Originally published in ‘zine issue #5, 1992
Demigod is a death metal band that has appeared in several ‘zines here and there. The four-piece released a demo, Unholy Domain, and recorded a rehearsal, both in 1991. Now the band has some new songs and a bright horizon. Here my friend Esa Linden talks about his heavy band.
D.U.: You say that your lyrics deal with “darkness and death in a very obscure form,” without Satanism or gore.
Esa: Yeah, we deal with darkness/death and depressions. I will never start to do Satanic or political lyrics ‘coz I’m not into them and we really want to keep Demigod as a dark band. In my opinion our lyrics are very obscure. I don’t really know why our lyrics are like this. We just get bored to do the usual gore stuff and we wanted to get something obscure, and here we are.
Give an example of your typical subject matter.
This is from the track called “Deadsoul”:
Divagate in obscurity / Obscene frost of eternity / Disgusting moral existence / Cruelty of nocturnal paradise / I shall dwell in eternal obscurity … I am deadsoul of darkness / I shall crucify your bastard souls
Esa: We have also depressive lyrics but there’s still the dark feeling in them. I’ll give an example again.
“Tears of God”:
So cold is the touch of dismay / Bitterness shrouds me into eternity / Ceased as I am damnated soul / You forsook left me succumb alone / Tears of God / Darken unholy domain
Why did you stop playing guitar and only sing?
I stopped playing guitar ‘coz I wasn’t pleased with my playing. I tried to stop it last summer, but other guys wanted me to continue. In October I said I wanna stop playing guitar and concentrate totally only for vocals, and they gave up. [laughs] We still haven’t found a replacement, and it’ll be very tough to find someone ‘coz in our area the scene is dead. We are really trying to find a lead guitarist if possible.
Esa has since switched back to guitar and vocals, but the search goes on.
What do you tune your guitars to and why?
Well, we tune our guitars five tones down ‘coz we want to get a heavy sound. I think almost all new death metal bands are tuning their guitars down to get a heavier, more brutal sound.
What are the gigs like in Loimaa, Finland?
There are no gigs in Loimaa ‘coz there is no scene over here. But in Finland we have many gigs all around the land.
Are the clubs good?
Usually places are good to play but sometimes you must play in a real hellhole, but we aren’t complaining. [laugh]
When there’s a show, how many bands on average play?
I think usually there are from five to eight bands playing in one night.
Are there a number of radio stations in Finland that play extreme music at all?
No. Only one radio station, and to say the truth, it sucks very extremely. They are playing only new records and some shitty demos of Finnish crap speed/thrash bands.
A band I think of when I hear Demigod is Grave. What bands do you usually get compared to?
Everyone has got an own opinion but sometimes people compare us to Grave. We have been compared to Bolt Thrower and Entombed.
Do you think you sound like them?
Well, only similarity in my opinion is the heaviness. Especially our new shit is totally different to Grave. We are influenced by Bolt Thrower but we are definitely playing different stuff than they do. I hate when someone compares us to Entombed ‘coz we don’t sound like them.
Explain what the story is about the upcoming LP.
Well, we have almost all shit ready for it and we’ll start recordings in summer. We signed one LP deal with Drowned Productions and it’s supposed to come out in October. It’ll contain mostly very new stuff and maybe only one track from Unholy Domain demo. It’ll be titled as Slumber of Sullen Eyes. There will be 10 songs on LP plus one bonus on CD.
Is there an environmentalist movement in Finland, such as recycling, anti-pollution laws, or alternative energy?
I think there are environmentalist movements in Finland but I don’t really know a shit about it ‘coz I’m not really interested in it. I suppose there is recycling and anti-pollution laws, etc., but I’m not sure.
Have your parents ever seen you play a show? Do they otherwise support your band?
I don’t know about others’ parents, but mine haven’t supported me at all. They’re basically totally against what I’m doing, and they would be very happy if I would end doing music. But I’ll definitely go on. [laughs] No, our parents haven’t been at our gigs.
Do you have anything else you want to say?
Thanks a lot for the interview, Richard. Please do not order our demo anymore ‘coz it’s sold out. Anyway it’ll be out soon as a split LP with Necropsy on Skindrill Records. Also watch out for our t-shirts on Nosferatu (Italy), only $10 (two sided), watch out for our debut LP. C-ya all in darkness. ■
Photo: Demigod (courtesy Esa Linden)
