Vomitory – Terrorizing Death Metal

Sweden's Vomitory have been in existence since 1989, and have released 5 albums prior to their new one – Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize, a solid piece of gore infested brutal death metal. We had a talk with band drummer Tobias Gustafsson about brutal, gory and musical issues.

Hey there, congrats on the new album: "Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize", first, what does the title mean?

Thanks a lot man! There isn’t any deeper meaning behind the album title. We simply wanted a title that sounded brutal, was memorable, that had the possibilities to make a cool artwork for it and that instantly told what it’s all about – death fucking metal. The title is also a good description of the feelings the listener should get when listening to the album!

Did you intend to cause controversy with the name of the album and it's cover?

Not with the title, really, but definitely with the cover. It has already been a subject for censorship. The European distributor refused the album with its original cover artwork, so we had to make a less brutal version of it and have that as a paper slipcase around the plastic CD case, which still has the original cover. The milder version is the one that’s on the promo CD’s with only the bloody morning star and the logo and title. The original version has the bloody morning star in the foreground and a bloody trail that leads to a molested human in the background that is slightly out of focus. It’s all very brutal and obscene, but still very artistic.

What's the idea behind the cover, and why a picture instead of a painting this time?

We wanted a cover that was really fucking brutal in a realistic way instead of the ordinary paintings or a Photoshop-style cover with 100 layers, which are very common these days. We’ve had painted cover artworks on most of our previous albums, and we thought it was high time to have an all-photo based artwork again. A photo often looks a lot more brutal in many ways than a painting does. It’s much more direct and not so fictional. The original idea for the cover was to have it divided into three pieces – one for each word, terrorize, brutalize and sodomize. We began working with that, but it didn’t turn out the way we wanted at all, so we went with this one picture instead, which kinds of sums up all the three words in one picture in a good way. We are very satisfied with how it all turned out. Chaos Media has done a great job with the artwork and layout.

I understand the album's booklet also futures such pics, what does it include?

If you think that the cover is brutal… Wait until you see the inside of the booklet! That’s where the real brutality is! Dude, there’s some seriously sick shit in there… and we love it!

What is the subject matter in the album's lyrics?

The lyrics are dealing with gore, war and our contempt for religions. Pretty much the same stuff as on previous albums, but I think the lyrics on the new album are a bit rawer and more direct than before. More in your face, so to speak, which also adds to the brutality of the whole album.

Musically how would you compare it to your last release – Primal Massacre?

I’d say that the first difference that strikes you is the production. Both albums sound incredibly good, but in different ways. Primal Massacre is a bit dirty and harsh while Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize has a more up-to-date sound, more modern and clean. But when it comes to the actual material, both of them are of the same high class, but they differ slightly when it comes to the variation and dynamics of the material. While Primal Massacre is a blast-fest, Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize is more varied and in a way, more interesting. We have more heavy and slower parts incorporated in the songs than before, and even one entirely slow song on the album, Whispers From The Dead.

Do you try and inject your music with themes and ideas that will make it more current, or is your direction more towards old school death metal?

Yes, but I don’t think that’s something we think of so much. It just comes that way. Even though we consider Vomitory an old school death metal band, we try to constantly develop as a band and as individual musicians to take everything forward, even if it’s with small steps.

Back in time now, you started out in 1989, why did it take you so long to release your debut album?

I think the reason for that is that we didn’t have a proper demo tape out until 1992, and by that time the labels were beginning to get fed up with our kind of death metal – the brutal Swedish style – and were starting to look for bands with other, alternative styles of death metal, like more melodic and atmospheric. We got a couple of offers back then, but with the demands that we should change our style. That was never an option for us so we never got an album deal until 1995, when we hooked up with Fadeless Records. Another important reason was that we’ve actually never had any big ambitions or expectations with the band, especially not back then, and releasing an album wasn’t a primary goal, but to have fun together, blast brutal metal, get drunk together and to play shows every now and then.

What was your main influence when starting out?

Sodom, Slayer, Napalm Death, Sepultura, Venom and Entombed were some of our main influences in the very beginning.

Brutal death metal bands are destined to be compared to Cannibal Corpse, what is your opinion of that band and its influence on the genre?

Cannibal Corpse has without a doubt been one of the most influential bands in the genre, but comparing all death metal bands to them is plain ridiculous. Sure, they have inspired countless of bands, but so has Deicide, Entombed, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death and Dismember too. What is cool with Cannibal Corpse is that they’ve never given in for trends or softened up for shit but done their thing relentlessly year after year. I honestly never liked Cannibal Corpse before we actually got on tour with them for the first time, which was in 2000. Seeing them on stage every night and hanging out with them for several weeks opened up my eyes and ears for that band and now I think they’re an awesome band and they’re awesome guys as well.

With your lyrics being as brutal as they are, what is your personal view on the subject material, do you think singing about such atrocities might be considered as supporting them?

No, it’s mainly just fiction. Or sick humour if you like. But sure, there is also a certain amount of reality in our lyrics. Some are inspired by real life events ‘cause it is indeed a sick world we’re living in.

Do you generally consider the lyrics in extreme metal as something which might influence the listeners?

To do the same that’s described in our lyrics? Well, I don’t think so, ‘cause to be able to do so I think one has to be seriously mentally deranged and then he or she is fucked from the beginning, whether one listens to Vomitory or not.

Gore metal often goes hand in hand with gore films, Are you into such current films as Hostel and The Hills Have Eyes remakes, or are you more into such classics as the Lucio Fulci zombie flicks or Cannibal films?

I like both modern horror movies and some of the old zombie and cannibal movies, but, horror isn’t the primary choice of movie genre. I prefer thrillers and dramas.

Death metal seems to move more into melodic areas these last few years, what makes you stick to your guns and continue with the less fashionable form?

Simply because we love this style and this is how we think death metal should sound. This is what we do with Vomitory and changing our style to fit in the mainstream has never been an option for us. Vomitory has always been and will always be death metal.

What are your plans for the coming year, after the album is released?

There are no tour dates confirmed yet, but we’re working on getting a couple of tours together. As it looks now, we’ll tour in Europe during the autumn this year. We also just got With Full Force Open Air in Germany confirmed, and we’re playing on Saturday the 30th of June. There are also some more festivals that we are waiting for confirmation from, so I hope we can announce some more new dates soon. Before the end of this year, we’ll start writing new material for our seventh album, ‘cause we don’t want it to take another three years before that one comes out!