Corpse555: For the people who do not know about God Dethroned, can you guys give us a small summary or history about G. D.? Example. Original Members, How members met, How long G. D. has been around, What is G. D. about, and anything else you want to provide?
Jens: God Dethroned was formed in the early nineties when Henri Sattler, vocals and guitars, decided it was time for a wake up call for the Dutch christian countryside, heheheh! Demo Christhunt, followed by debut CD, also entitled Christhunt showed Henri and his band members were ready to follow in the footsteps of bands like Entombed and Carcass and GD got increasingly popular. Unfortunately, due to bad distribution and promotion from the label’s side and line up problems, God Dethroned was put on ice in ’93 and Ministry Of Terror arose from its ahes. Touring with MOT, Henri was surprised to find that GD lived on in the hearts of many a fan he met on the road, so in ’96, he decided to start the band up again. This is when bassist Beef and I joined, together with drummer Roel Sanders. Henri had played with Beef before in a doom band, and had seen Roel at work with his band Malignant and me with Cantara. We headed for the studio to record The Grand Grimoire, the second full length in the band’s history, which got picked up by Metal Blade Records. After this, things went very quickly. We did numerous tours and festivals for the Grand Grimoire album, after which we recorded Bloody Blasphemy. This got even better responses and sent us across the world to the U.S. and Japan and the whole of Europe. After a series of long tours, our drummer Roel decided it was time to focus on his other band Inhume and he quit the band. We asked Tony Laureano (ex-Angelcorpse, Nile) and he recorded the Ravenous album with us. We’d met him on previous tours and were convinced he was the man for the job, and he did an awesome job indeed. Unfortunately, he’d recently joined Nile and decided to focus on that band exclusively. During touring we were helped out by Janne Saarenpaa from The Crown until we found our new drummer, Ariën van Weesenbeek, a graduated conservatory student with amazing drumming skills (and absolute hearing). We toured together and did some festivals before starting the writing process for Into The Lungs Of Hell a couple of months ago. Ariën contributed as much material as any of us, so the writing went even more quick and fluent than usual, which offered us plenty of time to record the album. And that’s where we are at now. The new album has been recorded and we’re ready to hit the road as soon as it’s released.
Corpse555: That sounds like really great things, especially that the album is already recorded, any date yet of release or are you guys leaving it for a surprise? Also, any idea how much of a tour this will be?
Jens: The album will be out in Europe on February 10. I’m not sure about the States though. Check the Metal Blade U.S. site for more info on that. As for touring, we’re planning on doing quite a lot of that, but no dates have been confirmed yet. We’re working on it, though, you can bet on that!
Corpse555: What are the band's influences or individual member's influences?
Jens: Anything we listen to, really. We write our material in a very short amount of time (about 5 weeks from starting writing to finishing the tracks for a CD) and very impulsively, so anything that we listen to in such a period is bound to rub off on the tracks just a bit. But we always retain our sound, and you don’t really hear the influences that much. We always try to make our songs short, catchy and with strong melodies. That’s our back bone, and that’s what creates our sound in large part. For me personally, melody is key.
Corpse555: How is it like working with everyone, any wars tend to break out or is everyone definitely good on patience?
Jens: Hahaha! Well, we’re usually very much a one mind band, eventhough of course opinions tend to differ in terms of how to arrange specific songs & issues like that. But we usually resolve them easily by just trying different options and usually the ideal one will emerge and will be accepted by everyone with minor quarrel.
Corpse555: How does the song writing process work in the band?
Jens: Usually, one of us comes up with a sesies of riffs and we try to string them together into a compact song. Sometimes individual band member’s ideas get built into a collective song, or, as usually the case with my songs, a complete song is presented and rehearsed, with possible adaptations. So, it depends. In the short period of time we use to write the material for a CD, any way of working is a productive one.
Corpse555: Not bad, so is this a method you recommend others to use? haha
Jens: Hahaha! Well, if you’re convinced that you can be productive enough to write a sufficient amount of songs in a short period of time, and if you thrive under pressure, it’s a very sponaneous and beneficial way of working, but I’m not sure if I’d recommend it per se. We rarely practise and don’t really need it, but I think there’s not too many bands that would adopt our working schedule and would hit the studio with that little preparation. But it’s worth a shot sometimes.
Corpse555: Playing live, what is the usual reaction you get from the crowd?
Jens: Very good! Depending on country, the audience will react differently, more or less active, but compared to the reactions to the other bands we play with, we don’t do at all bad!
Corpse555: I personally have been in my own mental tug-o-war about G. D.'s genre, I consider you guys to be Black/Death Metal, what do you guys consider yourself?
Jens: Hard to say, really. We’re not really aiming to fit some specific genre, so we use all sorts of different ways of rifing, creating our own little sub-genre, hahaha! But I’d say, we fit neatly into the death metal category, with a twist of thrash and black.
Corpse555: Many people that I meet stereotype G. D. as a "God Hating, Satanic" band I personally can care less about what anyone says, but for the ignorant ones out there that are too close minded and confused can you please settle the following statements as True or False?
A. God Dethroned is a "Satanic Band"?
Jens: No, we’re no satanists, and our songs don’t deal with satanic issues seriously, so: false.
B. G. D. "Hate God"?
Jens: Depends on the band member, hahaha! Well, let me put it this way: We don’t hate God per se. We hate the mess that’s being made in His name. Humans come up with the weakest exuses to gain power, oppress, wage war and destroy. “In the name of God” is one of the weakest of them all!
So: false again.
C. Members of G. D. are Atheist?
Jens: True. Most of us are I guess. Maybe one or two are undecided, but none of us could believe in God in the dogmatic Christian way. Personally, I do believe there’s more to it all, but I consider it a form of energy, as found in nature, the expanding universe, the very beginning of it all, time, etc. I think any name (be it God, Allah, Thor, etc.) given to this phenomenon in a weak attempt to explain the unknown is irrelevant. And often dangerous, since people will always take advantage of this weakness to assert power.
D. Members of G. D. believe in what they want to believe and are proud of it?
Jens: That’s very true! Nothing against believing in any God, as long as it’s your personal belief and you don’t bother others with it. We respect eachother’s opinions in these matters and believe in What feels right for us.
Corpse555: What do you guys think of Nu-Metal, mainly the "Drop-D(tune)" bands of today that just play for the sake of being "Heavy" without using the talents of Guitar Solos?
Jens: It’s not really our cup of tea, so to speak. There’s a couple of really good bands in the genre, but as with any trend, most of the bands in that scene offer nothing new and are not interesting enough to listen to. For me personally, I like the specific heavy groove that a band like Korn produces. Where most bands get hipper and more ‘jumpy’, they continue getting heavier, more intense and more dark in sound. On the endge of the genre, I love bands like Tool and At The Drive-In who have a very distinctive face and sound. Musically some of my favourite bands. And I respect the work that bands such as System Of A Down and Slipknot are doing for the heavy scene! Their fans will get interested in death metal and related genres if searching for more brutal stuff. This might give the heavy scene a well needed injection of fresh blood.
Corpse555: So pretty much, as far as these bands are concerned, you say that it’s like these bands are opening the gates of Metal for some new and openminded people?
Jens: That’s gonna be the case for sure! Older generations may have gotten in touch with heavier music through the likes of AC DC, Led Zeppelin, Status Quo and others, the new generations wil get hooked through alternative rock and nu-metal. Nothing wrong with that, If your appetite for power in music is stimulated by nu metal, you’ll go searching for more power sooner or later.
Corpse555: How has the Death of Chuck Schuldiner affected G.D. as a band or personally, If it has affected anyway? By the way, awesome fuckin' cover of "Evil Dead" why'd you guys choose "Evil Dead" as the Death song to cover?
Jens: For me, it was a shock to hear it, eventhough it was somehow to be expected, considering the nature of his tumor. He’s been a great influence on me as a musician and an undeniable boost ot the scene in general. God Dethroned as a band hasn’t been influenced by his later work, just by the early days. That’s why we chose an older track to honour him. When we came back from our 2000 U.S. tour, we were asked to participate in a benefit concert to raise money to pay for Chuck’s medical bills. A Death cover was mandatory. We had no time to rehearse, but wanted to participate for Chuck, so we chose the simple but effective classic “Evil Dead” and it went so well that we decided to record it for the Ravenous album>we play it live nearly every show, and that keeps Chuck alive in our minds, so to speak.
Corpse555: So for the upcoming tour, will you guys continue to cover “Evil Dead” if you come to the U.S., I personally would love to hear it live.
Jens: I’m quite certain we will! It’s a great song to play, the crowd loves it and we usually end our set with that song to release all the energy that hasn’t been vented yet, both by band and audience. The grand finale so to speak.
Corpse555: The New album being constructed, "Into the Lungs of Hell" this album seems like it will be as or more brutal than "Ravenous" just by the name by itself, will this album definitely continue the trademark G. D. sound or have you guys experimented a little bit. Also will there be any more Slow/Heavy masterpieces like "Soul Capture 1562" in the future?
Jens: Well, for one, it will be a great deal heavier than the Ravenous album, since we’ve tuned down to B, used different recording techniques and have slowed down a fraction in speed, adding a significant amount of control and tightness to the sound. Our new drummer is a very hard, fast and precise hitter and the drum sound is just awesome and natural. The songs are more mature and we did experiment a little here and there, but oddly enough, whatever we try musically, we always end up with a typical GD album, with all the recognizable features, such as sound, melodies, vocals, etc. About the slow and heavy stuff: The title track is actually a dark, slow, heavy song and there’ll be more of those in the future, I can assure you! (Hey, we’re getting old, we need to slow down every now and then, heheheh!)
Corpse555: Sounds great and like something I can’t wait to hear already, ha ha. Since the first album thru Ravenous, what tunings have you guys used?
Jens: The Christhunt demo and CD were in C. For the Grand Grimoire we went up half a step to C#. For Bloody Blasphemy we added a sharp edge by going up another half step to D and a couple of heavy parts in C. Ravenous turned out to be a bit more heavy and ‘death metal’ in composition, so we decided to go down a half step, back to C# again. And now down to B for Into... Live we’ll most likely use guitars tuned to B for the new songs and to C# for the song off the other albums.
Corpse555: At this point would you guys be able to give us the titles of the songs or would you still hold ‘em for surprise?
Jens: I can give you a couple: Into The Lungs Of Hell, The Warcult, Enemy Of The State, Subliminal and Gods Of Terror. For the rest of the titles: check our website soon!
Corpse555: What kind of topics will you guys be hitting on this album?
Jens: This album is in great part about our concerns about the state of the world and about the evil that’s ensnaring it as it is right now, varying from manipulation through media, the horrors of war and bio industry and state interference. The world seems to be going down the drain at an accelerated rate and we decided to speak our part this time.
Corpse555: About how long will the album be? (E.g. Minutes, Tracks, ect.)
Jens: It’ll be about 38 minutes long, containing 8 tracks. If all goes according to plan, it’ll also contain a bonus CD with some video footage and exclusive tracks from the past.
Corpse555: The question in a lot of people's minds here in the US is when will God Dethroned come back to the US? I personally have been waiting for a while and became a fan since I saw you guys play with Cannibal Corpse a few years ago here in NYC for the first time.
Jens: Man, we’re dying to tour the States again! For the Ravenous album, we were too wrapped up in drummer change and business matters to do anything but two short European tours, but if we get half the chance to cross the Atlantic for this album, we’ll take it! We had a great time, those 5 weeks in 2000 and are looking forward to partying with you all again in 2003!
Corpse555: I can’t wait for that, will I get invited to any backstage behind the scene parties?.. ha ha. You guys should do the standard “Video Cam around the world on tour” deal.
Jens: We might do that. Only problem is, the U.S. video system is different from the European one, so we’ll have to think of a way to bypass that problem. We’ve got a lot of footage from Euro and Japan tours, but so far none from the U.S. That’ll change for future tours tough! As for behind the scenes parties: who knows! We’ll see you on the raod anyway!
Corpse555: Does G.D. have a good relationship with the fans when they hang around? (Example, Do you guys stick around and talk to the fans, take some fan ideas into consideration, do you listen to your fans' music if ever offered especially if G.D. has been a great influence in their music?)
Jens: We definitely like to keep in contact with our fans. We might not always have the time to talk as long as we’d like to, and sometimes we’re just too tired after a show for example, but usually we like to be in the venue after a show, catching up with the people that came to see us play. And we definitely take all feedback that reaches us into consideration, though we can’t alway act accordingly. As for fans offering us music to listen to, we try to listen to all of it and give our feedback, and we consider it a great compliment if a band is influenced by us! We’re not worthy!
Corpse555: What would you say if you ever heard a band cover a G. D. song or the idea of bands covering G. D. alone?
Jens: We’d be honoured!!! It’s a great feeling to know that musicians are influenced by our songs in a way that they’d actually want to play them! Can’t think of a bigger compliment! We’re not worthy, hahaha! I know of one Dutch band who did a cover of Art Of Immolation once. Unfortunately, I never got to hear it! If there’s any band out there covering one of our songs: THANKS! And please, send us a copy, we’re dying to hear your version!
Corpse555: Would you guys consider linking up certain Fan's Bands? Ha Ha Ha (Maybe I'm being a lil' sneaky with my band) It would be like swapping fans.
Jens: Hahaha! You mean linking as in linking websites? That depends on our webmaster’s judgement. He has carte blanche, though he oftens discusses stuff with us before he changes things. But it’s his call. I think his policy is to keep a small amount of links so as to preserve the overview. But send him a mail and find out!
Corpse555: In the future will most of us have the privilege of seeing the 10th G.D. album when the time comes or is G.D. thinking about calling quits any time soon?
Jens: Heheheh! We’re not thinking about quitting, no way! We’ve got our line-up stronger than ever, we’ve got fresh blood pumping through our veins, a new album to promote, a record deal to be renewed, lots of touring coming up... Life is good! We’ll keep going for a while, I guess :)
Corpse555: How has it been working with Metal Blade records and how exciting was it to get signed to Metal Blade years ago.
Jens: We were so surprised when we got their phone call! We had sent a couple of tapes around, not expecting much response. We were just about to put our signature on a contract with Displeased records when we got Metal Blade’s contract. The choice was clear of course! Metal Blade has the means to support us on a large scale and has done so very much to our satisfaction. We’ve had a very good working relation with them, especially with the German office and are still very content with all their support! Metal Blade has the perfect combination of power in the industry and personal attention for its bands.
Corpse555: Like many bands release their live CDs, DVDs, Videos, ect, will G.D. ever pull out any more live stuff other than the already release "The Ancient Ones"
Jens: We might sooner than expected. We’re still working on the complete package for “Into The Lungs Of Hell”, but as it looks now, there may be a bonus disc with some live video footage included. But that’s something we’re working on, not sure yet if it will actually work for this album. But in future, expect live GD stuff in the shops!
Corpse555: Sounds great and something definitly to look forward to, make sure i’m in that backstage behind the scene parties situation, ha ha. But anything already started with that or is it still in phase 1, the Idea?
Jens: The bonus CD looks to be almost confirmed, but an official DVD/video is in Phase ½ at best, hahaha!
Corpse555: How is Cold Blood Industries coming along?
Jens: Quite nicely! They have a regular flow of releases, most of which do quite decent for a relatively small label like they are. They’ve rented a new office recently and are steadily growing. It’s hard to combine band and label for Henri, but till now, he’s doing just fine!
Corpse555: If G.D. had the opportunity to make their own Tour line up who would you guys choose to play with?
Jens: Ah, interesting question! For one, we’d ike to team up with Amon Amarth, since they’re our favourite touring buddies. And the Crown as third band would be great, since they’re fun to be around and we’ve toured with their drummer Janne in our line up in 2001. Add the great guys of Cannibal Corpse as a headliner and you’d have our dream line up. I’m sure the rest of the band would agree with me on that choice.
Corpse555: Definitly good line up, everyone agrees on Cannibal Corpse. Would you guys ever think of mixin’ up a project like for example a Cannibal Dethroned band, if you know what I mean?
Jens: I wouldn’t rule it out, definitely not! We’re not planning anything though, very little time. I’m in another band with members of Sinister and Salacious Gods and we have some other bands and projects which keep us very busy, but there may be time in the future to team up with some esteemed colleagues to get another project started. I wouldn’t mind! But that’s Phase ¼ :)
Corpse555: For the rest of the underground and beginner bands trying to keep real metal alive, would there be any words or advice you'd like to share?
Jens: Yeah! Don’t worry too much about what’s real metal or not in the accepted opinion, just make the music that hits you –personally- like a ton of bricks. Try to be original without trying to be original. In other words: make music from the heart and with confidence and you’ll be allright!
Corpse555: Any thing extra you would like the world to know about G.D.?
Jens: Nothing I can think of right now, but feel free to ask us anything when we come near a own near you! See ya on tour! Thanks for the interview, Edward!
Corpse555: The new album will be released Feb 15, will that be in Europe or Worldwide, if in Europe only, when will it be released here in the U. States?
Jens: Unfortunately, that's Europe only. We wanted to release it everywhere simultaneously, but we recently found out that the release for the U.S. has been pushed back a month or so. It should be out in the States round March 25.
Corpse555: Will the US version have the bonus CD?
Jens: It should be the complete version as far as we know! Check out www.metalblade.com when the time arrives.
Corpse555: How long 'till we see the great God Dethroned here in the States?
Jens: Not long! We'll be playing at the March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey early March and will be back as soon as possible for a full scale U.S. tour! We can't wait!
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++++ This interview was conducted from November – December 2002, as of today the new ++++++
+++++God Dethroned Album “Into the Lungs of Hell” will be released around March 25, 2003.+++++
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-Edward ''Corpse555'' Montejo of BrainDead
© 2003 Corpse555 Stuff
