Released via Sweden’s I Hate Records this summer, Abysmal Winds’ debut album, ‘Magna Pestiencia’ followed up the ‘Doom Prayer’-demo tape from two years earlier. Those who had the band on their radar back then may have already realised that we were about to add yet another band to the Scandinavian country’s already impressive Death Metal quality tradition. Although ‘Magna Pestilencia’ doesn’t have much in the way of innovation or trendy hypes, the band doesn’t necessarily want to adhere to the term ‘Old School’. Perhaps that is not the right term anyway and, with Abysmal Winds’ broader Death Metal base, it would be better to speak of “timeless”. I spoke to guitarist Nekromonger about their timeless Death Metal, which is indeed much closer to Kaamos and Repugnant than to Unleashed or Entombed…
Hi there Anders, thanks for taking the time for this chat. Let’s get started right away! The kind of Death Metal you bring to the table is full of recognisable elements that could have been taken straight from records of many classics. Now, it is not exactly unique to play ancient Death Metal or to pay a certain homage to the old sound, but in most cases it fails because it lacks soul or is just a bit too much copycat behaviour. That’s not the case by Abysmal Winds, in your music, where do we find that soul?
We never aimed to make “old-school” death metal, we just play the style we love. I guess we draw most of our inflences from that earlier scene and that’s why it sounds old-school. Most important is that it sounds dark, brutal and filthy and without any unnecessary elements. And always with that ancient feeling present.
To pick up just a little on the opening question… What I was mainly referring to there are the interchangeable bands that all sound the same that all serve themselves with the same groovy mid-tempo riffs. In my review, I mentioned the example of the never-ending stream of bland Rogga Johansson records. Abysmal Winds certainly has more bite, partly due to a less sterile guitar sound and a more widespread dynamic. What, to you, is the secret of good Old School Death Metal?
Devotion, I think. When you play death metal you should put your heart and soul into it. It should never be just for fun or trying to cash in on some current trends. We really burn for extreme metal and it’s our flesh and blood. Death metal is supposed to be dark, bleak and filthy. Dealing with the darker sides of religion, spiritualism and death. Never just a hobby or anything like that.
I think the well-versed Death Metal fan should be able to pick out your musical inspirations without much effort. The influence of classic Swedish bands like Entombed, Grave and Dismember are unmistakable, but a good dose of Autopsy and Incantation can also clearly be heard. But, especially in the choppy guitars and drums, there is also a clear Punk vibe. Of course, this is only from my perspective, so what would you personally refer to as your main sources of inspiration? And how do they find their way into Abysmal Winds’ music?
We don’t have any specific bands we are influenced buy, but of course our songwriting has been coloured by the music we grew up listening to. Bands like Autopsy, Sadistic Intent or Morbid Angel etc., together with old obscure black and thrash metal as well. In the Swedish scene we always prefered bands like Kaamos, Hypocrisy (the Masse Broberg-era only) and Repugnant before the typical Stockholm sound.
Still sticking a bit to the same topic. Although Abysmal Winds is a Swedish Death Metal band and it clearly does have echoes of classic Swedish Death Metal, it certainly doesn’t sound like yet another HM2-driven band. I imagine this was a very conscious choice?
We have never been into that classsic HM2 style Swedish Sound. There have been many great bands here in the Swedish scene, but we have always prefered other styles of death metal. We don’t have anyhting against the HM2 sound really, it just aint for us.
All three of you already have a pretty creditable history in Extreme Metal with experience in bands like Omnizide, Avsky and my favourite of the three: Corpsehammer. I understand that Abysmal Winds was born like so many other bands: because not all creative ideas fitted within the frameworks of current bands. Still, is there anything specific you could mention that you guys took from those other bands into what is now Abysmal Winds?
Mainly the experience. For every recording you try to be a little better on everything and you have a better understanding on what to do and what not. We learned from our mistakes (or at least try to). We write the music in the same way for all those bands I think. The difference is that Avsky was/were more of our take on of more classic Northern black metal, and Corpsehammer a channel to express our fascination for obscure South American black/death. Abysmal Winds is our take on death metal.
Something else that grabbed me in your music is the vocal work. Where many bands go for rather featureless grunts, with you guys it sounds distinctly different. At times, it even reminds me of the rawness of Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost (in his good days, of course). Obviously, these kinds of comparisons are the result of personal taste and frame of reference, but I’m curious how you yourself look at this. Are there any particular musical examples you can cite for the vocal component?
When we recorded the demo we had no idea how the vocals should sound like and HCF just did what came to mind at the time basically. Our first thought when we heard the result was that the vocals (at least before mixing/mastering) reminded a bit of how Masse sounded on those first couple of Hypocrisy recordings.
When we recorded ’Magna Pestilencia’ HCF decided that he wanted to go for a more varied and desperate approach to avoid getting into this “gutteral grunt trench” that so many tend to sink into. It is hard to say if HCF get’s influenced by any specific vocalist but I know that he has been doing growling vocals for as long he has been playing music
Maybe it is because of your experience in Black Metal bands, but if I had to compare you to a contemporary band, I think I would come up with a band like France’s Sépulcre. Also consisting of musicians with a certain Black Metal background. That dark edge and a certain Black Metal feel in the riffs can be heard well in a song like ‘World Cadaver’, for example. Is incorporating such an (extra) dark touch a conscious choice or just the result of how the music flows from the pen? I mentioned Sépulcre, but are there any bands from the contemporary scene at all that you feel akin to?
We have been into extreme metal for a long time (since the nineties), and we really love all kinds of extreme metal, wether it’s death, black or thrash. And that colours our songwriting, I believe. Maybe more subconsciously than intentionally probably, but that’s the way we create our music. We may label Abysmal Winds as death metal and that it is where we put the the main focus, but we draw inspiration from other extreme metal genres as well.
Sepulcre, like you mentioned, is a band I really like. Invocation, Baneful Storm, Funeral Chant, Death Vomit, Fossilization and Proscription are other great bands that I feel draw their inspiration from the same ancient roots as Abysmal Winds.
Then the sound. For the recording of ‘Magna Pestilencia’, you worked with Magnus ‘Devo’ Andersson, among others. To me, the album has a dark sound with a good “crunch” in the guitars, old school but not old-fashioned. Did you have exactly this sound in mind and how do you look back on the overall recording process?
We recorded the drums at a local studio and the guitars and vocals were recorded at our rehearsal place. Devo (Endarker Studio) then mixed and mastered it, so the most credit for the sound/production goes to him. You always have a vision of how you want a record to sound like and we had some ideas and inputs of how we wanted the final result to sound. It may not sound exactly like we intented but Devo he was able to realize most of our ideas.
Prior to ‘Magna Pestilencia’ you have recorded a demo tape that you have released yourselves. Some of those songs have also found their way to the album. Keeping this in mind, how would you say that you have progressed or grown as a band from that demo to the album? What would you say are the biggest differences between both recordings?
Musically the record and the demo are not that different from each other. More of a natural continuation. We know what type of death metal we love and want to create ourselves and I think we have found our formula. The biggest difference is probably the production. We recorded the demo and the album in similar ways, but since they’re mixed/mastered in different studios it sound a bit different. But I have to say that we really like the sound on both recordings.
Of course, I could make a literal translation of what ‘Magna Pestilencia’ means, but I am curious as to what the story behind the title and the album in general is. What does it tell us?
We use the title directly, for the great plague and the impact it had on Europe. But also as a metaphore for religion and values that plagues the world. The lyrics mainly deals with subjects such as the futile struggles, misery and death of humanity and the darker sides of religion and spiritualism. To match the theme of the album we went with that old woodcut style. Like an old biblical illustration.
Something completely different now. If I remember correctly, there was once talk of a second guitarist joining the ranks, but I don’t think that ever came to pass. What happened?
We had some plans to have a session guitarist when playing live. But the group dynamic between the three of us is very creative and we have the same views of how we want the band to sound. We didn’t want to disrupt that balance so we decieded to just stick to the three of us as a power trio instead.
You actually only recently started playing live while your music, in my opinion, is excellent for taking to the stage. Were there any initial objections to doing so? And what was the reason for finally starting this anyway?
Playing live was a goal from the beginning and we try to do so as often as we can. We try to evolve our show and want it to be more than just music, we want to offer an experience beyond just the music. We want to offer an experience for all senses.
Of course, a somewhat obvious question to round off this Q&A a bit is what we can expect from Abysmal Winds next. The album is still fresh and you guys have also played some shows now. What will the future bring?
We have another show coming up now in September (here in Sweden). We would love to play some shows abroad as well. We also have begun to write some new material.
Alright Anders, that was it from my side. Thanks again for sharing your time and thoughts with me. As always I’m leaving the last and closing words to my interviewee…
Thanks for the support, we really appreciate it!
