Torture Killer
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
While Finland isn't the most obvious or fertile place to look for brutal death metal, the guys in Torture Killer have been spreading the message since 2002. Their latest record "Swarm!" - which has none other than ex-Cannibal Corpse/Six Feet Under frontman Chris Barnes on vocals - was a surprisingly consistent and cunning old school death metal record that truly managed to revive the feeling of the early '90s. While I originally was scheduled to talk to guitarist Jari Laine, who wasn't able to complete the interview due to other obligations. It was drummer Tuomo Latvala who rose to the occasion, resulting in the following pleasant conversation.
Thanks for taking time out to talk to us. How's everything with the band as of late?
Hello Wouter! Well, everything is going pretty well right now. We have played a couple of shows here in Finland while trying to write some new material for the next album.
Your new album "Swarm!" was released not that long ago. How would you describe the reactions up till this point in time?
Most of people seem to like it pretty much. Reviews have been mainly good and praising but of course there has been also those ones where they write that we shouldn't had never even thought about making music, hehe! It's obvious that you can't make everyone like your music, but we've been really satisfied about people's response.
Let's start with the beginning first. Torture Killer originally started out on Dutch label Karmageddon Media, who released your "For Maggots to Devour" album. A lot of bands have left their roster since the name change. How was it working with this label?
None of us really has nothing bad to say about Karmageddon Media. We are really happy that we had a chance to work with those guys since everything worked really well between us!
"For Maggots to Devour" was a solid if not unoriginal old school death metal album that got the name out. Can you tell us a bit about the situation with vocalists, you experienced a lot of troubles in that department, especially with the 2004 European tour?
After releasing "For Maggots to Devour" we had scheduled a tour with Poppy Seed Grinder and Cropment, but only three days before that our vocalist told us that he didn't want to be a part of that tour. Obviously, the rest of us were really eager to go play our first tour abroad so we just couldn't leave it there. Luckily a good friend of ours (Sallinen from Funeral Feast) did a great favour to us and replaced Liuke (our previous vocalist) on that tour with only three days to learn all our songs we had planned for the shows.
At this point Six Feet Under main man Chris Barnes came into the picture, if I understand correctly.
Basically, yeah. We put an announcement on our website about our situation and that's where Barnes noticed it and offered his help to us.
You're also signed to the legendary Metal Blade Records with this new album. How did this record deal come to be?
We had planned to release this album through Karmageddon Media but as Chris joined us, the financial part for the album was to be a much higher than planned and they didn't want to take that risk with us. Then Barnes delivered a demo recording for Metal Blade and they liked it. Gladly, the guys from Karmageddon Media were kind enough to cancel our contract and "letting us out".
Did the song material for "Swarm!" went through a lot of changes when Chris stepped in? I mean, the guy is pretty much a legend and monument in the death metal scene, stepping up to the plate is bound to happen somewhere along the way.
No, I wouldn't say a lot of changes - but some, yes. He wrote the lyrics and made the lyric patterns to about a half of the songs on "Swarm!".
How is it working with a man of stature such as Chris? In what ways did he contribute to the material that we can hear on the new album, was his influence profound?
It still feels unreal having him in the band and everything has been going really smoothly and worked well. As I mentioned in the previous question, he wrote half of the lyrics and thought out the vocal arrangements to those song plus he also produced the album.
It must have been a hellish undertaking recording this album. Basic recordings in Finland, vocals recorded separately by Chris Barnes in the United States. Tell us something about the recording sessions and difficulties you encountered while recording "Swarm!".
We recorded our part of the album in January 2005 with Mika Haapasalo at PopStudio. I worked two or three days with the drum parts and the following two weeks went by laying down the rest of the instruments. I can't recall any major difficulties during recordings, but I remember Jari and Tuomas were almost growing grey hair trying to find the suitable guitar sound, hehe! Of course, we had some extra pressure on our asses because of the fact that Barnes was to be the one to growl on those songs. Nonetheless everything went fine and the result was satisfactory, though there are some things we will do differently in the future.
It has been a while since there was an album with Wes Benscoter artwork. Good to see this guy gracing the scene again with his artwork. His work for Deceased and Mortician is timeless.
I know, we just love everything he has done! He was just the perfect guy to paint our cover and we are totally pleased with it. I feel truly honoured to have our album cover done by such a great artist!
I guess the band has been getting a lot of more exposure since Chris Barnes joined Torture Killer. Has his presence helped forward the band much into the collective conscience of the audience?
Definitely yes, it was pretty obvious that more people would get to know our name because of Chris. The feedback has also been (mainly) great, so we have nothing to complain about.
Is Metal Blade backing Torture Killer up with any tour support or endorsements?
We haven't yet discussed about any such things..
Do you think it will be possible to match schedules and tour in support of "Swarm!" with Barnes in the line-up this year? His other band Six Feet Under is touring the US and Europe virtually all year round.
Six Feet Under is still the main band of Chris and he has been pretty busy with them lately. I guess it would be more realistic to wait the possible tour to take place next year, just have to wait and see.
Is there a possibility that Torture Killer will ever join Six Feet Under on one of their tours?
I don't think it's an impossible idea and that would be a really cool thing to do! But again, that depends pretty much on Chris. I mean, how - for example - would his voice last for two shows in a night for several days.
Any death metal bands in Finland that we should be aware of - that might make it big in years to come?
In my opinion there are some great death metal bands in Finland and here's some 'more or less death metal' to mention: Sotajumala, Deepred, Slugathor, Demigod, Cadaveric Incubator and Deathchain.
Alright, that pretty much covers it. Thanks a lot your time. Last words are yours…
Thank you for the interview and thanks for the readers if you made it this far, heh! Get your hands on our album "Swarm!" if solid old school death metal is your cup of tea. Take care and stay brutal!
Band info:
Site: www.torturekiller.com
Info/booking: latvala@torturekiller.com
