Without even a hint of timid songwriting, Witchery blasts open a keg of extreme metal that melds black metal with NWOBHM in an unholy union of musical destruction. Sepulchral screeches capable of splintering bones saturate the music in a blanket of depravedly demonic snarls that are intelligible without losing their intensity. Musically, the compositions mix the ferocity of black metal with the compositional soundness and memorable hooks of classic heavy metal, allowing the gripping chorus of "The Reaper" to assume thrashy, fist-banging proportions that the band never relinquishes from that anthemic opening tune onwards. Track three, "Midnight At The Graveyard," possesses a frantic thrash feel that is reminiscent of classic Kreator, only packing the sort of sinister punch that extreme metal has proven so capable of delivering. With every track a blackened assault laden with stomach-squishing tempo changes, inspired solos, angry riffage, and vocals that will have old people making a cross with their fingers to ward off evil, Witchery has quickly become a household name with the release of its debut full-lengther, Restless & Dead, and the subsequent unleashing of the Witchburner EP (both on Necropolis Records). The below interview is with the prolific Patrik Jensen, previously of Seance and Satanic Slaughter, currently the main songwriter and guitarist for Witchery, and also shreds the axe in The Haunted. What would you say are some of the characteristics or influences that define Witchery? First of all fun and experience. We have a really good time rehearsing and writing...and I'm sure that the listener can tell the difference between a band that struggles with their music and a band that just thrashes out. Experience comes in handy with Witchery, because we don't really have to listen to any albums to get inspiration. We've listened to these albums for years and years, so it's all there somewhere in the back of our heads. That's why nobody can say that you sound like this band or that band. They might be able to say that it's a mixture of this and that, but hey - what isn't? The bands that influence me the most are: old Mercyful Fate, the first Exodus album, the first Piledriver album, the first Destruction album, Accept and Exorcist... What are some of your favorite songs off of Restless & Dead, and why? Lyrically, what topics are addressed on this album? My promotional copy of the CD, unfortunately, did not come with lyrics, but judging by the songtitles, it would appear that you are influenced a bit by King Diamond / Mercyful Fate in your lyrical topics - would you agree with this? My favorite songs, hmm, this is really hard because I enjoy them all so much, but I guess "All Evil " is one of my faves. It has everything - a good chorus, great solo, a heavy metal mid section etc. "The Reaper" and "Awaiting the Exorcist" are also huge faves. The lyrics are mainly about [similar topics to] what you could read in a Mercyful Fate or King Diamond lyric - horror stories, etc. I write all the lyrics in the studio. After we have put down all the songs on tape, Richard starts doing his solos. I then sit down to write a lyric, and then I teach them to Toxine. Toxine puts down his vocals on one song at a time. Richard has to take breaks in his recording of solos, but we find it works well. Toxine's vocal chords get a chance to rest and Richard gets some time to come up with a new solo for the next song (solos are in other words not rehearsed or written). Before recording Restless & Dead, you recorded the Witchburner EP - why the decision to release the full-length first, and then the EP? No, this is a misunderstanding. It's only the SONG "Witchburner" that was recorded before Restless & Dead. That's why you can hear a slightly different production on that song compared to the other tracks. "Witchburner" was supposed to be a Satanic Slaughter song, but it never got used, because it didn't fit the band at that time....I think that was the beginning of the end for our part in SS. We liked to play that song so much that it completely turned us away from the music on the first Satanic Slaughter album.... When we later on became Witchery, it was immediately adopted as a Witchery song, haha! How did you decide which songs to cover? One of the difficulties with doing cover versions of songs that you grew up with is the fear that you may not be able to do justice to the original - did this ever cross your mind? How do you think that heavy metal purists will react to the extreme metal reinterpretation of these songs? We chose the songs by sitting down together and suggesting a song each (I actually don't know why it only came to 4 songs, haha). Everybody wanted to do the Accept song, I suggested the Black Sabbath cover, Toxine wanted to do the WASP song...and I think we all wanted to do a Judas Priest song. There's always a problem with trying to cover old idols of yours, but we didn't take it seriously enough to get spooked I guess. Still, these songs are heavy metal songs, and when we play it, it kinda comes out sounding more thrash. It would be harder to cover a Slayer track. Those bands that we covered influenced us a lot. Especially, in my case, Accept and Black Sabbath. I don't know how they would react if they heard our versions of their songs...but I think they could enjoy it, because of the overall attitude [that our versions give off]. I understand that you are have already finished recording your next album, Dead, Hot, and Ready - how will the new album sound? Are there any new songs that you are particularly excited about? Can you provide some song titles and maybe descriptions of how a few of the songs sound off of Dead, Hot, and Ready? That album will have a lot more of a heavy metal feel than the first two releases. It was nothing planned - it just turned out that way. We recorded the new album in the same studio as we used for the first album, but they had bought a new sound board and some other new shit, so it all came out sounding like shit! We actually recorded the complete album twice, because we thought that we had to be doing something wrong. We ended up having to bring the tapes to another studio (Oral Majority, Gothenburg) to mix it. It came out a lot heavier and thicker that the others, but it sounds real cool compared to what we would have gotten at the old studio. Some songs that I'm excited about? Well, "Demonication" is the first track on the album. We also do that song in our live set now...we just couldn't wait [for the release of the new album before we started playing the song live]. Another song is "A Paler Shade of Death," a Motorhead-ish song. "Resurrection" and "The Devil and the Damage Done" are also cool songs. Do you usually play new songs live before recording them in the studio in order to "test" them in front of fans? If you did, what sort of impact did the crowd response have on whether they were included on the album? We do play new songs live before they're out on an album, but you can't really judge a song by how the audience responds to it. When you play this kind of music, it's too hard for the listeners to hear what's going on, if they don't know the song before the gig. So a great new song can get a bad response just because the audience doesn't know how to react. Witchery has released albums in rapid succession, recalling the earlier days of heavy metal when a band like Razor would produce a new album roughly every year or so. Are you trying to go for a similar release schedule? How much music would you like to release in the next year or two? We are planning on putting out three or four albums a year. This is because we're tired of bands not being able to write and put out music in a reasonable period of time. I know that three or four albums is almost too much, but hey - it's a wake up call, haha! Does songwriting come quite easily for Witchery? Can you describe Witchery's songwriting process? Who brings in most of the ideas? How much rehearsal or fleshing out of the songs is done prior to entering the studio? We usually write one album in about a two week period. Of course, we rehearse for many hours every day during those two weeks. A normal day looks something like this. I get to the rehearsal place at about 10 am. I try to come up with new stuff and I leave to get something to eat at 4 pm. At 5 pm the whole bands gets together and I show them what I have managed to write. If someone doesn't like a riff or arrangement, we try to solve that by writing something new on the spot. Then we proceed to rehearse and write until 2 am, when the rehearsal ends. Then I'm back there all over again at 10 am the next morning. Sometimes, like with the song "Restless and Dead," we only played that a few times before entering the studio the very next day. We had actually never managed to play the song from beginning to end once before putting it on tape! How does your approach to playing music differ between playing live, and recording in the studio? When playing live, do the songs change substantially from how they are recorded in the studio? What is the strangest show that you have ever played? We record the songs "live" in the studio - everybody goes at once. No fancy shit where the drums go first, then the bass etc. You lose too much energy when you only focus on executing the song correctly, instead making sure that the violence and attitude is there. You are also in The Haunted - do you have any trouble balancing the two projects against each other? Does one of the two bands take precedence over the other? Yes, The Haunted is my main band, but all of the music writing I do, I do for Witchery. There's a whole lot less pressure with Witchery, so I can fool around more with the riffs. I don't run the risk of getting writer's block that way. Well, every now and then I write a riff that sounds more like The Haunted than Witchery, so I keep it for them. After completing three or four Witchery songs, I usually have enough material to complete a new Haunted song. So, Witchery is my musical playground, and I wouldn't be able to write as much stuff for the Haunted without them. I understand that The Haunted recruited a new vocalist in Marco Aro, formerly of Face Down - how are things going with the new vocalist? How would you say that his vocal style differs from the previous vocalist? What new characteristics do you feel that Marco will bring to The Haunted's music? Things are going just great with Marco. He has a lot more power in his voice than Peter did. Also, he looks more scary on stage, haha. I think that with Marco we might change our style just a little bit towards a heavier approach...I don't know. We have twelve new songs right now and were planning on recording the new album in December (we would've wanted to record it earlier, but the studio we want to use is booked until then). When did the decision to split with your previous vocalist become obvious, and how long did it take you to find Marco? Were you familiar with Marco or Face Down before auditioning him? Peter left the band in early December 1998. We auditioned Marco in February 1999. We tried a lot of people, but we went with Marco because of his intimidating facial expressions when he sings (haha) and of course because he has a good voice and is a cool guy. The At The Gates guys knew him from a tour At The Gates did with Face Down a couple of years ago. When will the next album from The Haunted be released? Have you begun writing for it yet? Will there be any chance of The Haunted and Witchery touring together? How does it feel to be an active member in two bands that have shaken up the metal scene within the space of about a year or two of each other? I don't know the release plan for the new The Haunted album. I want Witchery and The Haunted to do a tour together. Hell, if King Diamond can do two shows a night then so can I! I haven't really thought about what kind of impact my bands have had on the metal scene. I'm just happy that people like it, and I hope that more bands become inspired to write and perform with the same kind of attitude as we do...because then I'll probably have a bunch of cool albums to buy! In what ways do you feel that Witchery challenges today's extreme metal scene? What aspects of the scene do you like? Is there anything about the metal scene that you wish would be different? What I would want to see from heavy metal, which I think Witchery already has, is more focus on the power and the energy. Not trying to record the most perfect album, because then I might as well listen to a computer. Also, I'd like to see more bands trying to write real songs. You know, with a memorable chorus, catchy intro riffs etc. Many bands today try to stack 110 riffs on top of each other. It doesn't matter what song you listen to. It's all just riffs with pauses in between. How do you feel about genre categories and labels applied to music (such as death, black, thrash, power, progressive, etc.)? Do you feel that they force music to be perceived in a certain way and unnecessarily categorize both the bands and the fans, or do you feel that they are a necessary evil? I think that everyone should be able to play exactly what they want. I think categorizations do more harm than good. If people didn't know the terms, then they probably would be more open to all kinds of metal. What was your first memory or experience associated with heavy metal? Growing up, who were some of your favorite metal bands? When did you first begin to play the guitar, and who were some of your influences? At what point did you begin to develop a style that was unique unto yourself? First metal band that I heard was Kiss. I think I was about ten years old. First album that I bought was AC/DC's For Those About To Rock. I started to play the guitar when I was seven and living in Canada. I think I had a style that was unique when I started my first band Orchriste, back in 1987-90. When I later formed Seance, I think I listened too much to what was going on at that time. When I joined SS, I learned to rediscover that "old" feeling again. Actually, Orchriste riffs have been turning up on every album that I have been appearing on. I think that the first Witchery album contains most of those riffs. What do you see in the future for Witchery and heavy metal in general? Any closing comments? I hope that Witchery will be around for some time, alongside The Haunted. Be sure to check out both bands when we tour the States. Do the "W" - Born in the night!

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