Spawn Of Possession
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Technical death metal formation Spawn Of Possession recently inked a deal with Dutch label Neurotic Records. With the inking of their new record deal and their debut album "Cabinet" still being considerably fresh in recent memory, talking to one of the Spawn Of Possession guys didn't seem out of place. After a few mails up and down to Neurotic Records mainman Ruud Lemmen, I was able to get a hold of drummer Dennis Röndum. He happily agreed to talk about their debut "Cabinet", the impact it had and the doors which it opened for the band one more time...
"Cabinet" has been out for some years now. The reactions have been praising all over. Did you expect the album to hit as big as it did?
No we didn't have any real expectations for "Cabinet". Just by being able to record our first album made us happy, the great response came as an extra bonus I guess.
Unique Leader released "Cabinet" - are you satisfied with the work they put promoting the band?
Yeah, I think they did a good job with the promotion for us. They helped us to get on tours and stuff like that.
Neurotic Records recently re-released Visceral Bleeding's "Remnants of Deprivation" under the title of "Remnants Revived". Why did you choose to let them re-issue it, from what I understand the original is still available and fairly easy to obtain?
I was not in any way part of this decision, as I had already quit the band when Visceral Bleeding and Neurotic Records made this deal.
You recently signed a multi-album deal with Neurotic Records. In what sense do you think your new label differs from Unique Leader, to whom you were previously signed?
It's still a little early to say besides the fact that Neurotic offered us the best deal. Another important aspect is that Neurotic Records is stationed here in Europe, just as we are. This is better for us as we generally do most of our touring in Europe.
Spawn of Possession has been touring relentlessly in support of "Cabinet". How was it touring with genre veterans Cannibal Corpse?
It was an amazing experience. They are the coolest guys and they draw the sickest crowds. The tours we've done with Cannibal Corpse are the most important ones we've ever done. We had so much fun with them on the road and I really hope we can get out there together with them again!
Has the touring weighed heavy on the band as people? I reckon you're bound to grow tired of one another when spending so much time together in confined spaces, since that's what touring brings along. Any notable road stories or happenings that was eventful that you feel sharing with your fans?
We usually get along really well on tours. It's just about preparing mentally for the ride. My memory isn't too good when it comes to stories since I'm constantly drunk on the road. But one thing I was told about was after a show on the No Mercy tour. I got invited to Hypocrisy's backstage by Peter Tägtgren because he needed some company to drink with. Now Peter is serious drinker, so he got me totally hammered and eventually I passed out. So a bunch of Spawn guys including Andreas [Holma, ed] from Hypocrisy and Cannibal's guitar tech Bryan had to carry me back to the tour bus after I had been getting a full body painting with a thick magic marker by half the crew.
As far as new material is concerned, can you tell us which direction Spawn of Possession will take with the next album? From what I read it will be more technical but also more groovy.
We just continued to write from where we left off with "Cabinet", so everything has progressed very natural. We never set out do write something in particular, it all just fell into place and since Spawn Of Possession is a ever evolving band musically the new material have been taken a few steps further in all directions. Some of the most technical stuff we've ever done will be presented on this next album but we have also been more aware of having a good swing in our playing this time around, so I think the groove will be more obvious on this album.
Technical death metal has experienced quite resurgence in the last 5 years. Why is that exactly you think? Do you think both fans and bands were tired of cliché ridden death metal and were eager for something more mature and musically challenging?
Sure that's a possibility, I don't really know. Perhaps there's a more competitive way of thinking in Death Metal than it was before. For us it has always been about playing the music we love whether it's tech or simple or fast or slow or whatever. It just doesn't matter to us as long as it sounds good. Either way it's a cool thing to see new tech bands coming up.
One of the most important events this year in relation to technical death metal is the re-issue of the recorded works by Atheist. Many contemporary bands have cited them as a major influence over the years. Of what importance were seminal technical metal formation Atheist to Spawn of Possession?
This is pretty embarrassing to say but we never got into Atheist. And what I mean by that is that we never checked them out, so I can honestly say I don't know what they sound like. I know they have meant a great deal to a lot of progressive bands but we simply never stopped to check them out. I am going buy their albums and give them a shot for sure, people often ask us what we feel about Atheist and it feels pretty stupid to say we don't even know what they sound like when speaking about a close to legendary band.
The ever-potent Swedish metal scene has become increasingly focused on brutality in the last years. Bands such as Insision, Nominon or Kaamos prove that the fertile soil of Sweden not only can produce melodic outfits. What has brought on this change, a case of too much of the same?
I think that when the whole melody thing was up on the board. A lot of people got totally focused on that and forgot about all the other great types of metal out there. Fortunately there was a small group of bands who didn't pay attention to all that and remained loyal to what they believed in. I guess now that whole way of thinking pays off.
Thanks for this short update! I'm sure we'll talk again once the new album is out. Closing words are yours...
Thanx for the sound check man! I'd be happy to talk to you again after the next album has been released. Keep it sick and support death metal.
Site: www.spawnofpossession.com
