Rockezine.com interview with Necrophobic on Apr 15, 2002

with Joakim Sterner on Apr 15, 2002

Almost a month ago I was pleasantly surprised by “Bloodhymns” already the 4th full length of these Swedish death thrashers. And in an age of extreme death metal releases like this have become very scares. The ultimate combination of death, thrash and melody and the compact songs make this release, together with the great production, belong to the better ones of 2002. And after having had several problems with their former record company things seem to be getting better after the new deal. To find out more about Necrophobic I sent them the following questions and drummer Joakim took the time to answer them.
		Congratulations on your new release. How do you personally look upon this release, are you satisfied and how have been the reactions so far? Thanks! We are all very satisfied with the new album. It seems like all the others think so too, because every magazine/fanzine we talk to have given “Bloodhymns” highest score or close to highest score. It feels fucking great!
		How would you personally describe the kind of metal Necrophobic plays? Well, to start with, I’d say it’s death metal. It’s dark and evil and a lot of cold atmospheric harmonies and melodies. I want to say that our music is great to listen to if you want to fill your soul with evil power…
		What are the bands influences (past and present)? We are not influenced by any bands today as we have developed our style since the beginning, but before we had our own ground, we got inspired by Bathory, Slayer and Morbid Angel.
		The song material on “Bloodhymns” is from a high quality. I read that you are a very self-critical band. How does this affect the songs and the songwriting? By being self-critical as we are, we don’t put out albums with shit music. There are a lot of bands that releases records every year, but containing only 50% great material and the rest seem to be there just to fill out the time. We rather spend some extra time to release albums with ONLY great songs, all with highest quality. It shouldn’t matter what song from our albums you put on, you shall like it as much as everyone else of the songs. We want no one to be able to say that any of our songs are bad. Our album shall all be “greatest hits”, so to speak and I believe all our albums are highest quality.
		Is there a deeper message behind the lyrics and the “Bloodhymns” artwork? In other words, what does Necrophobic wants to bring over on the listener, or is it a way to make some great piece of extreme music? Of course we want to tell everyone something with our music and lyrics. These are our reflections. Our views, but it’s up to the listener to interpret the stuff. Think for themselves and not follow anything someone else may say. I can say that “Cult of Blood” for example is about buying whores and shit on their heads and you will believe that the song actually deals with that, but it’s wrong. Read the lyrics for yourself and build your own opinion. How you interpret it, it’s the right thing for you. The artwork is there to give you some clues and to set the right atmosphere. Everything belong together…music, lyrics, artwork.
		“Bloodhymns” was recorded in the Sunlight Studio’s. How was it to record in that little place and did it affect the sound in any way? We have recorded there a lot of times. It’s located in the same city, Stockholm, so as we like it a lot, we still use it. We have our own sound and Tomas (Sunlight Studio) knows our music very well, so it’s not difficult for us to record there. Little place?
		Are there any particular goals Necrophobic has set to achieve? To create as much great music as possible. We have been doing 4 killer albums so far and we will continue for as long as we love it. We want to play for as many people as possible and I hope Necrophobic will take us to as many countries as possible. Music is our lives!
		What are the plans for the near future? A tour is being planned as we speak. All info about it will be available on our website as soon as we have it. We will play 2 German festivals in August, Wacken Open Air and Party.San Open Air. Come and see us! We want to see you!
		Any last words? Thanks for this interview!
Website: www.necrophobic.net (Teun Jans)