Interview - FUNERALOPOLIS - This world is a tomb! ~ DEADLY STORM zine

Interview with death doom metal band from Switzerland - FUNERALOPOLIS.

Answered Thuri, thank you!

Questions prepared and translated Petra, thank you!

Recenze/review - FUNERALOPOLIS - ...of Deceit and Utter Madness (2020):

https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2020/05/recenzereview-funeralopolis-of-deceit.html

Hi FUNERALOPOLIS! Greetings to Switzerland! I must confess, I hear about your band for the first time, but you are on the metal scene for more than 10 years. So, a few years of playing, writing of music are behind you. I would ask you first to introduce FUNERALOPOLIS to fans in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

- Hello there. This is Thuri speaking. We are four very good friends from Switzerland. We are four drunkards who love all kinds of heavy metal music. So, it was naturally that we wanted to play some music on our own. Pascal founded the band “Human Waste” but it was more an idea than a real band. After Nico, Void and I jointed the band it became more serious. We covered some of our favorite death metal songs and then started to write our own music and songs. That is basically where Funeralopolis was spawning from.

How does this quarantine situation work in Switzerland? Did you have many limitations in daily life? I think that for us, metal fans, the absence of concerts and festivals is the worst thing. I was so looking forward to Netherland Deathfest, Obscene Extreme, but everything is postponed. Which concert/festivals did you want to visit?

- In Switzerland we have just a mild lockdown. I was forced to stay in home office for three months straight. Also, my bandcomrades had the luck to still go to work. Now in June it already is loosen quite a bit. The “normal” life is coming back slowly. All shops are all reopened in the meantime. But there is still that 2 meters distancing and an assembly ban for groups over 30 persons. In Switzerland the first concerts and gigs get reorganized in June again. Our clubs are allowed to open again, with a max of 300 persons inside.

I have no plans this year to visit some festivals personally. Mainly because I became a father 3 months ago. My bandmembers wanted to visit all sorts of festivals. Yes, also Neatherlands Deathfest, Chaos Descents, Party.san and Keep It True. Just to name a few.

After 10 years of being active, the freshly released record “...Of Deceit and Utter Madness” is only your first full-length album. Until now you have released one demo, EP and compilation consisting of these two records. Was it purpose, to go so slow in the writing and releasing process? Are you planning to continue at this pace or due to your contract with Memento Mori you will have to speed up? Do you have some requirements from your label?

- Hahaha. We are just not the fastest people out there. No seriously, begin a musician in Switzerland is a very expensive hobby and we unfortunately don’t benefit from a bankers salary. Haha. We released “…of prevailing Chaos” DIY. But this was a freaking expensive journey to finally release it. Also, we have a very strict quality control songwriting wise. Sometimes we write on a new song near endlessly, just to trash it after wise because we didn’t like how it turned out. But yes, the contract with Memento Mori sped up the process extremely. Just because we had a due date. We do not have any requirements from Memento Mori.

I am listening now to your previous EP “…Of Prevailing Chaos” but regarding the whole musical concept, sound, and everything, it is really different in comparison to your new record. How did you achieve the sound on the new record? It is so old school, raw, cold as well as it sounds like it was recorded in the tomb.

- On “…Of Prevailing Chaos” we wanted to do some really d-beat infused stuff. It became naturally, because our then new drummer Mike and me listened to lots of d-beat music at the time. Skitsystem, Disfear, Discharge, Matryrdöd and so on. On “…Of Deceit And Utter Madness” we wanted to do an raw, eerie and creepy sounding record in the veins of Incantation or Grave Miasma for instance. So that is basically what we told our record engineer at “Hedgehog Recording Studios”.

How did the recording process look? Do you use some special amps or effects?

- We hit the studio with the idea that the album must sound raw, primitive and it need to have a feeling like in an ancient crypt. We did use our own instruments, but the equipment was offered by the studio. Also, the drum we used was the one offered by the studio and with cymbals we lend from the drummer of Deathcult. Pascal did not use any Pedals, just directly plugged in the guitar into the amp and cranked every channel up to 11. Nico simply used an HM2-Pedal for his distortion. In the edit we gave all the instruments some delay and reverb effects.

The cover art for the new records is very interesting. Can you describe what we can see at the cover? I must confess that I'm not very familiar with the work of Mark Cooper. Which his work impressed you so much you decided for him? How was going this collaboration?

- I have to say that we ourselves have no idea what Mark Cooper tells us with that painting. It was offered by Raul of Memento Mori and we instantly fell in love with it. So there was no personal contact with Mark from our side. We like the nightmarish and weird feeling that the painting creates. It also has that oldschool death metal record vibe. It fits our record perfect.

Based on the title song “…Of Deceit and Utter Madness” which is actually some fragment from the old movie, I guess you must be a movie fans. Could you reveal the movie, from which you took this part?

- I am a big fan of old horror movies, also are some of my bandmates. The clip was taken from the 1933 classic Boris Karloff movie “The Ghoul”.

What about the title of the further record? Will you continue in the titles starting with “….Of” again?:))

- There is nothing carved in stone. But I think we still like the idea and there will be future records that start with the “…of” introduction. Haha.

What about the lyrics? Could you reveal the main inspiration for them, main topics behind and the approach of their writing? Is the first music or lyrics, or both them you write independently of each other?

- We write them independently of each other. I write all the lyrics. Normally I choose the text that fits the song the most, because I already wrote lyrics for 200 or more songs. Haha. But sometimes the song comes first and I can’t find any lyrics that fit, then I write the lyrics afterwards.

I manly take inspiration from horror movies and literature. Some songs are based on my own nightmares.

The band name is taken from Electric Wizard song. Have you been or are you still influenced by these doom/stoner metal leaders? Or did only the song Funeralopolis somehow attract you? The lyric is really dark and gloomy.

- Yes! We are great E. Wizard Fans, especially the early recordings. We never directly let our sound influence by them. Our Ex-Vocalist came up with the idea to name the band Funeralopolis. It’s just the theme and the dark topic that attracted us. Funeral planet, dead black asteroid! Mausoleum, this world is a tomb!

I think, now many new bands follow the old school concept, not only death metal bands but groups playing different metal genres. Are you mostly fans of the old metal bands or do you have some favorites from the newer metal groups? Could you recommend some albums which attracted you in last years?

- We are big fans of the oldschool extreme metal. But yes, we are also extremely interested in what new releases the scene has to offer. There are too many to count, but some recommendations are Spectral Voice, Horrendous, Lunar Shadow, Chaos Echoes, Traveller, Mortiferum, Swordweilder, Rust, Cavurn, Temple of Void, Blood Incantation, Hellripper, Krypts, None, Nephilim’s Noose, Smoulder, Concrete Winds, Ascended Dead, Stalker, Megaton Sword, Dead Congregation, Crypt Sermon, Grave Miasma, Phrenelith, Ranger, Toronto, Sacroscum, Malokarpatan, Hexenbrett, Ensnared, Spell, Helvete’s Port, Vulture. Yeah I stop here, because I could fill 20 pages with young bands we are fans of. Hahaha.

What about concerts? Where did you perform live until now? Do you have ambitions to go further from Switzerland maybe to organize some European tour? Which bands would you like to take with you on tour?

- We perform mainly all over Switzerland. We had a gig in Germany and one in Austria but we didn’t make it further. Haha. We want to do all of what you have asked for, but for now we didn’t have any precise plans for the moment. Also because of the whole Covid Situation.

Before the end of the interview, could you tell me about the scene in your hometown or in whole country, in general? Do you have a famous musical clubs for concerts, some special pubs, where musicians go for a beer? Some annual metal festivals important to mention?

- Of course. The scene in Switzerland is small but alive! Especially in Zürich is the underground stronger than ever. But the real metal places are still rare. Some places you must visit if you are in Zürich are the Ebrietas Bar and the Berggeflvster Vinyl and Food Store.

We have two great annual festivals. “Chaos Ritval” is an underground extreme metal festival always with lots of great bands in the line up and the “Meh Suff Metal Festival”, simply the biggest and only outdoor metal festival in Switzerland. That is basically it we are indeed a small country with an even smaller scene. Also, I want to give a shout out to the Coq d’Or Bar and Club, Olten and Hirscheneck Bar and Club, Basel.

Alright, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions and congratulations on your new record. I hope this interview wasn’t too exhausting. I hope, I will see your show somewhere near soon! Any closing words?

Thanks for having me / us. „Black monolith charged with unlight, sacrifice to forever midnight!“

Recenze/review - FUNERALOPOLIS - ...of Deceit and Utter Madness (2020):

https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2020/05/recenzereview-funeralopolis-of-deceit.html
https://funeralopolis.bandcamp.com/album/of-deceit-and-utter-madness
https://www.facebook.com/Funeralopolisofdeath?fref=ts
https://www.instagram.com/funeralopolis_ch/
http://www.memento-mori.es/