For those who still don't know about CATARACT, would you be nice enough to give us the most important point of your carrer?
Cataract were founded by our guitarists Simon and Greg and myself in 1998 when we decided to leave our other bands behind and start something new, more metallic, more aggressive. We completed the line up (back then with a different singer) and recorded a demo, a 7'', various compilation tracks and finally our first full length ''golem'' for Ferret recds. In 2001 our actual singer Federico joined the band and we did a MCD called ''martyr's melodies'' and then later our second full length ''great days of vengeance'', both were released on LifeForce records.
Now we've joined Metal Blade recds which is basically a dream coming true, and our third full length is gonna be our by far best release so far and as we think a worthy first one on this historical label.
You have just signed the contract with Metal Blade which is one of the biggest metal label in the world. How did your new label become interested in you? What it a surprise for you?
As mentioned above, we've been around long before we started cataract, one of the better known bands from that time was MINE, who lasted from about ''92 to '96. so I guess they took notice of us and kept watching us from the distance hahaha! I personally was very surprised when they contacted us, but once the contact was there I knew we're gonna make it. We're playing live a lot, we're hard working and we're doing our own thing and it was about time one of the bigger labels noticed that.
What are the things you wanted to improve between your previous cds and the new one ? What are the main differences between this new cd and the others?
you can basically say that our new record is a bastard of all the records we have done so far. ''golem'' was an angry piece of very hardcore influenced music, songs that came straight from the heart right in your face. ''great days'' was more experimental, more metal influenced. We had guest musicians, we played around with keyboards, voices, sounds… ''with triumph comes loss'' is taking the best from both of these releases and extracting what we can call our own sound now; our music. we never really picked up on trends, but with this record we managed to define our sound. It's one piece of hard hitting metal/hardcore music without any ''if'' or ''maybe'', and along with this goes the layout, the lyrics, everything.
You have worked with Tue Madsen for the productions of this new release. Did you try some new elements/ideas during the recording process ?
Actually there wasn't much we tried during the recordings. Of course there were some spontaneous changes to some songs, but that wasn't because of Tue. We did play around with the intros, some overdubs and additional vocals, but we had a fixed idea of how we wanted the record to be like. What was new to this recording session was the way we recorded it, so that brought many changes with it - Tue's way of working is far different from what we've been used to so far. he's got a strict working schedule, you start in the morning and by six in the evening the session is over. he lets you do as you think it's best, but he's making sure you do that the best way you can. Man, he stopped us playing saying ''that sucked, you can do MUCH better than this!'' He's not trying to talk you into something, but still he will keep you away from making terrible mistakes. After all it's his name that's going to be on the record.
Let's talk about the lyrics. What kind of topic did you write about?
Our lyrics cover a wide range of topics. They mainly are our personal view of things that happen today, in today's society, dealing with ethnic, political and ecological issues, and there's also may I say ''easy'' lyrics about how we love this music. We avoid to preach our personal believes to the audience, we rather try to point out what we think is wrong, or what we think is the cause for something going wrong. We're using a easy language and lots of symbolic speaking so people will get the message. Our record will have a 24 page booklet and there's additional thoughts to every song in there as well and we urge people to read it. We don't expect people to have the same opinion as we have, but at least they should make up their own opinion about the things that happen. Having a different point of view is fine, but having no point of view or just repeat key phrases is pretty lame.
What are your views on current hardcore metal trend (at least, that's what people use to call it)?
I personally wouldn't call it a trend as all the bands that are now considered trendy because they got signed to bigger labels have been around for ages. Caliban for example, who probably are the best selling european hc/metal band, started off playing sticky cellars like every underground band. Same goes for Heaven Shall Burn, who just released ''antigone'' on a major label. All these bands plus various others like Killswitch Engage, Unearth, God Forbid etc have created a new genre of music and now that the world finally pays attention I think it's wrong to call it a trend. It's got history, and people shouldn't forget to notice that. Sure the spotlight's on this music now but I think it's about time it happened.
People may get the impression that there's an overkill of releases now, but those bands have all been releasing records before. Thus, instead of complaining about the latest ''trend'' they should give it a listen and see for themselves what this music holds for them. I just recall a dread locked metalhead with a manowar sweater that came upfront after we played the federicia festival in danmark last weekend, saying ''I don't care about Metalcore at all, but you guys fuckin blew me away!''.
What is, in your opinion, the best cd album released this year?
That's a tough one. Xasthur's ''funeral of being'' is currently stuck in my player, so I'll pick that. It has an incredible atmosphere within, and its definitely not easy listening. Other nominees would be Hatesphere ''ballet of the brute'', Decapitated ''the negation'', Dillinger Escape Plan ''miss machine'', Terror ''one with the underdog'', Cannibal Corpse ''the wretched spawn'', Unearth ''the oncoming storm''.
Which bands would you compare the band with?
I think that's your job! Haha! I don't want to compare us to any band here, even there are big names dropped whenever I read a review. But if I'd do it, people would expect exactly those band's trademarks, but that's not what we do. That'll make us a rip off and we clearly are not a rip off band. Our sound has developed thru various releases and various years now and I don't want to reduce it to some bands.
Is any members of the band involved in other projects/bands?
No, cataract is the only band we're in. we focus all our energy and creativity in it and it pays off.
Apart from music, do you have others hobbys/passions ?
of course, all of us do have their own passions, but I can tell you that music dominates us all. Cataract takes almost all of the spare time we have, be it rehearsing twice a week, or shows at the weekends, or just doing stuff for the band – it's actually more than just a hobby.
My personal hobby would be deejaying in some pubs in Zurich. You would be scared about the music I play there hahaha!
Which cds do you consider as being cult or must have for you ?
A question every musician loves! I think you can figure out there are some classic records that I will always listen to:
Slayer ''reign in blood'', Morbid Angel ''altars of madness'', Death ''scream bloody gore'', Carnivore ''retaliation'', Iron Maiden ''live after death''.. but there are also some releases that I'd like people to give a listen to, they might not be well known but the hidden treasures are always the most interesting… Sacrifice ''torment in fire'' (on metal blade! duh!!), Sabbat (uk) ''history of a time to come'', Znöwhite ''act of god'', Citizens Arrest ''colossus'', Assück ''anticapital'', anything by Leviathan (us) and Xasthur. I could go on forever. Almost every record in my collection means a lot to me and I love listening to those albums.
Did you ever heard a metal/hardcore Band from France ? What do you think about the french scene (labels/bands etc)?
I sure did, I used to do a print zine (which I fucked up releasing after the second issue), and I was in touch with the KDS crew (hey Olivier if you read this – I know I suck) and I had many demos and records from French bands, Stormcore, Kickback and AWOL being my fave ones. I'm sure you know the ''in this other land'' compilation on Overcome, that was one hell of a release. At that time the French scene had so many great bands, it's a shame they didn't get the respect they deserved.
Some words about the "Suisse" hardcore and metal scene ? What are you thinking about bands like Nostromo, Sentence, unjust ?
I think the swiss underground scene has been doing well eversince. We've always had outstanding bands (Celtic Frost/Hellhammer, Fear Of God, also Krokus should be named here). And its still going strong. there's many bands that don't have to hide behind anyone – Solid Ground, Disparaged, Knut, Nostromo, Despise, Dark Day Dungeon, the list goes on and on. I appreciate this growing and thriving scene and I hope the existing bands will grow stronger and new band will come up so we can wipe the current soft snuggle ''I love you'' rock that's poisoning this country off the face of the earth.
A few words for our french readers ?
get our new album and come check us out live! We're currently setting up a European tour with germany's Maroon and if you want to book a show, get in touch with MAD booking! Check our all new website on www.cataract.cc!
And thanks again for the interview to you Greg, keep up the great work!