Micke Andersson (In Pain)

Interview with Micke Andersson (In Pain)

Photo by Alexandra Lindholm

Hail Micke and In Pain you are very welcome to my small blog! First of all I would congratulate on your awesome new album called ‘The Sound of Death’. Let’s start our conversation with your latest news: I’ve watched out a lot of times your brilliant old school video “Shallow Grave”, it just reminds me glorious old days of early 90s. Tell us more about video-making process, fantastic cover art of Chainsaw Design (it’s an awesome tribute to Eternal Swedish Master Tomas Skogsberg) and all the important details of “The Sound of Death”.

Micke: Hi man!! Thanks. We wanted to make something that reminded of an old classic horror movie, nothing fancy. It’s actually me digging in the video and its filmed at an old cemetery near my place. The video was edited by Antonio from the band Neptunian Sun.

About the cover: I came up with an idea of some kind of tribute to my friend Tomas Skogsberg so I contacted Chainsaw Design and presented my idea, he got back with a quick sketch and I was like GO!!. He really captured the whole thing in the right way. Chainsaw Design was easy to work with and really professional, hopefully we will work together again in the future.

Well The Sound of Death is actually (as strange as it might sound) our first full album in our nearly 30 years of existence. The reasons are many why we haven’t released an album before but now we are a full band again with great people in it and the time was right for an album. This is the first recording with the new lineup. The lineup today looks as follows: Mattias – vocals (1999), Wegren – guitar (2017), Nicklas – guitar (2018), Matte – drums (2013), Micke – bass (1992).

“The Sound of Death” has been released through Swedish Southcoast Productions. Would you be so kind to enlighten us about this corporation between In Pain and the label?

Micke: I guess it´s not a secret that I´m the owner of the label. I got tired of sending out promos and demos to labels so I started my own instead. I have worked for both To The Death Records and Regain Records/Helter Skelter Productions in the past so this is not completely new to me. I will continue releasing In Pain until an interesting offer comes along. So you could say that the corporation is the best haha.

Artwork by Chainsaw Design 

What are your future plans with In Pain? Do you plan another video? What is the situation with live shows? (It would be awesome to see you live near my area, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary)

Micke: We talked about doing another video but let´s see what the future will bring. We did our first gig with the new lineup at Noselake Metal festival this summer and it was the first gig in a long time. This was a great 2 day “underground” festival and well organized so we could not turn that one down. If there are any good and interesting offers in the future we will consider them. We are not actively looking for gigs right now but as I said if something interesting comes along let’s see. We will continue writing music and release it one way or the other like we’ve always done.

In Pain is a pretty old horde from Sweden. You released 2 demos “Pole of Torture” (1993) and “Corpse Crusade” (1994) where you has been involved as a guitarist/vocalist and according to Encyclopedea Metallum In Pain unleashed a demo “War” in 1998… What happened with you then?

Micke: I founded the band in 1992 with Loui. Loui and I played guitar and shared the vocal duty, Thomas Gran on bass and Christian Fridlund on drums, that was the original lineup. After a while I took over the vocals full time and left the guitar. The first 2 demos “Pole of Torture” & “Corpse Crusade” featured the original lineup. They were recorded during the same session but released as two separate demos. Thomas and Christian left the band in 1994, can´t remember why right now but there was no bad blood involved. The band was on hold 1996-1998 due to military service, jobs etc. The band has been more or less active since then so this is not some kind of reunion.

In Pain returned to the scene in 2000s and recorded two demos, "The Warmachine" 2003 "The Corpse Crusade '07" demo 2007 "The Warmachine" 2003 and a bit later you released 2 EP-s namely “A Call from the Grave” (2015), “Summoning the Dead” (2018). What should we know about this period?

Micke: Well not everything on the internet is true. We didn´t return to the scene we have always been here since 1992 except for a 2 year break. Someone needs to correct the info on Encyclopedia Metallum haha. It was around this time that Loui officially left the band, making me the only original member left. We released another demo 2003, think it was just named “Demo -03”, “Corpse Crusade” came 2007 and The Warmachine in 2008-09. I think The Warmachine was only released on MySpace, maybe we did some CDrs of it, can´t remember…. no tape on that one. During this period the lineup was as follows: Mattias – vocals, André Steffensen – guitar, Micke – bass, we didn’t have a permanent drummer during that time. In 2013 Matte (drums) joined and that gave some new energy to the band. Matte is an old school drummer that plays with fury, it fits the band. The Call From the Grave 7” are old demo tracks that we rerecorded, the title track is an unreleased track written by Loui back in the day and this was Mattes first recording with the band. André left the band before the recording of The Call From The Grave EP so I recorded all strings on that one. “Summoning The Dead” is Wegren’s first recording with the band. Wegren is an old friend of the band since the beginning back in 1992 and he is a great guitarist so it was a yes when he asked if he could join. Nicklas joined after the release of the Summoning The Dead EP & The Sound of Death is Nicklas first recording with the band.

You released an awesome split “Pain of Chemical Sufferings” with Brazilian Death metal old schoolers Chemical Desaster (Hail Luiz Carlos Luzada!) via Brazilian label Psicose Records 15th of February this year. How became that amazing alliance?‬

Micke: Yes. Luiz contacted me and suggested that we should do a split and I thought it was a great idea. We were in the middle of the writing/recording process of the new album so we could not record any new tracks for that split so we took the Summoning the Dead EP and the title track from the 7”. I think it turned out great and a good way to spread our names on two different continents.

Since 1998 you are the bass-player of In Pain. Why did you change guitar to bass? What are your favourite vocalists/guitarists/bass players all times?

Micke: I like the bass better for some reason so nothing more to it than that.

Well that´s a really hard one… There are many great musicians and songwriters out there and it would take a lot of space to write them down so I’ll pass on this one.. ok give you one: Lemmy Kilmister.

 

I’m a big fan and supporter of Svensk Dödsmetall scene since 1992. How do you characterize old glorious Death metal days in Sweden? What has been very first metal show you visited back in the day?

Micke: It was fun days for sure. We are from the southernmost parts of Sweden and there was a great venue in Malmö called Stadt Hamburg. They had killer acts there like Morbid Angel, Death, Dismember, At The Gates, Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, Cannibal Corpse among many others. The best venue there ever was in Malmö and I don’t think there will be another one like that ever. There were also gigs in Lund close to Malmö and we live close to Copenhagen so we often took the ferry over to gigs there. My first real Metal gig was Kreator and Death 1990 in Lund. It was a unique gig because Chuck was not on vocals. Malmö is more like a Punk/HC city, not many Death Metal bands there. We were the only Death Metal band from our area Trelleborg (and I still think we are). In the beginning of our existence we played gigs with our friends in Cursed (Ystad) and Absurdum (Staffanstorp) it was a great time, I miss those days.

Micke you are playing the guitars/keyboards in the Gothic metal band Nightflower later Tears of Melancholy and Act 3 since 1997. How and when did you meet and join them?

Micke: I started that band (it’s basically the same band with different names and members). Felt like I needed to play some other style at that time. I was listening to Paradise Lost & Cemetary so it went in that direction. I was also inspired by the band Left Hand Solution so it´s basically a combination of those bands with my own touch to it. Don´t think this is the right interview to go deeper into that band haha.

 

In Pain from Anderslöv/Trelleborg If I’m not mistaken. What places could you recommend to visit from your area? What kind of local foods and drinks are your recommendations?

Micke: Turn around, there´s nothing to see here. Well there is an old Viking fort in the city of Trelleborg worth a visit but that’s it. About food and drinks: there are not any places that I can recommend really, maybe the local pub, they have decent food and beer. Anderslöv is just a small village so nothing special there. If you are in Trelleborg you are in a part of Sweden called Skåne and there are other interesting places both historical and food to visit and it’s about a 1 hour drive to most of them.

Do you have any special hobbies beside music? 

Micke: Music takes most of my time one way or the other. I´m part owner of a BBQ catering business so food & beer are my other interests.

Tack så mycket Micke! Wish you and In Pain all the best, hope to see and meet you personally in the near future. Send to the readers in the end your thoughts from the Sound of Death…

Micke:Well thanks for your interest in In Pain and for your support, good luck with your blog, hail.

If you are into old school Swedish Death Metal you should listen to The Sound of Death. Recorded, mixed & produced by Tomas Skogsberg. Death Metal, straight from the grave!!!

Micke Andersson

Important links: 

facebook.com/inpain.sweden/

inpain.bandcamp.com

facebook.com/SouthCoastProductionsScania/

youtube.com/channel/UCZ0DVkUyXq8zKis99FjwJiw

 

Lord K. Philipson

Interview with Lord K. Philipson

(Domedagen, The Project Hate MCMXCIX,  

ex-Leukemia, ex-Torture Division)

Questions compiled by Andrey Tolkowiec and Georgius

Andrey: Hail Lord K. Philipson, for me and my closest friend is a big honor to make an interview with you for our weblog Archangel’s Lantern. (I had fortune to see an excellent Torture Division live show in Close-Up Båten Cruise and meet you at two festivals in Sweden).

- Hey, buddy! Thanx for the kind words on everything, it’s always nice to meet cool people like you, so... cheers to that! Also, awesome you got to witness the Torture Division massacre at the CU-boat. We played that thing a few times and always had a fucken blast, to put it mildly. 

Andrey: How and when did you join extreme metal music and decide to play the guitar? Which bands inspired you to be a musician?

- When it comes to me being involved with the more "extreme” side of metal, well... I think I have to blame Slayer for that first and foremost. They changed everything for me when I heard ”Hell Awaits” the first time many, many moons ago.

Before that I, as most of my generation of metal people, held Iron Maiden, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Wasp etc, etc as flag bearers of hard rock. Slayer pretty much introduced me to something way darker though... Venom and Mercyful Fate, to name but two bands, helped as well. I eventually got hooked as a muthafucker on the Bay Area thrash scene, not to forget, before what we know as death metal hit me with all its force when bands like Morbid Angel entered my world.

As far as picking up the guitar goes, I originally started out as a drummer actually. I fucked about with them drums for some 13 years but I played guitar on the side as I, from the get-go, tried to write some kind of songs. I didn’t identify myself as a guitarist though, not at all, that came much later as I grew bored with drumming and found out that playing guitar was really my thing. I never looked back. Eventually I picked up the bass as well and found an interest in drum machines and keyboards, so I guess I get it when people label me as a multi instrumentalist, even though the guitar is, without a doubt, my main instrument.

When it comes to bands inspiring me to do my own shit, well... Along with the ones I mentioned earlier you could also throw in shit like Europe, Helloween, Dio, Accept, Metallica and so on and so forth. 

 Andrey: Where did you buy metal albums from? 

- I ordered my LP’s from Svenska Skivklubben, I think that was the name anyways, who always had an ad in the Swedish music magazine OKEJ. And I also took a walk to the local record stores and picked up some stuff. I clearly remember finding a 100 SEK bill in the street where I lived at the time, money that I spent on buying ”Among The Living” with Anthrax 10 minutes after finding the cash. But usually I mail ordered my music, or my mom bought some good shit for me for Christmas and birthdays. 

Andrey: What was your very first metal show you saw back in the day?

- I saw both Slayer and Candlemass for the first time back in 1988. Those 2 are the first ”big” concerts, but I did see a few local hard rock shows at youth centers prior to that. All this definitely played a part in making me want to become a musician when I think about it. But Slayer and Candlemass... that was insane. Next level for a 15 year old kid. And to think that some 30 years later I have had the honor of helping Candlemass out on both bass and guitar for a bunch of shows, as well as considering them actual friends, is just mind blowing. 

Lord K.Philipson with Candlemass, 2016 

photo credit © Sebastián Domínguez Photography 

Georgius: You had a fanzine called Hypnosia. Would you be so kind to tell the readers about that fanzine? When did you started with it and how many issues you published?

- Damn, now we go way back, huh? This was definitely a very special time, the very early 90’s that is, and the camaraderie in the scene was absolutely stellar. Everyone helped everyone out and fanzines were fucken everywhere. Absolutely beautiful. I did 3 issues of this fanzine, but the first one went pretty much under the radar whereas issue 2 and 3 really got things going. I printed 500 copies of those 2 issues (I think the debut issue was made in a 100 copies, can’t really remember) and they all sold out pretty fast. 

This fanzine opened a lot of doors for me and I got to interview some of my fave bands at the time; Deicide, Morbid Angel, Sepultura, D.R.I., Atheist, Morgoth, Pestilence and a fuuuuuckload of others. Truly special times, as mentioned. Most fanzines from Sweden were written in Swedish but I aimed globally and thus wrote it in (decent, at least) English. This publication really got me friends from all over the world and it seems like it was a respected piece of work at some level.

I stopped doing Hypnosia as I was working on the 4th issue and found out that the printing company I used only printed in A5 and I had done everything up to that point for issue 4 in the A4 format. I still have that work in progress lying somewhere in a box. It would have been a killer issue but it was not to be.

Eventually I started the Global Domination website tons of years later; that were a lot of fun and it was a widely recognized webzine for all the years it existed before I terminated it so I could spend all my time on more important things. I always loved writing, and who knows... maybe I’ll do something in the future but it’s nothing I really think of. Creating music is way more important to me than writing about it. Hypnosia ruled though, just so you know. And I have the Kerry King picture with him holding the magazine to prove it (unfortunately I can’t find the goddamn thing!).

Georgius: I like a lot your amazing Death/Doom horde, Domedagen. Jörgen almost told me all the important details about your band. I would like to ask: where do you get inspirations to write lyrics for Domedagen from? What is the latest news around you?

- Ah... Domedagen. I love this shit. I know J already covered this in the interview you did with him so I won’t go into detail with it. Writing lyrics isn’t very hard. Just as with the music itself, inspiration comes from bands such as Bolt Thrower and Candlemass. Simple as that. The latest about us is that our 7 songs that we released so far will be available on Spotify and whatnot shortly. Until then you can listen to us over at... some other sites. Bandcamp for example. Google it and take a listen. It’s a fucken fantastic ”band”, if I may say so. Hopefully we can bring it to a live setting some day. Or not. Fuck it. It’s yet another collaboration between me and Jörgen. That’s what counts. 

Andrey: Your first band was Misery (if I’m not mistaken) what after the recording a demo changed name to Leukemia. Let’s talk about your first releases and changing the name.

- Goddamnit, we’re going old school here for real, haha... The first band, back in 1987/1988 or so I believe, was actually called Legacy (and for a brief second before deciding on that moniker, without knowing Testament used to be called just that, we were calling ourselves Hiroshima. We sure knew how to pick names. Huh?). Legacy actually did one demo. And it’s horrible from A-B, but you have to start somewhere, you know.

Misery that you’re talking about though, that band was initially called Braincancer (there we go again with the fantastic names!), and as Braincancer we recorded one demo and in the middle of that recording we changed name to Misery.

Misery then shut down its business and me and Misery vocalist Jocke started up Leukemia, who actually managed to make some kind of name in the world of the early 90’s with our one demo (recorded in late 1991) and 3 full-length albums (debut album recorded in 1992, second and third albums both recorded in 1994).

Leukemia 1992

Andrey: Leukemia recorded a demo “Innocence Is Bliss” in 1992 and you released debut album "Suck My Heaven" a year later. The full-length was recorded as a duo: Jocke - vocals, you - drums, the fewer instruments were played and recorded by the session musicians. Among them were such cultic personalities Lars-Göran Petrov and Jörgen Sandström, who put their growls to a few tracks. How did you meet them first time? How went the recording process of “Suck my Heaven”?

- Almost correct on the years there, haha... ”Suck my heaven” wasn’t actually recorded as a duo, (but Leukemia as a band were a duo to begin with) as guitars and bass were recorded by the brilliant Mattias Kennhed from House Of Usher (a band I drummed for during a few years, so it was easy to ask him coz I hadn’t switched to play guitar and bass just yet back then). He did such a phenomenal job on that recording. The poor bastard had to sit in the studio and record everything after I was done with the drums while I and Jocke went out on town to get drunk. Real nice work on our part, I guess, haha... I believe Mattias did his work over a couple of days and I can’t for my life of it recall when I actually taught him all the songs on guitar. He did a fantastic job, to put it mildly, as said. I don’t think there would have been an album hadn’t he been gracious enough to help us out once again after doing the demo with us a year earlier. Huge thanks to Mattias!

And yeah, on ”Suck my heaven” we really managed to get the cream of the crop death metal vocals wise included. I have no fucken idea how that came about or how I actually managed to get in touch with all these fantastic people, but I suspect Hypnosia Magazine is involved somehow with it. I might have interviewed them at some point, reviewed their demos or albums... Something like that. To see L.G., Jörgen (in Grave at the time) and Lalle (Mastication, Excruciate) sing some ridiculous lyric lines in the studio is a great fucken memory. Leukemia were way ahead of its time, haha... And we sure did some amazing music for what it’s worth.

Leukemia 1993

Andrey: You played the drums in two demos of House Of Usher. Tell us more about that band and the main reason of their split-up after the third demo please. 

- Yeah, I had the honor of playing with those guys for a while and they really made me step up my game as a musician, for which I am eternally grateful. I have absolutely no idea why we split up, to be honest. I don’t even think we said it out loud that we’re splitting up, it just seemed like it faded away for some reason. I’m not sure if Martin (guitar) joining At The Gates had anything to do with it or if it was some other reason. It was a great fucken band to be a part of and I love all of the material even to this day, even the stuff I’m not on myself. I was never in the same league drumming wise as the guy before me; coz that dude was a fucken beast.  Still, I’m proud of the recordings we did together, especially the second demo which was recorded live in a room, except for some solos and the vocals if I remember shit correctly.

Andrey/Georgius: After the releasing "Grey-Flannel Souled" Leukemia changed its name to Lame. Under the new band name you recorded "Love" album (which one has been released only in 2012 through Cyanide Syndicate Records co-released with Vic Records) and then Lame disbanded. Why did you stopped activity and what did you deal more than 4 years without music?

- Hmm... I need to think about this one for a bit... Yeah, after ”Grey” we decided to call ourselves Lame, and as Lame we recorded the amazing ”Love” album with Dan Swanö in 1994. That goddamn album is, despite its terrible drum machine sound, so special to me for a lot of reasons and I still... ehum... love that fucken thing. After Lame disbanded, or wait... I don’t think we even disbanded... we just changed moniker to Toolshed and recorded a couple of demos with a slightly different sound so the Leukemia/Lame moniker wasn’t really fitting us anymore.

Either way, one of those demos was stolen when Jocke’s car was broken into and that was the only copy we had of it. I’d love to hear that fucken demo today coz it was killer! Or, I would like to remember it as just that… But it probably was. The second demo is still in my collection though and it has some glorious moments on it. I’m not sure when the second one was recorded but I believe it could be 1996/1997. So there’s never been a ”break” from music since I started, it’s more like I did music that for some reason or another never was distributed to the public, more or less. And a year or 2 later I found my musical calling and fired up Deadmarch, the band that made me go full in with The Project Hate MCMXCIX in 1999.

Andrey/Georgius: You returned to the scene with a super project namely The Project Hate MCMXCIX 20 years ago (our congratulations!) in 1999. The project has been original experiment for those days: you united Death metal with electro-music, female vocals and antichristian lyrics. Where did you get inspiration to create that fruitful project band? Why did you choose namely Jörgen Sandström for other vocalist?

- Jörgen was actually involved with Leukemia/Lame/Toolshed, so as you can see I have played with/known him for a while now. He’s the one guy I have done music with the longest in my life, and he’s my best friend on top of that. When I knew I had to do TPH (after putting Deadmarch to rest) I decided I wanted the best goddamn death metal vocalist around to be a part of it. Welcome Jörgen Sandström. 

And it’s at this very point, after getting this demo done, that the whole TPH concept came to me big time. I just knew I had to create something that incorporated absolutely everything I love about music; be it metal, techno, female vocals, what the fuck ever... Since I had worked a little with keyboards and drum machines over the years I just came to the conclusion that there’s so much I can do if I don’t limit myself to just guitars, bass, vocals and drums. I guess it’s safe to say that over the years TPH really has grown into something out of the ordinary. And that was exactly what I wanted to make of it. It is my perfected vision of music and it’s what I am here to do. I need this. And yeah, it’s mind blowing that I have done TPH for 20 years now in 2019. And Jörgen has been with me all the fucken way, with every step I’ve taken. I raise my glass in his honor.

Andrey/Georgius: How was the recording process of the first The Project Hate MCMXCIX demo? You invited to put some growls Lars-Göran Petrov and Dan Swanö beside Jörgen Sandström. What should we know about that Svensk old school alliance?

- I just asked him (he was in Entombed at the time and they had played a gig in my hometown the night before if I’m not mistaken) and LG to come down to Swanö’s studio and put down vocals for this demo I had recorded. And so they did over a few hours, hangovers intact and everything. It turned out spectacular. It was a great fucken day.

Andrey: Enlighten us about Deadmarch: Initiation Of Blasphemy LP in details. 

- I’ll make it real easy and get you the info off our official site, coz it covers everything you need to know.

”Deadmarch" was the seed to what eventually became TPH, and this album was never meant to be released until Holland‘s Vic Records thought it would be a shame not to get it out to the masses some 10 years after it was recorded. The memories from this recording are many, and they are of mixed emotions. The first thing that comes to mind is the hell we went thru while recording it. After putting down all the guitars we were about to start fixing some minor playing mistakes, just to notice that Tomas Skogsberg‘s new equipment in Sunlight Studios couldn’t punch in and out on the tracks without leaving a small silent space just before and after the actual punch in. 2 days of recording guitars, all in vain. We got a new tape recorder and re-did all the guitars, but this time we only put down 3 instead of the original 4. All because we were so fed up with the situation and K didn’t have the strength to re-do all 4 guitars after the massive work that already had been done once.

Some other anecdotes: vocalist Mikael sounded like shit in the studio and when Jörgen Sandström came down for some backing vocals, Mikael had enough. He simply couldn’t do vocals after Jörgen had been there dominating, understandably. Mikael later recorded his vocals by himself on his own 8-track portable studio and then went to Stockholm where Skogsberg added them to the material. Bassist Kenneth couldn’t play the material for shit and after 4 hours of struggling thru one song, K had enough, took the bass and recorded the rest of the bass lines in an hour. All fantastic memories.

Unsatisfied with the lackluster performances from some of the members, K killed the band and started The Project Hate MCMXCIX. This album contains a lot of parts that later ended up being used for TPH in other songs.

Years later, we planned to have Jörgen do all of the vocals for this piece, and Skogsberg said it would be no problem since he still had the tapes and all. The day before the recording Tomas calls K up and says he can’t find the tapes. Re-doing the vocals never happened and the album is now released pretty much as it was recorded. There are definite flaws on this one as far as production values goes, but in its entirety it’s still a very important recording since it led to the birth of TPH. 

Andrey: The Project Hate MCMXCIX perhaps would be as a studio-project except of a recorded live show in Finland. It has been your single live performance or will you any plans to make other ones in the future?

- We did something like 4 or 5 gigs back in the day actually. And at what led to be our last one I decided TPH is not meant to appear in a live setting. Programmed drums and electronic parts didn’t really work as I imagined it should, so I made the choice to bring everything to another level recording wise, making it impossible to recreate live without 50 other musicians and whatnot. TPH will never play live again. It’s a studio project, and it has been since 2003. It’s my very personal journey that I get to create with the best fucken people in the world. It’s not a band, it’s a vision. And a very, very egoistical vision at that. One that wouldn’t be possible without the people I am blessed to work with.

The Project Hate MCMXCIX live 2002

Andrey/Georgius: From your ninth full-length "The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda" to “Of Chaos and Carnal Pleasures” you released a few The Project Hate MCMXCIX - albums through Swedish Mouth Of Belial Productions. How happened that co-operation and why did you stop to co-work with the label?

- I grew extremely tired of working with labels and safe to say, TPH has been on a few. It just seemed like none of them understood what to do with us marketing wise, which makes me wonder why the fuck they even signed us in the first place.

And the fact that some labels tried their hardest to tell me what to do with my music and/or what to say and not to say in interviews... well, safe to say that won’t work. I just had it and thought ”fuck it, maybe I can do this by myself with the help from the fans when it comes to funding the recordings, and in return they will get my music, recorded and mixed the way I want it and I can pay the people involved to do it with me.”

It’s absolutely spectacular that it has worked for 4 albums up to this point, and we’re very close to make it happen again for a fifth time, meaning our 13th album will see the light of day in 2020 if  we reach the monetary target. You can read everything about the TPH DONATION EXPERIMENTS over at www.theprojecthate.net. We’re approximately 400 dollars short of being successful, so if you feel like it, you who read this shit and give a fuck about TPH, feel free to help us out and make it happen.

Mouth Of Belial, by the way, is not a ”real” record label. It’s just the imprint that I choose to release the limited edition CD’s on. 

Andrey: You started to work with a new material for The Project Hate MCMXCIX. Where do you plan to release it then and what the fans could expect from it?

- We’re quite far into the recordings actually, but we can’t finalize it until we have reached the budget as mentioned. I hope it will be in the spring of 2020, but you never know. As for what you can expect, well... simple; TPH. Even more intricate, even more brutal, even more catchy than ever before though.

In 2014 everything came together for me with TPH as Ellinor Asp joined the fold. I love everything we have done, needless to say, but in 2014 TPH turned into the TPH I always envisioned and hoped I could achieve one day. What I have been doing since then is bring it further... and further... with every goddamn release. I write music for me. The beautiful thing is that I have a small but extremely extra ordinary fan base that make it possible for me to actually hire the people I want to work with. It feels great to be able to pay everyone involved at least something for their efforts, which never could be done when we dabbled around with fucken record labels.

Andrey/Georgius: Name us five your favorite albums from Swedish scene which influenced you a lot and 10 of your eternal fave ones.

- Sweden: 

Seance – Saltrubbed Eyes

Agony – The First Defiance

Candlemass – The first 4 albums

Grave – The first 3 when Jörgen was in the band.

Entombed – Clandestine

Edge Of Sanity – Purgatory Afterglow

Fallen Angel – Faith Fails

That makes it 12 when I think about it. There’s tons of more, but this will do for now. I guess you wanted the ones considered ”metal” or I’d thrown in everything by Melissa Horn and be done with it.

Eternal faves though... This is hard, but I’ll give you a few that come to mind instantly. 

Slayer – "South of Heaven", "Seasons in the Abyss" and "Reign in Blood". In that order.

Bolt Thrower – Everything from ”The IVth Crusade” and onwards.

Napalm Death – Everything from ”Harmony Corruption” and onwards.

I could go on forever, there’s so much brilliant music out there and I have missed out on mentioning a ton of my faves, but hey; I have other things to do tonight besides listing fave albums, haha...

Andrey: I knew you worked with a lot of musicians like session and guest ones. Name us those musicians with whom you would like to co-work or invite as guests.

- For TPH I have always wanted to work with people I respect and admire, and over the years I have managed to cross off a huge bunch of them. To have been able to get all these people into my songs is so humbling. There are a few who have said they would join in as well but for some reason, after getting the files and instructions, they vanish into thin air. That is puzzling. I rather you say you’re not interested instead of going about that way. But yes, there are 3 people that will always be impossible to have participate; Melissa Horn, Liam Howlett and Yngwie Malmsteen. But those 3 are highest on my short list, haha...

Georgius: What are your favorite tracks from Torture Division heritage?

- Pretty much all of them, to be honest. That was the perfect death metal band. But ”Invoking The Knifer” will always be just a little bit ahead of the others. That fucken break in the middle of the song is something every musician wishes they would have done. But I had to do it coz no one else could. Boom!

Lord K. Philipson and Jörgen Sandström (Torture Division 2011) 

Georgius: You and Jörgen both played live with legendary Candlemass. How do you remember that period? 

- This is without a doubt one of my most precious moments in my ”career”. To be asked to help them out on bass and guitar for some gigs is something out of the ordinary. You know, they are one of my fave bands of all time, so... I sometimes have to fire up some of the gigs that I was involved with on YouTube, just to make sure they actually happened. It’s so fucken weird, and I’m so fucken honored. I love those gentlemen.

Georgius: What is the situation with Kadaverkult nowadays?

- I’m busy with TPH and other things and Erik is busy with the resurrection of Vomitory, so there’s nothing happening. 

Georgius: What are your recommendations from Swedish cuisine, drinks and interesting places to visit in your area?

I live in the woods. I don’t give one single fuck about cuisines, drinks and interesting places to visit. 

Tack så mycket, it was an honor for us. Your message to the readers to complete this interview…

- Thank you so much for giving a fuck about what I do. It was fun walking down Memory Lane with those old school questions and shit. Good luck with the webzine and again; huge thanks to you guys, as well to the Haters out there who keep TPH alive at this level.

Important links: 

facebook.com/theprojecthate/

facebook.com/domedagen666/

youtube.com/channel/UCXOIJXQ-BlqJwJpGeSZCD1A

Lord K. Philipson (Torture Division 2010)

Vasyl Senevych (Ravenblood)

Interview with Vasyl Senevych (Ravenblood)

Hail Vasyl welcome to Archangel’s Lantern. In the first instance tell the readers when did you start with your very first project Ravenblood?

- I’ve started to work with my first project called Ravenblood in 2014. It was recorded the first release called Відчуженість/Estrangement in that year and the ‘curtain’ has risen. After that were recorded other releases, who would be interested to listen to my stuff, could find them on Bandcamp and YouTube.

When did you meet Oleksiy Krylov of Ancient Voice at first time?

- Our acquaintance with Oleksiy began with an interview I made with him back in the day. After that we met personally a couple of times and became as a huge friends. We recorded a split "Око Карпат/Клітка Для Вітру" and have been as guests on each other stuff.

What are responses from the underground press and fans so far?

  

- Responses about Ravenblood materials are very different but for the main are positive. A lot of reviews were written about those releases and compilations where I’ve been involved and all of them got good feedback. I gave a few interviews for the webzines and printed ‘zines as well. Ukrainian Terroraiser magazine has been out recently where I told in details about my up-coming album on an interview and sent my answers to Ukrainian Atmosphere magazine. I have some plans to make other interviews for printed mags and radio as well but I think it’s too early to talk about it as it’s only in process.

How and when did you join metal music? 

- As far as I remember well it has happened when I has been 15 years old. I had no internet that time and I had not too many chances to dig out different metal bands. First time I listened to and watched metal on TV. Khust Rayon, where I’m living has common border with Romania and my old antenna caught Romanian channel TVR 1, where started the show of Swedish Therion around midnight, 4th of June 2005. I don’t know why I didn’t sleep that night yet and it’s pretty interesting that Therion just started to play and I didn’t switch their live performance. It should be happen that way I think. Since that time I eagerly started to listen to metal. I bought tapes of Slayer, Manowar, Metallica, Alice Cooper etc. which ones were for sale in my hometown. After having internet connection I’ve found a lot of other bands and still find some new groups and their works.

Do you have plans to found new projects in the future? 

- I better don’t say that because I hardly attain myself with releasing my ideas in those projects where I’m playing:  my Ravenblood, Salamanthra project, and In Movement  band (I’m a vocalist there). A couple of time ago I started myself drawing artworks to my project bands, so lack of time…I ended with recording new Ravenblood material and sent it to label not long ago. I wait the CD-s of new release and then I will publish it. We are currently rehearsing a lot with my band and will start to write material soon.  I’m drawing periodically some stuff in my free time what ideas I would use for cover to new material of Ravenblood perhaps. At times we are working with Salamanthra project, where beside me are members Oleksiy Krylov and Mauricio Fernandes from Mexico.

Share your thoughts about our common land, Transcarpathia and your hometown Khust. 

- Transcarpathia is an admirable land with its unique history, wonderful nature, with unusual colorful dialects. There are a lot of interesting places, you could always relax, swim in the river in summer or take a hike to the mountains… our land has inimitable atmosphere of rest…Transcarpathian cuisine is very tasty…

In Khust in point of fact lots of interesting places, the city itself is comfortable and arranged.

 From sights of Khust I would mention first of all castle ruins and other nameable places for example Czech township or Protestant fortress church and many more…

What are your favourite writers? 

- I have not favourite writers I can give prominence, I’m reading that what I prefer and that independent from authorship. Back then I’ve read exceedingly, book after book as if on conveyor-belt. Last years I almost didn’t read anything but a short time ago I’ve read three books, namely Richard Adams: “Watership Down”, Daniel Keyes: “Flowers for Algernon” and   "В Тени Ердега"  from my fellow-countryman, namesake Vasyl Laver. 

Do you have any favourite painters? 

- I’m myself favourite painter somehow and in interpretation. I could say I better try self-development and I’m interested in to draw complete drawings and paintings all times than offering someone to cultic status tallying “favourite”. 

Archangel’s Lantern is dedicated to the memory of Jon Andreas Nödtveidt among others… What is your opinion about him and his heritage? 

- I’ve listened to albums of Dissection back then, I liked music decently and I’m listening to it at times…About Jon: I’ve read an interview with him recently…I’ve taken fancy of his ideology and a few views to life etc. but I categorically don’t agree with his believes. However, Jon is not my ideal, like other personalities but to argue about his talent and ability, what he brought to underground music improbably. 

What kind of music you listen to nowadays? What are your recommendations? 

- Music taste is very different among people that I could recommend something concrete but I try what I’ve listened to last time…For those who like blues I can recommend  King Dude, Snowy White and especially  Rory Gallagher, what I  opened to myself this spring. I’ve found a few bands from heavy metal as well like Kryptos, Riot City и Traveler this year. From Black metal my recommendations are Mgla, Totenwache…

Name us your top 10 albums please.

01. Lake Of Tears - The Neonai 2002

02. Mgla - Groza 2008

03. Mgla - Exercises In Futility 2015

04. Mgla - Age Of Excuse 2019

05. Urn - The Burning 2017

06. Batushka - Litourgiya 2015

07. Batushka - Hospodi 2019

08. Urfaust - Empty Space Meditation 2016

09. Rotting Christ - Aealo 2010

10. Uada - Devoid Of Light 2016

Thanks a lot my friend. Share your thoughts in the end of this interview.

- Search and develop yourself. Delight in wonderful things, be glad to life and be satisfied what you have and appreciate it but never miss the chance to get more as occasion offers. 

Wish you all to acquire calm and equilibrium of soul.

Important link: 

ravenbl00d.bandcamp.com/

Stéphanie Sørensen

Art of Stéphanie Sørensen

Self taught artist and black metalhead since 1992, I enjoy expressing my passion for music through my artwork, it is dark and powerful like my favourite musicians.

Jon Andreas Nödtveidt is one of my favourite painting subject, you can never have enough of Jon's pictures. I particularly like this pose, I have used only a thin black ink pencil with dabs of silver and gold pigments. This portrait is featured in my Black metal book collection which was released recently.

My tribute to Jon  Andreas Nödtveidt (R.I.C.), Dissection, fan since the early nineties, I have used different techniques for this DINA4 portrait. Two types of charcoals, China ink and gold pigments to create a unique shine.

This portrait is a a present to my friend Raquel, illustrating artist at Nekroticism Illustrations, she is based in Spain.

This is another charcoal china ink portrait of legendary Jon Nödtveidt from his Wacken performance in 1997. I was lucky to be there, drowned in a typical 1990s metal crowd, awesome memories!

This is a portrait I made exclusively with a charcoal pencil, Quorthon is an important figure in the Black metal scene and I'm a fan for so many years. 'Blood Fire Death' is always spinning on my turntable.

Portraits of Erik Danielsson, Watain's frontman. I have used China ink and charcoals for these. Watain performances on stage is an experience you will never forget. Fav albums are 'Wild Hunt and 'Lawless Darkness'

DINA3 portrait of a young Euronymous, I have used gold pigmented ink, a black Faber Castel ink pencil which I use very often and charcoals. This portrait to me reveals the real Øystein, a cool friendly guy.

DINA3 format, watercolor based and ink portrait of Euronymous. The red pigment that I used and mixed with ink is actually my own blood to create a rich poignant red shine. Euronymous is an important icon to me, he is the main source of my artistic inspiration. The past is still alive.

DINA3 portrait of legendary Dead former Morbid and Mayhem singer. With such an iconic status, that legendary Swedish unique black metal performer deserved to be painted. Gold ink is my signature, since Per Ohlin had beautiful long blonde hair I wanted to enhance the hair shine with pure gold to give a more dramatic effect. Rest in Chaos.

I have used and abused gold pigmented ink and silver China ink for these 2 portraits of Dead. They are my 2 favourite Dead faces, you can see his real self right there, a sweet intelligent dreamer.

Chris Ludvig

Interview with Chris Ludvig 
(Eigenstate Zero, Unchristian Christian, 
ex-Odeum)

Hail brother Chris you are very welcome to my own Helvete. How and when did you join heavy metal underground?  What was your very first tape/vinyl of extreme music? Which band(s) did you see live for the first time?

- Thanks för helvete bror!

Well, I eased in from synthmusic to Vixen and a month later I was a Morbid Angel afficiniado. It was a swift conversion into the dark arts; hook, line and god damn sinker. I was friends with Tobbe from Underground Records who released the first albums with Sorcery and Centinex, he imported all the good stuff so I had a steady stream of vinyl goodness as far as deathmetal, grindcore and hardcore goes. My first tape was probably local weirdos Melissa, which I later on shared rehearsalroom with. Good times. My first deathmetalshow was Obituary when they played Pumpehuset in Copenhagen following the release of Cause Of Death. 

When did you start to play the musical instruments? I’ve listened to your two one-man bands and I must say I’ve been so impressed what you created. Which musicians influenced you in the beginning?

- I started playing drums when I was about 16, in 1988. The first Death albums were stapels of inspiration to my drumplaying, varieties of "the skank" is forever entrenched in my bones. I still love that drive, some fierce staccato or tritone tremolopicking with that and you are good to go; I use it alot in my music today. I finally quit playing drums in 2000 when Odeum broke up. By that time I had started writing a little bit on guitar, an instrument I have been playing on and off during my adult life. But I was always a composer rather than a technician and that is still the case. I like guitarists like Robby Krieger, Zappa and Guthrie Govan. Don't really care for the typical shredders of metal, it gets boring. 

According to your post I’ve been informed about your past Death metal horde, called Odeum from Hässleholm. Enlighten the readers please about Odeum. 

- Me and my childhood friend Henrik started this band together with two other friends sometime in 1996 i believe. We drank alot of moonshine and played a lot of Deathmetal during those 3-4 years we were active. Did two demos and that was that. Awesome years.

When did you establish your brilliant old school Swedish Death metal one-man-band Unchristian Christian? (very creative name) Let us know the whole story and your releases.

- Well, in January of 2018 I initiated Eigenstate Zero which was meant as a melodeath thing but since I am incredibly productive I wrote a lot of oldschool riffs as well so I figured I'd put something together. I was stuck in mixing EZ and it fucked with my head. The plan was to give myself 7 days to write, record and release 3 tunes of oldschool deathmetal just to get a break from EZ. And that was "The Ballads Of Baphomet" which I released in August of 2018. I have released one tune a month in 2019 up until September, but I recently ran out of steam due to the Eigenstate Zero album and life in general. Still have 8-9 solid unchristian tunes, it's just a matter of time and motivation to finish them. Right now I am in full progmode writing and recording new EZ-material.

You have another great one-man band namely Eigenstate Zero. What I’ve listened to yet, awesome job as well. Share with us all the important particulars about this.

- This is my main project. Started as a melodeath thing but has since developed into fairly eclectic music. My coming album will showcase some of this. The newly written stuff is plain weird though. I would like to print the next album on vinyl, that would be a dream come true. If no label shows interest I will have to do it myself, but it's a matter of money.

I saw you like a lot to cook. What are your favourite recipes? Would you be so kind to recommend some local Swedish foods and drinks?

- I have not used a recipe in my entire life, I don't operate like that. I just have fun with it, it's a creative thing. I would recommend elk meatballs, lingonberries with honey/pineshoots, rootvegetable mash and a chantarelle sauce. I would drink a californian Pinot Noir to that. Or milk. Cowmilk.

You are from Hässelby. Tell us more about your hometown (I know, that you are living in Stockholm nowadays) and Stockholm as well Recommend me some interesting places to visit then.

- I am from Hässleholm in south of Sweden. It's just your ordinary midsized town. I moved to Norrland (up north) in 2009 to study photography and then ended up in Stockholm in 2016. Stockholm is a nice town to just travel around in, drink beer and watch people. But I'm mostly at home these days, after all, that's were my guitars are. Alot of the venues that had brutal music is now closing, it's an ongoing trend in Stockholm and it sucks. We will probably move on pretty soon.

What your hobby besides creating music? Name us your favourite books and movies.

- Well, I was heavy into photography and digital art but now music has taken over my life completely again. But yeah, wine, food and our dogs that's pretty much it. My favourite movie is Apocalypse Now. I don't read many books these days but I do enjoy a good rock biography every now and then. Hunter S Thompson and Charles Bukowski are very enjoyable reads though. Gonzo!

It’ s a bit hard I know but let’s try: what are your eternal favourite albums and tracks? (from big and underrated bands as well)

- Altars Of Madness is a special one for me, especially the opener track Immortal Rites, it blew my mind. The Gallery from Dark Tranquillity opened me up to the whole Gothenburg thing. But I am a huge fan of The Doors, LA Woman is an all time fave album. Zappa and Miles Davis, I am into all kinds of weird stuff.

Perhaps you know that my blog is dedicated for memory of Jon… Did you meet him in shows and if you having ones tell us your favourite albums/tracks from his heritage (not only from Dissection, but The Black, Terror, De Infernali)...

- To be honest, Jon, Dissection, I never listened much to him and them, I was never that into blackmetal so it went under my radar. It was all Floridian Deathmetal for me at the time when Dissection released their first albums. Listened to Reinkaos a few times this last month and I dig that, very heavy metal as it were.

Tack så mycket bror it was a pleasure to talk with you. Wish you all the best with your bands and hopefully we could meet personally in the near future  Send your Unchristian Christian message to the readers to complete our conversation.

- Thanks for your interest in my music brother, it's good to see someone still carrying the flag of the underground the way you do, reminds me of the good old tape-trading era. And to the readers, well, give my music a chance. Cheers!

Horns up!

Chris/Eigenstate Zero/Unchristian Christian 

Important links: 

eigenstatezero.com

eigenstatezero.bandcamp.com

facebook.com/eigenstatezero

youtube.com/channel/UCz0Wnl0nXuzJTMZflSyevZQ

unchristianchristian.bandcamp.com/

facebook.com/unchristianchristian

facebook.com/chrisludvig