Devious
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
One of the strongest bands to debut in recent times is Dutch technical death metal formation Devious. Blending the brutality of US death metal with the melody of its Swedish counterpart, underscored by a sufficient dose of technical prowess. Obviously, the band`s first full length offer "Acts Of Rage" proved to be an interesting and compelling listen. With Devious only being known to those closely watching the death metal underground, we decided to ask drummer Frank a couple of questions. 
To kick off with a standard yet obligatory question: tell us how Devious came into existence.
As you can read in our biography, Devious came to life as a thrash metal band, back in 1998, founded by Guido (guitar) and me. At that time, we both had just started to get to know some metal bands such as Sepultura, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Guido had just started playing the guitar and I had played the drumkit for a couple of years, so the decision to form a band of our own was easily made. We started playing covers of the bands I mentioned before and after a while we started to create songs ourselves. In these songs, our early musical influences can be clearly discovered. Just listen to `I`ll Slice You Into Pieces` (one of the first Devious songs, featured on "Acts Of Rage") and you`ll know what I mean.
As mentioned previous you started out as a rather thrashy outfit. Although you have now convincingly transformed into a full-fledged technical death metal combo the thrash metal influences can still be heard. What lead up to this drastic course change?
As we grew older, our musical interest changed. We got to know more genres in metal by discovering other bands. In this process, one finds out where his passion truly goes out to. With us it was indeed technical and melodic death metal.
Another factor was the coming of our new bass player and singer, Sven and Arnold, in November 2000. These to had experience in several other death metalbands and of course this had some effect on Devious` style from that time on.
Recently vocalist Arnold was booted from the band. Almost simultaneously he was out of Altar as well. Can you tell us why Arnold was asked to leave Devious?
He isn`t going to like this, but I will tell you. For a great period of time we struggled with Arnold`s minimal contribution to the band. He didn`t show up on rehearsals much and if he did show up, he wasn`t very fanatic. This had a negative effect on the process of creating new material, on a certain moment there were about five new songs of which only one was completed with vocals. We have had several conversations with Arnold about this. These conversations did have some effect, but after a few weeks we were back where we started. The fact that Arnold didn`t show up on rehearsal 9 weeks in a row made us decide that we couldn`t go on like this anymore. He had his reasons not to show up, but we had to reason for the sake of Devious, and Devious wants to move on.
We all know Arnold is a great vocalist and we hope he`ll find another band where he can practice his skills in the future.
You are currently auditioning potential replacements. Have there already been candidates skilled enough to fill the man`s shoes?
We have had a lot of candidates and some of them are really skilled enough to replace our former frontman. This is all we want to say about this right now, when the final decision is made we will come up with more information.
Parallels with Altar appear on the label matter as well. Both bands are actually on the same label, Spitzenburg Records. Are you satisfied with the work they do to get the Devious name spread, internationally?
Allow me to correct you: Altar is not on the Spitzenburg label anymore. When we signed with them, Altar had already left the label, and our co-operation with Spitzenburg has nothing to do with our eastern colleagues whatsoever. We are satisfied with the label`s promotional work in our distribution area (the BeNeLux). We have had a lot of interviews and reviews of our album "Acts Of Rage". Although a great deal of this press exposure also came from outside the BeNeLux, the distribution does not reach further. We do not think this is due to Spitzenburg`s efforts, in these times it`s hard to sell CD`s and this holds back the distributors around the world to take new bands under their wings. So in general, we are really satisfied with our label.
Technique and variation are two words omnipresent through out Devious` repertoire. I must admit it was refreshing to hear "Acts Of Rage" in between the current torrent of blasting death metal albums. Of what importance are these two facets in the compositions?
Technique and variation make an album interesting to listen to. Keeping it simple makes music easier to understand, but at the same time (in my opinion) it holds people back from putting on the record over and over again. By using a lot of technique and variation, one discovers new details every time the record spins in the CD player.
I was utterly amazed when hearing "Acts Of Rage" - how are the press and fans reacting to an album of this awesome magnitude?
Well, thank you for the compliments! The album received very positive reviews internationally and we still get some great reactions from fans & friends. In one Belgian review, we were called "the Dutch Aborted", another reviewer congratulates us with our "Dream debut" and in several reviews we are compared with bands like Morbid Angel and At the Gates. Of course, we are very pleased with this kind of reactions and they also make us try even harder to deliver an even better second album.
Lyrically, Devious differentiates itself by not forwarding any particular message. As often mentioned, they are to complement the musical content. The lyrics are about concealed hate, fate, legends, myths and mental illnesses. What instigated this artistic decision?
It`s very simple: the music is our message. Trying to spread your ideas about the world throughout your music instantly provides your band with a certain label and that`s something we want to prevent. We want to be appreciated for our music, not for our political or religious stands.
On a musical level the band begs to differ as well. Similarities with The Monolith Deathcult arise since both bands are using a 6 string fretless bass. A bass like that has a rather unique sound, why exactly did you choose to incorporate that particular bass into your music?
In Devious, every individual gets a chance to put in his own sound and musical ideas. Sven likes the sound of a 6 string fretless bass, so he uses it. By it`s unique sound it gives the album a unique sound. Some may like it, others may not, but that`s just a matter of taste I think.
Let`s talk some more about the "Acts Of Rage" album. Are you fully satisfied with "Acts Of Rage"? I mean the sound, songs, ideas. Is there anything which you would like to correct, delete or add?
When you have completed an album and you`ve listened to it a couple of times, there will always be some aspects you wish you`d have handled differently. The same goes for Devious` "Acts of Rage". But in general, we are not unsatisfied with the album. I could mention a lot of debuts that are worse. I think the producer has done a great job with the sound, the songs are of an acceptable quality and we still stand behind most of the musical ideas. If we want to improve things, we will do so on our next album. That`s were we get the chance to exploit the growth we have gone through since "Acts Of Rage".
Death metal is on the rise again and there are plenty of talented bands to conform that. Devious stands out due to their more "old school" songwriting approach, in my opinion. You actually manage to still write actual songs, whereas many bands fall victim to one-dimensional blastbeat tirades. Do you agree?
Although there are some bands that stand out, it`s true that there are a lot of death metal bands that lack the ability to differ themselves from the masses. This phenomenon is understandable, concerning the fact that the longer a musical genre exists, the harder it is to come up with new ideas that haven`t been done before. I think the trick is to prevent yourself from grasping on to just one kind of musical influence. We harvest our inspiration from a wide range of musical genres: black, thrash, death... even none metal, such as Latin.
3 tracks of your 2002 promo appear on the "Acts Of Rage" album. `Nowhere But Lost` got re-named into `Inanimate` - have the other tracks gone through some stylistic changes as well?
A little bit. Some changes are made in the repetition of certain riffs, some details are added in the drum patterns, but most of the actual guitar riffs and song structures have remained the same. By the way, all four of the songs on the promo also appear on "Acts Of Rage". `I`ll Slice You Into Pieces` appears on the promo as a live version and we`ve recorded a studio version for "Acts Of Rage".
With a strong album in the bag and plenty of future gigs, how is the next Devious album shaping up? I read you got about 3-4 new tracks completed already?
The new album will contain more brutality, but also some more "bangability". Five songs have been completed now, and I can say that we more and more succeed to combine technique and variety with understandable song structures and catchy guitar riffs. We`ll have to compose at least five more songs for the next album, so at this time we also don`t know how this record will turn out. We are still developing, so who knows what the future brings!
I understand some heavy touring is scheduled. The exposure of Devious in e-zines and paper magazines being regular and decent, how are these touring plans coming together now that the name has been spread?
We succeed to plan about two to three gigs a month, and that`s exactly what we had in mind. We all have jobs or educational duties, Devious is a hobby for all of us, so this frequency is perfect for us. We`ve also had the privilege of sharing the stage with some major bands like Vader, Dying Fetus and Malevolent Creation. It feels great to be able to measure ourselves with these patriots! What we do have on our wishlist is a tour of about eight to twelve gigs in a row, but we are still working on that.
Thanks a lot for your time. Good luck with Devious! The closing statement is yours to make…
Thank you for showing interest, good luck with your zine! Y`all keep an eye on our website www.devious.nl, for a new singer will be shortly introduced!
Band information:
Site: www.devious.nl
Info/booking: deviousmetal@hotmail.com
