Beheaded
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Maltese death metal merchants Beheaded recently seen the worldwide release of their "Ominous Bloodline" album, their first for their new label Unique Leader. "Ominous Bloodline" sees the band making significant progress compared to its predecessors. Last year they toured Europe with technical death metal combo Prejudice on the "Beheading Europe" tour, this year they return on the "Gutting Europe" package, which sees them touring alongside cult US outfit Mortal Decay and Dutch death metal extremists Brutus. Whilst on the "Beheading Europe" tour Beheaded already presented an amount of "Ominous Bloodline" tracks, when the album finally got released - it served to prove that these Maltese death metallers are on to something big. With all these incredible prospects on the horizon Masterful Magazine got in contact with the band through the very helpful and friendly people at their label's offices. After a few e-mails up and down to Unique Leader I was able to get a hold of guitarist Omar Grech.
Hi guys! Thanks for talking to us. How's everything with the band?
Hello Wouter! Here's Omar from the Beheaded camp - the rest are all in great shape. We're preparing a short setlist at the moment to play at a local festival tomorrow called the "Broadband Gathering".
The "Gutting Europe" tour is currently in full preparation, which sees Beheaded in a package together with Mortal Decay (US) and Brutus (NL). This will be the first proper European tour of 2005 in support of the "Ominous Bloodline" album. I guess you're stoked to get this material out there on the various stages?
Yes, we're really hyped to get on the road with our bros in grind Mortal Decay and Brutus and pound every given goddamn stage across Europe! I would have liked so much to play in Poland too. Hopefully next time we'll manage to play there. Last year we had Polish followers at our gigs in Czech Republic which was so cool! Yeah, Poland has some die-hard bands and a great scene. Back to "Gutting Europe" - We can't wait to play some songs live like ‘Conceived to Dominate', ‘Esoteric Kin' and ‘Rooted in Profundity' off the "Ominous Bloodline" album on tour. We'll spice the set with some blasts from the past as well. I think that it's a pretty strong song set list and should go down well with those who'll come out to have a good time at a death metal gig played with full force!
"Recounts Of Disembodiment" was backed up by quite some rigorous touring. There was the "European Extermination" tour in 2001 with German brutal death metal combo Anasarca. In 2002 you did a full-scale US tour
with Putrilage and Leukorrhea. Both tours were organised by the band themselves, was the lack of tour support the reason for terminating working with Mighty Music?
Actually, the tour with Anasarca was done before "Recounts" was released, even though we had already recorded it. I remember we finished recording "Recounts" and a week later we were on tour with Anasarca. In 2002 we set on the assault of US soil. Yes, you're right, that both tours were done by ourselves without any input from our ex-label. We felt that the situation with Mighty Music was status quo. We wanted to push the band onto the next level and we knew that on Mighty Music we would have never got what we wanted. So, for us it was like a natural move to look for another label which suited us better. I'm glad to see Beheaded on the Unique Leader roster, because that meant that our work didn't fall on deaf ears. We consider it as a fresh start for us and we hope to release other memorable material on this kick ass label.
How have the reactions to "Ominous Bloodline" been thus far? We, here at a Masterful Magazine, gave it a praising review due to improved songwriting and its technical prowess.
Yes, the general feedback that we got was basically that. Reviewers in general have praised the fact that we improved on all fronts vis-a-vis "Recounts Of Disembodiment". However, some have commented that the sound could have been a tad better. We have done our best on this record to produce a killer sound but for some reason it has fallen a bit short in that aspect. This doesn't mean that it is sounding badly at all - but we would have liked a stronger edge for "Ominous Bloodline". That's a point we will definitely take better care of on our next release!
Last year you toured Europe already with Belgian technical death metal formation Prejudice on the "Beheading Europe" tour. Who put this 10 day trek together?
That was something that we wanted to do for some time. That tour served more than one purpose in fact. As you might already know, we had replaced two members since the release of "Recounts Of Disembodiment". With that tour we wanted to see how the band's new line-up was going to perform with the new vocalist and new guitarist in a touring situation. We also wanted to do a tour with our friends Prejudice for a long time. Besides, we had not toured for over a year at that point. So we decided to make that 10 date tour to appease all the mentioned points. "Beheading Europe" was organized by myself and Prejudice (Hello, Def & co!). We had a good time with them on the road and I was pleased to see Beheaded perform as good as with the old line-up. The purpose of that tour was basically reached. We came back confident that we could take over a bigger tour (like the coming "Gutting Europe"), so it was a positive experience. Prejudice also flew over to Malta last April to play a show. It was cool to have them here!
How did you hook up with Prejudice? They certainly are one of the most hard-working and continually touring technical death metal bands. Will there be any more tours with them in the future?
Actually, Chris (Brincat, drums) had known them for some years, and he made friends with them when he was on holiday somewhere in central Europe. I agree that they work really hard, I also think that they are quite underrated - Prejudice is a great band in my opinion. As for future tours with them, I cannot promise anything at the moment. We will embark on the "Gutting Europe" tour very soon, and that is what we are focused on now.
On the Belgian date of the "Beheading Europe" tour you performed alongside the local underground's finest, including bands such as Suhrim, Emeth, Ill Fares the Land and Orb Of Torture. How was your experience with the Belgian metal crowd? Lars, the Orb Of Torture bassist, told me recently that Beheaded thought they studied jazz. Can you tell us something about that?
Yeah, it was such a cool gig on that night! The only problem was that my guitar effect went berserk and I was playing with a really strange sound. Anyway, we gave a solid gig just the same and the crowd got truly into the music - so it worked out anyway. We really enjoyed watching bands like Suhrim - since we're all fans of good old school death metal - and man, Suhrim can play it so well! Emeth need no introduction among the brutal death metal crowd. Orb of Torture really impressed me personally - they're such a young band but they can play so great. Their music gets really technical and that's why I thought that they were students of some musical school (maybe I said jazz) - but really they're damn good!
This year we'll be playing the Kempen Deathfest IV on September 18th. Mortal Decay (US), Beheaded (MT), Malignancy (US), Brutus (NL), Emeth (BE) and Hour Of Penance (IT) is the killer line-up for that show. I know that it will start very early so, I urge the followers to be there in time, because each band is a total killer!
Before inking a deal with Unique Leader you released a 2-track promo album that caught said label's attention. In what sense does Unique Leader differ with Denmark's Mighty Music?
As stated in a preceding question, we wanted to push the band forwards on all fronts, but we felt that Mighty Music was not backing us in achieving what we wanted. So basically we looked for better conditions on a better label. The two track promo CD which contained the songs ‘Ominous Bloodline' and ‘Scourging Repudiation' was sent out to only 6 labels. Unique Leader were hooked by it and basically the deal was inked soon afterwards.
Obviously, Unique Leader has a better distribution in the US over Mighty Music. In the past Forever Underground used to distribute Beheaded albums in the US, if I'm correct.
You're 100% correct, Forever Underground had obtained the licensing deal to press and distribute some of Mighty Music's CD's in US territory. Unique Leader distributes through Crash Music and Caroline Distribution. Yes, the distribution in the States is - by far - better now.
Another new thing on "Ominous Bloodline" is vocalist Melchior Borg. Why exactly did Lawrence Joyce leave in the first place?
The story with Lawrence was long and weird. I won't go into too much detail here. Basically, Lawrence had left Beheaded before we actually went on tour in the US in 2002. He agreed to give us a hand and not leave us in the shit on the eve of that tour. He did that tour with us and on our return to Malta he quit immediately. Then we went through a succession of vocalists, until Melchior appeared on the scene. He was still very inexperienced at that stage, but he was working hard to improve and match his predecessor. In the mean time, we wanted to record that promo CD and Lawrence showed interest in rejoining as well. So he found himself on our growling slot again. In fact, the 2 track promo CD was recorded with him as vocalist. Then he lost interest again, we decided that his soap opera with Beheaded was definitely over now. Again we went through a succession of vocalists, till Melchior came up to me and said that he wanted to try again. He came down to our rehearsal place and really crushed the damn room! So we had found what we wanted, at last!
"Ominous Bloodline" is once again recorded at the Temple Studios. Bands like Zornik (alt rock), Rammstein to yourselves seem to have a knack for this particular studio. Can you tell us what makes this studio so appealing to all these - very different - bands?
Temple Studios is a cool studio facility we have here. The owner is a cool friend of ours and always accepts to work with us. This studio is like a large villa situated in Mistra Bay and the scenery there is breath taking. This studio has been used by Philip Boa, Farmer Boys, Such a Surge, also Zornik and Rammstein which you have already mentioned. Usually, it's hired by big record labels and they send the producers with the bands over here. I find it ultra cool for us, being an underground death metal band to be able to work in total ease in that environment. Maybe for our future release we'll also try to get a great metal producer and forge a great sound at this studio - money permitting.
Mastering was done at Imperial Mastering, the studio owned by Vile guitarist Colin Davis. Did Unique Leader suggest this as Vile is currently on their roster?
Our sound engineer David Vella told us that we could try to master the album outside Temple Studios. He said that usually who produces and mixes an album would seek another person to master the recording. So, we took his advice and looked for someone else to master "Ominous Bloodline". We opted to send the recording to Colin Davis of Imperial Mastering (and Vile) because he has an experience in mastering death metal albums and he was available at the time. So, we decided to try out this new experience to master the recording outside Temple Studios. But it was solely our decision to have "Ominous Bloodline" mastered at Imperial Mastering.
Beheaded have spearheaded the Malta death metal movement. The Maltese extreme metal scene seems to be on the rise ever since you rose beyond its borders. If I remember correctly Abysmal Torment recently inked a deal with American label Brutal Bands, who brought Emeth to the attention of the international death metal scene as well. Will we hear more bands from Malta in the future? Please give us your prospects and insights from one who experiences that scene first hand.
Yes, Abysmal Torment have now been signed by Brutal Bands. They are quite a young band and I see that they are gaining some following too, which is very healthy. The problem with the Maltese scene is that since we're living on an island, we have to catch the plane each time we want to tour or play festivals, etc. We have to fork out amounts of money simply to travel, as opposed to other bands living in central Europe. We have to make a stronger effort when compared to central European bands to emerge from the local scene and make ourselves heard internationally. But speaking for ourselves, we do is for the sole reason that we love it - because money wise we have never earned anything from Beheaded. I wish that other Maltese death metal bands would make some sort of impact in the international scene. Only time will tell.
Thanks a lot for your time and talking to us. Conclude the interview as you feel fit.
Thanks to you for the cool interview. Much appreciated. Keep an eye on us on the "Gutting Europe" tour. The dates are up on our website (www.beheaded.net) and also on the Unique Leader website (www.uniqueleader.com). Each show is bound to crush and induce serious physical damage - so don't miss out! Brutal Greetings from Beheaded!
Site: www.beheaded.net
