THE PROJECT HATE MCMXCIX - Lord K. Philipson

\r\nThere\r\nare some persons in Metal scene that has something to say about everything,\r\nwith their own way just because they are cool persons and it is very nice\r\nto have a talk with them. One of those persons is for sure Lord K\r\nPhilipson(Composer, Guitarist, Lyricist) of The Project Hate MCMXCIX and God\r\nAmong Insects. I am a fan of his works for many years now and I always wanted to\r\nask him many things... This is my chance so, if you are into TPH and the Swedish Death Metal sound, but\r\nalso if you want to read an interesting interview just scroll down your mouse\r\nand enjoy!\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: Hey there and greetings from\r\nGreece! This is Vassilis of metalzone magazine. Well, to begin with, I want to\r\nthank you in advance for this interview for two reasons. Because I know that\r\nyou are a dedicated musician and your time is very limited and second, because\r\nit’s a honour for me to talk with a guy like you, a guy who is well known both\r\nin the Swedish Metal scene and the Metal scene in general. How are you? How is your current mood after the\r\nrelease of the new album of Project Hate?\r\n

\r\nLord K: Thanx for the kind words, man. Mood\r\nis killer here. We just had our release party for the new album 2 days ago and\r\nshit went real fine. It feels great to finally have the album in our hands, to\r\nhear and see the masterpiece as it was planned. It’s quite different to stare\r\nat the thing at the monitor compared to having the real booklet and everything\r\nin front of you on paper. One of the biggest joys with releasing album. We know\r\npeople have a hard time finding it in the stores just yet, but that’s because\r\nthe distibution deal is about to finally be signed. StormVox really wants to\r\nget us and them a good deal instead of just a decent one - that’s why it’s\r\ntaken a few more weeks than initially planned. But as it seems, this will all\r\nbe sorted shortly and the album will be available hopefully in a store near\r\nyou. If not, feel free to buy it directly from us. We like this DIY style\r\nanyways. So, as mentioned, shit is killer here in Hateland.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: Give us some information about "In\r\nHora Mortis Nostrae". To be honest, I have not heard the album yet although I\r\nam a big fan of Project Hate.. You know, it’s a little bit difficult to find\r\nyour albums here in Greece... Anyway, I heard the song which is available through\r\nMyspace and in my opiniopn, this is another Project Hate song with the same\r\nfeeling and the same "insane" atmosphere which every TPH album has... Do you\r\nagree with it? Is it the whole album like this song?\r\n

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\r\nLord K: This album is sounding just like\r\nanything else we have done. And for a reason... We know what we wanna do and we\r\nknow how we wanna do it. What differs from album to album though is that we\r\ntake things further on each and every recording. We just put in more of\r\neverything while still maintaining everything that we are about. Brutality,\r\nbeauty and groove. This is what we are and as long as I’m in this band, this is\r\nwhat we will sound like. And yes, you can bet yer ass on the whole album being\r\non par with the tune you heard. We simply don’t include weak stuff for the sake\r\nof having more material. We go into the songwriting with the intention to write\r\nenough songs to make an album complete, no filler material... And this is what\r\nwe have done yet again this time around. Just wait until you hear the whole\r\nthing... There’s some insane amount of hours put into the writing of\r\n"Hora", and you can tell by devouring it. Trust me on this.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: This is the first album in which a\r\ndrummer takes part in. How did you come to this decision? You think it is\r\nbetter for TPH to have a complete line-up? Are you satisfied with the result\r\nand the sound of the drums?\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLord K: Oh yeah, I’m satisifed. Not only\r\nthat, I’m more than satisifed. The time was right for a drummer now. Being a\r\ndrummer myself originally, I have high demands for anyone wanting to play our\r\nshit. Our bassist Michael said that Mojjo (that’d be the drummer) could nail\r\nthis shit. And man, could he ever... I love the sound, I love the way he plays\r\nand I love the attitude of this guy. Bringing him on board is one of the best\r\nthings to happen to us. He really knows how I want shit to sound and delivers,\r\nand more. Mojjo is king. But hey, we are all kings in our own kingdom. There’s\r\nno one better than the other, if you get my point. We are a unity of satanic\r\nproportions. A force created to destroy everything that is considered holy.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nCould you please\r\ntell me if there are some expectation concerning the new album? Is there\r\nanything that you haven’t done so far and you think that this is the chance for\r\nyou?\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLord K: The only thing I expect is that\r\nanyone who was ever into what we did before, will think this is our best album\r\nyet, coz it is - without a doubt. We are not taking any huge turns materialwise\r\nor anything, and we never planned to. We got our concept down and stick with\r\nit. I don’t expect the album to sell millions, I don’t expect us to be on every\r\n"important" magazine cover in the business. And seriously, I don’t\r\ngive a flying fuck about it. We do this because we have to, because we are\r\ndestined to, not because we think we could be rich off it. This is my soul,\r\nthis is the reason why I’m here... You’ll never see us stray away too much from\r\nour concept, that’s for sure. About doing things on this one that we haven’t\r\ndone before... Well, we did include acoustic guitars at one place, that’s a new\r\nthing for us, hahaha...\r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone:\r\nI listen to your\r\nmusic many years now but, to be honest, I can not "categorize" TPH at a Metal\r\ngenre. OK, it is obvious that we have to do with a Death Metal band but you\r\nknow, the music that you create it’s not Old school Swedish Death Metal nor\r\nMelodic Swedish Death Metal (like In Flames, Dark Tranquillity etc). What do\r\nyou think about that? How can you describe your music in order to persuade\r\nsomeone who is not familiar with the band, to pay attention to you?\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLord K: That is one of the biggest\r\ncompliments we can get. I really like that, and I appreciate you saying that. I\r\nhave stated it many times: we might sound like a lot of bands but there’s not\r\none single band that sounds lik TPH. And that’s how it is. Our core is Death\r\nMetal, but to limit us to that would be an insult - which is quite obvious when\r\nyou listen to what we do, you know. I have no idea how to label us... We play\r\nmusic, beautiful and brutal music with a lot of influences not generally\r\nincluded in the brutal kind of metal. We have influences from all kinds of\r\nbands. There might be some parts that In Flames could have on one of their\r\nalbums, there are parts that Morbid Angel could have come up with, perhaps...\r\nIf anyone wanna know what we play as far as genres go... I’d say death metal\r\nand beyond. We are unique and we are damn proud of it, coz how many bands of\r\ntoday can claim that?\r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone:\r\nTell me about the\r\nband’s philosophy! Is there a message that you want to send to the listeners\r\nthrough your music? In your opinion, someone who believes in religion (in any\r\nreligion) can hear the music of TPH? Also, it is very interesting for us to\r\nlearn about the lyrics of the new album and if there is a concept behind it!\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLord K: Anyone can fucken listen to us. We\r\nhave a message and that very message is to annihilate religion. I think this is\r\nmade very clear if you take a look at our lyrics, more so on this new album\r\nthan in the past, though the ideals are exactly the same. I doubt that many\r\nchristians listen to what we do, and if they do.. good. They need guidance.\r\nThey need to see the falseness in their beliefs. And they need to stay the fuck\r\naway from us. We are drunk and we have guns and shit. Actually, we are quite\r\nsober at this very moment. Don’t tell anyone.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nIn TPH beside the\r\nbrutal vocals, you have many ethereal female vocals too. As it is known, it is\r\na kind of "trend" something like this nowdays and it is said that you are doing\r\nit in order to have more fans. What is your answer to all those who believes\r\nthat?\r\n

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\r\nLord K: I think it’s quite hard for me to\r\nsay it’s a trend considering we have done it since 1999/2000 or so. It wasn’t\r\neven a trend back then. I think it’s more common that bands just have a female\r\nvocalist instead of a guy as well, sharing the duties. And I don’t care. I love\r\nfemale vocals and I love growls. And we have them both. Sure, we are doing this to get more fans, to gain world-wide recognition and shit.\r\nIt’s definitely not becoz I want these 2 elements in my music becoz I love it\r\nand I want us to be everything I ever could wish for musicwise. Nah... could\r\nit? Note the sarcasm coz it’s fucken present.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nWhich is the reason\r\nthat you write songs with long duration? Don’t you think that because of this,\r\nit’s hard for the listener to pay attention to the hole album and it is also\r\nhard to remind some songs? Is there a reason that you don’t write "hits"?\r\n

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\r\nLord K: I like it like that, naturally. We\r\nhave had some short songs in the past but that’s not really how I wanna carry\r\nout the concept of TPH. I want it to be majestic, I want alot of stuff\r\nhappening in the songs. It’s easier to do that with a 10 minute tune than a 3\r\nminute one. Really. I’m not saying we’ll never do a 4 minute tune again, if it\r\nhappens - it happens for a reason. Becoz the tune feels completed... I don’t\r\nplan to though. This is how I want us to sound, complete with long songs that\r\nwill really crave attention from the listener. We are not meant to be playing\r\nin the background, we crave dedication from you. If you really wanna hear what\r\nwe are about, and I mean REALLY, invest some expensive headphones, lie down,\r\nput it on real loud and
\r\nabsorb everything in complete darkness. Trust me on this, it is something\r\ndifferent...\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nAny news from your\r\nother band God Among Insects?\r\n

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\r\nLord K: Not really. Some gig might be coming\r\nup but besides that, we are all busy with our "real" bands.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nSome personal\r\nquestions now... You are involved in the Metal scene many years now and you have\r\nplay in many bands. To mention few, Vomitory, Dark Funeral, Grave, Leukemia,\r\nLame, Toolshed etc. Is there anything that you will never forget or, to be more\r\nspecific, is there anything that you learn all those years and now this is\r\nsomething that guides your life?\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLord K: To make it clear, some of those\r\nbands I have just helped out for tours. I was never a member of those bands and\r\nI never wanted to be. I just wanted to help out my friends when they needed it.\r\nMusic is everything I am about and I have learned something from every\r\nexperience. Just to mention one this... The tours I did with Vomitory are without a doubt some of the finest moments in my life. I love\r\nthose guys and playing with them was a true honour. If they ever need help\r\nagain, they know I’m but a phonecall away. I really picked up some stuff in my\r\nplaying by touring with them. Those guys really make you work with their stuff.\r\nUntil you have played with them, I don’t wanna hear a fucken word about Death Metal being easy\r\nto play. Vomitory is one of my fave bands and drummer Tobben is one of my\r\nclosest friends. That these guys are not leaders of Death Metal isn’t only\r\nunfair, it’s also completely fucken retarded.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nWhat is you opinion\r\nabout the downloading? How do you react when somebody tells you that he\r\n"download the new album of TPH"?\r\n

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\r\nLord K: I download stuff myself so who am I\r\nto bitch about it? I can’t do shit about this thing so it’s better that we just\r\naccept it coz wasting time on this issue would be fucken useless. Lemme just\r\nsay that unless you listen to the real album, you won’t experience the music as\r\nit is supposed to be experienced. And I’m not just talking about us here. The\r\nloss of quality with mp3’s is obvious, but as long as you listen to nothing but\r\nmp3’s, you won’t notice. Your ears get used to it unfortunately. But hey,\r\ndownload away.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nWhen you were a kid\r\nI guess that you had some dreams (as all the kids have). Now that you have\r\nreached some goals, you think that your dreams came true or is there anything\r\nthat you still want to do?\r\n

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\r\nLord K: I’m never satisfied. The biggest\r\ndream to fulfill is to do an album that literally gives me goosebumps from\r\nstart to finish, but that’s never going to happen. To anyone. But that is\r\nsomething that drives me, you know. To work towards the one album that makes\r\nyour hair stand up for an hour. If you don’t have something that drives you, you could as well give it up and do somehting else - coz the music\r\nis not for you. Sure, I have reached some goals and the feeling of doing that\r\nwhen you have worked for it for so long is a nice feeling. But as mentioned,\r\nI’m far away from feeling satisfied. I’ll never be. And that feeling is the\r\nmost important to me.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: That’s all dude! Once again, I’d\r\nlike to say thanks for your time and I hope to see you on stage one day here in\r\nGreece! Is there a tour planed to promote the new album? The last words belong\r\nto you...\r\n

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\r\nLord K: I’m so fed up with these fucken\r\nquestions about us touring or not. I’ll let you find the answer somewhere else\r\ncoz it’s quite easy to do so. Thanx alot for a good interview, nice to see\r\nsomeone actually spending a little timecoming up with some interesting\r\nquestions. Thanx for the support man. I really appreciate it.\r\n

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\r\nVassilis Mazaris\r\n
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