Interview with death metal band from FINLAND - CHURCH OF THE DEAD.
https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2023/06/recenzereview-church-of-dead-beyond.html
Ave CHURCH OF THE DEAD! Greetings to the underground. I hope everything is fine with you. It should be because this year you have released a second long-play full-length album in your band's career. I have to admit it has literally blown my mind. It is dark, energic and as if it cuts by the sharp edge of the knife. I can hear from the record you did a really good job and you added a big portion of the talent, too. How do you perceive the new album in comparison to the previous one? Where did you want to move and in what are these two records different?
Church of the Dead: We feel that this album is heavier than the previous one, but also marks a clear shift away from our death metal roots more towards black metal vibes and more atmospheric horror movieque soundscapes, without forgetting the crust-punk influences that have been with us since the very beginning. One thing is that songs are far part stylistically from each other than on the previous one, that was more from the same mold throughout the first album. Which to us is a return to old ways of Black Sabbath-era albums that were not afraid to feature songs radically different from each other with still sounding like us.
„Beyond Death“ includes all attributes of good death metal. For me personally, it represents the record, which I really like to listen to. How did you produce it? How look the writing process of new material in the case of CHURCH OF THE DEAD?
Church of the Dead: We worked with the same producer Markus as with our first album, so way almost did everything the same way as before, but one thing that was different was the synth elements. On the first album we improvised a lot of stuff, specially in the soundscapes and synth department during the studio sessions. This time we had more solid ideas for those before we entered the studio, but not afraid to make changes on the fly if need be.
Who's signed the sound? I have to confirm that the sound literally kills. It keeps making me turn up the volume on the hi-fi tower. You have a sound that is harsh, raw and dark and animalistic at the same time, it feels analogue. What studio did you record in and how did it all work?
Church of the Dead: Markus Heinonen of Saarni Studios engineered and mixed the album and JB van der Wal (ex-Aborted) handled the mastering duties. Our raw sound live&the practice place is almost identical to the studio sound, and I like to believe we made the jobs of Markus and JB hopefully relatively easy. We always have had a very distinct guitar sound which I don’t think you hear anymore that much in metal nowadays that sets us apart. I can confirm that Marshall, Peavey and Orange tube amps were used on this album very much. Analogue is the way!
An integral part and a kind of extra bonus for fans today is a music CD (cassette, vinyl). You have released it on Redefining Darkness Records and it comes with a deadpan cover. Who is the author? How did you choose the theme and how does it relate to the music on the release?
Church of the Dead: Our covert art is by an Italian artist Roberto Toderico who for example did the latest Asphyx album cover as well. We knew him before and felt he was the right one for the job this time. In the cover art we have had church related themes before, but this time we get to display the Church of the Dead in its full g(l)ory.
I have been wandering the underground for over thirty years and I still go to Finland for music with certainty. I think we have a similar nature and taste when it comes to metal. I like your bands a lot and I monitor your scene carefully. Maybe I envy you a little, because we only have a few death metal bands that are worth it. How do you explain that death metal are doing so well in your country? How do you perceive your scene, fans, labels?
Church of the Dead: The Finnish death metal scene is having a second coming with a lot of younger newer bands and fans coming to the shows. Feels good and also bad not being the young guys anymore but luckily fans of new and old have found us and celebrate blasphemy with us. I think the secret is that there are so many bands in Finland that helps to cultivate an evil spirit to push the bands to make better and better albums when we go see each other live.
You play death metal influenced by, among other things, the old school. Today, the band can't avoid comparisons, but I would like to know how the idea to start CHURCH OF THE DEAD was born, who was and is your metal idol? Where do you want to move your band? Are you attracted to large foreign festivals, for example, are you willing to go on tour with a more famous band?
Church of the Dead: You can definitely hear the influence of a certain Swiss man in our music, specially his older project and I’d say he is our shared idol. Few other notable genres are of course Swedish Crust/Punk/Rock scene that can be heard in many of our more d-beat heavy songs. We are currently looking for the right fit to do a tour and have no issues sharing the stage with a more mainstream band.
When I started my blog six years ago, I had a vision that I would try to support bands that are not so much popular, or they are lost in underground. To let the world knows about them. I think I'm doing quite well, at least according to the responses. How do you approach the promotion of your music? Do you rely upon the label or do you send the CDs for various reviews by yourself? For example, I buy albums that I really enjoy. What about you? Are you also fans who often support your colleagues? Do you go to concerts?
Church of the Dead: With our previous albums we went DIY and mailing CD’s all around the world. With our current album since the label is US based, we of course cannot do this as much as we would like to. Some of us are still to this day very avid CD/Vinyl collectors and we keep buying and supporting our friends and fellow metal maniacs. The Helsinki scene is very tight and we have the pleasure to share the stage and go see our friends play very regularly. Underground festivals like Helsinki Death Fest are doing an excellent job keeping the scene alive.
On the one hand, today the new band has a lot of opportunities to make themselves more known, but on the other hand, there are a huge number of groups and the fans are getting lost in this big metal sea. A lot of people just download mp3s from the internet and instead of to visit the concert they prefer to spit poisonous saliva on Facebook. How do modern technologies affect you as CHURCH OF THE DEAD? What do you think about downloading music, google metalists, streaming music, etc.?
Church of the Dead: Analog is the way, we are a bit oldskool in this way, but naturally you have to have somekind of a presence in nowadays digital world. We don’t care how you consume your music but we like to put on a good vinyl and enjoy music loud from a pair of quality speakers instead of an iPhone at the back of the bus.
I like to ask the musicians what death metal means to them. How would they define it, whether it is more the philosophy and lifestyle thing for them or "just" relaxation? What does it mean for you? How do you perceive and experience it?
Church of the Dead: For us death metal music is more just about enjoying the heavier music and meeting with fellow metal heads. There’s no deeper philosophy or anything like that. We just try to make music that sounds good while being as heavy and grim as we can make it.
Finally, a classic but important question. What is CHURCH OF THE DEAD planning in the upcoming months? Where can we see you at the stage?
Church of the Dead: We are already busy making new music and preparing for a third album, we have currently no summer festival shows booked for this year sadly, so if you wanna see us play in your town, contact your local promoter!
Thank you so much for the interview. I wish a lot of success to the new album and let the number of your fans expand as much as possible. I will look forward to seeing you somewhere live again. I wish you a lot of success both musically and personally. I'm going to push „Beyond Death“ into my head again!
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