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 TORN FROM THE GRAVELegendary Swedish Deathsters Grave are bound to release their 9th album “Burial Ground” on June 14th; I have already received promo copy thanks to their label Regain records, you can already read my review of it on our website and to be short Grave has delivered again. I was told that Mr Ola will answer my questions but the task was done by drummer Ronnie; no har feelings there as he gave us some very cool answers so read on and enjoy!
Hey there, Ola! How's life treating you these days? I am going to see Deicide in the next couple of hours, hope you are having a good time like I do, hehe. Hey, Ronnie here.. I hope it's ok instead... Hope the Deicide show was cool! I'm having a blast at home at the moment, haha.. lots of San Miguel and such. ;-) OK, let us starts from the main reason for this chat - your new album "Burial ground"! Standard first question - how are you satisfied with it when you sit down, open a cold beer and play it loud? I'm extremely satisfied with it, especially when I have a cold beer and blast it out really loud!! The production we managed to get is outstanding and very natural, almost analogical sounding although it's recorded digitaly. The guitar sound is so raw and ugly and the drums sound like drums should sound like, in other words.. no fucking triggers!!! Ola's vocals kicks so much ass too... awesome!! Since 2007. Grave is a three-member band, did you record all the guitar parts by yourself this time also? Will Magnus play shows on the upcoming tours and did you consider to make him full time member of the band? Yeah he did. But Magnus will still be with us live and we'll see what happens in the future, if we go back to a four piece or just stick with the three piece and a hired gun on 2nd guitar.. only time will tell.. As a long time fan, I must say I truly dig "Burial ground“ (what a fine word play, hehe) as it represents Grave I know and love but you guys honed the main aspects of the sound to perfection. Comment on this... That sounds excellent to my ears hehehe.. If a long time fan think the album sounds like it should do, I'm a very happy man! We can only try and do the best we can and we worked hard to make this album sound really good.. which i think we managed with... I must notice that Ronnie’s playing style fits Grave like a glove, as he is very simple in his patterns but very effective, totally in the old school vein. How are you satisfied with your co-operation? Thanks hehe.. ;-) Well, first of all.. I'm not a death metal drummer so I basically have no clue how to play these songs in a more advanced way but also.. Grave for me, when I go back and listen to the older albums.. the drumming is very simple but with a certain groove which I've tried to keep. Pelle, who played before me is a far more technical skilled drummer then I've ever been or ever will be and when I joined and we began to discuss the direction for the "Dominion VIII" album we all agreed of letting the blast beat go away 'cause that's never been something that represented Grave in the early days.. I guess I play more old school as you say.. but I sure take that as a compliment! Ola and I work very well together and as far as I know he's satisfied with my work.... Also I have noticed that the album is very ancient styled (not to say that Grave chased trends in the past), but to me „Burial ground“ sounds like a crossing between your first two albums, the album sounds primitive in the best way possible! Your thoughts... I totally agree with that!! When we began to put the songs together i got that feeling too and after all the guitars and bass were done I was sure about it!  The old styled sound I have mentioned also comes from the production work which sounds totally like „Into the grave“, at least to me! I see that you and Ronnie have recorded the album in Soulless studio, by the name I would say that you are the owners, right? Elaborate on this a little bit... Yes we are, sort of. It's actually recorded in our rehearsal room, same place that Unleashed recorded their last 2 albums but it looks better in the booklet to actually call it something, haha. We have plans to build a proper mixing room and so on and then maybe start to record other bands too.. we'll see when and where though. Your love for Doom Metal is well known fact and you always had the crushing doomy parts, but this time they are cool as never before and it culminates in title track, as I can hear it is a tale about walking dead, right? It is my favourite track here and it closes the album in the same effective way like „Burial at sea“ did on debut St Vitus! What inspired you to infuse large doses of straight up Doom heaviness? I told Ola that I wanted to do a really heavy and slow song from start to finish, just to see if we could do it without it getting boring. I came up with the verse riff and the 2nd bridge or how to say and Ola had the first break riff and that really really slow riff in the middle, the part with the church bell... It's definitly one of my favorite songs of the album too and a worthy closer! It's as close to an epic track Grave ever done i guess and it seems that lots of people who heard the album dig the song... While we’re at it, tell us something about the lyrical themes – as I can hear, those are standard Grave antichristian and morbid themes. Well you said it yourself already in the question hehe.. It's basically the same as usual, against religion in general and corruption around the world. Organized religion IS an evil thing and must be fought. Just look at all the shit in the middle east.. completely fucked up!! Also I can guess that the front cover is linked to title track's lyrics. I totally love it, it looks like it will make killer vinyl, with lots of details. Tell us who have done it and how do you like it? It's made by the same guy who did the "Dominion VIII" artwork. A guy from Romania called Costin Chioreanu at Twilight13 Media. He's one of the absolutely best out there today and he needs more attention so check his shit out! This time you have re-recorded „Sexual mutilation“ from the same titled demo, and that feature is nothing new to Grave. Explain to us this aspect of your work, to give life to the old tracks. We re-recorded "Annihilated Gods" for the last album and we talked in an early stage if we should do the same thing for this album and Ola suggested "Sexual Mutilation" so we just went for it. It's a cool song which we wanted to bring back to life again and our fans seem to like it too. One more cool feature about „Burial ground“ are those two guest spots. What prompted you to do it? I can guess that you are friends with Matti forever, and you had that great tour with Nile a few years ago where you met Karl... Were those guys present in the studio or things were done over the Net? Matti wrote the lyrics for the song "Dismembered Mind" but he doesn't appear on the album. Karl's solo... well... This was something Ola and I talked about already on the tour in Nov/Dec but then we forgot about it.. I went to Finland with my other band "Demonical" and Ola did send me a sms in which he wrote that he'd e-mailed Karl about doing a solo and that Karl responded positive to that request. He did like 40 takes or so at his studio in the US but the solo that ended up on the album is the only one we heard and it absolutely fucken rules!!! Karl is one of the best guitar players out there and one of the most humble and nicest guys I've ever got the opportunity to get to know!! That goes for the whole band of Nile, I love those guys!! Can't praise them enough 'cause they simply rule!!! While we are talking about Karl and tour with Nile, I have to ask you do you recall your gig in Serbia? Hell, I even have picture with whole Grave! Did we make good impression so we can expect you here again? I remember that show very well, it was a killer one!!! When we got there, the promoter had put us in the small hall but after some negotiating the show was moved to the bigger venue which I think was the right decision to make. I would love to come back and play there again. The whole Balkan area was fantastic for us. Bucharest and Sofia ruled too so i would love to come back and hopefully do a headline tour. As die-hard fan of Swedish Death movement, I just need to ask you about some memories from Masters of Death tour with Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed! Are you guys planning to do it again (please do)? Unfortunatelly I don't think so.. That was a one in a life time thing which suffered a bit due to shitty organisation and promotion but we all still had a blast those intense 2 1/2 weeks. One of the most fun tours I've ever done and I know I speak for most of the other guys in the bands too... but no, I don't think that will happen again. Maybe some one off show or so but it's nothing we've talked about.. What lies ahead of you guys, any cool tours planned? Where can we see Grave in 2010? We're looking thru some offers at the moment but nothing is set as we speak. Hopefully there will be loads of touring this coming fall, winter and next spring... plus that we have some cool ideas for the summer festivals next year so stay tuned for that. That would be all for now, I would like to thank you for your time and wish you all the best! Until the next time – your last words... Thank you for a fun interview, my pleasure! Check out the album, "Burial Ground" which will be out June 14th and see you all in a bar in a venue close to somewhere.. haha.. :-) Cheers!!! Answers by Ronnie B. |
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