Interview with brutal death metal band from Italy - SICKENING.
Answered Claudio Miniati (vocals), thank you!
Recenze/review - SICKENING - The Death King (2024):
Ave SICKENING! Greetings to the Italian underground. Let's go straight to the most important thing. You have released a new record „The Death King“, which is literally packed with honest, dusty death metal. How did the album come about and how do you feel about it? What direction have SICKENING evolved to?
"The Death King" is our fourth full-length and follows the natural evolution we have had from the first work to today. It is our fastest, most complex and most elaborate album, while maintaining our characteristics: playing brutal death metal without compromise, far from the fashions of the moment. "The Beyond" was a concept about the so titled movie by Lucio Fulci, while the new album is a concept about "Der Todesking" ("The Death King" in German), masterpiece by Jörg Buttgereit. I recommend watching it to all fans of disturbing films.
But let's talk about new record. I'm listening to it right now, and I have to write that this time it took me a while to get this record into my blood. I put the album into the player, I am listening to it in the car. I really like the sound. It is lively, organic, old school and at the same time clear. It seems different to me from your previous records. Where did you record and who is signed under the sound?
We are aware that this is a less immediate album than the previous ones, it requires more listens to fully understand it given its complexity. We worked on it for a long time (8 years to write it) to take care of every single detail and we also wanted the sound quality to be up to the level of the composition and arrangements. The drums were recorded by Marco Coghe (Devangelic, Posthuman Abomination, Vulvectomy) at Davide Bilia's "Mk2 Studio", while the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded ourselves in our studio. To achieve the sound we wanted to achieve, we relied on Jonathan Mazzeo's The Grid Europe for mixing, while Christian Donaldson (Cryptopsy) did the mastering. We are very happy with the final result, the album comes out as powerful and dark as we wanted.
I think you'll agree with me that packaging sells. Who's the painter for the new record? How did you and the author get together and what exactly is the theme supposed to convey in relation to the music?
Sure, having a nice cover is definitely the best business card, it's what pushes you to listen to the album. The artwork was created by Armaada Art, a talented Russian artist who goes perfectly with our music. When we contacted him we explained that we wanted a link with Buttgereit's film: the central subject represents the Death King and the skeleton underneath it takes up the corpse that appears recurrently in the movie.
I put „The Death King“ in my head again and again and I say to myself that I like the most this old school brutal death metal feeling that's hard to describe. Looks like we're of the same blood. Who were and are actually your idols? Every musician started somehow, there are patterns that shaped his signature. What about you?
Yes, the historical brutal death bands are closer to my tastes than the more modern stuff. I got involved many (too many!) years ago with classic death metal bands like Death, Morbid Angel and Obituary, and from there I never stopped listening to the genre. And when I discovered Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Gorgasm, Devourment, Brodequin and many others I understood that this would be my path. I also listen to a lot of grind and especially black metal.
What do you think about the current trends, widespread mainly among young bands, where they try to play as technically as possible, they often insert a saxophone, various keyboards into death metal and look for a way in a very complicated way. Do you enjoy such bands? For example, if I ever come to a concert and someone like this performs there, I'm confused. It seems like a rehearsal of a jazz school to me, but in the end I don't remember anything at all. What about you and current trends in death metal?
I don't like at all those who put technique in the foreground, we're not jazz musicians, we play fucking death metal. The technique must be at the service of the music and not the other way around. Do you want to put sax on a death metal record? If you can make the music even more evil and dark ok, but I don't think it's possible. Ultimately I don't like contaminated death metal, as well as deathcore trend.
When we look back at the beginning ... What was the first impulse to found the band? And why the death metal? It's not the typical style which can would give you great "glory".
Hehe for me music is an art form, not a quest for glory. I was 20 years old and I had already been listening to extreme metal for several years, I spent hours in my room singing in growl over the death metal albums I listened to, I wanted to do the same thing but with my own band. I was already playing drums in another band, but I also wanted to try singing. So together with Alessandro (the only remaining founding member besides me) and Marco we decided to play death metal. Initially we made simpler and more old school stuff (with strong influences from Obituary, Sepultura and early Death), then over the years we became increasingly faster and more brutal, which is what we like most.
You come from Italy and you play extreme death metal. Our readers would certainly wonder how the death metal scene works in Italy. To tell you the truth, so lately I hear only the great bands from there. Does this mean that the scene there is so strong at the moment? What about concerts, how many people coming to them?
We have a nice death metal scene in Italy and luckily for us this has also been noticed in the rest of the world: Putridity, Devangelic, Hour of Penance, Fulci, Bloodtruth, Hideous Divinity, Corpsefucking Art, Logic of Denial, Vulvectomy are just some of the names known throughout the world. There are obviously also Fleshgod Apocalypse, but they are far from what I like. Regarding the concerts, I don't know what happened but since the lockdowns due to the pandemic people seem to have rediscovered extreme metal and every time I am pleasantly surprised at how many people come to the concerts. Lately I've been going to death and grind shows that were sold out, never happened before!
From your music is possible to feel that you are influenced by American death metal school and as well by the old European bands. How do you feel about it as a fan? Do you prefer the original death metal or do you get inspiration as well from the new albums? If yes so I am wondering which bands had the greatest impact on SICKENING.
American death metal is certainly the one that influenced us the most, even if European bands like Inveracity, Beheaded, early Pestilence, Sinister, Vader and others contributed to forming our background. With Sickening it is certainly the past that has given us inspiration, even if we also listen to new bands.
In the end I always ask a slightly philosophical question. How would you define death metal and what does it mean to you? I don't mean the playing technique now, but rather what it brings to you, how you perceive it in relation to the fans. Did you grow up on it?
More than death metal, it is extreme metal in general that is part of my life, I am 41 years old and I have been listening to it since I was 16. Only that music can give me the emotions I need, it is as if the passing of time for me it was marked in blast-beats rather than minutes. For me, art is the representation of suffering, what brings out the dark side of each of us.
Thank you so much for the interview. I appreciate it. Now let's talk music. I'm going to play „The Death King“ really loud! I wish you good luck and all the best in your personal lives. Thank you!
Thank you Jakub for the interview and for your support, we really appreciate what you are doing! Best regards to you and the readers, in the hope that they too will like "The Death King".
Recenze/review - SICKENING - The Death King (2024):
Recenze/review - SICKENING – The Beyond (2015):
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