Interview with Obliteration 2005
By Bradley Smith Sindre Solem(vox) and Didrik Telle(bass) answer the questions.
Old school death metal has a new name and face in Norway. Can you give me your perspective on the Total Fucking Obliteration release? What sort of milestone does it represent for you personally and musically?
Didrik/Sindre: We think that the "Total Fucking Obliteration" release is a fresh contribution to the underground metal scene in Norway. Many bands in the same genre as us are perhaps a bit too concentrated on the technical aspects of the music (not that there's anything wrong with that), but we try to focus more on the mood and the attitude of what we play. We’re definitively proud to have released a vinyl at this age, and we think that this is a step in the right direction for us. I guess that “Total Fuck…” doesn’t represent anything new or groundbreaking, but it stands out as a strong and independent recording in these “über-produced, smooth-sound days”.
I know you had a demo out earlier but I want to know about the creative process around the 7” and how it compared to the demo? What are your impressions of working in a studio?
Didrik: The material on the 7” is much cooler and insane than the older shit, and we worked a long time with the songs before we went to the recording studio, and everything was planned and agreed on, music wise. Sindre: We don’t work in the studio, we record there. We work underground. In the band room. Didrik: Though being in studio still kick’s ass! Sindre: Yup.
Duplicate Records has garnered quite an impressive roster as of late. How do you feel about being a part of this? How did you get in contact with Einar? What is your deal with him for?
Sindre: I am honoured to be a part of Duplicate. They’ve had lots of amazing releases like “überthrash”, the Infernö releases, Lamented souls, Audiopain and so on.Didrik: Einar came to see us play at Elm Street, a pub in Oslo, in May this year. He had gotten a hold of our old demo, and gave us the offer of releasing a 7” vinyl on his label. ‘Cause we’re still an up-an-coming act he wanted to do it to promote us, and that’s a great thing of him to do. Our deal with him is only for this release, but perhaps he’ll sign us up for another one. Time will show.
It seems a great deal has been made of the youth of band members. This issue reminds me of when Entombed recorded Left Hand Path when they averaged something like 17 or 18 years in age. To me it gives you guys a fresh perspective and a youthful passion other artists lack. How do you feel your age plays on your band as whole?
Sindre/Didrik: Well, I guess being this age has given us a lot of opportunities. Whenever we play a gig in Oslo, people always comment on our age, saying stuff like we’re a bunch of young fucks who really know how to play old-school death metal. And that’s always a nice thing to be told.
Sindre: I thought the Entombed-guys were 19 years old while they recorded Left Hand Path? Weird…It seems to me that there has been a recent Rise of Death Metal within Norway. Do you see it as well? What do you attribute to this? Do you think that there is also a corresponding decline in black metal?
Sindre: I can’t say that there has been a recent “rise” in bands within Death metal in Norway. I agree that there are lots of cool Norwegian Death metal bands, but many of them have been there for quite a while. But there are some new DM bands here that really kick ass, like: Slogstorm, She Said Destroy and Left Among the Living. And of course the older bands that have been around the block a few times: Myrkskog, Zyklon, Blood Red Throne and The Allseeing I and Mindgrinder.
Didrik: I agree that there’s been a decline in the black metal scene over the past few years. The whole concept of BM really reached its maximum in the early-to-mid nineties, and from there on the quality of the music reduced a bit. But then again, there are still a few GREAT BM-bands out there. Personally I’m more of a fan of the older stuff, like Darkthrone’s “A blaze… ”and so on, but there are bands today also that blow my mind.
Sindre: Yeah, like the newer stuff from Darkthrone, Tsjuder, Satyricon and Carpathian Forest……
Apollyon does guest vokillz on two of the tracks. How did you get him to participate? Was he eager for some more metal since the debacle at the inferno festival last year?
Sindre: I asked him. Hehe. We have played a gig with him (Aura Noir) and he liked our old demo (many people seem to do that) and he is from the same place as us (His parents are my next-door neighbours). During the Inferno festival 05 I met with him and asked him if he wanted to participate with some “guest vokillz” on our upcoming release. The incident during the Inferno Festival left the people around Aggressor very broken down, including Apollyon of course. But still he thought it was cool to be a part of an extreme metal release again, and we are thankful for his contribution.
Speaking of Inferno festival 2005, how did that concert go for you? Did you feel honoured to be at the same stage as some of those other greats? Which were some of the bands that appeared that you enjoyed and respected the most?
Didrik: Personally I’m really happy with how it went. We got to show a lot of people what we’re good for, and that’s a great feeling. Being on the same poster as Morbid Angel, Aura Noir, Grave and Dissection amongst others, was, and still is, a quite surreal thought. But then again neither of us were old enough to stay for those concerts. That totally sucked, but I guess that’s the price to pay when you’re as young as we are. In ’06 however we’re all old enough, so I’m really looking forward to tearing the place apart!
I feel that Obliteration has been influenced more by US death metal bands than the typical Scandinavian sources like Entombed and Unleashed or even any of the continental European bands like Morgoth and Gorefest? What do you see as some of the main influences on your stylistic vision?
Didrik: All over I think our main influences are bands like Morbid Angel, Slayer, Deicide and Suffocation. Personally I’ve always been listening a lot to Pantera, so I guess that counts a bit as well. Sindre: We are inspired by lots of bands (like those Didrik mentioned) but there are none of those stand out, you know? We create music we think sounds cool, sick and aggressive, so we play what we want to play. Our taste in music goes from Johnny Cash and Led Zeppelin to Darkthrone and Death so it’s impossible to say that Obliteration is inspired by just one or two bands. And yes, we are more inspired by the American bands than the European bands, though there are still some cool European DM bands.
I really dig the Cover art for the 7”. What is it supposed to represent and how does that image suit the artistic image of the band as a whole?
Didrik: We played around with the ideas for the front cover for quite a while actually. We wanted it to scream “Total Fucking Obliteration” right into the face of anyone ho saw it! The final drawing might not represent “obliteration” in the words right meaning, but I still think it captures a good part our lyrical themes in a good way. It’s all about dismembered bodies, blood and gore! The final drawing was done by our drummer, Kristian. Sindre: The motive inside the sleeve is taken from a painting that hangs in my living-room. For me it represents HELL (the painting, not the living-room), and because of that we just needed to have it as a part of the cover-art. Quite cool or what man?
Since you are a death metal band who musically illustrates violence and death, how do you feel about the death penalty used in other countries’ penal systems?
Didrik: I wouldn’t take our fascination of gore and death to a political point of view. That whole concept can be thought of more like a splatter-movie. If you get scared, you can turn it of. But what we are a whole lot more serious on, are the anti-Christian aspects of our lyrics! On the point of death penalty however, I can say as much as we as a band don’t have a mutual opinion about it. It is a more individual question. Sindre: But someone’s got to die, right? Haha!
What does the future hold for Obliteration? When will you be unleashing a full length album? Any live performances of note?
Didrik/Sindre: Right now we are in our senior year at high school, so we need to focus more on that just for the moment. But we are constantly working on new material, and when the summer gets here, we definitely want to get in to a creative period of focusing on the band (only whiskey and song writing), hopefully releasing a full length alum as a product of that. We actually get to travel a bit around the country in the near future, doing some gigs here and there.
Any last words for those of us who have been baptized in Vomit?
Didrik/Sindre: Don’t wash your hair! Buy “Total Fucking Obliteration”, drink beer, listen to Slayer, and be prepared for further OBLITERATION!