Füneral Rain Press Cörps

You’ve been a busy man of late, playing in a pair of bands. The big one that most people know about is Ritual, a black metal band. The other is a play on your own name, Ian Fleming and the Secret Agents. What kind of music do you play with this band?

Well, I guess it’s mostly straightforward rock. Lately I have been experimenting and sort of ignoring genre limitations.

Where do you think The Secret Agents will go? Any chance of going for a radio sound, or are you going to keep it just odd enough that mainstream rock stations won’t be playing you until midnight?

I honestly have no clue where IFSA will go. There have been some really big peaks this past year and also some deep valleys. “I Suck” has actually been played on mainstream rock radio and when the sun is out even. But I can’t seem to sell albums to save my life. It’s frustrating.

What kinds of gear do you use for your writings? Do you use anything vastly different between The Secret Agents and Ritual?

I use the same Steinberger and 5150 head I’ve had for years. A lot of Secret Agent stuff is written on an acoustic guitar and most Ritual stuff is done on an electric. But there is no vast difference.

As for Ritual, I know there have been ‘issues’ in the past, and not just in the band itself as far as who is in Ritual and who is not, but legal trouble. I just have no idea what kind of trouble there was. Could you explain what happened that Ritual was on America’s Most Wanted?

All that happened with Ritual regarding legal trouble is Robert spray painting a couple churches. Ritual was not on AMW. I was on the show as an actor playing a criminal.

How did you score the job with AMW? Do you still do acting at all?

I dabbled in acting when I was younger. Around the same time I was making the old Ritual records. I landed a few roles, usually as druggies or killers. It was fun but after a while I just went back to focusing on music. I still do little things here and there, been in a few music videos.

Since Ritual is just you, and only you, how do you keep yourself fresh? I know some one-man bands have difficulty with being able to write whole songs by themselves, let alone albums, and find themselves repeating things.

Well, I never worry about that. Music just keeps coming out of me. It’s been a long time since I put out any Ritual music so there is a ton of fresh material in my head. But I just make music that I believe is good and hope other people connect somehow. Robert and I have actually worked out our differences recently and there may be a couple songs on the new album co-written by him.

You’re working on a new Ritual album right now, correct? Does it have a title, and is there a label that you’re working with, or are you keeping it DIY and underground?

Yes, I am working on a new Ritual record. It will be called “The Resurrection”. I am doing it all myself so far with no label support. If a label offers a good deal I’ll consider it. No doubt it will be underground, regardless.

Where do you find your lyrics leading you for the new Ritual album? Any recurring themes?

The lyrics on The Resurrection are very much in the vein of the early albums. Themes like demons, executions, war, nightmares and rituals! There are some dark and personal introspective themes as well.

How about for the music, are there any riffs or even just simple chords that you’re finding rearing their heads every so often?

This album definitely has the classic Ritual feel, but it has been over a decade since the last record. It is full of new ideas, yet hearkens to the past. There will even be an ambient instrumental track much akin to the classics. A few of the riffs and songs on The Resurrection were actually conceived in the old days but it is mostly brand new material. I think it will really be a breath of fresh air for true fans that have longed for some fresh Ritual.

Outside of music, what does Ian Fleming do? Are you a day job type of guy? As for recreation, are you a reader, a writer, a movie goer?

I don’t do a whole lot besides music. I have a few of my own projects and mix other peoples music as well. I am a huge Lakers fan, I watch as many games as possible. I smoke a lot of weed and love beer. I do watch movies but not usually at the theater, can’t smoke or drink there.

Is there anything else you’d like to throw into this interview?

Live shows are planned in congruence with the release of The Resurrection so keep your eye out for us!

Genre: Deathcore, Progressive Metal
Label: Independent

Okay, first up, calling these guys deathcore is wrong. But it’s the closest thing out there to what they are doing. They are quite honestly doing something that’s a little too different from a lot of other stuff out there to just tag with a genre. But, that’s the job, isn’t it?
Anyway, Feel The Pain have been around for four years now, spreading their music all over the place, and now finally they have a proper album for the listening ears of their audience. And I’m liking it.
It’s got an almost Mudvayne-meets-Suicide Silence thing to it, but even that’s off too. The guitars are chuggy as a dying Harley with really cool riffs. The drums are somewhat shallow at times, nut busting deep at others, and faster than a speed freak’s tweak. The vocals are brutal throat rippers that don’t let up. And well, the bass is kind of hidden in the mix a little, but what is there is deep.
Like I said, I like this band.
7.5 out of 10.

Feel The Pain on MySpace.

I guess to begin with, how about we let people who have no idea who you are get to know who you are? Who is in the band, and what do they do?

Rob – Vocals
Tony – Rhythm guitars
Korl – Drums
Me, Oliver Nikolas – Lead and Clean guitars

Could you give a history of the band since it’s inception?

Yeah in 1995 I had this idea to found a band because I was sick of playing alone with my song books Overkill and Metallica songs! I met our former bass player at a metal pub in my hometown, he had a friend who played rhythm guitars and I had a friend who played drums! My brother looks like a singer and a week later we had our first rehearsal in this bog called a rehearsal room! Now we entered the German Charts, played together with all our idols, Like Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, Overkill, the 69 Eyes and visit countries like Spain, The Netherlands, Mexico, Russia and UK for example! I never regret my decision to find this band!

How hard is it to lose band members and replace them? Some bands can take no time at all to do it, but they never talk about any stresses involved in bringing new ideas to the table. How has Lacrimas Profundere tackled these stresses?

Yeah! You know, in these times, you can’t lean back in the rocking chair and release an album every 4 years if you’re not Metallica or Guns ‘n’ Roses! It’s very easy to get lost in oblivion! But its not that hard to find new members, because we know many musicians in our hometown. We only send our CDs out with a setlist and a week later there is a band rehearsal, a week later a tour and after the tour you know, if the new member fits, we do the rest.

Lyrically, where do you find your inspiration?

Its about our self-discovery and the emptiness we felt. It´s a mix of self-pity, drugs, about affairs, love/hate and “let’s say it smooth” , the Love Act intrinsically. Its a “walk on the wild side!” This record is very private and you can find every band member in some of the tracks! The last couple of years we have eaten so much shit and toured our asses off! We slept in ugly rooms and took showers in moldy showers. We played shows drunk or while we had fever or both and kicked out of cheap hotels and my wife decided to leave me! So, last year the situation was like this: “we’re going to write an album, record and then go on tour”. If your son calls you Uncle Theo when you open the door after a long tour, you should think about it. All these things you experience, good or bad, and all the cities and people we saw influenced us and the lyrics! You have time to think about your animation while you lay in the bed of a nightliner and wait to arrive at the next city! But who do you think is able to write an honest rock record: a band who drive with a swimming pool in the nightliner, fly from show to show and every band member is the owner of about 14 bungalows, or a band that drinks bottom shelf liquor, sleeps in cheap hotels without shower and is on the road in nightliners with broken windows and bullet holes… ah, stupidly we’re the second example!

How about musically? Are there any bands in particular that you’d name as influences?

Sisters of Mercy, The Cult, Motley Crüe, Overkill, there are so many bands outside I love so much! But, if I compose songs, I don’t listen to music! I watch TV, or good movies or bios of musicians, for example Walk the Line.
You know, I don’t want to be like anybody else. There are so many new influences outside, if you open your eyes.
We were always a bit wicked and dirty, and if I listen to the songs right now, it feels like we are the drunk brother of HIM with biker boots, unwanted at the family celebration, or the sweet sister of The Cult who has a sideline at the table-dance bar next door! (Laugh!)

How has changing band members changed the way that you write music?

It hasn’t; since the beginning I’ve compose the music by myself.

How do you write music? Is it a full band effort, jamming out ideas at rehearsal, or is it pretty much one or two members writing everything?

I compose the songs at home, if I have 5 or 6 done, I call the others and we rehearse the stuff together. But this record was different. Different in development, the condition and the approach.
Beginning of 2009 we wanted to dissolve the band, because of our health and because nobody wanted to speak or stay in the same room with one of the others. So, this record describes the mood I was in in the writing process.

Do you think coming from Germany has made a huge impact on the band’s sound at all?

No, it doesn’t matter! I can write melancholy music at the toilet of the Hilton or in the sun of Malibu Beach! So, I only need the right mood. It doesn’t depend on the country or the place!

The new album, The Grandiose Nowhere, is a great album. How long did it take for you to write and record? Is there anything on it that you would change, now that it’s finished and you’ve had time to hear it again?

Thanks a lot!
Yeah, you know, we’ve lost a lot and we’ve won a lot in our history and during this hardest period of the band we composed this album, that’s the reason why it is something special for me, and I think you can hear these feelings and my direction in the songs!
No, I would never change a second in this album! This album draws you down, spit you out, let you fly and in the next moment you echo on the brick at the rooftop of a high riser with a cigarette in your hand! Hahaha, sounds strange, but, yes, this is our perception of evolution.

What kind of touring plans do you have to support the new disc? Are you planning on coming across the pond to North America?

Yeah, we have some plans to visit US West Coast for about 8 concerts. See you soon!!!

Swedish for a church-less graveyard, the name GRIFTEGÅRD holds a symbolism that is echoed in the musical and textual themes expressed by its members – the aesthetic is clearly spiritual, although non-confessional, just like the atmosphere of a burial ground generally is perceived as solemn, sacred and severe, regardless of whether or not the visitor is aware of which religious current it is a part of. GRIFTEGÅRD, in an artistic context, is the burial ground for finite and worldly thoughts and the birth place for ponderings of an infinite and spiritual nature — the superficial, the shallow, the empty – such expressions have no place in GRIFTEGÅRD’s universe. The core and soul of all is all. To some this may seem as bold, even pretentious, statements for a band to make and to them we say: Dare to drop your armor of cynicism and irony, care to open your dormant mind’s eye, gaze inwards, and challenge yourself!

Norrköping, Sweden doom metal goliaths GRIFTEGÅRD – vocalist Thomas Eriksson (Bokor), guitarist/lyricist Ola Blomkvist (Spetälsk, The Doomsday Cult), guitarist Per Broddesson (The Doomsday Cult, Wolverine etc.), bassist Thomas Jansson (Wolverine) and drummer Jens Gustafsson — will unleash their debut full-length, Solemn-Sacred-Severe, in the US on May 25, 2010 (this Tuesday!) via Van Records. Branded “a milestone” by Sweden Rock Magazine, who gave the record a much-deserved 9/10 rating upon its Euro release late last year, Solemn-Sacred-Severe was recorded and mixed between March 13 – June 14, 2009 in Milk Studios, Norrköping, and produced by the band, with co-producer engineer/studio owner Magnus Jonsson. Arguably one of the genre’s most eclectic offerings this year, the riff heavy masterwork includes appearances from various friends of the band, all of whom added to the already multi-textured epic doom hymns. Elaborated Blomkvist: “During the recording various friends of the band were helpful in different ways; Nicklas Kinnander played the organ on the track ‘Noah’s Hands’ and laid down piano for ‘Drunk With Wormwood.’ He also lent his voice to the choirs that appear on the album, together with Thomas Erickson, Jens Gustafsson, Micael Zetterberg and Rickard Larsson, the later deserving a special mention — besides providing fantastic soprano vocal lines, Rickard helped arrange the choirs. Having been engaged in this type of sacred expression since childhood he has an extensive source of choral singing experience to pour from, something that is clearly evident upon listening to Noah’s Hands. Another very talented and helpful individual was Peter Andersson, famous for his dark ambient artistry in Raison D’être, Stratvm Terror, Necrophorus, Svasti-Ayanam etc. Peter’s ideas/re-mixing added a lot to the atmosphere of ‘Noah’s Hands’ and we are eternally indebted to him.”

Read the Funeral Rain review HERE, and the Funeral Rain interview with the whole band HERE.

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: ATMF

Apparently their third and final full-length, Semen Datura throw down some very impressive black metal riffing, taking their black metal into far more progressive areas, areas that I have not heard explored before.
Mixing thrash and rock elements inside with traditional black metal and jazz drumming, Einsamkeit is awesome. The vocals are great, ranging from traditional blackened shrieks to spoken passages, while the guitars sway from genre to genre at the drop of a hat. Bass and drums are solid rhythm, switching up the genres as quick as the guitars.
Reminding me of Lifelover and Deathspell Omega, my favorite tracks are “Unter Bleigvanen Wolkenlasten” and the title track.
8 out of 10.

Semen Datura on MySpace.