Few questions – interview with death metal band from Germany

Few questions – interview with death metal band from Germany - DENY THE URGE.

Answered by Henrik, guitars/vox.

Ave, can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded and what style of music do you play , etc.?

The band was originally founded in 1998. But no one of that line up is part of the band anymore. I joined in 2001, assumed the songwriting and changed the former new-york-styled Band into a more florida one, with a few scandinavian elements. That turn lead to a functionable style for the band in the following decade. In 2011 we got some private and organisatorical problems and I decided to split the band up indefinitely. Between 2011 and 20014 I did a lot of songwriting experiments, wrote three albums and the third one finally became "as darkness falls".

The actual style of the band could be plainly described as technical old school death. I tried to remove all unuseful and irritating elements and intensified the very essence of that, what this music means to me. Then I contacted James from "Vader" and formed together with Max a new line up for the band. Actually we are searching for a live session bassist, who can gladly become a new, fixed band member.

Where and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was in charge of sound, production and mastering?

The drums have been recorded at "Grindstone Studio" in Ipswitch/England, by Scott Attkins (Cradle Of Filth, Behemoth, Amon Amarth ect...) The guitars in Braunschweig/Germany by Ben Heber and the rest inclusive mixing and mastering was done in "Puresonic", Jost Schlüter, Langelsheim/Germany.

The grindstone sessions where the hardest thing we ever did. We had just a four days slot (right after us Cradle Of Filth entered) and worked 12 to 15 ours a day to get the drums definitely save. On top of that we favourite a very natural, spontaneous (and drummer killing...!!!) way of drumrecording, to make the album sound maximal open and alive. This was a maximum challenge! To cite our drummer James "...it was definitely the most brutal album I've played on and by far the most punishing recording session of my life!!!

How many copies were released and which medium was used for this new edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?

1000 CD's and 100 Vinyls. Furthermore the stuff is avaliable on digital download.

Who is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what do the lyrics deal with ?

I am the author of the lyrics. The idea behind our lyric-concept ist to write the lyrics maximal metaporically. Everyone is cordially invited to detect. So you can feel free...!

Who created the logo of the band, and who took care of the graphics and the website? What about you and social networks? Do you consider these things important?

I have created the new bandlogo as raw sketch. Responsible for the filigran details and the technical workout is "Luciverium War Graphics" from Mexico. Torsten Richey, a graphic designer from Braunschweig, did some final changes as well. He is also responsible for the design of the booklett and the new website. The frontcover is done by no one less then Mr. Dan Seagrave (Morbid Angel, Benediction, Suffocation ect.)

For bands social networking is essencially today. All the scene is gathering there and if you deny these plattforms fully, you'll definitely disadvantage your band. Back in the days we had just a MySpace, because this was much more important then Facebook. Now it's converse, so, before the promocampaign started, we took over the old D.T.U. Fanpage run by Simon from "Deserted Fear" and made that to our new official.

Which label did you choose for releasing your album and why this label? Are you satisfied by how your label represents you and takés care about you?

We join G.U.C. now since 2004. It's now our third full length there. They are small, but they do really care about us. For getting a broarder representation for "as darkness falls" the label works together with Sure Shot Worx. For now we are satisfied with that combination.

Which bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?

Much responsible for the style of the band is the ninties anglo saxonian old school death metal stuff. Bands like "Morbid Angel", "Immolation", "Benediction", "Suffocation", "Monstrosity" ect. influenced me most back in the days..

Did you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was the response?

We haeven't sent this to anyone else.

How many gigs have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether it's (clubs or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best?

Our most importent shows where definitely 2010 the direct support for Sepultura and 2011 the direct support for Malevolent Creation. On the other side we did a lot of crushing headlining shows in smaller venues. Festivals we did less. Mostly we did single shows at the weekend. The conditions that time didn't allow more and beyond that we never cared about our public image these days...

With the new album we changed that policy. The new line up is only staffed with full-time musicians and for a broarder impact we choose some external partners. The goal is to gain better conditions in dealing shows ect. and establishing the band in another level, where we can do more touring. A good mix of festivals and clubshows would be perfect! But, and that's for sure, we all live in different cities/countries (...), it would be absolute nonsense to just go on with the band like we did that back then.