Ten years ago death was born and given a name. One so fierce yet so sinister it cried for forgiveness. Deathchain would be its calling and from that day forward the elements known as death metal and thrash metal would cease to exist. Over the ten year rampage Deathchain would go on to release five full-lengths, two split releases, and an assortment of side projects that occupy each individual band member for as long as possible. But when it’s all said and done, it still brought back that essence of death. Guitarist Cult decided to discuss the current whereabouts of Deathchain’s activities as well as what's in store on their fifth full-length release entitled "Death Gods". So we are yet again given a chance at death but just how much death can we withstand to behold?
1. It's been two years since the first time I interviewed Deathchain, what has the band been up too?
Cult: Well, I do remember when we did the previous interview, you and I, and I had just joined the band very recently so from my behalf I can say that now I'm not the latest member anymore. C. Void joined Deathchain as a permanent member to do background growls and programming. He's been doing background vocals on every Deathchain album so it was a natural continuation. We also made a new album quite soon after the previous one, and it has received very good feedback so far! Soon it'll be released abroad so we're looking forward to see the reaction. We played like 15 shows or something in Finland at the end of 2010.
2. How long did it take to record your latest material?
Cult: A couple of weeks as always Kassara recorded his parts, the drums, very fast also as always, so after 2-3 days he was done. Then it was time for the rest of us, and all in all it took about two and a half weeks. Corpse and I are the ones sitting most of that time at the studio, doing a lot of stuff besides recording our guitar parts... vocal arrangements, some last minute lyric writing etc.
3. What is the inspiration behind your latest material?
Cult: There are two main inspirations behind the lyrics and music, the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and ancient goddesses in Mesopotamian mythology. Lyric-wise, Corpse is doing the whole Lovecraft stuff, the Cthulhu mythos being essential there. Khaos participates also in some lyric writing. For me it was natural to write about certain Mesopotamian goddesses since I had just been doing some activities related to them... We try to manifest the essence and the atmosphere of the lyrics through the music the best we can. Sometimes the music itself creates or portrays certain 'vibes', and the lyrics are born from that, you know?4. The title of your fifth release is "Death Gods" so would you say that Deathchain are these so-called "gods of death"?
Cult: How about Death Metal Gods? Now I wouldn't say we're exactly that hahah! That's actually a funny detail since some instances have interpreted the album title in that manner, that we are the "Death Gods". The album name is referring to ancient deities, not to us. But we are definitely the messengers of the Death Gods!
5. You went from being a part of Dynamic Arts Records to Cobra Records, so the snake over rules the arts?
Cult: Hahah, yeah, we worship the Serpent Of The Deep. There's stuff going on now with management things and so forth, so I think there'll be a lot more things happening in 2011 than what happened in the past.
6. How about all of the releases that you've done so far, if you could go back and change anything would you?
Cult: As I've played only in the two latest albums, "Death Eternal" and "Death Gods", I wouldn't go and change anything what's been done before I joined. And I also like the older albums so much that I wouldn't change a thing in them. For me it's like, we always give 100% at the studio and that's it. For example "Death Gods" represents Deathchain in the year 2010, period. Of course maybe someday I will feel that some things could have been done differently but my goal is to go forward instead of looking too much in the past.
7. Which would you say is your favorite album, song, and lyric out of all of the albums that you've released?
Cult: At the moment it would be "The Lion-Head" from the latest album and "The Crawling Chaos" from "Death Gods". From all of our discography, songs like "Return of the Nemesis", "Deathammer", "Poltergeist" etc. hit the spot for me. I think we should actually play some of those live again. Favorite album is "Death Gods", after that "Deathrash Assault". I love the lyrics of those good old demo songs ha!
8. You've been together for 13 years, what comes to mind and what do you think of lucky 13?
Cult: Hmm, the last album hit the Finnish charts at number 13. Maybe this is an omen that the shit will really hit the fan soon! Well, actually 13 doesn't strike me that much, I have much more things going on with the number 11. You can give energy and meaning to any number, it's just that some numbers correspond more than others.
9. All Deathchain members are involved in other bands like Deathbound, Forgotten Horror, Dawn Of Relic, Darkwoods My Bethrothed. Would you ever consider doing a show with all of these acts, including Deathchain all on one bill? That'd be a sight to see.
Cult: What an interesting idea! That would definitely be a bizarre night, same guys just switching instruments and starting another gig hahahah. Some Deathchain members have actually had even 3 shows per one night due to the quantity of bands, I think it was Kuolio. It's quite rare but sometimes we run into these kinds of weird booking situations.
10. Out of all of albums you've released you just have to use the words "death" or dead" don't ya?
Cult: It has become this kinda thing for us that we just end up putting "Death" in the album title. Which is very much ok for all of us. We're singing and playing about Death, so it goes straight to the topic, don't you think?
11. Whereabouts has Deathchain made their mark touring-wise? Will we be seeing you guys in the states or not yet?
Cult: Not yet. This is the thing which is bugging us at the moment, the lack of shows outside Finland. But, we continue to bang our heads against the rock until the rock breaks. Slowly but surely things are progressing so it'll happen, it's just a matter of time.
12. You've done shows with Destruction if you ever make it to the states do you think you can drag them along? It'd make quite the show.
Cult: I doubt it would be Destruction who we'll tour with, but of course you never know. I checked out them last year and they still seemed to have a good live show.
13. Do you and the rest of the band have anything lined up for the holidays?
Cult: Well I live in Sweden, and the rest of the guys live in Finland, so I'm having a damn well earned break and chilling out from traveling between these two counties constantly!
14. What will the future bring for Deathchain. Could you tell us about future plans, shows and projects?
Cult: We're starting to make new material now, and as I mentioned we're struggling to get a tour or two abroad for this album. The next live show will be next month, February, with bands like Triptykon and Accept, so the year is starting off nicely.
15. Anything you'd like to add or say to your fans?
Cult: Thank you very much for this interview! And for the fans, keep on worshipping the Death Gods and see you at a gig venue or a festival somewhere this year! Cthulhu is rising!
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