DEMIGOD: Interview With Drummer Seppo Taatila
Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen
It
was about the time… I mean, to find out where these sons of bitches
have been hiding all these past years. Well, they haven´t exactly been
"hiding" anywhere, but nevertheless, it´s been a while since
DEMIGOD gave us a lesson in how metal music should be played with such
an utterly convincing and so dazzlingly extraordinary way that it could
probably leave an indelible mark in our memos about something far
greater and more memorable than one is capable of offering nowadays. 10
long, painful years has been passing since these dudes´ debut - and
masterpiece, Slumber of Sullen
Eyes caught our attention and increased even more our
never-ending hunger for these ´GODZ realm of a bombastically moving ´deathrashing
sonic onslaught´.
Seppo opens the gates right into the untouched dark corners of
DEMIGOD´s past in order to prove all of you that there was absolutely
anything neither mysterious nor strange behind the band´s decision to
split up for a while; it was all caused by several issues that you
normally tend to deal with in your life. He thought sincerely that now
was the right time to speak out, so the following conversation between
me and Seppo may contain some details that may confuse some of you; some
of you may even become somewhat surprised of all the hard facts, what
happened after Slumber of Sullen
Eyes came out; what happened in these guys´ lives after that
really?
Read on, as this just ain´t one of those ´most typical´ interviews
you can read from some maga/web - zines… - HELL! I even don´t know if
this was ´an interview´ the way we all have used to understand them.
I´d rather consider this as some sort of a dialogue between Seppo and
me, but whatta heck, just keep on reading…
" A NEW START . . . "
To begin with some facts, DEMIGOD did one album for the Spanish
DROWNED PRODUCTIONS (now REPULSE RECORDS) in 1992, titled Slumber
of Sullen Eyes - then split up for an unknown period of time as
was told to all the parties this may have concerned. BUT most of the
ex-DEMIGOD members didn´t leave music making totally out of their life.
There was this period after DEMIGOD´s split up when basically all of
you - more or less, got fed up with your old style; so-called downright
brutal Death Metal style and you started heading towards more of a
thrashy musical direction which eventually took a shape in a
reincarnation called NEVERBORN; that having been influenced by such
bands as INFERNAL MAJESTY, POSSESSED and even SLAYER. After several reh/promo
tapes - and taking back DEMIGOD´s name again, DEMIGOD´s last attempt
to get signed, could be considered a 4-song demo-CD for which was shown
a green light from SPIKEFARM´s direction sometimes around in 1999. Now
when every single piece finally seemed to click in their final places,
the original vocalist and true soul of the band, Esa Lindén decided to
call it quits and another (major) problem was faced by the band once
again.
Well Seppo, would you go on by telling us how things turned out
for ´a vocalist-hunt´ for DEMIGOD after Esa quit the band? How was
Esa´s announcement taken of leaving DEMIGOD for good in the minds of
the other DEMIGOD members anyway?
The hunt is over as we all know now and we chose three vocalists to
do the work on our new album, Shadow
Mechanics. The infamous trio is Ali Leiniö (ex- ADRAMELECH),
Tuomas Ala-Nissilä (MYTHEM) and of course the mastermind Mika Haapasalo
himself who also produced our album. We did have a fourth candidate as
one of the 4 options we had, too, but he didn´t suit our plans even
though he seemed to be a hell of a great guy and somewhat powerful
noisekeeper indeed. All of you can hear how the guys delivered their
goods on the album by picking it up from your local record stores. It´s
out NOW on SPIKEFARM RECORDS, so be sure to get your own copy for it
immediately!!! If you are a Thrash Metal maniac, then you´ll surely
love the album. I´m VERY satisfied with everything how the whole thing
turned out in the end both music-wise and otherwise as well.
And as for Esa, well, his announcement was not any big surprise for
us at all. He just wasn´t too interested in the band anymore. He was
the leader of the band - that's an undeniable fact, so when he told us
that he didn´t want to be a part of the band any longer, that may have
partly caused DEMIGOD´s slow productivity since those on he left us. We
are not expecting any of these three guys taking his role, so we are
going to continue the way things are standing now.
" LIFE OR NO LIFE AFTER "S L U M B E R…"
"
Time for some unnecessary speculation here now; what if you had
made your 2nd album for REPULSE RECORDS in 1998-99 - like it was close
to happen so, how do you think that album could have been somehow
different compared to the recordings you just accomplished already?
What´s at least sure, I guess, it wouldn´t have contained that
"up-dated" material of DEMIGOD - and maybe, just maybe, you
would only have used one guy to do the vocals for it and the vocals
could have probably been done by some other guy than any of these three
guys you eventually hired for that job, right?
The album would have contained only eight or nine songs including a
couple of not that satisfying "leftovers". The sound would
have been worse and vocals done most probably by both Esa and Mika, I
quess, but that´s as far as these speculations go.
In the meantime, when DEMIGOD was inactive for quite some time,
you were asked to join in ADRAMELECH, another Loimaa- based Death Metal
band, as a session drummer. You did the drums both for their 1st
full-length CD, titled "Psychostasia" on REPULSE back in the
-´95/-´96 period - and for a mini-CD called "Seven" in
-´97. Was that band, y´know, kind of "a good therapy" for
you as you probably wanted to fill up that empty space in your life
which DEMIGOD obviously left there - and none of you was quite sure
whether DEMIGOD still was a worth of trying out or not?
The main man of ADRAMELECH, Jarkko Rantanen, has always been a good
friend of mine. I joined in his band because his music is very different
compared to DEMIGOD´s music and ´cause I wanted to do an album; not
just make music for fun. Jarkko is the man with a great ambition and I
enjoyed his way of making things. I didn´t have much else to do at the
time, so to put it simply, I joined to his band.
And then he made a hell of a great and strong wine at his home which
I loved and that indeed gave me another good reason to be a part-time
member of ADRAMELECH, he-he!! Actually me and Jussi Kiiski even joined
to ADRAMELECH on the "Repulsive Tour" in Europe in 1997.
While you were involved with ADRAMELECH for these couple of years
- and, y´know, your own focus was somewhere else than in DEMIGOD, did
all that time which you spent with them, give you any lessons on how all
the remaining members of DEMIGOD could have had better options to run
the band in order to make things happen faster for DEMIGOD - and as a
result, we - the true fans of DEMIGOD, could have held DEMIGOD´s 2nd
album in our hairy hands like 4-5 years earlier, you know what I´m
saying?! How was Jarkko´s way of working with things different from
DEMIGOD´s way to handle with several things inside the band indeed?
DEMIGOD just needed some time. We have our own way of working with
the songs. Jarkko is just much more productive and he works a lot with
his material.
Yep, it could have been possible to release a new DEMIGOD album
earlier, but then it would have been worse song-wise than
"Shadow...". It also would have been more straight with no
steps aside from the line. Now, however, "Shadow..."
represents more of DEMIGOD´s variety of songs and that´s much better
in my opinion. I´m sorry for the great DEMIGOD fans who were amazingly
many and who had to wait for this long period without any new DEMIGOD
release. Just buy "Shadow Mechanics" and enjoy it at your
fullest!!! I guarantee for all of you that it has been worth waiting
for!!!
Why do you personally think it took this long time to get DEMIGOD
signed again? A lack of interest for a massive promotion campaign might
probably be a part of the reason, I assume...
Basically all of us had other things to do in our lives. On the other
hand, to be really honest with you, I was not even believing in the band
anymore. The recordings for REPULSE RECORDS were a total mistake and I
think it had a great (negative) influence on us. At that time nothing
seemed to go right. But as I told you it was Mr. Tenetz and you Luxi who
believed in DEMIGOD basically and somehow managed to keep the doors open
for DEMIGOD´s 2nd album.
" NEXT CASE: REPULSE RECORDS "
You were saying that there´s actually much to blame REPULSE
RECORDS for probably not working as professional or dedicated attitude
towards DEMIGOD as all of you, as I suppose, surely expected from their
direction. When and where exactly did your plans to get your 2nd album
recorded and out, start to fall apart concerning what you just said
previously? I am pretty sure many would like to hear what´s your deal
with Dave & REPULSE RECORDS at that time - and do you still keep in
touch with him from time to time?
Well, Dave Rotten has his own opinions and that´s ok with me. He has
always been working hard and at that time, his label was not going
strong, so both parties were just unlucky regarding our deal for his
label.
Well, it was in Autumn 1998 when we started to record with Mika
Haapasalo at our training house. The whole project was actually
sentenced to fail because of:
1) DEMIGOD were NOT ready to record yet "too raw(!!)"
material...
2) Mika had just bought new equipments and was totally out of knowledge
how to use them...
3) Dave got problems with the label...
"SLOWLY GETTING BACK TO BIZ AGAIN… "
As for the band´s current situation, the album is out now. In the
very beginning of the whole recording process you told me that the only
bad thing was that you were having hard times to find a suitable yet
fitting guy(s) to do the vocals for this album. You once informed me
over the phone that you were trying 3 guys out to do the vocals for the
album, so could you be kind enough to enlighten the readers of
METAL-RULES.COM more about it, how did that situation progressed on and
how did you get the very final solutions in sight with regard to your
opinions/views about "the winners of that poll"? Was there any
criteria existing somewhere in the first place what kind of vocalists
you were looking for that job?
We had four nominees like I told you earlier. Then, Popstudio is in
Loimaa and Mika of course lives in Loimaa, too. Ali and Tuomas live just
nearby Loimaa, so they had better chances to rehearse and record within
our tight schedule. We already knew that the songs we had, needed
different types of vocals ´cause the songs have been written during a
long period of time. I have to admit that the process of choosing
vocalist drove us crazy. It was terrible time for us ´cause we didn´t
know what to do and who we should have chosen. But now everything for
that dilemma has been sorted out and the guys did great work within a
short period of time, I think. The fourth nominee was unlucky for not
having a real change to show to us his skills vocal-wise ´coz we were
looking for a bit different type of vocals for our songs than he was
capable of giving us.
" WHO NEEDS TO KNOW FUCKIN´ TRUTH ANYWAY… ?
! "
So, now when you chose these three dudes to do the vocals for
"Shadow Mechanics" and who obviously are your long-time
friends, too - and obviously are pretty satisfied with all of them how
they handled their duties on the album, I was just hypothetically
speculating what if none of these guys involved for the vocal duties
weren´t showing a real impressive impact on the album the way you would
have expected in your most secret hopes, right from the very start? If
something had gone totally badly wrong with one of the chosen ones - or
as the most horrible scenario could have gone, even all of them? Then,
would you have had sort of a "plan B" existing somewhere; in a
hidden box of a chest of drawers or something alike?
No, we didn´t have any "plan b's" - whatsoever!! The guys
(Tuomas Ala-Nissilä from MYTHEM, Ali Leiniö, ex-ADRAMELECH and Mika
Haapasalo, our producer, keyboardist as well as vocalist) handled the
vocals with a style that´s gonna satisfy many
But if there ever could have been a "plan -B", well, then
this possible "plan B" could have been to take you as our
vocalist - especially when you are drunk. I have actually collected a
secret collection of your "Best Drunks On The Phone" -material
and am pretty sure you could have been capable of working out as a
vocalist for our new album. You sound like the SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist
when having boozed the hell out of yourself!!!
Uh-huh-huh..., I think I rather sound like OBI´s John Tardy or
DEATH´s Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P. our metal brother...) than any S.O.A.D.
baby whiner when I have tasted a few extra doses of an extra strong
liquor called "For The Strong & Bold Ones" (!). And as far
as my "Best Drunks on The Phone" thing is concerned, I assume
you actually meant my LOUD FARTS on the phone every time when I have
called to you, but whatta heck, it´s all the fuckin´ same, he! he!!
(Or what were you answering originally… -eh!?)
Luxi you know it by yourself that you have been a highly respected
choir member in the "Mieskuoro of Riihilahti…"!!!.
Seppo!? What in the world are you talking ´bout?! Stay in the
topic, man!! Just… (… -eerrr!) - just cut the fuckin´ crap and try
to concentrate on all the essential things in this GODDAMMIT interview,
will ya?! Pleaz… You have already revealed way too many ´ugly´
details about my past for the readers of METAL-RULES.COM, so let´s just
drop this topic once and for all, shall we?! Wanna make me feel
embarrassed or something?! Let´s rather go on with some other issues
for your new album anyway… As for your new album, "Shadow
Mechanics", many people actually haven´t got a slightest idea that
it contains material from a vast period of DEMIGOD´s history; from the
-´92/-´93 DEMIGOD era to NEVERBORN - just coming back to DEMIGOD´s
Y2K -era, so in the other words, you are covering nearly 9 years of
DEMIGOD´s past and present for this particular album which may go
beyond some people´s understanding for sure. As far as I know, after
the times of "Slumber...", you did more or less over 20 new
DEMIGOD songs off which the best ones have been chosen, re-warmed and
re-recorded for "Shadow Mechanics". But would you again go on
telling ´bout some more specific details for the songs that were chosen
for the album? Just take all the time you may need now...
Looking back in the time there´s gonna be more than nine years if we
are talking about single riffs or melodies, but as for the entire songs,
it´s gonna cover about eight years, I guess. The songs for the album
were chosen the way what we felt sounded good enough to get included for
the album. Every single member had a possibility to tell of which songs
he liked the most and which songs he disliked. I think that most of the
songs were chosen by all of the members. The album contains different
songs; fast, mid-tempo, grinding, heavy, thrashy, etc. It´s definitely
different compared to "Slumber..", but it still has some
distinctive DEMIGOD elements in it. The production overall is just MUCH
BETTER on this album than what it was on our debut.. It was recorded at
POP STUDIO, Loimaa, Finland by Mika Haapasalo. He is a member of the
band also. He is responsible for many great things and I HIGHLY
RECOMMEND Mika Haapasalo´s POP STUDIO for all kinds of bands!!! He
inspired us in many ways and he is demanding. He is always realistic and
honest. Mika finds solutions and works hard. Some of the songs on the
album were totally different when we brought them into the studio.
Especially Mika, Tero and Sami did a hell of a lot work for the
production. We recorded most of the songs in parts ´cause arrangements
were done in the studio. We felt that some of the songs were ready for
the recording just as they were, but most of the songs got one or two
new things in them at the studio. I think it´s going to surprise most
of the fans, but I´m positive people (= you) are going to like the
final product anyway...
As far as I have understood out of your sayings ´bout Mika´s
involvement and contribution as a part of DEMIGOD, undoubtedly you´re
giving lots of credit for him for being as a big inspiration for the
rest of the ´demigodz´ - and I guess, as some sort of a driving force
and founding pillar of this particular camp as well - as the one who has
got a great insight into all the essential and vital things in DEMIGOD
and how to collect the right pieces together for the band and how to
make the DEMIGOD -engine work by using these "pieces" smoothly
and effortlessly. Do you think that without Mika´s efforts and
sacrifices for the band, there might not be any DEMIGOD in YK2? How
important has he been as a member of DEMIGOD´s tight link anyway
through the crucial, hard times?
No doubt, Mika has been a "true fuel for DEMIGOD engine"
during this project. We did not have any changes to just get together
and record this album in ´some studio´ within a certain time. During
this project we weren´t even once all together at the studio!!! Mika
was interested in recording this album the way we wanted and we did know
he is soooo professional and skilled as a producer that we could easily
rely on him. He is demanding and still he listens to your ideas and
wants to proceed all the time. He´s working in a realistic way.
Sometimes it´s been a pain in the ass to listen to Mika´s comments on
how badly you just played some part that you thought yourself, was kind
of the best of the best. But in my opinion, that´s the only way to
develop. Mika Haapasalo and his POP STUDIO, therefore, are HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED!!!!
" WHO WERE ´ THE D E M I G O D Z ´ EXACTLY ?
"
A massive amount of water has been flowing in the Loimi river
since Slumber of Sullen Eyes
was released - and lots of both ol´n´new trends have been coming and
goin´ and what´s also harder than any hardest existing fact, a new
"Heavy Metal generation (yep… Tell me ´bout it!)" has
partly stepped into the picture, too, that probably has NEVER even heard
about DEMIGOD - much less ´bout your nearly semi-legendary debut album,
Slumber of Sullen Eyes.
Aren´t you afraid at all that there´s always a chance that your new
album will be left totally unnoticed by this new generation of ´metal
rogues´ due to the fact I just brought up in the question - no matter
how well so-called groundwork of promotion and everything could have
been done for it? To ease up your label, SPIKEFARM´s burden a little
bit as far as all the promotion for your new album goes, how would you
describe DEMIGOD´s "Shadow Mechanics" to all those suspicious
yet curious ´kids (!)´ who supposedly haven´t got a slightest idea
what it´s gonna be all about? And remember, an use of superlatives is
more than recommended for that ´hot´ piece of Thrash grenade...
OK Luxi, got it! We´re old and that´s the hard fact. Seriously,
I´m pretty sure that most of these "new metal generation´s
kids" haven´t heard about us. I´ve been thinking about this, too,
but then I figured out that now we have a new chance to succeed because
most of the kids think DEMIGOD is a new band on the map and that´s a
good thing ´cause they are not expecting anything from us. Actually it
seems that some of new metal bands have heard about us if I have been
informed right. And I guess there is some "old" fans too
around the globe that still remember us which is cool. So, it isn´t
going to be that obvious for DEMIGOD whether we will succeed or not.
"Shadow Mechanics" is a METAL album that consists of pure
metal songs!!! As I told you before it has different songs - just like
"Slumber.." had, too. Fast and slow, melodic and grinding...
It´s absolutely more made of Thrash Metal than Death Metal,
definitely!!! All the material has been written during this long 8-10
years period. The vocals are variable depending on the song. There´s
some brutal vocals, some Thrash type of vocals and some heavy vocals,
but not any screaming Black Metal shrieks on "Shadow
Mechanics". We are still using these harmonious DEMIGOD melodies
with really heavy riffs behind them. "Shadow Mechanics" is
going to be an album that makes you feel "VITTUMAISELTA" (i.e.
extremely pissed off!! - as Seppo´s words might be in English...) and
escalates your anger/anxiety towards all the shitty things in your
life!!! It has to be ENJOYED LOUD, too, of course!!!
Just for the sake of... (!) - well, call it ´nostalgia´
whatever! - y´know, for those "jolly good´n´ol´times", why
didn´t you consider to re-record 1 or 2 songs out of
"Slumber..." for this new album of yours - even just for the
sake of your own ever-blazing curiosity for finding out how some of your
old Death Metal songs would have sounded like as Thrash Metal versions?
I bet at least the title track of your debut album, Slumber
of Sullen Eyes, might have turned out just great if it had got a
refreshed treatment at the cabinet of DEMIGOD´s Thrash world - or what
do you think of the very matter, -eh!?
A HELL OF A GOOD IDEA FROM YOU!!! We may consider to do it sometimes,
but that did not cross our minds in the making of this new album. We may
consider to record them for a collection of something. Actually we
played a mixture both our old and new songs at the "Fuck the
Commerce" metal festival in East Germany (greetings to all the
GREAT guys over there!!) three years ago and they worked out fine
together. And possibly even more our fans enjoyed the
"Slumber..." stuff because we didn´t tour after it was
released. We even played one song off our "Unholy Domain"
demo. But I think that we should leave those old songs untouchable - the
way they are on our past releases ´coz that was our past and we played
differently at that time, y´know!?
Talking ´bout your past tours a bit more, actually I have always
been pondering quietly in my mind, how many tours, if any, did DEMIGOD
do altogether in the ´90s indeed? And what was that most memorable yet
most successful tour/or gig of yours which has left a deep, indelible
imprint in all of your memories? The one with AVULSED, INCANTATION, and
DEEDS OF FLESH, maybe?
That brutal tour with those bands was done with ADRAMELECH. DEMIGOD
didn´t tour at all if I remember right...?! We did some gigs in
Germany, Sweden and Finland, but never actually toured. The reason was
the usual one: We did have neither time nor a possibility for that!
It´s just as simple as that. We were offered for these tours, though,
but every time someone had some other things to do. My best memories are
from Germany; especially the Cottbus area which was really nice. Olaf
and Braun... nice dudes!! And the audience was always great over there,
too.
When did you start to think seriously of the actual recordings for
"Shadow..." - like saying to yourselves, it just HAS TO BE
DONE; no matter when, but it HAS to come out some day? Was it clear to
you right from the beginning that it would have been recorded at Mika´s
POP STUDIO or were there actually some other alternatives in your minds
at that time, too, where to record it?
The first tour happened after the "Repulsive Tour" with
ADRAMELECH when me and Jussi noticed that how well people still
remembered us and how badly they wanted to hear some new material from
us. The second and more important push for us happened something like
two years ago when we went thru some talks with Mr. Tenetz of SPIKEFARM.
And then it took a year or a bit more before we knew where we´re gonna
record our follow-up to "Slumber…". Mr. Tenetz has been one
of those reasons that made the recordings for our new album possible. He
has been somehow realistic and patient, too. And yeah, as I told you
earlier, POP STUDIO was really the only thinkable alternative for us!!!
" THE BRAVE NEW S H A D O W M E C H A N I C S
"
OK,
let´s dive deeper into the content of "Shadow Mechanics" next
- and I warn you beforehand Seppo, this will take some of your time, so
try to be at least patient with this, please!!! Now what I would like
you to do for us, is to introduce each of the songs included for
"Shadow..."; both by name and explaining a little what this/or
that song is all about - plus some other specific details behind the
songs, like telling us when you came up with those songs; with whom,
etc.
So let this one-man show begin now... lights on, curtains up and
may Seppo enter onstage... (the crowd is already in their seats, sitting
comfortably… and expecting to see your hot running blood staining the
stage, he-he…)
No PERKELE…", I guess here we go then…
"My Blood, Your Blood": This one we arranged just before, or
even during the recordings of the album. It contains some old riffs and
also some newer stuff in it. I really can´ t remember the name of one
of our older songs off which we borrowed the chorus for this song (as
you know, a bad memo is a gift…), but now, however, the chorus part is
in the right place. The song fuckin´ RULES in my opinion!! The whole
song goes from mid tempo - to fast tempo parts and proceeds from there
quite nicely, I think. Ali gives truly his best shot vocal-wise on this
one, too. The song itself isn´t too complex in the terms of
technicality, and it´s basically very Death Metal orientated as a song.
"In the Mirrors": This song actually is one of the
highlights of our newer stuff what we have created under the name of
DEMIGOD for this album. Most of the song has been done by Sami and Jussi
and I guess the guys wanted to give a more Thrash Metal type of feel to
the song by churning out pretty fast riffs for it and keeping it
basically in a pure "Thrash" -mode. Tuomas tried to growl a
bit into Jeff Becerra -vein for it whereas Sami´s clean vocals in the
middle part gave a pretty nice contrast to the song indeed. Kind of fast
and brutal song all in all and really cool sounding in my opinion, too.
"Lost Within": I guess this song has its own history. We
wrote this song quite soon after "Slumber"- album and it also
consists of some bits from some other songs that we wrote at that time,
but never released them. As for the structure of this particular song,
well, it´s kind of a mid-tempo song and I think it´s even surprisingly
heavy by our standards. I´m anyway very satisfied with how Tuomas and
Mika managed to do their vocal parts for this song. Hmm... that´s all I
can tell you ´bout it. I have to say it´s indeed somewhat hard for me
to describe how some certain songs are ´coz I´m not very good at that
at all.
"Where the Shadows Clash": Well, to be honest with you,
this song is purely punishing in-yer-fuckin´-face Thrash from beginning
to end!!! It also contains a really fast section somewhere in the middle
of the song where we exceeded the recommended speed limit more than once
or twice, he! Again, "Tumppi" a.k.a. Tuomas did a splendid job
at the vocal department, sounding all the way nasty and evil in this
tune. The song itself is a tough motherfucker and I bet even most of the
ol´ DEMIGOD -fans will shit on their pants by excitement when they get
to hear the song.
"Trail of Guilt": Some people may consider this song pretty
light-weight just because Mika´s melodic and clean vocal parts are
dominating the song in the chorus part. It definitely has lots of
acoustic guitar and fine-tuned vocalism in it, but I personally think
"T.O.G." is a pretty neat fucker all in all. It´s a
well-balanced song and when you listen to it, you´ll notice how the
song starts growing towards the end. Also, try to pay attention to
Mika´s bass lines on this tune ´coz I think he did really awesome job
in that particular department, too.
"Gates of Lamentation": This is the most violent yet brutal
number on "Shadow…". Me and Esa (DEMIGOD´s original
vocalist, guitarist and song writer!) did this song together right from
the very beginning for years ago already when we were working under
NEVERBORN´s moniker. "G.O.L." is simple, aggressive,
straight, fast, and definitely in-yer-face Thrash song, lasting only 2
minutes and 21 seconds!!! It´s the real thing; a real package of
brutality and aggressiveness with all the attacking killer riffs, fast
beats and extreme Death grunts by Ali!!!
"Silent with Earth": Well, I have to admit that this one is
sooooooooooooo GREAT and sooooooooooo fucking HEAVY that it satisfies me
most even though every song on this album is somewhat equal to me. Ali
does his best vocal performance in this one in my opinion, too. The
guitars make it simple, but extremely HEAVY. I kept drumming simple,
too, to escalate heaviness. The chorus part comes only once with the
vocals of both Mika and Ali - and it´s a true masterpiece from its
every aspect. And there´s only this one tempo change to break the
atmosphere in the middle part of the song. If you feel fucked up with
something or somebody, I could more than warmly recommend this one for
you to be checked out… just for therapy or something.
"Derailed": An old song which we have most probably been
playing for ages. We were already playing this track when we had our
NEVERBORN -thing going on. When we brought this song into the studio, we
made a few changes for it and I think it turned out very well as a song.
It´s got pretty neat and catchy sounding riffs and it sounds downright
heavy, too. It has some nice tempo changes and our vocalists Mika and
Tuomas have both spiced the song with their well-thought out vocal
arrangements, I think. Well, this piece is, to put it simply, a good
DEMIGOD song in my opinion.
"Crimson Tears": Well, we kind of experimented with this
particular song and I guess you´ll notice somewhat easily that this
song sounds a bit different compared to the rest of the songs on the
album. It´s also a rather long song by our standards and while we were
recording it, we had to use lots of single tracks for it in the
recording process. And if you listen to the song carefully, you will be
able to spot many single details out of it; I personally like the guitar
parts in this tune very much indeed!! As for the vocals here, Mika
pretty much steals the show by his incredibly well-made clean vocal
lines in this song and Tuomas does some brilliant growlings in the
background as well - spitting out stories of how miserable and
unsuccessful his love life has been lately and so on, he-he…
I don´t know… this song has a great pile of familiar DEMIGOD
-elements in it and it still sounds somewhat different compared to
everything that we have done earlier… Let´s just say that this could
be our Y2K -version for our old song titled "Transmigration Beyond
Eternities" on our debut album, "Slumber of Sullen Eyes".
"Drifting": This cut was one of the nominees from us for a
REPULSE -compilation CD, even if it never made it there. There´s anyway
lots of tempo changes going on here and one of our three vocalists on
"Shadow…", Ali is really convincing with his deep´n ´heavy
grunts in "Drifting". The song itself is a mix of both Death -
and Thrash Metal. In fact, somehow I felt like we lengthened the latter
part of the song more than it was originally necessary, but I guess it
still turned out quite well. And to reveal a little truth ´bout this
particular song for all of you, the ending of "Drifting" was
supposed to a bit longer, but we skipped a few seconds over in the final
recording. Why, to be honest with you, I haven´t got a slightest idea…
"Burning": This is actually one of our oldest songs on the
album. When we brought it into the studio, we didn´t need to add any
new things into it - or throw away anything from it. We kept it as it
was… or wait a second, we just did a tiny little change for the middle
part, but nothing like that you could call it as a major change. To tell
some little details out of it, Tuomas growls like a fucked-up malicious
madman in this tune whereas Mika provides some contrast to the song by
his marvelously melodic vocal parts in the background.
"Burning" is also one of the faster type of songs on
"Shadow…"; it´s just as fast as it gets really. Tempo is
aggressive and as a matter of fact, pretty attacking throughout the
whole song and both Jussi´s and Tero´s guitar riffs sound very catchy
in this tune in my opinion. As a song, it´s quite short, but the
acoustic guitars both in the beginning - and in the end of the song
leave you an impression that it could be even longer as a song as it
actually is in reality. All in all, "Burning" is a perfect
song to end the album. I think we hardly could have chosen any better
closer song for "Shadow Mechnics" as "Burning" is.
It will leave a listener a good impression about "Shadow
Mechanics" as a really tight and well thought-out album - and maybe
he/she wants to start listening to the album all over again because of
this fact. Well Luxi, I hope you could agree with me at least partly as
far as all these descriptions go, couldn´t you?!
Well, you don´t leave me many choices, so I just say: "YES…
, a well-done work Seppo; thanx for taking your time with all these song
descriptions. It surely ain´t the easiest part of these inties for
anybody, knowing also how lazy fuck you tend to be from time to time,
he! he!!
Well then Seppo, what kind of expectations/or hopes do you
personally have towards "Shadow Mechanics"?
My expectations…?! Huh…, my expectations are nearly fulfilled.
All I want is to have a nice and tasty DEMIGOD album in my hands.
That´s all basically… and other thing is that I wanted it to be
released the way that all of our old (and new) fans are able to get it
from stores every single store on the face of the planet Earth.
What could you say ´bout your own personal favorites on
"Shadow..." and could you explain to us a little bit more why
do you consider just these particular songs so special for you? And what
might be your all-time favorite DEMIGOD songs ever as I´m pretty darn
sure some of our curious readers might like to know even that tiny
detail about you Seppo?
Let me start with my all-time favorite DEMIGOD songs: I have two,
namely "Succumb to Dark" and "Fear Obscures From
Within". Somehow these songs are so enjoyable to play and listen.
But also the whole "Shadow…" album was something special to
me ´coz I really wanted that thing to come out some day. Therefore,
it´s somewhat hard to name any specific song off that album. It´s like
naming your favorite body part of your own first-born child; it´s just
impossible!! I really do like equally all the songs on it.
Where did you get the idea to use Tomi Laurén´s piece of art for
your album´s cover? What does the cover symbolize exactly?
He was recommended for us and out of all options we had, he really
was the best choice for us. We are so fucking satisfied with his
artwork!!! All we gave him, was an idea of "Shadow Mechanic"
how we wanted the cover to be and that´s basically it.
" FUTURE PLANS FOR TOURING… "
Has your label´s boss, Sami Tenetz, mentioned ´bout any possible
touring plans for DEMIGOD in order to promote your forth-coming album to
a wider range of metalheads - possibly as a support act to more of a
well-known, already established band? How do both you - and the rest of
the dudes in DEMIGOD feel ´bout touring anyway? Do they wait to get
back on the road again and would you be into this touring idea if you
had no wife, a baby and your work to look after?
The guys would like to tour and I´m pretty sure they will tour quite
soon, too, if they are able to. Mr. Tenetz told us that there might be
some sort of co-operation with other bands of the label touring-wise. I
wish DEMIGOD could do a tour. It would be pleasure for me to sit down in
a club and have a beer of two - and then just listen and watch the guys
thrashing and sweating onstage. For me touring is out of question,
unfortunately. And all this speculation of having no wife and a daughter
is somewhat silly Luxi…
" BUT LIFE GOES ON AFTER… ? "
As you also informed me for some time ago already, now when
"Shadow Mechanics" is done, you´ll step aside and leave
DEMIGOD for others to be carried on. Was it a tough decision to make
from your side which you´ve probably been pondering in your mind for a
rather long time already - or were you ever given any thought for that
sort of an idea that you might work out as a part-time member for the
band - whenever you could have an opportunity/or a chance to work with
the band? Ain´t it kind of hard to leave the band now in the first
place - knowing how devotedly and determinedly you have been working
with everything through all these past years in order to get DEMIGOD
back on its firm feet again? On the other hand, I can easily take your
position and only imagine it MUST feel just great and everything to get
all these songs released finally from a long period of time when you
been involved with births of some certain songs and everything else
really? Still, I bet you´ll be missing some of those times with the
band, won´t you?
Well, especially this time with the guys has been so great. We have
had so many good and bad things to share this time and thanks to DEMIGOD
for everything that I have had an opportunity to meet so many great
people during all these past years. Of course leaving band is hard as
you can imagine after all these years. But still, I´m realistic.
Working, studying and having a family is something that takes time and
needs time. First I was dreaming of taking part into a song writing, but
it was just a normal reaction when you are giving something up; I guess
it´s a part of tough decisions you need to do in your life from time to
time and I just could continue with DEMIGOD any longer. However, overall
the feeling is good now. I just can´t be patient enough to get our new
album in my hands!! (bet you have it there now; it looks and sounds
GREAT!!!! - Luxi)
How would you like to see DEMIGOD progressing in the future
without your personal involvement in the band? Would you like to see the
remaining members staying loyal to this style which you´ve now
accomplished on "Shadow..." - or wouldn´t you care less any
longer ´coz it´s really up to them from now on?
The guys probably won´t stay loyal to this style on "Shadow…"
and they must not to. This is a hobby kind of thing that has nothing to
do with the loyalty. They can do whatever they want to and I believe
that from now Sami and Tero will be making more material. DEMIGOD´s new
material is gonna be more technical and thrashy, I assume. Now they have
three guys making decisions in the band. All they need, is a good
drummer who knows how to play the way they want and expect him to play
the songs. I already stepped aside for a while ago, so it´s not my
business anymore. I will continue making music, but in terms of fun and
leisure.
The metal scene has overall been changing big steps since the days
when your debut album saw the first sunbeams of that day it came out.
Have you had any potential chances to follow the scene since the
remarkable year 1992 all the way up to the very day (your first-born you
naturally always remember the best...), what´s been going on in the
global metal community and how different trends/hypes in metal have been
coming and going - and how such, now big metal bands from our country
like H.I.M., CHILDREN OF BODOM, NIGHTWISH, STRATOVARIUS, AMORPHIS,
SENTENCED, etc. - to name a few, have all made quite an impact on this
fertile ground; gaining new fans record after record and making
themselves known even better and better all the time worldwide? Well, to
put it simpler, what do you think of all this success many both old -
and new (metal) bands from our home country have been lucky enough for
gaining for themselves - even tiny parts out of this ´success´ -thing
and touring the world and enjoying this type of ´stardom´ for a
passing moment at least? Could this have been something you have
secretly dreamt of sometimes, too - like make your living out of making
music for DEMIGOD?
It´s of course great to have all these awesome bands in our small
country you just named here. I have always been realistic anyway.
Without our hard efforts, DEMIGOD just NEVER could have risen on that
kind of level of fame, though. In order to success, you need to work
your ass off - and it was something I wasn´t interested in this
"hobby" of mine. I believe I am happy enough the way things
are in my life now. I, however, suppose that the rest of guys will push
the band harder and harder now when they are productive and together
again. You just never know what will happen the with the band…
As you also have become aware of the fact, nowadays just TONZ of
new metal albums are flowing into already swamped markets of metal all
the time and that makes your own work even harder for picking up the
most ´ace stuff ´out of all that crappy shit what´s LOTS of in there
as well. So, to help DEMIGOD´s new album, "Shadow Mechanics"
to survive slightly better than most of other albums in these
´markets´, give people at least 5 damn good reasons for that why they
should invest their money to "Shadow..." instead of some other
´brutal-killer-kick-ass´ -release?
First off, this album contains lots of really classic DEMIGOD stuff;
some of the songs are about 10 years old and some less older than that.
Therefore, I bet even many old DEMIGOD -fans will like the album ´coz
it´s got some of those familiar Death Metal elements that are to be
found from our debut, "Slumber of Sullen Eyes". Secondly, we
have lots of more variation on this album due to the fact some of the
oldest songs on this album were written 10 years ago or so when we were
still pretty heavily Death Metal -orientated - and some of the songs got
finished right in the recording situation that on the other hand, may
also contain a good load of elements from our Death Metal -era here and
there, but still are more like real Thrash songs by their nature. And
even if it´s been 10 years since our debut came out on DROWNED PROD.,
you will be able to recognize a familiar DEMIGOD -sound on "Shadow…"
as well - I can guarantee you that fellow metalheads!!! Last but not
least, we have just NEVER wanted to be any trendy band or any media hype
and have totally ignored what may be ´in´ or ´out´ in the metal
scene!! We have been doing music from our hearts that has felt good to
us. That´s the only thing that has mattered to us; playing music which
you love and would like to listen to by yourself best of all.
" ALL THE HAIL TO THE MASTERS ! ! ! "
What kind of stuff have you been listening to lately? Any idea
´bout the rest of the guys fave acts today?
I mostly listen to radio and that contains everything else but metal
music. If there was some music that makes me sick, I most probably would
refer with this to so-called "love songs" or ballads - and I
cannot stand "killeli-/pimppihevi" either. Sometimes on my way
to work, I listen to some of my old favorites like OBLIVEON (the BEST
fucking act ever!!!!!!!), METALLICA, some collection CDs, IRON MAIDEN,
KOTITEOLLISUUS, etc. etc. One rather surprisingly good band was recently
found from SPIKEFARM´s sampler CD and that band was called MOONSORROW.
That particular song on it which title is now escaping from me, is Black
Metal´s "Hallowed Be Thy Name". It sounded really really good
indeed!!!
I don´t know much about the other guys´ recent favorites, but you
can always go to: www.demigod.xrs.net
- and may find some answers right from there...
Well, this chat has come to its end. First off, I wanna thank YOU
Seppo for taking your precious time with all these questions; knowing
how busy a family man you have become during these past 2-3 years or so
- and secondly, I just wanna wish you all the best in the future and say
last but not least: You REALLY DID A HELL OF AN ALBUM!!! Be fuckin´
proud of that and keep on kicking some other asses in the different
areas of your life from now on and try to keep yourself as THE man!!
C-ya & take care!!!
Well, may I THANK YOU and your awesome webmagazine!!! Actually I have
to tell to all those people who probably don´t know yet how much
promotion and support you have been given to the Finnish metal
bands/scene during these past 13-15 years or so, so let everyone know
from now on that LUXI IS A HALL OF FAME METAL MAN AND A GREAT INDIVIDUAL
WITH A HIGHLY RESPECTABLE ATTITUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Greetings
to all old and new DEMIGOD fans also for being there for us… The
Slumber is OVER!!!!!
Official Demigod homepage:
www.demigod.xrs.net
Read Two Demigod CD Reviews
- SHADOW
MECHANICS
- Shadow
Mechanics