Operation Barbarossa
Hail to HAIL OF BULLETS…a new name at world Death Metal scene, but even though full of veteran wolves. Do you think you are consistent and strong band among those quantum of metal bands?
Absolutely! There aren't many bands around these days that still play real old school death metal. Everybody is trying to play faster than the speed of light, but they forget about real brutality, the power of a crushing heavy riff or groove, addictive melodies and hooks...
According my information, your band was formed in the end of 2006 at some party where you thought out to found classic Death Metal band. Could you write something about it?
It was something like that, only we got together with the purpose of meeting each other and talking about forming a band. Instead we got very drunk, woke up the next morning with a big hangover, took some pictures in Theo's garden and declared ourselves "a band"!
How much time taken to first rehearsal of HAIL OF BULLETS and how did it look like? Were you all dealing together right as for musical and human side? Is it original line-up without personal changes?
We didn't have a real rehearsal until several months after we formed the band. Everybody practiced their parts at home because we didn't want to waste a lot of time sitting in some room trying to figure out how the songs go. So when we did get together we were able to play quite a few songs already, and it sounded great! We were all grinning like mad! The line-up hasn't changed and I don't think it will either; we get along very well personally and musically.
Your first official recording is "Hail of Bullets" demo. Where it was recorded and how much are you satisfied with it? Were there also some negative reactions?
Still very satisfied! It sounds amazing for "just a demo" and we got so many positive reactions to it, not to mention a great record deal. There were no real negative reactions, apart from one in Kerrang mag I think. But that guy had never heard of Pestilence, Asphyx, Thanatos or Gorefest...
Not very long time taken to release your full length "Of Frost and War" album. How are you looking at this work just now when this CD only gets to music shops? Fully satisfied?
As satisfied as a perfectionist can be! There's always things you'd like to change afterwards, but I think it turned out really well. Reviews are very positive across the board, so I guess I can't complain!
For me, personally, your debut is evidence that it's still possible to create stuff which verifies the uppermost parameters of an old classic Death Metal of 90's. What a pity there is only few such recordings today...
I agree completely. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting really old, when I start thinking about the old days and how everything was more exciting and cooler... It's great that there's more people that feel this way, giving Hail Of Bullets a reason to exist.
Your song structures and composition abilities clearly prove, you have played many years by now. What was birth of debut album and who have written most of the stuff?
That's one of the cool things about HoB. We all live and breathe death metal, so there's hardly any discussion about how we should sound. I wrote about 70% of the songs, Paul and Steph the rest. The songs are created at home mostly, and finetuned during rehearsal or recording.
What do you lay biggest stress on? Are you trying purposely to avoid something in music? Where are the limits of possibilities which you would never cross?
We purposely try to avoid having riffs that are too complicated, we avoid blastbeats, triggered drums... let's see... there aren't many solo's on the album, also a semi-conscious decision. The biggest emphasis is on writing memorable songs, that have a good flow. 4-5 strong riffs are usually enough to create a death metal monster!
Mighty side of your tracks are slow, or slower, rolling passages. There is colossal atmosphere...What is your attitude to atmosphere and feelings in Death Metal? Do you think that Death Metal without feeling and atmosphere is entire catastrophe?
Absolutely, the atmosphere is what makes good death metal so enjoyable. If there's no soul to it and you're just pummeling away, it's not brutal or impressive at all. So yes, atmosphere is very important in a song.
It is very fascinating how some musicians meet and they create shared spirit of the band, completely naturally without some calculation...I feel it from your band. It flashes sincerity, cleanness and spontaneousness…do you agree?
Yes, 100%! I think that's why people respond so well to the band, it's so obvious we're not doing this to be cool or hip, or to try and make some quick cash. We do this because we love death metal and because we're good at it, plain and simple.
How would you define your music style for someone who never heard Death Metal?
Like a huge, massive tank, slowly but surely rolling through a mudcaked battlefield destroying everything in sight!
Already the album title alone reveals that your concept is built on war themes. Who of you is most interesting in these themes? Are you interested specially in 2nd world war only or in wars in general?
It's mostly Martin's theme, but we are all fascinated by it. WWII is of course the mother of all wars, and already as a kid I played with action man figures and tanks and stuff, loved it!
I think it's a little uncommon if Death Metal band has conceptual lyrics. Maybe only EDGE OF SANITY has trying to do concept on their "Crimson" album. Who is author of all lyrics and was this concept scheduled in advance?
Martin wrote all lyrics, and they're unbelievably well researched historically. He'd been wanting to tackle the concept for a long time and HoB finally provided him with the musical basis for it.
Do you think there could be 3rd world war?
Hmm, some would say we're already engaged in it...
Let's back again on battle fields of Death Metal. Do you think that "modern weapons" of new bands as e.g. DISAVOWED or PYAEMIA are equally effective as the old "classic weapons" of 90's?
I'm gonna come across as totally stupid, but I don't know those 2 bands... But to me nothing comes close to the primitive power displayed on albums like Entombed's Left Hand Path or Autopsy's Severed Survival. It has a certain might and majesty that modern death metal largely lacks.
Is there something interfering you on actual Death Metal scene? Where can you see main difference between bands of 90's and bands of new millennium? Which new bands you like?
I already touched upon this earlier, but I think the biggest difference is the lack of memorable songs. The obsession with bpm's and blasting also turns me off a lot. There are many cool bands out there though. I love bands like Vomitory, Vicious Art, Evocation, Aeon, Demonical, Lay Down Rotten, Fleshcrawl, and of course fellow old school worshippers Death Breath and Bloodbath.
What is your biggest priority now? Is HAIL OF BULLETS regular band? However you are from several bands...
At the moment Hail Of Bullets is our main priority, but our other bands will remain important too. Both Gorefest and Asphyx will be doing a new album by the end of the year or early next year, and Thanatos are also still working on a new album. I guess you can say we juggle our priorities well.
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something you can write. Strongest spirit and best luck to HAIL OF BULLETS. Big thanx for answering my questions.
Thank you for the interview!
Absolutely! There aren't many bands around these days that still play real old school death metal. Everybody is trying to play faster than the speed of light, but they forget about real brutality, the power of a crushing heavy riff or groove, addictive melodies and hooks...
According my information, your band was formed in the end of 2006 at some party where you thought out to found classic Death Metal band. Could you write something about it?
It was something like that, only we got together with the purpose of meeting each other and talking about forming a band. Instead we got very drunk, woke up the next morning with a big hangover, took some pictures in Theo's garden and declared ourselves "a band"!
How much time taken to first rehearsal of HAIL OF BULLETS and how did it look like? Were you all dealing together right as for musical and human side? Is it original line-up without personal changes?
We didn't have a real rehearsal until several months after we formed the band. Everybody practiced their parts at home because we didn't want to waste a lot of time sitting in some room trying to figure out how the songs go. So when we did get together we were able to play quite a few songs already, and it sounded great! We were all grinning like mad! The line-up hasn't changed and I don't think it will either; we get along very well personally and musically.
Your first official recording is "Hail of Bullets" demo. Where it was recorded and how much are you satisfied with it? Were there also some negative reactions?
Still very satisfied! It sounds amazing for "just a demo" and we got so many positive reactions to it, not to mention a great record deal. There were no real negative reactions, apart from one in Kerrang mag I think. But that guy had never heard of Pestilence, Asphyx, Thanatos or Gorefest...
Not very long time taken to release your full length "Of Frost and War" album. How are you looking at this work just now when this CD only gets to music shops? Fully satisfied?
As satisfied as a perfectionist can be! There's always things you'd like to change afterwards, but I think it turned out really well. Reviews are very positive across the board, so I guess I can't complain!
For me, personally, your debut is evidence that it's still possible to create stuff which verifies the uppermost parameters of an old classic Death Metal of 90's. What a pity there is only few such recordings today...
I agree completely. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting really old, when I start thinking about the old days and how everything was more exciting and cooler... It's great that there's more people that feel this way, giving Hail Of Bullets a reason to exist.
Your song structures and composition abilities clearly prove, you have played many years by now. What was birth of debut album and who have written most of the stuff?
That's one of the cool things about HoB. We all live and breathe death metal, so there's hardly any discussion about how we should sound. I wrote about 70% of the songs, Paul and Steph the rest. The songs are created at home mostly, and finetuned during rehearsal or recording.
What do you lay biggest stress on? Are you trying purposely to avoid something in music? Where are the limits of possibilities which you would never cross?
We purposely try to avoid having riffs that are too complicated, we avoid blastbeats, triggered drums... let's see... there aren't many solo's on the album, also a semi-conscious decision. The biggest emphasis is on writing memorable songs, that have a good flow. 4-5 strong riffs are usually enough to create a death metal monster!
Mighty side of your tracks are slow, or slower, rolling passages. There is colossal atmosphere...What is your attitude to atmosphere and feelings in Death Metal? Do you think that Death Metal without feeling and atmosphere is entire catastrophe?
Absolutely, the atmosphere is what makes good death metal so enjoyable. If there's no soul to it and you're just pummeling away, it's not brutal or impressive at all. So yes, atmosphere is very important in a song.
It is very fascinating how some musicians meet and they create shared spirit of the band, completely naturally without some calculation...I feel it from your band. It flashes sincerity, cleanness and spontaneousness…do you agree?
Yes, 100%! I think that's why people respond so well to the band, it's so obvious we're not doing this to be cool or hip, or to try and make some quick cash. We do this because we love death metal and because we're good at it, plain and simple.
How would you define your music style for someone who never heard Death Metal?
Like a huge, massive tank, slowly but surely rolling through a mudcaked battlefield destroying everything in sight!
Already the album title alone reveals that your concept is built on war themes. Who of you is most interesting in these themes? Are you interested specially in 2nd world war only or in wars in general?
It's mostly Martin's theme, but we are all fascinated by it. WWII is of course the mother of all wars, and already as a kid I played with action man figures and tanks and stuff, loved it!
I think it's a little uncommon if Death Metal band has conceptual lyrics. Maybe only EDGE OF SANITY has trying to do concept on their "Crimson" album. Who is author of all lyrics and was this concept scheduled in advance?
Martin wrote all lyrics, and they're unbelievably well researched historically. He'd been wanting to tackle the concept for a long time and HoB finally provided him with the musical basis for it.
Do you think there could be 3rd world war?
Hmm, some would say we're already engaged in it...
Let's back again on battle fields of Death Metal. Do you think that "modern weapons" of new bands as e.g. DISAVOWED or PYAEMIA are equally effective as the old "classic weapons" of 90's?
I'm gonna come across as totally stupid, but I don't know those 2 bands... But to me nothing comes close to the primitive power displayed on albums like Entombed's Left Hand Path or Autopsy's Severed Survival. It has a certain might and majesty that modern death metal largely lacks.
Is there something interfering you on actual Death Metal scene? Where can you see main difference between bands of 90's and bands of new millennium? Which new bands you like?
I already touched upon this earlier, but I think the biggest difference is the lack of memorable songs. The obsession with bpm's and blasting also turns me off a lot. There are many cool bands out there though. I love bands like Vomitory, Vicious Art, Evocation, Aeon, Demonical, Lay Down Rotten, Fleshcrawl, and of course fellow old school worshippers Death Breath and Bloodbath.
What is your biggest priority now? Is HAIL OF BULLETS regular band? However you are from several bands...
At the moment Hail Of Bullets is our main priority, but our other bands will remain important too. Both Gorefest and Asphyx will be doing a new album by the end of the year or early next year, and Thanatos are also still working on a new album. I guess you can say we juggle our priorities well.
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something you can write. Strongest spirit and best luck to HAIL OF BULLETS. Big thanx for answering my questions.
Thank you for the interview!
interview HAIL OF BULLETS