Sanctification
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Sanctification might be Sweden's most underrated death metal combo. With members active in bands as Aeon, Dark Funeral, God Among Insects and In Battle for a while it seemed the band was bound to disappear. Not that long ago Sanctification released its second album through up-and-coming label Pulverised Records from Singapore. Masterful Magazine caught up with guitarist/main composer Tomas Elofsson to talk about Sanctification's latest masterpiece "Black Reign", which was released recently through Singapore's Pulverised Records.
Hi! Thanks for doing this interview with us! What are you and the rest of Sanctification currently up to?
Tomas: We are at the moment looking for tours so that we can get our asses on the road and play for you guys. Masse is currently in the studio with Dark Funeral and are probably done by the end of August. The rest of us are actually writing new songs and things are going just fine. We don't have any plans of entering the studio, but we have to stay busy, you know - and as the touring goes a bit slow we have to be productive in some way.
Sanctification was formed in 2001 and two years later in 2003 you released your debut "Misanthropic Salvation" through Remission Records. What led to the lengthy hiatus in between your debut and this new record?
Tomas: Both Nils [Fjellstrom (drums)] and I were busy with other bands between 2003 and 2006, so there wasn't much time left for Sanctification. And since Remission didn't provide us with any tours, we just lost the edge. Nils and I toured with In Battle for a few years, and Nils also plays in Aeon as well as I played in God Among Insects at the time. But now it is 100% Sanctification for us.
Now in 2009 you are back with a revised line-up and a strong new album called "Black Reign" - which is released on Singapore's Pulverised Records. Since those recording sessions Nils Fjellstrom (drums) and Kristoffer Hell (vocals, bass) have both quit Sanctification. Is the line-up now stabilised you think?
Tomas: We are getting there. It has been hard for us to find guys that has the time that is needed for the band at this level. We had to let go of Nils coz he has both Dark Funeral and Aeon, and since we are putting everything into Sanctification right now, we need guys that are willing to put in the same amount of time in the band as we do. This is not a project, this is a fulltime band and we take it very serious.
Magnus 'Masse' Broberg is obviously known as the frontman of black metal monarchs Dark Funeral. His commitments lie probably with them as well. Are there any plans for Sanctification to tour or do you see it as a studio project for the time being?
Tomas: Yeah, this is the big problem at the moment and we have to face it sooner or later. Dark Funeral is his job and his main band and when their new album is done, they will hit the road and tour a lot. That's the way it's gonna be. If things are getting our way, the same thing will happened to us as well and that will cause problems for sure. But we just have to deal with it and solve this in a near future because we don't want to say no if something comes along.
Tony Laureano (ex-Angelcorpse, ex-Nile, Dimmu Borgir) was originally scheduled to play drums on "Black Reign" - but had to cancel because of touring commitments. Was it easy recruiting Nils Fjellstrom and did this slow down the recording sessions in any way?
Tomas: This was a no-brainer since Nils loved the new songs. We had a drinking session at my place one night and he said that he wanted to do it. That we before we knew that Tony was out, so when we didn't get the schedule to work out with Tony, we asked Nils and he jumped right on it. It took him a few days to learn the songs so the rehearsals started within a week after we asked him.
Tony Westermark (Soreption) is currently behind the drum kit. How's that working out?
Tomas: Actually, he's not. We have talked to a guy called Jan Benkwitz from Germany (some of you know him as Blastphemer on YouTube) and he will probably play live with us in the future. He is one sick drummer and we think that he is the guy for us. Tony is one talented guy and we would love to play some more with him, but he has Soreption and I think that he will put more time into that than he would with Sanctification. And there for we have to look elsewhere. But nothing is set yet, so stay tuned for more on that.
For this album you went to Abyss Studio in Ludvika, Sweden and worked with producer Peter Tägtgren. "Black Reign" was mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound Studio in Örebro, Sweden. How important was it for the band to remain on home turf - did this geographical familiarity increase performances on the album in any way?
Tomas: It doesn't matter where in the world you record as long as you are comfortable with the persons you are doing it with. And since we know the Tägtgren brothers personally it was an easy choice for us. We talked a lot over the phones about the recording, so they pretty much knew what we wanted. We started to plan this recording a year ahead over a few drinks and when it was time to start the recording, it went smooth as hell.
The artwork was conjured up by underground artist Pontius Lindroth. Tell us something about his work and what led you to contracting him for the artwork for "Black Reign"?
Tomas: Pontius is a friend of ours and he lives in the same town as us. We had seen a few things that he had made for some other local bands and we liked it, so we decided to ask him if he wanted to give it a try - he said yes right away. We had a basic idea of how we wanted the cover so he went with that and the result is what you see on the cover, a wasteland with our flag. He is one talented guy for sure. We got what we wanted.
The new material is significantly heavier and more aggressive than anything that I think Sanctification has probably done in its existence. What brought on this newly envenomed attitude?
Tomas: The new songs are more easy listenable and have a very basic structure to them. A more mature sound with a lot more dynamics to the songs, and that makes them more compelling. The songs on "Misanthropic Salvation" were more straight forward and was very short, so we wanted to take this to a new level, and we are very happy that we have found our sound and song structure for the future.
Well, listening to the new record I am astonished that labels like Century Media, Metal Blade and Nuclear Blast weren't falling over themselves to offer Sanctification a deal, particularly when taking into consideration some of the bands that they have signed the last couple of months.
Tomas: Thank you. To sign with a major label like any them would be a dream, but in a way we understand that the industry is struggling at the moment, and extreme metal isn't selling as they used to. But in a musically way, I think that we in the band are way more talented than loads of bands out there, but that doesn't seems to matter in the business side of it. I will probably get bashed for saying this but I don't give a fuck, coz it's the fucken truth. Some of us have been doing this for almost 20 years and will probably still do it the next 20 years, with or without a label. That's how much we love this.
The first thing that struck me about this record personally is how well it flows. It's a very natural sounding album and the songs just seem to complement each other supremely well.
Tomas: I thank you for noticing this. That's exactly have we feel as well! We wanted to have all the elements that a great metal album should have and I think that we have accomplished that well on this on. The idea of having so much variety is that it shouldn't get boring, and to have riffs that sticks in your head for a while. You don't have to have 200 riffs and 50 changes to a song just to make it extreme, it is the arrangements and the dynamics that makes it aggressive in the end, that's how we feel about it.
Now that you've had the new material floating around for a while, are you satisfied with how it turned out in retrospect?
Tomas: We are more than satisfied! This album couldn't have gotten any better, and we wouldn't change a thing on it. 9 strong songs that we are completely 100% satisfied with. The new songs that are being written at the moment are in the same category and we might even put in a few new cool stuff just to mix it up a bit.
How do you perceive the advances of technology and the internet changing the music industry in the future? Will the CD as a product become a fanatic's item like the LP is nowadays? Will record labels become redundant? What effect will it have on festivals and tours?
Tomas: This is something that I try to avoid thinking about but I do think that the music will be more an internet thing, you know downloading material in the future. Do I think that the CD will disappear? I hate to say it but, yes I think so. I collect LP's myself so I would hate to see that happen.
Thanks for the interview! Good luck with all your future endeavours. I would like to extend my praise for your persistence in keeping the ancient flame burning. The last words are yours.
Tomas: I would like to thank you for the best interview so far on our promotion for this album. Good questions from a well-informed journalist. This is what it's all about, letting the people know history and present of the bands, so we thank you for that. And to our Polish fans: See you soon.
Booking: www.myspace.com/sanctificationband
Info: www.pulverised.net
