by Kenneth Morton

Necrophobic has been spewing their blackened death metal hymns unto the world for twenty years now. And with their latest magnum opus Death To All, these Swedes continue the relentless blasphemies, showing absolutely no signs of compromise. We recently sent some interview questions to Necrophobic, and here are the answers we received back from long time guitarist Sebastian Ramsted. Read on and see what evil awaits us all...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Necrophobic, and how long the band has been together.
Sebastian Ramsted (guitars): I’m the lead guitar player and one of the songwriters. Also backing vocals. The band started in 1989 but only Joakim Sterner on drums is a founding member.

Death To All is your sixth full-length release. What made you decide on that title and tell me about the epic three part song and the lyrical ideas for that. Is there an overall concept to the entire album?
The album was going to be called Revelation 666 but we realized that it was already used by Old Man's Child. The concept behind the song Revelation 666 was just about the damnation of the world, the Death To All. So we wanted to stick to the original idea. We liked that the title was straightforward. The three part song is inspired by the poem “Paradise Lost” by Milton. It’s about the The Devil breaking free, summoning the forces to turn the fire on mankind and the skies. The outro And jesus wept... kind of tells if it was a success or not. There’s no overall concept of the album but the songs Revelation 666, Wings Of Death and Death To All are related.

How does Death To All compare to the previous Necrophobic releases?
It does not have the “passage” parts that normally can be found on our albums. This one is war without end. There’s no catching breath in the battle.

Some of your members are also involved in Nifelheim. Did you play the Hollywood show at the Knitting Factory, and what did you think of the show and Hollywood overall?
Yeah. Me and Johan are also the guitar players in Nifelheim. The show in Hollywood was fucking great. The whole trip to the states was a great experience. People in Europe usually have a lot of prejudice against American people thinking they are ignorant. But for the Metal community I must say it’s the opposite. Seems like people are more open minded and also I think when you listen to extreme metal, it’s impossible to escape the message. I wanna go back there as soon as possible.

Is there any chance of Necrophobic coming over here to the States doing some shows?
We have been talking to different people for some time now, but during these bad economical times it has been hard to make it happen. We hope to come over on tour on this album.

Your band origins date all the way back to 1989. What do you think of the idea that Necrophobic has been around for 20 years? Did you even dream that the band would be around for such a long time?
In the beginning it was hard to see that you would play extreme metal in your mid 30’s. Now I have accepted that this is the way of my life and that I will probably never change. As I see it now, we will be around for another 20.

What changes have you seen in the Swedish metal scene and do you listen to much newer metal much these days?
I don’t listen to much new stuff, at least not new bands. I think the big highlights where the early 80’s Swedish answer on NWOBHM with bands like Gotham City and 220 volt and then the late 80’s death metal boom. Black Metal bands during the 90’s was copying Norway too much, but I think with bands like Watain and Pest, there’s a “new” interesting Black metal scene in Sweden going on.

When you look back on the early work you’ve recently released on Satanic Blasphemies, what do you think of it now?
I am surprised that the quality of it is actually very high. I remember when I listened (I was not in the band by then) to the early Necrophobic stuff when it was first released, and I thought it was kind of simple. I did not realize the depth of the musical concept then, but I see it now. The early stuff is far more advanced and well made than what first meets the ear. Also you can hear our roots and why Necrophobic sounds the way nowadays that we do. It’s already there in the early stuff.

Tobias did some vocal work for Therion. What was that experience like for him and how did he become involved with the project?
Tobias was a friend of Christoffer since the early death metal days. During the times around 1996, we did not tour much with Necrophobic since we were on the shitty record company Black Mark who did not promote us at all. Christoffer needed a lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the upcoming Therion tour and Tobias had the time to help him out. I think there were three tours or so before Tobias decided to quit. I joined one of these tours as a guitar technician.

Is there any chance we may be a Necrophobic DVD in the near future?
Don’t know. We have some material to use, but there’s a lot of boring DVD’s out there. If we do that, it must be something special. But right now we don’t have any plans to release this material.

What advice would you give a young metal band seeking their first recording contract?
Try to stick to your own original ideas. YOU always know best how to play your music and not any company boss. Otherwise it would be them having a band. Also don’t sign for more than one record at the time. You might wanna leave to a better contract.

How influenced was your music by Bathory when you started and what are your memories of Quorthon?
Bathory has always been one of the greatest sources of inspiration. I think his work has influenced this scene maybe more than anyone else - even Venom. I remember that he appeared during our release party for Darkside . He was standing by the doors just when the DJ was going to put our version of “Enter the eternal fire” on the turn table. I managed to stop it before the song started. After the party, I spoke about it with the rest of the Necrophobic guys and it turned out that no one of them had seen Quorthon that night. I had not told them cause I thought they knew. They were pretty pissed at me. he he.

Tell me about new member Alex Friberg – what other bands has he been in and how did he come to Necrophobic’s attention?
He is a great musician and he has contributed with a lot of energy to the band. He has a band called Trident with the guitarist Johan Norman (ex Dissection) and they were looking for a singer. Tobias joined them and as we got to know Alex we decided to ask him to join Necrophobic, as Tobias wanted to concentrate on the vocals only. It turned out great and we are happy to have him with us.

Where do you think Necrophobic will be in another 20 years time?
If we are still alive we will probably be on stage somewhere in Germany. I cannot see that we ever quit. This is a way of life. This is not something we can choose to live without. Metal is the law!

Any messages for metal fans here in the Los Angeles area?
Death to All!!

Read below for an earlier Necrophobic interview from 2006!!!

by Kenneth Morton

After a four-year absence, Necrophobic from Sweden has returned to unleash another chapter of blackened death metal fury entitled Hrimthursum. We sent the band a few emails questions inquiring about their current activities, and here is what these death metal giants had to say…

What does the album title Hrimthursum mean and what made you decide to call the album that? Is there any concept behind the title or lyrics?
It’s an old Icelandic word that means something like “Frost Giants”. In the northern mythology they roamed the lands with Odin at the dawn of time. It inspired us to do this album but it’s not a concept that goes through all the lyrics.

How frustrating was it to be away from music for four years and why did the new album take so long to record?
We were not away from music. We were playing live and working on songs all the time. We had a lot of material but just before recording we rewrote the whole album. We don’t care if takes long time if the result comes out the way we want.

When you look back on your albums with Black Mark Production, what do you think of them now?
I think they are great. I don’t think we would write them like that if we could do it again but that’s how we sounded back then. We always play a lot of old material live.

Did you know Quorthon of Bathory and how were you affected by his death?
We never met him. He was present at one of our release parties but no one spoke to him. He didn’t socialize much with others. It’s sad that he died but it doesn’t affect us that much. Bathory was never going to be as good as in the beginning.

Has Necrophobic ever played here in the States or do you plan to do so in the future?
We have had some offers but in the end it has been cancelled because of financial problems. We hope to come there but nothing is booked. Also there has been a problem for “satanic” bands to enter the boarder after 9/11.

What does Satanism mean to you, if anything?
There’s two meanings: 1. Think for yourselves; reach your goals without thinking of other people. 2. Being a Christian worshipping the great goat. I don’t personally call myself a “Satanist” in any of the ways. I’m anti-religious.

Are you or any of the other Necrophobic members involved with any other musical projects at the moment?
Me and Johan both play guitar in the Swedish Black Metal act Nifelheim, Tobias has his project Order of Isas and Joakim plays in Souldevourer with ex-Dismember guitarist Robert.

Being around since 1989, is the death/black metal genre and touring still exciting for you after all this time?
Yeah, we are hungry for more. It’s a way of living. If you are a true hard rocker then you can never leave. Some people “like” metal, some people “are” metal...

Do you guys have to keep day jobs or are you rich rock stars at this point? What kind of day jobs do you have? Anything music related?
Yeah... death metal generates huge amounts of money so we spend all day long in our big castles watching Oprah and eating caviar. I recently swapped all my teeth for diamonds...

What advice would you give a new band looking to sign to a record label?
Never give away the right to your songs, only the recording. Don’t sign for a lot of albums, and if you ever see money...take it!

What are the future plans for Necrophobic?
World domination... No actually we have a European tour coming up and a DVD is going to be recorded soon. We have also started to write material to our next album.

Any messages for metal fans here in the States?
Never Surrender!!

The Necrophobic lineup is Tobias Sidegård on vocals and bass, Sebastian Ramstedt on lead guitar, Johan Bergebäck on rhythm guitar, and Joakim Sterner on drums. Hrimthursum is now available from Candlelight/Regain Records!

Necrophbic Links

Necrophobic: Their Official Home Page!
Necrophobic on Myspace: Their Official Myspace Page!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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