Interview with Sauron 2009
by Bradley Smith

Your new album Satanic Assassins has finally been released after many delays and the transformation of it from an EP to a full length album. Can you tell me about why it took so long and what sort of issues arose during all the recording sessions and with the release problems? How is this album different than Thrash Assault?

Skinthrasher: Well, we originally recorded four songs for an ep that was to come out in ’06 but it didn’t end up happening for various reasons. We wrote three more, and re-recorded those four to make the album. Things happen slowly in the Sauron camp. The band isn’t a job for us so unfortunately life tends to get in the way sometimes. “Satanic Assassins” is pretty different from “Thrash Assault.” On ‘TA’ we made a conscious effort to do a 100% true thrash metal album and we limited our influences to the German three, Slayer, Dark Angel, Exodus, etc. On ‘SA,’ we decided to open up and let more influences seep in, while keeping the aforementioned influences as a “base” to expand upon, so to speak. Therefore, on ‘SA,’ one may hear traces of more diverse influences such as Darkthrone, early Voivod, Discharge, Pestilence, NWOBHM, Venom, Bathory, “etc.”

You are now a member of the Witches Brew crew. What led you to being signed to WB? What do you think of your many quality label mates and which are your favorites?

Skinthrasher: As far as I know, they just liked our first album and knew we were working on another one and wanted to release it. Witches Brew is a quality label for thrash. They seem to avoid the lame, trendy “retro” bands and focus on the good stuff. I haven’t heard all of the bands but DEATHHAMMER and PYOVELI come to mind as being killer. I must say that my favourite WB release is THE CHASM’s “Conjuration of the Spectral Empire,” by far.

LoreLord: I enjoy Redimoni, and Devil Lee Rot very much as well as Salute.

I have noticed that you occasionally participate in forums. What sorts of benefit does it have to interact with the fans and other artists via this medium? What sorts of discussions attract your attention?

Skinthrasher: I go to forums simply as a fan of music. I don’t really go there to promote the band or whatever, nor do I bore everyone talking about the band. I would visit forums whether I was in the band or not. Plus, I have a lot of down time at work.

LoreLord: I mainly use forums for swapping music, but occasionally I will chime in my two cents if I see a topic that sparks my interest.

Doomy: The whole reason we go to forums is the same reason we are in a band in the first place, we are metalheads. We love to listen to metal, play metal, and talk about metal.

Man, this whole thrash revival has gotten out of hand. Too many stagnant and boring bands are out there these days. Do you agree? What are these people doing wrong and why has it become so trendy to play Bay Area thrash again?

Skinthrasher: I absolutely agree and I really don’t listen to any of them. I listen to some new thrash, but I wouldn’t really call the ones I listen to ‘retro,’ per se. I think a few of the problems with the trendy new thrash bands are that they seem to focus on fashion a bit too much. It almost has an “I Love the 80s” thrash-style vibe to it at times ha. Another problem is that the bands draw on a very limited amount of influences, usually the Bay Area bands, and it almost seems like a lot of them probably don’t even like death or black metal, which is a foreign concept to me. I’ve always preferred thrash when it was more of an underground, almost proto-extreme kind of thing and it seems some of these bands want to go more of the ANTHRAX/TESTAMENT route of being “professional,” and probably want to “take things to the next level,” popularity-wise.

Lorelord: This sort surge occurs in every situation and in cycles, the next phase is early 90's death metal.

Doomy: I honestly don't care. People are always going to jump on trends and play shitty music. Some people are going to lump us in with it, some people are going to write off thrash entirely because of it, and some people are actually going to get into good music as a result of being exposed to it. The important thing is that I listen to what I like, and we play what we like.

Poser Holocaust is one of the songs that really caught my eye/ear while listening to the new album. What exactly is a POSER? And aren’t there better targets that are more deserving of a holocaust, extremists, terrorists, and religious radicals for instance? If you could target one group who would it be and why?

Skinthrasher: A poser is someone that acts like something they’re not. Which makes things a little complicated, because, after all, most metalcore/emo/whatever kids are indeed just being themselves, they just happen to have what I consider to be shitty taste in music. I think the more annoying recent trend is the influx of “hipsters” into metal, especially doom and black metal. The people who really don’t understand the essence of metal and like things to be tongue-in-cheek. It’s not a coincidence that as soon as black metal stopped caring about ideology and became “just music,” the hipsters flocked to it in droves.

LoreLord: I prefer songs to not be about politics. Our message is heavy metal and killing posers is a heavy metal tradition. But if I were to target a group other than posers it would probably be traitors and thieves.

Doomy: Like Vic said, the anti-poser thing is really just a heavy metal tradition. I don't know if I'm really interested in targeting any one group of people in particular... there are people who claim to march under every banner you can think of that deserve to die, as far as I'm concerned.

My favorite song on the new album is the Sarcofago inspired Storm of Ashes. Once again, the dark spectre of Mordor reaches across the lands of Middle Earth. Why is this epic story so fascinating and what angles of Tolkien’s writing do you feel people overlook? Or am I reading too much into the Tolkien connection?

Skinthrasher: I don’t think there are very many angles to Tolkien’s writings that people overlook. They’re such widely read books. Take one listen to Summoning, for instance (especially ‘Dol Guldur’) and you can feel the spirit of a mythologized ancient Europe, the heroic quest, the affinity for nature, etc. There’s no surprise why so many metal bands have taken influence from the man’s work.

Lorelord: Great Women, Great Friends, Great Beer, Great Battles, whats not to like?

Doomy: Pretty much, yeah. "Storm of Ashes" is pretty much an "alternate ending" if you will. The Sauron Director's Cut version. Tolkien is metal as fuck, and so are we. It just makes sense. Although I've had to explain on more than one occasion that the chorus of that song is talking about the White TOWER...

One thing that has started to irritate me a little is that it seems the underground is turning into a bunch of nerdy vinyl collectors.  To me it is about the music.  How do you view this issue and have you noticed at all what I am talking about here?

Skinthrasher: It is a little annoying. I think the bigger problem is that metalheads seem to lap up everything the labels put out these days (it was probably always the case but with downloading, it becomes much easier of course) and tend to regard mediocre albums as “new classics.” I look around the internet and there’s people making top 20 albums lists for 2008 and I struggled to make a top 10. Everything’s become very disposable in the information age. Download, consume, move on, rinse and repeat.

LoreLord: What bothers me is the insane prices for albums I've always wanted to hear, what makes this less irritating is that thanks to youtube, and vibrations of doom (for example) you can hear almost any album you would want to hear without even downloading anything or burning anything. If there are people with the money to have these expensive and expansive collections then more power to them it doesn't really affect me in the long run.

Doomy: It's hard for me to place blame on collectors when the bands and labels are doing all of this "limited release, diehard edition" bullshit that makes stuff so hard to get anyway. I understand wanting to collect stuff if you are a big fan of a band, and if a band releases something that they know a lot of people will want but only makes 10 copies what the fuck do they think will happen? It doesn't mean only diehard fans will get it, it means that the people with the highest credit card limit and more time to dick around on the internet searching for "kvlt" vinyl will. Besides, people will be afraid to listen to it because they don't want to damage anything. I've spent tons of money on music but my collection isn't worth shit because I actually listen to it- but why the fuck would I want to sell it anyway?

What are your opinions on the current economic crisis in the USA? Whose fault do you think it is?  Do you like to see the economy and by association, the huddled masses suffering?

Skinthrasher: These are tough times. We’re from Michigan, which has the worst economy in the U.S. I’ll be on furlough this coming Friday, actually. It will be odd that technology is becoming so available and prevalent in modern society while the economy gets worse and worse. We’ll be living in boxes watching TV out of a cell phone pretty soon haha. The U.S. is going to be in for a rude wake-up call.

LoreLord: The dead weight loss to society due to manufacturing of demand through advertising by Multinational Corporations. This is what has caused the current crisis, of course there are several factors that magnify the above statement as well for instance the over expansion of the credit market during the last few decades.

On a similar topic, what do you think of the new president the USA has?  Is it more of the same or is it a new ear of politics.  Or really is it just nice to be rid of George Bush?

Skinthrasher: It's definitely nice to be rid of Bush but it’s the corporations that wield the power.  Obama is another puppet.  He’s on the absolute opposite side from Bush on the political spectrum, but it’s a very small spectrum.  Spectrum of Death!

LoreLord: Hopefully people will realize that the president is more of a figure head then he is anything else, while Obama can deliver the message of our true captors far more elegantly then Bush that doesn't mean that the country will benefit at all from a different messenger.

Doomy: I don't really see much of a difference between Democrats and Republicans.  Politics is for punk bands anyway.

Do you have your college basketball bracket filled out? Do you follow sports at all and in general what is your opinion on gambling? Is it fun or a sin or both?

Skinthrasher: No, I hate college “sports.”  I think all of us in Sauron follow the pro Detroit teams, except Doomy, who likes the Packers for some reason.  I’m a big Pistons fan and Vic is a sad, masochistic Lions fan.  I have no problem with gambling, but one should watch out for the neon claws of GAMBLOR.

LoreLord: The Lions will go 21-0 this year.

Doomy: I love college and pro sports and I'm proud of how the Spartans did in the tournament.  I like to bet on sports once in a while but I'm not a big gambler, because I have other things to waste my money on.  When I do bet it is usually on MMA fights or NFL games.

If you could ask any of your childhood metal heroes a question in an interview, who would it be and what would you ask them? Why this person and what about this question do you feel deserves an answer?

Skinthrasher: I don't know; I don’t really look up to bands that I listen to.  I know that they’re regular people and not to be put on a pedestal.  I would like to find out what really happened to John Cyriis of AGENT STEEL.

Lorelord: I would ask Paul Baloff, "Why so heavy?" For obvious reasons.

Doomy: I would like to ask the current incarnation of "Exodus" why they hate me so much and what I ever did to them that was so bad that they had to re-record the greatest thrash metal album of all time just to piss me off.

What are your near-term upcoming plans for Sauron?

Skinthrasher: We’re working on new stuff right now and will try to start recording maybe by mid-’10.  One of the new songs we’ve been working on has an almost ‘Soulside Journey’-ish feel to it.  We’ll see.  It tends to take us a long time to do anything.

I’ll leave any final words to you.

Skinthrasher: Thanks for the interview.  We support WASTELANDER, DEMONTAGE, DARK PSYCHOSIS, HARBINGER, NOCTURNAL FEAR, DEATHHAMMER, PYOVELI, AURA NOIR, WITCHTRAP, and probably some more that I forgot!  Kill your dark master.

LoreLord: And Don't forget Perversion, and Genocya!

Doomy: DESTROYER 666 IS THE FUCKING ANTICHRIST!!!!  ARGHHH!