interview: Interment

Interment is an old-school death metal band from Sweden that began in the late 80s. You might not have heard of them because they only had some demos in the early 90s, but it’s never too late to rock and roll and Interment is back in the saddle again, and has been for years. They have a 2016 album called Scent of the Buried and it’s a direct-impact recording made for the hearts of the golden age of death metal. The past is alive and Interment is back in action, gaining traction and wanting your reaction. To get a piece of this action you don’t have to be particularly good looking and you don’t have to be rich or anything like that. There is only one thing that you need to get on this ride: you want more death metal and there’s just never enough of it. Johan Jansson (guitars and vocals) answered the questions.

Hit it!

Hi! You are in Sweden, correct? How’s Interment doing there?

Hey! Well, you’re right that we are a death metal band from Sweden. We are from a small industrial town called Avesta where many bands like Uncanny, Fulmination, Uncurbed, and others were born back in the days. Right now it’s only me and the drummer who lives here, the other two guys is from Stockholm. We’re just regular guys with regular jobs that only want to play death metal, drink vodka, play live and have fun!

Who are the members of the band; who is answering this interview?

The current line-up is: (me) Johan Jansson – guitars/vox, Torbjörn Brynedal – guitars, Allan Lundholm – bass and Kennet Englund – drums. We have Simon Wizén (Valkyrja, Ondskapt etc) on livesession guitar instead of Torbjörn since the beginning of 2016.

What is “old school Swedish death metal,” in your opinion?

As you mention we play old school Swedish death metal and that means in the veins of early Entombed, Dismember, Grave, Unleashed, etc., the Stockholm sound around 1990. It’s all about the guitar sound, the Boss HM2 pedal and that many of the bands recorded in the legendary Sunlight Studio. Entombed’s Left Hand Path set the mark of that! The lyrics are only about death, carnage and graveyards etc. People call it what it is.

How many recordings do you have and where can people hear your music? What can you tell us about where you recorded it and what the listener can expect from Interment?

We actually only have made two full-lengths; Into the Crypts of Blasphemy 2010 and the recent Scent of the Buried 2016 both on cd/lp/mc. Our demography compilation 1991-1994 was released 2010 on cd/lp as well. Then we have made a bunch of split EPs with Funebrarum, Brutally Deceased, Tormented and Anatomia so far. Check out our website for full discography. We have recorded in Sunlight Studios, Unisound/Gorysound Studios, Erebus Odora Studios, Black Lounge Studios through the years.

You can listen to almost everything we have released on our Bandcamp and Spotify. I think mostly of our stuff is out on iTunes and other streaming sites as well. Then of course on YouTube where you also can find a lot of live clips/shows! I think the listener has to find it out by him/herself. But if you haven’t heard us before and like Swedish old school death metal you should be satisfied, I hope.

Is it true that you began in 1988?! What can you tell us about that time?

Yes, we started to jam 1988, mostly covers but we were rehearsing every weekend and started to make our own songs after a while. We only recorded two songs under the name Beyond, but we had a bunch of more songs that we took to Interment. Beyond released a homemade porta demo tape during the spring 1990. Then we changed name to Interment in the autumn same year. Well, we were some close friends that started the band and we were inspired by a lot of death metal and thrash metal bands like Celtic Frost, Death, Slayer, Merciless, Sodom, Destruction and Kreator just to name a few. It was a great time and we did some gigs under the name Beyond even that we didn’t have so much songs.

Any plans for touring?

Yeah, but right now we don’t have so much shows booked. We played at Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore in the end of May, but after the summer we have some shows coming up in Sweden. More shows are in the works both in Sweden and other countries. Hopefully in 2017 we’ll do a European tour and a US west coast tour and a lot of summer festivals everywhere.

What drives Interment at this point? I assume that you don’t make much money playing rotten death metal.

Well, that’s true. We don’t care so much, we just want to play death metal, drink vodka and have fun. The only money we get is from merchandise and when you play shows. Of course, it’s not so much but as long as it will break even we’re satisfied. Maybe someday we can earn some more money but we’re an underground death metal band so that will never happen.

What other Interment news do you have?

Check out our websites for news and upcoming gigs/tours. A split 7” EP will be out after the summer with PYRE from Russia. We really hope to be back in the states next year for a States both on the west coast and the east coast! The response of our show at MDF was overwhelming so I think people want us to be back again. Thanx a lot for the interview and good luck with the Metal Bulletin!! Hail and cheers!

/Johan

INTERMENT

BIOGRAPHY:

Interment started under the name Beyond during the autumn 1988 and released a rehearsal demo called "Birth of the Dead" in the summer 1990. The line-up was Dan Larsson (vocals), Johan Jansson (guitar), John Forsberg (guitar), Tomas Änstgård (bass) and Sonny Svedlund (drums). Beyond played some shows and spread their name until the autumn 1990 when a line-up change took place. Dan and Tomas left the band, which resulted in Johan taking care of both the vocals and guitar and Michael Gunnarsson joining as the new bass player. After this line-up change the band felt it was time for a new beginning and therefore changed their name to Interment.

In February 1991 Interment entered the famous Sunlight Studios in Stockholm to record their first real demo tape, "Where Death Will Increase". The legendary engineer Tomas Skogsberg did a splendid job and the demo was spread around gaining very good reviews and reactions. By the end of the year it was time again for a line-up change. Kennet Englund became the new drummer as Sonny had decided to leave the band. In May 1992 a music video was made for the track "Infestering Flesh". The recording of the clip was a project and collaboration between the local youth centre Musikhuset and the ABF association. Despite a non-existing recording budget and lack of experience the video won a price in a local competition. In June the same year Interment had again booked time at Sunlight Studios in order to nail down the "Forward to the Unknown" demo tape. However due to double-bookings and some other last minute issues the band decided instead to work with engineer Dan Swanö at his Gorysound Studio. The new tracks presented a faster band with an even more down tuned guitar sound.

In 1993 Interment started to fall apart due to various reasons. The band did rehearse occasionally and worked on new material but it was quite clear that the spark was gone. Still, the band finished the new songs by early 1994 and decided to do a last recording, "The Final Chapter". Once again Interment entered Gorysound/Unisound Studios. John couldn't take part in the recording so Johan was solely responsible for the guitar work and as this claimed full concentration, Jens Törnroos was asked to do the vocals. After the recording the band split up and the members continued to concentrate on all their other bands and projects. Johan played in Uncurbed together with Michael and in Moondark - which later became Dellamorte - together with Kennet. Michael, Kennet and Johan were also involved in a grind/gore project called Pyosisfied. John was active in several projects such as Astma and Morgue.

Then in the spring 2002 Johan wanted to unite Interment again for a recording of the old songs but also some new material. The other members were excited so the band started to rehearse again and planned a new release. Some years went by without any action worth mentioning. In March 2006 Mattias "Cryptan" Norrman became the new bassist as Michael had decided to step aside.

Around the same time Interment were offered a deal by US-based Conqueror of Thorn Records who wanted to release some material. The band agreed to release the old demo tapes as a demography CD but also to record some new tracks for a split CD with Funebrarum. During April and May 2006 Interment recorded 5 new tracks at the Black Lounge Studio together with engineer Jonas Kjellgren and these tunes were then released in January 2007 as the "Conjuration of the Sepulchral" split CD. The first show in 15 years took place in Stockholm in January 2007 when Interment shared the stage with Grotesque and Nirvana 2002 at the release party of the now already legendary book "Swedish Death Metal" by Daniel Ekeroth. A few months later Mattias decided to leave the band due to time issues, which resulted in Martin Schulman being recruited as the new bassist. In August 2007 Interment played at the Party San Open Air in Germany, which also was the bands first ever, show abroad. In early 2008 a deal was made with Pulverised Records from Singapore.

Interment did two gigs during 2009. The first was on Thunders Over Miriquidi festival in Germany together with bands like: Death SS, Törr, Minotaur, Tormented, Tribulation, Excruciate etc... The second gig was in December at The Cave in Sundbyberg, Sweden together with Carnal Forge and Scaar. The long waited "Where Death Will Increase" discography CD/LP was finally released Jan/Feb 2010 as collaboration between the US-based labels Morbid Wrath and Necroharmonic Production. In January 2010 Interment entered the Erebus Odora studio and recorded their first full-lenght ever with Peter Bjärgö. The title of the album is "Into The Crypts Of Blasphemy" and was released on CD by Pulverised Records 2nd August in Europe and 31st August in USA. The limited LP version was released by Cyclone Empire in August.

Interment supported Nachtmystium(US) and Jarboe(US) at Musikhuset, Gävle in the beginning of April. Other support bands were In Mourning, Ascend Upon Ashes and Corrosive Carcass. Later same month we played at "Stockholm Metal Walborg" together with Human Desolation, Circle Of Chaos, Scourge, Demonical and Spazmosity. In Nov/Dec we did our very first European tour called "Black Steel Worship" together with Urn (FIN) and Diabolical. Due to some reasons John and Kennet couldn’t join the tour, therefore we have Perra Karlsson (Nominon, ex-In Aeternum etc) filling in behind the drums and Toob Brynedal (ex-Insision, ex-Genocrush Ferox) on the second axe. They did a tremendous job on stage, eternal thanx dudes! It was a killer tour that always will be remembered!!

In 2011 we did some gigs and a bunch of festivals. First one was The Pentagram Fest(ESP) in February then Protzen Open Air(GER) in June, Obscene Extreme(CZE), In Flammen(GER) and Hammer Open Air(FIN) in July and Summer Breeze(GER) in August. We played two times in Stockholm, at KGB in April w/ Repuked and at Debaser w/ Dr Living Dead and Guilty in September. In year 2012 we we're booked for Maryland Deathfest(USA) in May but we have to cancel our appearance due to one members family issues during the time of the fest. In the end of August we played at Kill-town Deathfest in Copenhagen(DK). Other bands on the bill were Sadistic Intent, Corpsessed, Necros Christos, Morbus Chron etc. In the beginning of September we played at Truckstop Alaska in Gothenburg(SWE) with Rust and Dishonourable Discharge. The last gig of the year was with Spasmodic in December at Kings Arms in Falun(SWE).

We decided to let Torbjörn "Toob" Brynedal, who have been live-session guitarist with us since the "Black Steel Worship European Tour" with Urn and Diabolical we did in Nov/Dec 2010 until 2012, to become a permanent member. John Forsberg who has been invisible on stage with us since April 2010, unfortunately didn't have the time with Interment and wanted to spend more time with his family with fully respect. In March 2013 we entered the crypts of Erebus Odora studio again with Peter Bjärgö and recorded four new songs and one oldie for a couple of split EP's. In May the "Into The Crypts Of Blasphemy" was re-released by Black Vomit Records(UK) and in the end of July, three of the recorded songs were released as a split 12" with Brutally Deceased(CZE) by Doomentia Records. In the beginning of August we played at Gamrocken in Ludvika w/ Demonical, Disrupted, Ikon, Tormention etc. A promotional video for the track "Faces Of Death" was released on YouTube made by our friend Costin Chioreanu at Twilight13media.

After 6 years with Interment Martin Schulman decided to leave the band. The reasons were that he was too busy with his mainband Demonical and his booking agency Dreamtide Music so the time for Interment was not enough. Martin’s statement: "I have decided to step down from the bassist position in Interment due to time related issues. In a way it sucks but thinks this is the best solution for all parties. I wish the guys best of luck for the future". Luckily we found an old good friend of us, Allan Lundholm (ex Circle of Chaos, Convulsion & Mortum) who joined us on bass! Interment created a Bandcamp site. The split EP with Brutally Deceased was released on CD by Doomentia Records in early November. Interment played in France for the first time ever at the Wolfthrone Festival in Paris w/ Deströyer 666, Demigod, Disma, Convulse, Dead Congregation among others. It was easily one of our best shows, what a killer support!

Enter the eternal fire...

www.interment666.bandcamp.com

www.interment.se

www.facebook.com/interment

THE END