Interview - UNDER THE CHURCH - Our lyrics follow the overall æsthetics of deathmetal.

Interview with death metal band from Sweden - UNDER THE CHURCH.

Answered Erik Qvick

Translated by Markéta, thank you!

Recenze/review - UNDER THE CHURCH - Supernatural Punishment (2017)

Ave UNDER THE CHURCH! You have recently released your new album “Supernatural Punishment”. I am really excited about it. How are the reactions on it, how do fans perceive it and what have the music critics said? 

Thank you for the kind words, we are really happy with the album. So far the majority of both fans and press seem to like the album, it does differ from the previous release “Rabid Armageddon” in that the overall sound and vibe is a bit more punkier. 

How do UNDER THE CHURCH compose new songs? How does the process go when you compose new material? Who is the author of your music? 

I write most of our material but all members pitch in their ideas and thoughts, so it’s a collaborate effort I think. Usually i’ll send the guys in the band around 12 tunes that i’ve been working on, and out of those 10-12 tunes we’ll decide on maybe 10 that we wanna finish for the album. I come up with the basic songs but we work together to finish each individual track. 

The sound of the album is great. It is dark, cold and sharp at the same time. In what studio did you recorded? Were you able to have any comments about the final sound and mastering? 

Thank you for the comments, glad that you liked it. I wanted the sound on this album to be less “HM 2 in your face” but instead have more of a cleaner sound...less guitar but somehow more punk if that makes any sense. We recorded in a few different studios but mixed and mastered at a studio here in Reykjavik where I live. I mixed the album together with the two engineers and also oversaw the mastering process. 

Who is the author of your lyrics and what are they about? Where do you find inspiration? 

It’s mostly me and our singer Erik Sahlström that writes the lyrics, i guess you could say that the lyrics follow the overall æsthetics of deathmetal...a good mix of Horror and Gore. 

You have always had great covers for your CDs. Do you take a special care about your album covers? Who is the author of the cover for your new album “Supernatural Punishment”? 

Yes we’ve been very lucky to have worked with very talented artists for covers and such...Cesar Valladares and Skaðvaldur have done artwork for us in the past but the two fulllength albums “Rabid Armageddon” and “Supernatural Punishment” features fantastic paintings by Mattias Frisk. Mattias is a genius and a absolute joy to work with. 

I think that the album “Supernatural Punishment” would look great on vinyl. Have you thought about it? How do you feel about LP albums and their sound? Are you a collector? 

Pulverised rec are releasing “Supernatural Punishment” on vinyl, the album is available in a few different vinyl colours. I love vinyl and that’s the format of music I grew up listening to, that and cassettetapes. I really like the sound of vinyl...I have a bunch of records but i’m always adding more to the collection. 

How about UNDER THE CHURCH and concerts? Correct me if I am wrong but Erik you live on Iceland and Lars is in Sweden. It must be very challenging isn´t it? 

Yes and no, it can be complicated to find dates that everybody are available to play but the actual playing is usually not a problem. I live in Iceland but the rest of the band in Sweden. 

UNDER THE CHURCH is a band which was founded on the ruins of (for me personally) one of the best Swedish bands NIRVANA 2002. When you set up this band did you already know that you will play “Old school Swedish death metal”? Nowadays death metal is done differently, everywhere you can hear brutal or technical metal. Have you ever thought about changing a style? 

No, we wanna stick to our guns instead of pretending to be something that we’re not. It’s a matter of deciding to play “old school death metal”, we just do what we do. 

Please remind us what led to the breakup of NIRVANA 2002 at the beginning of the 90s? How difficult was to get back together after more than 20 years? 

Well it wasn’t like a breakup more than that we just stopped playing, haha! When we did those reunion gigs it took a while to remember how to play those tunes. 

As a band you are like a veterans (Lars and Erik). Has a lot changed during those years you have been playing? Is the approach from fans, organizers or labels different? There is the internet, new technologies and a whole different access of fans to music. 

It’s different but the same....there are so many bands nowadays and everybody is on fb,youtube, soundcloud, instagram etc etc. It’s much easier to record and promote yourself than back in the 90’s. I can’t speak for anyone else than myself but I don’t hear enough diversity, bands tend to sound the same and not have a distinct personal sound or style. But then again I am a grumpy old man. 

How is the Swedish death metal scene nowadays? Do people go on concerts? Do they buy CDs, support bands? How about the attendance of concerts in a club? How many people would go when you organize something? 

The Swedish scene is doing great with a ton of really cool bands. People still see live music and buy releases so that’s fantastic. The clubs that arrange gigs for the stuff we play are usually smaller clubs so it tends to be around 100-200 persons per gig. 

Are there any albums that have caught your attention recently? 

Yes, the new Usurpress “Interregnum” is great, also Massgrav “Stockholm Rockers”, Monolord are releasing solid stuff all the time, 

Do you know and listen any Czech bands? 

Yes, one of the greatest musicians of all time...Jan Hammer. The stuff he did with Jeff Beck is just fantastic, Jan is also one of my favourite drummers. 

What are UNDER THE CHURCH´s plans for the next few months? Can we soon see you here in the Czech Republic? 

We’re doing a releasegig in Stockholm in May at the club Café 44.....we would love to play in Czech republic, ask your local promoter to book us! 

Thank you so much for the interview and I wish you a lot of sold CDs, hundreds of crazy fans and tons of good ideas. 

Thank’s for the support and for doing this interview with us! 

Recenze/review - UNDER THE CHURCH - Supernatural Punishment (2017)

https://www.facebook.com/UnderTheChurch
https://www.pulverised.net
https://pulverised.bandcamp.com/album/supernatural-punishment