Rockezine.com interview with Thanatos on Oct 05, 2004

with Stephan Gebédi on Oct 05, 2004

Thanatos is celebrating twenty years of extreme metal this year and is still going strong. They recently released their new album "Undead.Unholy.Divine" through Black Lotus Records so it`s about we`d interview bandleader Stephan
		Hello Stephan, let me first inform you that my recorder broke down so I will be writing along when you talk. I hope this works out. Ah well, I’ll try to speak slowly...
		Don’t bother, I’ll just write faster. So let’s start: the production of your new album Undead.Unholy.Divine is the best Thanatos has ever had. The promo and the bio do not contain the name of the producer/mixer so who did this amazing job? Thanks. The production and mixing was done by Hans Pieter and us, the same people who recorded Angelic Encounters. Both Thanatos and Excess Studios (where Hans is the producer/engineer) were not satisfied with the sound on that album, so we decided to give it a last try and this time it worked out remarkably well.
		Angelic Encounters, the comeback album personally was a bit of a disappointment for me. As a long time Thanatos fan I (and others) expected a great album but ended up with a mediocre one. I’ll have to agree with that. When Hammerheart Records (now Karmageddon Media) asked me permission to release the first two albums (Emerging From The Netherworlds and Realm Of Ecstasy) they offered me also a deal for one album if I had a band. At that time I didn’t have a band but agreed to sign the contract anyways and asked a couple of guys to record it together with me. So basically the album was written and recorded in a hurry; afterwards that is regrettable of course, but back then I just wanted an album to be released.
		If I take a look at your catalogue the album that stands out from the rest is the second one, Realm Of Ecstasy, because this one is more death metal oriented in comparison to the typical death thrash sound.
		Back then I heard rumours that this was done on purpose to ride along the death metal hype which was forming itself at the time (1992), is there any truth to this rumour? Well, yes and no. The tracks for the debut were written in the years 1984 until 1989 so before death metal took its big flight. The tracks for Realm Of Ecstasy were written in ‘90 and ‘91 and at that time we listened to a lot of death metal; Death and Possessed for instance so maybe that influenced us. But the sound on Realm Of Ecstasy is heavier than on Emerging From The Netherworlds so maybe it’s because of this that people consider it to be more death than thrash metal.
		Is it a coincidence that a couple of tracks remind of old Thanatos songs? For instance, the beginning of “Eraser” reminded me of the beginning of “War” and the starting riff of “The Sign Of Sadaku” reminded of “Human Combustion”. Yes that’s purely by chance; of course you’re always influenced by the music you have heard in the past. For instance, some people told me that “The Sign Of Sadaku” reminded of Black Sabbath but of course this wasn’t done on purpose.
		How are the reactions so far towards Undead.Unholy.Divine? So far I have only heard positive feedback. People consider it to be the best Thanatos album to date and certainly the sound is the best ever.
		Were the reactions to Angelic Encounters equally positive? For the most part yes, some magazines rated it even higher than Undead.Unholy.Divine I have to say that ratings don’t tell the whole story and a 7 by one reviewer can be more important than an 8 by another.
		Angelic Encounters received equally positive reviews? But to be honest: that album wasn’t that good at all. Yeah, I know. Back then it was sort of a project like album, I wrote and arranged all tracks except a few solos which were written by Paul. During the recordings I sensed that not everything was played as tight as it could be and in the end I didn’t have a very positive feeling about it. Undead.Unholy.Divine is the album I really wanted to make back then. This time it was more a team effort. Paul wrote a track and Marco and Yuri provided some intros to a few tracks.
		Why did the deal with Hammerheart fall through? It didn’t fall through. The contract involved the re-release of the first two albums and the release of a new album. Both parties fulfilled the contract and we hoped to get an offer from a slightly bigger label after that but it didn’t work out that way and for some time we didn’t have a label. This was also caused by the departure of Aad. Theo, being with Aad in Houwitser at the time, decided to follow him because they are friends and Houwitser was doing well at the time.
		Now you are on Black Lotus from Greece; satisfied? Yes, at first we were a little afraid to sign for them because of the rather disputable reputation of a lot of Southern labels but they were the only one willing to pay the studio costs. Other labels make you pay for the studio and if you sell well maybe they pay the studio fee back.
		The album was delayed quite a bit… Undead.Unholy.Divine was originally scheduled to be released in March or April this year but there was a terrible delay in paying the Excess Studios. It almost forced us to leave Black Lotus and find another label but in the end all matters were cleared and the album was scheduled for June. Of course after that, it was delayed one more time but in August it was finally released. We’re very happy with the promotion and distribution. It’s distributed worldwide and I personally have seen it been sold in several big record shops in Rotterdam, so no complaints there. We’re also satisfied with the promotion; we’ve done a lot of interviews with international magazines.
		You still hold a grudge against your first label Shark Records isn’t it? On the website the name is still censored (Sh**k records). They were a bunch off rip-offs. Not only did they rip us off but bands like Sepultura and Elegy suffered from them too. Well, they did pay the studio costs and all, but they excelled in a total lack of promotion and tour support and the distribution was dramatic. It’s not nice to see bands like Gorefest and Sinister, who played support for us, become bigger than ourselves due to the incompetence of our label. Not only were there problems with our label, there were also personal problems within the band. Shows were played while being totally drunk and dressing rooms were thrashed. It was total chaos sometimes. Back then I hated that. When highly anticipated tours with Exhorder and Cannibal Corpse fell through I decided to put the band on ice.
		Did the disappointment of Angelic Encounters result in a certain pressure whilst recording Undead.Unholy.Divine? There was a certain pressure yes, but we all knew exactly what went wrong and especially Hans was pressed on doing a hell of job this time. And I think we succeeded.
		There are some anti-Islamic tracks on Undead.Unholy.Divine. Yes, but that is only on two tracks, we’re no Monolith Deathcult (another Dutch band, infamous for their anti-Islamic lyrics… RB). The Islam is one of the great dangers of our time, Christianity is nothing to be afraid of anymore.
		It’s strange this is being a big issue because one track on Emerging From The Netherworlds, “Progressive Destructor”, deals with the same subject; so it isn’t as if you’re cashing in on a hype or something. Exactly, I despise all religions, I accept people who are believers but they shouldn’t cause so much trouble for the rest of the world. If you want to believe in God, Allah or someone else go ahead but do not bother other people with it.
		Doesn’t Ashmedi (from Melechesh, who contributed guest vocals to Undead.Unholy.Divine) have a problem with the anti-Islamic lyrics? I mean, being from the Middle East, isn’t he a Muslim? HA laughs Ashmedi hates the Islam. He lived in Israel for some time and he was discriminated by Jews and Muslims alike. Eventually he was accused of being a Satanist and had to relocate to the Netherlands. So he had no problem whatsoever with the concept of those tracks.
		Your drummer Yuri is also member of Liar Of Golgotha. Will this ever affect his membership of Thanatos? I don’t think so, when Liar Of Golgotha will be playing live again, he will play with them but I don’t expect a new record very soon. Besides that he’s also part of the live rhythm section of Melechesh (along with our bass player Marco). Marco is also involved in a project with Yuri called Abode Of The Blessed. None of this will affect Thanatos.
		Is the addition of Marco and Yuri to Melechesh a permanent one? No it’s just for touring. Of course with their drummer Proscriptor (Absu, Equimanthorn) living in America, it’s too expensive to fly him over for a few gigs.
		Speaking of touring, are there any tours scheduled to promote Undead.Unholy.Divine? There are some plans to do a south European tour along with Rotting Christ and Nightfall but none of this is for sure. Furthermore there is a short tour planned in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with Pungent Stench and maybe there will be a short tour in England in spring 2005. It’s all up to Black Lotus to make it happen for us, so hopefully we can count on them. We were added to the bill of the Polish Conquer Winter Festival but this is being re-scheduled to next summer.
		In conclusion I want you to choose between a few things: What’s the best source of rumours: de Muur (a Dutch metal forum, visited by the in crowd of the Dutch scene) or a tabloid? Hahaha, definitely de Muur. I visit it once in a while and it’s always a big laugh. Still it’s better than other Dutch forums like Zware Metalen. They are far too childish
		Aardschok or Thanatos? Thanatos is far more important to me than Aardschok. Although I love reviewing cd’s and interviewing bands, playing myself is even more fun.
		Are there still accusations being made towards you that you are not totally unbiased to other bands because you play in a band yourself? In the past there were some accusations but I think I have proven that I can be totally objective and that I’m not tempted into giving friends a high rating.
		Do you avoid reviewing cd’s of people you know? Where I can, yes, but sometimes I have to .I try to be totally honest and if people think I’m a dickhead for giving their cd a low rating, so be it. I don’t care.
		Another choice: Thrash metal or death metal? Pfew, that’s a though one. Uhm...I really can’t choose. I appreciate the energy of thrash metal and the atmosphere and sound of death metal. If I really have to choose I would say death metal but I love both.
		Maybe that’s why you play death/thrash metal? Yes, exactly. I love all sorts of metal but my favourites are those two.
		What do you think of black metal? I listen to it reguraly, mainly the mainstream stuff like Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir but also Darkthrone and the likes. However I don’t like the attitude a lot of bands and fans have, it’s like a kindergarten sometimes.
		The last choice: Thanatos 1991 or Thanatos 2004? Another tough one. I think I like the 2004 version better. Back in ‘91 we were a bunch of young guns, always partying, doing crazy things and thrashing dressing rooms. But it’s one way or another: either you party a lot and play a lousy gig, or you’re being a bit more responsable and play a great gig. Nowadays the latter is more important to us. I have some great memories of the nineties but I like the present version of Thanatos better
		Well, that concludes this interview. Traditionally the last words are yours. Thanks, buy our new album and I really mean buy, not download and check our website www.thanatos.info for more information on Thanatos Hope to see you soon at a gig.


(Roy van den Brink)