PERZONAL WAR - Matthias Zimmer
\r\nBloodline\r\nis the title of the new album of Perzonal War. As always, Metalzone.gr did not\r\nmiss the chance, and the guitarist and vocalist of the band, Matthias Zimmer\r\ntalked to Vassilis Mazaris for everything concerning the new album and the band\r\nin general.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: First of all, your upcoming album\r\nwhich is set to be released in May, Bloodline. When and how did the recordings\r\nhappen and are you satisfied with the result?
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\r\nMatthias: The recordings were done in summer of 2007.\r\nAgain we recorded in Martins Gernhart Studio where we also did the previous\r\nreleases. It is pretty comfortable for us because we can take the time we need\r\nto record a record. We are really satisfied with the result. I think Bloodline\r\nrepresents Perzonal War in 2008 regarding songs and sound! It sounds fresh but\r\nit is definitely Perzonal War.
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\r\nMetalzone: In your new album Perzonal War\r\nappear to be improved and the music seems to be more mature. How would you\r\ndescribe your music and do you believe Perzonal War’s music is interesting to\r\nany metalhead?
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\r\nMatthias: I think we went our way through the years. We\r\nplay together now for nearly 12 years and through this big period of time you\r\ncreate an own style and figure out what works and what fits to the band. I\r\nthink Perzonal War can be interesting to lots of metalheads because we combine\r\nmodern elements with basically traditional metal, have enough Thrash elements\r\nin our music and in my eyes offer a good combination of aggression and melody.\r\nThe sound range shows more variety compared to previous releases and we are really\r\nhappy with it; especially live it works really well.
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\r\nMetalzone: Bloodline is your 6th\r\nalbum. What are the differences from album to album? Every band claims each\r\nrelease is the best they’ve ever done is that the case for you too?
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\r\nMatthias: If you really did the best album so far turns\r\nout a bit later. Of course you like the new stuff most but this is quite\r\nnormal. It is new, it is fresh and you didn´t hear it so often ;-) But on the\r\nother hand you would not record an album if you weren´t totally satisfied with\r\nit. For me each record marks a special time or period of my life. At the moment\r\nI record an album it is for me the best I can do in this moment; but maybe I\r\nthink different two years later about it. But to come back to the question:\r\nYes, I would say that we did our best album so far!
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\r\nMetalzone: You recently did some line up\r\nchanges give us the story behind that change.
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\r\nMatthias: Of course we are sad that those changes\r\nhappened. From the beginning we have been a band with a very stable line-up.\r\nFinally Sven and Sascha left the band because of a lack of motivation; when you\r\nhave a job, a family and a band beside it is sometimes pretty hard to combine\r\neverything. And a band does not just mean fun and party but also hard work. So\r\nI can understand the reason for their decision. It has been hard for both to go\r\nthis step and of course we talked about it. But we have to accept their\r\ndecision and we wish them all the best for the future. We are still good\r\nfriends and this has nothing to do with their decision to quit the band.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Bloodline has several guest\r\nappearances. Which are they and how did you make them happen?
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\r\nMatthias: Victor Smolski from Rage plays a solo on\r\nUtopia. When we told him that Sascha left the band he liked the idea of playing\r\nsome solo stuff. Of course we are happy to have a wizard like him on our album\r\n;-) We know him for years and so it was pretty easy to convince him. Also\r\nSchmier, Gus Chambers and Manni Schmidt from Grave Digger are friends of\r\nPerzonal War. We know each other by gigs, parties etc. and all musicians mean a\r\nlot to the band. They had great influence on finding our roots. Really cool is\r\nalso the contribution of Wiley from Sacred Reich. Sacred Reich belong to our\r\nfavourite bands and it was pretty cool that Wiley agreed playing a solo\r\nalthough we didn´t know him before. We saw a show in Holland and after this we email\r\nhim and congratulated him for the amazing gig. When he answered us back I asked\r\nhim if he would like to do some solo on the album. He liked the idea and so it\r\nwent its way...\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Three years ago the band was on the\r\nsame track with Candlemass and Destruction. In fact during that period you\r\npassed from Greece for a couple of shows. How was that period for the band? Are\r\nthere any plans for anything similar?
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\r\nMatthias: Oh, this was a great time for Perzonal war.\r\nAnd to be honest: The shows in Greece\r\nwere the best ones we have ever done. What an explosive crowd. Of course we\r\nwould really come back for some shows to Greece. When we get the opportunity\r\nto come over we are the first to do it!!! Hopefully we get the possibility\r\nmaybe with some bigger act to come back.
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\r\nMetalzone: You have already released 6 albums\r\nbut no official DVD. Are there any plans on that?
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\r\nMatthias: We have recorded our 10-years anniversary show\r\nin Bonn, Germany. I think there will be a DVD release this year. We played a\r\nspecial show with pyros, a 3 hour set and some songs we have never played\r\nbefore. The material I have seen so far looks really professional.
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\r\nMetalzone: Comment on your co operation with\r\nAFM Records? The particular label has a big roster and it might seem that there\r\nisn’t equal care for all bands. Is this the case? Are you satisfied with your\r\nco operation?
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\r\nMatthias: The situation with labels in general is really\r\nhard at the moment. Of course it could be also better with AFM records but in\r\ngeneral we are satisfied. At least we have a label that cares about us and\r\ngives a promotion; also when you are not the number 1 priority band. But for us\r\nAFM seems to be the right address and we hope to reach a higher level in\r\ncooperation. Bloodline is the 4th record now for AFM and hopefully\r\nnot the last.
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\r\nMetalzone: Perzonal War combines melodic\r\ngassings and typical thrash outbursts. What is more important for your music?\r\nWhat do you focus on?
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\r\nMatthias: I think both sides are important for Perzonal\r\nWar. A good combination of aggression and melody is for me a really interesting\r\nmixture. We have done this combination since we formed the band; so we are not\r\na typical thrash band but also no typical "normal" metal band. I like both\r\nextremes and would say that melody and thrash have an equal status.
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\r\nMetalzone: Give us the information on your\r\nupcoming plans.
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\r\nMatthias: We would really like to play lots of shows\r\nthis year; at the moment we are planning for October/November. The new guys\r\ninside the band have to be integrated and we are looking forward to the\r\nupcoming time that we will spend together. And maybe we will start pretty soon\r\nwith new song material. We don´t wan t to have such a big break again between\r\n"Bloodline" and the next album.
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\r\nMetalzone: Thank you for your time and please\r\ngive a message out for our readers in Metalzone.gr and those about to listen\r\nyour latest release Bloodline!
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\r\nMatthias: Hi there, thank you very much for the\r\ninterview. We hope to return to Greece\r\nbecause the gigs with Destruction and Candlemass in Athens and Tessaloniki were amazing!!! Thanx\r\nfor reading this interview and if you are interested in Perzonal War just\r\nlisten to some songs on www.myspace.com/perzonalwar.\r\n
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\r\nAll the\r\nbest & take care!\r\n
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\r\nVassilis Mazaris \r\n
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