ULCER (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with ULCER?
D: Hello. Nothing particular I think, but we’re waiting for our album release and then we’ll see what’s next!
– First off, as you are about to release your second album; could you please make some history of the band for all those that may don’t know about you yet?
D: The band was founded in 2006 by Lucass, who shortly after composing some material, signed me, Mścisław and Kuba (former bass player) up to record our first demo “A Property of God?”. In the meantime, the second vocalist Hubert (Angelfuck) joined us for another material – “Slitwrist Society” which was some kind of a try out before the full album. Shortly after, we recorded debut stuff called “Serpent Trinity”, but it was never released, probably due to rather poor production and lack of drummer. As you can imagine, drum machine doesn’t work well in Death Metal. That’s where we stopped for a while and decided to redirect the band to its proper route. That’s when we got full line-up and started making more specified and directed music, which gave birth to two promo songs (“Death Metal Mafia”, “No Room in Hell”) and later – “Grant Us Death”.
– As I said, you are about to unleash your sophomore album, entitled «Grant us Death» which, once more, has a huge Swedish Death Metal influence. Being from Poland, a country with a pretty strong extreme Metal scene, what does interest you so much about the Swedish scene?
D: It’s true what you said about Polish scene. It is strong, but does it have its own character and sound? I think not. There’s no such thing as “Polish sound”, so we don’t really have any heritage bestowed upon us by our nationality. We’re all huge fans of Swedish metal, be it Black or Death, and we are 100% aware of our influences. What I personally like about metal from Sweden and ancient metal in general is its raw, unpretentious atmosphere and unarguable character and spirit. When I’m listening to Dismember, Grave etc. I hear the beast howling from the abyss and when I’m listening to some modern, overproduced metal, I just hear noise without content.
– In fact on this new record I’ve noticed more Punk/Grind/Crust elements, something also add to their music lots of Swedish bands. Was this versatility something you were looking for or just something spontaneous? And, talking about such, what are your main musical influences?
D: I’m not a music writer, but I guess it was spontaneous. We don’t say “hey, let’s do that riff the punkish way and let this one has Entombed touch”, it just flows out as blood from opened veins. My personal influences as Black/Death Metal vocalist would be Attila Csihar, Dan Swano, Peter Tagtgren, Alan Averill, Jon Nodtveidt, LG Petrov to name a few.
– Due to this I would also like to know how was the songwriting process, if do you want to get a certain sound or do you just let things floew naturally.
D: The only idea was to sound old-school and with Swedish vibe of course. The rest was just a formality as we breathe this music every day.
– As I’ve mentioned the Swedish scene, it seems lately to be somehow a rebirth of it, as there are coming out several bands playing the style so, what are your thoughts on this? Is it something positive for bands as you in terms of exposition?
D: Well, it’s a tricky phenomenon. Such renaissance may be an opportunity for less known bands as Ulcer to expose themselves, but it may also be their scourge due to over-flooding the scene with countless similar releases. I can’t say how it will work for us, but I hope we’ll be able to penetrate through the crowd and show our teeth are sharper and balls bigger.
– This being said, the Death Metal scene is pretty well-nourised right now so, what do you think are bringing to it?
D: I think our “Sweden-worship” has its own, Polish character in it. Maybe not directly on musical level, but, fuck, we are from Poland and our Slavic temper will always be a part of our art, which can be seen during Ulcer’s live shows or in lyrics.
– On your new «Grant us Death» it seems like you have solidified your formula. Maybe, as its your second album, you were able to learn from the work you did for your debut album? Is «Grant us Death» the album you really wanted to do and the depicts the best what ULCER is all about?
D: We are 100% proud of it. It is a consciously crafted piece of Death Metal and that’s it. And yeah, I can say it depicts the band’s present agenda, but who knows what future will bring?
– I personally think you’ve also had a production that has helped getting a crunchier sound so, could you please tell us how was the production process and what kind of final outcome did you want to get out of it?
L: You can find some tutorials on Youtube I think. But seriousely, everything what you can hear on the record is the result of our undying fascination and devotion for those sounds. There was no calculation. We’ve just turn on the amps and start playing Death Metal. I dont even remember what equipment and shit like this we used. If you treat those things like us the result can be only one. Killer. I reccomend.
– In fact I think this fits perfectly your new opus, as it’s heavier, even dirtier. Was this how you envisioned the album since the beginning?
L: Definitely. I can’t even imagine our music with other sound.
– Moving to another topic, where do you take inspiration from for your lyrics? As they have a certain terror-movie vibe but covering social topics.
D: Life, Death, every day while I’m still breathing – it’s all that can be said about the inspiration. I think lyrics cover more instrospective topics, rather than social. The only exception is “Devitalize”, which is a kick in the balls of someone you honestly despise. Lyrics aren’t any statements, propaganda sellers or anything like that. It’s just a mirror of my thoughts… and few morbid horror tales.
– On the other hand, the great cover artwork was crafted by Bartek Kurzok, whom has worked with bands such as ABIGAIL. Would you mind to shed some light on how did you work on it and what does it represent? I believe anyone by looking your cover would guess what kind of music you are guys playing.
D: I know Bartek for a some time and admire his works for the other bands, so I asked him if he could draw us something killer. I wanted Death to be shown as something bigger than the world itself, a great force that has us in its grip during every day of our comporeal life. He did his job just
like we wanted to see it.
– All this about the album being said; how could you describe your new CD in just 3 words?
D: Death Metal Darkness
– All of your are playing or have played in different bands but, what does ULCER provide you that your other bands can’t and vice versa?
D: Each band I’m in has a different approach towards music on both musical and lyrical level and along with that comes different kind of experience and specific way of expression. Ulcer provides a chance to unleash the beast within in its pure form of almost animalistic aggression, while Oremus or BoP give me opportunity for more personal expression and getting much deeper into myself and the world around me. More approaches mean progress on more levels of self-realisation.
– For instance you are also playing in BLAZE OF PERDITION. What can you do on ULCER you can’t with BOP?
D: I think I already answered this one in previous question.
– As 2012 is about to end; could you please tell us what are your 3 favourite albums of the year as well as the least favourite one?
D.: I’m pretty impressed by Svartidaudi “Flesh Cathedral”, Revenge “Scum.Collapse.Eradication” and “Phantom Antichrist” by Kreator. Each album is excellent is its own category. There are probably more, but it’s hard to mention all of them. As for the least favourite ones, I can’t really remember if any release disapointed me so much I have to mention it. If something is crappy, I usually quickly forget it.
– And finally; what are your near-future plans?
D: We’re preparing a split 7” EP with your countrymates – Graveyard. Besides that, nothing particular is happening right now. We plan to start working more seriously on the second album, as “Grant Us Death” was recorded about two years ago and I guess it’s time to play some live shows here and there to show the flock who’s the boss.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
D: Only Death is Holy!
