Interview - DISAVOWED - No nonsense, just releasing pure energy and mayhem for the sake of art. ~ DEADLY STORM zine

Interview with brutal death metal band DISAVOWED from Netherlands.

Answered guitarist Daniel van der Broek, thank you!

Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.

Recenze/review - DISAVOWED - Revocation of the Fallen (2020):

https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2020/07/recenzereview-disavowed-revocation-of.html

Ave DISAVOWED! You released your second long-played album called „Revocation of the Fallen“. I have to admit that I didn´t expect such death metal tsunami. I can´t help it but I feel an apocalypse from your new album! How do you feel about the album now? How about reviews, responses from listeners and how do your songs work on live concerts?

All hails to you all! Daniel from Disavowed here. In fact, it is our THIRD full length album already!;-) Thank you for your positivity about it. I think we are quite happy with the end result, although some fans don’t really like the more modern approach of the production. But there is always a matter of taste and personal preference. Also in reviews. It’s just an opinion and good or bad, I don’t really care to be honest. Although I like the good reviews a little bit better than the bad of course... But then again, bad reviews can also certainly put a smile on my face.

What wiped me out from this world was the sound. On the last album „Stagnated Existence“ (2007) was the sound great but now it is even better! Did you change the recording approach? Or did you change the album production?

Stagnated was totally produced by ourselves. Revocation was recorded and produced in Kohlekeller studios, Germany. The ‚change‘ in sound had to do with the producer Kristian Kohle, although he had much respect for our own views on how we wanted to sound. It’s somewhere in the middle i suppose... We still used the same digitech RP12 for our guitars, Nils used the same bass, amp and pre amp as used on Stagnated. But the process of mixing and mastering can certainly change things overall. Not always for the better, but in this case we were very happy with the more modern approach in production, and still sound like Disavowed.

I also like your lyrics. Brutal death metal is full of prolapsed bowels and blood and your songs are about dark visions, fiction, philosophy and apocalypse. Do you feel lyrics are important in your work? Who is the author of these lyrics and what are they about on the new album „Revocation of the Fallen“? Do you want to convey some message with your lyrics?

Our vocalist Robbe K writes all the lyrics. They are very personal and philosophical I guess. He is not into bowels and blood, but more into brains. Especially what’s inside them... And make no mistake, those things can be pretty brutal as well... But I have to admit: bowels, blood and shit is more fun, haha!

Jorg de Vos did the cover. I like his works and I have to admit that I didn´t know him until I discovered your band. Why did you choose him and how was the cover born? Were you choosing from the finished works or was the cover made just for this album?

Jorg de Vos is a personal friend and dear colleague of mine. We both work in the comic book industry, and he used to do vocals in Dutch Death metal band „Necrovile“ at the beginning of the 2000’s. He makes some fantastic comics and is a great painter/artist. Therefore he is a well known name in the Dutch comic book industry. We always had the preference in letting him do our next albumcover. Also for Arsebreed he did the artwork, which is also great. He’s a truly great artist.

You can tell that you work on your development a lot. I wonder how the new album´s songs were made, who did the riffs, etc. Do you work together in a rehearsal room or every person works alone and then you just put it together in one unit?

We work and write seperate from each other. Me and Gerben wrote the songs for Revocation, although I only wrote two songs on Revocation: Revocation of the fallen and Egocentric Entity. The rest of the songs are from Gerben. But what we do is writing the basic stuff, the songstructure, the basics of the drums and bass lines. Record the songs in a sketchy way so to speak. But Nils did some incredible creative work on his bass to really give all the songs a powerfull lift and spark. Without his exceptional work on the album, it would have been more dull. I am thrilled with his playing and bass composing on this album. A personal highlight for me. But don’t rule out Septimus and Robbe. They both also added incredible effort and creativity to make the songs work so much better. So yes, we work in a team, but seperate from each other. There is enough trust in each other that we all can add our personal creativity for the benefit of the songs. No captains on this ship...

DISAVOWED was founded in 2000. How was the start of your band? Did you have any idols? What about the first concerts?

Disavowed started in 1996 under the previous name ‚Nocturnal Silence‘, which was some kind of a mix between black and death. But the black element only lasted for a few early experimental years before totally commit to the US style brutal death meatl in the line of Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Death, Morbid Angel. Later on Disgorge and Deeds of Flesh and pure inderground bands like that became more of an influence. We all especially like the „Scott Burns“ era. Very classical...

You play difficult, complicated music. You have to be precise and synchronic like a machine. How often does DISAVOWED play in a rehearsal room? And how do you approach to the playing itself? Are you a conscientious and meticulous band or do you choose the “punk attitude”? Some of your riffs are just very difficult, how do you work them on concerts? Do you have to simplify something sometimes so the live performance is possible?

Well, it’s not thát complicated to be honest, but sure, there are some riffs that are quite impossible to play. For live shows we just take the easy songs, haha. But yeah, in the early days we practiced two times a week. We were pretty tight in those days. But working with international drummers lately, that has become more difficult. Mostly we don’t practice before shows. Our drummer Septimus takes the plane directly to the location we play and without rehearsals we pray to God that we don’t mess up. And thats why we suck nowadays... Haha!

And what about DISAVOWED and the concerts? You are exactly the band, which I would like to see on the stage. Are you planning some tour for supporting of a new album? Usually here are still shows of more famous bands again and again and I can imagine BENEATH as a support of bands such as SUFFOCATION or IMMOLATION. I would definitely visit such concert. Where did you perform till now and what could be the best concert for you?

Of course because of all this bullshit we live in nowadays, we don’t play liveshows. Hopefully next year. I dont know. I would love to go to the States again to do some touring, The Bloodletting tour of 2002 was insane. But to play in Indonesia is just complete and utterly crazy. Those people just ‚live‘ for Death Metal and it is just pure Beatle-mania!

Nowadays, it is more and more common for people to download the new records from the internet and listen to only the digital version of albums. What do you think about it? I am interested in the opinion from a musician point of view.

Ah well... You don’t play deathmetal for money. That would be the most stupid business plan to make. No one would invest a penny in that type of music. So it is just a pure form of art, which comes from the heart. In our case, it doesn’t only come from the heart, but you also have to play with balls. No nonsense, just releasing pure energy and mayhem for the sake of art. That’s what deathmetal is all about. So, the fact that albums don’t sell as well as the beginning of the 2000’s is of no relevance to me. There wasn’t money in it from the start, so i’m totally okay with people listing to our music for free on Youtube of Spotify.

I think that the manner of listening to music has changed over next few years, do you agree? Do you still go on concerts and support bands? What was the last album you have purchased? What have you been listening recently?

Peoples concentration span have become shorter indeed (tik tok videos for example). Maybe that’s why people are listening in a different manner I suppose. I don’t know. I don’t really care. But personally I still like to go to concerts. But only to small concerts in youth centres in my area. Totally unknown young bands that are willing to play for a couple of beers. I still like that scene. Most of the young bands are shit, but from time to time there is a spark of talent and effort. But it’s just a night out. Talking to some people, drinking a couple of beers and try to enjoy shitty bands (that’s the most difficult part of an evening like that, haha). Anayway, I don’t go to big concerts anymore. Never did anyway. Last time i went to a slightly larger gig, was to see Suffocation. Pretty tight i guess. Didn’t notice until the end of the concert that Ricky from Disgorge was doing vocals for Suffocation (didn’t have my glasses on), haha! So at the end I shouted out „Hey Ricky“!, to make some small talk. „Fucking Daniel“ he replied... Never spoke any further to him that night... He just went off... Haha... crazy.... Traveled 6 weeks with that guy throughout the USA.

What are DISAVOWED´s plans for the next few months? Are you planning to go on some concert in the Czech Republic?

Probably not, although I love to play in the Czech Republic. Some crazy fans over there... To be realistic, I think the first shows will be in Indonesia next year.

Thank you for this interview and I wish you a lot of sold CDs, hundreds of crazy fans and tons of great ideas.

Well thank you very much. My pleasure to do this interview with you. Take care and hopefully we’ll talk in person soon.

Best, Daniel.

Recenze/review - DISAVOWED - Revocation of the Fallen (2020):

https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2020/07/recenzereview-disavowed-revocation-of.html

https://www.facebook.com/Disavowedofficial/
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https://brutalmind.bandcamp.com/
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