ANTAGONIST. Man is the Crown of Nature..., a dangerous beast, in general...
ANTAGONIST. Man is the Crown of Nature..., a dangerous beast, in general...
Vladivostok's Death Metal band, appeared in 2017, mutated several times, transforming themselves into this world. It has released a number of murderous artifacts, measuring the surrounding with kilometers of branded barbed wire, disguised by aggressive snakes, is pictorially represented on the cover of the latest album of 2022 "Spawn of Evil".
Listening... delving into...
I can say on the fly, this album has a special mood, formed by a sound bending down to the plinth, a truly gloomy well-toned "nibbling" vocal, and guitar soloing with unexpected "light" splashes within the parts.
Well, let's talk about this creation with members of this band. And, yes, there really is something to grind about! Starting with the involved Swedish vocalist Joon Svedelius Lindstrom, who has done a splendid job in bands such as Ausloschung, Butcher of Sodom, Gurgel, The Funeral of Billy the Kid, Vomination, ex-Ravaged.
So first things first.
1 - Andrey, hello, how is your health, how it's going ? Please tell us who participated in the writing of the Spawn of Evil album. How did you find Joon Svedelius Lindstrom? Was it on the internet? How difficult was it to work with him? How did he take criticism and corrections from you? Were you embarrassed to correct him? Like, a foreigner knows better, all that:)
- Hi! It's ok, thank you! From the beginning of the formation of the band, throughout the entire period of creativity, the lyrics, music and design of releases have been handled by the guitarist Tatyana, as for me - I also write music and also do mixing and mastering. Joon took over the arrangements and vocals. After the album "Вечность Смерти" we moved away from Russian-language lyrics and submitted advertisements to several communities on Facebook to find a vocalist. On December 29, Joon wrote me that he would like to try with recording his vocals, I sent him “Creation” and “Blindfold”, and already on December 30 in the evening he sent ready-made demo results of vocals for 2 tracks.A lot of vocalists of different styles responded, mostly from the DeathCore subgenre, but we liked Joon's sound more. Joon recorded the vocals to the tracks very quickly, he woke up early in the morning, drank 3 mugs of coffee and shook his neighbors with growling, as he said:) Of course, there were difficulties, there are always difficulties with vocals, especially when you are the author of lyrics and music and you want your tracks to sound the way you originally intended. Joon is a very patient vocalist, (for example, "Creation" he was recording about 10 takes) each time he sent different versions of the vocal parts, and we pestered him with some of our wishes . There was even a case when he broke loose and almost sent us to hell, ha- ha, but we went through this shit and everything worked out.
2 - Of course, I took the opportunity to ask a couple of questions to Joon Svedelius Lindstrom, who sang on the S. O. E.
Hey Joon! How are you, how is your health? How do you evaluate your work on the ANTAGONIST album "Spawn of Evil" specifically in terms of Collaboration? There is no such feeling - already after all the circumstances - that you could sing better? Is this your first experience with a group on the Internet?
- Hello! I am doing fine thank you. My work with Antagonist is in my opinion My best work to date. I started working on the vocals att the end of december 2021 and for a couple of months in the start of 2022. I had a great time working Andrey and Tatyana on the material they had written. I have in the past done some collaborations online but never of this magnitude.
I always try to evolve My singing. That is the only way for me, to try and progress with My voice which att the same time is My instrument.I have been growling daily since My teens and always try to fond new ways to growl.
3 - Joon, we know that you play in several other bands, please compare the music of ANTAGONIST with these bands, you can do it like the other one better. How is metal now in Sweden? Your opinion as a Swede is interesting. It seems to us from Russia and the CIS countries that you have nowhere better! Thank you from me personally, I listened to the album, it's a bomb! And Your performance is such a black diamond - in fact, a brutal piece of coal straight from the bowels of Mother Earth!
- Thank you very much! That means alot to me!
My work with Antagonist are by far the most technical and intricate band I have been in. It is att the same time very straight-forward and brutal as hell!
The scene in Sweden is alive and well! Now that the pandemic restrictions are over there is almost to many gigs all over the place!
Sweden is very open to all types of metal and attitudes so it is very satisfying to be a Swedish metalhead and I have had a great time working with my new found russian metal comrades!
Stay brutal!
4 - Andrey, "Spawn of Evil" is your second full-length album. Can you tell me how long it took to record? How was the material collected? What were the main difficulties you faced? What studio did you engage to record, or did you do everything yourself on a computer?
- First songs for S.O.E. were recorded between the beginning of 2020 and 2021. We have radically changed the approach to writing music. It started with a heavier sound with 8-string guitars, there was a period of adaptation to playing Agile, but it was in the process of recording a demo. The style of the songs also changed, we started playing more aggressively, harder, but again, not forgetting the melodic solos. All recording was done not in the studio, but at home. By the way, the drums, for example, were recorded by me in the st-plugin, and the guitar parts were recorded in a dry sound and only then processed by all kinds of plug-ins.In "Spawn Of Evil" we used quad rhythm guitars for the first time (4 guitar tracks 100, 50 left and right channels). We decided to record the bass parts ourselves, because the involvement of our live bass player would have stretched out the recording of the album. We started in June 21 and by March 22 everything was done.
5 - Tatyana, please, tell us what this album is about? What themes were covered in it? Didn't you think that you wanted to touch on some themes, and then you thought: well, wtf??! Are there any themes that are directly related to your region and Vladivostok in particular? By the way, I am sure that in your places, as well as all over the world, the themes of ecology are relevant. Would you like to write about it? There can be just monstrous texts - mutations and so on ...
- Yes, you're thinking in the right direction. The album touches upon the global themes of humanity - problems with ecology, diseases, mutations, for example, we have the same title of the song "Viral Mutation", where people die from a virus and there is no vaccine (familiar, right?), enmity of mankind, wars, chaos, death. The main theme of the album, of course, is a Man himself, the Crown of Nature, the Mighty Creation, the Man is destruction and creation, a dangerous beast, in general, and everyone decides for himself who he is, the Creator or the Destroyer.
6 - What direction did Spawn of Evil take in terms of musical development? Is it very different from its predecessor "Вечность Смерти" (2019)? By the way, it was in Russian... What motivated you to switch to English?
Andrey: - As I said, the last release is heavier, it turned out in a different style. There are viscous slow groove parts, breakdowns, as well as high-speed blast-beat sections with technical guitar parts, solo guitar parts have changed.The previous album "Вечность смерти" was recorded in a different guitar tuning and with different elements of guitar playing, it was relatively lighter, there was more thrash, and the vocals of the previous vocalist Roman were perfectly for the rel
ease. After it, we recorded the single " Destruction" in English, with a guest vocalist from South Africa , and then we realized for ourselves that we need to move to a different level of conveying our work so that more people understand what you are saying in the lyrics.
7 - Have you thought about releasing a CD "Spawn of Evil"? I'm such a conservative person, but I still understand that the number of albums released, for example, from Bandcamp (my favorite digital platform) will only grow. But, damn it, still sometimes you want to take a disk in your own hands ...:)) what is your attitude to this issue? And, BTW, do you have a collection of CDs, vinyl, cassettes?
- We replicated the first album on our own, limited, without a label. We even held repost contests and presented an album with CDs to the winners at our performance. S.O.E. we decided to release only virtually, but if there are offers from any label, we will definitely make a limited edition, although I personally doubt this. Humanity of the 21st century is moving further and further away from physical media, there are, of course, collectors, but still the main audience of listeners is the audience of Internet resources. I'm not a collector.
8 - Andrey, a traditional question that is important in the historical aspect, tell us about the creation of the band, who organized it, who played in it? Why did some musicians leave the formation? Was the emphasis on death metal from the very beginning?
- Tanya and I founded the project in 2017 in Vladivostok. Yes. Initially, we wanted to play exactly Death Metal, but whether it worked out, it needs to be addressed to the listeners. We quickly found a drummer Roma, I remember playing the Kataklysm track at the audition and immediately accepted him.Later, we were joined by a drummer member of the "Titan" band, Dima. Well, as always, we have problems with vocalists, about three vocalists tried until we found Roman. In this line-up, we first performed in 2019 at a local club. In general, we emerged when the underground metal scene in Vladivostok, and in other cities, has undergone major changes for the worse. Most of the bands broke up or left for the west of the country. We did 3 shows in 2019 and then the coronavirus suddenly broke out. After that, a drummer breaks away from us (moves to another city). We tried a few drummers, But we didn't get a satisfying result for live performances.
9 - Tatyana, you are the author of the album's covers, aren't you? Did you also draw for the first album? And here is the darkest, most discouraging art for "Spawn of Evil", the image itself is already shaking, this art would look great on vinyl ... (let's dream). How did you get the idea for the drawing? What does it symbolize? I think you have an art education. What did you finish, which studio?
- Yes, I designed the album covers. Maybe someday, when we'll become decrepit, we'll release albums on vinyl! Hehe! The drawing for S.O.E is rather a mythological character symbolizing a Medusa Gorgon or a Kraken (everyone sees it differently, from the listeners' feedback) - such a spawn of evil. When writing lyrics and music for albums, cover ideas come to my mind. No, I have no art education, I have been fond of drawing since childhood, the artist is self-taught. I work in some programs and traditionally draw on paper.
10 - Andrey, what guitar do you play now, how many instruments have passed through your hands, how suitable is the current instrument for you and your music? Would you like to change instrument?
- Agile Septor 828, 8 strings - Lizard Burst has been in my hands for over 2 years. I used to play B.C.Rich Warlock in shaggy times, and even Urals:)) During the album "Вечность Смерти " I played 6 strings, Schecter Demon. Now, with the current situation in our country , I'm definitely not going to change to something else.
Well, it's time to finish. Thank you for taking the time to give me honest ans
wers. I wish ANTAGONIST a real connection with the audience, and so that your creativity energizes!
