-VS : Hey Michiel or maybe you would prefer that I call you spindoctor ?  Well let's start with a basic question : can you give us a short history of MONOLITH and of your past career in brutal music?
-Michiel (aka The Monolith Death Cult Spindoctor) : It is The Monolith Deathcult. We exist now for some 8 months. Drummer Sjoerd played before TMDC in Altar(well-known from the Youth Against Christ album) and he plays behind TMDC in a Ducth gothic band To Elysium. Robin played before TMDC in a Cryptopsy like band Exposing Innards and is the leadsinger of Slayne.Martijn played before TMDC in Eternal Conspiracy, a Cradle of Filth like blackmetalband. I played before TMDC also in Eternal Conspiracy and was for three years Bassplayer/Vocalist in the Dutch thrashband Deadhead. We joined forces together to show the world the new deadly face of ,Deathmetal. We warn you France , The Monolith Deathcult has arrived, and you must now decide how to deal with it

-VS : Well , when I read this I got the feeling that most of your members have played in "replica" bands. Does it bother you that your label introduces TMDC as a NILE-like band ? Did you plan to sound like this when you started to compose for "The Apotheosis" ? And do you think you're really the Dutch answer to NILE ?
-Michiel : No, we don't think that we are the Dutch answer to Nile. We play the music we like and it sound indeed like Nile. Our songstructures are totally different from the Egyptian Deathmetalgods but we have the same "drive" and "madness". Par example, 70% of the riffs on The Apotheosis are old riffs from my former band Eternal Conspiracy. Eternal Conspiracy was a Cradle of Filth cloning blackmetalband so our riffs are sounding like Nile? Hahaha!
The fact is that Nile will be the first band where you think of while listening to our album for the first time. We've been compared with all sort of bands. From Immolation(Never heard of, saw them last friday as Cradle of Filth support, great band!) to Malevolant Creation( Never heard of). Nile is in my opinion one of the best deathmetalbands ever so to be compared with them is a great compliment for us. There are thousands of bands who sound like Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel and nobody is bothering about it. We are the first band with the guts to play deathmetal with the skill of Nile. So we are a little bit original hehehe. Europe, follow your leader hehehehehe.
France!! I am a sarcastic ignorant Dutch motherfucker...Forgive me, I don't know what I am doing...

-VS : Never heard any IMMOLATION or MALEVOLENT CREATION material? Did you spend the last fifteen years in prison or are you living in a cave ? I'm really surprised indeed. Before we started this interview you told me you were not into death metal much but I thought it was a joke. Seems you're serious. So I guess you're into SLIPKNOT and Annie Lenox as you told me ? Do you think adding other music influences into death metal makes it more interesting and do you think you accomplished this with TMDC?
- Michiel : I know the names of the bands, I know their cd-covers,  but I haven't cd's from them. I am just 24 years old. I came into the extreme metal by Gorefest(False) en Altar(Youth Against Christ). Before that I was into Guns n' Roses and Metallica. I am not deep into deathmetal, underground and all that sort of stuff. My favourite bands are My Dying Bride, Cradle of Filth, Slipknot, Nile, Cannibal Corpse, Type O Negative, Slayer. There are already a lot of non-deathmetal influences in the sound of TMDC. The songs are written in a "catchy" way and you can hear very clear our blackmetal roots .  On the next album we use more blastbeats, more solo's but also more ultraslow heavy doomparts. We proof the scene that you could write a very brutal, extreme but commercial sounding deathmetal album without being underground for hundred years and playing in lousy pubs for fifty euro's and a crate of beer.

-VS : I see, you're not into this kind of music much.  Alas, you're not into neo-metal !!!
Your album is just out and you are already talking about the next one. Aren't you afraid to drive your career too fast ? Maybe you should wait longer to get a real response from the press and public? I mean, will you continue this way if you notice TMDC has bad feedback ?
-Michiel : We are constantly busy writing new and better songs. When I talk about the next album I mean that we will not wait for a year until we gonna write new songs. In December 2003 we will be ready to record the second album,but the decission to record it is at the record company. But we will be ready for it. In my opinion the time between the debut and the sequel can't be too long because people have a very short memory. Bad feedback is an extra drive to write a better album.

- VS : You said something very interesting earlier about commercial sounding death metal. The fact is most death bands do not live off their music.  How is a band commercial when it sells only a few thousand records or less? Alot of the music we enjoy is typically considered underground for most people. Is it possible to make a living off of music that is not considered commercially viable?
- Michiel : Of course it won't be easy but there must be a first band to do it. Here in Holland nobody ever expected Roots Bloody Roots from Sepultura in de Charts. We play pure deathmetal but we write our songs in a way that people who don't like deathmetal are banging their heads. A lot of people say:" The music is cool, but the voices are awful". We have no ambition to stay underground, we want to be big as Slipknot par example, but only on our conditions. We shall never change our style of music for radio airplay or something. We shall never getting softer so people can dance on it. We shall never write a ballad like Nothing Else Matters. We are The Monolith Deathcult, this is what we play. You like it? Cool! You hate it? No problem, listen to something else.......

-VS : Be careful, metal fans could follow your advice and listen to something else.
In my opinion, TMDC sounds more like a US band than a Dutch one. Was it intentional ? Do you think there's a typical Dutch sound ? Could we say your band is a new step in the evolution of the Dutch death metal scene?
-Michiel : We didn't create the US sound on purpose. We do what we think is cool and brutal.We come to the rehearsalroom with a lot of riffs. We combine them, write a second guitarpart on it and a song is born. The Malleus Maleficarum Manuscript and Coloseum Carnage doens't sound like US death in mij opinion. I think a band like the old Gorefest had a typical Dutsch sound just like God Dethroned. I don't know if we are the next step, I don't think so but I am sure that we are the first band in Holland with this style of deathmetal. The rest of the scene is more like Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse.

-VS : Well it seems that the dutch metal scene isn't very spectacular except for a few bands; we don't hear about it much. Speaking of your country of origin, could you translate the Dutch text found in the booklet?  Why didn't you write it in English? Is this a way to stay close to your roots ?
-Michiel : Hmm I don't think that somebody from France can say that our scene isn't spectacular. Give me 5 cool French bands if you could hahaha. I can't translate the Dutsch text exactly because it is old-Dutch. It's a quote from the famous Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter, it is an ancient freedom of speech. Is said something like"When the situation in my country is so misserable that I can't speak the thruth, I will speak the thruth as long as my eyes are open".

-VS : Well I'll agree to educate you on French bands if you do the same with me on the Dutch scene.  As long as you don't talk to me about bands like Cradle of Filth, then I'm ok, hehehe. Anyways, it seems you guys love guitar solos in the vein of old-SLAYER.  Well of course you don't play as well as Jeff Hanemann does, but is SLAYER a main influence for you and do you miss the fact SLAYER doesn't duel guitars anymore ?
-Michiel : Well when we started The Monolith Deathcult we wanted a band which goes totally "over the top". Most deathmetalbands in Holland use 1 guitarplayer and play riff after riff. We think that is boring after 3 songs, so we decided to play neo deathmetal with the good old Slayer guitarduels for extra madness. Of course we don't play as well as Haneman and King but is you listen to their first albums you can hear that they strike more false than good notes, but that doens't matter. The madness is great. We are also heavenly influenced by my old thrashband Deadhead, they are also using guitarduels like the old Slayer.
Hmmm the only cool band I know from France is Anorexia Nervosa.............hehe

-VS : Well, fortunately we have other good bands here. Back to "The Apotheosis" and the religious aspect of certain tracks like "Slayer of Jihad" - Do you think it's safe to name a song like this nowadays ? Did you have any pressure from your label or from other people ? TMDC could be the next victim of terrorists who don't like your stuff or your sense of humor.
-Michiel : Well we got a freedom of speech here in Holland. If you can say anything about christianity, you can also say stuff about the Islam or other religions. Poeple often call us racists, but that's stupid because the Islams isn't a race but a religion. I don't know if it is safe. If they will attack or harm us for it everybody will know that we were right about them. Every metalband is against christianity, but I think the extreme Islams is on of the greatest danger in the nowadays world. Worship God or die isn't my way of living...

-VS : Well the fact is all religions are dangerous when the faith is extreme.  I've noticed that you are not very popular among some people that I have talked to.  I've heard the comments, "oh those pretentious guys", and I have to admit that before this interview, I thought to myself, "What a bunch of assholes".  Now that I know you, it seems we were all wrong.  Is this image on purpose, are you trying to be provocative?
-Michiel : Let me first tell you this. TMDC is a very serious band, but I think there's lack of humor and sarcasm in the metalscene.Everybody is taking everything so serious that we automatic get the need to provocate. Metalbands like to agitate against religions and "normal way of life" but when they have been attacked in their "own scene" they are insulted. I think that's a bit hypocrite and childish. We have a "fuck you" attitude to everything so also against our own"scene". Saying that we want to be commercial and stuff. People calll us "$ell Outs". That's funny, because our music is just extreme that we will never enter the charts, but most of the people don't notice that. They are only staring blind on the one phrase about being commercial. It's no image, it is just how we are. People hate us and people love is for that. The Monolith Deathcult has arrived and now you must decide how to deal with it.
Who is talking about"those pretencious guys..."? If they got the balls they will share the stage with us. We blow them all from stage, one by one....

-VS : The fact is if I like your music, but my initial impression was not favorable.   I don't have the balls to come and share the stage with you,  but I've got the balls to tell you what I was thinking. You're exactly right when you say people in metal don't have enough humor, but TMCD is the proof things can change.
About sharing the stage, you've just come back from your tour with THE CROWN and SKINLESS. Tell me about this tour. Which audience gave you the best response? Do you think this kind of lineup was a bit strange ? I mean,  thrash with brutal death bands on the same tour seems a little unnatural ?
-Michiel : The tour was great! We get great response everywhere we played. This tour was a perfect platform to introduce The Monolith Deathcult to the European crowds. In London(Camden Town) was the response awesome. We sold 20 cd's in one evening. People were totally blown away by our sound. Switserland was also great! Touring with The Crown and Skinless was no problem. Al bands are brutal as fuck but in another way so it was a perfect evening out for the metalheads! Unatural?Cradle of Filth is did recently a tour with Immolation and in the past they did an US tour with Nile. Cool story. In London some lousy junk tried to steal our laptops and stuff from the tourbus. Martijn(guitar left) catched him and smashed him down, take him in a strangehold and called Robin and I. We called the cops, the junk get arrested and we made it to the frontpage of the Camden Journal.
Don't fuck with the Deathcult!!

-VS : Well there are better ways to be on the front page of a journal, hé hé hé.
Back to "The Apotheosis",  what kind of look do you have about it now ? You told us about the band's evolution but how do you see TMDC in several years ? Do you think it's easy to progress with this kind of music ? In general, what do you see for the future of death métal music ?
- Michiel : We are still very satisfied with the album. Yetserday we started wit the new material. It is very fast and brutal but also depressing and emotional( de use of notes like My Dying Bride does). The new songs have a morbid, deseased atmosphere with very brutal balstbeats and a lot of headbangparts. People who Like The Apotheosis wil also like the new stuff. it is more ballanced, we are exploring the boundaries of our capabilities and try to create a "new" style of deathmetal. Fast, brutal but different from the "normal" deathmetal. The future of deathmetal...The strong will survive the weak and only the good bands will survive

-VS : Well I'm not exactly in agreement with that. There are a lot of good bands that don't get the success they deserve. There are so many bands and records nowadays. Sometimes it's difficult  to find genius in the middle of mediocrity. It's sad to say, but a good band is nothing without good promotion. It seems you were lucky with Cold Blood Industries which has done a great job for you.  How did you sign with C.B.I. ?
- Michiel : We do not care so much about the promotional stuff. If they distribute our cd, it is fine with us(not meant in a negative way, their promotional guy Rogier is awesome!!)We are a self supporting band. If there isn's any news about the Deathcult, well than we create news by ourself. Nowadays the music isn't enough anymore. When a band think that they need attention...? Well work for it. Everything is possible now with the internet. Bands are lazy. If they are so good as they think they are the people will notice them but they had to work for it. The CBI signing..? CBI didn't choose for us, we choose for them. Before we played one note we decided already that we want to coorporate with CBI, because we knew Berthus Wetserhuis(Frankies Recording Kitchen) en Henri Satler (God Dethroned) already. We knew that they are good for their bands and they are very relaxed persons.

-VS : I see but why didn't you choose a bigger label like Century Media or Nuclear Blast ? Are you too good for them ? (lol) Anyway this interview is almost done. Let’s give us your actual playlist
- Michiel : No, that's not the reason. When we started the band 8 months ago we were "nobodies". We are still nobodies in the eye of bigger labels. By a big label like Nuclear Blast or Century Media we do not get the attention we need for a band with a short existence like us. By a bigger label you are a number. By CBI we are special, because we are the only band in the US death genre on that label, so they can concentrate their promotional activities more specifique on The Monolith Deathcult.

My actual playlist in random order:
-My Dying Bride                 The Dreadful Hours
-Nile                                  Catacombs/Black Seeds/Shrines
-Slipknot                            Disasterpieces DVD
-Cradle of Filth                    Damnation and a Day
-Cannibal Corpse                Complete discograpy
-The Monolith Deatchult       The Apotheosis

-VS : Now it's up to you to finish off this (hateful?) interview.  Please try to be modest for this one- loooooool
- Michiel : Well I am afraid that I had to dissapoint you. The interview wans't hatefull as I expected but it was very cool to do! Thanks man! We hope that we come in the autumn with a tour to France so we can kick your asses!! Thank you very much for your musical education Thierry, good luck with tha magazine and I hope to see you in future on tour.

Hail and Kill

The Monolith Deathcult Wordfuhrer