Interview with death metal band from Sweden - GLUTTONY.
Answered Anders Härén (guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - GLUTTONY - Eulogy to Blasphemy (2026):
Ave GLUTTONY! It’s been two years since I saw you here in the Czech Republic at the awesome BACK TO THE SYMBOLIC festival. How did you enjoy the event? I don’t even remember if we met in person. You know how it is you spend a few days drinking beer, going to shows, and running around nonstop. Did you like it here? And what do you think of Czech fans? Did you like our beer?
Ave Jakub! Back to the Symbolic was great, like all Czech festivals (though I’m pretty sure we didn’t meet). We love the Czech Republic and it’s a mandatory stop on our European tours, just like this year.
A few weeks ago, I found your previous album “Drogulus” on my phone and played it on my way to work. It was snowy and foggy. I accidentally stepped on some ice and broke two bones in my leg. Before I went to the doctor, I walked several kilometers with a broken leg. I don’t know about you, but when I listen to good music, I’m in another world. I started out as a young guy, way back in the ’90s, and it still gets me. It’s like a curse. How did you get into death metal? Which band first caught your attention?
It’s the same for me. Great music takes you on a spiritual journey. My descent into extreme metal was also a journey. It started with Heavy Metal when I was about 5 and then evolved into Thrash Metal which I thought was the baddest stuff out there. But then in 1992 when I was 11 or 12, a friend of mine had bought the Pieces EP by Dismember and he also played me Cannibal Corpse’s Hammer-smashed face which I went out to purchase right away. I prefered Dismember but the experience was the same for both bands: What is this? How can someone play this brutal and sing like this? This is the coolest shit I’ve ever heard. Shortly after I bought Mayhem’s Deathcrush and Marduk’s Dark Endless as well as Dismember’s back catalogue and well... the journey continues.
I just lay in bed for a few days, and since this is the first time in my life I’ve broken something, I was constantly cursing. Suddenly you have a lot of time on your hands. I check my email and read your message, and I’m nervous because it took me a while to get to your new album, “Eulogy to Blasphemy.” However, when I heard it for the first time, suddenly my leg didn’t hurt at all. I call it the Swedish spa😊). The only thing missing was beer, because I was taking a lot of painkillers. Can you tell us how the new album came about?
The easy answer would be to say that we followed our trusted process: I write some riffs, we meet up for rehearsal and craft it into a song together, and record a demo of it. We keep this up every other week until we’re out of inspiration. Like I said, that is the easy answer because that is our process. But when I think about it, I feel that I had more inspiration this time around and that we had more fun crafting the songs. After Drogulus, in 2023, we started touring more frequently which has brought new energy to the band. And that new energy can be heard on Eulogy to Blasphemy in that the songs are better; better hooks and more varied. Also longer songs for some reason.
I’ve got some time to read now, so I’ve been diving into some good old horror stories. The undead are clashing with zombies, blood is flowing freely, and since I’m here alone listening to your new album from this year, it all came together for me. A serious question popped into my head. Do you believe in the afterlife? I’m more of a materialist and a skeptic, but when I’m alone at the cabin in the mountains, I sometimes feel like I catch a glimpse of someone undead in the cemetery.
Hehe well I am a scientific atheist so unfortunately I believe that we simply rot away. That being said, I’ve had some truely weird experiences that science cannot explain so, who knows. It’s an attractive thought that I can become a specter and haunt other people after I’m dead...
I’ve come to love GLUTTONY mainly because not only do you play brilliantly and present a style I’ve loved for nearly 35 years, but above all because, as a band, you’re genuine, real, believable, and authentic. It’s not just about technique, but mainly about heart, as a friend of mine who’s no longer with us used to say. What do you think about that? I meet a lot of bands these days that can play perfectly, but they’re sterile and, in the end, actually terribly boring.
Thanks Jakub, that’s probably the best compliment we have received. The four of us and our trusted tour driver are great friends, we have a lot of fun doing this and I think that translates into good music. We’re easy-going guys and we love to meet our fans and have a beer with them. I see no point in being a pretentious asshole just because I spend some hours on a stage every year. We have high standards and rehearse a lot and we don’t want to piss away a single show. Whether it’s 20 people or 200, everyone who paid to see us shall get a great experience. And if putting on a good show means missing a note or two, fine. I’d rather bang my brains out and play the riff wrong than stand in a corner of the stage with a Fender up under my armpits, playing the riff perfect.
Everyone in the band is over 40. You surely have your jobs, families, and plenty of other responsibilities. How do you perceive death metal and music in general? What does it mean to you? For me, for example, it’s not just a lifestyle, but also relaxation and rest. Thanks to music, I’ve met a lot of great people, and whenever work gets to me (I work in a technical field), when I can’t stand looking at this rotten world anymore, I “escape” to concerts. Plus, the coolest people have always hung around extreme music… How do you feel about it?
If I were religous I would say „Amen“. One of the best things I know (which like you said with job, family etc happens too seldom) is going to a metal show in Sundsvall. I often go there alone because I know I will meet friends from the last 30 years, ranging from those I hung out with when I was 15, to the kids who are the new blood and that I’ve gotten to know. That is my extended family and just like you said, there’s no better escape than washing away the world or a shitty week with a metal show. It’s a lifestyle for sure.
We should also talk a little bit about the new album, what do you say…? It really grabbed me right away. If I’m not mistaken, Jonas Jönsson is credited with the sound. Where did you record the album, and who did the mastering? Look, to be honest, every time I hit play, I feel a chill in my broken leg!
Haha big thanks! Sundsvall where we live isn’t big, just around 100k inhabitants, so naturally you know almost every metalhead and Jonas is no exception. We though Jonas did a good job on Drogulus but we actually tried out two other producers because just like artwork artists, we like to do something different on every album. But it didn’t work and after hearing Jonas test mix, we know he was the man for the job. We recorded in our own Studio Blastbeat and sent everything to him. Our drummer is a sound engineer and Max (bassplayer) is just a self-taught genious. They are the engineers and producers of the recording and then when we’re tired of hearing the songs, it’s great to send it to someone that we know understands our vision. We met up with Jonas two times in his studio to discuss some details and give him the horror samples and in the end, this is the album where I’m most satisfied with the sound. I think he nailed the right balance with a sound that is polished just enough.
The zombie on the cover, and the church behind it, looks kind of familiar to me. We have one just like that at our cabin in the mountains. A lot of people died there during the war. Crazy, horrible things happened there, and the old folks always said it’s haunted. Who designed the cover, and where did they get their inspiration? I’m seriously thinking about buying a T-shirt that design is really awesome!
We’ll be playing to shows in Czech Republic in May (NTEY Death Fest May 15 and Grabo Fest in Karviná May 16). If you come by then I’ll hook you up with the t-shirt. Our friend Mysteriis, founder and drummer of Setherial, designed the cover artwork and the booklet. Another close friend and an amazing artist who also took the band photos and has directed the upcoming music video. We spent a lot of time together digesting old horror movie covers from the 70’s and 80’s because we really like the color schemes and compositions. That was the main inspiration and also we wanted the zombie to tie it together with our earlier work so he ended up with a zombie preacher vomiting forth blood and flies and a 70’s feeling title art.
What about the lyrics? What are they about? Who wrote them, and what do they deal with?
Me and Magnus (vocals) divide the lyrics usually 50/50. Our first collaboration was Cult of the Unborn when we wrote the whole album as a horror tale which was a lot of fun. On Drogulus we had the main theme of the Lovecratian universe but on this album we decided early on that we would go back to the roots and skip the overarching theme. Instead, since we write the music first, we divided the songs between us according to what song we liked. Then each to his own. Magnus lyrics were heavily inspired by horror movies, like Corpses Eating Corpses that draws from Hellraiser, and Threshold to Nonexistence which is about the French movie Martyrs. For my lyrics, it’s a wide range. On Immured by Rotting Corpses, I wanted to explore the horror of waking in a massgrave and having to claw your way out. For the title track Eulogy to Blasphemy I wanted to explore a metaphore. I you read the lyrics literally, it‘s about a black mass. But is also a metaphore for going to a metal show and being consumed by the by the experience. Eulogy to Blasphemy is both meant as a celebration of everything considered unholy and a celebration of Metal music and Metal lifestyle.
I checked out your website, and you’ll be performing several times in the Czech Republic and Slovakia this May. Does that mean you really like it here? The rest of your concerts are in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Can you compare the fans? Where do they buy the most merchandise, who jumps off the stage the most, etc.? I’m curious about how people react to death metal in different places.
Man, that’s a great question. The audience differs for sure between each country but I haven’t actually though about how. During the show, I would say the behavior is similar, perhaps with the exception that in Sweden someone always has to crack a joke and scream things like „Play faster“ between songs. The main difference I would say is before and after the show. In some countries, fans can be very nervous and almost don’t dare to talk to you, whereas in other countries we are asked to sign autographs and take selfies.
In the nineties, death metal was at its peak. Gradually, it shifted back to the underground, where I think it belongs. For me, the best is a small club, just die-hard fans, a beer in hand, and if there are some pretty girls around, I wouldn’t mind that either. It might sound strange, but for me, this is paradise. Which concerts do you enjoy the most? How do you perceive the differences between clubs and festivals?
It’s uncanny how we think alike Jakub. Death Metal belongs in a club, period. Sure, I’ve seen the classic bands at Wacken and Sweden Rock but I don’t think it’s the same. It belongs in a dark, sweaty room, that’s when the audience truely looses their boundaries. As a band we enjoy playing festivals as well, for instance the Metal!!! festival at Ostrava castle in 2024 was amazing. But, hand on heart, I prefer the venue shows. Like I said, Death Metal belongs in the darkness...
I’m sorry, but my leg really hurts. I’m going to have to wrap this up. What does GLUTTONY have in store for the future? If you have a message for fans, labels, or promoters, this is your chance…
Focus right now is getting Eulogy To Blasphemy out everywhere because I truely believe it is our best album. We will be touring this year and next and after that we’ll see. I have to thank Rico at F.D.A. Records for a fantastic teamwork from day one, F.D.A. has done a great job. As for promoters, we don’t have a booking agency so we are very easy to book. A simple email to info@gluttony.se does the trick. To our fans we want to extend our sincere gratitude. You have been with us since the Coffinborn demo, you send us DMs and order merch from the weirdest places, you come up after the show and talk, and we are extremely grateful to you!
Thank you so much for the interview; I really appreciate it. You probably know what music I’m going to listen to now. Of course, “Eulogy to Blasphemy”! I wish you massive sales, packed shows, and I look forward to grabbing a beer with you somewhere! All the best in your personal lives, too. Cheers!
The pleasue was all mine Jakub, see you in May!
about GLUTTONY on DEADLY STORM ZINE:
Recenze/review - GLUTTONY - Eulogy to Blasphemy (2026):
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