Dissection must be one of the best respected bands around today. How many people do you know that dislike them, for example? Point proven, me thinks. To me, they embody everything a death metal band should - speed, darkness, and brutality. Not only that, but by going back far enough, inspiration-wise, they have succeeded in bridging the gap between death and black metal - no mean feat in these days of intergenre rivalry and hatred.
Their 1993 debut, "The Somberlain", has to have been one of the most acclaimed first efforts in years, despite No Fashion's failure to handle the sales and promotion of the thing. Fortunately, Nuclear Blast picked them up at the end of 1994, and late last year released album number 2, "Storm of the Lights Bane". This had a lot to live up to, but disappointing it was not. In fact, it is a mere masterpiece.
This interview was conducted a fortnight before going to print in Glasgow, on the British leg of the band's European tour with At The Gates. As soon as the last notes of "Kingdom Gone" had died out amidst a Biohazard-style stage invasion, I made my way to the dressing rooms, where I was confronted by a particularly fine example of the Missing Link (bouncer, for those of you unfamiliar with Scotland's unique breed of security personnel). Two minutes and an "Aye, yer a'right, pal" later, I was sitting, chatting and drinking beer with vocalist/guitarist Jon Nödtveidt, and it is the result of this conversation that you are about to read...
So, Jon, I wonder how you feel after your first concert in Scotland.
Great! The sound on stage has to have been one of the worst yet, but the crowd was excellent. I'm really pleased because this is only our second full tour and already it has been very, very good.
Your UK support on this tour comes from Newcastle's Reign. Were you already familiar with their music beforehand?
Actually, yes. I have read about them a lot and I also saw them at the Marquee in London when they were supporting Gomorrah. I cannot really remember much about them from that, as I was a little bit drunk at the time and just stood at the bar drinking. I didn't really pay their music much attention. Also, what they play is not really my sort of thing, but they are a very good band and great guys, too. They got a shitty reaction tonight, though.
At first I thought you wouldn't be playing at all, as the roads were quite badly hit by the blizzards in England. Did the weather affect you at all on the way up here?
No, the weather was okay. We all have a little bit of cold at the moment, but that's from Sweden, not from here. I would say that the climate is pretty much the same as in Sweden at the moment. There were no problems on the roads or anything.
Where do you think the music of Dissection works best - in the studio, live, or at home on your stereo?
Well, I think that it is a little bit different depending on the situation. In the studio, we like to concentrate on getting the right feeling and atmosphere into our sounds. We try to get the mood of the lyrics and the general concept of the band into the music. Live, it is different, of course, and we worry less about playing everything exactly as it sounds on record. We just try to make it as intense and heavy as possible, not identical to the albums. Heavy fucking metal, you know?
And do you listen to your own records at all?
Of course! Naturally, you get a little bit tired of the songs because you rehearse them all the time, then you play them live and so on, so you get a little bored with hearing the music over and over again. We write and play the kind of music that we like ourselves, so naturally it is good to listen to it at home from time to time.
Are you very self-critical? I mean, can you listen to your music and not keep wishing you'd played the songs slightly differently?
Yes, I suppose we are a little bit, but when we play live - like I said - we don't worry too much if we play a part of the riff wrong or whatever. In the end, it is only us that really notices, so it doesn't matter. The fans out there tonight certainly did not seem to care... They were great!
Weren't you meant to be touring with Dismember, or has that already happened? Sorry, but I am a little ill-informed about such things.
Yeah, we did a small European tour with them, which was great. I think it was for about two weeks, and we played in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and so on. Germany especially was great, as they have a huge scene over there. Vienna, too, was excellent. We got on well with Dismember. They are great guys, and we had a really great time. I think that we reached out to a whole lot of new people, as well as the fans that we already had. It was a great experience, no doubt about that! Also, we have a new drummer in the band, so it was a good opportunity for him to get into the band more.
You recorded "Storm of the Lights Bane" at the new Unisound, unless I'm very much mistaken...
No, we recorded at the old and mixed at the new one, that was the thing. We recorded the new album there at the old studio, and we planned to mix it there too, but when we were about to mix the album, we found out that we didn't have enough time. So we asked Dan if we could mix it in the new studio, but then he already had booked a lot of other bands, so we had to wait for about four months before we could get there and mix the whole shit. Then Nuclear Blast weren't satisfied enough, and we weren't really satisfied at all either with the sound and so on, so we did it for the third time. Because of that, the album was delayed for so long.
I certainly heard one of the rough mixes through tape trading quite some time ago, but I'm not sure exactly which one it was...
Oh yeah? It's maybe the second, because that one was spread by the label for promotional use.
Well, I got it from a friend of Dan's...
Oh yeah? Then it could be almost anything.
The cover, it's a painting as opposed to some sort of evil photograph. Is this something you'd like to continue? Personally, I much prefer artwork to the typical images everyone seems to use these days.
Yes, we want to continue that idea. Personally, I'm very fond of those kind of covers too, like the old metal covers. I don't really like these photo covers. I don't know, I just like it more with paintings, because then you can express a lot more ideas.
And no more King Diamond comparisons...
Hopefully not, if Necrolord is doing a good job, ha ha! Last time we were supposed to have another cover, you know, for the first record. The cover was supposed to be an angel in a cage with a ripped Bible, and the angel was supposed to be crying blood. But he wasn't satisfied with that cover, so he started to do a new one. And I sent him a photo of a grand castle from Transilvania, the castle drawn, and I told him to base the cover around that one. Then he called me up and said that the cover is ready, and that it has the same feeling as "Abigail", so I said, "Yeah, that's great!" We got the cover at the same time as they were going to print it, and then it was too late to change it. We just thought, 'what the heck, what can we do about that now?', But I admit that it looks a little bit too much like "Abigail". Ha ha!
I think Necrolord did something similar to the original "Somberlain" idea for The Abyss' debut album, didn't he?
Yeah, he developed the ideas that he had. I think that he maybe picked up the old cover that he made for Dissection and made it better.
The new stuff smacks of Mayhem, especially the drum rolls in "Night's Blood". Was this inevitable, do you think?
Well, I can quote Mayhem as one of many influences, and personally, I think that Mayhem is one of the best bands of all time. I compare Mayhem to Slayer. I compare Mayhem to Morbid Angel. They are up there together with the elite bands... They are down there, in hell. Reigning, ha ha! But honestly, Mayhem has meant a lot to the scene as a whole, and they are definitely a great influence on Dissection too. But we are not trying to copy our influences; they are just sources of inspiration. I think it is very important to have inspiring influences.
Do you get inspired by any new bands or is it just the old 80s ones?
Well, I guess you are subconsciously influenced by everything that you listen to that you enjoy. I cannot state specific new bands that I'm influenced by, but I guess the influences that you might have are subconscious. The bands that I know that I'm influenced by and have been influenced by during the years that I've been playing the guitar are Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Kreator, Morbid Angel, Mayhem, Destruction... everything like that, you know? All the old gods!
Actually, a lot of bands are harking back to the '80s now, and especially in Sweden. There are a lot of classical heavy metal influences around, if you listen to In Flames, for example. Do you think it's good that so many people are exploring their roots, or do you think it would be better for them to create their own music?
I think that the metal of the '80s is the best. The '80s was the best period for metal in general, I think. And now that death metal especially has developed into something far away from the original concept, I think it's about time that people realized where the real roots of the music lie. The real roots of death metal are bands like Venom, Slayer, Metallica, Possessed, Celtic Frost, Kreator, Morbid Angel... Those bands, you know? And I don't like it when death metal is mixed with the hardcore stuff or hip-hop or whatever. I'm totally disgusted by that mix, that's a crossover thing that I cannot stand!
Lyrically as well, a lot of death metal has strayed a little too far from the norm, if you like at bands like Gorefest...
Yes, that is a band that I hate especially. But I think that if you mix styles that fit together, like pure heavy metal with pure death metal and pure black metal, then it's OK. Not if you mix with other styles like punk or hardcore or hip-hop or whatever. You know what I mean, though. You can't mix synth music with punk, and the same goes for metal.
Hellhammer has reformed Mayhem, as you know. How do you feel about that? It's a typical question, but it has to be asked.
Yep. I'm not the one to judge, but I kind of feel that Mayhem died with Euronymous, and I think that it should be buried by now. That's my opinion, though.
The same goes for Venom, right? They also suspiciously reformed recently...
Yeah, even though I really enjoyed their reunion show. I went to Holland to see their reunion show, and it was one of the best gigs I have seen in my whole life. But then again, it was old songs, you know, songs from the two first albums and Nightmare. I would be really skeptical if they should start to release new albums with that lineup. It cannot be the same now, and I think they're just trying to make money, but that doesn't change the fact that their reunion show was tremendous!
You've recorded quite a few cover songs in your time, but personally, I'm not sure I agree with all these so-called tribute albums. There's paying tribute, and there's paying tribute, you know?
Well, it's a big fashion to release tribute albums right now, and I kind of agree that it's maybe not that interesting. But we have always been into playing covers, and that's a thing that we really enjoy, especially live. When we got the opportunity to be on the Slayer tribute, we said yes because Slayer is one of the biggest influences and biggest faves of all time for us.
It's a good album as well, don't you think? Better than "Metal Militia", at any rate.
Yes, I think "Slaytanic Slaughter" is quite cool. We have always been playing tons of covers. Everything from Death, Possessed, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Bathory, Mayhem... We're going to do a Bathory cover for that tribute album, I think. We're going to do "Massacre" from "Under the Sign of the Black Mark", which is a very intense and brutal song.
You re-recorded "Son of Mourning" a while ago -'94, I think it was- for the Japanese Nuclear Blast compilation or something. Is that ever going to be released over here in Europe?
Yes! It was for the Japanese version of "The Somberlain". They wanted a bonus track, and we were in the stride recording a demo with "Night's Blood" and "Retribution", so we decided to re-record it. I think Nuclear Blast is going to release a limited edition shaped picture disc CD single in 3,000 copies in April. That is going to include one song from the new album, a cover from Tormentor, "Elisabeth Bathori", which is on another compilation, the Wrong Again compilation, and also it will contain "Son of Mourning," perhaps... I am not sure myself - ha, ha!
You're being ripped off quite a lot in Sweden at the moment; you and At the Gates. Do you think this is a good thing, or is it just the Swedish syndrome again?
I think that it's great when people are influenced by our music. We feel that we have succeeded in something when people enjoy it and find our music interesting. It's always the same, though: I don't like it when people rip off their influences, but as long as they use their influences as inspiring sources and try to develop it more, then it's just great!
What about Cardinal Sin? In my opinion, they're particularly guilty of this, even though the reasons are fairly obvious and forgivable...
Cardinal Sin? John's band... I have heard a recording with three tracks and a Death cover, and I think it's good. It's a lot of stuff that was written by him during the last period that he was in the band; stuff that didn't really fit the music of Dissection. Well, I think it's good, and I think that it will get better in the future.
Have you noticed the scene changing much since 'the good old days' when you were writing Mega Mag and playing in Rabbit's Carrot?
Yes! Attitudes change all the time, with all the new trends and all that. I found the scene more interesting when I was new to it, because then you discovered so many new bands that you hadn't heard about before. New, unsigned bands, you know? But now... I don't have the same feeling for the scene nowadays as I used to have. Maybe that's because you have been in the scene for so long. You get less enthusiastic because you think all the bands sound the same and so on. I got into the scene through tape trading. I was trading a lot of live tapes and then suddenly I was trading demos and discovering new bands. At that point in time I thought it was really great. It's not a bad scene now - there's a lot of good music - but it's just not the same feeling anymore.
Nuclear Blast - are they doing a good job for you? I mean, obviously they got you on this tour and so on, but otherwise... ?
Yes, yes. They're doing a great job and compared to the old label, No Fashion, they're doing an excellent job! Because No Fashion was shit when we released our album then. I guess they're better now, but they didn't do any promotion at all when we released our first album. Things have really changed with the change of labels, and Nuclear Blast is really great. They're quite an established label, and they're doing good promotion, so everything is working out fine right now. But, you know, I don't like record labels at all. For being a record company, they are good, ha, ha!
I suppose you've been pretty busy lately, but do you have any new material yet?
No real songs, but we have lots of stuff put on tape, a lot of ideas, but we haven't really arranged any songs yet. That's mainly because we have a new drummer and we had to teach him all the old songs so that we were able to play live. Then we had been out touring with Dismember last year, and after that we toured the EC, and now we are here in England, sorry, Scotland. After this tour, we are probably going to the States with At the Gates and Morbid Angel, and after that, we are going back to Europe with Satyricon and Gorgoroth...
Fucking hell, man, that's quite some schedule... You're gonna die!
Yes, I think so. And if we survive, we'll start to concentrate on the songwriting process.
What are the new songs going to be like? Are they slower like "Where Dead Angels Lie" or fast still? I presume you won't be changing your style too drastically over the next year or so.
We aren't going to change the style or anything, but I guess in general the songs will be a little bit shorter. The songs on the new record are quite long, so I think we will try to keep them a little bit shorter and more intense. I cannot tell, really, but time will tell, and we will see how it works out.
How have people reacted to "Where Dead Angels Lie"? I thought it was very un-Dissection-like at first, but now I'd have to say that it is one of the album's highlights.
Yes, it was the first really heavy song that we did, you know, heavy all the way. I think we have had a really good response to that song, and a lot of people enjoy it. That was the first song that we wrote for this album. I had lots of ideas, heavy ideas, and they just didn't fit played in the fast way or anything. We first wanted to make it an instrumental song, but... that didn't happen, ha ha!
Do you have any project bands going at the moment? Is there anything you would like to try out but wouldn't really fit into the music of Dissection?
Not really right now. I haven't had any thoughts about that, but I used to sing for a band called Ophthalamia for a short period. I sang on their first album, and that is more like Black Sabbath mixed with black metal. I also did the vocals for a band called The Black on one album. That was in the same period as Ophthalamia, and the members of Dissection were living in different places at that point in time, so we didn't rehearse much. But since then, I don't have any real projects, except the last summer when we started out a cover band called Outbreak. We played one gig and we played covers of Judas Priest, Venom, Motorhead, Celtic Frost, Sodom, stuff like that. We also made four own songs in the same way, but it's nothing serious. We didn't even want to spread anything. We didn't want to record any records. It was just a little funny thing that we did for amusing ourselves.
Do you think 1995 was a good year for metal in general?
It was, ummm... I don't know?! Ha, ha, ha... Maybe it was good, I don't know, because I didn't discover so much new stuff last year, but it was... I don't know, ha, ha!
Is there anything you would like to add?
Yep. Thanks for the interview! And I want to say hello to all the metal fans in Scotland and England. We hope to be back soon; it was a great tour so far. Be sure, we will be back with a new album in one year, I guess.