Blood Red Throne Interview

1. Can you shed some light on the band's history and briefly summarize the saga of Blood Red Throne for those who are not yet familiar with the band?

Tchort and Død played in Satyricon between 1996 and 1999, but our passion for death metal resulted in forming BloodRedThrone in 1998. We got the very talented Erlend Caspersen on bass some time after and the three of us are still the remaining original members of the band. We're about to release our fifth studio album through Earache Records and we hail from Norway!

2. You have a brand-new record, "Come Death," out in the open, what can you tell me about its creation - writing,recording, and how you managed to capture that classic style you're known to carry out when expressing yourselves musically.

Well, Come Death is not brand new at all anymore, hehe, and we have a new album comin' out in May, but anyway, we wanted a more old school feel to it on Come Death, so Tchort and I on guitars made some cool riffs and put them together nicely. We always write our songs separately and this time I wrote six of the songs, while Tchort wrote two. We also added one of our all time favorite bands; Gorguts, and included a cover of the track Disincarnated from their best album, Considerd Dead! We went to a local studio, dUb Studio and recorded all instruments and vocals, but we mixed the album in Sweden in Studio Deadline.We're very happy with the sound and the songs indeed and this is the path we want to go!




3. What kind of expectations did you have for the album when you first started writing the new material? How do you feel about the record now, that it's done, pressed, and soon to be unleashed upon the masses?

Well, the previous album to Come Death was Altered Genesis and that is our most brutal and intense album in our discography, so we knew some expected this to be continued. But we were a bit fed up with all the bands playing extreme all the way. We wanted to get back to our roots and incorporate the classic stuff from bands like Obituary, Death, Gorguts, Pestilence and so on. But of course, combine this with modern extreme metal, so the whole album is a perfect mix between all the elements we enjoy. The album's been out in the stores for one and a half year now, so the response has mostly been very good. We also introduced our new singer and drummer on Come Death and though some misses our former singer, Come Death has been well accepted by our fans!

4. Traveling across the world to share your music, where have you guys been? What are the plans on the road? Any particular destination spots you have in mind?

We've done several European Tours, we've been in England and Scandinavia, but we haven't been to the US or South America or Japan for that matter. These are continents we really want to visit and we're currently workin' on some US and South America dates! In Europe, Netherland and Belgium have always been great countries for us to play in!




5. Has your band had the Los Angeles Murderfest experience? Is that something you'd be interested in?

Nope, we haven't, but as I mentioned, the US is a big goal for us. We have many fans over there and we often get questions from US fans who wonder when we will get over! So, let's hope 2009 will make this happen!

6. Is the tour you're on now in support of a new album you're working on?

Hm, we're not on tour. The latest tour we did was with Divine Heresy, December 2007! Anyway, we're in studio these days recording our fifth studio album, entitled Souls of Damnation and after this there will be quite some touring for us!

7. What shaped together Blood Red Throne and how has your sound progressed?

Like I said, the passion for death metal has been huge to Tchort and I and I got to know Tchort right after he quit Emperor in 1994, and we soon hit it off and knew we had to form a band together! We've pretty much had the same riffs and sound going on, but there's a great improvement productionwise from our two first albums to our 3 latest!

8. Aside from expecting an awesome record, what else can we expect to see from you guys?

Well, this time there will be a dvd release ro celebrate our ten years anniversary! And most likely, we will visit countries and continents we haven't been before!

9. How do you feel it fits in with the rest of your releases?

Souls of Damnation will be a continuation of Come Death, but I think with even cooler production. Fans also requested more solos, so this time there's some lead shit on every song, hehe!

10. How did you guys get into the metal scene in the first place? What drew you towards it, and why do you still devour every minute of it?

Personally, I got into metal as my mom listened to a lot of rock music and some metal. So, I stole her Tell No Tales cassette by the Norwegian band TNT back in 1987, and from then I've been addicted to metal. I got into more extreme metal in 1992, when my friend showed me bands like Pestilence and Obituary! I like all kinds of metal music and I just feel empty without music. It's a huge part of my life and I listen to metal every day!

11. What's kept you guys together for such a long time, having gone through line-up changes, solo/side projects, and all that jazz. What makes you guys stick it out until the very end of your days?

I wonder that too sometimes! I guess Tchort and I have a invisible bond having played together for more than 13 years. We like each other's songs and way of playing and we never question each other's songs. We know it's quality anyway. Last original member, Erlend, is also so smooth workin' with and he's just an easy going guy with extreme skills. Vald, the singer, is also the greatest to work with and there's never any problem with him. But we have tough days too and it's not always easy when the band never meet as a band and rehearse. But, no pain, no glory!

12. What is the writing and recording process like for Blood Red Throne?

For me, I record everything at home in my home studio. It usually starts with a riff I have and I record it with a drum beat. Almost suddenly after that, I have an opinion of what kind of drum beat or guitar riff should come next and this continues to a whole song. I also like having verses and chorus to some extent, and not just have a thousand riffs put together. Then I e-mail the song to the drummer and we take it to rehearsal to see if everything works and maybe add some of his ideas. I make the necessary changes back home and e-mail the song to Erlend. Mostly, he figures out all the riffs and send it back to me. Then, I send it to Vald (Singer) and he makes his lyrics and vocals and some of it we get to listen at rehearsal. If not, we do on the album, haha! Tchort also likes to jam on his riffs at rehearsal with our drummer and the rest of the band rarely hear his songs until they're on the album!

13. What inspires you to create this music?

17 years of explosion to this music and a personal ego and creativity to make our own music. We also think it's important for Norway to have a few great death metal bands!

14. Where do you see yourself and Blood Red Throne in twenty years?

Most likely dead and buried, but you never know. Not because it's hard to play, but it's not easy keeping a band together for ages anyway!

15. Do you have any parting words or messages?

Thanks for supporting Norwegian death metal and catch us live someday. We will destroy! Also check our new album featuring a DVD when it's released in May! Cheers in hell!

http://www.myspace.com/bloodredthrone666