Crave: What has the response to "Primal Massacre" been like since its release?
Vomitory: It has been nothing but great, actually. All people from magazines, radio stations and fans that we've talked to are all very excited about the new album. The reviews have been great and the response from the audience has been great when we've played the new songs live.
Crave: What's it like being on a label like Metal Blade that has so many great bands on its roster?
Vomitory: It's of course very good, even though we don't get the same attention as the bigger acts. Being on such a big label as Metal Blade gives us of course better exposure everywhere, but primarily it gives us very good touring possibilities. In my opinion, touring is probably the best way for a death metal band to promote itself. We get to tour with bigger label mates as well as being part of the touring festival packages in Europe, which is awesome.
Crave: What do you think the main difference is between "Primal Massacre" and "Blood Rapture"?
Vomitory: If you compare all our albums with each other it's very obvious that our music has always moved in the more brutal direction. I think we’ve become better at playing our instruments and the overall material is even better than “Blood Rapture”. Production-wise it differs a little from the previous album as well. While “Blood Rapture” was very clearly and clean produced, the production on “Primal Massacre” is a bit dirtier and rougher but still very heavy and brutal, which I think is really cool.
Crave: What is the song "Demon's Divine" written about?
Vomitory: It’s about how the Christians are the true roots of evil. No matter how you twist and turn it – Christianity and religions is always the true evil in this world.
Crave: Who are your biggest influences?
Vomitory: Everything we listen to influence us in one way or another, whether it’s death metal or not. There are shitloads of bands that inspire us, but there are always a few that are a little more important to us when it comes to writing songs – some bands that are always somewhere in our minds. Napalm Death, old Grave, old Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Terrorizer, Vader, Slayer and Repulsion to name a few.
Crave: Do you get a lot of over reaction to the name VOMITORY?
Vomitory: Not really. In the beginning, there maybe were some reactions but that was when death metal was new to everyone, so… When we started in 1989, we wanted a name that instantly told that we weren't just any metal band, but an extreme one. I still think it's a cool name and over the years, most people have thought the same.
Crave: What's your favorite city or venue to play?
Vomitory: The best venue in Europe is 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Nothing beats it! Everything is so professional and well arranged there and everyone is always looking forward to play there when we're on tour. I know other bands do as well. The crowd there is also usually fucking great! Another favorite city to play in is Paris. The French metal heads are completely insane, so it's always a blast playing there.
Crave: What was the first album you ever owned?
Vomitory: The first rock/metal album I ever owned was “Creatures Of The Night” with Kiss. I got it as a present from my brother when I was eight or something. I still have it in my collection.
Crave: What CD have you been listening to lately?
Vomitory: “Anatomy Is Destiny” with Exhumed, “Hex” with Bigelf, “World Wide Death” (adv.-CD) with God Among Insects, “Goremaggeddon” with Aborted and “Let it be…naked” with The Beatles.
Crave: What is the writing process like; does the music come first or the lyrics?
Vomitory: The music always comes first. We never write music to a lyric, but during the writing process we always have the vocals and vocal arrangement in mind. I write like 90% of the music, and Erik and Ulf write the lyrics. Usually, I finish a song completely before I play it to the other guys and then we change it together (if there’s anything to change). After that is done, either Erik or Ulf or both together take care of the lyrics.
Crave: So what is the status of Erik as far as covering both vocals and bass?
Vomitory: We have been searching for a new vocalist for some time now, since Erik wanted to concentrate on playing bass, but we haven’t found any good replacement yet. There has been a very big interest for the vocal spot but there have only been a couple of guys that have been really interesting to us. But nobody has been good enough. There is one more guy that we are going to try within a few weeks though. We’ll see what happens. It’s getting kind of frustrating to not find a good vocalist, so maybe we continue with Erik on vocals anyway. We’ll see what happens.
Crave: What's in the near future for Vomitory?
Vomitory: We are going to do some festivals this summer, Braindead Open Air in France, Party-San in Germany, Summer Breeze in Germany and Halden Moshfest in Norway. There are also some more shows and tours in the planning stage at the moment but nothing is yet confirmed.
Crave: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview!
Vomitory: Thanks for the opportunity! Hail metal, hail Absinthe!
