webzine

-First of all, a summary for those who don't know you yet...
"Torture Killer from Finland has it's debut album out now through Karmageddon Media. We play old-school influenced death metal in the vein of Obituary and SFU, the album is called "For maggots to devour" and you should definitely check it out if you're into more riff-based mid-tempo death metal. More info can be found at www.torture-killer.cjb.net which also has some samples in it."

-When you composed the songs, did you decide to play that kind of old-style death metal or is it what you've always played and liked?
"Well we have different death metal bands that already do the fast death metal stuff, I´ve always loved the early 90´s US death metal bands and sound - I grew up with that. So it felt really good to start writing similar kind of stuff, most of the bands nowadays are doing the faster and more technical stuff but we wanted to try [to do something] a bit different with Torture Killer."

-I really appreciated the lyrics and the artwork. Do you wanna talk about the cover or some lyrics you feel closer to?
"Thanks man, well the lyrics are basically normal death metal lyrics. It's about descriptions of various random acts of violence and brutality, I don't necessarily feel close to any of those subjects...haha...otherwise I might have a problem or two...haha...We're more concerned how the vocal lines are arranged rhytmically rather than what it has to say. It's not what you say, it's how you say it that matters. (I believe they're both important, form and contents actually/Note of Markus). The covers are made by a friend of ours who's done album covers, demo covers and logos for Finnish bands for over ten years now, the idea for the layout is his. We didn't have a specific idea how we wanted the cover to look like, but we knew he had some sick ideas so we left him only with the tracktitles and the album title, and said "do something brutal"...haha...this is what came out and it's perfect."

-I heard you had some problems with this cover, so I'd like to know how you view this fact and censorship in general...
"Yes, the album was delayed with problems on the CD manufacturer who refused to press it, no harm done really since the label found a new place to print it and it was taken care of quite easily. We didn't have to change anything so we didn't bother ourselves with it. Censorship - well, in a way I can understand it...but that stuff should be used with items pointed at kids and below 18 year old, but death metal records are not for 6 years old. Fuck it, I don't bother myself too much thinking about it...but think of this: there's a modern-age museum in Finland with a jar full of shit, sperm and blood. That's considered as "civilized art", and people pay tickets to see that. Now THAT'S fucking sick."

-How do you explain that 90% of Finnish bands are very good and Death metal is one of the fields that includes most bands? Do you have special musical courses at school or is it just in your...DNA?
"You should update your databases my friend...I can count something like 5-8 existing death metal bands in whole of Finland today. (I can add another 20 if you want/Note of Markus). I think that the level of death metal is way up to that melodic stuff Finland is more known of, but in all honesty I think death metal is as non-popular it can get without dying to extinction. There is a small group of committed death metal freaks keeping it brutal, but for some reason most of the metal kids prefer the melodic and wimpier stuff."

-How hard was to find a deal and why Karmageddon?
"It wasn't hard I guess, I mean we sent only about 4-5 promo copies of the album to the labels we really wanted to be in. Any of them would've been our choice but Karmageddon picked us up. It's a professional label that is destined to get bigger and we're still very satisfied with the deal." (beginner's luck? Maybe, I just know that lady luck has never crossed my street very often, well, whatever, life sucks!/Note of Markus)

-What festivals are you gonna play at next summer?
"Haha...none. You see we are not in a level of popularity to play festivals yet. That's for bands like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide." (Might I suggest you some underground festival like the Obscene Extreme or the Fuck the Commerce?/Note of Markus)

-What brand-new Finnish bands would you recommend us to listen to?
"You should check out at least: Deepred, Torn, Kataplexia, Slugathor and Sotajumala. And of course my all time favourite Demigod, which is THE no.1 band of all times from Finland. They should be putting out their 3rd album sometime this year so be sure to check it out, I heard some demo tracks of it and it will be MASSIVE."

-What do you like to do when you're not working, I mean on tour? Do you like winter sports? Are you one of those who likes to swim in the snow naked after having a sauna?
"I'm only into hockey, I try to get on each home-game of my team and I keep on checking that quite a lot. I live in a flat at the suburbs so if I chose to run around naked after a sauna looking for a snow to crash I'd be probably jailed for exposing myself before getting outside...haha...I tried it though at some summer house but it takes a few drinks before I'm up to it...haha..."

-Tell us about Finnish booze. Is pontikka your fave drink or are you into vodka and red wines like me?
"Pontikka...haha...no way man, that's a beast...haha...guaranteed to make Tequila taste like an orange juice. I prefer beer, that's my stuff, if I drink hard liquor it'll definitely be Vodka. With beer I keep what I'm doing pretty much in control , but Vodka is different...haha...and it gives me the hangover of armageddon..."

-What band would you like to play with? How would you react if a bigger band you're supporting wouldn't treat you well as to live volume, lights, and so on? Have you ever played with I.Nazarene? Tell us something about them as people?
"No matter really, we have tour coming up supporting Vader in Finland in September and to me that's very cool. I wouldn't like to go on tour with Cannibal Corpse for sure, they are simply just too good and would probably make us look like dicks...haha...It's the price you pay for being a support act, I don't think I would mind about the lights and all...after all it's the headliners who the people come to check out, not the support act. Impaled Nazarene are from the other side of Finland, Oulu, so we haven't had a chance to play with them, sorry."

-Why are the Finns so calm and silent? It can't be because of nature because the rest of Scandinavians are different...
"Don't know man, I guess we're just modest and a bit shy. You can make us noisy only if you put up a fight...haha...or drunk...haha..."

-Have you written new songs and are you gonna play a cover of the mighty Demilich in your next CD?
"We have most of the material for the next one ready, there is not going to be a Demilich cover or any other covers for that matter. I'm not a big fan of putting cover songs on the album, I never listen to them myself and since we have enough material of our own I see no point of doing that."

-Time's up. You can add all you want for further info. Just take all the place you need and thanxxx for the killer intie!
"Thanx for the interview, go check out www.torture-killer.cjb.net for samples and shit. Keep it brutal and cheers!"

MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20/2/04

Contacts:
www.torture-killer.cjb.net

	'Devoured by the fruits of your own gravidity' *Tasty word exchange soon after the release of 'For Maggots to Devour'*



	-First of all, a summary for those who don't know you yet... "Torture Killer from Finland has it's debut album out now through Karmageddon Media. We play old-school influenced death metal in the vein of Obituary and SFU, the album is called "For maggots to devour" and you should definitely check it out if you're into more riff-based mid-tempo death metal. More info can be found at www.torture-killer.cjb.net which also has some samples in it." -When you composed the songs, did you decide to play that kind of old-style death metal or is it what you've always played and liked? "Well we have different death metal bands that already do the fast death metal stuff, I´ve always loved the early 90´s US death metal bands and sound - I grew up with that. So it felt really good to start writing similar kind of stuff, most of the bands nowadays are doing the faster and more technical stuff but we wanted to try [to do something] a bit different with Torture Killer." -I really appreciated the lyrics and the artwork. Do you wanna talk about the cover or some lyrics you feel closer to? "Thanks man, well the lyrics are basically normal death metal lyrics. It's about descriptions of various random acts of violence and brutality, I don't necessarily feel close to any of those subjects...haha...otherwise I might have a problem or two...haha...We're more concerned how the vocal lines are arranged rhytmically rather than what it has to say. It's not what you say, it's how you say it that matters. (I believe they're both important, form and contents actually/Note of Markus). The covers are made by a friend of ours who's done album covers, demo covers and logos for Finnish bands for over ten years now, the idea for the layout is his. We didn't have a specific idea how we wanted the cover to look like, but we knew he had some sick ideas so we left him only with the tracktitles and the album title, and said "do something brutal"...haha...this is what came out and it's perfect." -I heard you had some problems with this cover, so I'd like to know how you view this fact and censorship in general... "Yes, the album was delayed with problems on the CD manufacturer who refused to press it, no harm done really since the label found a new place to print it and it was taken care of quite easily. We didn't have to change anything so we didn't bother ourselves with it. Censorship - well, in a way I can understand it...but that stuff should be used with items pointed at kids and below 18 year old, but death metal records are not for 6 years old. Fuck it, I don't bother myself too much thinking about it...but think of this: there's a modern-age museum in Finland with a jar full of shit, sperm and blood. That's considered as "civilized art", and people pay tickets to see that. Now THAT'S fucking sick." -How do you explain that 90% of Finnish bands are very good and Death metal is one of the fields that includes most bands? Do you have special musical courses at school or is it just in your...DNA? "You should update your databases my friend...I can count something like 5-8 existing death metal bands in whole of Finland today. (I can add another 20 if you want/Note of Markus). I think that the level of death metal is way up to that melodic stuff Finland is more known of, but in all honesty I think death metal is as non-popular it can get without dying to extinction. There is a small group of committed death metal freaks keeping it brutal, but for some reason most of the metal kids prefer the melodic and wimpier stuff." -How hard was to find a deal and why Karmageddon? "It wasn't hard I guess, I mean we sent only about 4-5 promo copies of the album to the labels we really wanted to be in. Any of them would've been our choice but Karmageddon picked us up. It's a professional label that is destined to get bigger and we're still very satisfied with the deal." (beginner's luck? Maybe, I just know that lady luck has never crossed my street very often, well, whatever, life sucks!/Note of Markus) -What festivals are you gonna play at next summer? "Haha...none. You see we are not in a level of popularity to play festivals yet. That's for bands like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide." (Might I suggest you some underground festival like the Obscene Extreme or the Fuck the Commerce?/Note of Markus) -What brand-new Finnish bands would you recommend us to listen to? "You should check out at least: Deepred, Torn, Kataplexia, Slugathor and Sotajumala. And of course my all time favourite Demigod, which is THE no.1 band of all times from Finland. They should be putting out their 3rd album sometime this year so be sure to check it out, I heard some demo tracks of it and it will be MASSIVE." -What do you like to do when you're not working, I mean on tour? Do you like winter sports? Are you one of those who likes to swim in the snow naked after having a sauna? "I'm only into hockey, I try to get on each home-game of my team and I keep on checking that quite a lot. I live in a flat at the suburbs so if I chose to run around naked after a sauna looking for a snow to crash I'd be probably jailed for exposing myself before getting outside...haha...I tried it though at some summer house but it takes a few drinks before I'm up to it...haha..." -Tell us about Finnish booze. Is pontikka your fave drink or are you into vodka and red wines like me? "Pontikka...haha...no way man, that's a beast...haha...guaranteed to make Tequila taste like an orange juice. I prefer beer, that's my stuff, if I drink hard liquor it'll definitely be Vodka. With beer I keep what I'm doing pretty much in control , but Vodka is different...haha...and it gives me the hangover of armageddon..." -What band would you like to play with? How would you react if a bigger band you're supporting wouldn't treat you well as to live volume, lights, and so on? Have you ever played with I.Nazarene? Tell us something about them as people? "No matter really, we have tour coming up supporting Vader in Finland in September and to me that's very cool. I wouldn't like to go on tour with Cannibal Corpse for sure, they are simply just too good and would probably make us look like dicks...haha...It's the price you pay for being a support act, I don't think I would mind about the lights and all...after all it's the headliners who the people come to check out, not the support act. Impaled Nazarene are from the other side of Finland, Oulu, so we haven't had a chance to play with them, sorry." -Why are the Finns so calm and silent? It can't be because of nature because the rest of Scandinavians are different... "Don't know man, I guess we're just modest and a bit shy. You can make us noisy only if you put up a fight...haha...or drunk...haha..." -Have you written new songs and are you gonna play a cover of the mighty Demilich in your next CD? "We have most of the material for the next one ready, there is not going to be a Demilich cover or any other covers for that matter. I'm not a big fan of putting cover songs on the album, I never listen to them myself and since we have enough material of our own I see no point of doing that." -Time's up. You can add all you want for further info. Just take all the place you need and thanxxx for the killer intie! "Thanx for the interview, go check out www.torture-killer.cjb.net for samples and shit. Keep it brutal and cheers!" MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20/2/04 Contacts: www.torture-killer.cjb.net