– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with GOREMENT?

Patrik: Well, right now we have our comp-album «Within the Shadow of Darkness – The Complete recordings» out on Century Media Rec, and we are currently doing press for the release. The album has just been out for a week right now, so we are waiting for the reactions from the public and all our dedicated fans out there! Can´t wait to hear from you all, hope you´ll enjoy this release as much as we have enjoyed putting it together! GOREMENT is doing fine I think, having this great release out now finally. But I guess you´re fishing for the big question if we will reform and make a comeback? The answer is no I´m afraid, at least not for the moment. All the original members do not have the dedication that it takes to do a re-union right now. We have talked about recording some new songs and three of us are currently demoing some ideas, but if it will be as GOREMENT or under another name I don´t know right now. We´ll just have to wait and see how things will work out!

– For all those you aren’t familiar with you. You were formed back in the late 80’s if I’m not mistaken, released some demos, singles and different stuff and also your debut album, «The Ending Quest» (1994), considered a true masterpiece into the underground Death Metal. Now that have been almost 20 years since then, how do you feel about it? How could you describe it in just 3 words?

Patrik: To describe the «The Ending Quest» album and the recording of it, in just three words? Well I guess it would be: Frustration, Mighty and Darkness.

 

– Short after that you split-up. What made you take that decision?

Patrik: Mattias, the drummer, got fed up with all the struggling we had to go through with the deal we had for «The Ending Quest» and was totally disillusioned with everything regarding music and decided to leave the band in autumn/fall of ´94. And then the definite fall came when we decided to replace Jimmy with a female singer in the spring of ´96. Since our style had drastically changed by this time and we now had a female vocalist in the band, we decided it was time for a name-change. Partial in respect of the band that was GOREMENT and not to confuse the old fans that still was around. But also to mark out that we were about to make a fresh start with the band, with a new line-up. So we became PIPERS DAWN, but that´s another story…

 

– The band started during a really good moment for Death Metal, lots of bands that are now the biggest on the genre were formed back then or shortly after. Considering the quality shown on the superb «The Ending Quest”, if you would have kept on rolling with GOREMENT do you think you would ever became as big as some of the best known Swedish DM bands? Or was the competence too huge during that time?

Patrik: Well, you know the Black Metal trend had totally taking over the scene at the time when «The Ending Quest» was released in 1994, so no, I don´t think we would had become as big as the better known Swedish bands if we would had continued. The Swedish Death Metal scene was quite, you know, dead… If the record-company would have released the album shortly after it was recorded in feb ´93, things might have been different though!

 

– And haven’t you ever thought what could have been or happened to GOREMENT if you would kept releasing albums and having some more activity?

Patrik: No, not really. We really did «all in» for the «The Ending Quest» album and recording and invested money in the band etc. But we got ripped off badly and when the album came out, no one really cared about GOREMENT anymore. It was inevitable for us to disband and to continue with the band would have just made the disappointment and suffering worse. We really needed to move on and have a fresh start with the band.

 

– In fact in the 80’s/90’s there were a lot of great bands as well, but a lot of them have always remained into the underground and are now almost forgotten (as yourself for instance) so, what have been (on your opinion) some of the most underrated Swedish Death Metal bands?

Patrik: Well, CREMATORY, DARKIFIED and CRYPT OF KERBEROS are bands that instantly pops up in my mind, totally underrated bands that should have been much bigger than they really were! Other underrated bands, in my opinion, that were around back then were bands like; CARBONIZED, EXHUMED, GOD MACABRE, NIRVANA 2002 and DAWN.

 

– You have just released a compilation album featuring all your recordings entitled «Within the Shadow of Darkness – The Complete Recordings» so, first off, how did everything arise?

Patrik: Philipp, from Century Media Rec and I had been in contact for a while before and we had even discussed doing a comp-CD with the GOREMENT material like 10 years ago, but Philipp didn´t have the financials to do it at that time. When Philipp contacted me again, earlier this year, asking me what was happening with GOREMENT and also offered us this deal for Century Media, it was not so hard to make the decision and jump on this train with Century Media Rec.

 

– This record has been remastered by Dan Swanö. What led you to him? And with such a seasoned guy (and especially into your style), I guess you may be finally with the result obtained.

Patrik: Century Media suggested that we should use Dan and kind of close the circle, since Dan was responsible for our first three recordings back in the early 90ies. And I think that was a brilliant idea, it was so nice to talk to and work with Dan again after all those years. Dan did an excellent job with the remastering of the catalogue and really gave it a more «clearer» and detailed sound than before. And the sound just has a lot of more power, of course. The most significant change in sound is probably on the «Human Relic» demo. It so massive and in your face! I was blown when I heard the proof-files for the first time. It is really hard to believe it´s a demo-recording from ´91, done on a 4-chanel cassette recorder!

 

– «Within the Shadow of Darkness» cover featured an old painting by Carlos Schwabe. Why did you choose this piece of art? Why do you think its fits the whole record?

Patrik: Well, that was Century Medias idea, but it was all done in cooperation with the band. Philipp Schulte, the coordinator at Century Media, came up with the idea to use that artwork and we all instantly just fell for it! We wanted to have a cover in the same vein as the «Into Shadows» EP cover, since that cover just captured the feeling of what we had tried to express in our music perfectly. And I think this new artwork just fits brilliantly, it´s dramatic, haunting, brutal and beautiful, just as our music were back then.

 

– By the way, I guess with this release some of your fans may be wondering if GOREMENT is back on track or if this is just a gift for them.

Patrik: As I said earlier, some of us are working on and demoing some new tracks, but if it will be GOREMENT or something else, we just have to wait and see. So yes, we see this release as a final gift for the fans. But I mean, we have really worked our asses off putting this comp-album together and it is just packed with info and stuff, like unseen photos, Fanzine-clips, flyers etc. so we really think it is one hell of a final gift and really hope the fans will enjoy the hard effort that we have put in this release! We see it as a worthy ending for the band, if that will be the case…

 

– And if you would now release a brand new album; what do you think would be the differences between the new and the early GOREMENT?

Patrik: Well, you now, 20 years of life, music, influences etc. would probably be the main differences. I guess we would still have the GOREMENT sound as the foundation, but it´s unavoidable to incorporate new sounds and influences. The demos that we have been working on, is kind of divided. Some of the tracks are instantly recognizable as GOREMENT tracks, mostly because we have re-used some old riffs, but the others are different. It´s hard for me to explain the differences, but maybe there are some more American influences in these tracks, like 80ies DEATH and early MORBID ANGEL I would say.

 

– This record has been released by Century Media, how did everything start? And do you think it will be positive for you to release it with one of the biggest and most important labels in Metal, so maybe you will get the recognition you deserved but really never got? Moreover CM now has some great Death Metal bands as GRAVE, MORGOTH or ASPHYX in their roster, among some other younger bands into the style as MORBUS CHRON so, do you feel like CM is a good home for GOREMENT?

Patrik: Yeah, we feel that we have finally made the ultimate GOREMENT release! This will by far be the most professionally release that we have ever done and everything has also been professionally handled by Century Media, so yes we feel that Century Media is a good home for us and that it is also positive for the band. And we do hope that people will take the chance to finally dig in to this band and this monster-release and discover what we were about and what we tried to accomplish back then. Because we do know our place in the Swedish death metal history and we hope that this release will enlighten some more of you people out there and maybe even influence some younger generations.

 

– Now that I’ve mentioned some new bands, it seems to be nowadays a revival wave hailing from Sweden so, are there any new bands worth suggesting?

Patrik: Hm, shit now I feel like an old fart, but sorry, I don´t know that much about the Swedish death metal scene these days… Everything started to sound the same during 2000 and on, so I kind of lost interest. The only Swedish bands that kind of carried the torch during this time were OPETH, BLOODBATH and DISMEMBER I think, they made some damn find albums. The only «new» death metal band that I´ve checked out lately, that were really good and sounded somehow a little bit Swedish, is VALLENFYRE. I really liked their debut-album, it´s brutal as hell!

 

– Since you were formed everything has changed, and the music world makes no exception. What do you think has changed for the better and for the worst into the Swedish DM scene from the 90’s until now?

Patrik: Well, as I said during 2000 and on, most bands started to sound the same and had that digitalized sound which was just so annoying. So I guess the only thing that has changed for the better, is the fact that people seems to grab on to the 90ies bands and the analogue sound again! And I think that´s great! And I also think we will see a lot of re-unions and re-issues from now and on with all those bands who quit during the 90ies and also that today’s younger bands will try to copy the sound from that era, just like we have seen with the 70ies retro-trend. It will definitely be exciting to see how the scene will develop!

 

– And do you think is now easier releasing albums with a certain sound than 20 years ago, when you had less options?

Patrik: Oh yeah, todays technic is just unbelievable! I mean, you can fix your crappy home-recordings with all these plug-ins and effects and make it sound very professional and at the same time get it to sound almost in the way you want it or intended it to be. Back then we got a sound you know, and we had to basically live with it. You had to really change studio to get another sound and even then it could differ between different producers and sound-engineers… It was all time-consuming and that´s something that today’s bands don´t suffer from I think. But you know, todays bands have other problems, they don´t sell albums anymore and they have to struggle a lot on the roads instead. I guess nothing is easy in the music-business huh?

 

– Finally, what are your near-future plans?

Patrik: Well, the album has just been released, so we´re eager to hear the reactions from the people and the press! The reviews we have got so far have been really good. But I think we will basically just enjoy this moment and try to do as much press as possible and talk to the fans out there etc. Of course we will continue working on the demos and see what we can work out. I also play in a 70ies Heavy Rock band called DUKES OF GRIT and we have just released our second demo «3 Seconds», so I´m also concentrating a lot on that band for the moment. So if you´re into some really downtuned heavy rock in the vein of SPIRITUAL BEGGARS or equal, please go and check us out on our MySpace or YouTube-site (http://www.myspace.com/dukesofgrit or http://www.youtube.com/user/DukesOfGrit).

 

– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.

Patrik: Thanks a lot Sergio for this interview, it was a pleasure doing it! Check out our comp-album «Within the Shadow of Darkness – The Complete Recordings», out now on Century Media Rec on vinyl, CD and Digital and please let us know what you think! Stay brutal!

 

Sergio Fernández

sergio@queensofsteel.com

 

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