Interview with death metal band from Germany - DENOMINATION, thank you!
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.
Recenze/review - DENOMINATION - They Burn as One (2022):
Ave DENOMINATION! Greetings to Germany. I hope you're doing well in these crazy times. Recently, I had to order your new CD „They Burn as One“ as a fan of old school death metal. They are great and is literally killing. How and when did DENOMINATION get together and why did you choose to play old moldy death metal? Please take us through the band's history.
Thank you very much. We appreciate your kind words! But how did you manage to get a CD of our new Album without it being released on CD, Vinyl or Tape yet?? :D Nevertheless thank you for this Interview request. We are busy collecting new material and practicing for some shows which hopefully won’t be cancelled! In short: we are more or less fine, despite these fucked up times.
Our bands‘ history is quite short and unspectacular. Dirk“Tüte“A., our main song writer and guitarist, asked Tommy S., our bassist, like two years ago or something if he’d like to participate in a Death Metal project for which he was collecting material for years. A drummer had to be found so Tommy asked me (Anton T.). Tommy and I already knew each from our previous (not worthy to mention) band! Long story short: we all were unhappy with our bandprojects for different reasons. After we three came together our second guitarist, Kevin P., joined us. As we knew each other for a long time it was obvious that this is the right thing to do. Last but not least: we needed a vocalist so Dirk contacted an old friend of him, Olli H., who was active in the early 90s in a band called Splutter!! The madness begins!!
We wanted to start something pure and simple, something straight-into-your-face without any compromises. I think Death Metal from the old days like Dismember, Autopsy, Repulsion or Bolt Thrower is the right way to express these kind of emotions, although we never really talked about how it should sound or which kind of Style it has to be. It all comes out quite naturally, we just play music we all listen to.
„They Burn as One“ is your third album. How did it originate? If I compare it with the previous EP „When Life Ends“ (2021), it seems faster, sharper, darker. How do you see it? Where and how did you want to move?
It’s actually our first full-length album! The only difference to our previous release I see is the production and the recording process. It’s more „professional“ if it’s how you wanna call it. The biggest part of the Ep was recorded during a rehearsal session. The album was recorded in seven or eight days. Later on the solo parts were added. Musically I don’t really see a difference to „When life ends“. It’s just pure and simple Death Metal, with a few Punk elements!! To be honest: we didn’t think much at all. We just recorded songs we collected in a few months, that’s it haha..
When I listen to the record, I feel like I did in the 1990s. I discovered music then and I still listen to it to this day. How did you manage to make such a dusty sound? Where did you record this album and who mixed your album?
Yeah I think the 90s feeling is there because of the music we all listen to, each song has typicall 80s/90s (Death) Metal elements in my opinion. But the production is more modern I think, although I’m more than happy when the listener gets the „old school vibe“!! Both production and mixing were done by one and only Jörn Michutta in Werdohl, North-Rhine Westphalia! Great guy, really appreciate it to work with him!
The cover is also subject to the old days. This year's one evokes in me the memory of old covers. Maybe it's the way of painting or motif, I don't know. What exactly is it supposed to represent in relation to your music? And who is author of this cover?
The cover artwork was done by our guitarist Dirk. He took a painting of Jean Delville, a Belgian poet, occultist and Theosophist, and just altered it a little bit. I think it fits the album title quite well, a mass of people craving for the same thing, creating some kind of unity. In this case it is us, five individuals craving for the „perfect“ riff to make people bang their head. On the other hand our album is made of eleven thematically different songs, craving for unity so to speak...held together by intro and outro only.
The lyrics on the new album are traditional, classic, death metal. They seem good to me. How did they originate? Where do you get inspiration for them?
Half of the lyrics were done by Tommy S., our bassist. I don’t know where his inspiration comes from. I only can speak for myself. There are some religious and philosophical elements,but mostly it‘s it’s horror and gore. The writing process was a little bit stressful. At the studio we realized that the lyrics we had were shit!! Tommy and I had to write new lyrics. The most easy thing for me is to write about repulsive and violent stuff, so yeah...I’m not really satisfied with all of the lyrics. But it’s ok. You only can learn from your mistakes.
You released album by the ADG Promotion. Why did you choose this label? Have you sent promo recordings to major publishers, for example? What was your experience with that?
Daniel Rojewski, owner of ADG, has been friends with Dirk for a long time. He seems quite competent in what he is doing. He is the one who even motivated us to release more than a rehearsal demo. ADG helps us with all kinds of stuff like concerts, promotion or the pressing of our releases.
You come from the beautiful city - Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia. What's your metal scene like? Does underground work for you?
In terms of Metal and Underground Hagen is dead. Nothing has happened here for a long time. The majority here doesn’t even listen to good Metal. The few Bands here play Pop bullshit or Punk , mostly Bullshit too!
In your production is possible to hear the influence of ENTOMBED or DISMEMBER, how do you percive the importance of those bands in the development of death metal? Why and what do you like on Swedish old school scene?
Here I can only speak for myself, too. For me Swedish Death Metal was never that important. When it comes to Death Metal I am more into the old American stuff like Autopsy, (first 3) Death, Repulsion, Morbid Angel, Deicide. To be honest I think Dirk and Olli are the only ones who are really into all that Swedish Death. With Dirk as our main song writer it is obvious that we always will have that „Swedish“ note in our music. Although I consider Denomination simply as Death Metal...German Death Metal!!
Nowadays, most people download music online and they only use its digital form. How do you as a musician feel about this issue?
We really don‘t care if people listen to our music on Vinyl or on Spotify as long as THEY LISTEN TO IT!!! Of course it is something special to hold a tape or 12“ of a band you like in your hand. It’s magical and digital releases will never evoke those same feelings. But...you have to go with the times, too. I use both, Spotify and Vinyl/CD/tape, who cares anyway...
Are there any albums which have caught your attention recently?
This is not an easy one, here again I can only speak for myself. I listen to a lot of different music, everything that pleases me. It always depends on my mood. But recently I have been listening to a lot of Archgoat, the new album kicks ass!! I also started to like all the Darkthrone albums after „The Cult is Alive“, great stuff! Other bands who got my attention recently are Old Nick, Curta’n Wall, Amyl & the Sniffers(!!!!), Armagedda, Wulkanaz, Wagner Ödegard, and Mercyful Fate!! From time to time I rediscover music I didn’t like years ago but now can somehow understand and enjoy...like Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Gehenna („First Spell“) and a lot more!
Do you know or listen any Czech bands?
The first thing that comes to my mind is Gutalax, hahaha. To be honest I don’t know much about the Czech scene. Maybe something I got to check out more!
What are DENOMINATION ´s plans for the next few months?
Our plans for the future are: write/record as much music and play as much shows as possible until we die!!
Thank you so much for the interview and I wish you many sold albums, hundreds of crazy fans and tons of good ideas.
Thank you, we appreciate it!
Recenze/review - DENOMINATION - They Burn as One (2022):
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