Verminous pour l'album ''The Unholy Communion''

Je ne m'en suis jamais caché, Verminous est probablement l'un de mes groupes préférés. L'un de ceux vers qui je reviens sans cesse de façon régulière. Après un silence radio de plus de dix ans, les Suédois ont signé l'année dernière leur grand retour avec la sortie de The Unholy Communion. Dire que je l'attendais relève donc de l'euphémisme. Le groupe étant particulièrement actif ces derniers mois (sorti d'un nouvel album, d'un nouveau EP, diverses prestations live...), ma curiosité et mon côté fan boy m'ont évidemment poussé à leur poser quelques questions. Rédigées et envoyées en août dernier, ces quelques questions viennent enfin de trouver réponses. Rencontre avec Agge Bones (Andreas Johansson) pour cet exercice dont aucun dans Verminous ne semble particulièrement friand.

#01 - I know this question must be really annoying but as the band recently came back from a very long hiatus (10 years), could you please just introduce yourself briefly?

Agge Bones: Yes, 87 666 hours. That´s what it takes to make a second album. But we are the same as we were 10 years ago, only that we have more annoying things that get in the way. We now live about 2 hours drive from each other, so rehearsing for live show and making new stuff takes time and hard work.

#02 - Let's get back to 2003 if you please. Shortly after the release of your first album (Impious Sacrilege released on 2003), the band almost disappeared from the radar, giving you no much chances to promote this very first album as it deserved. Could you please explain us what really happened at this time? Why did the band choose to "hide" (if I may say) from the Death Metal scene?

Agge Bones: Germaniac got hearing in 2004. That´s the main reason for the long wait for the second album and when he became better we started working on the logistic problems we had to meet and record. Verminous is a unit, we won’t replace members under any circumstances. So we weren’t hiding from the death metal scene, we were just waiting for the right time to record the new album.

#03 - As I said, I really think your first album suffered a lack of promotion not because of Xtreem Music but mostly because you weren't that much active as a band at that time. However, the response to it was extremely positive especially in the underground Death Metal scene. Wasn't it too much frustrating, regarding the interest you created, to write songs, spent some valuable time and money to record what was your first album, find a good label etc... And then not being able to promoted it as it should have been? I know you're not searching for any kind of recognition but as a creative band it might have been very difficult to digest especially if we considering the fact that the second album was half written?

Agge Bones: Of course it was frustrating but we couldn’t do anything more than wait for Germaniac hearing to get better. As you said the most annoying part of it was the half written second album that maybe never was going to be recorded unless he got better. As for the promotion, if we could we would played more live back then but wasn’t able to that either. But the most important part is that his hearing got better, and we will continue doing music as Verminous.

#04 - Verminous announced his comeback in 2009 through your MySpace page. But The Unholy Communion only came out some months ago. What kind of difficulties did you encountered during this four years? Why was it so long as most of the tracks were already composed?

Agge Bones: I probably already answered this question for you haha but as I said, we live 2 hours drive from each other and all the other usual problems like work and stuff. We never rehearse as a whole band. When we played at Hell’s Pleasure in Germany last summer we didn’t rehearse at all. This is a huge problem when we shall make a new record or do shows.

#05 - Usually, it is pretty easy to point out the main influences of a band. With Verminous, I must confessed that it's really more difficult as you have a truly unique sound. Of course, there are some clear influences from the late 80's/early 90's swedish Death Metal scene (and also US), some Grindcore and Punk/Thrash hints but all in all it is pretty safe to say that Verminous doesn't sound like any other Death Metal bands. A very important element of this unique blend of Death Metal is the crazy and intense drumming of Agge and his use of the cymbals. Was it something you think about 11 years ago when you started Verminous? Was it a way to find your own way through all the amount of bands at the time?

Agge Bones: Thank you so much! We were 16-17 when we started the band and as all other bands we listened a lot to Morbid Angel Altars Of Madness. We like different kinds of Metal all of us but Morbid Angel is the one we all have in common. But I don’t think we sound like Morbid Angel, but it seems like many people do. There is two amazing Swedish bands that made a huge impact on Verminous, Kaamos and Repugnant, and Chris Piss (brother of Pelle in Verminous) played the drums in those two bands, so we got the demos pretty early. And honestly without those two bands Verminous wouldn’t sound like we do. As for the drumming, thanks a lot for the great words, really appreciated. My drumming is very influenced by Chris Piss, as far as for the use of cymbals in fills and stuff, he actually were in the rehearsal place when we did some songs on the Verminous first album and threw ideas at me. He is a great drummer!

#06 - On the same level, the production has always been far away from the typical Sunlight Studios sound. On both albums, it is really tight, sharp and raw, giving to your music a dirty Black Metal/Rock'n'Roll feeling and also a real and true identity. How important is this element in your music and the atmospheres you want to create? Germaniac engineered and recorded your first album, so is this something natural or do you brainstorm about the way each album/release should sound before enter the studio? Rikard Kottelin recorded the new album. Why did Linus choose to not recorded it this time?

Agge Bones: This is of course very important, but we actually don’t think about it too much when we enter the studio. We want Verminous to have a natural sound so we don’t use triggers of any kind on the drums and we use old tube amplifiers for the guitars and bass. We just sound this way together. Rikard is a friend of ours who knew how Verminous sounds and knew what we wanted. Germaniac has been in control of the sound as well on the second album, choosing amplifiers and so on.

#07 - Talking about sound and production, the atmosphere on each release is really evil, disgusting and blasphematory. How important are the lyrics in comparison of the music and the atmosphere you want to create? Do you think that Verminous could sound that evil if the lyrics were not about religion and anti-Christianity? As a creative band, don't you want sometimes to sing about others subjects or do you think that's simply the way Death Metal lyrics should be?

Agge Bones: Everything is very important on a verminous album. From the artwork to the lyrics. The main lyrical writer Pelle should have answered this particular question, he does an amazing job capturing the feeling of the song and translates it into words. The lyrics gives a meaning to a song and without the anti-christian theme of our lyrics the songs would have lost lots of it dark potential. No, we don’t wanna make songs about anything else. It gives so much energy to music to sing about hell destroying heaven and its followers. We blaspheme the name… Christ!

#08 - Ten years, this is the gap between your two albums. In regards of your experiences, tastes, expectations... What are for you the main positive and negative changes in the underground Death Metal scene but also in the way people creates (bands), promotes (bands and labels) and consumes (listeners) music (I'm talking especially about the number of bands going bigger and bigger each day, the place of Facebook and websites like Bandcamp, Instagram, digital files...)?

Agge Bones: The underground scene has expanded a lot since we released Impious Sacrilege and a lot of great bands formed some years after that. I guess I care too little to have anything negative or positive to say about it. Everyone I know in bands from Sweden is the real deal. But maybe I know some people that hated Verminous music in 2003 and in 2010 they started asking me for LP´s of Impious Sacriliege, I guess it´s a bit trendy right now, and of course I don’t like that. The music is for selected people and not for the ordinary peoples living room.

#09 - As a Swedish band, how do you see the evolution of your national scene as it is considered as the most important one in Europe at a time? Do you have a look on what is going on today or is it something you don't really care about (all this new bands that sounds like Entombed, the comeback of some old glory like Interment or Entrails, those young metalheads going crazy for 20 years old bands...)?

Agge Bones: I haven't noticed all these Entombed sounding bands, maybe I should, because I'm a huge Entombed fan. I had entombed.com many years ago with a friend. I was away from the scene many years and haven’t explored that much of the "newer" bands, I guess I like my "old" death metal collection with records between late 80´s to early 2000´. I think the latest Swedish death metal record I liked a lot was Tribulation The Horror, so amazing.

10 - The main difference to me between Impious Sacrilege and The Unholy Communion is the general tempo. If the first album is all about intense and chaotic songs, "The Unholy Communion" shows a few more variations. As most of the tracks were written in 2003/2004, I guess it is safe to say that you still share that same musical vision 10 years after but could you please explain us what was the main idea by bringing this mid tempo parts in your music? And what about now, how do you see the (possible) evolution of Verminous? Is there some ideas you would like to try or do you think that Verminous must stay basically the same (as most of you are experiencing other stuff in different side projects)?

Agge Bones: I think most of this mid-tempo stuff came from the fourth member at the time Simon "Slimer" Frödeberg who did pretty groovy mid-tempo stuff that we liked. Now we have Jonas Mattson on bass so maybe he will bring some new sides to Verminous as well. I think we will stay basically the same, we have no reason to change anything, this is how we sound and if we have sounded this way for over 10 years we will probably continue the same dark path.

11 - The new album went out on Xtreem Music, the same label that released Impious Sacrilege. Did you stay in touch with Dave and Xtreem Music during your almost ten years hiatus? The decision to release your new album on Xtreem Music was obvious to you or did you search for other labels too?

Agge Bones: We signed a deal with Dave for two albums in 2003 and he has waited patiently for the second one. Dave is a great friend and we have enjoyed working with him on this two albums, keeping Verminous underground and only for those who dig deep. Right now we are without label but there is a couple who made offers on the third album but nothing signed yet, we will wait until we have the songs ready and we are satisfied with them. No point to release an album just to release it, it should be more blasphemous than the previous.

#12 - You get back on stage as Verminous last year during the Kill-Town Death Fest. It was a crazy and really intense show. How did you feel at that time, during this very special moment? Did you feel some kind of a pressure and rehearsed a lot to prepare it or what is only about going on stage, playing Death Metal and having a good time?

Agge Bones: It was weird playing those old songs again. It felt like traveling backwards in time and the audiences were suddenly bigger. It was totally amazing. It´s harder to play it live nowadays because you´re 10 years older and out of shape. For this event we needed to rehears a lot because none of us remembered the riffs so it took a while to get them right, plus Jonas joined in on bass so he needed to learn the songs as well.

#13 - Some weeks ago, you also played at the Hell's Pleasure Festival. The audience response seems very positive. How do you feel about that has Verminous may looks like a newcomer to some of the listeners? And how does it feel to meet, discuss and share with people you succeed to reach thanks to your music recently but also more than ten years ago?

Agge Bones: Great show, although I puked in my mouth the last song and swallowed it due to the heat and haven’t slept in over 40 hours. I don’t care if people think we are newcomers, if they like it they will probably find out pretty soon that we have existed for a while. I´m not that talking kind of guy, so I have little experience with meeting people that likes us but Germaniac and Pelle talks to lots of people when we play live, people who travelled long distances just to see Verminous and that is pretty amazing.

#14 - Timo Ketola might be considered as the fifth member of Verminous as he is responsible of (almost) every Verminous's artwork. How do you work with him? Does he have total freedom on it or do you guide him on what you want exactly? He also seems (partly) responsible for the delay you recently experienced on the release of The Unholy Communion. How did you work on that as a band waiting for something you probably paid for and, I guess, as friends too?

Agge Bones: I don’t know if Timo wants to be considered as a fifth member of Verminous but we surely consider him as one. His work is about 50% of the whole album, it delivers so much to the whole feeling. He has total freedom, but the idea for the second album came out of the first album, using Leonardo Da Vincis paintings, and as I remember it, it was his idea. It was many misunderstandings that made the delay and not Timo, if something has taken 10 years, a couple of extra weeks isn’t that much.

#15 - Blood Harvest has just released a new 7" called The Curse Of The Antichrist. It consist of one new track and two covers. This new track is really good, very intense and evil as fuck. The Nuclear Assault cover is quiet surprising as it is a very fast and fun track. The Entombed's one is like a hommage to a major band to Verminous. Could you tell us more about this release and those three tracks (date of writing, cover choices, artwork etc...)?

Agge Bones: Thanks! The covers were as most of the reviews says "boring choices" but there is a point with "Revel In flesh". When me and Germaniac were at a Entombed show when we were about 15 years old we asked LG to write down the lyrics for "Revel In Flesh" and he did it for us which were huge, so we are pretty much the only ones who has the lyrics to that song. We have already done a cover of it with Delve but we thought we wanted to make a cover of it with Verminous as well and since we already knew it we just hit record in the studio and recorded it. As for the ”Hand The Pope” cover, almost the same thing, it was an idea that we had in 2003 that didn’t happen so we did it now instead, to catch up with our ideas so to speak.

#16 - The artworks of Impious Sacrilege and The Unholy Communion are like rotten versions of some famous Christians representations. But could you tell us what does represent the Christ on those spider's legs on The Curse Of The Antichrist EP?

Agge Bones: We used it for a shirt called "Spiderchrist" and thought it was a great representation of the band, so we used it for the 7" as well. Nothing fancy, just great blasphemous art.

#17 - So what's up now? What can we expect from Verminous in the coming future? What are you next plans? Tour, composition, other projects etc...

Agge Bones: Well, we are starting to talk to each other about doing a third record and maybe record it later this year. We are not going to do any tours. I play the drums on a death metal release scheduled for march and Germaniac and Jonas are recording their second album with their rock’n’roll band.

#18 - Talking about side-projects, I know that some of you are involved in a rock'n'roll band called The Horsehead Union. Could you tell us more about it and also the others projects some of you are involved with (like Vampire and his first album)?

Agge Bones: The Horsehead Union is recording their second album right now, I don’t know when it will be released but it sounds great. Vampire? Don’t know anything about that…

#19 - True or not, since 2003 I have always thought that Verminous is an underrated band that deserves way much attention. To you, which bands (new or old and of any kind) should deserve better recognition too?

Agge Bones: Thanks, really appreciated! I think many bands get very much attention these days so I can’t think of any that deserves better recognition at this time.

#20 - Well, that's all folks. Thank you very much for your time. Now, if you want to add something, please do:

Agge Bones: Thanks Gregory for a great interview! Even though I hate answering them! We stand alone, gathered as one, we are supreme!