Good day to the land of the rising sun! Well, has the sun rose over there at the
Defiled camp?
The sun is shining very well here thanks, and now DEFILED are preparing for the
upcoming European tour that will be dared for six weeks in this spring with Norway’s
MAYHEM and Poland’s DECAPITATED!
Speaking of the newest output called Divination, being the third full-length album,
presenting the twisted yet technical death metal through the 14 tunes, it is pretty much
obvious you must be damn pleased with how the album has turned out. Were you somehow
afraid during the writing process about the possible duplication of some riffs or parts
which may have been used in other tunes?
No.
We’re always preserving many stocks in our minds, riffs and ideas, and will never
suffer from the insufficiency. Well, we intentionally avoid having influenced riffs or
parts from any other bands in the genre to be one and only, but no need to escape from our
own past, I think.
Your material and style is known for being extreme technical with complex riffs and
parts. Doesn’t having the technically complex material get to be a little bit too far
for you to play? For example, in the live situation where possible mistakes can happen.
Sometimes we indeed feel it’s pretty hard to play the songs correctly on stage
because we don’t stand bolt upright when we play, because we always get crazy. But,
it’s quite possible, I can assert. In fact, “Divination” was recorded with
almost no overdubs to get a raw, live feeling. Playing with accuracy doesn’t always
make hyper-brutality, we think, and we attach more importance to the groove and raw
sickness especially, on stage.
Have you ever considered composing more simple, straight-forward death metal stuff
by leaving the complex and technical parts out, just unleashing a total nihilistic deadly
assault?
It’s the matter of balance, we think. As you found almost all of our songs are
complicated and twisted, but simultaneously we‘re always trying to make them to have
some straightforward parts too. Any songs must be organic compounds and we don’t make
so much of techniques or complexity. For example, our rhythm section had formal education
at music schools and they are well trained actually. Even though, we still don’t
emphasize the techniques only and treasure the spontaneous jams and so on.
You seem to rely on Tom Morris’ know-how to produce the Defiled material as you
have visited there quite effectively. Obviously you must have been damn pleased with
the result achieved with him on your previous albums. I can’t help asking if why you
decided to use the legendary Morrisound studios and Tom Morris in the first place?
First, I must say that Tom did “Ugliness Revealed” album only and the rest
two “Erupted Wrath” and “Divination” were done by Jim Morris. We
really love the brothers! They are great engineers, moreover nice guys and it’s
always great to work with the real professionals like them. I heard some good producers
are sometimes too arrogant and hard to associate with, though they are not at all. We
decided to go to Morrisound first because many friends who had used there told us great
words. And also it’s because we love the legendary albums produced by Morrisound and
the bands like NASTY SAVAGE, MORBID ANGEL, DEATH, ICED EARTH and many more.
Both Divination and Ugliness Revevaled were recorded at the Yellow Knife Studio in
Tokyo and the rest of the production has been carried out with Tom Morris handling the
mixing. Is it cheaper to record the material in Japan and give the DAT tapes to Morris,
who then gives the final touches to the material?
The cost won’t be so different. We did this way just because of the matter of
convenience. Yellow Knife is near our houses so very useful for us. We can fully be at
home with the guys there.
Your lyrics don't deal with the traditional gore/mutilation oriented stuff, which
several brutal death metal bands usually appear to bath in. Instead, you have focused on
ladling more inspiration for the lyrics from the Japanese mystical and a little bit
occultism culture, like the track, “Addicted to Occult Oath" and natural
phenomenon and the mental derangement?
Yes, I’m not dealing with the typical topics for the genre and always looking for
more unique subjects. For example, I’m interested in the brutality in Eastern
philosophy and you can find some significance or Eastern originality from my lyrics. We
Japanese have our own culture, literature, thoughts, philosophies and so on and I’m
trying to reflect them in my lyrics. I think no Western bands can write the lyrics like
mine.
Speaking of the Japanese mysticism and occultism, do you view that issue could fit
more to the Defiled concept? Or do you just want to avoid getting involved with the
occultism/mysticism issues?
That depends on how and when we do that. We just don’t wanna follow what others
have already done in the past.
The front cover of Divination has been designed and made by Wes Benscoter, having
been responsible for the art for bands Slayer and Vader. Didn’t he make the cover for
the previous studio album as well, and how did you get hooked up with him?
Yes, he
did our previous “Erupted” and “Ugliness” too. We met him first when
he held his private exhibition in Tokyo in ’97. Then he once was living here and we
made friends. We love his artwork a lot and think the one used for “Divination”
is especially great!!
Does the art of Divination somehow represent the material of the album, or did Wes
Bebscoter get free reign to carry out the cover art from his own mind?
The art was done by the dictates of his instinct and later he added and changed some
elements to have it more suitable for the concept of “Divination”. We think he
did really great work for the album!
Each album has been put by separate record labels; the first one called "Defeat
of Sanity" came out by an unknown label named Bizarre Records. "Erupted
Wrath" was unleashed by Nightfall/Terrorizer Records, and the previous album was
released by the label run by Killjoy Of Necrophagia, named Baphomet Records. As far as I
know, it was distributed by Necropolis. And finally, "Divination" was put out by
Season Of Mist. Why did you switch from one label to another after putting an album out?
Have you basically signed one off deal with each label and then were able to switch to a
new label?
You're right; we're always trying to have our efforts to obtain the best fruits and
it's the best way, we think. Bizarre Records was run by ourselves, for your information.
Have you signed a long term deal with Season Of Mist, or is it just once again a
one-off deal?
I can say that we might work together again for our next release when we both agree to
the result of “Divination.”
Do you have to fund all the tours from your own pockets, or do you have the
financial background support given by labels?
Season of Mist help DEFILED a lot for everything, of course including the financial
aspect. We really appreciate their great work and help. Can’t wait for the coming
European tour with MAYHEM and DECAPITATED… Here comes the time!!
You have toured heavily around Japan, opening for bigger bands, but you have done
some gigs in Malaysia. How the hell did you manage to get a gig arranged there? When some
big band has booked a gig there, the politician and religious conservative groups always
seem to come up with various reasons for cancelling gigs. Did you face any kind of
problems with them?
We went to the country in 2000, just after our first European tour, and no we
didn’t face such a terrible problem at all then. Eric from PSYCHIC SCREAM productions
hooked us up for the show and he did manage quite professionally. Though I know the
political circumstances of some Southeast Asian countries are not suitable and don’t
know what will happen when we have a chance to play there next time.
Do you prefer having a savage, crazy, maniac audience slamming, diving to the normal
audience just standing and banging their heads? Which gig has been the most memorable thus
far?
Any way of enjoying our music should be valued. I basically think as far as no one
would be inflicted with a serious wound. The most memorable show for me was the one we did
in Korea for the first time in 1997. The audience went totally crazy, banging their heads
hard and screaming as hell, though, unbelievably almost all of them were sitting on their
chairs! Well, it in fact was an illegitimate show because Korean government prohibited all
Japanese cultures including music at that time and I guess people didn’t know how to
open their mind well at the gig of this kind. When we went there after 2 or 3 years, the
audience had come just same as Japan’s or Western!
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Do you prefer small club gigs with the intensive atmosphere to massive metal
festivals where tons of bands have been booked?
We love both. All we have to do is to do our best and keep the quality at any
gigs!
You have opened for bigger bands on several gigs and tours both in Japan and The
States. Which bands have been the most friendly toward you, or have you got along with all
of them or had some problems in any way?
Fortunately all bands we have played and toured with were so nice and great! And now we
are so much looking forward to this spring tour with MAYHEM and DECAPITATED! Once we met
MAYHEM at a certain metal festival in The States several years ago, though I don’t
know they remember that or not, and they were so nice there. Maniac and Hellhammer gave me
their autographs for my girlfriend! I believe the tour with them will be great with a lot
of fun and much excitement!!
Japan has quite a long history in the extreme metal since the 80’s when Messiah
Death and Necrophile used to maul the underground scene with the primitive stuff, and of
course the legendary Sabbat. The current extreme scene in Japan offers a lot of bestial
and primitive death/black outfits. Do you think the newer bands carry the old school
Japanese raw death metal legacy, or are they even aware of those old bands? And what about
Defiled?
I was a fan of those bands you mentioned when I was in junior or high school and still
love some staff of them. I don’t know what do the other newer bands think about the
old bands actually though I know the fact that some good bands were born here recently.
Hope the scene will get bigger soon.
Is there any demand for the real extreme metal in Japan? The power metal stuff like
Finland’s Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius seems to appeal more to the local metal
kids.
Yes, melodic ones seem to always be well accepted in this country though I personally
have never listened to the bands you gave… Individualism is getting established here,
ha.
Does it bug you when people start talking about Japanese metal, and the one name
Loudness seems to pop up? hahahhaha
No, I really respect many services that LOUDNESS has rendered all over the world. Every
metal heads know the name LOUDNESS and we Japanese should be proud of that! It’s
always cool to meet a metal head singing “Crazy Night” towered us in a strange
country!
Obviously, a deal with the French-based record label Season Of Mist may has to
guarantee some gigs for you to Europe. Has anything risen in your negotiations
between you and the label?
Yes!! Soon we’ll go there to kick your ass, kids in Europe!! We’ll tour with
MAYHEM and DECAPITATED in this coming April-May. Arto, I’ll keep you updated on the
tour dates or everything concerning this matter so please pass the news to your readers!
Yes, DEFILED is coming really soon!!
It would be about time to put the period to this interview, and if you have
something on your mind, let it go!!! Thank you for the interview Hideki!
Thank you too Arto! Readers, get ready for the tour this spring! And please enjoy
“Divination” till then. We’re proud of the album and promise you’ll
never be disappointed. Check out our web site for the updates... Can’t wait to see
you all on the road! Stay brutal and support the Death Metal Underground!!
Band Website: listen.to/defiled
