Torture Division Interview

1. Can you update us with what is going on with the band these days?

Sure. A few weeks ago we finished up the third and last installment of trilogy 2, which will be released Monday July 12th. It's called, duh, "Evighetens Dårar III" and is a fucken fest of brutality and groove. 4 tunes of the world's best death metal - all for free at our website. Besides that we are just rehearsing individually for the gig at Getaway Festival this Saturday. This is something we have looked forward to for quite some time since we haven't played live since March or something when we did the Inferno gig in Norway. This will be some insane shit coz we have some nice surprises for this concert. Also, we release the demo that day to the ones who come to the gig, while the rest of the world have to wait until Monday, July 12th. Just as a special thing for the guys coming there to support us, you know. When these 2 things are dealt with we will take the remainder of the year off with Torture Division (at least recording wise, we have gigs coming up this fall though) as we have albums to record with both The Project Hate MCMXCIX and Vomitory - so we'll concentrate on that.


2. How would you describe your musical sound?

Blasting and fucken grooving death metal, the way only veterans of the scene can do it. Is it technical and flashy? Not by a fucken longshot. We are not about that. If you like death metal there's no way you will absolutely love what we do - simply becoz we do this style a tad better than everyone else.


3. What is the meaning behind the band's name?

We are the army of three who bring torture and death. Actually, we just bring fantastic death metal but it sounds cooler to try to convince people we actually go around killing people and torturing them, you know.


4. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

We are no Slipknot on stage. We go up in regular clothes and just blast the fuck out of us and the crowd, There's no image or anything, we concentrate on the music. Maybe not the funniest thing to see if you want a spectacle, bt hey - we play death metal, come there for the music. I believe we do good live. We take pride in sounding good anyways. Then again, I think most bands do. Our best gig was when we opened for The Haunted in Örebro. The guys even came up to us and asked us if we wanted to open for them on more occasions. They seemed impressed. Great guys, those. We were fucken smoking that evening. Not a lemon in sight.


5. Do you have any plans to bring your live death metal assault to the U.S?

If someone offers us a doable deal - sure. So far we only played once outside of Sweden and we would naturally like to do it again if the circumstances are right. We can't go and play anywhere for free, you know. And it's not like we are asking for an unfair amount of money.


6. I have noticed that there are alot of death metal veterans in the band, what is your opinion on modern death metal?

Some of it is fantastic and some of it sucks the cock. Just like with every other style of music. The most boring aspect of this modern death metak thing is that obviously people think it's a competition now - who can play fastest? Who gives a fuck? Playing fast is easy - try creating some groove instead. Try to sound like us - the world would be a much better place if so. The death metal scene would too.


7. How would you describe the lyrical content of the music?

Jörgen writes about his own experiences at work. How it's like to move around crates of food and pack them into the car, just to drive them to some place. He's at some catering firm. That's his lyrics. Every song is about that. Just disguised a little.


8. What is going on with the side projects these days?

Torture Division IS the side project, so...


9. How would you describe your musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?

We sound like we did from the start and we'll continue to do so. We'll just work on writing better tunes, as always. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don't - but everything we write is amazing in the end.


10. How have brutal death metal fans worldwide reacted to your music style?

It seems like they dig it, and I don't see how they couldn't? We do some fantastic music for sure.


11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays?

Direct influences for me when it comes to TD's music is Vader and Vomitory and on top of that my personal way of playing guitar which is influenced by no one but myself. I listen to so much music. While typing this Ihsahn is on, before that it was Keri Hilson, you make the math...


12. What are some of your interests outside of music?

The UFC and MMA in general.


13. Any final words or thoughts?

Thanx for the interview. Get all of our material for free at www.torturedivision.net.