Corpsessed Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?- Corpsessed is a 5-pieced band from Finland that was formed in early 2007 with the desire and intent to play Death Metal the way that is closest to our hearts, in the old school fashion with nods to early releases of bands such as Grave, Incantation and the ancient Finnish Death Metal tradition.

 
2. How would you describe the musical sound that is on the EP?
- This EP is our first release and is entitled "The Dagger & The Chalice" containing 6 songs of Death Metal returning to the original idea of the genre without too much modern connotations. The sound is murky and dark with a heavy emphasis on the low frequencies. In our music we are concentrating more on creating a dark, punishing and unforgiving atmosphere rather than relying on sweet melodies. We're not that technical or the fastest band around nor do we intend to be, it's a fine balance between blasting, midpaced and slower more doomy parts. The vocals range from deep growls to some higher pitched screams, but remain mostly in the deep end.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and concepts the ep explores?

- Lyrics of the songs on the EP contain themes such as Death worship, brooding and imminent Doom, the Occult, sex, nightmares and the abhorrent ancient gods (with a heavy nod to the mythos created by H.P.Lovecraft).

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

- It's a made up word... Combining possession and death, It depicts a state of being possessed into a corpselike state in a grip of death, certain zombifiement of sort... draining of vitality through demonic inthrallment. I can't deny also the stint of black humour the name contains, though it's not meant to be taken as a joke in anyway.

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

- All of us have played gigs before with our other bands and projects, but as Corpsessed we haven't done any shows yet... which is a matter that will be corrected very soon! We are at the moment rehearsing hard for future live appearances and trying to find suitable gigs, venues and bands we could share the stage with. I don't think we'll be relying on any gimmicks, props or theatric stuff - just the band playing with abandon and power and let the music do the talking.

6. Do you have any touring plans for the future?

- Not for the moment, but who knows what the future will bring.


7. On a worldwide level how has your music been recieved by death metal fans?
- Surprisingly most of the feedback we've recieved this far has been very good. But we are still a quite new and unknown band. The bad reviews are bound to start coming in, now that the EP is out. The music is our view on how we see and like Death Metal and opinions vary from person to person, and you can't please everybody - it would also be foolish to even try.


8. Are there any side projects besides this band or this a full time line up?
- Corpsessed is very much a full-time band and we don't consider it a sideproject of anything. Some of us still play in other bands as well - Matti (guitars) is still active with his funeral doom band Tyranny and Mikko (bass) with his band Azure. Jussi (drums) is playing with some projects. For Niko (vocals) and Jyri (guitars) Corpsessed is the only active band at the moment, though Jyri is also a session member in the Tyranny live lineup, which varies from time to time.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

- Everything evolves as it goes onwards, as it has done to this date. It took us perhaps a few years to get things set on the right path, which is why our very first release is coming out now - 4 years after the inception of the band. It took a while to figure out how to channel our potential through this band and now that our vision is quite clear on what we want and can do, we don't see any drastic changes coming in the future. Corpsessed will always play uncompromising Death Metal with the power and passion as we have to this day.

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

- There's loads of bands, old and new, we listen to and each of the members have their own taste, but where we come together Death Metal-wise are the first albums from Grave, Entombed, Dismember, Tiamat, the Finnish bands like Abhorrence, Demigod, Belial, Purtenance and the American bands such as Incantation, Immolation, early Deicide... Necros Christos and Grave Miasma from the more recent ones. Basically the more darker and evil sounding Death Metal. Also Black Metal and Doom plays huge part in our influences and our vocalist is also into more Grind bands, but our tastes can also range from ambient to some fringes of rock music and to the more experimental - from Pink Floyd to Wesley Willis, hah! Inspiration can be drawn from pretty much anything that sounds good to us.

11. Does Occultism play any role in the music?

- Depends really on how you see it. On a thematic level, very much so... Perhaps though much more in a fictional sense, if you look at the lyrics. But the way I see, through the views of the Left Hand Path, practice of Magick as a way to strengthen ones Will where certain symbology exists to provoke you into a certain wanted mood and this is the same with the creation of music, it is channeling of energies in a very pure form and playing the songs can become a very precise Ritual which can open wanted states.... I don't want to go too deep into this here as the matter is very personal.

12. Outside of music, what are some of your interests?

- Music and our normal dayjobs fill most of our days, but outside of that, our other interests are pretty much what you would expect from guys in their late 20s and early 30s, I guess... Movies, books, arts, videogames, some of us do sports and some are lazy as hell. All of us have their own private interests which I think would be futile to start listing here.

 
13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

- I think that was about it.. nothing more to add for the moment. Thanks for the interview, this was our first!