Interview with death metal band from Switzerland - CREMATION.
Answered Serge and Ramon, thank you!
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.
Recenze/review - CREMATION - Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains (2022):
1. Ave CREMATION! Greetings to beautiful Switzerland. I recently made a map of metal Europe at home over the weekend and I made a note of your country - CORONER, HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST, MESSIAH and then I thought of someone "younger". Then you get to my mind first together with REQUIEM! And your new album " Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains“ is excellent! How did the album come about and in which direction did you wanted to move?
Serge: Ahoj Jakub! We started writing new songs before the whole pandemic thing started and we used the time during this weird and sometimes shitty period to write more songs and record the album. We tried to get a more compact and homogenic sounding album this time. We've definitely improved in the way we write songs on this one.
2. The new record is packed to the brim with real, aggressive old-style death metal. Nevertheless, it is fresh and interesting. You have your own clear and distinct signature, you bet a lot on the atmosphere. Who is the main author of the music and how do you create new songs? The album incredibly cuts to the alive! How did manage it?
Ramon: Marco (g), Roger (g) and I (d) are mainly working on new songs. For this album, for the first time, we used a labtop with the appropriate program and went through riff by riff. Four songs were ready, the other four we developed with this system. It was a bit unusual, but fortunately very productive and creative. And, we just took our time. Our need was, despite the technical progress, to maintain our sound and to sound as real as possible. First and foremost, we have to like our sound ourselves, stand behind it!
3. At "old" bands, I always really like how they play with sound. This is especially true for death metal. The individual instruments must stand out, at the same time I literally hate "modern" artificial plastic sound. " Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains" sounds raw, old school, dark, cold. Who is signed after mastering and mixing? Where did you record?
Serge: I'm not a fan of modern sound. Sounds too artificial for me. A lot of bands use the same drum samples and the same amp emulators on their records, which is one of the reasons for that plastic sound as you describe it. We still use real amps with tubes and real drums. The only thing we trigger is the bass drum, but that's a thing a lot of death metal drummers do nowadays.
I've been working as a sound engineer for a little over 20 years now and recorded and mixed all our previous records, except the very first one. For this one we did the recording in our rehearsal room again, but we decided to give the mixing duty to Raphael Bovey (MyRoom Studio) and mastering to Lad Agabekov (Caduseus Studios). The idea this time was to give our sound to someone else, to bring a fresh perspective into our sound. I think it's a good mix between old school and modern sound. We are very happy with the result we achieved with these guys.
4.They say good cover art sells and the one on "Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains" is great. I can't help but think it's inspired by old Catholic books? What exactly is it supposed to convey and how does it relate to the music?
Ramon: In fact, you are very close. The origin is Dante Alighieri, the divine comedy. Gustave Dore took it up around 1880 and created his own version. I discovered this by chance and suggested it to the band with the name, it made sense to everyone. We grew up Catholic, but this we have discarded. Our homeland is characterized by high, rugged mountains where you can see the horizon only on the mountain tops, so the images of Dore are very close to our reality.
5. The lyrics are a very underestimated discipline in many death metal bands. It's also very difficult to write lyrics for music, at least I think so. It has to sit in phrasing, at the same time be understandable and express some emotions. Who is the author of the lyrics on „Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains“ and where did he get the inspiration for them?
Serge: My lyrics are mostly inspired by our everyday lives, what happens with our environment and also psychological aspects, the dark sides of humanity. I wrote all the lyrics for our records so far, except Plaguelord on the last record and Thoughtseize on our previous record, which were written by our bass player Thomas, who also does the main vocals on these two tracks.
The main themes on „Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains“:
Burning beneath the surface is about people who commit suicide and the fact that most of the time, you really don't see it coming. It hits you in the face and we're left with so many questions about why they did it.
Digital Depency is about our depence on technology, especially computers, smart phones etc. We'll see how well it goes with the upcoming energy crisis, might get funny...
Plaguelord is about the plague, as the title says. We didn't want to write a song about the recent pandemic, so Thomas, our bass player chose the plague as a theme. It's also a reminder to all the crybabys complaing about Covid 19, the restrictions and measures that had to be taken etc. Humanity has seen way worse. Think about it!
Among the braindead seems to a song about zombies, but is more about the decline of humans and especially our intelligence. I'm always amazed how stupid we can be sometimes. Break the cycle is about a new start, leaving the past behind and looking ahead. Timebomb is about being under pressure and just wanting to burst.
Blooddrill is about big international coprporations exploiting our planets resources and how far we can go. It's using blood as a metaphore. How long can we keep drilling into the earth, before blood comes flowing out and we all start drowning in it?
6. I'm going through your discography and I've found that you are quite responsible. You've never released an outright weak record. Each album is a bit different, but at the same time you keep your direction and I can recognize you in several tones. This is a great gift and ability in overproduction today. But who are CREMATION like people? I believe that there is a sense of chemistry among musicians. Do you go for a beer together, do you meet even out of concerts? According to the photos, you look like a bunch of nice guys, whom I would like to invite to a shot :).
Ramon: Like real life, you evolve in music and it's a process that demands a lot from everyone. Keeping the thread going is challenging, but I think we have managed to stay authentic. After 30 years you get to know, respect and appreciate each other! That doesn't stop and that's very good.
With us you can definitely have a shot, talk about music and just enjoy the moment!
7. What about CREMATION and concerts? Do you play often? I'd love to see you somewhere in the club! Like you and MESSIAH, that would be amazing!
Serge: We'll definitely try to play more shows in the future, also outside of Switzerland. Our goal for next year is to play at least one or two shows per month in average. We'd love to play with Messiah again. Great guys, very down to earth. We shared the stage with them in Luzern, when they did one of their reunion shows and it was a great experience. I was lucky enough to see these guys about 3 or 4 times before they broke up and I'm very happy that they got back together.
8. In the Czech Republic, Switzerland has a very good sound. But mostly we only pass through your country when we go somewhere to the sea or the mountains. What is it like for you with death metal, concerts, fans? What is the Swiss underground like?
Ramon: Unfortunately, we were only once in the Czech Republic, in Most. Our impression was very positive! We didn't see much of the country, but the audience was very open and ready to actively listen to the bands. Whether underground or high class, here you can actually go to a concert every weekend. There is a lot going on, there are a lot of good bands that deliver quality. There are very good venues and organizers who work very professionally! All in all, whoever is interested is very well served in Switzerland.
9. Which bands influenced CREMATION when you started? Did you have any idols you worshiped? For us, please remember what the beginnings of the band were and guide us through your history.
Serge: When we started it was mainly a mix of US, swedish, dutch and UK death metal that influenced us. We were listening to bands like Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Pestilence, Sinister, Gorefest, Dismember, Grave, Entombed, Carcass, Napalm Death, Benediction and Messiah. Later on we discovered bands like Nile, Dying Fetus, Cephalic Carnage, Exhumed, Misery Index and Aborted among many others.
We also looked up to the local bands that were palying death metal at that time we started, like Exhumanator, Malevolence and Damnatory. We did our first show with Exhumanator in 1995 at a local venue. The second show was already outside of our home town area, in the french speaking part of the region we live in. After that we quite quickly played more shows in different areas. Playing Gigs all over Switzerland with other underground bands and sharing the stage with some of the bigger bands I mentioned at the beginning was an important part of our evoltion. I got in touch with bands from the french speaking part of Switzerland, were is also lived for a while. Having connections with the french and german speaking bands helped a lot to find and play more gigs.
10. When you say death metal, everyone imagines a little different. What does it mean for you? How do you, as the author, perceive this music and what do you want to express with it? Is it anger, darkness, cold? Other emotions?
Ramon: We grew up with death metal, that's what shaped us. Each one of us listens to different metal genres at home. Probably the mix of different emotions, influences and imprints is what finally makes our band. Depending on the mood, your mentioned emotions can come to the fore. But I can't tell you exactly which ones they are...
It's a privilege to make music, so all the positive emotions come into play. And that's maybe how an album like this one comes out.
11. What are CREMATION planning in the upcoming months? Do you want to say something to the fans?
Serge: Our plans for the next months is to play as many shows as possible to promote our new record, drink beers, burn stages and have a good time. We also might start working on some new material. To our fans: Check out the new record and the older ones as well! If we play near your town, come check us out. Keep supporting the underground bands and enjoy life!
12. When you say death metal, everyone imagines a little different. What does it mean for you? How do you, as the author, perceive this music and what do you want to express with it? Is it anger, darkness, cold? Other emotions?
Ramon: We grew up with death metal, that's what shaped us. Each of us listens to different metal genres at home. Probably the mix of different emotions, influences and imprints is what finally makes our band. Depending on the mood, your mentioned emotions can come to the fore. But I can't tell you exactly which ones they are...
It's a privilege to make music, so all the positive emotions come into play. And that's maybe how an album like this one comes out.
13. What are CREMATION planning in the upcoming months? Do you want to say something to the fans?
Serge: Our plans for the next months is to play as many shows as possible to promote our new record, drink beers, burn stages and have a good time. We also might start working on some new material. To our fans: Check out the new record and the older ones as well! If we play near your town, come check us out. Keep supporting the underground bands and enjoy life!
Thank you so much for the interview, I really appreciate your time. I'll do one thing now. I'm going to listen " Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains" really loud! It's a really great album, which got pretty under my skin. Thanks a lot for it too. I wish you great sales. Also good luck in your private lives!
Ramon & Serge: Thank you Jakub for your appreciative words and we are very happy that our album has left a mark on you! Thank you also for taking the time to deal with it!
All the best to you, your family! And take care!
Recenze/review - CREMATION - Where the Blood Flows Down the Mountains (2022):
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