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Interview with death metal band from Poland - MASACHIST.
Answered Mariusz "Thrufel" Domaradzki.
Translated by Duzl, thank you!
Ave MASACHIST! I have been listening your novelty named „The Sect (Death REALigion)“ for some time and I am still discovering new and new pieces of darkness. To be honest I did expect a really good job from you, but I haven't expected that you will kick my ass as much as you did. I think that the album is really great. What feedback do you have from the fans, what about the reviews?
Hello to you and everyone else reading this. Thank you for your interest. I’m very happy that you like the album. So far „The Sect“ has been getting a very warm reception, even though there wasn’t really a lot of promotion yet. But we’re working on it and hopefully it will get the recognition that it deserves. Still, one must remember that there are a lot of bands in today’s scene and everyone is trying to get noticed. We’re just kind of doing our thing, playing the kind of music that we enjoy. For me personally this album is very good, and from today‘s point of view I consider it our best effort so far.
How do you compose new songs at MASACHIST? What is the process of creating new material? Who is the author of the music?
This has become very simple, like never before. I finally made peace with computers and I do all the demos at home, using a laptop. I found Ezdrummer 2 and it turned out to be a very useful tool for arranging drum patterns. With this method it took me a really short time to compose the album, maybe about three months. It was much harder to rearrange the songs afterwards with Daray. We had a lot of rehearsals and had to rethink a lot of stuff. But I think that you can hear that on the album. There’s not a lot of accidental things, we worked very hard to make everything as tight as possible.
The sound of the whole recording is great. It is dark, cold and sharp at the same time. In which studio did you record the album? As the whole band, did you have your say to the final sound and mastering?
Once again we used Monroe Studio, which belongs to our guitarist Aro. It’s a very cool place, located in a non urban area, so there are no distractions. Plus it’s very professionally equipped. There we recorded the main guitar tracks and drums. The bass was recorded at Heinrich’s place in Cracow. And the mix and mastering were done by Aro himself. I must say, that this is what took us the most time. There were like hundreds of different mixes that we tried, and it went on forever until we decided on the right one. That is the only drawback of recording at your friend’s studio.
Who is the author of the lyrics and about what they are about? Where do you get inspiration?
The main author is Michał Spryszak, who has been working with us for years. We also have two lyrics written by Ataman Tolovy, who also worked with us on our previous album, „Scorned“. The subject matter is life and death, but death for the most part. The main thing is that the lyrics suit the music, so while on the previous albums we experimented with the subject matter here and there (like for example on „Scorned“, where most of the lyrics were inspired by the Bushido Code), this time we tried to make it simple and brutal, like on most death metal albums from the early nineties. Maybe Ataman’s lyrics are a bit different, but I think that it makes the album more interesting and diverse.
Your albums always had amazing cover art. Is it really important to you how the cover will look? Who is the artist for the new release, „The Sect (Death REALigion)“?
Thank you! I also think that it’s been done really well. This time the cover is obviously a bit tongue in cheek, with a nod to the old school. I’m sure everyone who‘s into metal used to draw skulls, scythes and so on during some boring lessons in school. And it could be that it’s just a nostalgic thing, longing for our long lost childhood, haha. The author is my friend Andrzej „Long“ Zdrojewski – a huge character in the scene. He used to play in Azarath, and then he was replaced by me actually, as I used to play with them for a while. He’s not really doing much musically these days, but you can’t completely escape this shit, man. And besides the new cover, he’s also the person responsible for our logo.
You play a typical old death metal. You have never left this way, you are "orthodox". Personally, this is one of the reasons why I like your work so much, but have you ever thought about playing something a bit different, to give MASACHIST some variety?
It definitely is a nod to the old times, but I’d dare to say that we use the old methods to smuggle something new. I think that we have a very diverse way of arranging songs. For example, compare „Distant Horizon“ with „Our Light“. The first one is a storm of sounds, while the other has a traditional chorus-verse structure. There’s no one recipe, and I think that this makes us stand out from the others. Plus we have these slow, heavy songs, and that is also not so common among death metal bands. We always try to experiment a little bit, it’s just that we don’t want to make it sound like it’s no longer death metal.
I often hear at concerts in the Czech Republic, that people don't go to gigs and how the attendance is generally low. I wonder what your experience is from Poland? For us you are a big country with lots of bands and promoters. Bands that sometimes skip our small country during their tours often do play in Poland. Are Polish people going more to death metal concerts? Do you prefer small intimate clubs or big festivals?
I don’t really like to going to these bigger fests. I just hate the way the people tend to behave, myself included. So I try to avoid this. You know, in theory everything is great, but it really isn‘t as enjoyable as a small gig that you attend in a stinking club. Besides, I like short gigs with no more than three bands in a line up. It’s important to contemplate the music, as well as meeting friends, having some discussions with them and partying. But at those bigger fests I think it’s mostly about drinking. And you can’t really appreciate the music when you’re totally drunk, that’s why I despise people who act this way.
And as for the attendance, the situation over here is the same. Too many gigs, that’s why people have to make choices. I didn’t understand it when I was in Germany in 2000 and there were very few people attending underground gigs. But they already had too much, they were oversaturated. Now every fan has also his own band and you have to try very hard to even get noticed. I have no problem with that, as I was already active in the scene during the better days, at the turn of the century and in the previous decade. I really can’t complain. I have great memories and I really feel fulfilled and... appreciated by the fans. Now I have Masachist, which is a very important band for me.
Nowadays, most people just download new albums from the internet and use only their digital form. How do you look at this topic? I'm interested in your opinion as a musician.
I have no problem with that. The oldschool people will buy the CD anyway, cause that’s how they were raised, the younger ones won’t. I download a lot of music myself, or rather stream it on platforms such as Spotify and Tidal. It’s very convenient. But, what is more important for the bands in today’s underground, we should be buying merch to support them. It’s nice that bands started caring about that and you have lots of great designs and high quality clothes.
Recently, a lot of young bands have started to play old school death metal again. Most of them aren't very good, but we can found a few decent bands who understood, what it's about. Do you have any favorite band that you think has the potential to "revive the good old times"?
There was a band like that, but I think they decided to give it up – Obliteration. That was some quality stuff. There was also Repugnant with their great debut, but becoming internationally famous with Ghost turned out to be more important for them. But I like Ghost as well. They are like a slowed down Mercyful Fate, so it’s cool.
I listen to a lot of new music, but unfortunately nothing really kills me these days. Of course there’s our polish Mgła, that I often put in my player, but that’s not death metal.
Do you have some albums which got your attention recently?
Yes, of course. Danny Brown, Denzel Curry, Run The Jewels, Suicideboys. But don’t listen to these – it’s rap.
Do you know or are you listening to some bands from the Czech Republic?
I wouldn’t say that I listen to those bands, but I do know Master`s Hammer, Root, Krabathor (one of my bands did a tour with them in 99) and Malignant Tumour.
What about the plans of MASACHIST in the upcoming months?
Well, most of all promoting the album, playing some gigs and perhaps working on some new music. I hope that the album reaches a wider audience and get’s appreciated by real death metal maniacs.
Thank you very much for the interview. I wish your new album good sales and gigs full of crazy fans and and tons of a good ideas!
Thank you and good luck with DEADLY STORM and everything else!
Recenze/review - MASACHIST - The Sect (Death REALigion) (2017)
Recenze/review - MASACHIST - The Sect (Death REALigion) (2017)
