Rockezine.com interview with Morbid Angel on Oct 09, 2003

with Trey Azagthoth on Oct 09, 2003

With the release of their new album Heretic, Morbid Angel once again show why they are so influential. Heretic shows a continuation of their previous musical efforts, but displays their ability to still grow within the musical path they chose. A couple of big changes have passed for the band, so when I got the chance to interview mister Azagthoth himself, I didn`t hesitate for a second. He proved himself a strange yet very interesting person.
		For the first question, I’d like to ask you why the initial face-to-face interviews were cancelled? Well, there was a problem with my passport, it was expired. And I didn’t know that until like the last minute, because I hadn’t used it for like a year. And we weren’t able to get it fixed up in time. So I’m sorry.
		That’s ok. With this release we see the re-entrance of Steve Tucker who left the band earlier. Why did he left back then and why is he back now? And, is he back for good? Basically, the band was doing a lot of touring in support of the last record, and he couldn’t do that at the time. But the band wanted to go on tour, so we searched for someone else. And when we got back from the touring, and starting writing the new album, I just wanted to talk to him first. And we did the right thing, he came up with some great ideas! He’s the right person. And he definitely will be there on the coming tours!
		You recorded this album in another studio than your last albums. Why did you pick this one, and not Morrisound again? I have to stress that I like the sound of Heretic better than the very smooth sound and inhuman tightness of Gateways! Well, because in this age of technology, you don’t really need to go to big studios to have a big sound. Working with Punchy in the studio, we had really flexible hours, we could actually work at night instead of during the day, and we’re actually night-people. And we could spend more time because the hourly rates were lower. So, it was just all about being more relaxed, having a more flexible schedule, and having more time to be able to get some really good performances and good sound and a good mix. And just not having anything to rush! And also working with Punchy, because I think he’s a brilliant engineer! He also does our sound on tour, so we have this cool relationship with him, which makes it easier to work. We’re just really exited to have him into this!
		Another big change, Erik Rutan has now decided to concentrate on Hate Eternal only. How are you going to solve this problem in live-situations? Is it just going to be you, or are you hiring a session-player? No, we’ll have another guitar-player. No names as of yet. We’re considering some people at the moment. The only thing for certain is that we’ll have somebody who will do a great job!!
		Speaking about touring, are you going to visit Europe soon? And what are your other tour-plans? It’ll probably be next year. I’m pretty certain that we will do at least one headline tour in Europe, but probably two. We’re working on that right now.
		About the record again, Steve’s vocals sound different, more commanding and less toilet-grunt, if you know what I mean. Was that on purpose? Well, when I talked to him about if he wanted to work with us on this record, if he wanted to be in on this, I just talked to him about some guidelines about what I was looking for for singing. And it was something that he felt really good about! I wanted to have this combination of the underground tonality but with the more rythmatic phrasing. And exactly how he did it, that was up to him. I think he did an amazing job! But I definitely was looking for that style for this record, because I think that is the style of what Morbid Angel is about! And I think that his voice is way more underground sounding than David Vincent ever sounded. David was always really catchy, but his tone was never right.
		The last song on Heretic, “Born Again”, is a guitar solo. I it just me, or are some parts, if not the whole, very similar to the guitar solo on “Summoning Redemption” from your previous album, Gateways To Annihilation? Actually, it is the exact same solo, the performance of the solo in Secured Limitations!! (Sjoerd: Oh my god, I was wrong…) It’s more or less the Love Of Lava thing, to let you hear only the solo. It is the exact same recording done for the previous album in my own little Lava-studio, where I have recorded all my guitar solos since Domination. Erik Rutan, by the way, neither did his solos in the studio. For example, with Gateways, he did his solos at his own place too!
Personal rumours suck!		You have once again succeeded in creating a record that is perfectly Morbid Angel, but you show that your inspiration-source is still not empty. Once again this record shows a different face of Morbid Angel.
		Is this on purpose, do you really want to distinguish yourself from the whole standard US-death metal scene? Or is it just the way things turn out? Well, I guess you got to look at my source. I come from a place where I am the instrument, and the ancient ones play through me. So, I don’t know how other people do it, but I don’t listen to metal music, to be honest with you.I listen to Morbid Angel and Morbid Angel is an example of what I like in metal. I just don’t hear it in any other bands! I don’t get inspired by other bands to write music. I get inspired by playing video-games, by watching stuff on TV, by meditating and by finding this fun-place in my mind. I get inspired by communicating with nature. I don’t get inspired by trying to look cool, or trying to fit into a trend or whatever. So I just kinda come from my own place, you know? I’m an alien from another planet! I don’t belong here, this place is confusing to me! I have nothing to do with society. I really don’t listen to other metal. The only metal I listen to is Morbid Angel, other than that I listen to R & B. Honestly, because you see, I like music that moves me. And I don’t know, maybe I’m just crazy. But I don’t get moved by metal at all. I love stuff like Van Halen, I like Eddie Van Halen’s way of playing guitar. I don’t hear anybody playing guitar like that. Pantera was also very cool when we toured with them! But I never listen to their records. I think that their guitar player, live, really plays an incredible standout performance! But on the record, it’s a little different; it’s like a different sound or something. So live, they were amazing, very exciting, and I was inspired by that! But I don’t really listen to the records. I don’t know, but when I listen to recordings of R & B and stuff like that with lots of groove, that’s kind of what I’m interested in in music. That’s the kinda feeling I’m looking for, and I put that in some Morbid Angel. The groove and the snappiness, some of the vocals, you know…
		Could you tell us something about the writing or recording process? How do you guys write songs? Was the studio process different from the Morrisound? Well, let’s start with the writing. It started with me writing the first 5 songs for this album, which are not the first 5 songs on this album. I wrote them all by myself. I did all the guitars, I wrote all the drums, I made demos where I used my drum machine. I arranged it all the way down to everything pretty much, and then I made tapes and let Pete (Sandoval, drums) learn his parts, and then he added his own flavour but he stuck with the foundation, because the foundation was very particular. And then of course when vocals were added, the song-arrangements were stretched or shortened, depending on how the vocals fit in there. So that’s how many of the songs like track 3 and 4 and 5, those tracks were for sure made that way. The first two tracks were written by me, coming up with the rhythm, the arrangement and a basic idea for drums, and then jamming with Pete as opposed to using the drum machine. The song “Stricken Arise”, that was the one where actually Pete wrote the arrangement, and it started with drums. He wrote all the drumbeats, he put the arrangement together, and he had some ideas for rhythms! He recorded himself playing drums on a tape, and I took that tape home, and worked with his guidelines on the rhythm, and then of course adding my own flavour. And that’s how that came to be! So we kind of wrote from different approaches on this record. Pete also did some instrumentals on this record, he has been playing keyboards for several years, and he’s composing and stuff. So I asked him, if he was interested to offer some cool material for this record. And he did “Memories Of The Past” and “Victorious March Of Rain The Conqueror”. And I did “Place Of Many Deaths” and “Abyssous”. And of course you got the drumsolo which is just fun! And the guitar solo which we talked about. So that pretty much covers the writing. About recording, we did it in this small studio because it’s really cool to have the possibility to do our stuff at night, working with Punchy was really cool! And it was a really comfortable environment, and we were able to have a good flexible schedule where we could spend a lot of time and get some really nice performances, and good sounds you know. About the drumsolo, let’s just say that we are people who have fun with our freedom!
So I just kinda come from my own place, you know? I’m an alien from another planet! I don’t belong here, this place is confusing to me! I have nothing to do with society.		I once heard the rumour that Pete Sandoval is so inhuman tight live, because he pumps himself full of weed before every show, so that he can only concentrate on his drums. Is this true? And if not, what does he do to play so good? I don’t know, I couldn’t say. I’m sorry. Actually your rumour is funny, but you got a whole lot of people talking this and talking that, which is just plain stupid! Personal rumours suck!
		Do you have any future plans worth mentioning? Re-releases, big tours, DVD’s? I’m not sure about those. I know we are definitely gonna tour, for sure, and we’re definitely gonna tour Europe, and I’m certain that we’re gonna do at least one headlining tour, if not two. And all the touring will happen next year, beginning of the year. But I don’t really how that’s gonna unfold, I haven’t seen the plans yet. We’re definitely looking forward to coming back to Europe, playing Holland again! It’s been a while, you know! I think that we probably will release a DVD at one point, for sure! We just don’t have plans yet for it. I know that we’re gonna do some sort of DVD at some point, I just don’t know when.
		Thank you very much for your time, and the last words (recommendations, worshippings, commandments, thank-you’s, …) are yours!! Sure, I just like to make clear what the band’s message is! Our message is to think for one self, to think for yourself, to look inside of yourself for your own answers, to understand that there is no meaning to anything in life other than the meaning that you give to it, and search you heart! Because your heart is in rhythm with the universe, and it’s a good guide, and it’s something that can make your life really yammie!! laughs
(Sjoerd van den Berg)