Sacrificium
Sacrificium released a
while ago their sophomore studio effort under the title "Escaping The Stupor",
a great piece of death/thrash metal that combines lots of different elements
and sounds. So, Behind The Veil thought it'd be interesting to ask Claudio,
the band's vocalist, a couple of questions, concerning the band and their
future goals. Let's read what he told us...
1. HELLO! ARE YOU CONTENT WITH THE FINAL RESULT
OF “ESCAPING THE STUPOR” OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE OR TO
HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?
Hello, this is Claudio of Sacrificium. First
I want to say that we are really thankful for this interview. About your
question, it took a long time to release our new record, cause we signed
with our new label BLACK LOTUS RECORDS. This time we recorded it in Sweden
in the PANIC ROOM STUDIOS and worked with really talented people, especially
Thomas Johansson the owner of the studio, did a really great job, but also
Henrik Ryösä of METALHQ, surprised us with his fantastic cover
artwork. At least we are all very proud of the release.
2. PLEASE GIVE US A SHORT BAND BIO BY POINTING
OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BAND SO FAR. PRESENT
THE CURRENT LINE UP AS WELL.
Sacrificium exists 13 years but the only original
member is Oliver. Mario and me joined the band 10 years ago, Ulrike joined
us after our European Tour together with EXTOL (Century Media) 4 years
ago and Samuel became a member 2 years ago. We released a few demo tapes
and CDs without having a label contract and finally we signed 2002 with
our first label WHIRLWIND RECORDS to release our first full-length record
“Cold black piece of flesh”. 2005 we decided to make another step forward
and signed the actual contract with BLACK LOTUS RECORDS.
3. WHY DO YOU THINK MELODIC DEATH/THRASH CORE
HAS BECOME SO POPULAR LATELY? WHICH DO YOU THINGS ARE THE ELEMENTS THAT
THE FANS FIND APPEALING?
Talking on my behalf only I have to say, that
I´m not into that scene, so I´m not sure if my view of that
scene is correct. At least rock music was always a part of the mainstream.
During the years it merged with other music styles so that it could finally
reach more people than only the metal crowd.
4. OK! EACH MONTH THERE ARE MANY RELEASES FROM
BANDS THAT PLAY SIMILAR TO YOURS MUSIC. SO, GIVE US REASONS WHY WE SHOULD
CHECK OUT AND SUPPORT YOU INSTEAD OF ANOTHER BAND.
Well, in our area nearly each metalhead is
also a member of a band, so there is an oversupply of metal concerts. Of
course many of these bands are very talented, so that makes it very hard
to attract the attention of the crowd. For my part I can say, that our
music is authentic and we don´t want to hide ourselves behind any
kind of clichés.
5. CONTINUING THE PREVIOUS QUESTIONS, I’D LIKE
YOU TO TELL ME WHAT’S THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC,
ACCORDING TO YOU.
Maybe the best and also the worst thing could
be, that we mix a lot of styles in our music. Some people will like the
mixture of the styles, some not.
6. WHAT I LIKED IN “ESCAPING THE STUPOR” IS THAT
YOU ENRICH YOUR SONGS WITH A LOT OF BRUTAL DEATH METAL ELEMENTS THAT BRING
TO MIND OBITUARY AND MORBID ANGEL. A THING THAT SHOWS YOU DON’T RESTRAIN
YOURSELVES IN SPECIFIC SOUNDS AND GENRES. PLEASE COMMENT ON THAT.
We decided for us that we don´t want
to point our creativity at only one element of the Death Metal scene. Another
point is that all members listen to a lot of music styles. We write usually
not a complete song, each of us collects his ideas at his flat and tries
to get a rough arrangement of guitar line ideas. At the rehearsals we try
to connect the rough arrangement with the ideas of the others and find
a final arrangement. In the end you have a song, written by many people,
influenced by many types of music.
7. WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER OF ADDING DIFFERENT
ELEMENTS OR EXPERIMENTING WITH YOUR SOUND? IF YES, WHICH ARE THOSE ELEMENTS
YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?
We are open minded to all kinds of influences.
8. “ESCAPING THE STUPOR” IS YOUR SOPHOMORE RELEASE
WITH “COLD BLACK PIECE OF FLESH” BEING YOUR DEBUT RELEASE. SO, COULD YOU
POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM?
I think the only thing that is similar is
that both styles are Death Metal. The debut release was more into the old
school style, the new one has also old school elements but as I said, we
try to get the music more varied and we used this time more styles. I didn´t
liked the vocals on the debut that much, so I tried this time to get them
more powerful and aggressive. I also switch very often on the actual record
between growls and screaming a thing that sounds more interesting.
9. WHICH ARE THE TOPICS THAT INTRIGUE YOU TO WRITE
ABOUT? WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION?
On the latest record the lyrics deal with
our experiences in life, the things we believe in, the world history and
the deplorable state of affairs on our planet.
10. I THINK THAT THE COVER ARTWORK IS VERY ELOQUENT.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT? COULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IT SHOWS AND MEANS TO
THE READERS THAT HAVEN’T HAD THE CHANCE TO SEE YOUR CD YET?
We only sent Henrik Ryösä of METALHQ
the title “Escaping the stupor” and he tried to fix it in an cover artwork.
It shows a hand longing to reach freedom, being caught in a melting piece
of ice. On the surface of the ice you can see also a screaming face.
11. WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK HAVE YOU RECEIVED THIS
FAR? WHAT WAS THE MOST FLATTERING AND WHAT THE WORST COMMENT YOU READ?
Actually we received a lot of really good
reviews. It feels always good to see that the people like what we are working
for. We received one review were the author said that female guitar player
did very good vocals on the recordings. Well, maybe the common Swedish
beer is stronger than I thought (ha ha ha!), but none of us noticed her
recording a vocal line.
12. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? WHAT
SHOULD THOSE ATTENDING YOUR SHOWS EXPECT TO SEE?
At the moment Patrick of DEATHROCK, our management,
is searching and tries to arrange a tour for us, where we could be the
support band, but actually nothing is fixed. If nothing could be arranged,
we will play as many single shows on festivals and clubs we can get, cause
we all really like to play on stage.
13. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THERE WAS NO MUSIC IN
THE WORLD? HOW AND WHERE WOULD YOU CHANNEL ALL YOUR CREATIVE ENERGY?
That would be really hard for me, but I did
a lot of sports before I chose to play music, maybe I would start with
that again.
14. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS
TO APPEAR IN YOUR LIVE SHOW, WHO WOULD YOU CALL AND WHY?
That is a difficult question, cause there
are so many musicians that I like and respect, but Johnny Cash is one my
favourites regarding that he is dead I would invite BOLT THROWER, cause
I have been listening to their music for many years and I like their attitude.
I hope that I could meet them in the future.
15. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD
IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
It would be an abstract picture with many
different colours fading into each other.
16. WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO
HAVE? A TITLE THAT WOULD SUM UP THE WHOLE SACRIFICIUM ESSENCE?
SACRIFICIUM: probably the best title for an
interview in the world ;-)
17. THANK YOU! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO ALL THE METALLERS…
Hope to see you all on tour. Cheers!!!
Christine Parastatidou
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