REVEL IN FLESH (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with REVEL IN FLESH?
Maggesson: Hi sergio, thanks for having us here and horns up to the readers of queensofsteel! Everything is doing fine. We had a few cool gigs and a mini-tour during the past weeks and at the moment we are totally busy with the preparations and rehearsals for the “Death Kult Legions” album release show in december.
– First off, as I guess some won’t know about you yet; could you please make some history of the band?
Maggesson: To make it short, back in autumn 2011 Haubersson contacted me to record some of his song ideas in my studio. Everything turned out very well so he decided to show some songs to a couple of labels and we got signed right away. Next step was to give this whole thing a name. That’s when REVEL IN FLESH was born. In early 2012 the „Deathevokation“ album was released followed by several gigs and festival shows. During that period we continued to write new stuff and in spring 2013 the „Manifested Darkness“ album was released. We did quite a lot shows to support the album and also continued to write material for the next album which will be released on 5th of december 2014.
– Tell us a little bit about the band’s main musical influences, but considering the band’s name I bet ENTOMBED are among them?
Maggesson: Yeah, Entombed is definitely among them, Ha! Ha! We’re all totally into the ’90s styled Death Metal we grew up with but we also like Thrash or Black Metal, and for sure good old rock stuff, too. Lets say it that way: everything that fits our musical taste leaves a mark in some way or another!
– You will soon release your new album, «Death Kult Legions». What are your expectations on it?
Maggesson: Its the next step…the next level for us (on our musical journey.) We put a lot of blood, sweat, time and passion in the completion of the album and we are more than pleased how it turned out. We are totally satisfied with the final result, especially the sound! Dan (Swanö) again did a great job! Thx for the support mate 😉 This time the sound is a more brutal and heavy mixture of totally hm-2 driven insanity and we hope our fans will be as pleased as we are with it.
– I personally think this is a more mature and well-balanced record, more than your two previous releases. Could you say this has just been a natural evolution? I guess after two records you might know better how things work better for the band.
Maggesson: There was no plan to make the songs sound in a certain direction. We started with the first songs back in 2011 and since then we never stopped writing new ones so you can say that the songs for the “Deah Kult Legions” album emerged in a natural process, a natural evolution. Songs grow during the writing process and I think that there are many influences that start for example with bands or music that you personally prefer to listen to at the time of writing. Sometimes you only need a beer and a long night time to get in the mood for writing some good Death Metal stuff.
– In this opus I also think you have focused a little bit more on the atmosphere and have managed to create a darker opus. What was the inspiration and reason behind this? Is there anything you aim to convey with the overall ambience?
Maggesson: I think that the atmosphere on the album was a natural progression that came without any clear aim. It just happened during the writing process. Its a rare thing that you completely finish a song during one writing session…most times it’s kind of a step by step thing…you start to add little things that might fit the sound or the atmosphere..little pieces…like a puzzle…sometimes it works sometimes not. After years of songwriting you develop a certain kind of feeling for moods and atmospheres and if a song is ok as it is. But it never works out very well if you try to push a song in a certain direction. Atmosphere and ambience develop during the writing process and this time it turned out to become a darker and more atmopheric than the previous releases so lets see how the next album turns out…everything is possible…maybe next time you start smiling when you listen to the first song and find yourself crying during the 2nd one…lets see 😉
– We can also find more dynamics and diversity. How important is, not just for your listener, but also for yourself both as musicians and songwriters, to keep things interesting and diverse?
Maggesson: What counts in the end is the overall feeling of the song…sometimes a song don’t need a lot of ingredients to fit. It only needs a few simple riffs and a good hookline to work. On the other hand there are songs that need a lot of tricky riffs and technical twaddle to make them sound right. As a musician you need both worlds…a mixture of simple and difficult to get a good feeling and keep up the motivation! But sometimes a couple of beers can do the same…hahaha.
– This is your first album with Cyclone Empire, a record label that really fits your sound, and they are also from Germany. How did you hook up with them? And how are things working thus far?
Maggesson: They are from our area and we know each other for a long time now. We also worked together for their imperial anthem 7-ich split ep series. We did a split ep with the mighty REVOLTING (cheerz rogga!) and so it was no surprise that we got in touch when we started to search for a new label to release our 3rd album. Cyclone empire is the ideal partner for us. They are dedicated to underground and the death metal scene, they are from our area, they are loyal and what was most important for us, they are totally professionals in that business and that’s why we decided to work with them.
– The album was recorded by Maggesson, and mixed and mastered by the seasoned Dan Swanö, who has a great ear and experience into the style. How was the whole process like? And are you pleased with the final outcome? You’ve got an awesome organic, thick sound.
Maggesson: Yeah…since the first record we uses my studio to record our stuff. Meanwhile the recording is a kind of a fluent process for us cause we never stopped since we started the first session back in autumn 2011. Normally the guitarists got some ideas or a complete song, than we add the drums and bass and finally the vocals. During that we add little changes here and there until we are pleased with the result. Thats how we normally write our songs. Since the first album Dan was our first choice for mastering and later for the the mixing and mastering (he calls it “mixtering”) duties of our stuff. Dan is a living legend in the Metal scene and he knows how albums have to sound and how he can achive that certain sound!
– In fact Dan has done a guest solo on «Graveyard Procession». Did you have this in mind beforehand or did it just happen while you were working with him on the album?
Maggesson: It was absolutely spontaneous. During the last sessions of the mixing process we thought that it would be cool to have an aditional solo on this song and so we asked dan if he would take care of that and he recorded it right away….the Swanö-style !!!!! \m/
– On the other hand, Juanjo Castellano did the cover artwork, whom has already done several pieces for other Death Metal bands. What did you want the cover to depict? And how did you work on it? I mean, did you give Juanjo any guidelines or music and lyrics to get inspired?
Maggesson: Juanjo is a great artist with a wonderful imagination and great skill but even he needs a little inspiration to start an album artwork. We always send him a demo with lyrics from the upcoming cd along with some ideas for a rough sketch first and he keeps up updated with the development of the artwork. We mostly leave him a free hand ‘cause we know that he is totally dedicated and into what he’s doing and we don’t need to worry about the final result!
– All this about «Deathkult Legions» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
DEATH FUCKIN’ METAL !!!!
– Last year you played in Spain for first time. How did you feel about it? Any nice memories?
Yeah…this was a blast…a crazy 24h trip to Catalonia and back. We met great peoples played a wicked show in a cool venue and had a great time with Xavier (the organizer) and his bandmates of DECAPITATED CHRIST in Barcelona! One of our highlights in 2013! Especially the people and their culture and for sure the promenade of Barcelona we visited the morning after the show! Sunshine, the mediterranean sea, palms and white sand! That’s where you wanna spent some time!!!
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
Getting rich or die trying , have some beers and play some death metal the old school way here and there! Haha…No, next up planned is the release show for the “Death Kult Legions” in december and then the upcoming shows to support the album and not to forget the songwriting for the next bastard…you see…always busy in one way or the other … 😉
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thanks for the interview and your interest in Revel in Flesh. Check out the new album “Death Kult Legions” and keep supporting the underground! Horns up! Cheerz For news, merchandise, gigs etc. Check out our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Revel-in-Flesh/304228902958414?sk=wall
