I recently reviewed 'Raging Death' here on the blog, the absolutely killtastic new album from Swedish death n' roll juggernauts Entrails. I described their sound thusly:
"... sicker than a bag full of maggots left out in the sun, and heavier than a giant's headstone".
Did I just quote myself? Yes I did. But you have to know just how badass this new album actually is. It's REALLY badass. So naturally I was chuffed when Metal Blade came back to the bosses and enquired as to whether or not I would like to interview the band.
"... sicker than a bag full of maggots left out in the sun, and heavier than a giant's headstone".
Did I just quote myself? Yes I did. But you have to know just how badass this new album actually is. It's REALLY badass. So naturally I was chuffed when Metal Blade came back to the bosses and enquired as to whether or not I would like to interview the band.
So here we go, borrowing heavily from Aaron’s tried and tested '20 Questions' format (i.e., stealing completely - cheers), the blog known as Sludgelord proudly presents the band known as Entrails.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
SL) Hello gentlemen, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us here at Sludgelord. How you all and where are you are guy’s right now then?
Jimmy) Hello there. Here is everything perfect. Its summertime and rather nice weather so who can complain. The Swedish summer can be good and also terrible, this year it seems to be a mix...
In writing moment the other guys are at their homes I guess. Haven’t been asking them but I think there home taking it easy.
SL) Some of our readers may not know you too well. Could you give them a brief history of Entrails?
J) A band who started 1990 but never released anything because of many things like, bad recordings, no studio engineer, no money etc. and the list can be long, everything went against Entrails sort of and after a while the members dropped out one by one, And finding musicians around here in southern countryside at that time who liked DM was impossible so I closed the band down in like 1998. During those years I managed to make several songs that I re- recorded once again and how it was meant to be in 2009 and 2 demos was made. “Reborn” and “Human Decay” After that FDA Rekotz was signed and 2 albums was made “Tales from the Morgue” and “The Tomb Awaits” we have done some cool shows at Party San, Summer Breeze, Hell Inside, NRW Deathfest, Obscene Extreme, Extremefest and with good response. Lately we have signed Metal Blade and a new album is out “Raging Death”. A traditional Swedish DM Album.
The whole BIO is readable at www.metalblade.com/entrails
SL) So what are your plans to see out the second half of the year? Any big touring plans or festivals?
J) So far only one show planned, Killtown Deathfest in Copenhagen in late Aug… the other guys in the bands are occupied with other things and projects and it’s hard to organize a longer tour.. But a 3-5 day tour wouldn’t be impossible to make in the future but right now there is nothing going on in planning anything, we have got some proposals but nothing major so we will see what happens.
SL) We loved 'Raging Death', I was lucky enough to be drafted for the review. Are you feeling confident heading into the live arena armed with such a killer record?
J) Hell yeah, I am totally satisfied with this album. And as I does the song writing I am happy that the old spirit is still present… and by that it’s no problem to heading into anything… just feels great
SL) This is album number three for you guys. How did the recording process go? Has it become easier over the years?
J) Well. It’s harder to find good riffs nowadays if you don’t want to have it too similar to something. That goes for every kind of music. And we don’t want to invent anything new so it’s a bit harder to play the classic Old school as the best riffs are taken. But I am not worried; there are many ways to go before everything is done once. Anyway, I do the music into a basic song and Jocke the lyrics and then we add the inputs from the others to sculpture the song.
SL) How is the heavy music scene doing in
J) To me it’s looking good. Many bands is doing good music but it’s not that many bands doing the classic styled Dm I prefer to listen to unfortunately but still there is creative bands doing their stuff..
SL) You have a distinct groove to your sound, but at your core you are a Death Metal band. Where do you think Entrails stands within such a diverse genre? Was your aim always to make it onto a big Metal label like Metal Blade?
J) Hmm. The songs become groovy in a natural way. Many influences and an own mind in the creativity I guess that’s the reason why it becomes in this way. I don’t know where we stand. Hopefully on safe ground. Otherwise it would be a mistake to even continue to believe in what we do. We have had a goal for a good and big label but never in my wildest dream I could imagine that Metal Blade would mail me and give us an offer…
SL) Sweden has a rich heritage of contributions to Death Metal. Who are some of your biggest influences among your fellow countrymen?
J) I would lie if I don’t mention Entombed, Grave, Dismember, Carnage, Nirvana 2002, God Macabre, Cemetery and Unleashed… Shortly you could say it’s the spine of the sunlight bands from the early days that inspired me, at least for the DM. then Slayer and a thrashier style was doing my day before that.
SL) Staying with influences, do you like to play any covers live? If not already, are there plans to play any covers live, or do you aim to keep your set strictly original material?
J) On our first trip in
SL) Is Entrails a full time gig, or do any of you have to hold down the fort with other employment? Do you find touring hard to organize around this at all?
J) Yeah. All of us have ordinary works, kids and families so it’s harder to organize any major stuff now and to have all part satisfied enough. 20 years ago that wouldn’t be any problems. But we really try to live our 90´s now and deliver when we got the chance on stage.
SL) Are you a fan of heavy music blogs? If so, how relevant do you think they are given the state of the recording industry in the present day?
J) I wouldn’t say am a fan, but I do read some of them if something cool is written or if there is reviews done on a band that’s sounds interesting..
SL) Staying with the modern recording industry, where do you stand on format? Are you fans of the physical or do you believe that downloads having merit?
J) Well. I don’t like the digital world but I am getting used to it finally and by now I use it myself in recordings and so on. I would use an old tape recorder to record our stuff but I can’t afford it.
Though the downloading is a bad thing as it have been so huge and doesn’t bring any big happy moments for any band today. Everything is eaten by the illegal shit. But still metal and hard music have a better audience and the true ones supports their bands and by that bands can keep on making more music.
SL) Going back to 'Raging Death', do you have some favourite cuts from the new record? Anything that you particularly like to play live, or that has been well received by audiences?
J) I would say the whole song “Carved to the Bone” it has many cool hooks and fun riffs. But we haven’t tried everyone yet as we only have done one show after the release. But I would like this one the best anyway I guess.
SL) How does the new material stack up in the set against the older stuff?
J) I would say it’s a draw. Every song have its thing so it’s impossible to set them into a position sort of. It’s a great and a simple follower to the previous ones in my opinion.
SL) Let's get technical, as your genre can be extremely. Do you have any favourite gear setups, or choices of product that you use? What would you recommend to our readers who wish to play DM?
J) It all depends in which style and which sound you wants to use, I can only speak for our own style, and by that Marshall Amps (JCM 900/800) is a must then of course this distortion pedal from Boss called “Heavy Metal 2” (Hm2) and with down tuned guitars and this equipment you can get very close to the music we do.
SL) You guys all seem to be veterans. What are your opinions on younger bands getting famous overnight, without paying any 'dues'? Is it all just BS, or do you think that they suffer long term by not gaining real road experience? Do you think it's sad that they might be missing out on those early experiences?
J) Yep. Old and with a lot of routine and experience, that’s us…
Well if the band is doing it totally right I can’t see any bad things with that but it’s better to walk a bit longer path to be famous.. Over a night is too fast and will kill the band pretty soon. But its better they find out that by themselves.
SL) People always love a humorous tour incident! Got any to share, or are they all too ugly for public consumption?
J) Sorry but we haven’t been on the road so much that any funny moments have happened. And we aren’t that wild when we are on an event. Getting to old for that. Ha-ha
SL) It seems crazy to ask with such a fresh record out, but how long do you plan to tour 'Raging Death' for? Were there any goals that you set for yourselves with this album?
J) No touring planned! We will await offers for shows and festivals for now as I have wrote the reasons earlier in why we haven’t planned anything. The big and most important goal we had on this album was that it will be great enough for the fans out there and not be the album that tears the band into shit. The third album is always the one who will decide such thing and in that hole we wouldn’t drop into.
SL) Do you have a dream tour line-up? Any bands that you would like to play with, either established legends or new up and comers?
J) My personal favourites are Dismember (91´s setting), Morgoth (already done a tour with them) Carnage (original setting), and those 3 bands would be enough for me. Of course there are tons of bands but this line up is interesting.
SL) Finally, thanks again for talking to us. The floor is yours - do you have anything you would like to say to any fans that are reading, or any shows that we should know about?
Thanks a lot for showing interest in us by doing this Interview.
And by that I could only say that easiest way to follow us in what we do or will be doing is to type www.facebook.com/entrails666 and keep on support us by buying our music and merch. That’s highly appreciated.
As ever, show your support to the band by checking them out at the various links. You can buy the record here. This record is available now. Thanks to Andy @ Metal blade for setting up the interview and Jimmy for his candour. You can read Matt's review here
