NOCTURNAL BREED (Eng.)
1. Hello, lots of thanks for answering our interview. How is everything going into the NOCTURNAL BREED’s camp right now, just before releasing your new album?
Hola’ And thanx for the interview and killer support. We are doing very well in the band nowadays. It’s been a long time producing and finishing this album, so It feels good to be on the verge of the release. Currently we’re rehearsing the new songs for some upcoming live shows here in Norway. And we’re just waiting for the tours and festivals to be finished booked for this year. So yeah, everything seems to be looking good this year.
2. This new album is “Napalm Nights”, a title that could depict the musical content on it by the way; unrelentless old school sounding Thrash Metal but; how sounds this new effort to you? What can your fans expect to hear?
Well, in our ears the new album and songs are very pleasing. We spent so much time trying to really get this album to sound like we’ve always dreamed it could be. And finally this time we’re very pleased with the outcome. We got the raw, unbridled oldschool sound sounding just like we hoped. The songs turned out very organic, and we feel this album finally reflects all sides of the band and what we’re all about. The fans can expect to get their brains blown out as this is by far the most intense album we have done. I think it has got all the Nocturnal Breed trademarks and then some !
3. You have always taken your time when it comes to release new albums. Do you think this has some kind of effect on them?
Yes I’m sure it does. Spending so many years thinking about how we like the music and songs to be, makes the band very fine tuned. Knowing each other as well as we do and having played together for this long makes the whole song writing process very comfortable and in a sense free. We all have different inspirations and influences, but when we come together we just work like a well oiled machine. And when you spend so many years fine tuning these skills, it turns out to very personal and heartfelt albums.
4. For instance, «Napalm Nights» is being released 7 years after your previous «Fields of Rot» came out so, how are you feeling about finally going to release your new full-length?
It feels fucking awesome to be honest. We have tried several times to get the band in gear to record new album, both in 2010 and 2011. So now that it’s finally here, it is great for us. The whole metal scene seems much more into taking it all back to the way it was so many years ago. And that makes the release of this album perfect for us. In a way I’m glad the new album wasn’t released 2-3 years ago, the time feels much more right now.
5. And how has the band evolved throughout these last years? And what have you been up to from 2007 to 2013? It’s been a quite silent period from you.
The band has been cursed with bad luck ever since the get-go of its creation, and these last years has been no exception to that rule. There has been a million shitty obstacles and hurdles to get through, from personal shit to more band related stuff. We lost two band members , Ben Hellion and A.E Rattlehead, back in 2010 and at the start of 2011, and at both these times the band was getting ready to get started on making a new album. During these seven years, all of us has spent time doing all kinds of different other music projects and bands. But of cause you make some ‘Breed riffs now and then too you know’. Personally I spent several years finishing a bunch of albums and projects I had been keeping in the drawer for way to long. And it has been through these projects I think we in a way built up the urge to give it a go with the new album. Especially ‘Conjuration’, has been a delight to do. To explore a much more grotesque ‘universe’ both lyric wise and musically. It is a Death Metal project that included, apart from myself, my right hand Breedsters T.Terror and V.Fineideath. In fact they almost had to kick my ass to get me into doing this project. I was kinda drifting into too much personal shit and crap like that, and it was T.Terrors’ consistent nagging for me to get up off my ass and to do this project that helped me getting my head out of that same before mentioned ass. So, after recording the ‘Conjuration’ Ep ‘The House on Nuclear Hill’, and doing some gigs related to this, we just started talking more and more about doing a new Nocturnal Breed album. And when V.Fineideath joined Nocturnal Breed in 2010 the spark really lit up. He had been a friend of the band since the early beginning, and having shared bands with T.Terror in a bunch of different death and thrash metal bands in the hillbilly area of ‘Fetsund’. So he was a natural pick for us. Also, it must be honored that he more or less carried the band on his shoulders to make this whole thing work, and we are eternally grateful for him being dedicated to the campaign like that. Then I.Maztor decided to join the band early in 2011, and it felt like someone just flicked on a switch, and the old feelings came creeping up the spine again. I.Maztor was a big part of the early days of the band, and forging it into what it is today. He was our first permanent Lead guitarist, and he did some wicked work on the albums ‘No retreat… No Surrender’ and ‘The Tools of The Trade’ As well as a bunch of Ep’s, 7″ and all the tours and gigs in the 90’s. He took a 10 year retreat back to Alta, at the very top of Norway, in 2001 to take care of his family and re-group the forces. But still playing in bands like ‘Slogstorm’ and other projects, and I must say that his skills on that 6 stringed machinegun on this album is just jaw dropping man ! He just added that very rare extra touch to the new tracks. His style, that is very inspired by Adrian Smith and Andy La’Roque, among many others. Makes up quite an impressive array of feelings and techniques. It was actually his song ‘SpeedKrieg’ that really kicked off the making of this album, as the first finished track we rehearsed in its entirety.
6. Digging deeper into this new «Napalm Nights», I personally think the tempo has slowed down just a little bit, a minimum part, and this helps creating a more organic feeling. It actually feels like everything flows perfectly and that this is a better developed release. Was this something you were aiming for or did it just end up like this?
Actually, In the start of the process, we planned to record the album more or less live in the studio. But as it developed and grew upon us, the songs and themes took on their own life and we saw that it was some real potential in this material, But it was never planned. Our producer and close friend Nico Ryen Christiansen and Killer studio really came up with a brilliant plan for the sound on this album, and I hope it shines through when you hear it, that we went for a totally oldschool production but with a punch, only today’s equipment can do. now, the tempo, as you say, has been taken down a notch, and this was deliberately as we felt it was about time we’d stress down a bit, and let the songs and material talk for itself. And to get that organic feel, you kinda have to let the songs find their own phase and tempo. So we focused more on that this time, and I feel it really paid off, making the album more listenable for people. Also we didn’t just want to copy our selves, so we thought this way we still keep to the good old’ nocturnal Breed blueprint, but hopefully with a new twist to it.
7. Anyway is as intense, relentless and brutal as always. In fact you have managed to keep a huge intensity from start to finish. Is it something easy to get? Would you say the track list and the order of the songs has an effect on this?
I’m glad you feel so. We worked a lot on getting the track list to a point where it doesn’t get to stressed out. It’s easy to take all the fast and hard songs in the start and then it gets too much for the brain to digest. We tried several track lists before we found the one we ended up with. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. The album in a way flows really good as you listen to it. And with songs like «Cursed Beyond Recognition» and the 12 minutes epic «Napalm Nights», it slows the set down a bit and gives the listener time to catch their breath before climbing back up on the speed-horse again. We really wanted the intensity from our live shows to shine through on this album, and I feel we managed it quite well with the track list and the songs itself.
8. On this release I’ve noticed some more Rock n’ Roll elements and less epics moments, specially on guitars. Is actually this influence getting a bigger role? And was the song writing process like it always was?
I guess that is individual, personally I think our «The Tools of the Trade» album is the one with most Rock n’ Roll elements to it. It’s always been a part of our influence, since we’re all into really old metal, which is of cause full of Rock n’ Roll. But we never plan for these things, the songs just come out as they needs to be birthed. Be it Epic or not. I feel this album is in its totality more epic than most of the stuff we’ve done before, but that depends on what the listener see as epic or not. We really wanted this new album to be darker than the previous albums. We wanted it to reflect the last 7 years of strife and curses. The war theme is also strong on the album, and I really feel this one is for all the Veterans of war out there in the world. All the songs on the new album have their own story and storylines that more or less leads back to true events. ‘Thrashiac’ is the ‘oldest’ track on the album. I recorded a demo of that one 11 years ago. And as we started rehearsing it we understood this one was a «keeper» for the new album. The ‘Speedkrieg’ Song was I.Maztor’s creation, and I remember the day he showed it to us at rehearsal. I guess it instantly kick-started the album writing process. And it was so cool to hear a oldschool fucking Breed song again. Songs like ‘The Bitch of Buchenwald’, ‘Cursed Beyond Recognition’, ‘Dragging the Priests’ and ‘Dawn Campaign… Flamethrower Ridge’ has a unique feeling to us, since these were all made completely during the recording sessions. Allot of the writing process has been done while in the studio. It makes it kinda fresh for us as we record the songs. T.Terror’s tracks, like ‘Napalm Night’, ‘Krigshisser’ and ‘The Devil Swept the Ruins’ was written through the year or two leading up to the album. He most definitely makes the most complex stuff in the band. Guess that’s because of the drummer in him going for it. He thinks more in rhythms than the rest of us. All in all I feel we managed to really put out there, a new album that reflects the band and its members influences. Personally I spend many months just getting to know the songs and the stories I write about in the lyrics. And at times it gets to be like a possession, but in difference to our earlier albums, I spent much more time fine tuning the words and music for the perfect result for us.
9. In fact you had again E.A. Rattlehead on guitars as guest artist. How did everything arise?
He was a naturally pick for us as to letting a guest guitarist appear on this album. He was in the band from 2005 to 2010. And is such a good guitarist, we thought he’d be perfect for some guest playing on «Thrashiac» and «Under the Whip». It worked out really good, as he has the most awesome Rock n’ Roll twist on his playing. And blended without own I.Maztor, It just sounded fucking awesome. As well it’s nice to have such a good friend with us, even though he had to cut down on the playing due to some injuries in his arm. So I’ll be glad to have him with us on the next album too.
10. And you have also had another guest artist. Nocturno Culto lent his voice to some of the tracks. What do you think has he brought with his cooperation?
His aura of oldschoolness I guess is what he brought to the table. He said yes immediately when I asked him. He has also played live with us in the past, doing covers of Sodom and Death. As well as he was my right-hand ripper on strings when we played with Satyricon back in 95 and 96. N.Culto and I actually went to the same school and grew up in the same shitty suburban valley outside Oslo. So he’s a good friend and an awesome guy. And as we had hoped, it turned out just fucking vicious if you ask me ! N.Culto’s voice kinda hails from a much darker side of the street than most vocalists, and adds a really dirty sting to his work. He also ended up doing backing vocals and quire on half of the songs on the entire album. And I think it really lifted the «Exodus/Accept» effects and the intensity on many parts of the tracks. From songs like ‘Thrashiac’ with its Destruction, Kreator, Kill’Em All-nuclear Assault’ish kinda drive to the more Motorhead inspired ‘The Bitch of Buchenwald’ and SpeedKrieg N.Culto lays down the law as a flittermice outa’ Hell, and I’m very grateful to him for doing this. We really had some awesome times while recording this with him ! It was T.Terror who presented the ‘Krigshisser’ track to us, very early during the rehearsals for this album. This is the song N.Culto does the main vocals on. And as it evolved, I must admit, it really hailed from a darker place that is very close to us. When we were rehearsing it we thought «There’s no one better to do this than the man who wrote the cookbook himself, Right…».
11. Something that caught my attention is that, if on «Fields of Rot» we found «Iron Bitch», with a great MOTÖRHEAD vibe, this time around there is «The Bitch of Buhenwald». Are, somehow, tributes to the British bästards?
Hehe yeah in a way. We have always had a song or two on our albums, where I use my vocals in this Lemmy’ish style. Like on «Locomotive Death» from the Aggressor album. And even from the Demo days I’ve used this style of singing every now and then. It’s a vocal form that comes naturally for me, maybe because I’ve done too much growling through the years, I don’t know. but my voice just ended up this way. I’ve loved Motorhead for about as long as I can remember. From a very early age Lemmys’ voice and the sound of the Motorhead-machinery when it fires up caught my attention. Their music kinda’ screams out «This is the real god damned mother fucking metal» ! and as with most bands in the whole metal scene, Motorhead has inspired all our music in one way or the other. It’s unconsciously in us all I guess. When it comes to the vocals in specific, both bands like Celtic Frost, Venom, Sodom and even good old ‘Deathwish’ from England inspire me allot, alongside with the obvious Motorhead influences. I personally think there’s allot of Inspiration from Cronos and Venom in the vocals on the «Bitch of Buchenwald» track and others on the new album too.
12. Something else that caught my attention is the sound of the album. You’ve had a clean, powerful sound still organic. How was this process like?
It just came naturally actually, working with Nico in the studio, and his patience for letting us do what we wanted, resulted in this sound. He is such a killer sound engineer, so whenever we wanted something done sound wise, he took our ideas and ran with it, often making the end result even better than we had hoped for. and he added his own ideas and touch to it in such a way, that the whole production of the album came out bone fucking hard, but still not annoyingly hard on the ears that is the case for allot of band nowadays I think. we focused strongly on the «Kill’em All» sound and other albums like it. Trying to keep it all as oldschool as possible without it being a parody, but taking it a step further as we added the punch of modern day mastering and such. In fact Nico both recorded, mixed and mastered the album in the same studio, so we could go back and forth, fine tuning the sound to our specifics.
13. All this about «Napalm Nights» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Intense, Aggressive and Oldschool
14. You are hailing from Norway, which lately seems to be a great haven for traditional Thrash Metal bands like TÖXIK DEATH, COBOLT 60, CONDOR or DEATHHAMMER among others. With several good bands over there, is it easy for a band into the genre to keep on being outstanding? And are there any other new Norwegian bands suggesting?
If people still think what we do is outstanding I’m really happy for that. We don’t really try to be in one way or the other. What you hear and see is 100% us. So we don’t think too much about keeping up with what other bands are doing or what people say or feel one should be like. And maybe that’s why we have managed to keep our integrity through 18 years of doing this. As to new bands from up here, I must say I’m the worst person to ask. I live so far away from people deep in the woods, so I have no influences from what is going on in the music scene nowadays. In my world it’s still 1986 outside my door, and i like to keep it like that. But we had a pretty cool band opening for us on our release concert in Oslo some weeks ago, called ‘Reptilian’, Young up and coming guys from Bergen that sounds almost like old Autopsy and Darkthrone, so they’re worth a checking out. Apart from that I must say people should check out the old Norwegian thrash bands Equinox and Death Mission. Truly killer bands that never managed to make it out in the world too much, but none the less fucking brilliant in their classic oldschool style.
15. Now, as 2014 has just started, would you mind to tell us what are your 3 favourite albums released in 2103 as well as the least favourite one?
Well as I said, I’m really not good at keeping up with what’s going down in the scene, but out of the few albums i’ve heard from 2013 I must say I really liked Motorhead’s – Aftershock and N.Cultos Gift of Gods – Recieve and Sarke’s – Aruagint album . As to the worst albums of 2013… There are tons of them. I 
think the scene is looking brighter as to the oldschool feeling coming back full force, but i still think it’s a way to go for some bands… I was hoping the old Thrashers like Testament or Slayer would get back in the sadle, but it’s still missing a bit.
16. And finally, what are your near-future plans? How does 2014 look like for NOCTURNAL BREED?
Touring, drinking, making new material, more touring and festivals seems to be the agenda for this year. The album just got released a couple weeks back, so at the time we’re just leaning back a bit, looking over the offers that keeps pouring in from festivals and promoters. And I spend my days answering interviews. So I’m sure the fans will get their money’s worth this year !!
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thank you for letting me have this time to spew my words out upon our Spanish listeners. I sure hope we’ll be down there soon to do some concerts and I hope to see you all slamming your heads when the time comes. Apart from that, Keep fucking metal to the bone, and enjoy the Napalm Nights as it burns into your skins.
Hasta la Vista Thrashiacs
S.A Destroyer signing off to the bunker
D.
