METALLIAN - Cemetary

An Evil Shade Of Grey - 1992 - Black Mark
Godless Beauty - 1993 - Black Mark
Black Vanity - 1994 - Black Mark
Sundown - 1996 - Black Mark
Last Confession - 1997 - Black Mark
Phantasma - 2005 - Black Mark

Members

Vocals

Lasher, Sundown, Cemetary 1213>>MATHIAS LODMALM>>Lasher, Sundown, Cemetary 1213

Guitar

Anton Hedberg - Lasher, Sundown, Cemetary 1213>>MATHIAS LODMALM>>Lasher, Sundown, Cemetary 1213 - Christian Saarinen>>Lake Of Tears - Ceremonial Oath>>ANDERS IWERS>>Ceremonial Oath, Tiamat, Mercury Tide, Lacuna Coil, Dark Tranquillity

Bass

Zriuko Culjak - Ceremonial Oath, Evocation>>THOMAS JOSEFSSON>>Ceremonial Oath, Evocation

Drum

Juha Sievers – Braindead, Desecrator, Ceremonial Oath>>MARKUS NORDBERG>>Ceremonial Oath

History & Biography

Born in Boras, Sweden in 1989 Cemetary was a typical death metal band. The Incarnation Of Morbidity and Articulus Mortis demo tapes attracted Boss of Black Mark to the band and the act was off to a death metal start. The band sounded closer to Paradise Lost on its second album though and eventually turned into a goth act. Uncertainty regarding style wasn't the band's only problem. The band had to deal with strife and a lack of musicianship. This was something that had come to the fore during the band's tour. The latter is obviously partly responsible for the constant band member changes. Eventually to escape the past and the ever-deteriorating Black Mark band leader Lodmalm changed band names and bands!

An album was issued in 2000 as Sundown and then Cemetary 1213. The band was back in business, as Cemetary, in 2005 with the release of a new album called Phantasma on Black Mark. Mathias Lodmalm officially announced his departure from the scene in May of 2005. He claimed disaffection as the cause for his farewell.

Reviews

CEMETARY - PHANTASMA - BLACK MARK
Sweden's Cemetary, i.e. Mathias Lodmalm, is back after several years of absence and following some experimenting with monicker changes. It must be humiliating to be back with Black Mark Production after all the criticism leveled at the label by Christian. As bad as that might be, it is not quite as bad as the new style presented on Phantasma. The new Cemetary is an amalgam of dance, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and especially Marilyn Manson. In all honesty, the band's music is not bad. It just is not remotely heavy metal any longer. Cemetary now relies heavily on triggered and sampled sounds, as well as loops. Beautiful melodies are buried under harsh and mechanical beats which in turn are encased in a mostly slow rhythm. On Coma Burn Mathias uses mystic melodies which smack of the orient, while the song 2nd Last To Nowhere finally features some guitars and is generally faster.
Fundamentally, the only good reason why this band could still be called Cemetary is that the band leader has buried the band's old sound and metal orientation. - Ali "The Metallian"

Interviews

Downtown Toronto: 8 AM, Sunday morning. Breakfast at the Pickle Barrel. Black Mark Production’s Ed Balog, Mathias Lodmalm singer of Sweden’s Cemetary and half a dozen waffles congregate to talk into the microphone attached to the portable recorder of Ali “The Metallian.” From the Incarnation Of Morbidity demo to the current album, Sundown, is a long journey indeed. We map the road travelled and talk about the current release. - 1996.

ALI “THE METALLIAN”: Give us a description of the current album, as well as the band’s relevance to the metal fan.
MATHIAS: I am not a big fan of putting labels on our stuff. I think we have a broad spectrum of influences. The ”˜commercial’ tag that would be used in the stores would be gothic rock. The first album was pretty much death metal, but from the second album on we’ve been into gothic rock. In Europe, along with Tiamat, Paradise Lost, et cetra, we are one of the first to do that.

ALI “THE METALLIAN”: How do the previous albums stand up to scrutiny?
MATHIAS: The first album An Evil Shade Of Grey was sorta death metal; we were very young and learning how to play. Godless Beauty was the first album with proper song writing on it. We changed a lot on that album. Then there was a bigger change with Black Vanity. We started to play real music with a brand new line-up. With Sundown everything is actually working. We have money to work with. We have our artistic freedom. I worked a lot on my vocals. The music is not that different, although it’s a lot more up-tempo. We spent five weeks in the studio - ten to fourteen hours a day. We spent $20,000 on the recording, and that’s in Sweden where studios are cheap.

ALI “THE METALLIAN”: What are your expectations for Sundown?
MATHIAS: I think right now everything is going well. I try not to expect too much though. The music business is a dirty one; I have been through it all. I know that things can go well for a few months and then they can fall apart. We try to work in the present. And things are going well now. We have a good video for Last Transmission and there will be one for the song Sundown. We are not going to do the average gothic video with wine glasses and women in crappy white dresses with white faces. It will be more like a cross between Reservoir Dogs and The X-Files. It will be quite violent. We will tour with Pyogensis in Europe - Australia, New Zealand and Japan later on depending on the sales.

ALI “THE METALLIAN”: Which songs on the album do you like the best?
MATHIAS: My favourite song changes from day to day. The album is a quasi-concept dealing with people seeing the world come to an end. They know that when the sun sets and it becomes dark it will be dark forever. It deals with the psychological aspect of the people in their final hours: what they wish they had accomplished and what they’ve never done. The cover resembles the phoenix and the lyrics are depressing. When I write songs, I want them to be simple; I keep them short and sweet. Primal is experimental like Killing Joke. The opener has always been a strong one and we have a heavy song. Then it gets poppier and poppier. Last Transmission is almost dancy. Sundown is like Nick Cave. People say Ophedian sounds like Kiss and WASP. I think we have found our style with this album. We have found a home in which we are comfortable.

ALI “THE METALLIAN”: What is your opinion on Black Mark?
MATHIAS: Many Black Mark bands are constantly complaining. I don’t know one band that is satisfied. Several bands quit because of Black Mark - like Rosicrucian. Black Mark treats us well though. That’s my main concern. We have another album to do for them.

ALI “THE METALLIAN”: Any recent producing activities?
MATHIAS: I might produce some albums when I am fifty or sixty and all my hair has fallen off. I did the Lake Of Tears album because Black Mark owner Borje Forsberg asked me. I am working on a crime novel. It began as a comic book. It should be out in a year’s time. The title translated is something 'The Demon Dance.' My brother, a lawyer, knows some people so with the proper ”˜corruption’ someone will release it for me.

This interview initially appeared in Pit Magazine No. 17.

If you enjoyed this, read King Diamond

Cemetary