Just minutes before their performance at this year’s Brutal Assault, we had the chance for a quick chat with Decapitated guitarist and mastermind Vogg, who told us something about the new album “Anticult”. Enjoy!
Hello Vogg, I’m Giuseppe from MetalPit, it’s a pleasure to meet you! Let’s start with your new album: “Anticult” was released about a month ago. How’s the audience response been, both towards the studio album and live performances?
Oh yeah, it’s a very brand new album for us. “Anticult” is fresh stuff, I can say it’s such a great response from the fans, the metal community and the press. I’ve seen a lot of great reviews for this album and I’m just blown away about the reaction of the fans to this new album. I’m really happy about that.
Since you’ve been reunited you’ve put three albums out. Can you describe the transition until the present day, with all the lineup changes and the stylistic differences between each other?
So, in 2010 we had the reunion of the band after the tragic accident in which my brother passed away. I decided to continue with the band, we came back in 2011 with the “Carnival Is Forever” album which was recorded in a studio in Gdansk. It was a different lineup for this album… actually it was a different lineup for each of the three albums we made after the reunion. We had Austrian drummer Kerim Lechner on that and Rasta, who is still in the band and I hope he will be for the next, long future. Then we had “Blood Mantra” and now “Anticult”: I think it’s like a trilogy of albums after the reunion, “Anticult” is the third part of that. I can say that we made huge steps for every next album regarding everything: composition, sounds, arrangements and all those things together. Every one of these albums is different and inspired by different things in life.
I listened to “Anticult” and it sounds very powerful with a great, clean production. I didn’t have the chance to read the lyrics, so what are the themes of the album?
Oh, you should talk to Rasta about this, he’s the author and he will explain better the lyrical aspect. In my opinion it’s a continuation of the lyrics from “Blood Mantra”, which he was also writing. The main theme in “Anticult” is all the political and religious systems that rule society, telling people what to do and what to think. They are ruining the world. It’s about trying to free ourselves from the chains of the system. It’s related to all the things going on today in the world, all the wars, the terrorism: I think it’s a kind of inspiration as well for the cover and the title besides the lyrical aspect of this album.
Maybe you answered already to this question: “Anticult” sounds more direct in contrast with the previous albums. How have the lineup changes influenced the writing process of the album?
I’m still the main composer in the band. For the first time I was working with Michał, our drummer: we worked a lot together for the arrangements and for the final form of the songs, how they sound right now. So we can say that I came with the ideas, all the riffs and melodies and stuff like that and then he came up with percussions, drums and arrangements. He was really helpful or me, I have to say: working together is best to make the album better, than just working by myself.
A question from a colleague of us who’s kind of a guitar nerd: your riffs have always been strong and solid, what’s the process of creating them? How do you come up with your riffs?
Well, it’s a simple process. I just jam in my home, just play, play, play forever. Riffs are coming in the air from nowhere, from the space. I just play, I don’t think “create, create…”, just jam and suddenly you have it. Then you work on those ideas for hours and days to make it better.
You always had a personal take on death metal. What are your main influences, both in metal and not, if there’s any?
My main influences, when I was a teenager, were bands like Slayer, Metallica, all these thrash metal from the Bay Area in the US. Also I got into the death metal scene from Florida: Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Death, all those bands together… also I’ve been influenced by a lot of Polish bands like Vader, Kat, Acid Drinkers. I’ve listened to those bands a lot, they’re really good and they inspired me very much.
Great, I think we’re finished now. If you want to say anything to our readers on MetalPit, I’ve seen you’re coming to our country!
Yeah, sure! We’re coming to Italy soon, in October or November. We tour across those two months and we have two dates in Italy, Bologna and Turin or Milan, probably Milan. So yeah, if you wanna check out our set please come, we’ll play together with King Parrot, Thy Disease and another band. It will be a pretty strong package and we will have new songs to play live!
