Interview with Deathhammer 2012

By Bradley Smith

So Onward to the Pits is finally finished! Can you tell me about how it is a progression from Phantom Knights? It seems thrashier, and the songs seem more developed this time around. I mean I even detect some rock n roll solos in there. What touches did Jon from Black Magic put on the album? Were there any guest appearances on the album?

Sadomancer: Yeah finally! Took about one year to record that album, not because we spent so much time actually recording it and polish it til death but because of everything else that happened in the middle of the recordings. Drunken nights. The rock `n` roll solos would belong to Bowel ripper from the filthy Lobotomized and Jon plays the organ-intro on Lead us into hell and the solo. Other than that an intoxicated Kristian from Obliteration lay waste to the drums on the opening track, Gunnar from Faustcoven is spreading his evil solo-seeds in Emperor of sin and Arild from  Nekromantheon sets fire to his strings in Army of death. That was enough namedropping for a whole life.

Sergeant Salsten: It's definitely more varied than Phantom Knights. Last time all the songs were made in that particular time span, but the idea of this album has been laying around for ages, sort of. The first version of this album was actually recorded before Phantom Knights, so some of the stuff on this beast is about 4 years old. Basically that means there is absolutely nothing you could call a filler here, cuz we just chose the best shit. If it ain't evil it ain't good!

You two are living apart from each other, how does that affect the writing and recording of your material?  And how do you feel about being a duo?  Are you guys Dynamic?  Hahahaha!  Just kidding, does it make it easier to function as a band?

Sergeant Salsten: Being a duo makes it harder in some aspects, but also easier. Getting ready for live attacks can be quite hectic since the other guys don't always know what's going on until a few days before the show. It does however make it easier to rehearse new material cuz we're usually on the same wave length when it comes to the music.

Sometimes we nail a song totally the first time we try it out. I don't miss other creative inputs, cuz the band sounds exactly the way it should and if we need something special for a song we have some cool friends that can help us out. Living far away from each other hasn't caused major issues, but makes shit move slower obviously. This will change in the future though.

The cover art for Onward To the Pits to me is the best yet that you guys have had. Who did it, and what sort of input do you have with the artists who have done your album covers? Why didn’t you keep up doing the primitive art like you did on your demos? That DIY attitude in your demo artwork really said a lot about the bestial music contained within!

Sadomancer: I asked Hugo from Witchtrap if he knew anyone who could do a killer albumcover for free for us and he hooked me up with Eduard Johnson who made the by far best artwork in our discography, so ultra-hails to Hugo and Eduard! I think I told him to paint a demon similar to the ones we have on all our releases dwelling in hell and he sent me that cover which was perfect.

For Phantom knights I told the painter to do something in the lines of Bathory`s Blood fire death cover and Deathrow`s Riders of doom + make the horsemen look like the executioners on the cover of Vectom`s Speed revolution. The albums demands more well-done art since it’s on a bigger format than the demo-tapes and since an album is supposed to represent the band 110% we won’t settle for something fast and easy like the demo-covers, although they represents the primitive nature of the demos perfectly.

You guys once again performed at Live Evil. How did it compare to last year’s version and what were some of your favorite performances? Is this your favorite concert that you’ve been involved in? Tell me about why you missed your plane! Heh heh

Sadomancer: last time I never got drunk enough to enjoy it properly but this time they had much more backstage-beer than the year before so that was a pleasure delight. Pretty much every gig I saw was killer specially Antichrist, Morbus Chron, Aura Noir and Witchgrave.  Really enjoyed being that backstage-cocksucker standing besides the scene and watch the gigs with a beer in my hand. Not our favorite dh-gig but it was really chaotic and intense and that’s always great. The Black Magic gig went way better musically, but always when we sit backstage laughing at the bad gig we just did people always say "killer show! yeah!!" and such so I never know if the gig sucked or not hehe. I prefer not to think that much about the missed-plane cuz I just get pissed off at Ryanair because their staff must be raped and killed.

Sergeant Salsten: Live Evil gets more and more chaotic, man. Maybe this year I was a bit too shitfaced, but some people seemed to enjoy it anyway. What can you do, I mean, eternal free booze. But yeah, that's been one of the coolest things we've been a part of for sure. ANTICHRIST SLAYS! Opening up for Agent Steel and Whiplash a few years ago with Nekromantheon was pretty awesome too. Even you were there thrashing out!

You did a recent split 7” with Korgull the Exterminator. Tell me how that project came about and why you used some pretty old songs for it? Also there is a new split 7” project called Necrothrash that you guys are involved with. Can you expand on the concept of that project? What other bands are involved?

Sergeant Salsten: Yes, those songs are pretty damned old, but they have always been intended for a 7" split. Things just didn't turn out the way we thought, and the songs kept getting older, but hey!!! That was excellent cuz we're honoured as fuck to share the seven with Korgull! We were already big fans of them, and the cover had been ready for ages so they just asked us, and shit went pretty scot-free from there. I guess Nekrothrash can be seen as sort of a continuation of the Überthrash thing released by Duplicate some years ago. Unfortunately things have been going a bit slow with this release mainly due to us, but I promise you it will reign hard!

Recently there was a repress of Forever Ripping Fast on LP. Can you tell me what all is on there and how you were approached by Hell's Headbangers in order to release it? Are you signed to them for Onward to the Pits? And what happened to Witches Brew?

Sergeant Salsten: The LP version of Forever Ripping Fast features all the shit we released before Phantom Knights, and a cover of the almighty Sabbat. The ZOMBIEKULT rehearsal is really fuckin raw and maybe not what you'd consider LP material, but we just decided to get it all on a decent release, for those maniacs interested.  And LAST REMAINING SOUL sucks mocca balls! Witches Brew decided to call it a quits, but we're very satisfied with HHR anyway. Cheryl is a cool chick though!

Your music is a direct result of your devotion to the ancient ways of metal. So what does that mean to you? I mean to be devoted to ancient metal? And how do you translate that influence into your music? Do you hate “modern sound?” Why?

Sadomancer: Living hard in the name of metal, Hell bent for destruction every day awaiting the ultimate sacrifice. That’s what I could think of right now which sums up my life. Modern metal is a sentence I think less and less about as there is so much mindblowlingly great metal around these days, couldn’t be better really. All I can say is I laugh as the ship of fools sail away.

Sergeant Salsten: The divine feeling of true metal is timeless but the foundations of metal were laid down in the days of old. These days all kinds of bullshit are considered metal.  Metal is so much but metal is still metal. Blue Cheer, Profanatica, Anthrax, Morbid Angel, Yngwie Malmsteen etc whatever. They all have the key elements of metal. Shit like Fear Factory and Meshuggah is NOT metal. But like Sadomancer said before me, who the fuck cares about those faggots anyway. These past years some of those retro poofters tried to take a shortcut to the old sound. Those fuckers are the worst garbage of them all and suck way harder than the unconcealed buttmunchers. The REAL posers!

Should everyone attack posers? I know you have committed poser assaults, so what happened? And what to you is a poser? And is it better to attack a poser or someone who is a fan of a music style you completely loath, like Gangster Rap? Or should we just attack both! Heh heh

Sadomancer: Of course everyone should stand up against posers if they openly preach their gospels of shit, and it goes without saying that you should attack a poser instead of a guy enjoying different music than what you listen to. I don’t think people who are really into MTV-ganster rap are posers, they just have awful bad taste and is probably very annoying as humans but still that is 10 times better than being a miserable poser.

Sergeant Salsten: Anyone can end up in a fight somehow. I don't think people should just go out and look for trouble but if it happens, it happens. Bashing up a poser can be a win-win situation. Maybe you will never see him again, and he'll return to his true self.

You have been involved in doing a couple thrash mixes recently. So what is your goal going into making these thrash mixes? Is it mainly to educate the listener on new bands and what is your ideal for a good thrash band? Do you think people in general explore enough of the old music or do they stick to what is “safe?”

Sadomancer: The main goal is to keeping you busy Bradley, so you don’t die of too much tequila heh heh. Well, you asked if we should do those comps and I love to spread good music so it is cool to be a part of it. I`m not meaning to educate someone because I guess everyone who checks out those comps is pretty well-educated themselves. If education was the goal I would included some more important bands like Metallica, Slayer, Destruction etc, but I think those comps are for the "specially interested" only. My ideal for a good thrash metal band? Endless Pain is the quintessential thrash metal album so whatever a thrasher is searching for, it is to be found there. I think many people stick to their safe sounds because people today want it safe. Just like people living as normal and boring as possible to get their daily piece of mind.  It`s understandable but I crave death!!

I know you are a big fan of alcohol! How do you feel that fits in with the metal “image” and what is your favorite beverage? Also what are your views on Straight Edge and alcoholism? Have you ever had a time when you drank too much? Or is there even such a thing? Heh hehehhe.

Sadomancer: If you have a good day listening to music and rocking out, why not make it perfect with beer? Enough time to be sober in death! Even when I drink gigantic amounts of alcohol I rarely get shitfaced and just talk rubbish (like Salsten) but the few times I get so drunk, it have been on the Muskelrock-festival in Sweden.

Sergeant Salsten: Beer tastes better with metal, and metal sounds better with beer. That's just the truth. Straight Edge is such an abomination... Holy shit, do I even have to get into this? Baaahhh.... Financially I've been drinking too much forever, but mentally it's no problem. Lucky to be a hardrocker. Too much trouble to get cheap hard liquor in Norway anyhow.

One of my favorite songs on the new album is Voodoo Rites. Why did you choose that topic and what are your thoughts on Voodoo? Do you like King Diamond’s album Voodoo? Heh heh

Sergeant Salsten: I wrote those lyrics heavily inspired by Lucio Fulci movies, the ultimate god of horror. The old version of Onward to the Pits were actually sort of a "concept" album based on zombies and voodoo shit. Not concept like Operation mindcrime, more like Ride the Lighting, catch my drift? But we ended up ditching that. Sad to say I haven't heard the album you mention but the King is a master!

So what are the Upcoming plans for Deathhammer? Any plans for some abnormal concerts? Are you going to do anything special to promote/celebrate the birth of your new album? Any other music releases you have coming out?

Sadomancer: We have a bunch of songs ready for our next album so we only have to make some more songs and then we are ready to record it. Abnormal hmmm.  We`re gonna do Greece this year which I think is gonna be pretty wild. We are even promised sluts and all so looking forward to that! I don’t think we will have a releaseparty but we will be desecrating stages all over this year so you better watch your back!

Sergeant Salsten: Well, the concerts will be BETTER this year. Seriously.. And we have a split 12" with brazilian freaks Nosferatu coming out pretty soon.

One more thing, the new year just happened. Did you make any resolutions? And are you prepared to face the Mayan apocalypse since it is 2012?

Sadomancer: I promised myself to get better but I don’t see any result.

Sergeant Salsten: I did make a resolution but i won't tell you cuz I'm gonna break it again and again. I don't know about the apocalypse but this year will be something we've never witnessed. Totally! I just know. OK???

I’ll leave any final words of bestial torment to you! Drink tequila and thrash hard!!!

Sadomancer: Thrash hard and die harder!

Sergeant Salsten: Total death to you all!