RIPPIKOULU

Who are you and what do you do in your band?

- Hi, this is Olli, the guitarist of Rippikoulu. Band member since 1991.

When/where was your band formed? 

- I think that the band was formed in 1988 or 1989 in small town called Valkeakoski. And our rehearsal place was in suburb called Ulvajanniemi. First the band members were only Toni Valtanen (drums) and Marko Henriksson (R.I.P.) (guitar). I don´t know who was the singer or were the both of them. And the band name was even then Rippikoulu. Janne (bass) and I came to a band in 1990-1991. After Anssi joined the band (1992) we were ready to develop as a strong death metal band.

Why did you choose to play Death Metal?

- Rippikoulus music was first something between hc and punk metal. The music evolved to a death metal like step by step. I think everyone of us listened death metal back then. That was the easy and natural way to start playing death metal. And I think I was the final reason to our death metal sound because I wrote all the songs back then and I loved bands like My Dying Bride and Autopsy.

How do you compose your music? Does only one guy do everything or does everyone contribute?

- Well, there are not just one way. Usually someone (basically me) brings some new material to rehearsals. It might be a whole song or just couple of riffs. And then we start to think what to do with that. If song is good enough, then it is worth to play, if not, then I throw it to the shipyard. One of the songs in our newest EP is a good example of that. It had a good ending but in the first part we did like 10 – 15 different versions and finally threw them away with their crappy structure. It took like 2 years to make it good enough. I want all the riffs be perfect.

Tell us about your lyrics, writing, inspiration etc.

- Anssi (our singer) writes all lyrics. I think the lyrics are some kind of poems about life and death. Love, hate, sorrow and so on. I think Anssi feels more like a poet than a traditional singer even though he loves strong singers who has something to say like Jim Morrison or Lana Del Rey for example

Is there an ideology behind your band?

- Hmmm, actually no. We don’t have any religional, or social statement or ideology in our band. We have just fun and we like to make some music. There might be a slight different if we think about the Rippikoulu in 1990`s and Rippikoulu today. Of course we are more mature and our ideology of life have changed through these years. That might have some influence in Rippikoulus music and lyrics too. But is there some kind of  “Rippikoulu ideology”, no!

How do you see the state of Death Metal music these days in your country and in general?

- Well, I don’t follow the death metal scene so much in these days. I know there are some good new  death metal bands in Finland. And many old school death metal bands have made some kind of come back and that is really good thing to a finnish death metal scene. Only (death) metal I listen in these days are old bands like My dying bride, Moonsorrow, Purtenance and so on,

What are your long term plans as a band? What do you want to achieve?

- That is a hard question. I thing we don’t have any plans for future. We just continue to making music and playing together. We have other things in life too, so Rippikoulu is more like a nice hobby. Of course we would love to go to studio in near future (2016) and make more gigs…but we don’t have any pressure or schedule for that.

Name an other Death Metal band from your country that everyone should hear.

- Like I said I don’t follow too much the death metal scene but I would say Purtenance and Vainaja.

Free word.

- Thanks for this interview and for your interest.

HOODED MENACE

Who are you and what do you do in your band?

Lasse Pyykkö  -  guitar and studio vocals.

When/where was your band formed? 

In Joensuu, Finland in the summer of 2007.

Why did you choose to play Death Metal?

To be exact, we play death/doom. Why? I suppose people form bands so that they can play the music they are passionated about. At least that´s how it should be and that´s how it is with us.

How do you compose your music? Does only one guy do everything or does everyone contribute?

I have composed all Hooded Menace music so far.

Tell us about your lyrics, writing, inspiration etc.

Musical inspiration comes mainly from bands like old Paradise Lost, Autopsy, 80´s Candlemass, early Cathedral, Black Sabbath, Asphyx, Winter… Lyric-wise we draw from the 70´s Euro Horror cinema (especially the Blind Dead series have been a huge inspiration), surrealism, and from the dark corners of our minds.

Is there an ideology behind your band?

Not really.

How do you see the state of Death Metal music these days in your country and in general?

I don´t follow any scenes that much but as far as I´ve understood we have pretty strong death metal scene over here with shitloads of bands. I can´t keep up with it, really. I´m busy enough minding my own business. Globally, DM is doing well too, although it´s a bit too saturated as everyone has to be in a "band" (read: bedroom project) these days and release their "art" online. It´s not very easy to stand out from the vast mass although I´d like to believe the best bands are going to stand out sooner to later if they have the patience and passion to keep going.

What are your long term plans as a band? What do you want to achieve?

No master plan really. As long as we won´t wimp out and/or turn into a worn out piece of crap, I´ll gladly continue as long as I can.  

Name an other Death Metal band from your country that everyone should hear.

Well, the old stuff is the best. So make yourself a favour if you have managed to miss early Xysma (goes beyond death metal though) up to "Yeah" LP including it, two first albums from Sentenced, Demigod´s "Slumber of Sullen Eyes", and sometimes criminally overlooked debut LP by Funebre. Those do for starters.

Free word.

Check out our new album "Darkness Drips Forth" out October 30th via Relapse Records. Thank you!

NERLICH

Who are you and what do you do in your band?

We are Nerlich and we play death metal. No need to mention any names, since what we’re together is what counts and makes us what we’re, not who we are as individuals.

When/where was your band formed? 

Nerlich was formed in autumn 2003. We did several demos during the first couple of years, those were later re-released by Nihilistic Holocaust and Conqueror Of Thorns Records. After this we recorded our debut album "Defabricated Process” which was released in January 2007 by OSM Records. Soon after this we recorded one more demo/EP and eventually split-up in 2008 due to lack a of motivation… Then a couple of years ago we decided to reform the band and now we just got a new EP ”Eternity’s Gate” released on October 2nd via FDA Rekotz.

Why did you choose to play Death Metal?

No specific reason, I just enjoy playing in bands and making my own music. I guess it’s basically just self expression. We like a lot of different styles of music and death metal is one of those. When we were younger that was probably the genre which we listened the most, so it was natural to form the band. And we still enjoy doing it, so why not keep playing.

How do you compose your music? Does only one guy do everything or does everyone contribute?

It depends a lot. Usually the songs start from different riffs or guitar parts, which are then arranged further until achieving the hoped end result. Usually the lyrics come last, but the vocals patterns are arranged at the same time as composing the rest of the song. On this new EP music was done by the guitar player, but lyrics were done by other members too. But in general we just use the material that’s the best, it doesn’t matter who wrote it. The end result is all that matters, to make great songs.

While composing the songs we try to make them a bit different from each other, so that all of the songs would have their own identity and that there would be good amount of variation on the record. We took our time time to make the material as strong as possible for the EP. And we will do the same with the next full length album. There's no point in doing something average, we want it to be killer…

Tell us about your lyrics, writing, inspiration etc.

This new EP is somewhat a concept record lyrically. The songs are stories about different mental problems that people might be facing. They're not true stories, but something that could be real. Kind of real life horror stories… The songs can also been seen as a story about one person going through these paces, though the songs are not in a chronological order. You can decide the order by yourself. 

Unintentionally our Cartilage cover (the last track on the EP) fits the concept perfectly. And as for more details, I guess it’s better to let the listeners discover and interpret the stories by themselves. Better not to spoil all the fun.

Is there an ideology behind your band?

Well not really. We have our values, but they’re not that prominent in what we’re doing. Some of it you might be able to read between the lines, but mainly we’re just writing about stuff that we find interesting. We have a clear idea what fits for Nerlich music and lyric wise, and what doesn’t, so in musical sense you could see us having this some kind of clear idea of what we’re about. Thought that can’t really be called as an ideology.

How do you see the state of Death Metal music these days in your country and in general?

Finland is supposed to have the biggest amount of metal bands compared to any other country, though most of them don’t play death metal. Few years ago there was a growing interest to this genre, though around this time Nerlich was split up (seems like we’re around only when death metal is out of fashion). But during the last year there hasn’t been too many new death metal releases. Good or bad? Hard to say, but atleast there are some good bands that are worth to listen!

What are your long term plans as a band? What do you want to achieve?

Our contract with FDA includes one mini album and one full lenght album. So this obviously means there’s a new album coming out at some point. Perhaps we’ll also do some smaller releases as well, but it’s too early to speak about them yet. And I think it’s important to play gigs, festivals, mini tours after getting new stuff released.

So yeah, we’re writing songs for a new album, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Musically, we're going to continue where we left with the new EP, just taking it one step further. Stagnation and doing the same thing all over again isn't for us. For me, development is important. And for expectations, hopefully as many people as possible will hear the new EP and enjoy it. And it would be great to get some offers to play gigs abroad.

Name an other Death Metal band from your country that everyone should hear.

Hard to name just one, and it depends what you’re after. If we speak about some old classic bands, then I guess it could be Demigod or Demilich. Mordicus and Abhorrence and also definitely bands that deserves to be mentioned. Classic death metal bands from Finland. But if we speak about bands that keep on writing new music, have top-notch songwriting, years of history and several albums under their belt - then my answer would be Torture Killer. If you’d asking for some new bands, then maybe Krypts or Stench of Decay. And for something a bit underrated, then Mordicus for sure, that was a really great band…  There’s already too many names, but it is hard not to mention the first finnish death metal band that I saw live - Deepred. They were really something special, especially on their last record. 

Free word.

Thank you for the interview. The new EP ”Eternity’s Gate” is out now, you can check is out for example at bandcamp: https://fda-rekotz.bandcamp.com/album/eternitys-gate Hope you like it. Cheers!

BURNING HATRED

 Who are you and what do you doi n your band?

I’m Martin, guitarist and lyricst.

When/where was your band formed? 

Burning Hatred was formed in the end of 2002, in the eastern part of The Netherlands

Why did you choose to play Death Metal?

The darkness in the music, the brutalism of the music, the gutteral vocals, the rotten sounds of the guitars, the fast drums all that is what attracted us when we start listening to Death Metal and that’s what we wanted and still want to create.

How do you compose your music? Does only one guy do everything or does everyone contribute?

Mostly I come up with some riffs at home, record them and add some drums to give the rest of the band and idea. Then we start to play around with it in the rehearsal room and the rest joins in with their ideas and riffs, till the song is complete and we are all satisfied. Sometimes we jam on some riffs and create a song out of that.

Tell us about your lyrics, writing, inspiration etc.

The lyrics for our up coming album are all about mass slaughter/genocide throughout history, mostly in times of war. The idea for this came after I read an article about the Bataan Death March, where prisoners of war were forced the march great distance to wear the mout so they would die. After reading that and gathering some more information about it, I wrote a lyric about it. In the meantime we came up with the name for the full length, namely “Carnage”. And we decided to do most lyrics about mass slaughter/genocide

Is there an ideology behind your band?

We just like to play death metal, play it live and drink some beers afterwards. There’s no deeper meaning behind it all, then just having a great time with doing what we like the most.

How do you see the state of Death Metal music these days in your country and in general?

It’s still going in the Netherlands, bands like Sinister and Asphyx are still going strong after all these years and the newer bands like Entrapment and Funeral Whore are holding the banner high. And there are a couple of newer bands that just released their demo’s, like Eternal Mortification and Rotten Casket. The amount of people attending a show has become less and it’s a lot more complicated to arrange shows ,but the underground is still there and still very alive. In general it’s pretty much the same as in The Netherlands I think. There are a lot of the old bands who are still there after all those years and a lot of newer bands that put out strong albums

What are your long term plans as a band? What do you want to achieve?

Releasing albums, 7 inches and splits! And have some great memories when I’m old!

Name an other Death Metal band from your country that everyone should hear.

Eternal Mortification, a young band who knows how to play Death Metal the old school way.

Free word

Thanks for the interview and interest in BURNING HATRED. Watch out for our up coming full length, entitled “Carnage”, which will be released upon the masses in December!DEATH METAL WILL NEVER DIE!!

REPUGNANCE

Who are you and what do you do in your band?

My name is George and I play Guitars in Repugnance (Malta)

When/where was your band formed? 

Malta is probably as big as a large European city so all the members of the band were somehow acquainted with each other.  Luck had it that we were allowed to form a band in 2012

Why did you choose to play Death Metal?

It wasn't more of a choice, it just kind of happened.  All the other members were always primarily into death metal whereas I sort of worked my way up through different genres of metal along the years.  It has remained my favourite style for about eight years now and I've never looked back.

How do you compose your music? Does only one guy do everything or does everyone contribute?

We all contribute to the writing process one way or another.

Tell us about your lyrics, writing, inspiration etc.

Lyrics are mostly inspired by religious hypocrisies and the corruption of people in those kinds of establishments.  Religion is majorly a means to try and come to terms with the unexplainable or in general, lead an exemplary life, but people and power are always a deadly combination and those running or representing a religion tend to misinterpret out of stupidity or, as I strongly believe they preach a misinterpretation to their followers so they can maintain influence and power.  We read way too many child abuse cases and feel the physical wealth held by religious establishments as seen in churches coupled with their endless plea for donations and 'help' is a vulgar display of arrogance, theft, greed and deceit.

Is there an ideology behind your band?

Lyrically - see above

Musicaly - Straightforward Death Metal

How do you see the state of Death Metal music these days in your country and in general?

I am sure that there must have been a more glorious time for death metal when it was still something fresh but this happens in all forms of music.  Luckily, I feel that Death Metal is standing the test of time as new generations are still listening to pioneers of the style and early 2000 era bands.  Despite minor attendances to some gigs I feel this is inevitable due to how much the genre has grown and the number of bands active today.  Popular festivals are still strong however and it is clearly seen that the genre is far from Dead.

What are your long term plans as a band? What do you want to achieve?

Given that we have high commitment jobs and are all relatively going through certain changes in our lifestyles and personal commitments, we always view the band one year at a time and try to make the most of it in the current year.  If we are able to go on we always try to build upon our previous achievements.  We are very grateful for the shows we have booked/played since our formation - we never expected to be confirmed with the same festival as Suffocation/Iniquity/Nile in less than one year since our Debut EP in February 2014.

Name an other Death Metal band from your country that everyone should hear.

I would but I am confident many Death Metalheads are already aware of our country's bands Beheaded and Abysmal Torment.

Free word

Thanks for the interview and also a big shout out to all our supporters who listened/bought our stuff and supported us in any way! We do what we do cause we love it and part of that is meeting great people and honest fans which is just priceless!