THANATOS - Stephan Gebédi

Metalzone:This is the 5th album by Thanatos, in a period of 19 years, what is the reason for having not so many albums although Thanatos is the Founder band of extreme metal (Death) in the Netherlands?
\r\nStephan: Well the main reason is our split up in 1992. It took me 8 years to reform the band and return with a new album in 2000. After that one we’ve just been unlucky with record companies; Hammerheart went bankrupt some time after we had released ‘Angelic Encounters’in 2000. Then we released a mini album ‘Beyond Terror’ in 2002 on Baphomet Records and in 2004 we released ‘Undead. Unholy. Divine. ‘ on Black Lotus. The next album was supposed to come out in 2006, but then Black Lotus also called it quits, so we were left with a large studio bill and an unfinished album. Maybe it’s the curse of Thanatos; every label we’re on goes bankrupt, haha. Maybe we’re also to blame for the worldwide financial crisis…haha. But anywway it took us some time to find a new label and we also were very busy with Hail of Bullets the last few years, but now we finally hooked up with Deity Down Records and we’re very happy to finally have the album released
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\r\nMetalzone: “Justified Genocide” is the new album, to be released on April this years. Give us some info about the new release.
\r\nStephan: Like  I said, we already started recording in 2006, but due to all the problems with the record label and the busy times with our other bands (our members also play in Hail of Bullets, Asphyx and Melechesh now) we did not finish the album until the end of 2008. When Dan Swanö started mixing the album we realised that the songs were still very strong and with Dan’s strong production it turned out to be a killer album that combines all the strong elements of the Thanatos sound; aggressive thrash metal mixed with some evil death metal. I think it’s our most aggressive album so far, so in the end we’re very happy to have kept the band going and not gave up, despite all the shit we went through.
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\r\nMetalzone:Lately I saw on your web-site an explanation of your lyrics of the new albums. Have you face problems before with your lyrics for being provocative or something?
\r\nS:No, we didn’t face problems before but we know that lyrics about the atrocities of World War II are still very sensitive to certain people, especially in Germany. We are not  a political band and we are definitely not nazis or anything and we simply wanted to make clear to everyone that our lyrics are based on reality and historical facts. Sometimes reality can be worse tah fanstasy though. We just felt it was right to explain the lyrics a bit more to avoid any unnecessary controversy…
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\r\nMetalzone:How do you see the European Death Metal Scene these days? Compare today’s death metal acts with the acts of the past, Do you find any kind of big differences?
\r\nS:The old days will never come back cause it was a different time, different feeling and we were still creating the actual death metal sound back then. Now everything’s been said and done more or less. But lately I’ve seen the return of old school death metal and that’s a good thing!There’s nothing wrong with modern death metal but a few years ago the only death metal around was this hyperspeed blastbeat US death metal stuff and that got kinda boring. More diversity in death metal is a good thing, so I think the scene is pretty healthy again. There’s room for everything; from black metal to a NWOBHM revival, I guess. In Holland bands like Hail of Bullets, Asphyx, Legion of the Damned and God Dethroned are definitely on the rise again and we have a healthy scene again…
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\r\nMetalzone:After all these years Thanatos remains one band that I (and many others) can call “Cult”. Are you satisfied with the “cult” status or you rather prefer a bigger success for the band?
\r\nS: yeah why not? I don’t have a problem with being cult. I think too many bands are labelled ‘cult’ though these days, but in our case, being the first death/thrash from Holland, having released a ‘cult classic’ with “Emerging From The Netherworlds’,  having all these label problems throughout our career, but  still releasing good albums 25 years after forming the band in 1984 I guess you could call us ‘cult’ yes, haha.
\r\nOf course I know we could have been a bigger band if we would have had more luck in the early 90’s and IF we had made better decisions back then, but there’s really no point in looking back too much. We’re still here after all that time and we have just released one of our best albums and that’s what’s really important right now….
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\r\nMetalzone:You are in the business for many years, if I asked you to give an advice to a band that now starts its career what it this advice would be?
\r\nS: Haha, well I don’t know if I’m the right person to give advice, but the most important thing is that you should play in a band because you enjoy playing music and not to ‘make it as a rockstar’. Of course there’s nothing wrong with ambition but your love for metal should be unconditional in the first place…What’s also important is that you create your own style and sound. We don’t need anymore copycats. There are already too many bands that sound like clones
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\r\nMetalzone:Are there scheduled any live appearances this period of time for promoting the “Justified Genocide” release?
\r\nS: We’re trying to fit in some more Thanatos shows, but for 2009 we already have a lot of shows planned with our other bands, so it’s kinda difficult, but we’ll definitely try to get more shows planned for this year. We also hope to return to Greece this year or next year, so if there are any interested promotors out there, please get in touch…
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\r\nMetalzone:Any future plans?
\r\nS: Until last year we were very pessisimistic about the future of the band; no deal, an unfinished album, but right now we’re much more positive again. There are no immediate plans for a new Thanatos album yet, but who knows what will happen nect year when we have released new albums again with our other bands?! Maybe the urge to do another album appears again..we’ll see. I’m not making any long term plans anymore but the future is totally open as far as I’m concerned
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\r\nMetalzone:Well guys, I d like to thank you for this little interview? The last words always belong to the band, so close this interview in any way you like.
\r\nS: Thank you for your time! We hope to play in Greece again pretty soon. If you can’t find the album in the shops, it’s also available through our webshop; www.thanatos.info Cheers
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\r\nInterviewed by Lampros "Witchfynder General" Tennes
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