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| (Martin Rosendahl in the aforementioned Deathfest V) |
( Pleases note that this interview was written before the Tel Aviv Deathfest as promotional material for Metalist and therefore has questions pertaining to it. Sadly, it never saw the light of day on Metalist due to scheduling issues, but I still wanted to get it online. The festival itself contained the bands- Ma'anish, Spawn of Evil, Massacre the Wasteland, Ichor, Unbirth, Corpus Mortale, Fuck You and Die, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Viscera Trail, Goretrade, and Festering Remains.)
Hello Martin, how are you?
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I'm pretty good thank you.. just returned home from a weekend with a few great shows and in two days we're departing for Israel to play the Tel Aviv Deathfest.. so no complaints about life at the moment.
So, as you said, the new Corpus Mortale album is right beyond the corner, how do you feel about it?
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Around the corner might be a bit exaggerated but we're definitely closing in. We have about half the songs ready and a few more in the works. So if all goes according to plan we should be ready to begin the recordings in August or September.
So far the style and all is more like a mix of the older material combined with the more straight forward approach of the FleshCraft album. At least thats how it feels like right now. We have two new members in the band since the last album so naturally it's gonna be a little different I think.
What are some of the lyrical themes on the album?
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The last three albums was focused on serial killers but I felt I was running out of words and phrases so this time it's gonna have a new concept. I won't go into details before it's all done since they're far from being ready and the fact that I would have to expose some pretty unique ideas I choose to shut up.. haha.. but they will be hateful and definitely 100% suited for death metal. No love, no spiritual bullshit, no religion.
How do you feel it's different than the Fleshcraft?
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It's gonna be different as we're a different band now. But we will never stray too far I can assure you. We're a death metal band – so pure death metal is what it's gonna be. We have a few – or actually a lot – of new things we're gonna experiment with but again I won't say too much as some ideas probably won't work and we'd hate to give people false impressions.
What was the working process for Fleshcraft like? And how has it changed on the road to the new album?
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At the time FleshCraft was written there was a lot of live activity but several members also had issues regarding their personal life and other shit.. so me and Rasmus (the old drummer) was more or less left to do it on our own. That means that I wrote most of the music and we arranged the songs together in the rehearsal room. Brian and Andreas did ofcourse participate in the recordings but composing was mostly a 2-man effort.
The new album is gonna be more of a team effort. Brian and Carlos has written about half of the stuff so far – so no solo album this time..
I also read about Fleshcraft that the album was recorded in a few different studios, why was that? And is that an action you might repeat in future album?
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The reason we used several studios was mostly out of convenience. The studio we used for drums, mix & mastering is almost as far away as you can get from where we live – so strings and vocals was recorded in our hometown. Also the studio we used for vocals has an old 70es mixing board with some nice mic pre-amps AND it is located on top of our old rehearsal space.
Also, in 2013, you switched drummers between Rasmus Schmidt and Nicolai Kaltoft, how did that come about? How is he settling in?
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Rasmus left in May 2012 and left us with a annoying problem as finding good drummers in Denmark is hard as fuck. We tried out a few who simply was too far away from the style we were looking for or simply not good enough technically speaking. We used one dude as a stand-in so we were able to play live, but he was never even close to getting to the point where we could use him permanently.
A good friend of mine recommended Nicolai as he have had a band with him that eventually split up. I checked him out and he turned out to play exactly the type of drums we needed. Also he had never played in a death metal band before – which is only a cool thing in my opinion as he then could step in with a 100% open and unspoiled mind.. he himself on the other hand had always wanted to play in a death metal band – so it was just perfect. We rehearsed intensely for 3-4 weeks and then we threw him on stage in front of 400 people.. haha.. straight into the fire so to speak. Now we have played around 15 shows together and we have the perfect unit to carry on.
Last year also marked the 20th anniversary of Corpus Mortale, how did that feel?
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It felt like it was a 5 year anniversary... that 20 years has passed makes no sense to me at all.. seriously it feels like its been 5 years to me. A lot of people showed up – which was great – and we got to present our new drummer at the same occation. That was a good day indeed.
What would you attribute to the band's great longevity?
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Me being stubborn as fuck and not ever being willing to give up.. and a sincere love to death metal.
I'm 36 years old and I've been playing metal since I was 12. That's what I do.. I fuck up everything else. I might not be able to live from playing but I don't know what else I should do with my time. I don't have kids – at least not yet – I don't have a fancy education and a nice well paying job.
It's the same deal with Brian.. we've been a team since 1997 and it has proven that death metal and Corpus Mortale is all we can manage not to screw up too much.
Many bands stop or give up because they get other stuff to focus on or their dreams was not fullfilled.
We don't have those issues. And the dreams.. well, slowly they're being fullfilled one at the time – so it is also contributing to keeping up the spirit.
Please tell me (us, we are legion!) about the beginnings of Corpus Mortale. I know this question is more used than Nikki Sixx's cocaine stash, but, at least it'll be in Hebrew for the first time!
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Not much to tell besides the usual story.. some dudes into the same music get together.. writing some music, playing the stuff live... perfecting style, skills, image.. all that. We never won a contest – never applied for WOA band battle, never sucked up to anyone, never payed people to get further.. we've done it the hard way. Not like many bands today... they play for 3 months, record (or edit!!) a so-called “ep” - in the old days we called them demo's, what happened to those?! - then they apply for metal battle, play WOA “talent” stage, album... then usually they disappear. I don't get it..
We play out of love to the music and always did.. if that can bring us around the world to play for people then we're just happy.
How did you get into Metal in the first place? This is actually a question i'm fond of. Because when you don't get “Oh, I heard Maiden and I became a believer” you sometimes get some really deep answers.
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uuhh... mine is quite embarassing in a way.. haha.. I started out with guitar music like Hendrix and Ac/Dc around 86/87 when I was around 10 years old. I soon found a few Black Sabbath tapes in my stepdads collection. But the embarrassing turning point must have been when I got into Gorky Park... haha.. you know with the Bang! hit and all that.. so corny. I bought the album and that was my very first “heavy” metal lp. Soon I got heavily into Metallica, Slayer and so on... by 1989 or 1990 I discovered grindcore and death metal. I was sold from the very first second. Btw I still own the Gorky Park lp..haha
What inspires you to write lyrics and music? How would you say that your inspiration has changed since your youth?
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Musically I'm inspired by many bands, artists and styles. I listen to a lot of different music and actually I find the majority of inspiration from music that is not metal at all. Many metal bands tend to stick to certain trends and certain notes, certain techniques... if you look at other genre's you're likely to find stuff that can be transformed into metal and at the same time – hopefully – avoid all the usual cliches. At least I like to think that it is you know... we don't think we're special at all, but I'd rather draw some inspiration from lets say a popband into my songs rather than ripping off Cannibal Corpse for the 1000000th time.
What would you say is the main difference in playing with Corpus Mortale rather than Iniquity?
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Not much of a difference except that the songs are different. Iniquity used to be much more complex and technical than Corpus but a lot of things has changed since 1996-1998 both for Corpus but also in general. So these days the tech level is actually a bit lower in Q I'd say..
Anyway Iniquity are dead for good now.. we did the reunion to meet the wishes and hopes of numerous fans that never got to see us live.
How has the working process differed between the two bands? (when Iniquity was still active)
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In Iniquity Brian wrote most stuff, I was more into the arrangements and the lyrics and vocals ofcourse.
But actually we're back to pretty much the same style of teamwork as the one we had while we wrote The Hidden Lore and the first few songs for 5 Across The Eyes.
How was the scene in Denmark at the time of your inception? How has it changed?
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The scene was pretty crap then.. good bands, but they sucked at promoting themselves – us included. But there was not many people at the shows back then. Only when the biggest bands showed up on tour or something.
Problem now is that there is a zillion new bands that all seem to have only one thing on their mind – and that is getting to the top as fast as possible.. they promote themselves fairly good, the attend all the ridiculous competitions that has popped up the last few years. But for 95% of them they have one problem – they sound like everyone else, and they usually such technically speaking. In the old days all the scrappy bands didn't get very far – today you can get away with anything. With a little editing everybody can sound like Nile on a recording.
The competition thing is something I really hate. Is there anything more anti-metal on this planet than Popstars for metal or metal Idols?!?! I don't think so.. still, brutal death metal bands, hell.. even satanic black metal bands are attending these competitions?!?! I don't get it at all..
Denmark seems to be very well known for a few Metal acts. Of course the legendary King Diamond, and to a lesser extent Artillery, yet it never reached the status of other Scandinavian Metal breeding grounds such as Sweden and Norway. Why do you think is that?
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I seriously don't know.. we've always been a few years behind those countries somehow. Maybe because – as Ive explained in the last few questions – people have a shitty perception on metal and music in general. Also Sweden was lucky to have a guy like Tomas Skogsberg and his studio. He's really made a new unique death metal sound which I think is a big part of the success bands like Entombed, Dismember etc had. Just as Scott Burns had a huge part of the responsibility for the rise of the Tampa Bay wave of death metal. Denmark didn't have a counterpart until a few years ago.
What are some other bands in Denmark you believe deserve more recognition than they have been receiving?
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Hmmm... newer metal bands that I think deserves some attentions could be RoarBack – an old school death / thrash band... young 18-20 year old kids who sound like death/ thrash did in 1989.. really nice and aggressive. They just released their debut album this year.
Also our label mates from Deus Otiosus are doing their own kind of really dark old school death metal.. it's a little hard to describe.. go check 'em both out..
How did you come in contact with Viscera Trail and got invited to the Deathfest? Was it more than just the magic of Facebook ?
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It seems like Tomer and VT have had an eye on us for some time. There's been some fuzz about Iniquity in 2013 in which Brian (guitar) and I (Martin/ vocals & bass) also played. So we got a written inquiry on both bands on Facebook back in March. Unfortunately we had to turn down the invitation regarding Iniquity since the reunion is over, but we gladly accepted for Corpus Mortale - ofcourse I might add. We've been aware of the TADF for quite some time so there were not much to discuss before accepting.
Also the cover of our debut album was created by a guy from Israel - Nir Dolinir is his name - so I guess we have had a little exposure down there in the past.
How do you feel about the show in Israel?
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As I mentioned we've been aware of the festival for quite some time - and we've only heard good things from fans, friends and other bands that has played there at the earlier editions. So we're expecting a great experience and hopefully some nice feedback from the Israelean metal fans.
Also we got the chance to visit the country - none of us has been in Israel before - so the trip itself is also a factor. We're very excited about going. Gonna be awesome..
With such a diverse package, running from Black Metal to Brutal Death and other assorted styles, do you hope to widen the horizons for some Metalheads who are more closed off or who are big on one style but not on others?
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Well, that is the beauty about festivals.. making a mix of quite different styles of metal possible. Some metal heads tend to be a bit close-minded regarding which style they prefer so attending a festival as diverse as the TADF will hopefully broaden peoples minds. In any case it can only help to get the total amount af attendants to the max which again is a positive thing.
Speaking specifically of our band I'm not sure if we could convince a hardcore black metal fan to begin supporting death metal but we do play a kind of death metal that most people should be able to understand.
If you could only pick one other band except for yours to see at the Deathfest, who would you choose?
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hmm, thats a hard one... all of them?! Thing is that we haven't played shows with any of these fine acts prior to the TADF.. personally I'm gonna check out as many as possible. I'm pretty broadminded regarding styles so I'm sure there will be several that are gonna be interesting to watch.
What do you feel your band in particular brings to the package?
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Another hard one... I think we'll fit in nicely since our brand of death metal is kind of old meets new... we have an old school sound still we try to mix in whatever elements we feel fits the genre of death metal generally speaking. That might make us stand out a little bit more than if we'd played pure old school or new school. The is another Scandinavian band attending but we sound nothing alike.. actually the package is quite broad which you mentioned in the last question - so I think there is a good chance for most if not all bands to stick out one way or the other.
Is this your first time playing a gig or/and visiting in Israel?
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Yes on both counts... we've been aware of the TADF for some time but for some reason we never got around to apply. Luckily it came to us... and at a good time as well. We got a new drummer 8-9 months back so it is gonna be his first gig with us outside Denmark.
We're also very excited about visiting the country itself. Despite Israel being journalists favorite thing to give bad exposure politically and religiously we're gonna come with an open mind and see for ourselves. The people we know who has been there have only had good things to say. So we're really looking forward to go.
What are some of the things you're excited about during your visit to Israel?
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Playing the festival is ofcourse the main thing above all.. ofcourse. One of the coolest things about playing in a band is travelling to countries and places you otherwise might never visit.
I don't know how we're gonna spend the off-time there but we're not gonna sit on our butts doing nothing thats for sure. We might never get the opportunity again so it would be stupid not to check out as much of the city as we can.
It could have been cool to visit Jerusalem as well but I think we'd waste too much time travelling in doing so.
How did you get into Metal in the first place? This is actually a question i'm fond of. Because when you don't get “Oh, I heard Maiden and I became a believer” you sometimes get some really deep answers.
(Val's gallery - http://metalist.co.il/GalleryPrivate.asp?gid=428&Page=7 , images of CM on the 7th and 8th page)
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