Rockezine.com interview with Spawn Of Possession on Feb 16, 2003

with Dennis Röndum on Feb 16, 2003

The year 2003 started brutal with the release of “Cabinet”, the debut album from Spawn of Possession. Just before their first European tour I got the change to ask drummer and vocalist Dennis some questions.
		First of all: congratz with “Cabinet”! From what I’ve read so far the album has been well received within the scene. Are you satisfied with the reactions? Thanx man, we’re overwhelmed with the reactions so far. The response has been great and that feels awesome since we didn’t know how people would react to our work for this album!
		Are you also satisfied with the end result of the recording sessions? Yes we are, totally! The whole album went way over our expectations both playing wise and production wise. It feels great to have it out on the streets because this is something we proudly want people to check out.
		Not THE most original question, but can you give us some insight in the past, present and future of S.O.P.? We started up in Feb 97 but with a slightly different line up! After a while the guitarist and bass player left so myself and Bryssling recruited Karlsson to play the second guitar but we had no luck in finding a new bass player. In 2000 we recorded our first demo, “The Forbidden” and right after that we found Dewerud to handle the bass duties for us.
...we’re pretty fed up with the whole melodic metal thing...		In 2001 the four of us recorded our second demo, “Church of Deviance” which later on got us a deal with Unique Leader Records. We wrote some new material and in June 2002 we went to record “Cabinet”. Up to this point we have played a hand full of shows and among them, The Gothenburg DeathFest which was really cool!
		Now it’s time to tour Europe to promote “Cabinet” and in May we’ll be heading out to Baltimore (US) to play at the Maryland DeathFest. Plans for a full scale US tour is in the works for fall 2003!
		When I first listened to “Cabinet” I never thought you would come from Sweden because the majority of Swedish death metal bands are into the more melodic stuff. Why did you decide to approach death metal from the brutal side, the so-called US, style? Beside the fact that we’re pretty fed up with the whole melodic metal thing, we were into the US scene long before we ever planned to start up this band. I guess we felt it was more challenging to play like this and when Bryssling came up with the first batch of sick riffs, we just felt that this is the way for us.
		Are there bands within the brutal death metal scene you look up to or are inspired by? Hell yeah, bands like Monstrosity, Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Death, Martyr, Deeds of Flesh, Internal Bleeding and Hate Eternal just to mention a few. But we’re also into bands like Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen, Spiral Architect, Cynic and Steve Vai. Classical and movie score composers are also a big influence.
		Almost every track from the demo recordings is present on “Cabinet”. Is this because you’re slow at writing new material or is there another explanation? We do write in a slow pace but that’s because we’re very delicate when it comes to writing and arranging songs. Nothing is randomly thrown together; everything has to be perfect and crystal clear for us to be satisfied! Death metal is an art form for us and it takes a while to handcraft it!
		Looking at the band name and reading the lyrics, they all are dealing with the same subjects: possession and exorcism. Is this done just for this album or are you planning to continue those lyrics for the albums to come? I can’t really say what the next album will be about. The possession thing is something we cherish a lot and it’s a theme that has worked perfectly with our concepts. My guess is that we’ll be changing the angles, colors and environments but the main theme just might be the same.
		How’s the scene like in Sweden? Do you get the opportunity to play a lot? We’ve been doing some shows here and there’s some cool bands around! The brutal death scene is definitely growing in Sweden and that feels very good. But I don’t think lots of people come to the shows and hang out, it seems that most people are lazy and rather stay home and drink beer or just sit around and being evil!
Nothing is randomly thrown together; everything has to be perfect...		Just about now you’re about to tour Europe, including Holland. Have you ever played outside Sweden before? Yeah we did one show together with The Forsaken in Copenhagen in 2001. That was pretty cool! I can’t wait to get down to Holland and the rest of the countries on that side to play. I know it’s gonna be killer!
		On this tour your new vocalist Kelly Izquierdo will participate. His name doesn’t sound very Swedish. How did you meet up with this guy? Kelly is from America and he used to sing for Mortal Decay, in other words, he is not Swedish haha! It was Unique Leader who brought us to his attention since we were looking for a vocalist! Kelly is not only an awesome singer but also a really cool guy so it feels great to have him in our camp!
		Obviously, things are going well for S.O.P. A record deal, a debut album, an upcoming European tour, are you satisfied with how things are going or is there something left to be desired at the moment? Things are going well indeed and we’re extremely happy with everything. I suppose more touring locations is on our list to Santa right now. To tour US has always been a dream but we would also like to check out South America, Canada and Asia, especially Japan! Hell, flying over to Australia would also be really cool haha!
		Thanks for your time answering this short interview, good luck on the road and hopefully I’ll see you guys on stage very soon. Thanx a lot for this interview and your brutal support! I hope you look us up when we’re on tour for a bunch of beers! Support the underground and stay fucking SICK!!!
		(Roy van den Brink)