Archangel's Lantern

Underground Metal Blog since 2013

2024. március 18., hétfő

Vincent Crowley

 Interview with Vincent Crowley

(Vincent Crowley Band, Infidel Reich, Dominari, Acheron)

Ave Vincent! On the 23th of February Vincent Crowley Band unleashed the second album “Anthology Of Horror” and I must admit that is just simply brilliant stuff in my humble opinion. Would you be so kind to share some information about the line-up, the song-writing and recording process, lyrical themes and artwork? How do you describe the style of your music?

VC- Thank you! The line-up is Art Taylor and Eric Stewart on Guitars, Ryan Arter on Drums, Tim Wilson on Bass, and myself on vocals. The VINCENT CROWLEY band likes to refer to ourselves as Macabre Metal and a Musical Horror Experience. Our music is more rooted in traditional Heavy Metal, but with my vocals that gives it a taste of death. But we have influences of all kinds of things, including Doom, Death, Black, and even Thrash. After the release of the debut album “Beyond Acheron”, which were stories based on themes linked to death, I wanted to keep telling stories, but even more in the Horror realm. On “Anthology of Horror”, we embarked on going 100% into that topic. Due to the COVID restrictions at the time, the band just started writing new material after the debut, since we couldn’t do shows. On this album, we truly found our direction for the band. “Beyond Acheron” was a album that helped Art and I shed the skin of our previous band ACHERON. This album completed the process. As for the artwork, German artist Timo Wuerz, who did the first VINCENT CROWLEY cover and ACHERON cover’s during the 2000’s era, also did this one. He did a great piece that linked all of the song ideas together. 

In my Hungarian review in Kronos Mortus I’ve marked 10 this album, I really enjoyed every single moment in your new opus. You made 2 awesome videos for the new LP. Tell us more about these videos, please. Do you plan to create new video(s) for the “Anthology Of Horror” in the near future?

VC- I did see this and appreciate the great review. I’m glad you enjoyed it. The videos were made by Carl Assault at VISUAL MEDIA ASSAULT. He does great work in the style I absolutely love. The lyric video “That Which Lurks Below the Sea” is like an old black and white horror monster movie. And “Amityville’s Horror” is a band video that captures the feel of a 70’s Grindhouse film. We do have plans to do more videos. The next one up will be for the song “Under the Hanging Tree”. We hope to start filming that as soon as the weather gets warmer and we can do some filming outside. 

I know that you are a big supporter of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond and your King Diamond cover, “Killer” is an awesome job, I think, King Diamond would be proud! Why did you choose this particular track from Spider’s Lullaby”?

VC- Yes, those bands are a big inspiration to me. It would be great to have King listen to it. I chose that song because it was an obscure one from an album that wasn’t very popular with older fans. That fact is “Killer” is a great tune and it totally fit the theme of our album. And The Spider’s Lullaby is a very underrated album.  

Vincent Crowley Band signed to Dutch Hammerheart Records, I think, that’s great because they do a great job for their hordes. How do you see that?

VC- It has been a wonderful experience working with HAMMERHEART RECORDS. They took a chance with the band and believed in us and have really helped to get our music out there to the fans. Hopefully the album does well and we can return to do another album with them. I already have ideas for the next one! 

Are there any plans to play live with Vincent Crowley band in Europe this year?

VC- That is our plan. We just signed with NICK GRIMA MANAGEMENT/BOOKING to try to get on some fests or shows. Hopefully something comes up for this year. 

As I’m your follower of your official YouTube channel, I’ve found a lot of interesting and rare stuff. Please introduce your channel to the readers.

VC- The VINCENT CROWLEY channel on YOUTUBE is something I first started just to post my music. Then I started to get more active on it and began doing Q&A’s from fans. Now, I’m trying to do other things too, such as special episodes and interviews with others. It is a way to keep in touch with the fans and make it more personal. 

I listened to Dominari-demo on your channel, awesome Death-Black material! There are any chances for the full-length?

VC- You never know? I’d like too, but it all depends on my free-time. But I can see at least an EP coming out in the future, it time permits. 


I wrote two Hungarian reviews in Kronos Mortus about Infidel Reich-albums, namely “Reichenstein” (2019) and “New World Outrage” (2021). I liked a lot all the tracks of Infidel Reich and I’m sad that you stopped activity with that horde. What are your favourite tracks from the EP and two LPs? It would be possible in the near future to release a new Infidel Reich album?

VC- INFIDEL REICH was a special project to me. We did it at a time when the scene needed to stir the pot and be rebellious again. It was a very artistic way of expressing our disgust for the “safe” world of today. I don’t have any favorite songs, because each has a special place in my dark heart. The band never broke up. We are just on a hiatus until we feel the time is right to launch another Metal attack. 


I’m an old supporter of Acheron since early 90s and what do you think: It will be an Acheron-reunion later?

VC- It has been over 5 years since I did a live show with ACHERON. At the present time, I don’t see the need to do one. But I’ll never say never. But it would have to be one hell of a special show to do so. And you never know, I may record a few new ACHERON songs in the future, but it won’t be another full-length album. 


You were a guest vocalist on the Brazilian Beelzeebuth’s track Black Slave Ship (The Triumph of Death) and in Polish DeathEpoch’s track Genocide V in 2020, if I’m not mistaken. Tell us more about this Infernal collaboration.

VC- Armado from MYSTIFIER, who I have been friends with, asked be to do guest lead vocals for that song on his solo BEELZEEBUTH album, which I gladly did. And DEATHEPOCH asked me to do some vocals in a part of their song. Both are great bands and the songs were well written tunes. It was great to be included on their albums.  


Thank you very much Vincent, it was a pleasure to talk to you again, total support from my side to you always. Send your message beyond the Acheron to the readers of Archangel’s Lantern to complete this conversation.

VC- It has been a pleasure to again be featured in ARCHANGEL’S LANTERN. Your support is hailed! Darkness comes in many forms, and we hope everyone picks up the new VINCENT CROWLEY album “Anthology of Horror” on HAMMERHEART RECORDS. Also, make sure to visit my VINCENT CROWLEY channel on YOUTUBE and leave your comments on the videos. I always enjoy hearing from the fans. May your 2024 be successful! 


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2024. március 13., szerda

Erik Sprooten (Ancient Rites)

 Interview with Erik Sprooten

(Ancient Rites, Plusminus) 

Hail Erik, you are very welcome to my humble blog again! Tell us at first, what is the current line up of Ancient Rites. Are you working with new Ancient Rites tracks/ new album nowadays? 

The current line-up is: 

Gunther Theys – Vocals

Erik Sprooten – Lead & Rhythm Guitar

Jory Hogeveen – Lead & Rhythm Guitar

Patrick Mallo – Bass Guitar

John Berry – Drums

- Hail Georgius, it's nice to be back and doing an interview with you again. Thank you very much! Yes, we have done a few writing sessions in Belgium for new songs. So we are indeed working on new material. With this new line-up, we write the songs in a different way compared to the way before with previous line-ups. We will try to create songs with a more old school feel, but that's easier said then done. But we like and respect the first albums, and we feel that those albums should be the direction for us to create new material. But I guess it will be inevitable that there will be some new and fresh twists added to the music. However, I'd like the readers to realize, that we will not sound like the line-up who recorded “The Diabolic serenades” and “Blasfemia Eternal”. Only Gunther is the remaining member from that line-up, and the only original Ancient Rites member left. Our late drummer Walter is unfortunately no longer with us, may he rest in peace. Walter was always involved in the creative process. Furthermore, neither me or Jory Hogeveen sound like former guitarist Bart and nobody else will. I've worked with several different musicians playing different styles throughout the years, and I've noticed that every musician, no matter what instrument he or she plays, he or she will always bring their own flavor to the music. That being said, I'm very curious what the end result of  our new album will be. 

Ancient Rites is very active with live shows last time. Unfortunately, I missed your live show in Poland in November, 2022 but my good old friend Andrey Tolkowiec enjoyed a lot. (Thanks a lot for the signatures!) Share some memories about your performances in Poland.

- The shows in Poland were great. Those shows have already taken place in 2022 but I have positive memories of it. They were a success and it was great to play two headline shows in Poland. The first show was in the Voodoo Club in Warsaw, and the next day, the second show, took place in Chorzów, close to the city of Katowice. On Friday, in Warsaw, I met a fan from the Czech Republic together with his girlfriend from Slovakia. He visited a show of Ancient Rites back in 2002 in Leszno, Poland. Back then he was photographed with me and of course we did this again in the Voodo Club. To my pleasant surprise, he gave me a unique T-shirt which he made especially for me, with that picture of me and him from 2002. I really like this T-shirt a lot, and after the show, we had a few drinks together. This was certainly something special. Looking back, this small weekend tour was well-organized, and we have been taken care of very well. Ancient Rites has done shows in Poland before and it seems that we have quite a following over there. It would be great to do some more shows in Poland again in the near future. I'm very happy that we are doing more shows lately in general. 


In May 2023 Ancient Rites played in Israel, Tel-Aviv and I saw 2 common pictures with Nergal of Behemoth. Tell us about the show and the story of the pictures. By the way, do you have favourite albums/tracks from Behemoth?

- We enjoyed our show in Tel Aviv very much and it was great to play for very fanatic Ancient Rites fans in Israel again. The audience was great and gave us a very warm welcome. It was nice to be back in Israel, and during the weekend, we were enjoying ourselves as tourists. Keep in mind, that it's not always possible to do some proper sightseeing and enjoying the country we are visiting when we are “on tour”, but fortunately, we had a little bit of time for that. Nergal was also in Israel because he did a benefit show in Tel Aviv a few nights before, and we ended up having a dinner with him together. Gunther and myself have met him before, 'cause in 1999, we toured together (with Deicide, Rotting Christ and Aeturnus).  He was very friendly to us, and it was nice to meet him again after all those years. When it comes to Behemoth, I prefer to listen to their albums of the nineties like for instance the album “Grom” and the compilation album “Chaotica”. However, I don't have any particularly favourite tracks but I listen to Behemoth from time to time.  


I saw tons of photos and videos of Ancient Rites tour in South America in 2023. Would you be so kind to talk about your experiences more?

- I have spoken quite a lot of musician friends who toured in South America and they told me always like, if you can go to South America (under the right conditions of course) with Ancient Rites, do it. We also have received several e-mails throughout the years in which they invited us to do tours in South America, but for some (unknown) reasons, it never happened. So last year, it finally happened, and it was really a blast! The tour in South America was amazing. It was definitely one of the best things we have ever done with Ancient Rites. We definitely would love to go back to South America for sure and hopefully visit a few other South American countries as well if possible. We seem to have quite a following in that part of the globe. The touring schedule was challenging, but the audiences over there are absolutely fantastic and worth it. The fans in South America are different than in Europe and they seem more passionate when it comes to music. Quite some fans brought their vinyl, CD's and other items for us to sign with our autographs and a lot of fans wanted to take pictures with us. One fan even waited for us at the airport of Santiago and wanted all his items signed over there. In Bogota, it even may have felt a little bit like “Beatle mania” if the reader knows what I mean. We felt very much appreciated in South America and we were welcomed with open arms, and it was heartwarming for sure. Our South American tour went smoothly without any serious problems, except for that our luggage was almost on its way to Chile, but it was fortunately intercepted at the airport of Lima, Peru, where we had a show the next day. We didn't have much time to be tourists, but we did manage to do some sightseeing in Bogota, Lima and Santiago, which is always enjoyable. What kinda surprised me, was that I expected the weather to be very hot, but it actually turned out to be quite pleasant in most places we visited. In Sao Paolo, it should normally be quite hot, but during the weekend when we were there, it was cloudy, and therefore temperature-wise more pleasant for us, or at least for me. On a personal level, I like South America very much so far. 


I did not mention all the live shows of Ancient Rites latest years but please do it, what were your memorable ones and why.

- We also did shows last year in Austria, Germany and Belgium. It was nice to do some shows in Austria again after such a long time. The show in Belgium was very good. For me, all those shows are memorable, and always enjoyable but the show in Oberhausen, Germany stood out a bit more compared to the other shows. I think that we delivered a very good show and the German audience appreciated us very much. Among the predominantly German audience were also fans from Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium. To me, it felt great to play in Germany again. At the moment, our next show will be in Belgium again in April, and the fans from Belgium have always been very good to us. So I'm looking forward to that show. Last February, we did a great (sold out) show in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in a venue called Baroeg. Ancient Rites has done at least ten shows in that venue. But it is the end of an era because it was the last show of us in this now “old” venue, 'cause this venue will be demolished this year, and on the same spot, a new venue will be build, where we of course, would love to be invited to do some shows again.  

Dutch Pentacle played at their live show an Ancient Rites cover in 2021, namely “Longing for the Ancient Kingdom” for the memory of your bandmate Walter van Cortenberg (R.I.P.) and I must say they did a great job. What is your opinion about that?

- I like their version very much. I saw them playing “Longing For The Ancient Kingdom” twice. The first time, I saw them playing the version you probably saw on internet live at Schoonebeek Deathfest 2021,  in The Netherlands during a time what was still the pandemic. Pentacle had invited Gunther to do a guest appearance but it was simply not possible for Gunther to come to this festival. The second time I saw Pentacle performing it in Arnhem, but this time with Gunther on vocals. We both played together again at the same gig. We did a lot of of shows together in the past. It was great to play together again and I hope that we will share the stage again more often.


Unfortunately Dutch Inquisitor closed its activity.. Without going deep to reasons, I just would like to ask, what are your most preferred tracks of Inquisitor? 

- I prefer not talk about Inquisitor very much or even at all, for me it is a thing of the past now and it's over for good. Inquisitor is no more, and is put to rest forever. However I am very proud of the albums which we recorded, and to some people, our debut album “Walpurgis – Sabbath of Lust” is even seen as an underground classic. My favourite tracks of Inquisitor are definitely “Fallen Missionary”, “Damnation For The Holy”, “On a Black Red blooded cross”, “Consuming Christ”, “Hammering Rusty Nails” and “Holy Man Gallow's Pole”. Furthermore, without Inquisitor, I wouldn't be where I am today. 

If I’ve meant Inquisitor.. I’m still very sad about the early departure of our common Brazilian friend Juliano Bonacini (R.I.P.) who was a huge Ancient Rites and Inquisitor fan. Please share some thoughts about him and his past band Lone Hunter.

- I didn't have much contact with Juliano, but in 2019, I did a great interview with him for Inquisitor in Lucifer Rising Magazine. Unfortunately, the interview is not on-line anymore, but I found the document of the interview added with my answers on my notebook, and based on his questions, he surely was a real Inquisitor fan and most likely also very much into Ancient Rites. The questions he asked, were really good. I can only guess, but he most likely meant a lot to the (Brazilian) metal scene and it's very sad that especially guys like Juliano are taken away from us too soon. I don't listen much to LoneHunter but I certainly enjoy listening to them sometimes. Their death metal has quite some brutal parts, but they also create some interesting atmospheric passages in their music. 


What is the current situation with Plusminus? Do you have any plans to play live with that band in the near future? 

- Plusminus was a little bit on the backburner for a short period but we are very much alive again. We are practicing on a regular basis, so everything is fine. We enjoy what we do very much. Plusminus will play a show in Baroeg, Rotterdam at the 31st of March. It's our first show since 2019. Furthermore, there are also two shows planned in our hometown in Harderwijk, but those are not confirmed yet. One show will probably take place in August.

Which Dutch bands and albums can you recommend us nowadays? What were your favourite LPs of 2023? 

- I can always recommend Dead Head, but I also like Bodyfarm very much. Their latest album “Ultimate Abomination” from 2023 is very good. I have it on colored vinyl. Other Dutch bands I recommend are:  Asphyx, Soulburn, Bloodphemy, Sammath, Heidevolk, Pestilence, Legion of the Damned, Sinister, Houwitser and God Dethroned but maybe the readers should check out some lesser known Dutch bands such as: Bloodmoon, Deathisfaction, Sadotank and Putrefied Corpse.
I don't buy much new releases but I like the Cavalera releases where they pay tribute to the very early Sepultura stuff, which is in fact no new music. Usually, in a lot of cases, re-recording old material doesn't work very well, but Cavalera did a very good job.  I still don't have the Hellwitch - Annihilational Intercention album from 2023 but it's a very good return of Hellwitch for sure. I already checked this album on Spotify and I will make sure that I get that album in my collection. And I lately like Suicidal Angels (from Greece) very much. Suicidal Angels is a great thrash metal band I think. For this year I'm certainly looking forward to buy the new albums of Judas Priest, Suicidal Angels and Dead Head. Dead Head will soon release a new album called “Shadow Soul” I think. I like the new Suicidal Angels album “Profane Prayer” very much, and the new Judas Priest album “Invincible Shield” is a killer album. I'm listening to it right now. Priest recently launched a video of “The Serpent and the King” from their new album and that song is amazing. The Priest is certainly back! Oh, and Bodyfarm will also release something new soon I think.

Dank je wel Erik, it was a pleasure to talk to you again! I wish you all the best with Ancient Rites, Plusminus and your personal life. Send your message to the readers of Archangel’s Lantern to complete this conversation.

- Georgius, thank you very much for the interview again! Keep supporting underground metal and metal in general. I'm not the first one and also not the last one to say the following words: Keep metal (and also music in general) alive also by supporting (local) metal bands. Support the bands by buying their music and  merchandise and most important, go to their shows. Thanks a lot to everyone who supported Ancient Rites during all those years. Thank you very much!


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2024. február 16., péntek

Wim van der Valk (15.10.2017)

 Interview with Wim van der Valk 

Originally published in Kronos Mortus  

in English and Hungarian languages,

15.X.2017

Hail Wim, hellcome to Hungarian Kronos Mortus e-zine! First of all, tell the Hungarian readers all the important information about the re-union of the legendary INQUISITOR in 2014 and about the re-release of INQUISITOR’s debut album „Walpurgis – Sabbath of Lust”, which has been released by Hammerheart Records in collaboration with the members of INQUISITOR.

W: Thanks G. and hello to all at Kronos Mortus e-zine. How the reunion took place after almost 20 years, well… not to complicated actually. It all started with Hammerheart Records planning to re-release our infamous ’96 album and because of that Erik and i came in close contact again. We hadn’t spoken in years but kept following each other throughout the net and things like that. After being busy with arranging things like artwork etc. the idea of playing some tunes together came up very soon. I got my gear together for the first time in 12 years but it took only 15 minutes to get comfortable behind the kit again. Original bass-player Alex also joined the very first time and the idea of a full reunion came quick. The only question-mark was singer Alex. He has some physical difficulties and we weren’t sure if he was able to deliver his unique voice again. But happily he joined and is doing a great job ever since. So….one thing let to another… Inquisitor was returning to the Dutch Metal scene !!!

Meanwhile Hammerheart Records had put together an amazing re-release of all our past work; the ’96 „Walpurgis-Sabbath of Lust” CD as well as the two demos. It was released as a „Die Hard Bundle” which had the double CD, both LPs, a shirt and posters. All great stuff; remastered; a new lay-out and with a proper promotion as well. We are still very fortunate to have this as well as being a part of Hammerheart Records.

​I’ve already written a Hungarian review for Kronos Mortus about the upcoming „I am Sick, I Must Die” 7″ EP. I’m still under the influence of this perfect material. (It will be published with a brief English summary in September). The EP includes a brand new INQUISITOR song, called „I am Sick, I Must Die” as well as two covers, (PESTILENCE: „Extreme Unction”, DARK ANGEL: „Perish in Flames”). Tell us please when and where did you record it, who produced it, etc. and what we should know about the circumstances of „I am Sick, I Must Die” track. As far as I know, it has been your idea to cover PESTILENCE’s „Extreme Unction”, any thoughts about it?

W: Yeah; thanks a lot for the awesome review. It’s doing very well on the net haha. All the songs from the new 7″ EP were recorded during the „STIGMATA ME, I’m in Misery” recording sessions at the ToneShed recording studio, Horst, NL, last April, May and June under the professional supervision of mr. Erwin Hermsen. „I am Sick, I Must Die” is one of the first new songs we wrote since being reunited and it does have some very interested lines, I think. Especially the bass-track is very unique, which even is recorded in one single take what tells a lot about our bass-player’s very special qualities.

It seemed a good idea to record some extra covers for an 7″ EP to overcome the time between recording and releasing the full length CD/LP, because that takes some time and we didn’t want people to forget about us haha. The Pestilence track „Extreme Unction” was indeed mine idea; it suites our style and our interests very well. Studio owner and engineer Erwin came up with the Dark Angel track; which we learned in a few days before recording. During this time my drumkit was in the studio so i could not learn the song. I only „played” it in my head before recording it on a hot Saturday in June.

The cover art is brilliant, absolutely fits the conception of INQUISITOR. Who suggested you to use the famous and impressive painting of Flemish Pieter Brueghel the Elder, called „The Triumph of Death” (1562)?

W: At first we suggested a picture that had to do with the „STIGMATA ME, I’m in Misery” CD/LP cover, but that didn’t work out very well. So, while on a family holiday I had to deliver a cover very soon and during figuring out the lyrics of „I am Sick, I must Die” I came across the painting. It has a lot to do with the lyrics and suites the song quite well, I think. Besides that; it’s a absolutely amazing painting by a great artist.

Enlighten us please what should we expect from your second full-length, „Stigmata Me, I’m in Misery”, which will be released through Hammerheart Records in January, 2018. (You told me via personal e-mails, that „I am Sick, I Must Die” is too slow ☺ so I hardly can imagine how the other tracks will sound, of course, in a good way).

W: The single "I am sick, I Must Die” gives a good idea of what to expect next January, that’s why we wanted to do the EP some time before the album release. Telling you that "I am Sick, I Must Die” was too slow, was me joking around of course. All the songs of the new album are in the same INQUISITOR vain and are fast and aggressive as we always were. In spite the fact that it’s 20 years after our latest studio recording we kept the same spirit in writing music, yet we all aged damned well in handling our instruments, and even our singer kept his voice. The new "STIGMATA ME, I’m in Misery” album consists of nine tracks, eight new INQUISITOR tunes and even an extra surprise as well. Just a few more months to figure out what that is haha.

Inquisitor, 1990:(Erik, Alex, Wim, Alex)

Let’s talk a little bit about your past bands, DESULTORY and CENTURIAN. I’m a big fan of CENTURIAN and NOX since the 90s and like a lot all those albums (including of course the ones where you played on the drums). Please share with us some old stories about your past in these excellent hordes.

W: All the bands had a little to do with each other actually and DESULTORY was the origin of it all. Around 1989 I formed DESULTORY along with some local friends, and Alex Bakker also joined after a while. After a few years; both Alex and I, together with Erik and Alex created INQUISITOR (Dec. 1991). We had a great time creating our unique style, made some great recordings and played gigs all over Europe. Especially our CD „Walpurgis – Sabbath of Lust” did very well and made us known in the European underground scene. When there raised some problems after 5 years within the band, I started CENTURIAN with the last guitar player (Rob Oorthuis) who filled in for Erik after he left for Ancient Rites. Also with Centurian I had an excellent time. We reached more then expected, made great albums and were a favorite of lots of well known bands. I remember Morbid Angel playing in Centurian shirts at a Florida gig and there were lots more doing the same, like Marduk, Angelcorpse, Immolation among many others. When CENTURIAN ended in 2002, Rob created NOX.

In between all those years I’ve also been playing in Occult during the „Sons of Northern Darkness Tour 1994” with Marduk and Immortal and I’ve been playing with Judgement Day when they were without drummer for 2 years; I’ve even recorded one EP with them. My stint with CENTURIAN was the most productive; I’ve recorded the „Off Purest Fire” demo/mini CD ’97, the „Choronzonic Chaos Gods ’99 ” and „Liber ZarZax ’01” albums; played in the USA at the Milwaukee Metal Fest among other great gigs throughout Europe and toured with Vader through England, Scotland and Ireland March – April 2002. Unfortunalety that ended in 2002 when it all became to much next to my family and very busy job. Now that my kids are almost grown-ups I finally find time again to do what I like best; playing the damned drums.

Desultory – 

https://soundcloud.com/wim-van-der-valk/sets/desultory-demo-1991-luminious-assassination 

Inquisitor –  https://open.spotify.com/artist/3WwaUvqD8lG7fhGuicHsE3

Centurian – https://open.spotify.com/artist/3yyz42VvQADvWLi7g5DmL4

Judgement Day – https://open.spotify.com/track/5YIRqCMZ6jOuQsK1P2Y4r7

Centurian 1998: (Wim/Patrick/Seth/Rob)

How was the situation with INQUISITOR shows back in the 90s and how they look after your re-union?

W: At first things were great. We were a very fanatic band, we rehearsed a lot; at least twice a week, played nice shows and we could get along very well. After a few years some of us let drugs get in the way which made ‘m loose focus on the band. At some point Erik took the change to play with Ancient Rites to play way more shows. This all made me consider what to do and after I tried out a new guitarists I found out that a new guitarist also brought a new sound as well, so I decided to start all over again…… as CENTURIAN !!! The next years I occasionally ran into Erik at a show but I lost contact with the others. When we met again in 2014 we all had our difficulties in live but were all very interested and eager to start INQUISITOR again. It took only a few rehearsals before we played most of the songs again and played a try-out gig within 2 months.

Inquisitor 2016: Alex, Alex, Erik, Wim

You joined forces with the Dutch Black Metal horde SAMMATH in 2016. How this Hellish Alliance happened? What are your future plans (new stuff, live shows)?

W: After reuniting INQUISITOR I became good friends with the promoter of Hammerheart Records, Jan Kruitwagen, who also is the SAMMATH main-man and he asked me to join his band. He seemed a fan of my drum-work for a long time and knew all my releases so far.

However….. joining SAMMATH was the hardest thing I ever did. The drumming-style of their latest releases is great but it’s all recorded on a impulsive, spontaneous way and timing is ehhh ….different than I’m used to.? But after a while it is all working out very well. We are close to the first gig with the new line-up (we are playing with Abbath next Dec. 2nd in Leeuwarden, NL) and are working on a new album. So, busy times ahead of us.

Besides that, next to playing in the most insane Thrash Metal band and having created the most brutal Death Metal band it was simply time to join the most evil Black Metal band as well !!!

Sammath 2016: Wim, Jan, Ruud

You sent me an excellent live INQUISITOR show. Tell us more about your live experiences after your comeback and about the old times.

W: All experiences so far have been great; in 2015 and 2016 we’re played about 8 shows each year and they went very well. We’ve done shows with Thanatos; Collision; Neocaesar; Disabuse; Antropomorphia; Soulburn; Dead Head; Ungod; Sisters of Suffocation and many more. We also played some new songs already in our hometown to try them out and response was awesome. We try to keep it interesting for ourselves by only playing the gigs that are somewhat special, like festivals and/or shows with close friends. We all are close to the age of 50 and have busy personal lives so playing every weekend isn’t our thing anymore. In the nineties we drove hundreds of KM each weekend to play for a handful of people sometimes, but now we pick the things we like to do.

This year has been a little quite because we needed a lot of time preparing the new recordings and also studio-time of course. Next to that Erik has some medical problems with his hands and because of that he needs surgery this month. This probably will be fixed within 2 months and from that moment we start playing new gigs again. Keep focused on our Facebook page for news concerning the gigs and on our YouTube and Instagram accounts for vids and photos.


Do you have any special hobbies? Name us your favorite books, movies, perhaps Dutch painters, paintings.

W: Next to my family-life with wife and 2 sons; my busy job as a Mechanical Engineer and my two bands with all rehearsals, gigs and promotional work there’s almost no time left. I listen to music a lot; at least 10 hours a day mostly during my work and in the very little spare time I just like to lay down and watch old classic horror movies or occasionally dive into an history magazine. In my younger years I went to gigs a lot, 3 – 4 times a week sometimes and almost lived in pubs as well but now, close to 50, I’m happy the way it is.

It is a hard question, I know, but name us your top 10 ☺ We talked with you about a KREATOR cover from „Endless Pain” for INQUISITOR… Which one would you mind to play?

W: My favourites list changes day by day, and it’s mainly fast and old stuff. There are just a few newer bands i seriously like. Here’s todays list:

Rebaelliun – The Hell’s Degrees
Morbid Angel – All old stuff
Bathory – Under The Sign Of The Black Mark
Vader – Sothis EP
Van Halen – All old stuff
Holy Terror – Mind Wars
Krisiun – Apocalyptic Revelation
Kreator – All old stuff till Extreme Aggression
Slayer – All old stuff
Immortal – Pure Holocaust

I also listen a lot to old NWOBHM, old English grindcore and classic Heavy Metal bands like; Samson, Raven, Angel Witch, Agent Steel and many more. I’d love to cover one of the old Kreator classics indeed, Tormentor or Bonebreaker must suite us very well. Also covering an non-metal song and re-write it in Inquisitor style is still on my bucket-list.


Bedankt/Thanks so much Wim! Please send a message from the torture chamber of the inquisitors to the readers of Kronos Mortus.

W: You’re very welcome Georgius. Thanks for all your promotion on the web and locally. Would be great if we can visit your country in the near future. I played a lot of places but not in your area , that is still on my bucket list.
But first… the new album „STIGMATA ME, I’m in Misery” must be released, so Hammerheart Records can start a Hell of a promotion campaign; which will help us getting more and better gigs hopefully even in your part of the world.



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2024. február 15., csütörtök

Joakim Sterner (Necrophobic) 2.X.2017

 Interview with Joakim Sterner (Necrophobic)

Originally published in Kronos Mortus  

in English and Hungarian languages,

2.X.2017

Hail Joakim! First of all, let me congratulate you guys for Necrophobic: “Pesta”, coming out on the 11th of August on limited edition 7” under Century Media. The 7” material contains two new tracks, the brand new Pesta and an earlier, 1990 demo track’s re-recorded version, titled “Slow Asphyxiation”. How did the work in the studio go? Why did you guys choose “Slow Asphyxiation”? Whose work is the cover?

Joakim: Hi. And thanks. Yes, “Pesta” is now out and it feels great to have something new to present after period of silence. It was a quick visit to the studio and the recording went easy.

When this idea of making this 7 inch vinyl came up, which actually was our new label’s idea, we quickly discussed what song we should do. At that time, no song had any title or lyrics, but we knew we had to make a video of it also (which is coming later), so it had to be a song that sounded very much Necrophobic instantly, with the the melody that is our trademark. So when that was agreed and decided, we talked about of what song could be on the B-side. We wanted this also to be very exclusive, something that just is going to be on this 7 inch. An old idea came up, that we should do a re-recording of the old demo song “Slow Asphyxiation”. The songs is a hidden treasure, even though it was released in 2009, on the “Satanic Blasphemies”, but on that album, it’s directly from the demo, so we agreed to do a re-recording of that song. It came out really good, I think.

The cover is made by me. When I don’t play with the band, my profession is graphic designer, so I take care of most of our designs and so on. And if I don’t do it, I am sort of very involved anyway, on how things shall look.

As there have been considerable line-up changes since “Womb of Lilithu” (basically it’s just you and bassist Alex Friberg from that line-up), please tell us your thoughts on the changes and the guys that have arrived in your horde.

Joakim: The changes was necessary. The singer slot had to be filled for obvious reasons and it landed on our old singer from our first album “The Nocturnal Silence, Anders Strokirk. It was great timing there, cause Alex met him in the pub and they spoke about what he was doing right now, and he said he had put down his band has he has been running since 1992. So Alex came back to me with that info and after some days, we asked him if he wanted to return to Necrophobic and he was thrilled to do so. I have more or less had him as close friend during all those years he wasn’t in the band, so even on the social level, he was the only one that could join, after all the mess and bad time we had have for some time, at that time.

(kind thoughts from Anders Strokirk for me -G//)

After some time with just Fredrik as a single guitarist, my thoughts of having two guitarist again became stronger and stronger. We couldn’t play all the songs we intended to do in our live set, just because we were one guitarist short. Necrophobic is built on two guitarists and I wanted to be able to put out our songs live with two guitarists and with all that, that comes with it, the power and the heavier sound and the stage performance that also is a big deal, very important, visually.
I must say that Fredrik is a great guitar player and a good friend, a cool person, but I had to let him go to be able to bring back Sebastian and Johan, of whom I had started to have contact with for some time back during this period. So, now we are complete again and can move on, both musically and on stage with our live performances. It’s a big difference nowadays. And the feedback form fans and organizers proves it! 

Where and when was your first concert with this line-up? The last time you guys stepped on stage was the 25th August on Kaltenbach Open Air, and judging by the pictures it must have been an awesome grind. What was it like from your point of view? You’ll be giving a show on the 15th and 16th of September in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, then in Romania in October. Have Necrophobic been there already before?

Joakim: The first show with this old, new, line-up was in Barcelona, Spain, on February 16th this year. That followed by tree more shows in Spain, so a mini tour was the best possible way of this “come back”.

Yes, Kaltenbach was awesome! We played Party San some week or so before, which also was killer, but we had a better spot on Kaltenbach, cause the sun was down and we were able to use fire on stage. The crowd was awesome and totally in it during the whole set. Fucking fantastic! You could touch the energy, more or less. Electric!

No, we will play in Russia and Romania for the first time in the Necro history. We look forward to it.

The band’s going to participate on 70000 Tons Of Metal from next February, where many famous groups have already stepped on stage: Possessed, Sodom, etc., and I bet it’s gonna be a great experience for you, too. How did you get yourself on Metal Cruise? Do you think there’s a chance for a set in Hungary or Slovakia?

Joakim: Yes, 70000 Tons of Metal will really be something out of the ordinary. None of us has been there before, but we have seen pictures and it looks crazy. We have played on the two boats here in Sweden a few times before, the Close-Up Magazine cruise and the Sweden Rock cruise, but this will be a new experience. A wild one, I guess…
We got an offer from them, through our Booking Agency District 19, so…
About Hungary and Slovakia, there is no offer from there as of yet, but we have played there before, so we hope to come back.


(Necrophobic-signatures from Hungary, have been taken to me by my old mate 
Cornelius of Castrum/Encomium)

It has been eleven years already around the 15th/16th August that Jon Andreas Nödveidt (Rest In Chaos) has left the earthly life… as Jon did the vocals on the “Nailing the Holy One” (1997) song, please let us know how the recordings went… and if you have a favorite Dissection album/song or anything else from Jon’s other bands that you like please share it with the readers of Kronos Mortus.

Joakim: I knew Jon from the very early years, since he had a fanzine where I guess he interviewed me, or if he did a review of our demos. However, we stayed in contact during all those early years and when it was time for us to record the album “Darkside”, in the autumn of 1996, I called him up and asked if he wanted to come up to Stockholm and record split vocals on “Nailing the Holy One”. He thought it was cool and I sent him the lyrics and a rehearsal recording of that song, so he could practice a bit. When in the studio, I think he nailed it (!!!) on just a few takes.
I like all the Dissection albums, but the debut is the one with greatest impact on me. It was released in a special time in our young career and time, when this style of music was very new. With “new”, I mean the style that Necrophobic and Dissection are some kind of pioneers of, as it is a black kind of death metal, with dark, grand and atmospheric melodies and not like Entombed and Dismember, that is plain, but fantastic, Death Metal.

I saw it in an August Facebook post that you are the proud owner of Mayhem’s “Deathcrush” (#761 / 1000), that you’ve bought in 1987, directly from Øystein Aarseth (aka Euronymous, R.I.P.). Please conjure up those times for us…

Joakim: I first got in contact with this new, very very underground kind of music, via a record store here in Stockholm, called Heavy Sound. They had a large variety of obscure metal albums. This was around 1986, or something, when I saw a strange looking “magazine” behind the desk. It was in black and white and me and my friends asked what that strange looking magazine was. “It’s a fanzine”, we were told. A fanzine is something that is made by hand from a normal person, a fan, that wants to do his own magazine, like a school paper, we were told. That particular “fanzine” was no less than “Slayer Magazine”, made by Jon “Metalion” Kristiansen.
Well, me and my friends bought it and a new world opened up for us. We learned about new bands that came from every corner of the world, but hadn’t really got themselves a record deal yet. They released demos, with covers and everything. This was very new and interesting for us. The band Mayhem was often part in Slayer mag and when they Mayhem released “Deathcrush”, I ordered it right away, from Øystein. We kept contact and later on, our demos and t-shirts of Necrophobic were for sale in his Helvete shop.

When are you planning a new full-length with the current, stable line-up? Do you have any exact plans?

Joakim: The plan is set, but I can not reveal it here and now.

Could you recommend us a couple of newer Swedish bands that would be worth keeping an eye on?

Joakim: Unfortunately, I don’t have time over to go to underground shows so often, but my guess is that the Swedish scene is alive and well.

As a great fan of the Stockholm Death Metal scene since the early 90s, and someone who’d really like to get to Stockholm one day to see your beautiful capital, what sights and food/drinks would you recommend?

Joakim: Wow, that was a question that I am not used to be asked. But I must recommend that you go here in the summer time. As a metal fan, I suggest that you pay a visit to Skogskyrkogården to see the big black cross that Entombed posed in front of on their “Left Hand Path” album. You should also maybe locate the grave of Quorthon, on a smaller part of Skogskyrkogården, as he is the father of Black Death Metal.

Food wise, I suggest that you eat something we call “husmanskost”, which in general are meals that are old traditional Swedish meals. My suggestion is to go to a railway restaurant that’s located at the subway station Tekniska Högskolan and the name of the restaurant is “Östra Station Järnvägsrestaurangen”. Order their Herring if you like fish or their Pork if you like meat. Have a swedish beer to that.

Tack så mycket/Thanks a lot for the answers, Joakim! Wish you and Necrophobic all the best, and I’m hoping to see you guys live soon! As a conclusion, please say something for the fans of Necrophobic!

Joakim: Nagyon köszönöm! Keep supporting Necrophobic and hopefully, we’ll come back to your country soon. Also, I want to mention that we finally, after so many years, have a official webshop, where you can buy our official merchandise. You find the shop at shop.necrophobic.net


Original source: 


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2023. november 14., kedd

Jack Hagström (Antibiotica)

 Interview with Jack Hagström (Antibiotica)

Hail Jack, you are very welcome to Archangel’s Lantern! Tell the readers about the beginnings of your band, please. How do you characterize the style of Antibiotica? Which bands influenced you? 

- Before Antibiotica I was in a Punk band, but I have always felt that I also wanted to start a Metal band as my heart is closer to that genre (even if I love Punk like GBH, The Misfits, Strebers etc.). At first I didn’t know what kind of Metal I wanted to play as I listen and love everything from Bathory and Dissection to Judas Priest and Kreator. It would not make any sense to start up a band after every Metal genre I listen to. I met Hugo in a music class in school, we started to talk guitars and different bands we listen to, mostly Thrash Metal bands. After a while we decided to try to start a band. Everything went really fast from that thought to that Antibiotica was started. We fixed a rehearsal place. Then we did flyers and put them up at school and the rehearsal place. Martin saw that flyer and contacted us, we didn’t knew him since before, he is a few years older than us. We rehearsed 1-2 times with him and we got along really well, and he was the perfect drummer for Antibiotica. A short time after, he recommended his cousin Kasper to play the bass. Same there as with Martin, we did 1-2 rehearsals then we knew that he would be perfect for Antibiotica. Both Martin and Kasper have been in different cover bands before. We characterize our music as Thrash/Heavy Metal. It is mainly because those two genres is our meeting ground when it comes to influences. There is a big spread on what we listen to individually, but we take all those influences into this pot that then becomes the sound of Antibiotica. Even if we call it Thrash/Heavy Metal we are not fascists on what we can bring into a song. If I for example do a riff that reminds of Dissection or Mayhem and everyone in the band likes it, it’s not like we throw it away. And also, it’s a fine line of all those genres when it comes to riffs, arrangements etc. To name a few more influences/bands that not are already mentioned: Metallica, Demon, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Sadus, Merciless, Nifelheim, Angel Witch, Megadeth, Sodom, Testament, Celtic Frost, Iron Maiden and so on. So many bands to mention. If anyone have Spotify and wants to dig deeper into what we are listening to we have 4 individual playlists of each member on our Spotify page.

You released a debut single called “The Butcher of the Soul” including 2 tracks on the 3rd of November, this year. I must say, excellent material! How went the recording process with Henrik Borg?

- Thank you very much. The recording process with Henrik went really smooth. This was the first time any of us had recorded anything professional like this. It was for sure a good experience and Henrik was great to work with. I guess we in the band will learn more and more for each time. One thing we agreed on was not to use click tracks, simply to get that vibe and energy of a real band playing together. That you can hear that the songs is created by a band in a rehearsal place, not in front of a computer. Not saying that nothing good could come out of that, but it would not fit the sound of Antibiotica. If Henrik is up for it we will for sure use him again.


Who is/are the song- and lyric writer in Antibiotica? Share some thoughts about your lyrics! Do you plan to make a video for your debut stuff? 

- We will always write Antibiotica as music writers, even if someone have written more riffs or done more in a song arrangements. We are a unit! The outcome of the Antibiotica sound is that we all play on the songs. But If someone asks us who have written that riff or that riff there is no problem for us to answer that, like it is in Metallica. When it comes to lyrics its more divided, even if we share everything (if we someday would make any money on this). ”The Butcher Of The Soul” is written by me and ”Deceiver” is written by Hugo and Martin. It’s hard to explain exactly what they are about, more than that the titles speaks for themselves. We try to keep the lyrics pretty straight forward so they get easy to interpret. We hope to put together a simple music video in the near future. Will maybe not be the most professional one, but at least something to spread our music with.

How many tracks wrote Antibiotica so far? Are you playing on your rehearsals some covers? 

- We have lots of ideas to new songs, but I would say that we have around 5 new songs (not counting the 2 single tracks) that are done. Yes, we play covers. So far we have done Kreator ”People of the lie” and Slayer ”Black Magic”. We also played them at our first live show. I am sure we will do more covers in the future, but right now we focus on new material for a full-length album.

What should we know about the future plans of Antibiotica? Did you play live yet? 

- Our closest plans is to write new material for a full-length album. If we release it on our own or on record label depends on the interest. Next week we will start to send out mails to different record labels, we wanted to wait 1-2 weeks until we started to get some response on the single. So far we have only done one live show, it was in our hometown. It went really well and we want to play live as much as possible. We have started to send out to different clubs and festivals, but it’s hard to get gigs with just a 2 track single out. We will work really hard that a full-length album will be out until the Summer 2024. And also that a lot more live shows will be booked. That's our main future goals right now.


How did you get introduced to metal music? What bands did you see live? 

- Metal music have always been around me, but also a lot of other types of genres as well. My father have never ”forced” me to like a special genre. It could be anything from Bathory, Judas Priest, Candlemass, GBH, Morbid Angel, Saxon, WASP, Sepultura to Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Nick Cave, The Cure, Kraftwerk, Bob Marley, Roky Erickson playing in the car or at home. I could mention hundreds bands/artists. Jazz, reggae, Metal, Swedish folk music, Rock n Roll etc. But I would say that the real first Metal band I became obsessed with was WASP. King Diamond and Motörhead was also early loves. I was at my first Sweden Rock Festival when I was 6 years old. I remember mostly King Diamond, Pentagram and Motörhead from that year. Some other bands I have seen, just to mention a few: Kreator, W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, UDO, Mastodon, Lucifer, Alice Cooper - one of my biggest heroes. His 70’s albums with Black Sabbath and Rainbow (Dio years) are 3 of my favorites bands from the 70’s).

In my opinion you are a very talented guitarist. Which guitarists are your main influences? 

- Thanks, I have a lot more to learn and there is tons of better guitarist in my age. But I try to develop my own style. I am a lot better in blues solos than Metal solos, but I will practice to get better. Some of my favorite guitarists are Randy Rhoads, Mille Petrozza, David Gilmour, James Hetfield, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, KK/Tipton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc.

I’m a big fan of all the bands of your father, Peter Karlsson. I’m curious what are your favourite albums and tracks from him? 

- Albums: Maze of Torment ”The Force”, Deceiver ”s/t” and The Pete Flesh Deathtrip ”Svartnad”. I like all songs on those albums, so they are my favorites. Also that Thrown album ”The Suicidal Kings Occult” is cool.


Name us your most preferred albums all times. 

- This is a really hard question, almost impossible to answer. That list must include at least 30-50 albums if it would be fair, and that would maybe be boring for your readers, haha.

Do you have any special hobbies? 

- Hmm, no, just things that are related to music.

Tack så mycket/Thank you very much, Jack, I wish you all the best with Antibiotica! To complete the interview, send your message to the readers. 

- Дякую за інтерв'ю / Thank you for the interview. This is Antibiotica’s first one. You did our first review and first interview. A cool fact. I don’t have any special message more than to look up our music. And of course, stay true to yourself! Thanks!


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