– Hello, lots of thanks for answering our interview. How is everything going into the DEMONICAL’s camp right now?

Thanks a lot for taking time to talk with us. We are currently on tour through Europe, supporting the release of our new album. “Darkness Unbound” is DEMONICAL’s fourth full-length album and was released September 20 through Cyclone Empire in Europe. It will also be put out through Metal Blade in the US in November. The album consists of 10 songs (the limited edition digipak CD contains 12 tracks) and it is in my opinion our darkest and most aggressive album so far.

– How are the first reactions to “Darkness Unbound” being? And how are you feeling on the result obtained?

The reactions to “Darkness Unbound” have so far been overwhelming. We had very good reviews and a lot of interest from media with interviews and articles, and a lot of interesting offers for tours and festivals as well. I believe that DEMONICAL has progressed with every album, and that we have moved forward with every release. The same goes for “Darkness Unbound”. I feel that people that enjoyed our previous albums enjoys “Darkness Unbound” too, even more. It is a musical development, but the foundation is intact. The progress is mainly in a darker and more aggressive direction. I would personally say that “Darkness Unbound” is the best album that we have managed to put out with DEMONICAL, and so far it seems like most people agree with me on that.

 

– There’s no doubt the band’s success is quickly growing with each new album you release. DEMONICAL was born from the ashes of CENTINEX, a band I have always thought never got the deserved recognition. Do you think with DEMONICAL you are achieving what you couldn’t with CENTINEX?

I think you are right, we haven’t released a “defining” album so far, but the development has come step by step. I don’t feel that one particular album made our name bigger, but I think that the name slowly grew year by year, album after album. The people that support DEMONICAL are very dedicated and a lot of the exposure I think came simply by people spreading the word. I also think that you are right that we are have taken things a bit further with DEMONICAL than with previous bands.

 

– Getting a little bit into your new release, the title gives a clear idea of what your music is about, and I also think it fits perfectly the sound on this record but, why did you choose it? What did you want to reflect with it?

We had some potential titles and we couldn’t agree on any other.

 

– This is your first album without two of the band’s original members, remaining Martin as the only founding member. Is DEMONICAL starting a new chapter?

I think that most people consider me more or less an original member since the previous vocalists (Johan on the demo and Ludvig on the first album) were only singing for such a short period each, and also since I was involved in the first recordings as the producer. I don’t think that we are starting a new chapter, “Darkness Unbound” is a continuation of what we have always wanted to do with DEMONICAL.

 

– Ronnie and Johan were the two original members that left the band, but also Fredrik, Ronnie’s replacement, left the band before recording this new «Darkness Unbound». What were the main reasons behind their departures?

With all three guys I think it was the same thing more or less, their schedules didn’t allow the tours and recordings that we are doing with DEMONICAL and they decided to put priority on other things. You go through a lot of stuff when in a band like this, and share a lot of hard and good times. Those guys are still my friends and I like them a lot, there are no hard feeling at all between me and any of them. We still keep in touch on a regular basis.

 

– And what have the new members, Ämir, Daniel and Johan brought to DEMONICAL?

Daniel has actually been in the band for almost two years. He has a personal approach to guitar playing and has added a lot to our sound, I believe. Ämir and Johan joined us around half a year ago and with this line-up I feel totally confident getting up on stage every day. They always deliver.

 

– As I said earlier, «Darkness Unbound» is a quite fitting title for a record like this, which I would dare say is your darkest to date. Was this really somber sound something you wanted to get with your new effort?

Often times when you produce an album, the end result is something different than what you had planned in the first place, but with “Darkness Unbound” I think that we came very close to sounding exactly like we wanted to. This was a path that we marked out already when starting to write the songs.

 

– If on your previous «Death Infernal» each instrument played a bigger role on different parts, on «Darkness Unbound» all instruments are on the same page, creating a full sense of wholeness and a wall of sound. How was this sound born? With the new members, was the creative process different? I mean, has each member brought his personal touch?

We wanted to continue what we started with “Death Infernal” and develop the sound further. I think that creative process was more or less the same as before, the main difference was that I and Daniel wrote some of the music for this album, which we didn’t do for “Darkness Unbound” (I only did lyrics for that album). Daniel’s guitar playing is also slightly different from Johan’s which I think added a fresh touch to the sound as well.

 

– As bonus track you have included a re-recorded version for «Burned Alive», off your debut album, «Servants of the Unlight». Why did you decide to do so?

We wanted to go back and do some old shit, just like we do live. “Burned Alive” is a song that we often played live and that has a slightly different touch to it than the original recording.

 

– And there’s also a cover for KREATOR’ s “World Beyond”. Could you please elaborate a bit on this? Was it easy to transform a classic Thrash track like such into a Death Metal song?

With DEMONICAL we have recorded a lot of covers over the years, and we always did songs that were not originally Death Metal songs, but rather choose good songs from other genres that we have made our own. We have transformed Black Metal, Crust, Heavy Metal and now also Thrash into our own type of Death Metal and it has always been an interesting thing to do.

 

– You have always worked at Necromorbus Studio, co-owned by yourself. In fact I think you are the best definition of the kind of sound Necromorbus is known for: a classical organic sound yet clean and updated, really powerful. Could you say you are getting even better results everytime you work there?

Yes, all four DEMONICAL albums, and also the first demo, were recorded and mixed at Necromorbus Studio, including the new album “Darkness Unbound”. I agree that each album has a “better” sound in the way that it has come closer to what we wanted to do. The only difference this time was that I mixed and mastered “Darkness Unbound” at Wing Studios, my new recording facilities that I am setting up right now. Wing Studios will serve as the new Demonical headquarters when I’m not recording other bands, the same way Necromorbus Studio has been for many years now. It will be a bigger version of the old studio with updated recording gear and backline as well. The mix and mastering studio is already open, but for recordings I’m still using the old studio until the new facility has officially opened. Check out the development at wingstudios.se or at facebook.com/wingstudios

 

– All this about «Darkness Unbound» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?

Better than before.

 

– And finally, what are your near-future plans?

First of all we are going to finish this tour that we are on now. We have done nine gigs so far and have eleven shows left, so we are basically “half way” in. We played in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy and France so far and are now heading to do shows in Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and some more shows in Italy and in Germany of course. After that we will see what happens. “Darkness Unbound” was released less than three weeks ago and the response so far has been very good so the aim is to continue touring in 2014. We are also looking to do some videos and stuff like that. We will see where “Darkness Unbound” will bring us.

 

– 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 again for the interview, it was a pleasure answering your questions. Your support is appreciated. People out there enjoying the old-school approach on Death Metal should check out “Darkness Unbound”, updated info and tour dates are always on our websites, and check out the web pages of Wing Studios as well for more info on my personal work [wingstudios.se]

www.demonical.net

www.demonicalmerch.net

www.facebook.com/demonicalofficial

www.wingstudios.se

 

Tania Giménez

tania@queensofsteel.com

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