Centurian, one of the greatest brutal deathmetal bands from the lowlands. After bringing out their first full length on the US label Full Moon Productions they now left for Listenable Records.
First of all, tell me a little about the past acomplishments of Centurian. Especially things like the Milwaukee Metal Fest last year.
Last year was quite a big year for us. First of all we played at the Milwaukee Metal Fest which was fucking brutal! I can't wait to go back there! Then ofcourse our first full length album was released. The responses and reviews were really great. The only problem was that the promotion wasn't too good in Europe with Full Moon Productions so we now left them and are signed to Listenable Records.
The demo 'Of Purest Fire' as well as the CD 'Choronzonic Chaos Gods' came out on Full Moon Productions, where there at that time already other labels interested? And why was Full Moon Productions chosen back then?
At the time that 'Of Purest Fire' came out Full Moon offered us the best deal, We have had some other offers, and in fact, we still do get some offers, but besides Listenable Records there were no interesting ones.
Tell me something about the lyrics, if you can, considering Rob wrote all of them. And also, how do you feel about singing someone elses lyrics?.
Well, Rob and I live in the same house, and every day when we drink beer and smoke some vegetables, we talk a lot about Satanism, lyrics etc. So Rob kind of knows the way I feel about things. Personally I really like his lyrics, and I am proud to sing them.
Also, the 'Choronzonic Chaos Gods' cover is completely drawn by Rob, with his own blood, can you tell me some more about that?
Rob gave his blood directly to chaos, there is nothing as powerfull and destructive as that. It's Pure!
As you already mentioned, you recently left Full Moon Productions for Listenable Records. How is that turning out? What where the exact reasons of the departure from Full Moon Productions?
So far it is turning out really good. I met Laurent once on one of our shows in Belgium and to me he seems like a great and honest guy. Somewhere in December/January we will record our second album, than we can say more about Listenable. Full moon just didn't promote us enoug in Europe, and since we are a European band we left them.
I guess Listenable Records wants that second CD out as soon as possible, how is the new material coming along?
We got about 4, 5 new songs now which are all very fast and brutal ofcourse. We will just see how they will turn out.
Recently, Rob told me that the song 'Hell At Last' will be re-recorded, why is that?
I think it is a very brutal song. Considering it is a demo song we think it deserves a better production, that is why we are going to re-record it.
How does the writing process go in Centurian in general?
Rob and Wim write all the music, while Patrick and I listen to it and give our opinions. That's because Rob has such a weird style of playing guitars. What Patrick and I do in Severe Torture is completely different. Ofcourse we have some ideas. When the music is done, I take one of Rob's lyrics with a concept that fits the song and then I make the lines for the vocals.
Interview Impaled Nazarene - March 27 2000
Answered by: Mika Luttinen (Vocalist)
Impaled Nazarene, a controversional band with many CD's on it's name. Recently the new cd entitled 'Nihil' was released, a well noticablechange in style. Reason for an interview with singer Mika.
I more or less lost track of Impaled Nazarene after the No Mercy gig I attended in 013 Holland with Morbid Angel/Emperor, could you fill me in on things since then?
Well, we went to Australia & New Zealand in July/August and after that tour we went to Astia studio to record Nihil. It came out in late January (because the artwork took ages to get finished) and since then we have done a couple of dates in Finland & one at the March Metal Meltdown in the USA.
The last album is much more melodic, in a way, as the previous work, why this change? and also, aren't you afraid to lose any fans because of this? Eventhough I personally think you will only gain them with this change.. I am not afraid at all, it is a fucking strong album. We wanted to make an extreme metal record and we just wrote a bit more catchy material. Isn't that a sign of a good song when it sticks to your head??
Is there any reason why this album is less long? Only 10 songs..
Yes there is. Rapture was a way too long album, it would have worked much better with less songs. It's the ideal playing time for our CD, otherwise you would get bored.
Could you tell us something about the lyrics of the new album? Since for as far as I can judge it doesn't primarly deal with things like a coming Armageddon anymore. Is there any concept behind Nihil?
Armageddon didn't happen so it deals with that. There is a kind of concept, it is about the ultimate goal in life; To become human-proof. Destroy your conscience & all positive feelings, keep the hate so nobody can touch or hurt you!
I remember times that you were doing more then one album a year, however the Nihil album took a lot more time. Is there any explanation for that?
Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz & Ugra-Karma came out same year BUT it was Osmose's fuck up. Tol was supposed to be out December 1992 but got delayed till March 1993. Ugra came out December 1993. So there. The main reason of course is the fact that earlier we didn't tour much, that all changed in 1996 since we really started touring then.
What's your own opinion on Nihil? Are you satisfied with the way the musical changes that where made turned out?
I don't really see so much musical changes myself. Take a Wrath Of The Goat, it could be taken from Tol, it is totally necro Impaled. I am fucking proud of Nihil.
What about touring, will there be any tours? You recently did an US one if I am correct. Are there any European tours coming? If so, with what bands?
We are doing a 10 day tour in in France in April with Anorexia Nervosa and in May we will be playing in Greece with Children Of Bodom. There will be a full European tour in the fall, probably with Immortal. We are not headlining anymore European tours, no use for that.
Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom is attracted as a permanent second guitarplayer, what where the reasons for this? And how is this working out, did things change now that he is a "full member" of Impaled Nazarene?
We are a more tight band now, that's for sure. We had been looking for a lead guitarist since 1996 and when we finally got Alexi, everything turned out great.
Aren't you afraid that the occupations regarding Children Of Bodom and Impaled Nazarene will be conflicting?
He cannot participate on all our tours so we are using session players when needed.
Nihil is one of the very few (only one?) CD's of Impaled which didn't contain any songs that caused 'riots', was that a planned change, or don't you really care about that?
Riots??? That's a bit of an overblown statement. Well, on December 10th the lyrics for Zero Tolerance will be published on our website and I guess they will piss off some liberal thinkers, hehee :-).