Inhume
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Dutch brutalizers Inhume might take their time to release albums, but they are always more than worth the wait. Three years after "Chaos Dissection Order" Inhume return more vibrant and brutal than ever on up-and-coming German extreme metal label War Anthem Records. Masterful Magazine arranged an interview with Ben Janssen (guitar) to talk about their latest recording, their stay at Soundlodge Studios in Germany and how it is touring the European club scene as an underground act.
Hi there! It's been a while since we last talked with Inhume here at Masterful Magazine. March 2004, to be exact, around the release of "In For the Kill". Since that time you have released two records, with "Moulding the Deformed" being the most recent. So, how have you crazy Dutchmen been since then? Busy, I suppose?
Hey man, good to hear back from you then! It has been a while indeed. As you can see we have been keeping busy, although it might seem to take some time between each new Inhume album, haha. Time flies, so to speak. Since things just take their time and we'll release an album when we are ready. No rush to release a full length every year or so.
This is the first time Inhume have been recording at Soundlodge in Germany with famed producer Jorg Üken. In the past you recorded in Holland in studios such as Excess Studio, Frankie's Recording Kitchen or Sing Sing Studios. What were the reasons for recording in Germany and at the Soundlodge facilities, to be precise?
We have never ever been to Excess Studio as our first album was recorded in our own rehearsal room. We originally planned - and managed to get in the schedule - to record "Moulding the Deformed" with Andy Classen. Our drummer Roel [Sanders, God Dethroned] persuaded us to go the Soundlodge instead. Roel has recorded two God Dethroned albums at Soundlodge and convinced us this was the studio for us. Can't say he was wrong since we're very happy with the whole recording session over there and in the end the result, which we think is great!
For this new record you have inked a deal with Germany's War Anthem Records. In the past Inhume was under contract with Bones Brigade and Osmose Productions. Was Osmose Productions no longer interested in extending its contract or was the offer from War Anthem Records just a lot better all-around?
I guess we were on both sides no longer interested. We fulfilled our part of the deal and then went on to look further. War Anthem came across our path and here we are. It's great to be working with this small group of devoted people and we'll just see where the future takes us.
As in the past there's a good three-four years gap between "Chaos Dissection Order" and this new platter of splatter. Does new Inhume material need to gestate and incubate a while before reaching its maximum potential? Besides, that you all have employment – and family obligations to attend to when Inhume is not rehearsing, recording or touring, right?
We don't know why things go this way, but we don't mind either. For us it's better to make an album every couple of years and put everything in there you've got and not make albums for the sake of making them. It also takes time for us to write a new full length since we write songs together at rehearsals, meaning it's not like one of us sits at home and writes a couple of songs and then have the rest play them. For us it's very democratic since we'll just start with something and see where it leads. After that it all takes us a lot of time to find/book at studio, etc. Since it is more difficult with 6 members like in the past and now with 5 it's just a little bit easier. All of us have our home lives, of course, but we do rehearse twice a week with Inhume and always have been.
This new record puts a little more emphasis on groove and the mid-tempo sections are absolutely crushing. I guess it's also a lot more interesting for you to play at different speeds instead of just blasting full speed ahead, correct?
You are totally right, but I guess we always felt the need to give it all in the studio. Most of the times when we feel something isn't that fast, it turns out to be ridiculously fast to others, haha. We are seriously working on that since it is indeed much more interesting to listen to music when there is more variation. This does not mean there isn't a lot of variation. It happens so fast that I can imagine that most people won't even notice, which is a shame since we do put a lot of shit in our songs and there are tons of small variations between riffs, etc, of which I think no one has ever heard these. Try listening to the "Moulding the Deformed" album with some very good headphones I would recommend, and I'm convinced you'll be blown away.
The artwork for "Moulding the Deformed" is fantastic. How was it working with Mike Hrubovcak (Abraxas, Divine Rapture, Monstrosity, Vile) for the artwork, design and lay-out of this new record?
Mike has been awesome. We got in touch through his work for the Slimewave Series on Relapse Records which we got the chance to be a part of. He told us he was very much into the "In For the Kill" album and would love do album art for an Inhume album someday. This made in plain simple, Mike was going to do our next album. We told him our "vision" for the title we came up with "Moulding the Deformed" and that is just what he did. Although he really went out on the gore department, haha. It's a shame he wasn't in Vile when we toured with them years ago.
For "Chaos Dissection Order" you did a European tour in 2008 dubbed "Gore and Chaos Over Europe" with Disgorge (Mexico) and Grimness 69. I can imagine touring with a band as extreme and thoroughly sick as Disgorge that attendance could be limited. Was that tour a success, would you say?
This tour was definitely a success. Every night there was enough crowd to get a friggin' pit even at the most remote places. It was even better than we thought it would be. We met up with some other tour at one festival or another with "bigger" bands like Lowbrow on that tour and they had been getting an average of 20 paying visitors each night while our visitor average was somewhere between 100 and 150. This is awesome, of course, especially when you imagine grinding death bands like Grimness 69, Inhume and Disgorge in the middle of nowhere on a friggin' Tuesday night, haha. We are actually in the middle of planning another European tour with Grimness 69, Inhume and another band around October/November 2010.
How are the tour plans in support of "Moulding the Deformed" shaping up - another European tour later in the year and numerous single gigs and festival appearances all over Europe? You guys must come to Poland, we Slavs love to roast and grind!
We sure as hell must come to Poland some day. Maybe do some gigs with our friends from Dead Infection! I have been to Poland once with my other band and sure would love to go back and blast the shit out of everything with Inhume. Keep an eye on our website/MySpace for more info about that upcoming tour later this year!
Touring sees bands forced to spent time in each other's face in enclosed spaces for an extended period of time. You all must be best friends to cope with that. How is it touring with six people in the band, driving for hours on end in a van from gig to gig all over Europe?
It's hell, haha!! No, seriously, you have to get along and know each other pretty well, indeed. We have been in this band for so long together. We have no problems with that and every is a trip to another gig on which you can blow your steam.
Goregrind and grindcore are no longer the same genre they were back in the day of (early) Carcass, Dead Infection, General Surgery, Impetigo, Repulsion and Rotten Sound. The scene has been overrun by one-man projects that often leave a lot to be desired, conceptually as well as musically. What's your opinion on how the genre has changed over the years?
The same as you, I guess. I'm still into that old school kind of thing. Since we've been around for much more years before Inhume, as well, we all grew up like this.
It's 2010 and Inhume have been around for a good 15 years now. The line-up is quite different today compared to when you started out in 1994. Many acts that started out around the same time as you have either changed direction or split up altogether. What makes Inhume overcome all these trials and tribulations? Sheer perseverance and determination?
Yes! Sheer perseverance and determination is exactly right for Inhume. We would have been much more famous if we would have split up 10 years ago and then reunite now. We just love what we do and so far we are still going strong. We are not the kind of people to wimp out. The line-up also hasn't changed that much. We have been together with these band members since 1995. Only one vocalist has left and has been replaced and we no longer have two guitar players.
Holland and Poland both have a strong Catholic centre, being it either Roman or Protestant. Back in the early 1990's bands like Altar had shows boycotted by religious fanatics. In Poland we have the national conservative Polish political party Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (PiS) and characters like Ryszard Nowak, who is the leader of the All-Polish Committee for Defense Against Sects, who's trying to ban bands like Behemoth, Vader, etc from playing venues in their own country on the allegations of spreading blasphemy. Is this religious fanaticism and lack of common sense also prevalent in Holland in this supposed enlightened age?
I have heard of stuff like this, but come on, man. The stuff the Catholic church has been doing for ages is the real horror. Bands enjoying brutal music with gory lyrics are just entertainment, just like horror movies. Do they want to ban movies as well then? I think it is kind of pathetic to judge people on stuff and then go home and do something ten times worse. Of course there will always be bands who fuck things up for others, but that is with every scene.
The music business in deep trouble, there's no doubt about that. Illegal downloading is killing smaller record stores and decent small labels are going bankrupt every single day. The sales of physical CD's is falling drastically each year and not only due to the recession of the last years. What's your opinion on all this, has Inhume suffered the consequences from all these events?
We have never sold CDs or at least that is what our labels keep telling us, haha. I'm really old school and used to tape trade, collect vinyl and stuff. With all the downloading people have nothing to go for anymore. There seem to be a zillion bands these days and they get it all without any effort and like nothing. You see it at the much less visitors at shows as well these days. People used to travel like hell for some cool band and now they just watch some clip on YouTube... or not even that.
Alright, that's about it. Thanks a lot for talking to us. If there's anything I've forgot to mention, here's the space!
Thanks to you as well for taking the time do this interview. I'm glad there still are people into the old school grinding stuff, man. We will do another interview in 2018, aight? If you get the chance, come mosh it up at an Inhume gig. You won't be disappointed!
Info: www.war-anthem.com/
Booking: www.inhume.nl
