IMPENDING DOOM’s "Apocalypse III- The Manifested Purgatorium" has shown thi is one of the best bands in the German Scene. Their sound has turned blunt, brutal death thrash. An infernal array of riffs is delivered in the classic style of BOLT THROWER, DESTRUCTION, SARCOFAGO, And EXODUS. Guitarist / Producer Patrick Engel answered my questions.

When i reviewed «Apocalypse III The Manifested Purgatorium» i  mentioned this album doesn’t contains as many intros and intermezos as  «Signum of Hate» why have you reduced the amount of intros and concentrated  on doing direct brutal songs?

It is very hard to answer, because some friends/zines/distributers ask after each release the same. i think that each demo/album shows the true sound of IMPENDING DOOM. i know that all releases are very different, but we live an evolution and try to record the moment of that. few weeks ago we started to write new material and it becomes totally different to the «apocalypse...» album but it is IMPENDING DOOM. each member is listening to many different styles of music and we try to combine all influences in our music.

Yes, our singer Andy has changed his kind of singing since the last album, but i think it is the best for the new songs cause there are more death influences as on «signum...».

Some people told me that. I think it is not so different to the other songs but we like to play melodic but fast. It is also tradition that i sing on each album a clean part (like «demonarchy» on «signum...»). I don´t know about such kind of
songs in the future, we will see.

The sound of this album is simply crushing and production follows the   line of american death metal bands. This seems to be the usual for bands   recording at Rape of Harmony studios.

I work in this studio since many years and i´ve recorded albums for bands
like HEAVEN SHALL BURN, ATANATOS, FALL OF SERENITY and among others. it is the best way to record an album without strange producers but only the band knows the right way. Thank you that you say that this album sounds like an American production - its great !!!

The sentence «Don’t support political propaganda, just the blasphemous storm» is written in the back cover ? Do you thinks it’s stupid to  mix metal and politics?

Metal is metal and politics is politics. there is no way to combine both things cause it is stupid. we don´t wanna be a left- or right-winged band cause we play metal and this is our way of life.Many people in Germany tell among shit and try to split the scene with some stupid storys about politics and we don´t want to be a part of them.

Why do choose that greenish color for your cover art ( and the rest of   booklet)? Is this the original color of the artwork by Michael Horn? How  come the lyrics background art «Brain with nails» is in full color?

Reading the thank you list on your booklet i see you all have families,  tell me, do you depend economically of the band? Do you have other jobs? Is  it possible to support yourself and your family just with metal in Germany?

It’s no secret that the European scene is the best in the world, best fests, best labels both under and commercial, best magz , great bands and a  horde of fans that live metal to max, the scene has never grown weak, what  do you think would happen if the European scene starts dessapearing? Would  another scene be ready to replace it? .

We enjoy to be a part of the German underground - scene and i think there is no other scene around the world which is the same as here.

Have you listened the new stuff by DESTRUCTION and KREATOR Did you like it?

No, i don´t like the new stuff. the old records of Destruction was very important to us, but the new shit is totally different to this. i don´t like the Abyss-sound and i think it is the worst for an old-school-thrash-band. Otherwise i don´t like Schmier because i met him two years ago and we´ve spoken about the old bands, reunion etc but he became an arrogant rockstar-asshole now and i don´t support such fuckers. I heard the new Kreator-album but i don´t like the material because it isn´t good enough. I think the old feeling of these bands is dead and they will never reflect the same style like in the eighties. .

Many bands cite evolution when they create music that is totally different to the one they played in the beggining, do you think your sound   will experience some kind of evolution and turn into a differentstyle? .

We are a metal-band and we are not limited. we play each style we want to play and i think it is very boring to do everytime and every year the same. It is a normal Evolution to include more different influences and play better arranged songs. .

DESTRUCTION claim not to play a pre-determined set of songs in their concerts, they play whatever  the fans want, is this the case for IMPENDING DOOM? or ,are there songs you wouldn’t play without prior rehearsing?

At first we try to play songs from the last album and few brandnew tracks. it is impossible to play old stuff because we´ve arranged and played this before many years with a keyboarder and it doesn´t sound good without synthesizers. i think the fans are satisfied with our tracklist.

SODOM, DESTRUCTION and KREATOR are the greatest German legends, fortunatelly all of them have played here in Colombia and their shows have
been awesome, which is your favorite band on stage? .

Oh, it is not easy cause i´ve seen hundreds of shows in my life , i remember a gig of Sadist from Italy in 1996 and it was very great, Iron Maiden in wuerzburg 1993, Slayer in munich in 1992 etc. i like to see a good show when i pay much money for a good concert. .

Unlike other bands that are saluted only by bands of the same style of   music, it’s easy to find IMPENDING DOOM included in thank you lists of all  kind of bands, be them death, black, thrash, gore, grind or whatever?

Our thankslist reflects some bands we´ve played with or we stay in contact, it is not important, which kind of metal they play but it is great when they feel the same about music and underground ..

Tell us about of your musical tastes, many of us metalmaniacs enjoy bands   from AC/DC to  BEHERITH, what about of you?

My favourite bands are Tormentor (Hungary), Sarcofago, Beherit and Mayhem (with Dead and Euronymous), but i listen other stuff too. I am a great fan of Pink Floyd and i like american rockmusic like Asia or Survivor. thats the reason for my different influences cause i´m very open-minded. . .

How many concerst did you play last year? Which was the best? Whats is   the average money you charge for a IMPENDING DOOM show? .

Last year we´ve played only 2 or 3 shows because it was impossible to play cause our drummer was working in russia, but during the last 7 years we played ca. 150 shows and next year we try to make more shows.How much money do we need ??? it depends on the distances between our home and the city we will play. i think in germany we play for 300-400 euro. .

How long have you been listening to metal? What was the band that you   first listened to and  the first you saw live? Is there any European fest   you’ve never missed?. .

When i was a child my father gave me a record of Black Sabbath ("Sabotage"), and that was my first metal-record. it is more than 20 years ago and today i like this old cult-stuff too. My first live-concert was a show of east-german-thrashers "Moshquito" in 1987, and my first great concert was "Holy Moses" in 1989. it was great and i will never forget this show .

It seems you’ve had many problems with the labels you’ve worked with,  Cudgel Recs even claimed that after an unbelie vable long odyssey in looking  for an honest label you had finally signed with  this agency". How many  labels have you worked with? In what way have they been dishonest? .

Cudgel is the third label we work with, but i don´t want to tell you reasons therefore because it is our thing and nobody have the right to know something about our deals.

Ever since 1995 the band have released some type of material each year,  what will you release in 2002?A new album,7EP, split?

I think at the end of 2002 we will record a new album, because we finished 5 new songs during the last days. .

You sold over 2500 copies of your debut album "Caedes sacrilage" has your new album sold better?

I don´t know something about it, but i think that we will sell more copies of the new one. In the next days the cd will be released in Russia with different layout and bonustracks and then we have sold more than the debut-album .

Have you included any of the songs in your "Messias Abbadon" demo in any of your albums? .

The songs of the b-side of the demo are included on the first album, the tracks of the a-side are otherwise unreleased and very, very rare.

Which demos or album released lately have left a great impression on you? .

I like the "666" - album of Katharsis, good friends from germany, it is very raw and brutal blackmetal in the vein of older Darkthrone (Transsylvanian hunger/Under a funeral moon/A blaze...). the last album of Diabolical Masquerade "Deaths Design" is very great too. You have done splits with EXMORTEM ,

ATANATOS and others, what do you think of the music on these splits? Would you like to work with other bands on future splits? .

We are good friends of Atanatos since many years and now i am the new drummer of this great band. the idea for the Exmortem-split came from our label but i like this e.p. it is possible to release more split-7" with other bands but i´m not sure what comes next. .

What about  parallel  projects? Any of you working on something else? .

I am the only one with other bands except Impending Doom. I play drums by Atanatos and Buried God. the second one is a fast thrash-band in the vein of Whiplash or Razor. Thanks for the attention given to

Himnos Rituales de Guerra, parting words of darkness and evil? .

Thank you very much and big hails to our fans in Columbia. all the best with your zine !!!