History & Biography
Reviews SOUL DEMISE - IN VAIN - SEASON OF MIST
Let us hope that the release of this album is not completely in vain for the Germans. Otherwise, what is the point? Previously on Gutter Records, Soul Demise has upgraded to Season Of Mist and, armed with new front man Roman Zimmerharkel (although there was a Thomas chap in the meanwhile after previous singer Eumel), recorded an impressive album at Berno Studio (Deranged, Seance, etc.) up in Sweden. Which, perhaps not so coincidentally, is where these Germans' collective heads is. German Swedeath is a status normally associated with Fleshcrawl, but Soul Demise does the term proud. The closest comparison for Soul Demise is early The Crown/Crown Of Thorns perhaps. Soul Demise is five long-haired guys putting the pedal to metal and delivering a mix of power and melody. The band uses the growl/shriek dual-vocal system of which there are too many examples now, but it is not of course to the detriment of the metal. The sound is clear yet heavy, the guitars are up front, as are the vocals, and the snare packs a punch. Finally, the cover artwork is an H.R. Geiger rip-off dressed in blue....
The band has already spent 1998 on the road with Soilwork and Krisiun, 1999 with Deranged, 2002 with Napalm Death and this year is doing the same with Illdisposed which is impressive for such a little-known outfit. That probably means we will hear more and more from this band. - Ali "The Metallian"
Interviews As students of the underground metal scene know, some
of the best
death metal in the world comes from Germany. The
country that brought
us world-class hard rock, heavy metal and thrash metal
also keeps up its end of the bargain within the
most extreme sub-genre of metal. Soul Demise is
clearly not as popular
as Fleshcrawl, but as the band would point out, that
is something the
band and new label Season Of Mist would like to change
with its brand
new album. Given that circumstance and the band's odd
choice of
calling its latest outing In Vain, Ali "The Metallian"
reached bassist
Andreas Bradl at home where the man made enough time
between his
studies, work and touring to sit still long enough to
answer the
questions put to him. - 08.08.2003
METALLIAN: Andreas, thank you for calling to speak to
Metallian. Nine
years is a long time. For a band this old you are
little-known.
ANDREAS: It is a pleasure to be speaking to Metallian
Towers. We celebrated our tenth anniversary this year.
We started back
in 1993 using the name Inhuman. In 1994 we released
our first and only
demo tape which was called Incantation. In 1996 we
released our first
CD called Inner Fears. During 1997 we did our first
two tours with the
Polish gods Vader. We arranged everything ourselves
and were very
proud when everything turned out to be satisfactory.
In 1998 we
changed our name to Soul Demise due to the problem of
other bands
using the name Inhuman as well. At the same time we
released the
Farewell To The Flesh MCD to make our new name known.
We toured with
Krisiun and Soilwork throughout Europe. Again the tour
was arranged by
ourselves. In 1999 we did a tour with Deranged through
Germany and a
year later Beyond Human Perception was released
through Gutter
Records. That album was our first release with a label
and helped us
move forward. In 2001 we did another tour through
Europe with
Immolation, Deranged, Destroyer 666 and Decapitated.
It was fun for us
and enabled us to establish the name Soul Demise in
several countries.
In 2002 we toured twice with Napalm Death and in 2003
we released In
Vain through Season of Mist.
The reason we are not as popular as other bands is
quite simple.
Firstly, when we began making music we had to improve
our technical
abilities. This took quite a while especially since
nowadays bands are
often measured by their technical abilities a lot.
Secondly, we are a German band and it's quite hard to
get a deal over
here unless you are from Sweden (laughs actually). The
record firms
and the fans are not that interested
in native German bands. It's a pity but unfortunately
I can't change
that attitude.
METALLIAN: Would you disagree that labels sign Swedish
bands simply
because Swedish bands are better? As evidence, Soul
Demise is actually doing
a cover version of an At The Gates song.
ANDREAS: In my opinion, Swedish bands generally are
not better than
most German bands, but they are considered exotic and
hence are more
attractive to Germans obviously. Most German bands
never get the
chance to show how good they really are. They don't
get the same
support and don't have the same opportunities as the
Swedes. It's a
pity. I hope you don't get me wrong. Many Swedish
bands are excellent;
there is no doubt about that. Having said that, German
bands can be
excellent too.
METALLIAN: How much is the German media to blame for a
lack of support
for German bands?
ANDREAS: The media must write about things in which
people are
interested. Otherwise they wouldn't sell. So they are
not to blame. As
long as they still support the bands from their own
country and don't
follow every stupid trend or hype then that is
OK.
METALLIAN: This may be true of a media guided by and
beholden to the
shackles of Capitalism. On the other hand, media done
properly would
be one that is supportive of whatever is worthy and
takes the lead in
introducing as opposed to following. That though, is a
discussion for another day. Since we are chatting in
recognition
of the recent release of In Vain, What do you reckon
is the difference
between the current release and the previous ones?
ANDREAS: Well, on the one hand the sound is much
better because this
time around it was possible for the whole band to be
in the studio the
whole time. That made things much easier. Elsewhere,
the songs are
more aggressive, faster and get to the point more
directly. Those are
the main things I suppose. By the way, the singer is
different and we
also have a new guitar player who also writes
songs.
METALLIAN: That was the next question. Why did the
line-up changes
come about?
ANDREAS: Well, some members decided to leave the band
for personal
reasons and some had to leave because they didn't fit
in the band any
longer. The latter behaved differently in the
beginning and changed
their attitude and behaviour later. That is not good.
Playing in a
band means teamwork and not that one could rule all
others.
Nevertheless, it was much too many line-up changes. We
actually were
weary of the changes because it is always a step back
and takes a lot
of time to return to the normal state of things, but
some things one
can't be avoided.
METALLIAN: In that context, why did you change
labels?
ANDREAS: Gutter Records was the proper label to
support the Beyond
Human Perception album, but with its successor we
wanted to take the
next step forward. We didn't want to stay little-known
(laughs). The
distribution system of Season Of Mist is
much better which allows them to spread the word much
better. I mean,
when one improves as a band then why wouldn't
everything else improve
as well? It is just logical. When you're working hard
for something,
you don't want things to stay at the same level
forever.
METALLIAN: What was your experience with Gutter
Records?
ANDREAS: They did what they could. Sometimes it was a
problem when it
came to monetary matters, but I guess this is typical
for most labels.
The band is vulnerable and not able to defend itself.
All in all
though, they were OK and they did push us forward
They made shirts,
pictures, etc. for us and that is quite cool.
METALLIAN: How did you come to sign with Season Of
Mist in France?
ANDREAS: I am not quite sure about this. I guess our
former label's
manager got in contact with Season Of Mist and helped
us in this
matter. He was dealing with them at that time and
asked them to listen
to our CD. They did and obviously like it. Sometimes
life is quite
strange (laughs heartily). By the way, Season Of Mist
was not the only
offer we got. There were three in all, but Season's
made the most
sense.
METALLIAN: Are you saying that you owed Gutter Records
more albums and
they sold your contract to Season Of Mist?
Furthermore, how many
albums will you record for SOM?
ANDREAS: No, we signed with Gutter for only one album.
The next one
should have been discussed, but we didn't want to sign
with Gutter
again. We wanted to reach a higher level. I hope we
did by signing
with SOM.
We singed with SOM for just two records. We don't want
to be bound to
one label for more than two records. I mean, look at
Napalm Death.
They signed for seven albums with Earache at one point
and were not
satisfied with the work the label did even for their
very first
release. Such a situation could mean death for a band
like us.
METALLIAN: You have chosen to name your album In Vain.
The album's
title strikes one as an odd choice. Are you natural
pessimists?
ANDREAS: No, we are not pessimists (laughs), but
realists. If you look
around at this world you could get to the point where
you might think
that all your efforts to improve it are in vain. This
is quite
depressing I think because the way we behave is very
dangerous.
Moreover, the title belongs to the title track which
is about people
being so greedy and not giving anything to those who
really need it.
They don't want to realize that when they die
everything
remains on this planet. Actually it is quite simple -
maybe too simple.
METALLIAN: Given that line of thought what do you
think of the current
global situation?
ANDREAS: The world is going down! There are too many
people living on
this planet who behave badly. If we would treat Earth
like the
worthiest thing we have, she could bear double the
current population
easily. But as it is now, we will kill ourselves
sooner or later. It's
just a question of time. There should be an awareness
about this
problem in everybody's mind, but unfortunately there
is not. Especially when those who have the power care
the least.
METALLIAN: Is your assessment of death metal's state
in 2003 equally
bleak?
ANDREAS: We are rising. Death metal is coming back, as
is thrash
metal. I am very fond of this development. The funny
thing is that all
the new bands made it possible. Don't get me wrong, I
don't like their
music, but with their heavy sounds they made metal
more popular. The
new generation starts to question how and why do these
bands use such
sounds. Korn once said that they were total fans of
Sepultura's
Beneath The Remains - I mean. This is killer news to
me. Since their
fans will undoubtedly check out the said album. Slayer
might be next and after a
while it will maybe even be Soul Demise's turn (laughs
triumphantly).
METALLIAN: As much as the last statement seems
inaccurate to me, let
us banish the visions of mallcore aside seeing the
late hour in
Germany. What is the latest news with the band?
ANDREAS: We have recorded a song called Forever Blind
from the
Terminal Spirit Disease album for an At The Gates
tribute album which
will be released at the end of 2003. Watch out for it.
It is going to
be killer. That's actually all, Metallian. Thank you
very much for the
interview and thanks to everybody supporting Soul
Demise and Metal in
any way. You rule!
Singer Roman Zimmerhackel, guitarists Andreas
Schuhmeier and Alex
Hagenauer, bassist Andreas Bradl and drummer Roland
Jahoda can be
heard on the Season-Of-Mist issued In Vain. The album
was recorded at
Berno Studio and is recommended to fans of death
metal. For more
information please visit www.souldemise.de.
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