CRYPT OF KERBEROS (2013)

Featured in Supposed to Rot 'zine #4 (2013)

Answers by Mattias Borgh

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Hi there Mattias, how’s everything going up there in Sweden right now? I guess there must be a lot of snow and the typical winter landscape everywhere, right? How does it feel to be active with Crypt of Kerberos again?

Hi Eduardo! I´m doing just fine thank you and yes there´s a lot of snow in Sweden right now and pretty god damn cold as well, plus that we hardly have any daylight: only darkness haha... We are kind of back yes: Crypt of Kerberos just released the 7” EP “Into the Ruins” on Temple of Darkness Records. But these songs were recorded already in 2009, so it´s not really new songs even though they were just released. Crypt of Kerberos is more like a project for us these days and not a full time “rehearse and tour the whole time band”. We WILL make a new full length album during 2013 though and after that we will see.

If I’m not mistaken the band went apart sometime during 1995, so when and why did the light spark again in order to bring Crypt of Kerberos back to life? What about all those years in between, did you ever feel like doing it again in the meantime or was it something you had forgotten about for the most part?

In reality we broke up already in 1993, a few months after we had recorded the "World of Myths" album. Only me and Peter (Bjärgö, then Pettersson on guitar) were left after the WOM album had been released. After a while we even had a different band name and played some sort of progressive power metal haha...

The song "Into the Ruins" was uploaded to your myspace site some years ago (if I'm not mistaken) but it was released only in 2012 in 7" format. Why the delay, and why showing up again with only 2 new songs? Was it just a way of saying "hello world, we're back"?

It was the same old Crypt of Kerberos story, same old story, my friend haha. We talked about doing a new album already in 2004 and we did record a song (called "The Drowning") in Peter´s studio Erebus Odora which we never finished of course. For a while during 2006 we also rehearsed quite a lot. But of course we got tired of it and never wrote enough material plus that we started to feel that the material we had written was not what we were looking for. Same old god damn story you know? In 2009 Peter wrote two songs that were supposed to be a direct continuation of the 1992 “Cyclone of insanity” EP. Heavy songs with quite simple riffs and very unfancy playing when it comes to the drum parts. We recorded everything very fast but when it came to the vocals it was the same god damn story, again... Christian recorded vocals for one song ("Into the Ruins") and was supposed to record the vox for song number two just a week later. Hmmm, that week turned into a few years, same god damn story agaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh...... Well, finally we managed to get him to the studio and we finished the EP and then it took 6 months to get it pressed as well. At least it is out now and yes, it is supposed to be a “hello, we are back”. Plus, we love vinyl and 7” EP´s are the ultimate death metal format! It has a gatefold cover, multi coloured splatter vinyl and a black inner bag. What more could a death metal fan wish for?

After listening to the new stuff it's crystal clear that the band has taken on what you used to do in the very early days, that is, rough Death Metal with a doomy twist. Why the old style again and not retaking on "World of Myths" style considering you're exactly the same guys who created that particular album? Were you unsatisfied with the direction the band took on that album by any chance?

Well, have in mind that we were 15 to 18 years old when we recorded the "World of Myths" album. Most kids that age want to play as complex as possible and actually have quite poor judgement when it comes to their own playing haha... Personally I still love the album and I am still proud of it and the playing is quite good for a bunch of kids. But, both me and Peter said to ourselves that if we make a new Crypt of Kerberos album we want to make a heavy as a ton of brick kind of album. Not a fancy album with fast guitar solos and flashy riffs in odd time signatures. We know that we CAN play that kind of material if we want to. The thing is, that this time, we want to focus on writing and recording a very heavy, very dark album. Quite simple ehhh? If you think the new EP is dark and doomy, just wait until the new album is finished, it will be like being buried under a skyscraper haha. Heavy...

Well, focusing on the new album what can you advance? Any dates and song titles? Is everything ready yet or not? Will the 2 songs from the new EP be part of the full-length?

Well, as I said I can advance that it will be a very heavy and dark album, let´s leave it at that for now... The EP songs are for the EP only and will not be a part of the new album. So be sure to get the EP NOW or cry while searching Ebay later haha... No titles as of yet. We have some lyrics written and they deal with the fall of mankind and what is left of earth when man is buried and gone once and for all (a hint would be: nothing remains when man is forever gone....) The theme will be just that: the fall of mankind and the destruction of earth.

In our first contact previous to this interview you told me it is your intention to release the album during the current 2013, 20 years after "World of Myths", is it just a coincidence or what? Have you signed to or received some interest from any label?

We are signed to Pulverised Records for a new album and will release it through them so that is well sorted out since a few years already. Well, coincidence or not, time has just played itself out so that it is now 20 years since we recorded "World of Myths". The time is now if you ask me, so fingers crossed and our plan will turn into reality!

Why is everything going so "slow" with the new stuff? Is it that you are being extremely accurate on what you're doing or maybe you don't have time enough to do it a bit faster? I'm a bit anxious and looking forward to it as you can notice, haha...

Well, one of the characteristics of Crypt of Kerberos has always been being a bit “slow”, don’t you think? Haha. Peter and I are involved in many other bands and projects and all the guys in the band have a family and jobs and all that so it’s not easy at all to find the right moment to meet and move on with the band. Also and most important we don’t want to release a record we are not fully satisfied with and that takes time. Every time we write some new material we are happy with we take some time off and then start the whole process again since the beginning, I guess you get my point. We do what we do for ourselves and we don’t think about what others might think. However, of course we’d like that people dig our material but that’s not the main purpose, you know. So I’m really sorry for you but we are not in a hurry at all, haha!

After so many years, what expectations do you have for the new album? Also, what kind of response do you think the album will have? Do you think the old fans of the band are looking forward to the new album (at least I am)?

I personally want to do a record which sounds heavy and dark and that I can be proud of as regards my performance as well as the lyrical part to which I also contribute. Apart from that I leave the rest to everyone’s opinion. If you try to focus on pleasing the listener exclusively all you get is a damn headache, haha. The idea is that you must play whatever you’d like to listen to and do it right, that’s all. I think some people will love the new stuff and others will not, it is impossible to please the whole lot, you know. Our purpose is to do an honest record and then the listeners will do the rest, I’m sure of that…

I saw a recent picture of the band posing in a landscape that's exactly the same where you took one promo picture long time ago, I mean that one with that big stone behind you; where is it? Whose idea was it to take a new shot in the same place?

I’d bet that photo is very old now and ugly as hell too (just like us, haha). It wasn’t really a promo picture, we just took it for ourselves. That stone with carved runes is beside the road just outside our rehearsal place, an old and huge mental hospital in our home town Eskilstuna.

I'm curious about what Jessica Strandell is devoted to these days. She only took part in the "World of Myths" album as keyboardist, did she contribute to the songwriting? Was she really into this kind of music back then or was it just a co-operation?

Yes, she is still involved in the music scene (I think she plays the guitar now) but no death metal anymore. She was a great instrumentist with the cello when she was young and was also very good at playing the guitar. I remember the first time I saw her at our rehearsal place, she came with her brother Jonas’ guitar (she is the younger sister of guitarrist Jonas Strandell) and played the song “Cyclone of Insanity” entirely and it was really amazing, she was only 14 or 15 by then, haha. She contributed to some keyboard parts and arrangements as well as Jonas with some guitar parts. She was a member of Crypt of Kerberos just like any of the other guys.

Having a look at your early stuff, there's a quite obvious 'Bolt Throwerish' vibe, were they really a main influence back then for you? What other bands do you remember to be into at that early stage?

I can assure you that Peter was (and still is) a great Bolt Thrower fan to the extent that he has the first band logo tattoed along one of his arms. He even brought Bolt Thrower to Eskilstuna for a gig right after the release of “War Master”. Crypt of Kerberos played in that gig too and At the Gates, Unleashed and House of Usher were part of the line up too. As you already know I wasn’t a member of the band during the early days, I just jumped on board before the recording of “World of Myths”. I remember that when we were composing the songs for the album I used to listen a lot to bands such as Sindrome, Confessor, Atheist and Death’s “Human”, I liked almost every thing with complex drum patterns, haha. However all of us grew up listening to 70’s and 80’s Heavy Metal and then leaned towards Speed, Thrash and Death Metal as it was showing up. Being “World of Myths” our first full-length record I think all those influences finally merged into it. And as you know there’s a lot of complex drum patterns on that record, haha.

Sometime during 2005 "The Macrodex of War" was released, I got a copy and it's absolutely brilliant, I remember I could hardly believe I was holding all the Crypt of Kerberos stuff in just one single CD with pics, liner notes, and all that in my hands!!!... How came the idea to put it all together and release it in a professional way by that time?

Well, Marty, the guy behind Bleed Records, knew Peter since long ago and they had been discussing the possibility of releasing a compilation album for quite some time already. In a way, it was me who finally pushed the release forward in the sense that I wrote the liner notes, compiled all the pictures, etc… It’s a good record that shows the evolution of the band in a very comprehensive way

Following with that particular compilation CD, there are some songs dated around 1994 after the only album which are a bit less metal and more atmospheric and melody oriented, even featuring clean vocals... Were they going to be part of the second full-length by any chance? What direction do you think the band would have taken just in case you had continued playing?

Here is the story (kept short). After we recorded “World of Myths” in 1993, Jonas and Jessica left the band. The remaining members then wrote new songs which were way more complex and way more melodic than the “World of Myths” songs (which says a lot haha). Then Stefan the bass player left because the songs were getting to difficult to play. Only me, Peter and singer Crille left then, right? Then we got a new bass player named Marcus and a new guitar player named Johan. We then scrapped all material and started from scratch. These songs were some sort of progressive metal, but really, really weird haha. I am glad we did not make an album with these songs... We started to write material for a concept album (here you can easily see that we start to screw up the band). We recorded something like 5 songs but the singer Crille never recorded vocals for these tracks. They were actually 100% insane, too complex, too long, too much everything! I think I have some of them on a cassette but only as some sort of bad rough mix, they are just plain and simple bad. Period! Then the bass player Marcus left and we got hold of former Macrodex and House of Usher bass player Stefan Källarsson and a singer called Daniel. OK, what to do? SCRAP ALL THE MATERIAL of course! Haha... Uff... We started once again from scratch and almost wrote a complete concept album complete with a cheesy story and cheesy songs. The style would best be described as power metal with some progressive parts, like a mix of King Diamond and Helloween with some Queensryche maybe? I really don´t know... We recorded one of the new songs ("Temptation Denial") in a good 24 track studio and some of the songs on a four track cassette studio. By then we had actually had the good taste of changing band name and Crypt of Kerberos was long since dead and buried even though we did not fully realize that back then. We almost signed for a production company in Sweden but all of a sudden we were tired of each other and tired of the songs we had written. We split up. Good story, ehhhh? And the same story as every teen age/young adolescent band will tell you. Now we are grown ups and therefore we will make a new album which just focuses on being heavy as hell!

In relation to the former question, it is said you were working on a new album called "Nadia" which never saw the light of day. Was any song completed in full? It was also said to be a concept album, could you elaborate a little bit?

The story itself was very inspired by different horror short stories I would say, it was kind of vague and weird and dealt with some kind of alternative dream world. You can hear some of songs on “The Macrodex of War” CD. We almost finished the whole album, but of course never recorded the whole album...

There was some Interest from Earache as well back then, so would the 2nd album have been released through the English label?

Yeah, that´s a good story haha... A friend of us did all of our mail which in itself is kind of funny I think. He acted as our manager and answered all interviews for a while (don´t ask me why, I mean he did not play in the band, haha) Anyway, one day he came to our rehearsal room and was really, really happy and said “Guys we have a letter from Digby at Earache Records, he is really interested in signing the band!” And sure thing, he DID have a handwritten letter from Digby written on Earache letter paper. It said something like “I have heard great things about your debut album and I am really interested in Crypt of Kerberos, please give me a call. Best regards, Digby Pearson” So we tried to call them, several times in fact. Every time we were connected to a secretary who said “No Digby does not write personally to bands and no we will not put you through so that you can talk to him” Ehhh, OK then... What should we do? Well screw Earache then, we thought, haha... We should have kept that letter as a cool memory of those days...

There's also a superb release in vinyl done by The Crypt records with a fantastic layout and all that. I even saw a picture of you holding a copy in the testimonials section of The Crypt website. What can you tell us about that release?

Ted who runs The Crypt is a great guy who do great releases, simple as that! He contacted Peter about it and we agreed. I ended up writing the liner notes and I also had quite a lot of photos that I scanned. Me, Peter and Crille had to sit down and try to decipher the lyrics for the "World of Myths" album which was A: quite funny since you can´t hear crap what Crille is singing and B: really difficult since you can´t hear crap what Crille is singing. We had to use three old brains to figure most of the lyrics out. The box is very cool and also very sold out, haha...

Mattias, if I'm not mistaken you're a drumming instructor as well as a musician. How important is the technique for this kind of music in your opinion? You were and are a highly talented and skillful band. I guess you must have a very diverse music taste as you like Death Metal stuff done the simple and straight forward way and also more complex and progressive stuff, am I right?

Yes, I’m a music instructor, I teach mainly percussion but also group music and sound engineering at a music school here in Eskilstuna. I studied music for 8 years in a row, especially Jazz, although I’ve moved from Death Metal to Be-Bop and then back to Death Metal again, haha. Nowadays I play everything I like whatever the style is, if I like it I play it, that simple. Yes, technique is important but having the timing and the ability to create drumming parts, fill the empty gaps and know what you must play in every moment is even more important. Technique is just the tool that enables you to play what you want to play, nothing more. I’m personally much more into the style of Led Zeppelin and John Bonham than into that “synthetic blast beats with triggers and no pattern at all in which you barely play drums but everything sounds so tight” thing. Extreme Metal has changed a lot compared to when I used to play it in the 90s. I mean, most of today’s recordings have been tempo corrected (that means that you do not hear exactly what the drummer has played but the outcome of the engineering process of cutting bits here and there and then join all of them together in order to make it sound perfect, something far from being “musical”) and besides, most of the records, almost 100%, have sampling drumming parts (which means the sound engineer has replaced the real sound of the instrument by samples that make it sound heavier and tighter). I don’t like this way of playing at all, I think it really sucks. In my opinion they can take their digital kits, sampling sounds and all that and shove them up… Haha. Just give me an old Slayer record, Dave Lombardo playing “Reign in Blood” and leave all those plastic and soulless modern stuff aside, haha. It’s just my personal view on it, I’m not telling people what they have to do or like, of course. My intention is to play honest music and record real albums and we will see who is right and who is not within the next 20 years, time will tell. I listen to and play every kind of music, each style demands its own playing style and knowledge, that’s the reason why I decided to study music, to be able to play any music style and I like them all, that’s the best gift one can have. Why not recording a black metal album in the Darkthrone vein on Monday, a complex death metal album on Wednesday, doing some gigs on drums with Arcana during the weekend and then some Jazz and Be-Bop together with some old farts the week after? To me that is quality of life!

Could you please give us some short opinions about every release and name your favourite track off each

-Visions beyond Darkness (EP): Wow, Crille has a really deep voice on this one. Not my favourite recording from the band so I’m sorry but I cannot say a fave track.

-Demo 91: Things really started to improve quite noticeably on this one and the songs are waaaaay better. My favourite track is “Sacrifice”, of course

-Demo #2 91: I remember that when I heard this promo (it’s actually called “Promo 91”) I thought: Fuck! Is this the same band that recorded “Visions Beyond Darkness”? There’s a huge progression compared to the previous stuff, good songs, good playing and a really cool production for a demo. My fave track would be “Stormbringer”. When I did the audition to join the band I learned this song and “Nocturnal Grasp” and that’s why they finally made it into the “World of Myths” album.

-Cyclone of Insanity (EP): One of the best EPs in the history of Death Metal in my opinion (and I can say that because I didn’t play in it, haha). Great songs, fantastic playing, solid production and an amazing cover artwork. My favourite song is “Cyclone of Insanity”!

-World of Myths: Regarding the songs I'd choose “World of Myths”. What a strange record, eh?! Nowadays I can see clearly how the record is divided into three different parts, 1st. the songs from the demos “Stormbringer” and “Nocturnal Grasp”, 2nd. The ones from the EPs “The Ancient War” and “Cyclone of Insanity” and 3rd. the new songs written exclusively for the album "World of Myths", "The Sleeping God", "Dream..." and "The Canticle". In my opinion they do not fit together really well, don’t you think?. Don’t get me wrong, I like the record but I think we should have released only the best songs off the demos and EPs and then, one year later or so, the “World of Myths” album with new songs and all of them in the same progressive style. I think that should have been the best option but as I told you we were just a bunch of teenagers back then. Anyway now it’s already too late to go back and change the whole thing, isn’t it? Well, it turned out the way it did and it is already 20 years old and that sounds completely crazy! It seems people like the album so it’s cool. I’m really satisfied with the re-release done by Pulverised Records, the outcome is amazing and I think it’s simply the ultimate release of the album, so just go buy it, ok? Haha.

-Into the Ruins (EP): To keep the band’s tradition intact we had been unsuccessfully trying to write new songs for quite some time until Peter called me one day and said “listen, I have written two new songs, simple, straight and heavy. Let’s do an EP including them and take on the old band’s style, what do you think?”. So I went to the studio, set up my kit, learned the songs in just about 20 minutes and recorded them in just one take together with Peter. Then Jonas and Stefan recorded their guitar and bass parts really fast too and finally Crille recorded the vocals for just one song… but wait… wasn’t it meant to have two songs?. The answer is yes, it’s Crille, you know, haha. It took us three years from then to convince him to come and record the vocals for the second song. I like the EP, it’s simple, dark and heavy, just the way we wanted it to be, simple, dark and fucking heavy!!! I think people should see it as a continuation of the EP “Cyclone of Insanity” from 1992. Fave song? “Into the Ruins”… I don’t know, why do I always have to choose one, why are you doing this to me???? Enough already!!! Hahaha

Well Mattias, no more questions. Thanks a lot for your interest and time to go through these questions, it's much appreciated. Keep up the good work and all the best... Please send some words to the old and new fans of the band

Thanks to you for this cool exchange Eduardo! Let’s keep the real underground alive and healthy. Support your favourite bands, buy their records, their t-shirts and attend as many of their their gigs as possible, I command you! It’s YOU guys who keep the scene alive, never forget it!!! Greetings to all and keep your fingers crossed so we can witness the new and sick Crypt of Kerberos record sometime during the current 2013 (this of course never happened, at least up to January 2020!.-ed)