Wednesday 21 December 2016

NEW INTERVIEW: Our first interview with SYMMETRIC ORGAN (Dortmund, Germany Death Metal), 2/6/2015

Band line-up (2015): Andreas (drums), Karsten (guitar), Philip (bass/ vox), and Ivar (lead guitar).

The band released the ten-track studio album States of Decay independently on 10 October 2016.

Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles)1: Hi, can you tell me the early history from the formation of the band up to now?
Philip: Three-quarters of us play together since 2003. Back then Andreas (drums), Karsten (guitar) and me, Philip (bass/ vox) played together in a band called Exposed Guts. We did kind of US-styled Death Metal and had one self-release called “The Way of All Flesh”. We had a lot of gigs and did support slots for bands like Monstrosity, Deicide, Prostitute Disfigurement, God Dethroned and others. The band was put on hold in the late-2000s and we started jamming on new material. Finding the right lead-guitarist took way longer than we wanted. But finally we found Ivar in 2013/14. He’s also playing in a Death Metal band called Immortal Scorn. We immediately recorded a 4-Track rehearsal demo called “World Keeps Falling”. It’s just a rough piece of Music(k) on CD-R that we use to have a free give-away at shows. By the way we continue working on new material to get our first full-length album together. Recordings are in progress. And to have some kind of appetizer and introduction to the Death Metal Web Community we did our video-single called “Palace Revolution”. A new song called “Truth Be Told” will be online within the next few weeks hopefully. The album will contain 10 to 12 songs. As I said: work is in progress.

KJ2: How is the response of people to your demo?
ANSWER: We did not really promote “World Keeps Falling” besides giving it to the people we met at shows so far. But the reactions were very good. And the video-single still does pretty well. We really caught some interest out there which is really great!

KJ3: What is the most influential band for you guys in playing music?
ANSWER: If you asked this question to each one of us separately you’d get a bunch of different answers and each one of us would not just mention one band for there is so much great stuff out there hahaha. But bands like Gorefest, Vader, Dying Fetus, Terrorizer, Pestilence and Monstrosity for example surely left a mark.

KJ4: What are your future plans for the band?
ANSWER: With the upcoming album we are working on our future right now, hahaha. Well we definitely need to play shows and we are working on that as well. Playing Death Metal is a hell of a pleasure and we want to as long as possible. ... Anything else time will bring.

KJ5: Are the songs you create using English or German lyrics?
ANSWER: Anything we did so far was in English. There are a few really nice bands doing it in German like Godhatecode or Japanese Kampfhörspiele. I can imagine having a song in German some day. But we didn’t try that so far.

KJ6: What are the lyrical themes?
ANSWER: When it comes to lyrics we have two sides of a coin somehow. On the one hand, the lyrics deal with reality and the society of today...freedom versus the different kinds of oppression one can find almost everywhere. “Palace Revolution” is a good example: The lyrics are inspired by the activist group Femen. Two girls from a Russian punk band were sent to a Siberian prison in 2013 for provocation and vandalism against the Russian authority. In fact they were sentenced for being critical and free-thinking. They kept up to their ideals and did not stop to speak out their criticism.

“Basics in Brutality” for example is an anti-war song about childhood-soldiers. By the way we use “Death-Metal-Language” on topics like that.

On the other hand, we also stand in line with the lyrical traditions of Death Metal in general. “Scumrise” for example deals with the classic horror of dead people walking around.

KJ7: Why do you like to play old-school death-metal / grind instead of deathcore or other modern styles?
ANSWER: Playing the style we do was (and is) no decision against deathcore or any other modern style of brutal music. We try to create the most intense music we can and death metal is a passion we share. Calling the sound a mixture of Brutal Death, Old School Death and Grindcore came up after the first songs were ready and we listened to them. And these styles also are important to all of us as fans and listeners as well.

KJ8: When did you first become fans of metal bands?
ANSWER: All of us got in touch with metal when we were kids. I for example started being 13 years old. My very first bands were AC/DC and W.A.S.P. But it didn’t take long until I found Kreator, Nuclear Assault, S.O.D., Morbid Angel and stuff like that.

KJ9: Have you heard any Indonesian death metal or grindcore bands? I can recommend Jasad, Jihad, Bleeding Corpse, Turbidity, and Death Vomit among others for DM and Deadly Weapon and G.A.S for grindcore.
ANSWER: I must admit that I do not really know too much about the Indonesian scene. But thanks for the crash course. I really enjoy your recommendations. Great taste!!! All I knew until now was that there are a lot of really brutal bands coming from Indonesia. I heard Jasad, “Rebirth of Jatisunda” before, for example. But it’s not easy to get your music here in Germany besides a few clips via youtube and stuff like that...You caught my attention to dig a little more.

KJ10: There was a Christian death-metal band in Germany called Sacrificium a while back. I thought they were pretty good. Have you heard of them and do you know whether they are still active?
ANSWER: Yep, they are still alive and playing. In 2013/2014 they came up with an album called “Prey for Your Gods”. See http://facebook.com/SacrificiumOfficial

KJ11: What is the metal scene like in your town or city and what are the best bands from there (any genre)?
ANSWER: The scene is healthy and growing. But our city itself is not too famous for Death Metal. If you ask for local bands I can recommend it’s Orphalis – http://facebook.com/orphalisband We are gonna share the stage with those guys in the very near future. And if you look into the more or less close neighbourhood it’s Phobiatic for Death Metal and Keitzer as well as Depression for Grindcore.

KJ12: What are your most memorable shows or experiences on stage?
ANSWER: The most memorable show on a death metal stage was back with Exposed Guts here in Dortmund. We played with God Dethroned. And during our set all lights went out. But we just got on and the crowd got really mad in a very positive way that evening. With Symmetric Organ we once in a while have after-show parties that are truly memorable hahaha.

KJ13: Have you got any message for the fans?
ANSWER: Keep it up! Stay true to your ideals, stay brutal and thanks for the support.

KJ14: OK, thank-you very much.
ANSWER: Thanks to you! It was a pleasure!
The 10-track debut album States of Decay was released independently on 10 October 2016.

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