The Greek outfit EXHUMATION started 1999 to me with their
latest CD "Dance Across the Past", which is a fresh breath
to the death metal scene. Not very original perhaps, but their
album shows some excellent songwriting. Lord Trondheim had a talk to guitarist
Panos, and let him explain some about the band:
1) Greetings Panos. How's life going for Exhumation right now?
Life is good... From the time we got signed by Holy Records our
life change to the better, something which is very important
for the band's confidence and really encouraging for our future
activities. We use to spend lot of time on practicing with the
band, composing the songs which will appear in the next Exhumation
release.
2) Could you perhaps start out to tell something about the history
of Exhumation?
Yes, the band was formed back in January '90 by the bassist/vocalist
John and me. After the line up was completed, we started working at
a rigorous pace and during November of the same year we released our
debut demo-tape titled "The Rebirth". But it was then when misfortune
stroke as we had to disband due to mandatory military service. That
was a real drawback which hold us back for about two years. After we
finished our obligations in the militia we reformed once again having
two new members in the line up and we recorded the "Deepest Side of Fear"
in the dawn of '94. We signed a contract with Emz/Diehard Music and we
booked the Unisound studio in Sweden in order to record our debut album
titled "Seas Of Eternal Silence". Later on we booked the Fredman studio
in Gothenburg/Sweden for the recordings of our second album which
finally came out on the market through Holy Records. And that's the
story so far...
3) Your new album "Dance Across the Past" came as a surprise to me,
as I expected another one of those "standard" death metal albums.
Was it hard to do a 2nd album after the "Seas of Eternal Silence"
CD? Are you satisfied with the new album as it turned out?
We didn't have to face any kind of problems concerning the song-writing,
but we had to face some other major problems which were very important.
For example, it would be enough to say that all the money for the
recordings on both two albums have been paid exclusively by us, and
that's over than US 15000$. We don't give a shit about money, but one
day we realized that we had support from no one and that was a good
punch on us. Nowadays things are much better because we feel that our
label is right behind us, the new album is exactly what we had in mind
so we are really satisfied.
4) You changed label from DieHard and over to Holy before this new
album. Why?
When Emz/Diehard signed us we were full of enthusiasm. Michael is a
great guy so our cooperation was probably to go really well. Things
changed when Diehard wanted a new structure for their label based more
onto Hard Core. The had no longer interest in Death Metal music so we
asked them to free us from the contract and after we finished the
recordings of our second album we started looking for another label
which would be interested in us. We knew that Philippe as well as all
the team in Holy Records do care about the promotion of the bands they
sign, beside this we were friends, so it was an easy decision.
5) You sound very "Swedish" in your sound (to be a Greek band).
Is this the way you really wanted to sound, or does this just
come naturally as the new album was recorded in Studio Fredman?
It's not strange Exhumation to sound more Swedish than Greeks,
recording in the Fredman studio is a good reason for this. After we
recorded our two demos here in Greece we decided not to work again
with a Greek producer because they do not care about this kind of
playing. Their productions sound like shit, so we have no other
choice, we are forced to record our albums outside of Greece forever.
This is not a problem for us, we prefer to travel thousand miles in
order to get a true Metal production.
6) Both your albums so far has been recorded in Sweden actually
(the debut in Unisound). Do you feel comfortable to work in
Scandinavia?
Yes, we love Sweden as a country, and I think this is the best place
for concentration which is the most important thing when you record
an album. We devote ourselves 100% on the recordings. Actually there
is a great feeling, because we are alone, four guys strangers in a
strange land recording an album, that's a great experience for each
one of the band-members.
7) You also have a few guest musicians on your new album. Was this
planned before the recording, or did they just "drop by the studio"?
When we booked the Fredman studio, we had no keyboard player because he
joined the militia at that time. (The same problem again...)
So we asked from Kimberly Goss to (as she is a friend of Marios 's) to
come and help us playing a few keyboard parts on the album. She was about
to move to Gothenburg at that time because they would start a new band
together with Jesper of In Flames called Synergy. So they came together
in the studio... Then she told us that it would be more preferable by
her to sing on the album than to play keyboards. So, she appears on
the album singing this great part on the title track and Fredrik
(the producer) played all the keyboards instead. Jesper also wanted
to participate playing a small lead part on the first song and that' s
the story.
8) Hehe, you also include a cover of Sepultura's "Territory" on this
new album. Is there a story behind why you did this particular song?
We are always fans of Sepultura as we consider this band one of the best
in the history of Metal. One day we read in an international magazine
that Black Suns records from Gothenburg was about to release a tribute
CD to the gods of Thrash. We came in touch with Rolf Norling, the boss
of the label, and after he listened "Territory we got the green light
to participate the tribute. It was not hard for us, because we use to
play this specific song at our live appearances and as we were in Fredman
studio things were easy. After our label listened to the song they purpose
us to include this song in the album as an extra track.
9) As usual with Holy Records, there are no LP version of this release
neither...You didn't think it would have been great with a LP release
as well? What are your general views on LP's vs CD's?
Yes of course this would be great, in fact some years ago Holy Records
did make some LP versions but now they don't. We love LPs, actually
most of my stuff is on LP format though CDs have a much better sound.
10)The Greek metal scene seems to be one of the greatest in maybe the
whole world at the moment. There are countless bands, labels, mags etc.
that really seem to be doing a great job for the scene.
What are your thoughts of the Greek scene?
As you said, there are some great bands which are performing really good
Death & Black Metal music here in Greece. Still, there are some bands in
Greece which are working in an unprofessional way. It's good for them to
figure that they are playing in a band, so this way they can easily attract a
few subdebs... They don't feel music, in other words they play from trend
or they just killing their time having their bands as a hobby. Only the
famous Greek bands have right way of thinking in what has to do with music
and that's why they are famous. Things could be much better if more Greek
bands had faith in what they are doing.
11)Do you have any opinions on the Norwegian scene as it is right now?
It's the leading Black Metal scene in the world, I think, with some great
bands like Dimmu Borgir, or Gothic Metal bands like Theater of Tragedy.
12)What are Exhumations plans for the future? Will there be any touring?
We are always down to earth, so we don't have any crazy dreams or something...
We simply play music because this is how we feel. We will give our best to
compose good songs and we have already booked the Fredman studio during
August '99 for the recordings of our next album. Then it will be the right
time for touring around Europe. That's all.
13)All right, that's all I had for now. Thanx a lot for the interview, and
good luck for the future! Any final comments?
I would also like to thank you for your interest in Exhumation. I really
hope the Metalheads from Norwegian fans will appreciate the "Dance Across
The Past" because this is an album which came out through real feelings.
For more information about Exhumation visit the Official Site typing the
address:
http://www.exhumation.com
Keep the Death Metal spirit high!!!