Interview with death metal band from Finland - SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST.
Answered guitarist Janne Satokangas, thank you!
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Recenze/review - SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST - Echoes of the Apocalypse (2020):
Ave SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST! I haven’t found any interview in the Czech language with you, yet. So please, first introduce the band to our readers who don’t know you. You could start from the early beginnings and describe the whole SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST history.
Spiritual Holocaust formed in 2010 in Raahe, Finland. First demo "Salute the Death" saw the daylight during the same year. 2013 "Kingdom of Cadavers" EP came out. It was our first release via record label. Soon after that we started to work with our first full-length album "Feast of Maggots". After some line-up changes and some difficulties it finally came out in 2017. It was important step for us. After that we became pretty activate. We played some gigs and worked with the 2nd album "Echoes of the Apocalypse". It came out last year. So ten years in short: one demo, one EP, two albums and some live shows. Our current line-up is: Tomi Vähäkangas - vocals, Vesa Hämäläinen - guitar, Janne Satokangas - guitar (the bastard who is writing this), Antti Eilola - bass and Ville Yypänaho - drums.
I’m just listening to your new record „Echoes of the Apocalypse“, and I feel like as if I am closed in some tomb together with DISMEMBER, NIHILIST, ENTRAILS, and INTERMENT. The recordhas a great Swedish sound. Where did you record it and how satisfied you are with it? Did you have the "last word" concerning the resulting sound?
Well, most of the album is recorded by ourselves. Drums we recorded in the real studio called Tuupa Records by Heikki Isokoski. He is the wizard of drum tones. It was pleasure to work with him again. Other instruments and vocals we recorded at home studios and rehearsal room. So there is a lot of DIY mentality on the album. So yes we had the "last word" for sure. We are proud of the result but we also know that we can improve our sound next time.
How was the new material for album „Echoes of the Apocalypse“ created? How exactly SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST writes the music?
Well, I compose my songs at my home. I just take my guitar and start to jam and hopefully something comes out. If something cool comes out then I record it with my computer and if we are lucky we have a new song some day. I am not sure how Ville compose his songs but I think he do it pretty much the same way. We don't spend much time in rehearsal room together but that will change during the process of next album. Actually it has already started.
„Echoes of the Apocalypse“ has dark and morbid cover art. Who is an author? I really like his work. How did you actually choose the idea of the cover and what exactly illustrates?
The art is created by Alexey Sivitsky (GodLikeIkons). We just gave him some lyrics and the title "Echoes of the Apocalypse" and let him do the job. We have been working with him since the first full-length album "Feast of Maggots and we trust him. He is very talented artist. I am not sure what it exactly illustrates and that is cool. It leaves room for imagination. Perfect art for our album.
Could you reveal us who is an author of the lyrics and what is their background?Where did you take inspiration for certain topics?
Most of the lyrics came from me this time. Vesa wrote some of the Worldwide Domination. Anyway, world is full of topics. Just watch the news if you know what I mean. The idea for the song can come from anywhere. I read quite a lot and watch a lot of movies and documentaries so some of the ideas come from there. I am also interested about history and there you can find a lot of topics.
The new album was released by More Hate Productions. This label has a very good name in the undergroundscene and does a very good job. However, didn't you want to release a record in some bigger label? Did you ask some other label? How you are actually satisfied with More Hate Productions?
More Hate Productions released our first full-length album too and everything went fine with that one so we wanted to continue with the same label. Simple as that. We are satisfied with More Hate Productions.
You play typical, classical Swedish old school death metal. You have never changed the direction,you are let's say „orthodox“. Personally, this is one reason why I like your music so much. But, didn’t you think about try to play something different, somehow to make the SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST music more unusual?
We don't think things like that much. We just go with the flow. There is no reason to chance the style. This is what we wanna do. That doesn't mean that we don't try new things. We do and if it sounds good we might use it. But this is death metal band and we keep it that way.
When I look through your albums, you really made a long journey. It is obvious that you as a band are still working on yourself.How often do you rehearsal together? Are you a "hard-working" band, which practices regularly or are you more „punk“ in the rehearsal task?
Totally punk. We are lazy bastards but as I mentioned before that will change. Hopefully we rehearse more than once in a month in the future.
In the case of your band, it is very good to see your development, each album is better, and you are also gradually better and better musicians. Do you have some goal, which you would like to achieve? Someone wants to release an album with a large label; other wants to play on one stage with some famous band. What about you?
Are we?! Thanks! Our main goal is to have fun with this band. Of course we want to play more live shows. That is enjoyable. Sharing the stage with a famous band would be fantastic. We are small band so there is lot goals to achieve but in the end it is all about having fun together. After all we are fun loving guys.
Can you recommend some new albums, which impressed you at the latest time?
"Frontschwein" by Marduk. I know it is not new album but to me it is. But new ones.. Church of the Dead released self-titled album last year and that was really good. What else... oh yes! New album "Necroceros" from Asphyx is killer! Now I am waiting the upcoming album from Revulsion.
Do you know and listen to some metal bands from the Czech Republic?
I have one album from Hypnos.. what was the name.. "In Blood We Trust". Honestly I haven't listen to it that much yet. I really should check what Czech Republic have to offer. Any recommendations?
We are slowly approaching the end of the interview so I would like to ask one more philosophical question. How would you define the Swedish death metal style? What represents this music for you and why did you choose exactly this genre?
Maybe the genre chose us. Swedish death metal and death metal in general is fascinating. It is therapeutic to play heavy and groovy riffs very loud. It is fun. It is fun to listen to and see the bands alive. I love the genre. I am death metal fanatic so to speak. It is a huge part of my life.
What SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST is planning for the next few months?
We keep working with the new material. That's all what we can do now during these weird virus times.
Thank you for the interview and I wish you a lot of sold CDs, hundreds of crazy fans and tons of great ideas.
Thanks a lot for this nice little chat!
Recenze/review - SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST - Echoes of the Apocalypse (2020):
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