Zyklon pour l'album "Disintegrate"

Hi Samoth, I'm Keyser from the French metal webzine Thrashocore. I'm honored to have the opportunity to interview you, thanks for your time! Zyklon's third album, "Disintegrate", will hit stores in few weeks. How do you feel before the release of a new album? Excited? Anxious? A bit afraid?

It's always exciting to put out a new album, and to see how fans and media will react to something you've been working on for a long time. It's usually positive excitement though.


Did you feel under pressure while working on the successor to the critically-acclaimed "Aeon" album?

Not so much really, I was pretty confident that we could push thing another step forwards with the new album


What about the writing process? Who is the main composer of "Disintegrate"?

I have written a lot of the basic material on the album, but both Destructhor and Secthdamon have written a few songs as well and are generally active with input throughout the whole process. We've done quite some pre-production stuff for this album and that's a really good way to work. We usually make CD's of our rough material and we all listen to it at home and then we work on it actively as a band unit at rehearsal. For the most part you get the right feel when the track is done, it happens quite naturally really.


"World Ov Worms" and "Aeons" are very different. "World Ov Worms" sounded like industrial black/death metal, then you gave up black metal influences to concentrate on death metal for "Aeons", keeping some industrial and atmospheric elements however. Why did that change take place? By comparison, "Aeon" and the new album are quite similar. Does it mean you really found your sound on "Aeon"?

Yeah, I think "Aeon" was closer to the sound we wanted than "World ov Worms". The debut felt a little bit like a project. It always takes time to build a band a find the right sound. I definitely think we have perfected the sound more with "Disintegrate". The album sounds like a concentrate of everything that Zyklon is about, and brings in elements from both prior albums. However, everything is much more perfected and pushed forward on this album. The music has become more refined and balanced, with stronger contrasts between brutality and atmosphere. There are also more melodic parts on the album and more catchy hooks. I feel that the overall quality is better this time around, with a generally stronger, more diverse and dynamic song writing.


I've always regarded Zyklon as a "classy" death metal band, far away from all those gore and obscene extreme bands. Your music gives off an impression of gracefulness and power at the same time (maybe it comes from your black metal background with Emperor) that raises Zyklon above the mass of bands. Do you share my opinion on that point?

Yeah, I do. We've always made it clear that we're not just a stereotypical death metal band.



The well-written, philosophical, and quite mysterious lyrics take a big part in that feeling. Faust wrote them. Who took the pen for "Disintegrate"? What do the lyrics deal with, this time?

Faust wrote all the lyrics this time as well. The title itself reflects upon on the world today and how a lot of things seem to fall to a part. the fall of man if you will. Generally, the topics on "Disintegrate" are exploring around some of the same topics we've introduced before, such as various aspects of religion, apocalyptic thoughts and visions, etc. As I also said earlier, we are also touching on topics about man vs. nature, modern world apathy and how people have no real connection to nature anymore and how it all seem to be about what we can use for our own benefit. Generally the lyrics aren't anti-human in a misanthropic sense, but more critical towards man and how humanity falls into their own trap of self-destructiveness. I think the concept of Zyklon has its fair share of both social commentary as well as escapism and more fiction oriented stuff.


You've just released a DVD called "Storm Detonation Live". With only two albums, doesn't that DVD come too early? Why did you choose to use a festival performance in spite of a more intimate gig in front of a crowd full of Zyklon fanatics? DVDs are often useless commercial products to me. Since I haven't watched yours yet, how could you convince me to buy it?

I can't see any problem with releasing a DVD when being close to releasing our third album. Basically we had a good recording of the Party san show and we decided to make it available for the fans. It's not a big production, but a cool underground release for dedicated fans. In addition to the Party san show, the DVD also features backstage footage, some bootleg clips from shows, audio, photo gallery and the two music videos we've done.


You will play at the Hellfest on late June. Can we hope other French dates, I mean a real tour, not only summer festivals?

Yeah, I hope so. We are looking at touring possibilities for September. I'm sure France will be included.


Do you remember the tour with Arch Enemy and Stampin' Ground in 2004? Weird bill, wasn't it?

Yeah, it wasn't the best bill for us I think, even though it was totally alright. I think the show in Paris was pretty good as far as I remember.


You always wear black long leather coats and black sunglasses on promo pics. Sometimes you even bear guns. Are you guys some Matrix maniacs? (:p)

Haha, not really. I did like the first Matrix film when it first came out, but I didn't even manage to watch the two other ones, as the whole thing started to totally bore me. I guess it's mainly the photo session for the first album that has this look that could resemble the "matrix". Basically, we just wanted to do something a bit like something taken out of a movie. Like something out of "Reservoir Dogs" or something. Again, it was about not just doing the typical band photo. However, we don't really have a strict image for the band, and a lot of our photo shoots are kind of basic, but usually in a strong location.


You run the Nocturnal Art Productions label. How does it go?

Goes well! NAP is since last year an imprint with Candlelight Records, so that allows me to work a bit more freely. We have two releases out recently: She Said Destroy "Time Like Vines" and Manngard "Circling Buzzards". We've just recently signed Ansur from Norway and In Battle from Sweden.



Now let's talk about Emperor's return (sorry but you couldn't espace it :p). Why did you decide to play together again? Is it just for a few big shows or is it a real reunion that will lead to the recording of a new album? Are you going to put Zyklon aside to give Emperor priority?

As far as building a band Zyklon is my priority. The Emperor live reunion obviously requires a lot of dedication, but at the same time Emperor will mainly be based around one-off shows, so it will be possible to combine the two without any major compromises. I guess there's always been a feeling of something being "unfinished", as we never really got to do those last final shows after we split up the band. After the split the Emperor name seems to be even stronger than ever, and the demand from the fans is huge. In a way I think we owe it to ourselves, and the fans to do this. Hopefully it will be a great experience for everybody.


You took part in the 1st Scum album. What did you get from it? How was that to play with Faust again? Will there be another album?

It was interesting to do something different and totally spontaneous and it was great to play with Faust again. He's an awesome drummer with great feeling! SCUM don't make plans, so who knows what will happen.


Your collaboration in Scum, Emperor's reunion, it seems you are going back to your black metal roots. Did you miss playing black metal?

My roots come from both Black Metal and Death Metal. I am a metalhead, I like black metal, I like death metal and I like old school fucking metal! I play whatever I enjoy and choose to focus on what I'm doing rather than a collective scene.



What do you think about the current death and black metal scenes? What are you listening to these days? Any good bands to recommend?

The term black metal so watered out and misused. When I personally think of the Black Metal feeling, then I think of the atmosphere of hearing Mayhem in the early days, Burzum, Darkthrone, discovering bands like Tormentor from Hungary and Master's Hammer, the Thorns rehearsal tapes, Immortal, Bathory, Celtic Frost, etc. I think it's hard to capture and find that same feeling, but some bands keep it alive still, like Darkthrone. There are many classic albums that will always keep this genre alive I think. But looking at the new scene today, it's very few bands that interest me on a personal level, even though I'm sure there are still new Black Metal bands that are good. As I said, I'm a metalhead, and I like a lot of different bands within the genre of metal.


Destructhor and Secthdamon also play in Myrkskog. Do you know if there will be another Myrkskog album?

Yes, they are working on it. I have no idea when it will actually happen, as they usually take their time making albums. I heard some pre-production material, and it sounds like it will be some real killer death metal!


I would like to have your opinion on Norwegian embassies that were assaulted by Muslims in the Middle East to protest against the caricatures of Mahomet published in Danish and Norwegian newspapers.

It's fucking insanity and yet again another sign that religion probably going to be the end of the world as we know it.


The interview is nearing its end. Could you conclude it in Norwegian to teach us some words? Thanks again for you answers!

Takk for intervjuet (NdlR: merci pour l’interview).