METAL HELL: What’s up with BELPHEGOR lately?

SIGURD: We’re waiting to get the album out at the end of October. We did 2 video shoots for this new album, one for the European market & one for the American market. We’re gonna put them on our website so you can watch them. We’re starting to rehearse the new live set in 2 weeks.

MH: Which songs were the videos done for?

SIGURD:  For the American Market it’s the first song off the CD; “Belphegor-Hell’s Ambassador” & for the European market it’s “Bluhtsturm Erotika” & that’s specifically for the German market more or less.

MH: How would you compare Pestapokalypse VI to past records?

SIGURD: I think we’ve matured as musicians and songwriters. We always try to do a few new things as well as to try to take the sound a bit further each time. I think it’s the best sounding material we’ve ever had.

MH: How was it to have Andy Classen producing again?

SIGURD: We worked with him before, on our first album in ’95. We just said let’s try it out & we think it’s the best sounding album we have so far. He’s an absolute professional & he knows what a band like Belphegor should sound like & we’re happy with the results. Having Andy Classen as a producer, we’re cool with that. We spent 5 weeks recording & mixing. It was a relaxed atmosphere this time around. We had a pre-production this time around, we recorded every thing on a computer. We have 4 rhythm tracks for every song.

MH: What inspired the lyrics this time?

SIGURD: It’s a concept album based on the pestilence in general & the apocalypse. We read a lot about this stuff & thought we could do something. The background was interesting because, the superstition changed back then & people were thinking the pestilence was a divine punishment & they lost their faith in god & turned to Satan & it’s a fact that those people began to celebrate black masses. It’s mostly a concept album on these topics.

MH: What are your favorite album covers?

SIGURD: I think Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven & Seasons In The Abyss. The guy who did the new Slayer album cover as well, he’s awesome.

MH: What do you think of the new SLAYER album?

SIGURD: I think it’s really cool. I think it’s a mixture of God Hates Us All and South Of Heaven. There’s some songs I don’t like that much, especially the slower stuff. 5 out of 10 songs are really cool & are Slayer-sounding again.

MH: What’s your opinion of Monotheist by Frost?

SIGURD: Some songs are cool but I prefer the older stuff like To Mega Therion. It’s more of a doom metal band now. From what I’ve heard they didn’t do very well live. They did a lot of festival shows in Germany & people were really bored, that’s what I heard man.

MH: In metal, do you think everything cool has been written already?

SIGURD: That’s hard to say. I think most of the stuff has been written & used by all the bands. There’s a lot of mid-tempo (death metal) now, especially here in Europe, these bands like In Flames & Children Of Bodom. I’ve never been into this kind of music. We always wanted to play fast like the purists of the death metal scene from the 90’s, like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse & Deicide.  they inspired us to do what we are doing now.

 

MH: Who had the idea for the cover artwork?

SIGURD: It was our idea. We had this guy from Greece doing the artwork this time. He has done cover artwork for Paradise Lost & Vader as well. We sent him some suggestions & some lyrics and after a few days he sent us some sketches. I think he did a good job. I like the cover a lot. It reminds me a bit of the Slayer covers, with the skulls on it. It’s based on the title; Pestapokalypse.  You can see burning & crumbling churches in the background of the cover, which symbolizes that people were losing their faith in god, to the 4-raven headed priests in the center, which symbolizes the riders of the apocalypse. But the raven was also a symbol for the plague in Europe, so there’s room for your own interpretations.

MH: Old album covers like Blutsabbath & The Last Supper were more basic.

SIGURD: The ones for Necrodaimon & Blutsabbath were photographs taken by us. They weren’t even by a professional photographer. We were underground back then. This time around we knew we had to come up with a really professional looking cover & Seth Siro Anton did a great job for us. People who’ve seen it say it’s the best cover we’ve ever had.

MH: How is the metal scene in Austria?

SIGURD: We have lots of bands out here but the most well known bands are probably Pungent Stench & Belphegor.  We have lots of new bands, but nothing special at the moment.

MH: A lot of people call you Black-Death Metal. Are you cool with that?

SIGURD: Yeah, it’s more death metal than black metal. We started out as a regular death metal outfit and we later incorporated black metal influences to our music. I don’t give a shit what they call our music. It’s extreme metal, that’s all. It’s more death metal than black metal in a way.

MH: How often do you usually practice guitar to keep up your technique?

SIGURD: I would say 2 or 3 hours a day. At the moment it’s not that much because I’m doing interviews & everything. Usually it’s 3 or 4 hours every day to develop the dynamics & working on the lead techniques. I’m a big fan of classical music & I just can’t learn enough from classical music. One of my favs in new classical music is Yngwie Malmsteen. When I first heard him 20 years ago I was like this is impossible to play. What I’m doing is mostly working on lead techniques. Helmuth is more into rhythm techniques & that’s why he’s been the main songwriter in the band. He writes all the songs in 1 or 2 hours. I think he is playing a lot more than I do cause he is mostly staying at home.

* Joe D.