Torture Killer
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Finnish death metal combo Torture Killer recently released their newest slab of bloodsoaked brutality through Dynamic Arts Records. "Sewers" – the band's latest record – continues where their previous two records ended and ups the ante considerably for the band. With a strong record under their belt and a European tour to take off shortly, Masterful Magazine caught up with singer Juri Sallinen to talk about the band's new album, their expectations and plans on how to get Torture Killer known to a wider audience.
Hi there! Thanks for doing this interview with us! What are you currently up to?
Hey man and no problem brother, glad to be doing this so let's get on with it. Currently it's pretty quiet, I guess. The "Sewers" shows started a few weeks back here at home and were getting ready to continue those in a couple of weeks. Some festivals are coming for us this summer and some of them are really good for a band like us - getting to see Asphyx for the first time along with those will be awesome. We are not necessarily into playing festivals that much, you know, playing in broad-day-light at 4 in the afternoon... we kinda feel we belong to indoors, small clubs and so on, but then again I'm sure those will be something special for us, I suppose. But overall like I said it's pretty quiet, digging through our daily lives with daily jobs.
Your new album "Sewers" was recently released by Finnish label Dynamic Arts Records. What are your expectations for this record, seeing how your previous album "Swarm!" was released by mega-label Metal Blade Records?
I think the weirdest things have already happened to this band, so I can't really say we have any special expectations for anything. Glad we have the album out, we hope it'll be available for everyone interested, despite the fact that we don't have the resources and distribution behind us. But there are good sides to it as well, it's a lot more relaxed and we don't stress about what's going to happen too much. Right now we're pretty much where we want to be, enjoying what we do and what comes along with it is a bonus.
How have the reactions to "Sewers" been thus far? We, here at a Masterful Magazine, gave it a positive review due to your staying loyal to the tried-and-true formula and delivering some neckbreaking groove death metal.
Awesome brother, we really appreciate it. I think we did a pretty good job with the album, I think it turned out a decent death metal album - over here it's been great, it has done way better here back home than "Swarm!" which is kinda weird. We have some reviews coming in from Europe now and they're pretty good as well, all the bands say that, I know - and it IS a boring cliché to say. Overall, I think we get the reviews we deserve, and the style were doing is something we feel comfortable with - this is what we are and want to do.
"Swarm!" – the preceding record – was released through mega-label Metal Blade Records and featured Chris Barnes (Six Feet Under, ex-Cannibal Corpse) on vocals. What led to the termination of the contract with Metal Blade; Chris leaving the band or a culmination of factors?
Those two came hand-in-hand, and we were the ones who first brought it up - not feeling like a real band anymore we felt things needed to change and once we got all things cleared out with Chris, we then approached Metal Blade coz along with the line-up change, we wanted to go somewhere more down-to-earth with the label as well... I think it's no secret to say that we got signed with MB because of Chris, and I think we would've gotten kicked out anyway now when our strongest sales point from labels point-of-view was no longer with us. I think all of us are better on our own ways, and there was no bad blood left behind at all... Huge respect for Chris and MB, but we are much better off with more relaxed and modest company.
Besides that Dynamic Arts Records is Finnish, what were the deciding factors to led them handle and release this new album?
We've met some of the label guys when we've played shows with some of their bands and got along great, cool guys and we have friends whose bands are on DAR and heard they do a decent job. We didn't even talk with anyone else, and were glad they wanted us as well. It's so much easier to pick up the phone and talk in your own language if something is on your mind and things have worked pretty well with them. I think we made the right choice, what happens in the future - we'll see.
In what sense does Dynamic Arts Records differ with Metal Blade Records? I reckon you are much more of a priority with them, unlike Metal Blade who house both Cannibal Corpse and Six Feet Under?
It's obviously like a night and day, the other one being a high-class-pro-label with huge promotion and distribution channels and the other one more national type of label. We never expected to be more with MB, so it wasn't about that. We just felt we needed to be involved with more like-minded people. I mean this is still a hobby for us, and being in a label for pro-bands and musicians don't add up. MB is a kick ass label, but it's not for us and that's pretty much it, don't know any other way to describe it. We were just totally out of our league there.
"Sewers" sounds a lot more tighter and together compared to "Swarm!" and "For Maggots to Devour". In what ways do you feel you have improved compared to your previous two albums from a couple of years ago?
I think we did better performance-wise with this than any other of our albums, not sure if the songs are any better - but they're better performed and more solid. I think we slowly develop our playing and songwriting as you learn things with each album, you know what works, what not - you can try some new ideas and if they work you know you can go deeper into them in the future...if they don't you know to leave them alone... As years and albums pass by you obviously get tighter playing as a group, so I think that's what makes the difference
The album is graced with an incredible organic and warm sounding production that is very easy to listen to while retaining enough grittiness. I take it you are satisfied with the studios you've worked with to produce and mix this record?
I think the sound is ok, we used a different studio this time, had more knowledge how to use our equipment and so on - more clear vision how we wanted the album sound - but of course using a new studio always comes with surprises, in good and bad. Out of previous albums I think the sound is best in this one, but I also think it still needs to be better - but it's hard to get that I tell you. We haven't used any real metal studios ever, just went to ones that were convenient for us and when you lack some knowledge 
and theory how to get that crunch sound, it takes time and patience to get there... But yeah, I think this sound is pretty good, you can listen to it loud and it doesn't make your ears bleed at high volumes, it is warmer and dirtier than on the previous album and that's what we wanted.
Another new thing on "Sewers" are you, the vocalist, Juri Sallinen. Besides that you filled in on vocals for previous tour commitments – what made you front Torture Killer on a permanent basis?
Well, I've been helping them out for years now, doing shows here and there and we're glad we finally have a solid line-up. It's a small country and, I guess, a small town by European standards, and people having trouble finding the right guys in their own bands know what that means, not much to choose from - so that makes us even luckier we could get someone with a good vocal sound found from the area we live. We didn't try out or audition anyone else so it was pretty natural choice having him after being there for us all these years
The new album comes once again with stunning artwork , was it done by Wes Benscoter like last time? The image he has conjured up for the album artwork is truly mesmerizing. Very creepy and really traditional, in a sense. Did he manage to translate your ideas, themes and concepts to the canvas?
Actually, the cover is done by Jon Zig, not Wes. But I do like the cover a lot - we had some ideas what should be in the cover but Jon's the one who should have all the credits for this one... the proportion and the scale/magnitude is all his ideas and we love the artwork. Like you said there's definitely some old-school/traditional references on the cover and I think he did amazing job.
"Sewers" is being supported by a two-week European trek in May alongside Swedish death metal combo Demonical. Is there anything else planned to promote this record, in and outside of Finland?
Yeah, we have shows and some festivals coming in and out of Finland - they will be posted on our sites at www.torturekiller.com or www.myspace.com/torturekiller . All in all, we're very pleased we can finally get out and play our music to European audiences and I'm sure this is just the beginning. I'm sure we won't have to wait another 4 years to do it again.
The Finnish extreme metal scene has always appeared to be very diverse and productive. How is it doing nowadays? Any up-and-coming bands we should know about?
Well most of them are playing styles I don't necessarily listen myself. I suppose metal in general is doing quite good for a country our size... But instead I'd recommend something more on the death metal front you might want to check: Slugathor, Vacant Coffin, The Zombi, Ascended, Vorum - very underground but very good in what they do.
Thanks for the interview! Good luck with all your future endeavours. I would like to extend my praise for a killer third album. The last words are yours.
Huge thanks for the interview, Wouter - we appreciate the support and all the best for the mag in the future!
Info: www.dynamicartsrecords.com
Booking: www.torturekiller.com
