Damnable for I am a great fan of this band and I could die straight away now because I had the chance to join the band and sing "Underworld" with them!!!!"
"The second time we visited your country was the Southern Explosion Tour with mighty Deformed and the Twilight Of Christ as the main leaders. We came as Despise and Imperial Foeticide and we were so happy to back with Imperial Foeticide and it was great to offer Despise massacre as something new and extra - in order to express our great appreciance to Polish fans and gratitude and thanks to our Polish brothers Deformed - these guys are our real brothers!!! This tour was smaller - less shows and smaller cities, but very well organized, there was great atmosphere, especially in Nowy Targ, Sucha Beskidzka, Myslenice and Wadowice."
Great to hear these words! I participated in two Imperial Foeticide's shows during Grind Tour de Pologne II 2003 and on both concerts which I saw you did a pleasant massacre live! And some people was also impressed because of how your drummer Radim plays, this guy is fantastic behind the drums!
"Hey Tomasz, you seem to be the sickest and truest death metal fan!!!! This is absolutely great there is somebody like you who travels to see the show twice!! Yeah, we are so happy to have Radim in Imperial Foeticide - not just that it far better than playing with drum machine but also he is one of the best, fastest and most creative in Czech Republic! Now we can make the shows wild and very spontaneous!! Thank you for telling me the people loved the blast-drumming :-), this is what we expected from Poland and Polish fans and again - the people have not disappointed us!!! I tell you what all the guys in the band thought after returning from the tour - we felt like we did not to play anywhere else, just in Poland!!"
For a first few years of Imperial Foeticide's activity, the band played with a drum-machine. Radim joined the band few years ago and you did the same shortly after him. Can you imagine today Imperial Foeticide with drum-machine, without Radim?
"In the very first years the band had a live drummer but it was in the time when Imperial Foeticide played death/doom (I am not joking :-)). The music kept getting more and more technical and since there was no such a skilled and technical drummer at that time Jarda (guitar) decided to use the machine instead and he used to spend about 40 or more hours just programming one song. The music was evolving from technical death metal to technical death/grind and that was the point where the drum machine was no longer efficient and became rather limiting. Jarda and Tomas (bass) knew Radim before from some gigs of Deaf And Dumb and Imperial Foeticide so when Deaf And Dumb split up Radim was asked to joined the band. It was probably one of the most radical changes for Imperial Foeticide. I mean Radim was a great drummer at that time but he has made enormous progress since then. Honestly, I cannot imagine Imperial Foeticide with drum machine - it would have to be grind rave or brutal trip hop :-) . Another thing is that Radim is the member of Imperial Foeticide composing team - has contributed so much to the composition and structure of our recent songs and helped to introduce new elements so it is quite hard to imagine that. We still stick to electronic sound as Radim uses those electronic Yamaha Pad Drums to make our sound more inhuman."
What was going with the band during the time after release split cd "Pandemie Of People's Decadence"? I know that you didn't sing in Imperial Foeticide in that time, but maybe you know what did they do then? It seems there was nothing but only silence from their side after this material...
"That's true I was not in the band but I was a great fan of their music at that time already!!! The guys reached a certain level of their creativity which resulted in recording "Pandemie..". They had massive support from their manager Olda Kolvratnik and also from Epidemie Records and played tons of shows. All I know is there were some problems at a tour of Imperial Foeticide and 
Deaf And Dumb after which the guys were a little bit fed up and Deaf And Dumb split up. Radim joined then and Imperial Foeticide concentrated on rehearsing the old songs with the live drummer and concentrated on composing new material. There was not much promotion either as Olda quit as manager of the band. But I tell you what - when they returned after nearly two years of silence to hit the stages with the live drummer and new material which was far more brutal and faster, they kicked everybody's ass - mine in the first place :-)"
In previous year split cd Despise/Imperial Foeticide was released via Grodhaisn Records. It contains Imperial Foeticide stuff which we know from Czech Assault + one new song. Is this label taking care only on this IF material? Are you planning to work with them in the nearest future, will you release next stuff under this label too?
"Grodhaisn Records was our choice for Despise because the material of Imperial Foeticide had been released on Relapse Records as a part of Czech Assault cd. Originally we wanted to release "Confinement In Decrepitude" /Despise/ as a split with an US band but that did not work out. It seemed to be a good idea to put Imperial Foeticide on the split instead because only about 200 or 300 Czech Assault cds reached Czech fans - so we wanted to promote Imperial Foeticide along with Despise again. We added one new song to each band's material, some cd-rom stuff /videos from show, pictures/ as well. We want to thank Grodhaisn for all the support, it was a very good show because Pigy and Dejvy /guitar of Despise/ made a great time which kicked both bands forward!!! For the future we are not that sure what's going to happen and who will release our new stuff because we need to compose some more songs and get it as tight as possible and then spread the sickness everywhere."
"We did not use completely new material although we had some at that moment which we could record and use but we do not want any more splits with new material - we save all new material a full-length CD!!!! And we have to be very careful with using new songs because it takes us 3 months at least to compose one new song.. It's sad but true be we work hard to make it technical and tight and do not want to release shit. But it would be too bad to release just the old material - we wanted to let people know we were working and evolving so we added "Light Whirl, My Guide". If you study the CD carefully you can find another new song among those live videos :-), but I am not going to tell you the title, it would be too easy :-)"
Oke :-) I think the question following is necessary here. When can we expect your new music?
"Thank you for this question :-) - we have been working on the new material since the release of Czech Assault. The composition was a little bit delayed by bringing Despise to life and recording it. But that was no the main trouble - it's that we all have demanding jobs and can rehearse only during weekends and each song takes us three months to compose at least. And 
you also have to rehearse the whole material over and over again before the recording - only then you can achieve the speed and tighteness of the material. Just for your info - when we compose a new song it has something like 3 minutes 20 seconds and when it gets recorded it has only 2:50 or something :-)
We have about a half of material for the CD ready and tested live and at the moment we are still composing. I guess one year would be reasonable time before we go and record the CD. I know it's a long time but it has to be a big thing!!!!
It is said about Imperial Foeticide as a band playing virtual brutal death grind and I have to admit that I know your music only from these split cd releases mentioned earlier. How can you describe next band's stuff? Could you reveal us all the important details?
"It is going to be faster and faster, there has to be blasting!!! But we do not want to use the usual blasts - Radim uses more beats that are not traditional for metal and plays them at top speeds. For the future it's going to be a lot more about mathematics, if you see what I mean :-). We want to make even more aggressive, experiment more with rhythm changes and new elements. It will still be death metal, modern death metal I would say.. Very brutal and technical and aggressive. The inspiration is clear - we all absolutely dig bands like Origin, Cryptopsy, Cephalic Carnage and most Relapse Recs bands. It is hard to reveal more details or predict anything as we do not want where we will evolve - we go further with each new song."
As a bonus, split contains a few live video files from Imperial Foeticide and Despise shows and lots of live pics too. Among them there is a one which is other from the rest, namely I mean about photo where one girl kisses another one. Are these girls your devoted fans, maybe friends or is it just a photo done at your request? :-)
"First I was wondering which photo you mean and now I remember - that was in Appeldorn, Netherland - and one of those babes was Maya, a girlfriend of one our Dutch friends. Both were helping with organization of the shows and are great friends to us, I am not sure if they are devoted fans though :-) Honestly, I can't remember whether it was spontaneous or on our request - we had a great aftershow party and everybody was having fun, it could have been either."
Process of legalization the relations between the same sex (male or female) is still very controversial thing in many countries, for example in Poland. What is your opinion about it?
"The relationships between partners of the same sex are generally quite accepted within Europe and I appreciate this tolerance /although it does not affect me personally :-)/ but I value any tolerance. I do not have any problem if someone has different orientation - in fact I am not interested in such things as for everybody it is something deeply personal and as long as the relationship is a free decision of both partners I do not have any problem with it. The legalization is a different thing. I would have problem with some kind of legalization of this as far as things like heritage are concerned. What I can't accept is if two 
people of the same sex could adopt a child. Maybe two women but surely not two men. You have to give the kid the chance to grow in environment male-female-child and then choose whatever. The kid must be given this chance and you cannot force it into different conditions, if you see what I mean. Generally, I do not have problem with some kind of legalization if only the partners are involved but I would really argue the involvement of a third party - e.g. a child."
Thanks for the opinion bro! Let's back to the music... All the Imperial Foeticide members are involved in Despise and two guys more. Do you think this is really good idea that all the guys from one band are playing in another?
"Yeah, otherwise we would not do it :-)- It does have many advantages: both bands are quite different - in each band different people compose, in Despise it is Dejvy and the rest participates only in minor arrangements, in Imperial Foeticide it is mainly Jarda and Radim and the whole band does the arrangements so there are no collisions or stealing ideas :-). Radim uses different drum patterns and I use different style of vocals - no screams, just inhales, a little growls and some hc stuff. It is easier to promote both bands at the same time and more effective as each band has slightly different base of fans so it helps to introduce one band to the fans of the other and vice versa. The same goes for the shows - you get two different bands for the same travel money :-)"
By the way - can you give us some introduction of these two guys who are involved in Despise with you? One of them is Dejvy...
"Sure. I was the first Imperial Foeticide member in Despise - I made a deal with Dejvy before I joined Imperial Foeticide. It was Dejvy and some other friends who brought me to Imperial Foeticide but that's a different story :-)- Dejvy has always been a great friend with Jarda so Jarda was the first choice for the second guitar in Despise - they live close to each other and Dejvy would not find that skilled guitar player so close to his home :-). But the main composer is Dejvy.
The other member of Imperial Foeticide to join Despise was Radim - he did the drum programming after the original drummer of Despise left. But Radim does not take part in live shows. Actually, all from Imperial Foeticide are in Despise nowadays because we have decided to experiment with two bass guitars - so Tomas appears on all studio records and most concerts. It makes the sound more massive - Beavis plays all the heavy parts and slammings with deep sound and Tomas uses clear sound and concentrates on some technical tunes."
Imperial Foeticide and Despise are two different bands so far - when we are talking about music. Can you say what are the main differences in writing process in Imperial Foeticide and Despise? Don't you afraid that someday in one band you will play stuff which should be played in a second one and vice versa? What will you do then?
"I have no idea where both bands will go in the future, at the moment we do not have problem with that. For us it is great experience when each band does something slightly different. For me personally - I could not exist without either of them, I need both!!!! I love the aggression and twisted technicality of Imperial Foeticide and I dig that guttural US death/grind that Despise plays!!!
Both bands are evolving and maybe one day Despise will be fast and aggressive too, but in a different way that Imperial Foeticide, it's hard to predict but you find very strong personalities who drive different composing process in each band. I know that I want to concentrate on aggressive and high-pitched vocals in Imperial Foeticide, I will always record more voices altogether and one on the top of another one, and for Despise I will concentrate on inhales and HC parts mainly - making the inhales even more extreme and sicker and making HC parts sound even commercially wimpy :-)"
"In Imperial Foeticide the composition process is pretty much about team work - Jarda brings most of guitar riffs, Tomas contributes with some tunes as well and writes all the lyrics, and Radim creates the basic structure and changes etc. The whole band then creates the arrangements.
In Despise Dejvy writes all the riffs, the gives Radim his ideas about drum patterns and Radim transforms them into creative drum tracks. I write all the lyrics for Despise and Jarda and Beavis participate in the final arrangements of the songs. As I said, we do not have any problems with it, it is actually some enrichment for us... By the way - Despise will have a live drummer: Tomas Corn /ex Garbage Disposal, Lykathea Aflame, now Lykathe/. He was the original drummer of Despise and now he returned for some stuff."
Some bands playing brutal music are using two bass guitars, Despise too. Do you think that playing it that way can be something just like a new trend on extreme scene?
"To be honest I cannot think of another band using two bass guitars at the moment, not considering some obscure grind bands. I cannot judge whether it might become a trend or not, but certainly - it does make the sound more extreme: one bass to make the overall sound as heavy as possible and the other to be nicely heard for the technical stuff. Hey man, do you know what my ideal death metal band would be? Two guitars, two basses, two drums for new arrangements of blasting, two solo vocalists and at least two backing vocalists out of the guitarists :-)"
You play live Malevolent Creation's "Living In Fear" with Imperial Foeticide and Pyrexia's "Confrontation" with Despise. I heard that Pyrexia is preparing new album. Do you believe in their return with killer album? Is this band especially important for you?
"Malevolent Creation really kicked my ass with their "Eternal" and especially "In Cold Blood" albums. I saw them live with Jason Blachowicz on the vocals and it was true massacre, totally uncomparable with their new stuff and recent live shows. There was no particular reason - it was something we agreed upon, we all used to fans and the band is still quite popular for the most older death metal fans. The situation with Pyrexia was slightly different. Despise was created to play brutal death metal in the US way 
and Pyrexia along with Suffocation and Internal Bleeding created the style that most people in Despise admire. The "System of the Animal" was a very modern album and "Confrontation" is their real hit. It's very intense and this song belongs to the bible of US death metal, so this was to express our respect and to spread Pyrexia to Czech fans. I believe Pyrexia will be back - not with killer death metal album, but with one of the best HC ever!!!! I cannot wait for that!! By the way, Imperial Foeticide will not play that Malevolent Creation cover any longer, we have been working on a Suffocation cover :-) which is a real challenge compared to Malevolent Creation. Also Despise will bring something extra - a cover of Internal Bleeding /some old cult stuff/."
Some time ago guys from Pyrexia played in a band Catastrophic with Trevor Peres, and it seems this band split up. It's a pity because it was good promising band. Do you enjoy "The Cleansing"?
"I am really sorry I cannot stand Catastrophic, it's too old school for me and honestly - I love the old Obituary, they brought me to death metal, but the time of playing death metal this way is over. I expected something modern but no that bullshit, sorry - I respect your view but this is my opinion. I respect all the people and I was in touch with Brian but that album made me sick :-(."
Imperial Foeticide is a well-known band on the brutal scene and among the fans. What is your position in your country nowadays? It seems that the huge scene in Czech is a little bit congested from some time, but speaking from the other side - there are many cool bands in Czech...
"I hope I can say we are respected and both Despise and Imperial Foeticide are strong and might be attractive because both bands have reached certain level of professionality and skill. To be honest we do not play too many shows nowadays and do not have strong management or strong label behind so we have to keep pushing it ourselves which is rather limiting but Dejvy and Despise help us a lot. We should take advantage of the situation when now not many brutal death metal bands are active - from the older names Intervalle Bizarre or Alienation Mental do not play show, Alienation Mental have changed their style, and new names are not arising. Probably the most respected band is Godless Truth, they got to the professional level and are still very innovative which cannot be said about other older bands."
Thank you for your time. The last question is about your previous band Animality. Is this band still active or just gone when you left?
"Tomasz, this question was a big surprise for me because not many people know this band. We have only made one record and not even spread it among people so I have answered the question :-). I have joined Imperial Foeticide and Despise just before 
recording Animality demo "Here in my Reality" but the rest of the band did not want to continue and as far as I know none of the guys is a musician any longer which is sad, I think there was some pontential. I enjoyed that Animality chapter - it was not brutal and apart from the vocals it was not too death metal music either. It was melodic and nice to enjoy live, it had some quality tunes and doomy lyrics and even nowadays I am proud of it, I learned a lot there and what we created was not bad."
"Tomasz, thank you very much for interesting and in-depth questions, I hope the answers are not too long or boring and I hope I have provided your Masterful Maga'zine with as much info as possible. I am really grateful to you for giving us this opportunity to share our ideas with the people in Poland after we had the chance to share our music. I want to say hello to all people we have met - above all thanks to Andy from Damnable and Wojtek from Deformed for inviting us to Poland - I cannot name all the people we have met as we have played with many very promising bands during both tours, met many fans, everybody was absolutely great to us, we have seen so many interesting places, we just love Poland!!!!!!!! It's great girls enjoy metal in Poland too - I want to send hello to my friends Aśka from Myślenice and Zuzanna from Nowy Targ if they read it. Once again - thank you, Tomasz, for you interest and support and last but not least for your patience. Good luck with your magazine, you are doing a great job!!!!"
