Michiel Dekker - MONOLITH DEATHCULT par TONTON - 4301 lectures
De retour avec le fracassant “White Crematorium”, MONOLITH DEATHCULT a prouvé qu’il pouvait prendre un peu le large quant à ses influences jadis trop marquées. Cette sortie était également l’occasion de retrouver leur chanteur, guitariste pour une seconde fois dans une nouvelle discussion à bâtons-rompus.
VS : Hey Michiel, ready to answer more nasty questions ? MONOLITH DEATHCULT second's release is out since a few... I have the feeling it hasn't been easy to find a new deal after Cold Blood's end. Do you think it has something to do with the title of thi
Michiel : Hello Thierry and Violent Solutions,
We of The Monolith Deathcult are very nasty people as you can read everywhere in the wordl wide metalpress, some people called us a Nasty band?! I can't fucking believe that?!
There is a misunderstanding. We had already a new deal before Cold Blood Industries officially put their flags down. It had nothing to do with the title. We had already a deal with Karmageddon Media before we start to think about a title. Of course we tried to get a big label like Metal Blade, Nuclear Blast, Releapse and Listenable but the didn't dare to sign us. At that moment we weren't "big"enough for labels like that.
I do not understand your question about the title of our new album. What is wrong with the title "The White Crematorium"? Do you get political incorrect feelings by hearing that title? Visions of crematories full of white people?
That sounds very racist Mr Tonton!
The only bad reputation we have is the reputation of very bad musicians.
Michiel : Hello Thierry and Violent Solutions,
We of The Monolith Deathcult are very nasty people as you can read everywhere in the wordl wide metalpress, some people called us a Nasty band?! I can't fucking believe that?!
There is a misunderstanding. We had already a new deal before Cold Blood Industries officially put their flags down. It had nothing to do with the title. We had already a deal with Karmageddon Media before we start to think about a title. Of course we tried to get a big label like Metal Blade, Nuclear Blast, Releapse and Listenable but the didn't dare to sign us. At that moment we weren't "big"enough for labels like that.
I do not understand your question about the title of our new album. What is wrong with the title "The White Crematorium"? Do you get political incorrect feelings by hearing that title? Visions of crematories full of white people?
That sounds very racist Mr Tonton!
The only bad reputation we have is the reputation of very bad musicians.
Michiel : Strange...you have a bad feeling by a title like The White Crematorium? That's ok, because we are a deathmetal band and not a flowercult for "open sandals and woolly socks types". About the title of the album; The White Crematorium is a sobriquet for Stalin's labour-prisoncamps situated in the extreme cold north of Siberia. The people of the Soviet Union feared Kolyma more than any other region of the Gulag Empire. "Kolyma znaczit smert" was the common phrase whispered at the time, and translates, without loss, to "Kolyma means death." Metalheads Against Racism is not an organisation, it is just one guy who is running that site. The reason why we put the whole stuff on Blabbermouth was because there was no other way to defend ourselves against his slander. There was not a forum or guestbook on his site. The idea behind Metalheads Against Racism is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard about in my life. On his site there is a list of bands who are supporting his idea's. Most of the bands are stupid fucking grindbands with lyrics about raping people, killing people, necrophilia or overdone anti-christian bullshit. Is that a way of giving respect for human life? People like Mike Meier do not have a normal life, they are the whole day busy with sticking their noses in other people's business and Basis Fawlty said it once before; That is exactely how World War II started.
VS : To go back to this new album... You have reach a new step in MONOLITH DEATHCULT's career with historical lyrics. How did you turn this way and don't you think you're talking about these throught some kind of unconcerned way ? I mean, you're just talk
Michiel : We didn't want to write songs about stupid things. There are enough bands with overdone childish lyrics. We want something different so we decided to write lyrics about brutal and nasty historical events. I am a history teacher, so we have pleny of subjects to write songs about. The fact that certain historically accurate matters are quite sensitive in some countries is no problem, we like to piss people off. Why should we take position? Deathmetal is a musicstyle with a nasty and evil image. Well I think that WW I, WO II and The USSR are nasty and evil enough People who can't deal with this historical accurate information should go listen to John Denver or something. If we take a position we will become a political bands with a political message. That is not what we want. Of course we do not support an evil ideology or something, but we think that the listeners are capable enough to understand that we are not supporting these terrible crimes. You can compare it with a sort of history book. Sometimes it happens that a topic is treated which certain people rather would not be reminded about because of the heinous deeds of their forfathers but we know that most people are too retarded to take a good look at our lyrics, but we refuse to lyrically adapt and limit ourselves to suit the IQ of the contemporary metal fan. Mankind is sick and we show them a lurrid mirror.
Michiel : We didn't want to write songs about stupid things. There are enough bands with overdone childish lyrics. We want something different so we decided to write lyrics about brutal and nasty historical events. I am a history teacher, so we have pleny of subjects to write songs about. The fact that certain historically accurate matters are quite sensitive in some countries is no problem, we like to piss people off. Why should we take position? Deathmetal is a musicstyle with a nasty and evil image. Well I think that WW I, WO II and The USSR are nasty and evil enough People who can't deal with this historical accurate information should go listen to John Denver or something. If we take a position we will become a political bands with a political message. That is not what we want. Of course we do not support an evil ideology or something, but we think that the listeners are capable enough to understand that we are not supporting these terrible crimes. You can compare it with a sort of history book. Sometimes it happens that a topic is treated which certain people rather would not be reminded about because of the heinous deeds of their forfathers but we know that most people are too retarded to take a good look at our lyrics, but we refuse to lyrically adapt and limit ourselves to suit the IQ of the contemporary metal fan. Mankind is sick and we show them a lurrid mirror.
VS : I guess that's the reason why, you are explainning all the songs with a short article... To make everything clear. Can we talk about historical brutal death metal in your case ? Is that something you plan to keep in the futur ?That's very kind to tea
Michiel : No, the explaining of the songs is not or a disclaimer or something, but we think that a songs knocks you harder when you know the background of the lyrics. We think it might be interesting for the listeners to kno more about the lyrics. The stuff we treated in the songs are historical facts who not known by everyone. Hehe I am not teaching the metalheads, if I studied economics I maybe write songs about Wallstreet or the Dow Jones. Another reason for using this kind of lyrics is that the press is very interested in what we do. The questions in interviews are much more cooler than"How are the reactions so far, tell me the history of the band" and so on. We also got a lot of attention from the non-metalpress. A lot of papers and magazines are asking for an interview with TMDC. Historical brutal death is a good name, I am sure we keep this kind of lyrics in future. Maybe some more ancient history mixed with Sci-Fi. I like the theory of the Stargate movie. I also read books from the German scientist Erich van Daniken. This theory is about the story that alien visitors created for example the Maya and Egyptian culture. The cities and Pyramids can never be built by humans without high-technology. Scientist found a lot of ancient incriptions from al over the world with the same story about the Gods from Heaven who learned them technology. There is so much evidence for that theory but is doen't fit in our way of thinking so it is smothered. For example, scientist tell us that the great Pyramid is built by pharao Khufu and is built out of 2.500.000.If the workers were able to pile up 10 immense stones a day( and that's impossible, the didn't knew the wheel, they didn't use horses and the stone quarry was some 20 mlies away) it costs 684 years to built the Pyramid. That's even fotr a king a very high age This is very interesting stuff for lyrics. Origin is an example of that kind of lyrics.
Michiel : No, the explaining of the songs is not or a disclaimer or something, but we think that a songs knocks you harder when you know the background of the lyrics. We think it might be interesting for the listeners to kno more about the lyrics. The stuff we treated in the songs are historical facts who not known by everyone. Hehe I am not teaching the metalheads, if I studied economics I maybe write songs about Wallstreet or the Dow Jones. Another reason for using this kind of lyrics is that the press is very interested in what we do. The questions in interviews are much more cooler than"How are the reactions so far, tell me the history of the band" and so on. We also got a lot of attention from the non-metalpress. A lot of papers and magazines are asking for an interview with TMDC. Historical brutal death is a good name, I am sure we keep this kind of lyrics in future. Maybe some more ancient history mixed with Sci-Fi. I like the theory of the Stargate movie. I also read books from the German scientist Erich van Daniken. This theory is about the story that alien visitors created for example the Maya and Egyptian culture. The cities and Pyramids can never be built by humans without high-technology. Scientist found a lot of ancient incriptions from al over the world with the same story about the Gods from Heaven who learned them technology. There is so much evidence for that theory but is doen't fit in our way of thinking so it is smothered. For example, scientist tell us that the great Pyramid is built by pharao Khufu and is built out of 2.500.000.If the workers were able to pile up 10 immense stones a day( and that's impossible, the didn't knew the wheel, they didn't use horses and the stone quarry was some 20 mlies away) it costs 684 years to built the Pyramid. That's even fotr a king a very high age This is very interesting stuff for lyrics. Origin is an example of that kind of lyrics.
Michiel : Why are you using the word "gay" in a negative context. Do you have a problem with homosexual people? Hehe. About the synthsizers (keyboards are stuff for children). Carsten Altena did already some samples and synths on the Apotheosis so it was a logical choice to ask him again for The White Crematorium. We did already record all the guitar/bass and drumtracks before we ask Carsten to add some weird sounds, industrial noise and orchestra samples. Carsten added his parts and the result was amazing. We decided to ask him to join The Monolith Deathcult and he agreed. I think that TMDC sounds with a sampler /synthplayer a lot different from the other (mostly) boring Deathmetalbands. Of course our blackmetalroots had something to do with it, but we don't use the synths in a blackmetal way.Josh Silver of Type O Negative is a big influence but also the concrete wall of sound form Strapping Young Lad. If we play in France we gonna use corpse paint.
VS : I don’t have any problem with homosexuality as some dutch musicians I know are gay. Hé hé. Yeah, I’m agree the new TMDC sound is more open. Your music is more varied and the NILE influences are less important than before. You’re also trying more lo
Michiel : AJ wrote also the instrumental titletrack on The Apotheosis album, Robin and I did some vocals on his Legion project and AJ was once stand-in guitarplayer for Martijn. Sjoerd and I are at the moment also in Beyond Belief on drums and bass. We know AJ for years, he is my neighbour and we decided it is cool to have a unusual instrumental track on the album. My biggest influence Cradle of Filth is doing this on all their albums. Of course we suck, but we also think that 45 minutes brutal deathmetal is too brutal for many faggot ears. An instrumental is taking the listener back on track. We do not play easy listening music and we think that 8 tracks on full speed is too much for the listener. The Haunted Ravines of Babi Yar would be the first single, but the Germans do not agree. Afraid to face history? Robin(bass/vocals) and I are huge fans of Type O Negative(You know Peter Steele Thierry, the guy in Playgirl) and My Dying Bride. The idea for a doomtrack was always there but we were looking for a cool theme. We used The White Crematorium as subject and we tried to reproduce the sad, cold and miserable athmosphere of the Kolyma region in Siberia. The polarwinds were recorded with a 700 euro microphone in my bathroom. We put the Partei hat Immer Recht after The White Crematorium to create some Controverse. Those who've (partly) mastered the German tongue but don't take any particular notice of the lyrics will immediately –by virtue of the nature of the song- take it for a Nazi song, the irony of which gives us the biggest satisfaction: all the paranoid wankers accuse us of being racist/fascist/both going down flat down on their faced when they do their homework and find out it's a communist song. The underlying message is: systematic ideological extermination was/is being carried out on both extremes of the political spectrum, it's just that people fail to recognize the significance of that fact. 15-year old kids walking around with hammer-and-sickles on their shirts to me is the same as walking around with a swastika shirt.
Michiel : AJ wrote also the instrumental titletrack on The Apotheosis album, Robin and I did some vocals on his Legion project and AJ was once stand-in guitarplayer for Martijn. Sjoerd and I are at the moment also in Beyond Belief on drums and bass. We know AJ for years, he is my neighbour and we decided it is cool to have a unusual instrumental track on the album. My biggest influence Cradle of Filth is doing this on all their albums. Of course we suck, but we also think that 45 minutes brutal deathmetal is too brutal for many faggot ears. An instrumental is taking the listener back on track. We do not play easy listening music and we think that 8 tracks on full speed is too much for the listener. The Haunted Ravines of Babi Yar would be the first single, but the Germans do not agree. Afraid to face history? Robin(bass/vocals) and I are huge fans of Type O Negative(You know Peter Steele Thierry, the guy in Playgirl) and My Dying Bride. The idea for a doomtrack was always there but we were looking for a cool theme. We used The White Crematorium as subject and we tried to reproduce the sad, cold and miserable athmosphere of the Kolyma region in Siberia. The polarwinds were recorded with a 700 euro microphone in my bathroom. We put the Partei hat Immer Recht after The White Crematorium to create some Controverse. Those who've (partly) mastered the German tongue but don't take any particular notice of the lyrics will immediately –by virtue of the nature of the song- take it for a Nazi song, the irony of which gives us the biggest satisfaction: all the paranoid wankers accuse us of being racist/fascist/both going down flat down on their faced when they do their homework and find out it's a communist song. The underlying message is: systematic ideological extermination was/is being carried out on both extremes of the political spectrum, it's just that people fail to recognize the significance of that fact. 15-year old kids walking around with hammer-and-sickles on their shirts to me is the same as walking around with a swastika shirt.
VS : Well, I'm not totaly agree about your shirt opinions and I'm not familiar with playgirl. Let's go back to "the White Crematorium". While you were composing/writing it, did you realise it would turn as your best track ever ? Do you plan to add it to y
Michiel : When we wrote the titletrack we had something in the mind, but we never expected the finishing result. The plan was to write a laden doomtrack as a counterpart to all the fast stuff. When I heard Morbid Ange's Covenant for the firts time I really lied the fast stuff, but God of Emptiness was an absolute killer track. Is is a very nasty cooling down at the end of the album. That idea what we had in mind bu the title track. The subject of Stalin's labourcamps including the sickness, hunger, endless planes filled with ice and the lurking frozen death creates a perfect atmosphere for a doomtrack. We play the song already live in the middel of the set. We play a shorter version wich ends with feedfback and "The Partei hat Immer Recht". The confused faces of the crowd are priceless. Our songs have already a melancholic approach, but it is difficult to hear it in the pandemonium. For example: The part in Army of the Despised with the spoken "Do you see.."sample on it, the "Red Glory turn to green light" part in Concrete Sargophagus are riffs that could be used on a My Dying Bride album, but we use the riffs in common not in a doomy way. Funny is that the mainriff of The White Crematorium is a recycled riff from my former gay Cradle of Filth clone band.
Michiel : When we wrote the titletrack we had something in the mind, but we never expected the finishing result. The plan was to write a laden doomtrack as a counterpart to all the fast stuff. When I heard Morbid Ange's Covenant for the firts time I really lied the fast stuff, but God of Emptiness was an absolute killer track. Is is a very nasty cooling down at the end of the album. That idea what we had in mind bu the title track. The subject of Stalin's labourcamps including the sickness, hunger, endless planes filled with ice and the lurking frozen death creates a perfect atmosphere for a doomtrack. We play the song already live in the middel of the set. We play a shorter version wich ends with feedfback and "The Partei hat Immer Recht". The confused faces of the crowd are priceless. Our songs have already a melancholic approach, but it is difficult to hear it in the pandemonium. For example: The part in Army of the Despised with the spoken "Do you see.."sample on it, the "Red Glory turn to green light" part in Concrete Sargophagus are riffs that could be used on a My Dying Bride album, but we use the riffs in common not in a doomy way. Funny is that the mainriff of The White Crematorium is a recycled riff from my former gay Cradle of Filth clone band.
Michiel : Well it would be very chicken hearted if we put the song only on the album. Die Partei hat Immer Recht is not a silly provocation, it fits perfect in the atmosphere of the title track. Even people who don't speak German may hear that the song is about Stalin and Lenin. If you don't speak a language you must be very stupid to get angry about die Partei, but that's the lurrid mirror which we show to the listener. Yes, we love to play with symbols and I don't think it is bad for the band. The people know us for that. Metal is provocation, our attitude is an image which suits perfect to the music. We are nice people, the band is cool but we do what we want and we love to piss people off. There are so many bands at the moment. Music isn't enough in these days, so we needed a cool nasty image. Do you really think that Gwar is from the planet Ragnarok ?
VS : Well, actually they are from Ragnarok. To go back to your work, most of your recordings were produced by yourself in your own studio. Do you plan to keep on working this way or could you work with a real producer in the futur. Don’t you think an eye
Michiel : Well. that may be a misunderstanding. Our famous cvltpromo Obliteration of the Despised and our killer album The Apotheosis were recorded in the Vision Studio in Holland by our former soundengineer. The result was fine, but we were not completey satisfied.
The White Crematorium was recorded in two parts. First we recorded the drums in Ground Zero Studio(the owner is Pascal Altena, the twinbrother of synthplayer Carsten). The drums were edited and pre-mixed by Pascal. He send them as mp3 to my appartement. There was a supercomputer + a shitload of guitars and amps. We recoreded the guitars, bass and vocals in my appartement. When we started recording, only 5 of the 9 songs were ready. We had some idea's for Concrete, Babi Yar, The White Crematorium and Origin but nothing concrete. Sjoerd was drumming some parts and later we added guitarparts in my appartement. What I like to make clear with this story is that when you recorded your album at home, there is no time-pressure because there is no financial deadline.
After the recordings of the bass, vocals and guitars we burned the stuff on a dvd and send it back to Ground Zero. Carsten added his parts at home and send them also to Ground Zero. Pascal did the mixing and mastering in his studio and the job was done.
As you can hear the result is amazing. Maybe it is a good idea for Immolation to record their next album there. I like to hear a drummer on a record hehe…
Michiel : Well. that may be a misunderstanding. Our famous cvltpromo Obliteration of the Despised and our killer album The Apotheosis were recorded in the Vision Studio in Holland by our former soundengineer. The result was fine, but we were not completey satisfied.
The White Crematorium was recorded in two parts. First we recorded the drums in Ground Zero Studio(the owner is Pascal Altena, the twinbrother of synthplayer Carsten). The drums were edited and pre-mixed by Pascal. He send them as mp3 to my appartement. There was a supercomputer + a shitload of guitars and amps. We recoreded the guitars, bass and vocals in my appartement. When we started recording, only 5 of the 9 songs were ready. We had some idea's for Concrete, Babi Yar, The White Crematorium and Origin but nothing concrete. Sjoerd was drumming some parts and later we added guitarparts in my appartement. What I like to make clear with this story is that when you recorded your album at home, there is no time-pressure because there is no financial deadline.
After the recordings of the bass, vocals and guitars we burned the stuff on a dvd and send it back to Ground Zero. Carsten added his parts at home and send them also to Ground Zero. Pascal did the mixing and mastering in his studio and the job was done.
As you can hear the result is amazing. Maybe it is a good idea for Immolation to record their next album there. I like to hear a drummer on a record hehe…
VS : What about the upcoming plans for TMDC ? What about this LEGION project. I know there’s a complete downloadable recording over the web but are you gonna keep on working on it ?
Michiel : We are very busy with shows at the moment. At this moment we play every week somewhere in Holland. In August and September we'll do a 10 day UK/Europe tour with a brand new UK band Screaming Deamon. We are really looking forward to it! We hope to do some shows in France in the future. If venues are interested in TMDC, send a mail to bookings@tmr-europe.com or bookings@monolith-deathcult.com
The Legion project was nothing more than a project. I wasn't really involved with Legion. I did some vocals, because Robin forgot some parts and he is living far from the studio in Heino-Holland. Aj is not working on the Legion project anymore, because his doomband BEYOND BELIEF is back on track again. We maybe use some cool riffs and parts from legion songs in new Beyond Belief tracks. The plan is to record a new BEYOND BELIEF record this summer. Keep an eye on the site for more info www.beyondbelief.nl
Michiel : We are very busy with shows at the moment. At this moment we play every week somewhere in Holland. In August and September we'll do a 10 day UK/Europe tour with a brand new UK band Screaming Deamon. We are really looking forward to it! We hope to do some shows in France in the future. If venues are interested in TMDC, send a mail to bookings@tmr-europe.com or bookings@monolith-deathcult.com
The Legion project was nothing more than a project. I wasn't really involved with Legion. I did some vocals, because Robin forgot some parts and he is living far from the studio in Heino-Holland. Aj is not working on the Legion project anymore, because his doomband BEYOND BELIEF is back on track again. We maybe use some cool riffs and parts from legion songs in new Beyond Belief tracks. The plan is to record a new BEYOND BELIEF record this summer. Keep an eye on the site for more info www.beyondbelief.nl
VS : ok Michiel, time to finish this interview... That's the moment for your last comment for our readers... but you can also say "hi" to your mom... After all she deserve our respect. I guess that's not a small deal to have a freaky son like you...
Michiel : Well, my parents were at a TMDC gig last weekend. They said they felt like a person who was crushed by a tank. Hmm a compliment I think. Respect ? In Holland we say"Respect is for homies in tha muthafukin' hood"
Anyway, the interview was interesting (again). People who read between the lines will read our hidden call for a revolution. Our evil ideology will rule the world!!
Thierry, Violent Solutions and France..Thanks for the interest in The Monolith Deathcult. We hope to visit France ASAP.
Greetzz
Michiel : Well, my parents were at a TMDC gig last weekend. They said they felt like a person who was crushed by a tank. Hmm a compliment I think. Respect ? In Holland we say"Respect is for homies in tha muthafukin' hood"
Anyway, the interview was interesting (again). People who read between the lines will read our hidden call for a revolution. Our evil ideology will rule the world!!
Thierry, Violent Solutions and France..Thanks for the interest in The Monolith Deathcult. We hope to visit France ASAP.
Greetzz
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