 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Hi Wannes, what can you tell us about the response to your MCD “Ancient
Death” Did you tour to promote it?
It
seems the response was/ is very supportive to our cause. I must say I
haven’t seen too many reviews, but the ones I’ve read were very
flattering. I’m very satisfied with from what I’ve read and has reached my
ears and eyes. The European version of the album has been almost sold out and
now there’s the US –version, which has been released through Dark Realm
Records. The 12” did a very good job as well. It took almost a year before
it was released, but in the end-effect I’m very proud of both releases. The
sound is good, the songs are fine and the lay-out is great too. As far as the
overall look it’s by far our most mature release.
We did a small tour with Desaster right after its release, but that was it. We
did many single gigs to promote the album, but no real tour. We never did a
regular one and it seems we won’t be able to do one in the future, but who
knows? Maybe one day we’ll get an offer to be part of a cool package.
We’ll see what happens.
How
has the depature of former drummer Marc affected PENTACLE?
I don’t think we have changed that much. Marc’s drumming was
very solid and hard hitting. Robert is a different drummer than Marc was. More
technical, but not that fast or “machine-gun” like, as I would like to
call it. So in a way it has changed a bit, but that was quite obvious from the
start. Our sound hasn’t changed too much. I wouldn’t have allowed it too,
because we are known with our kind of Metal and it has to stay this way, you
know. Lucky enough, Robert knows what is expected of him and he really does
his best to fulfil his big task within the band. As a person I miss Marc in
the band. He was and still is a good friend of mine and we had a great time
being in the same band together. We had our times when we clashed, but those
were very few compared to the cool moments we shared. Anyway, I’m still in
contact with him and we see and speak each other on a regular base. He’s
still very much interested in the whereabouts of the band and feels deeply
connected to all its happenings.
Do
you think that after Marc’s departure , “Ancient Death” represents the
end of an era in PENTACLE’S history?
For sure it does! Marc was the original drummer of Pentacle and together with
Mike we forged our sound through heavy rehearsing and doing gigs. He has
played on all Pentacle releases and has done an outstanding job with his
superb drumming. It was already clear he would leave the band before recording
“Ancient Death”, but I felt no one else should get the honour of playing
on such an album as Marc. Together we went through all the shitty and great
moments, so who would be more suitable for the job than him? Lucky enough, he
agreed with the proposition and again did a marvellous job by recording all
the tracks in one take. Just like all the other albums!!! He went his own way
now and we wish him all the best for the future!!!! We’ve got a suitable
successor in the person of Robert who is with us for some time already. We
won’t change our direction, because there’s another drummer behind the
kit. We’ll deliver Pentacle Metal as we have done the last 13 years.
Well
Wannes, since “A.D” doesn’t contain printed lyrics, could you tell
us what your 4 songs are about?
There was no
space for the lyrics and as I wanted to release the CD as it has become, we
had to skip the words for the songs. As far as their context concerns, both
“Prophet of Perdition” and “Immolated in Flames” deal with the subject
WW 2. “Prophet…” is as bit more abstract and more general, while
“Immolated…” is more about the hardship and insanity the soldiers had to
deal with, being in the trenches and to fight for their lives with almost
nothing more than their bare hands. “Descending of the Soul” is an oldie
from 1991 and features more straight lyrics than the other songs. The subject
here is Gilles de Rays and the atrocities he committed. Not the best lyrics I
ever wrote, but very common for what I used to write about
“Walking upon Damnation’s Land” is about the occult.
About
the past, why did you choose the name PENTACLE? Whose idea was it? I
came up with the name Pentacle. I was searching for a decent name, which
didn’t had a too cliché ring in my ears. As most of my old heroes had
simple, yet catchy name, I tried to achieve the same with the name of my band.
I was reading a book about the occult and noticed this term. I thought its
meaning was quite interesting, fitted well to our lyrical concept and decided
to take it. I had to get used to this name for some years, because I felt its
phonetic sound wasn’t the best one. In the meantime I feel I’ve made the
right decision to use this name for the band. It’s simple, easy to remember
and there aren’t hundreds of other bands with this name in the international
scene, which is a quite positive fact too…
Where
did you find your new drummer Robert? What do you think of the 10 year age of
difference?
Robert contacted us after we had put an add in our national
Metal-magazine Aardschok. His band was a bit on a dead trail, so he decided to
move on and to try our band. He did an audition where he had to play 3 songs
and he got the job. To be honest, there’s was little other choice, because
he was the only one, ha, ha! There was some other guy, but he wasn’t the
right person for the job, so he had to go for something else. I don’t think
our ages are any problem. It’s more the different backgrounds we all have.
Mike and me are total Metal-heads and have never played something else, while
Robert has a very diverse musical upbringing. That makes it a bit more
difficult to communicate with him than our old drummer Marc, who had the same
roots as we have. When you asked him to play a typical Death Metal-rhythm, he
started and went on with it. Robert isn’t the typical Metal-head. He thinks
a bit different than Mike and me do and with this I mean in music-terms. When
I write a riff, he often comes up with a total different rhythm than I made
up. That can be cool, but often it’s too different from what I had in mind.
I’ve noticed drummers almost always try to play their parts very technical
and fill every gap, while most times a steady rhythm is far more effective
than a technical one, at least in my opinion. Maybe it’s because I’m
autodidact and Robert has more musical background than me. I work far more
with a certain feeling than with a technical approach. I mean, Pete Sandoval
is great, but nobody beats Abaddon, right? I think a lot of musicians may
disagree with me about this matter, but feeling is more important to me than
“How can I play the most technical parts to this riff?”. Fuck, just listen
to “Morbid Tales”. The drumming is so simple, yet grinding to the teeth!!!
That’s the stuff I really like. I do enjoy technical stuff, but it must fit
the song, you know.
PENTACLE’s
music contains great headbanging segments. Is this something that comes
naturally while working on your songs? Do you think these “Headbanging”
parts are basic features when playing death metal?
Our songs come natural. True, sometimes we think about how a
certain part would “do it” live, but we don’t write our music especially
for a live-situation. The songs are written the way they come. I like to have
a certain flow in our songs, but sometimes we can do some crazy (for us) stuff
too. I mean, there’s no written law how to compose music, so we just try to
do a bit of everything. But again, we compose our songs in a very natural way.
The material you know from us is pretty straight-forward and that’s the way
I like it. I grew up with the bands from the 80’s and they all had a very
natural drive in their music/ songs. Not too complicated, yet very effective.
So I don’t think you’ll look strange when I tell you I’ve been
influenced by such arrangements. I must say we always followed our own way of
composing songs and I’ve heard quite often we do have a unconventional way
of arranging songs. I’m too much involved in the whole writing-process to
say if this is true or not, but in any way we can’t deny a heavy 80’s
influence in the way we write our material.
I don’t think these headbanging-parts are very typical for Death Metal only.
Just look at all the other kinds of Metal. Thrash, Doom, Speed, Black, etc. In
a certain way all these different styles are connected with each other through
catchy rhythms. I don’t mean commercial, but just great parts to bang your
head on! Bands like Iron Maiden, Candlemass, Hellhammer, Asphyx, Mercyful
Fate, Sacrifice, Slaughter, Pentagram (US & Chile), Darkthrone, Judas
Priest and countless other are all great bands to shake your head on, so I
don’t believe Death Metal is the only kind of extreme music which is
dependable of catchy parts.
What
do you think of some of the new bands playing music so fast you can’t
headbang to it?
It’s up to everybody themselves what to do. I like the more traditional
rhythms, but I do enjoy a lot of those faster bands. I find it very impressive
to hear how fast and tight such bands can play. Just listen to bands as Hate
Eternal, Centurian, Morbid Angel, Nile, Pessimist and Krisiun among others. It
very challenging to play such kind of Death Metal and those bands are really
able to pull it through. My respect for that. As far as some personal faves
like Repulsion, Blasphemy, Sarcofago, Sextrash and Bestial Warlust, that’s
killer stuff too. I mean, if they can handle playing such fast music, why not?
Again, I’m more into the fast Slayer, Possessed, Sadus, Dark Angel, Razor
and Kreator type of rhythms. You know, the pounding stuff. It keeps hitting
your head far more than the real fast stuff. At least you can still bang your
head to such songs, right? But again, if a band is able to play such speed,
fine with me.
Even
before PENTACLE, you have been a fan of extreme underground music. It has
turned you into some kind of V.I.P in the scene. How has your life
changed?
Well, if you say so… I don’t really feel this way. It’s true that I’m
busy for almost 20 years in the Heavy scene by now, but there are a lot of
real veterans who easily outdo me, so there’s no need to feel like the king,
he, he! I don’t think my live has changed that much. Of course my whole
involvement with the scene has marked my life for good. It really made a very
big impact upon my life(-style), so in a way you could say it has changed my
life quite a bit. But I feel happy with it. I still listen exclusively to
Metal only and don’t feel the need to broaden my views. I feel good with my
Metal-records, so why should I change something I enjoy? I still buy lots of
new records and still search for cool new bands. I still feel the urge to
visit concerts and bang my head in the frontrow! There’s nothing wrong with
that!
If I’m a VIP in the Metal-scene…I don’t know. That’s not up to me to
decide. Let others judge upon my actions, if they feel the need. I do what I
want to do and follow my own path. That’s important to me, so I hope I’ll
be able to do this till the Reaper takes me “home”… Let’s hope it’ll
take some years, right?
The
song “A Dance Beyond” was include in the D.S.F.A. 6 compilation some years
ago. This isn’t the common PENTACLE song ( it’s over 9 minutes long) .
Will you include this song in any of your future albums?
I haven’t got a single clue. It was a phase when we wrote extreme long
songs. Besides “A Dance Beyond” we had 2 more, which were pretty long, but
we never released them in any version. I must say it was a pretty popular song
and I never expected that. Long songs are often hard to get into and
commercial not attractive. One of my favourite Venom song is still “At War
with Satan”. That’s a true black opus! We have thought about re-recording
“A Dance Beyond”, but dropped the idea in favour of other old tunes. Maybe
we’ll use it for a future release, but till now, there are no plans of
re-use. I like to keep certain songs exclusive for certain releases and I must
say this is the case with “A Dance Beyond” too. It marks a certain
development in our song-writing and was especially recorded for that
compilation. So I feel it really belongs there and nowhere else. Oh well,
maybe we should re-arrange it and make a shorter version, but some of the
older fans will say they like the old version more. Same old story, I guess.
How
do you see internet? As a great way to promote a band? Do you think it has
eliminated some of the true underground scene? What about the traditional way
of sending and receiving mail?
I must confess I don’t have the time and the energy to write
letter the whole day. I’ve had my part, but it ends here. I do enjoy it very
much to get letters and to read them, but time is too valuable for me to write
long letters. Even if I would have the time, I couldn’t enjoy writing them
anymore. That time is over.
About internet, I was quite sceptical (and I still am), but there’s no way
around it anymore. If you don’t have internet or at least e-mail, you’re
living on a deserted island and that’s a fact. I know some friends of mine
don’t use a computer, but they complain they don’t get any letters
anymore. I think the usual way of writing letters is over, because e-mail is
much, much faster and more easy. And we’re lazy, right? Yes, you can’t
collect any flyer or stamps anymore, but what can you do? This media is a good
example how to reach people around the world in no time. That’s a good
thing. A site is a good way of communication and promoting the band and I’m
glad we’ve a good one!
Who
designs and keeps your website going? I think it’s great. Does the band
participate in the making of the page?
Filip of Agonia is doing our site and I must say I’m very content with his
work. I don’t think the use of skulls, etc. is very suitable for the band
and its concept, but at least it’s done with style and class, so I can live
with that, ha, ha! No really, he does his job very well and I’m happy he
enjoys it working for us. All credits to you, Filip!
Yes, we do participate a lot as we are the ones who deliver all the material
for the site. Photos, text, etc. Without that, the site would be very empty
looking, right? We do our best to deliver as much interesting material as
possible to make our site as attractive as it can be. I must say the only
drawback is the fact it’s quite slow to load down, but that’s all.
Changing the subject, I know you are a big CELTIC FROST fan , did you read TOM
WARRIOR’s book “Are you Morbid”? What do you think of it?
Yes, I’ve read the book. About 7 times. I like it a lot. There are many good
stories in it, which are not only dealing with the musician, but also with the
person behind it. I find it very pleasant to read and it gave me lots of info
I would like to have had a bit earlier on, but I got it now, at least. Many
cool photos too. Personally, I would liked to have seen more details about the
lyrics and the music. More background information about the music of the band
itself. That would have been very nice, but I’m glad about its content.
I’m not too happy about the Hellhammer-part. Everybody knows Toms isn’t
too found about it anymore, but personally I feel it’s way too negative and
not quite in perspective, but it is his book and it was his former band. If he
feels this way, so be it. I’ve enjoyed it in a major way and that counts,
right? Now, I’m waiting for Lemmy’s book. Should be very interesting too!
Do
you know what ever happened to some old Dutch bands like DEAD END,
ACROSTICHON, or ETERNAL SOLSTICE ( they might all R.I.P)
All these bands you mentioned were killer outfits! We’ve done many gigs with
Eternal Solstice and they ruled! They are still active as a band, but on a
very low profile. I still have contact with their guitarist Phillip and it
seems they are busy with a new album. I haven’t heard new material from them
since ages, but they have the knowledge to pull it through. I really hope to
hear some new stuff from them very soon.
Acrostichon broke up. Their drummer and guitarist went on with the band
Outburst, which is more in the Speed/ Thrash-vein. I’ve seen them many time
live and they do a very good job. They still haven’t found a suitable label,
but I guess it won’t take too long. They got the quality!
As the members of before-mentioned acts still play in brutal outfits, the
former musicians of Dead End went a very different way. Some of time formed
the band Wish, together with former The Gathering-vocalist Bart Smits. They
have many different influences, but their style is more heading electro these
days. Still extreme, but in another way. The other half went more in a
conventional rock-style. They have become a very professional band, which
recently signed a deal with Roadrunner. They recently have recorded their
debut-album, which should be released pretty soon.
The Dutch scene had many great bands. A few I would like to mention are
Lethargy, Swazafix, NecroSchizma, Asphyx, Sempiternal Deathreign, Midian,
Liers in Wait, Korsakov, old Pestilence, Inferno, Thanatos, Skullcrusher,
Second Hell, Malignant and countless more. Those days were really great!!!
PENTACLE
is still an underground band, but at the same time you keep on getting more
and more recognition. How do you feel about some big label aproaching you with
a multi-album offer including substantial money conditions?
Ha, ha! Why is everybody thinking you can earn lots of money with Death Metal?
Listen, there’s little money involved when you are playing this kind of
extreme music when you’re a musician. I’ve lived 1½ as a
“professional” musician and those years I had to live with verrrrry little
money. I was busy with both Pentacle and Asphyx, but I could barely pay the
rents for my apartment. Even when I was in a known band on a label as Century
Media, one could expect I was earning some decent money. Well, in all honesty
I can tell you those months seen from an artistic point of view were very
interesting. I had all the freedom to devote my time to the bands, but from a
financial side those times were the worst. I had barely money to eat or
whatever. So forget that you can earn enough money with Death Metal.
I’ve been thinking about this matter for many times, but I think it’s best
for the band to stay underground. I you want to move on such a level I feel
you have to dedicate yourself 100% to the music and you can’t have a job
when you are trying to be a professional musician. But you need to money to
pay all your bills, so you have to compromise again, which in the end-effect
is hurting the band again. So from that point of view we aren’t able to sign
such a deal. We all have jobs, with barely enough time left to keep the band
moving on. Even at this level, it’s hard to get everybody marching in the
same direction. Mortgage, child, girlfriends, family, work, etc. All the
ingredients to keep a band from progressing to such a level are available in
our band. And yes, I would try again to be a fully dedicated musician again,
but when the others aren’t willing/able to pull it through too, where’s
the point? I don’t want to do that again.
I feel the underground gives us an honest respect, which I truly appreciate. I
keep the scene close to my heart and to be honest, I feel this is our place to
be. It was an honour to play gigs with Iron Maiden, Slayer and others. I will
never forget such moments and I’m very thankful I’ve experienced my
“minute of fame”, but I guess it’s not my destiny…
I think for years your music has dealt with death and
obscurity, what’s your opinion of death?
Only Death is real! It’s a part of my life, just like it is with everybody
who’s living on this planet. One day we have to go and there’s nothing you
can do about it. That’s our destiny. I can’t say I’m obsessed with
death. I find it very interesting to talk about and philosophise about this
matter, but I don’t feel the urge to pass over to the other side. When my
time is up…what’s there to do about it? I hope to live a good live, but I
hope to die an honourable death. That’s the soldier in me. But for the time
being I enjoy being on this earth. The Reaper is patient and will claim my
life too…eventually. But for now, I need some more records to make, ha, ha!
I don’t think death ever was a major subject for my lyrics. I never felt I
had to write solely about this subject. My lyrics are obscure indeed, but in
another way and direction than the casual Death Metal-lyrics. I won’t claim
they are unique, but they’ve got their own way of saying things, so in a way
they are a bit special.
I
really feel awful about the way masters ASPHYX ended. Do you know anything
about what ERIC and BOB are doing now? Will they ever get back from the
grave?
After Asphyx split up, Eric concentrated on his work and girlfriend, while Bob
did in a way the same. We really had a very cool time together and I’m still
very proud about the releases we did together (“Feeding on Angels” as
Soulburn and the Asphyx album “On the Wings of Inferno”). The way it ended
was shitty and not worthy for a band like Asphyx, but when Eric wasn’t
motivated anymore, there was nothing to do. I suggested to take a break and to
take some distance from the music and everything involved, but that wouldn’t
help. I had a hard time when the band split up, because I had put loads of
time into the band and in the end it was all for “nothing”. Ok, I have
some great memories when I go back in my mind, but I think it didn’t had to
go this way. Unfortunately, it was destined to be this way. I don’t think
Asphyx will ever be resurrected again. Of course, one never knows for sure,
but both got totally different priorities in life and I don’t think Asphyx
will fit in there. Bob is still Metal to the bone and I still have a very
regular and good contact with him. I’m sad to say Eric has left from my
sight. He was a good friend and we had some terrific times together in the pub
and at gigs or whatever. He has chosen to walk another path and I wish him all
the best. He has deserved it.
I
think “Ancient Death” features a great heavy production, the work on the
bass sound helps a lot. Do you rely on the bass to make up for the lack of a
second guitar? Who are your favourite bass players?
Often I felt (and still feel) the bass is a very underrated instrument in
Death Metal. Most productions lack of a good and distinctive bass-sound and
personally I think that’s a pity. I just love productions like
“Apocalyptic Raids”, “At War with Satan” and “Morbid Tales” where
you can hear the bass-guitar very clearly. Fuck, where would Venom be without
the pounding heart of Cronos’ bass? Just think about Motörhead. That’s
killer! I really like it when someone is trying something cool on bass. It
gives the music an extra dimension at the lower part of the sound-spectrum. I
must confess my admiration for bass-players like Martin Ain and Cronos made me
more aware of the possibilities one can do. Yesterday, I saw Sadus live. Of
course Steve was on stage as well. His abilities on this instrument are
amazing, but still I like someone as Cronos much more. Maybe this is not the
most obvious choice to point out someone like him. Hey, Steve Harris is god
too, but for me personally I love Cronos’ style more. He plays more heavy,
dirty and over the top! Martin’s way of playing was more interesting to me
in a way of how to “play around the riff”. That’s a weird and definitely
not a understandable way of telling you how he supported Tom’s riffing by
playing some notes extra, which made sure the sound was more full. Don’t
forget, they were a three piece and the bass was used to fill up the space
which was being left empty because of the absence of a 2nd
guitar-player. It’s not the case of just going along with the guitars.
That’s the reason why I like the bass-playing of a band like Destroyer 666 a
lot too. They know how to use the space they have in a very intelligent, yet
catchy way.
As far as the production goes, I just like a clear and heavy bass-sound. It
makes the overall sound much more complete and heavy. The problem is the
frequencies of the bass-guitar and the bass-drums often interfere. I don’t
know how that is in other bands, but because my sound is pretty “bass”,
there are always some troubles in the studio with this matter. Personally I
think it worked out fine on “Ancient Death” and it’s very nice to hear
people like you or other bass-players pick it up and tell me about it how much
they like it. I’m far from being an innovative player, but in my limited way
I try to do something interesting.
When
will we listen to the new album? Are some of the songs ready? What about the
album title?
I can’t give you any exact idea when a new Pentacle-album will be released.
I mean, we’re working hard on new material, but as always it takes its time
to get our material ready. Unfortunately enough, we never wrote 2 songs a
week. We’re very critical towards the material we use, especially after an
existence of almost 13 years. Yes, we have become more picky than we used to
be in the early days of Pentacle. We’ve a certain status and I don’t want
to play with that. We want to write quality songs and no shit. For us, this
means very hard work with songs, which are constantly changing and improving.
You’ll never get a song 100% perfect, but we try to do our best on our own
way, you know. As a result, it takes many months to complete our material for
any album we’re going to do. There’s nothing to do about it. Sometimes
it’s pretty frustrating that it takes that much time to get our stuff ready,
but it has always been the case with us. I guess there’s little we can do.
For us quality counts and not quantity. Yes, I would to have seen more
Pentacle-albums released through the years, but it seems fate has given us
another goal. About new songs, we’ve “completed” 5 new tracks, which are
all to-the-bone Death Metal, the ancient way. Nothing spectacular, but the new
stuff hits you in the face like an Iron Fist!!! It’s very aggressive and for
us pretty extreme stuff. Still the new material contains many
Pentacle-elements as you’ll hear when the new album will be released. The
songs are quite a bit shorter than the older material, so we need more songs
for a complete album, which is our goal we want to achieve. I can’t give you
any title. I’ve written some lyrics, but not enough for me to indicate what
a fitting title will be. Wait and see!
Where
did you get that interest for WWW II facts? Will PENTACLE ever write a song
about the subject?
As long as I can remember I’m interested in this subject. It
started when I was a little kid, roughly 6/7 years of age. Recently, I had a
talk about it with my dad where and most important, how this fascination
started. A book or maybe a movie I saw when I was young? He couldn’t give me
the answer. Sometimes I think I was born with it, but who knows. I played with
my toy-soldiers for many years and it still gives me a good feeling when
thinking about it. I mean, I had a great time playing all this battles. All
this carnage!!! That’s where the love for extreme Metal began, ha, ha!
I’ve made 100’s of model tanks and airplanes. At the moment when my
collection was at its biggest I had about 15.000 soldiers and a couple of 100
tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery, etc. I had a great time with all this
material. I still have it all. When I retire as a Death Metal-musician I’ll
pick up modelling again for sure. It was very useful to me because when I was
young, I was very impatient. Through putting these models together I learned
to be patient and to be very precise. Truly cool times! So you see, my
fascination is quite a bit older than the Marduk’s “Panzer Division
Marduk” album. As long as I can remember I’m into WWII and I still am. But
remember, unlike many other evil Black Metal-musicians I do not promote war! I
was a soldier and I’ve seem more blood and bowels than 95% of those fuckers,
but what I’ve experienced is nothing compared to such a global conflict as
the 2nd WW. It’s just peanuts! I’m intrigued by the weaponry
and the tactics the parties have used during that war. And yes, the German
army was/is a very interesting subject, but every time I meet an old American
or British soldier who fought for our freedom, I thank him with whole my heart
for what he has done and sacrificed for us. Those guys did the job!
Yes, I wrote lyrics about this subject. When I was a member of Asphyx I based
most of my lyrics for the “On the Wings of Inferno” on WWII. It was a very
interesting experiment for me, which I continued on Pentacle’s “Ancient
Death” album for the songs “Prophet of Perdition” and “Immolated in
Flames”.
Are
you listening to any music while answering this interview? What band, LP?
OK,
that’s it . Parting words for all PENTACLE fans. What would you say to
anyone who hasn’t listened to PENTACLE yet?
Well, I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for the interview. I hope you enjoy
my answers and thanks again for the opportunity to promote our band in the
deadly scene of South America. You fuckers rule!!!! For those interested in
contacting the band, check out the following:
Contact:
pentacle@chello.nl
Website: http://www.metalprovider/pentacle.com
Interview by J. Claros