Rockezine.com interview with Dies Irae on Oct 20, 2002

with Hiro on Oct 20, 2002


		What have the reactions been like so far on your “The Sin War” album? All the opinions I heard came from people from radio and press. They seem to like “The Sin War” more than the first album. It’s a great thing for us because we know that we evolved musical-wise. My opinion is that when you start to repeat yourself it’s time to quit.
		Dies Irae, band or project? I’m asking you this because of your involvement in Sceptic and the other members in bands like Vader, Behemoth and Devilyn. I mean, isn’t it hard to combine these activities? It’s very hard and that’s the reason why we didn’t play any gigs so far. Vader tours a lot and even when they have a short break it appears that Behemoth is on tour, Sceptic is in the studio and Devilyn does something else, so it’s very difficult to get together and do some touring. However we don’t consider Dies Irae as a side project. We treat it very seriously and pay as much attention to it as to the other bands we play in.
		In the song “The Sin War”: “Comrade of Death” you’re using some industrial elements, are you planning to use these elements even more on the future albums of Dies Irae? We didn’t plan these industrial parts. All we did was leaving some space in the middle of the track to put something there, but we didn’t really know what. It was Mauser’s idea and it was more of a spontaneous thing than planned. I don’t know if we’ll use those kind of samples in the future, we’ll see.
My opinion is that when you start to repeat yourself it’s time to quit.		How do you write songs for Dies Irae? Is this a band effort and are you planning practise sessions together or is it more of a one man job? This time we shared our work a little bit. In the case of "Immolated" all the material was composed by Mauser. This time I composed four tracks. It makes the album more diverse and interesting. Of course each one of us is responsible for his instrumental parts.
		As for rehearsing, it’s very hard for us because we live quite a long way from each other so we compose at home and then meet in the studio and share our ideas with each other, discuss it, and record. To tell you the truth we don’t really need rehearsing before entering the studio. We understand each other musically and know what we want to achieve as a band so there are no problems.
		Are you fulltime musicians, or do you all have jobs to contain? Only I go to school besides playing. All the rest of the guys have it over with. That’s how it is when you’re the youngestJ. We don’t have regular jobs. I myself don’t earn very much but I manage to get on. I’m really happy to do the things I love most. Maybe in the future I’ll be getting more money for my work? We’ll see.
		You’re planning some gigs around October 15th in Poland, what about the rest of Europe? This tour in Poland didn’t work outL.Vader is on the tour and there’s no time for us to play. Maybe early next year when Vader will hopefully have a break we’ll be able to go and play some gigs in Europe but there are no exact plans for now.
		What’s your opinion on the internet and the online magazines in relationship to bands like yours? It’s a great thing. Now when internet is in most homes it’s a really great idea. We have lots of this kind of magazines in Poland: Metalheart, Rockmetal, Multum In Parvo... It’s really helpful especially for young bands but not it’s not just helping them of course. Also the larger bands benefit from this new medium.
To tell you the truth we don’t really need rehearsing before entering the studio.		Anything to add or Rockezine forgot to ask? I only want to say that I hope to see you on the tour soon, and that you should check out “The Sin War” because it’s a great album and if you like death metal you’ll surely love it. Stay brutal.
		A big thanks for your time!
(Gerlach Timmer)