Recenze/review - MORDUM - And What Is the Truth? (2017)
Translated by Markéta, thank you!
The
interview was answered by Ľubo and Roman.
Ave
MORDUM! I have not found any interview in Czech with you from a
recent time. So firstly, I would like you to introduce your band to
readers who do not know you. You may start from the beginning and
walk us through the entire history of MORDUM.
Roman:
Ave metal. I am Roman Köröši. Me and Števo Andraščík founded
MORDUM in 1991. MORDUM has done this so far:
1991 –
Demo Psychic Dissection
1992 –
Spiritual Necropsy
1995 –
System
2000 –
Destroy future
We
recorded Egoism in 1996-97 but we did not published the CD. But I
should start since the beginning. When we created the band there was
3 of us playing. Števo Andraščík – bass, vox; Marcel Pochanič
– drums; me – guitar. In 1993 there was a slight change of member
of the band and the drummer was Gabi Antal, bass player was Marek
Beluško and Števo took the guitar. I still had my guitar. We
recorded “Demo Systems” in Exponent studio in Šulekov by
Leopoldov. We published the album with our own money and it was a
cassette version in 1000 pieces. We have had the material for a new
CD prepared in 1996. It was supposed to be named “Egoism”,
however we did not manage to finish more than just a record of a
testing version. There were some disagreements about our near future
which made me leave MORDUM in 1997. I founded a new band called
CARNAL. However, MORDUM continued in playing in this line-up: Števo,
Marek, Dodi from ERYTROSY played the drums and Roman Mezey played the
guitar. These guys recorded the album “Destroy Future”. MORDUM
ended in 2001. Gabi convinced us to re-birth the band in 2012 so in
2013 we decided to play again in the original line-up. Števo left
the band after a year because there were some failures in certain
agreements. He was replaced by Lubo Lokša (ex-CONTEMPT). Gabi had
some operations (like 5 or 6) between 2014 and 2015. And finally, in
2016 we started to record our new material called “…and what is
the truth?”. We have just changed our bass player because Marek
left the band (he is familiar with the reasons why and it was mutual
and in a good atmosphere). We actually cooperate even now and his
spot was replaced by Richard Dermek who plays also in INFER from
Košice.
How
did MORDUM composed new songs for this year´s album “And What is
the Truth?”? How was the whole process of making the new material?
Who is the author of the music?
Roman:
The only author of our music is always MORDUM. Riffs come from my
head but the final product was always done during our rehearsals.
Sometimes it took us like 15 minutes but sometimes a month. Everyone
just tuck something there and the final agreement is always in the
end. We all have to like it. So the author of the music is MORDUM.
The
first thing that caught my attention was the great cover of “And
What is the True?”. Please, tell us something about the author. Why
did you choose this artist? Did you chose from something which was
already done or the artist did something new just for you? For
example, did the author hear the album before just for some
inspiration?
Ľubo:
We gave the artist an idea of what it was supposed to be on the
cover. It was done by a former classmate of our bass player Marek.
Her name is Alena Hrabinská and she has already drawn a cover for
his book Please no disco tonight. But
of course, she drawn something completely different. Not just a
little bit different, but completely different. However, it express
the exact message we wanted it to express and we loved her work. So
in the end we just went for it and bought the painting. And I believe
it was a good idea. And also the cover has a great feedback.
The
sound of this album is great. It is dark, cold and sharp at the same
time. Which studio did you choose for recording? Were you, as a band,
able to do some changes in the final sound and mastering?
Ľubo:
We recorded the album in our home studio so we were able to change
whatever we wanted…We even recorded the album 3 times because we
were moving places and the software just shut down. So we had to do
it again. Well at least we have some experiences now.
The
lyrics in death metal are sometimes underrated. What are the lyrics
on the new album about? Who is the author of the lyrics? Do you want
to send some message with your lyrics?
Ľubo:
There is no special message in our lyrics, haha. The lyrics express
unhappy things in this world like wars, mankind manipulation and
things like that. The author of most of our lyrics was Roman and some
of them were written by Marek or me.
The
new album was released in Czech label called Support Underground. Why
did you choose this label? Are you satisfied with their work?
We
were actually pushed into working with Support Underground. Martin
Lukáč has once said: “Give it to Koník to Support Underground.
He is the right good and he will definitely like it. He will help
you.” And he was right. Kiník offered us a cooperation immediately
and also a releasing of the material. We own him a big thanks. We
just have to hope that people will like our CD and they will be
interested in it. We are definitely satisfied.
I
think that “And What is the Truth” would look great on vinyl.
Have you thought about that? What about you and LP records? Are you a
collector?
Roman:
It is generally known that there is nothing better than vinyl. I
don´t collect them. However Koník said that there is the
opportunity to do vinyl. Making this is a very expensive thing and it
is too soon to speak about if it is worth it or not. Personally, I
would love to have it in vinyl. Basically, the process of making
would be possible if people would be very interested in it.
Looking
at your discography there is not many albums. Correct me if I am
wrong but there are only 2 demos and this year´s album. That is not
a lot considering you have been playing since 1991 (with the break in
2000-2015). Why is that? There was no time, money or ideas?
Roman:
1991
Psychic Dissecton (not released) demo
1992
Spiritual Necropsy (not released) demo
1995
Systems Demo cassette
1997
Egoism (not released)
2000
Destroy Future cassette/cd – but I can´t say anything about this
because I was not in the band.
That
is not a lot because we did not recorded everything we composed. We
had a very strong opinions about what will go on albums and what will
not. We made a lot of songs and never played them publically. We
played not only death metal but also other projects which were lost
in time. We did that at the time when we felt that metal was too much
for us. It was some kind of relaxation. And also Gabi was playing in
other bands. There were also other things but we don´t want to talk
about them. I left MORDUM in 1998. I had my own band and we played
till 2004. And then my son was born which changed everything and I
wanted to spend my free time with my family. My daughter was born in
2007. I started to play after they grew up a little bit. I did not
have my guitar in my hands for like 9 years.
How
about MORDUM and concerts? As I saw online you don´t play that much.
I know that it is mostly financially difficult but have you thought
about some bigger tour?
Ľubo:
We started to do concerts a year ago because our drummer had some
healthy problems and also…we had no album. We did not have anything
physical to play on concerts. Actually, we are an unknown band…so
we believe that there will be more concerts in the future thanks to
the new album.
People
in the Czech Republic always complain how there is not enough people
on concerts. How is the attendance at your concerts? I am interested
in how is it in Slovakia. Do people go on death metal concerts? Do
you prefer smaller clubs or bigger festivals?
Ľubo:
It is the same in Slovakia. People complain when there is not enough
concerts or they complain that it is expensive. There is a lot of
concerts in Košice so people go or they don´t, it is unforeseeable.
It is impossible to predict how many people will come. It is sad but
you have to have 1 or 2 concerts maximum in the west because there
are people who don´t have too much money to spend. Usually we have
like 3 or 4 bigger concerts per month. That is also the reason why
they don´t go on concerts. But they are also lazy, haha. We haven´t
had many concerts during our new era because we are still at the
beginning. We have only played in clubs and not at festivals.
Personally, I prefer clubs.
I
really like your Bandzone profile where you have “band
information”. I especially like this motto: “Metal
is not music. It is a noise which is made by monster for monsters”
(my mum). When I read through
the article I feel that the old days are breathing at me. However, we
have 2017 now and metal and its fans are in a different place. How
about MORDUM and their look at today´s music world? Has it changed a
lot?
Ľubo:
It is a motto from the book Please no
disco tonight. Marek describes how the
band was born and the good stories from the 90s. You should read the
book because it is written in a very interesting style. It is also
funny although there are some parts when you have no idea what is
happening, haha. Exactly as you said, you can feel the old times
breathing at you. Who has changed? The world is faster and what is
happening is like from a bad dream. About music: when we were young
you just came from school and went to play in a band. But now you
have a different responsibilities, kids and so on. Everything needs
time but we are trying to do rehearsals as often as we can. We try to
play 3x per week but there are times when we just don´t have enough
time, but that is life…
Let´s
look back again for a second…What was the first impulse in your
life to create a band? Why did you chose brutal technical death
metal? That is not the style of music which would bring you “fame”
in life.
Roman:
Haha, well I know what you mean by “fame”. We started the band
around 1990. At that time there were famous bands in Košice:
XIBALBA, KELT, RITUÁL, RAKVES, BEER and so on. There were also more.
Števo and I went to a lot of concerts and we just fell in love with
it and said that we would do that too. At first we had guitars which
were out of tune but we just did not know that you should tune them
(haha). We started with classic guitars. And that it was really fast
(we played every day for like 6 hours and 10 hours during the
weekends) and we had our first concerts in 1991. I was 16 and this
music is about energy which I always feel when I play. And we also
play what we know the best. There is nobody who got rich over death
metal but that is because the majority of people listens to some gay
music (haha). But now, we are at the age when we don´t need to hurry
anything or make ourselves nervous over some stupid things. And also,
it is never late for fame but our lives thought us that a person
should be happy in his life with what he has and not what he has not.
Personally, I don´t have a helicopter (haha).
Does
MORDUM have some goal? It might be a famous label or playing with
SUFFOCATION.
Ľubo:
hehe, well goals…it would be nice to play in front of great bands.
Our first concert after years was at the same stage as VADER, DIVINE
CHAOS and MORDU at the Venom inc. So I feel that the start was quite
good (haah). Everything´s open. We don´t have any special goals we
just want to play and have fun. But it would be nice to sell like
15 000 platinum CDs (haha).
What
are MORDUM´s plans for the next few months?
Ľubo:
MORDUM works on new songs. We work on a project which will be like an
honour to old bands from Košice which no longer exist. We work hard
now…there will be some interesting cover versions for our metal
fans. For example, ERYTROSY or NOMENMORTIS. Also even older bands
like XIBALBA, RITUAL or KELT but also CONTEMPT which is not going to
be a cover per say because I was in this band for 24 years. There
will be 2 or 3 freshly recorded songs from the demo Systems which
should be interesting. We hope that everything will be like we
planned it.
Thank
you so much for the interview and I wish you a lot of sold CDs,
hundreds of crazy fans and tons of great ideas.
We
thank you for the space and your time. Hello to the fans! Go on a
concerts and buy CDs!! Ave metal!!! Stay morbid!!
