TERRORDROME - Sakis Chatzitakis
\r\nOne of the most promising Greek Brutal Death Metal bands, Terrordrome, recently released their debut album "Vehement Convulsion". Vassilis Mazaris of Metalzone.gr conducted an interview with Sakis, the guitar player of Terrordrome. Enjoy the interview and don’t forget to check out "Vehement Convulsion" which is out on Grindethic Records!\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: First of all I’d like to welcome you In Metalzone. gr. To take things from the start tell\r\nus a few things about the history of the band and your line up.\r\n
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\r\nSakis: Terrordrome was formed in the fall\r\nof the year 2000 by Sakis Chatzitakis (guitars) and Stelios Papadopoulos\r\n(drums). September 2001 Peter Ouzounis joined the band on vocals and the first\r\nMCD was completed and finally released in May 2002. Since then many line\r\nup changes occurred, especially on drum and bass players, but the style of the\r\nband has always been into death metal. The releases of the band since then is\r\nthe "Intravenous Multiplication" 2002\r\nMCD, "Sane-in-sane" 2004 Promo CD,\r\nand "Terrordrome" 2006 MCD. From the\r\nlast release we gained great interest from many underground labels, and as a\r\nresult it was remastered and released as part of the 5-way split CD,\r\nAtrocities, through the Australian label Life\r\nFluid Production, January 2007. At the same time we inked a deal with the UK’s Grindethic Records to release our debut\r\nalbum. Since 2006 we have the most solid and strong line-up which is, Sakis\r\nChatzitakis (guitars), Peter Ouzounis (vocals), Anestis Varitimiadis (bass) and\r\nBill Stavrianidis (drums). All these years we gave many live performances with\r\nthe highlights being the 2 times we supported the Death Metal legends Obituary\r\n(2004, 2008), and the support act for Malevolent Creation and Pungent Stench\r\n(2007). We also did a European Tour (European Blasting Tour 2008,\r\nFebruary/March 2008) along with Deranged and Defeated Sanity and we passed from\r\nAustria,\r\nPoland,\r\nGermany,\r\nUK,\r\nHolland and Switzerland.\r\nFinally, March 2008 Grindethic Records\r\nreleased our debut album titled "Vehement Convulsion". \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Your debut album is called Vehement Convulsion and it’s not more than a\r\nmonth since it’s out in stores. How does that make you feel and what feedback\r\nhave you gotten so far?\r\n
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\r\nSakis: We feel absolutely great that we have an\r\nofficial release out from a very good and growing label like Grindethic is. It\r\nis like a mountain’s peak and we have set foot on it. I mean that from the very\r\nbegging we had a vision, we have set some targets and it is great to see that\r\nsome of them have been accomplished. Of course we have worked very hard all this\r\ntime but right now we feel more motivated to work even harder and reach for the\r\nnext targets. The feedback we are getting so far is amazing. It is a very\r\nsatisfying situation but a very surprising one as well, because we play a\r\nrather "niche" and extreme music and we expected and still expect the worst\r\ntoo. Right now both people and press seem to really like our album, but still\r\nit is too early to have the whole picture.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Your label is Grindethic Records. How did you strike a record deal with them\r\nand how is your co operation? Are you satisfied so far? \r\n
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\r\nSakis: The deal with Grindethic Records\r\ncame almost immediately after we released the "Terrordrome" MCD (2006). At that time we sent it out to some\r\ncarefully selected labels to see if they were interested in releasing our full\r\nlength. Seeing Grindethic’s past releases, which are of great quality, and thinking\r\nof their offer we decided to work with them without any hesitations. Of course\r\nwe are very satisfied with them and our choice proved to be the right one. They\r\ndid everything they told us and even more! This may surprise you but it is the\r\ntruth, these guys are fans of this music, not just cold-blooded professionals.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Your style can be characterised as typical Brutal Death Metal which is a pretty\r\npopular genre lately. Isn’t it risky to release an album like that in this\r\nchaos? What do you believe can make you stand out?\r\n
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\r\nSakis: Indeed, Brutal Death Metal seems to\r\nbe a quite popular genre lately and many releases have seen the light of day.\r\nFrom my point of view this can only be good because this kind of music attracts\r\nmore and more interest and audience. Not only this, in the classes of Death\r\nMetal there are so many great musicians that motivated and still motivate\r\npeople to reach higher musical standards. A rather healthy competition exists\r\nalso between bands and musicians wanting to develop their music and skills. Of\r\ncourse there are people who want to hurt or insult others and of course there\r\nare bad and good releases like in any kind of musical style, but it is up to\r\nevery individual to choose what to listen and support. Everything in nature has\r\nto do with balance. You can never have the right or the good if there is not\r\nthe wrong or the bad. So, from the above mentioned you can understand that we\r\ndo not feel like risking at all to release an album in the Brutal Death Metal\r\nChaos, but the exact opposite! Also, this is the music we love to play and\r\nthere is no compromise on that. We won’t make a search first to see what is\r\n"hot" to play or what sells at the time, this is totally unacceptable. We chose\r\nto play Death Metal from the very beginning and we will continue to do so. Only\r\nthe audience can make a band stand out. The Press has also a great power but it\r\nis the fans that will go and purchase your release and if they like it, they\r\nwill support it and spread the word.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: How would you describe what we listen to in Vehement? Which do you feel is\r\nthe ingredient that makes you unique? \r\n
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\r\nSakis: The album title describes exactly\r\nwhat to expect from Terrordrome’s music. That is why we chose this title and it\r\nhas to do only with the music, with only an indirect link to the lyrical part.\r\nSo, expect a "Vehement Convulsion" of brutal death metal riffing, drumming,\r\nvocals and also a "Vehement Convulsion" of thoughts. The ingredients that we think make\r\nour music unique are that we do not have any riff repetition, we combine many\r\nmusical genres and we do not have a specific lyrical direction. I mean that, we\r\nsee our music as a trip. Nothing is constant on the route and something new\r\nexpects you after every turn. In our songwriting we do not follow any pattern\r\nlike most bands do, you know intro, pre-chorus, chorus, solo and then again\r\nfrom the beginning. Those days have passed and the masterpieces are out there.\r\nOur pattern is for a riff to be followed by another and so on. This is a\r\ndifficult process because you have to make the right connections between them\r\nso as the final result to be solid and have a good flow. Also to this\r\nconvulsion of music we try to combine many different musical genres and add\r\nthem to our style. We have some jazz parts and some blues among others. Do not\r\nexpect to find them as a jazz or a blues band would play them, everything is\r\nfiltered into a brutal death metal mood and our final aim is not to create an\r\neasily digestible music. Most people stay on the surface on things and draw\r\nconclusions from the first impression they had. We did not want to create an\r\nalbum that you will hear two times and will remember it afterwards, but\r\nsomething that would make you sit down and analyze it and would keep your\r\ninterest for much more time.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell us the themes that inspire you in your lyrics. Is there a particular\r\nconcept? \r\n
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\r\nSakis: Peter Ouzounis is the only\r\nresponsible for our lyrical part. I am not exactly in his mind but I can surely\r\nsay that he does not want to stick on a subject and try to elaborate on it. He\r\njust writes about what he wants to express at the time through personal\r\nexperiences or thoughts and influences. He has written about murder, or splatter\r\nand gory scenes, subjects which are very common among Death Metal bands but he\r\nhas also dealt with religions and the damages they have caused on societies,\r\nsex and love both from a romantic or pornographic view, environmental awareness\r\nand speculation, relations between people just to name a few.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: The production was handled by George Bokos from Rotting Christ. Tell us\r\nabout your co operation. Are you satisfied with the result? \r\n
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\r\nSakis: George Bokos has been a great friend\r\nof mine many years now. When he told me that he set up his personal studio we\r\nimmediately agreed on making this album together. George Bokos is for many\r\nyears now into extreme music and he has a great experience on it. It is very\r\nimportant to work with people that know this kind of style because they can\r\ngive you the correct advices and improve the final result. Indeed, we are\r\ntotally satisfied with the final result and our choice proved to be the correct\r\none. What we wanted all along, from the beginning of the recordings, was a\r\nclear sound where you can hear every detail/note and instrument. This kind of\r\nmusic is chaotic and if the production and performance is chaotic as well, then\r\nyes, you belong to the big pile of brutal death metal bands from where you can\r\nnot stand out.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: The duration of Vehement isn’t more than 30 minutes. Some might say that\r\nit’s very little time. Why did you choose to do that? Is that how long a brutal\r\nalbum should last according to you?\r\n
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\r\nSakis: Exactly, this kind of music can be\r\nvery boring after a while. More particularly, in our style and music which\r\ninvolves so many changes, blasting, shredding and with the whole feeling always\r\nat a peak it would have been impossible to follow up after a while. The 29\r\nminutes of "Vehement Convulsion" came up naturally. The album felt to us so\r\nfull that we could not bear to add anything more. We only wanted to have 11\r\nsongs and we never estimated the total playing time not until we had the final\r\nproduct after the mastering. There were where we saw that the album lasts 29\r\nminutes and we were very pleased to see that because we feel that around 30\r\nminutes is the fine line between this kind of music and the duration of it. To\r\nelaborate more, for example I would say that I could not expect a Limbonic Art\r\nalbum to be less than an hour. They have a different way to develop their\r\nmusical ideas and their style involves more feelings and more time is needed\r\nfor them to be expressed. Brutal death\r\nmetal works differently where the developing is quicker and things happen\r\nfaster there.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: What about your upcoming live appearances? I think you were on tour with\r\nObscura... \r\n
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\r\nSakis: Yes we were on a European tour with\r\nDeranged and Defeated Sanity. Obscura were supposed to be part of the tour but\r\nthey had to cancel because of major line up changes at that time. Right now we\r\nhave arranged a gig in Athens,\r\n13 of July and this is the first time for Terrordrome to visit Athens. After that, we will participate in a\r\ndeathfest which will take place here in Thessaloniki\r\nafter the summertime. More gigs will follow, but nothing is sure yet.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: What are your expectations for the future? Is it easy for a band\r\nfrom Thessaloniki\r\nto be recognised?\r\n
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\r\nSakis: Our expectations for the future are\r\nto be able to continue to play and create the music we love. We all have our\r\ndaily jobs but if we have a wish to make, it is to make music our primary work.\r\nIn fact this is very difficult because the genre we chose to follow is not so\r\ncommercial and you must be 100% dedicated to meet with the expectations this\r\nmusic sets. This requires plenty of time to study and so on. Recognition is\r\nsomething that comes after hard and devoted work and not only in the music\r\nindustry but in every working field. To be from Thessaloniki is a disadvantage because it is\r\nnot so easy to pick up a van and start touring and for some other reasons as\r\nwell, but we have the determination and will and time will tell. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Thank you for your time, and we’ll see you live in Athens on July 13th!\r\n
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\r\nSakis: Thank you also for this great\r\nopportunity to appear on Metal Zone’s pages and hope people will like and\r\nembrace "Vehement Convulsion". \r\n
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\r\nVassilis Mazaris \r\n
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