INSISION are a brutal and violent Death Metal Band from Sweden. I just got into them recently. They have a cd out through Earache / Wicked World titled "Beneath The Folds Of Flesh" i suggest you check these guys out. Here is an interview with Daniel and Birath of INSISION..
Interview by DJ
DJ: Could you give us a history/bio of INSISION?
Daniel:
Insision started out back in 1997, with the intention
to create the opposite of the melodic Gothemburg
metal-trend (In Flames, Dork Tranquillity etc).
Insision quickly gained attention in the underground
as one of the most brutal and promising bands around.
After a few demos (and numerous line-up changes due to
the ever increasing demands for extremely skilled
musicians as Insisions style grew more and more
complex. In fact, drummer Tomas is the only original
member left!) Insision got signed on Heathendoom
records, and released the mini-CD "The Dead Live On".
Further line up changes followed (during this time, I
joined in on bass), and after a demo in 2000
Earache/Wicked World offered us a contract. The debut
CD "Beneath the Folds of Flesh" then came out in May
2002, and a couple of tours (as well as a massive
response!) followed some months later. Well, that's a
brief introduction to Insision I guess!
Birath:
Fuck man… That sums it up allright!
DJ: What's new with INSISION?
Daniel:
We are currently working on the material for our next
CD, which will be released in 2004. We have 7 songs
finished at this point, and I can assure you that it
is way tested and raw material indeed! Also, we will
go to Germany in October to do a few gigs and play
some festivals.
Birath:
This album is going to be a more of a ” theme-record” (without really putting any huge amount of weight in the word Theme) when it comes to the lyric part. The pre-texts before the lyrics, As seen on BTFOF, the prologues are this time longer, fit more well into the lyrics and will in the end make a whole “story” of the lyrics all in one, the lyrics being a visualisation of what the music is about. Or vice versa depending on how you look at it.
DJ: You guys are signed with Earache Records right? How
do they treat you?
Daniel:
Yeah, we're on Earache/Wicked World. Though we are
among the smaller bands on the label, I think they
have treated us fairly well. They have tried to put us
on numerous tours, of which the ones with The
Berzerker and Decapitated are the only ones that
actually happened in the end (among the bands we
should have toured with can be mentioned: Deicide,
Dying Foetus, Immolation, Necrophagia, Marduk and Hate
Eternal. (life sucks sometimes, doesn't it?).
They are really cool people at the office, and it was great to
be over there to see them all. Also, Earache is the
all time very best label when it comes to Death Metal!
Just think of all the bands they had - Napalm Death,
Morbid Angel, Entombed, At the Gates, Carcass, Bolt
Thrower etc etc. They somehoe lost it a bit in the
later eighties, but now things are starting to happen
again I think..with Morbid Angel, Deicide, Hate
Eternal, Decapitated - and Insision!!!
Birath:
Hopefully with this new record coming up we will be getting a bit more “PR” As we have, except for the Underground scene, gotten a bit more established at this point. Yeah, Earache / Wicked World has been treating us ok and they have been easy to work with!
DJ: How is the Metal Scene in your part of Sweden?
Daniel:
There are many cool bands here in Stockholm, like
Scurvey, Kaamos, Dismember, Repugnant, Imperious,
Soils of Fate and a few more. There are hardly any
places to play though. The only venue that actually
cares about Death Metal is the small youth club Café
44, but that can be a hell of a cool place sometimes.
The other venues won't touch you, unless you are
Entombed.or pherhaps Merciless. That sucks! Also,
there are hardly any zines anymore, and bigger
magazines only writes about Death Metal occasionaly. if
they can add a "trendy" touch to it. I must give my
regards to Merciless on this point: when they were
asked to do an interview for a flashy Stockholm
newspaper they just refused and said: "If you were
interessted in Death Metal you should talk to Insision
instead of us"! That warmed my heart.
Birath: Loads of good bands but still not really a “scene” in such a sense.. As Daniel says: to bad it has to be turned into something trendy.
Me ,myself, I try to keep some sort of a distance to the so called ”scene” as it always ends up with loads of talk without any concrete ending or real solutions and as time progress… Ahhh fuck it!!
* Laughs *
DJ: So INSISION is working on a new album
scheduled to be released in early 2004, How is that
coming along? Will it be out on Earache?
Daniel:
Yeah, we have 7 completed songs now and we will
probably record around christmas. We are all very
satisfied with the new material, and I'm sure the new
album will be so good. Can't wait to here it myself!
Yepp, it will be on earache.
Birath:
At this point it looks really awesome. Just sent some rehear material for the label to hear.
The songs are all filled with violent blast beat burst’s mixed with an healthy dose of heaviness to make you bang your just to be tossed back into a violent head-spin… The main difference on this album is that all the song are written in a row rather then on BTFOF where some songs had up to 2 years between them… Yeah I know it will KILL!
DJ: Could you give our readers a INSISION
Discography?
1998: "Meant to Suffer" (Demo)
1999: "The Dead Live On" (CD, Heathendoom)
2000: "Promo 2000" (Demo)
2001: "Revelation of the Sado God" (Demo)
2002: "Insision/Inveracity" (Split 10" & CD, Nuclear
Winter)
2002: "Beneath the Folds of Flesh" (CD, Earache/Wicked
World)
2002: "The Dead Live On" + bonus tracks (CD
Re-Release, Soul Productions)
Birath:
Think there are some bootlegs of promo2000 from thailand circulating as well…
DJ: What band do you usually play shows with?
Daniel:
Oh, many. We have played with the following swedish
bands: Dark Funeral, Hypocrisy, The Haunted,
Merciless, Necrophobic, Deranged, Amon Amarth, Kaamos,
Visceral Bleeding, Throneaeon(now GODHATE), Immersed in Blood, Obscura,
Repugnant, Spawn of Possession.etc etc. Foreign bands:
The Berzerker, Decapitated, Iniquity, Red Harvest, Deep Red, Slugathor, Impure
Disgorge (mex) and so on... But the band we have played the
most gigs with is by far the UK crazyheads Labrat! Two
tours, and I'm sure we'll do it again! Crazy guys!
Birath:
Crayzy guys?? They are fucking cunts…. Hehehe..’Waving To Steve and Nathan’ naa thery’re all right.. Had a blast With Decapitated as well!
DJ: Do you have a favorite or most memorable show
you've played?
Daniel:
We played some really good shows in the UK on the
Decapitated tour, all of them went down very well.
Also, the release-party for "Beneath the Folds of
Flesh" in Stockholm was very good. When we headlined
the Lindköping Metal Fest we also managed pretty good,
and people are still talking about that gig.
DJ: How would you describe the sound of INSISION?
Daniel:
Raw, twisted and in your face. It's real sound, in an
oldschool way. We avoid triggers as much as we can,
and want to create a more natural drum-sound. This
makes the music so much rawer and better, I think. I
really don't like this modern trend to use so much
triggers that everything sounds like a drum machine. I
can't understand it, it's supposed to be metal -
right??? Then, crushing guitars, heavy bas and
guttural vocals. spiced up with occasional screams. I'm
not completey satisfied with the sound on the CD
though, but on the upcoming recording we will have
more time to perfect things - so it should get a great
sound!!!
DJ: First concert/show you attended?
Daniel:
Oh.a lot of small punk bands at my school. Then
Motörhead in 86.that was the first bigger metal
concert I saw. The gig that made the biggest
impression on me was Napalm Death in 88.oh man! That
was something totally insane at that time!
DJ: What band got you into Metal?
Daniel:
I have always been into metal. Always, always.since
before I can remember. The first record I bought was
apparently Kiss "Destroyer" in 1976 (at the age of
4.). But the band that really got me hooked for life
was Black Sabbath, and Ozzy Osbourne in particular. I
had a coffin in my room as a kid, that was completely
filled with Ozzy-records, books, magazines, t-shirts.
And on the wall there was posters everywhere. Metal
kept me alive in the madness of the world then, as it
still does today.
Birath: Im agreeing with Daniel here.. Kiss was a big influence but I must say Metallica With Kill em’ all… That really pushed the pedal to the metal, really pushed me into it so to speak. But I had always been listening to metal everything from Saxon to Accept, judas Preist, motley crue, Mothorhead etc etc as long as I can remember I mean I grow up in the late 70’s and erley 80’s and hey that was IT man… if you dident prefer some other crap like disco, sub funk bull shit or other neon-shait! Which I of course, did not.
DJ: What have you been currently listening to?
Daniel:
A lot of different things. Motorhead (as always),
Slayer, Napalm Death, Venom, Black Sabbath, Death
Angel, Sodom, Hellhammer, Suffocation, Thin Lizzy,
Dio, Demon, Morbid Angel, Entombed.you know, the usual
stuff. Also, I'm much into country stuff like david
Allen Coe, Jhonny Cash (the latest is brilliant!!!)
and Waylon Jennings. Other non-metal artists and bands
I like and respect are PJ harvey, Stooges, Ramones,
Birthday Party, Skinny Puppy, Kraftwerk, King Crimson,
Hawkwind.etc.
Birath:
Loads of stuff, mostly demo’s I got from the latest Wacken-tripp..One of em worth mentioning is a quite young DM band here from Sweden called SEPTIC BREED they got some great stuff going on…
I recently got the new Morbid Angel record (heretic) but the moment im listening to Deicide’s live record “when Satan Lives” . Hmm also Some other non metal related stuff like Nick Cave, Jhonny Cash, Canned heat and George Thorogood and Rocky Ericson.
But hey, Obscenity from Germany has been spinning in my CD player lately but also (as always) I just recently bough me a collection of Motothead singles that I have been chewing through
DJ: Top 5 favorite Bands?
Daniel:
Oh.very hard, but I'll give it a shot:
Motörhead
Slayer
Birthday Party
Black Sabbath
Hawkwind
Birath:
No, I’m not even going near this question… * laughs *
DJ: Top 5 favorite Albums?
Daniel:
Even harder.
Slayer: Reign in Blood
Motörhead: Overkill
Black Sabbath: "Black Sabbath"
Motley Crue: "Shout at the Devil"
Hawkwind: "Space Ritual"
Birath:
Nope not this one either!! * laughs *
DJ: Favorite Movies?
Daniel:
Worse still.you know I'm as much into fims than music,
right? I have written a couple of books about italian
and swedish trash-cinema, and if anyone might be
interested in them you should check out:
www.dahlman-group.com/tamarapress/
Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1979)
The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981)
Deported Women of the SS Special Section (Rino di
Silvestro, 1976)
Schramm (Jörg Buttgereit, 1993)
Birath:
Hmmm… right now I’m of buying Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas…
This kinda Q’s are damn Tricky man…
DJ: Best live band?
Daniel:
Hmmm.lots of bands. Napalm Death was fantastic last
time I saw them, just amazing. Marduk are good live,
as are Nile and Vader. And Motörhead, of course. Bands
I would have died to see live are Skiny Puppy,
Hawkwind (with Lemmy) and Birthday Party. I think
nothing can beat these bands.but sadly, I never had
the opportunity to see them.
DJ: Thoughts on the world in its current state?
Daniel:
Everything is fucked up. We are going to hell.
Birath:
Hell it is!!!
DJ: Thanks for your time, Anything you'd like to add
or close with?
Daniel:
Thanks for the interview! It's so great to see that
people out there actually cares about the music we put
down so much work into. If you're into brutal and
complex Death Metal in the vein of Suffocation, Morbid
Angel and Cannibal Corpse - I'm sure we are the right
band for you! In fact, I think everyone that is into
extreme music can find a lot in our music. Take care
out there, and keep up the good work and spirit - all
of you!
Birath: period!
Cheers/ Daniel & Birath
INSISION Links:
Insision Website
Insision @ MP3.com
Earache Records
Return to Interviews