SONGS FOR END TIMES
DISBELIEF INTERVIEW WITH SINGER KARSTEN “JAGGER� JAEGER BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER
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isbelief’s The Ground Collapses, out now via Listenable Records, is a record 30 years in the making. The German band have been at it for a while now, and recently came up with an album that sums up their sound perfectly.
“Some songs are about hate (‘Killing to the Last,’ ‘Colder than Ice,’ ‘Hologram for the Scum’), what's going on when it controls you and makes you a different person who is able to do things, destroying, horrible things,â€? Jaeger says. “For other songs, I was inspired by Chernobyl, and get flashbacks to when it happened in real “The sound on The Ground Collapses is growing again, in-between all our pre- life when I was young. Then, there is the theme of suicide (‘The Waiting’).â€? vious albums,â€? explains vocalist Karsten Jaeger. “We've worked together with the same studio as for the previous album, In addition to the dark themes on the The Symbol of Death (Rambado Record- album, Disbelief are feeling the weight of the dark time due to COVID-19 as they try ings). That's one of the reasons we've and release a record. made the whole pre-production directly in-studio for the very first time in the history of Disbelief. This position was perfect “As a musician, it's hard to release a new album because of the fact that all planned for working out all the vocal stuff and to shows were cancelled, and the shops have find the right guitar sound.â€? closed, so no one can buy the CD there,â€? adds Jaeger. “It feels like you’re ready to The band take a more aggressive, brutal start a fight, but there’s no fight. This is very death metal direction with their guitar frustrating, but we’re prepared to strike tone and their overall sound on this back live when it’s possible again. We also album, which they started working on in played for the first time in the history of Dis2017. It’s a few years in the making, but belief a livestream show. We called it ‘The more than a few years when you look Virus Stream of Hell.’ It was very successful, back at all their previous efforts. They and shows how thirsty fans are to watch and also channel at least 30 years’ worth of to listen to live music.â€? đ&#x;’Ł hate and destruction in their lyrics.
TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER AND SINGER RICH HOAK BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER
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t’s the end of the world as we know it, and Total Fucking Destruction are feeling fine. At least, as well as can be expected. Although Rich Hoak, drummer and vocalist for the iconic grindcore trio, waxes poetic about end times, his vibe is resigned and cheerful, not morbid and despairing.
“This album was an end of the world
party because it's really the end of the world,� he explains about their latest record, aptly titled ...to be alive at the end of the world, out now via Translation Loss Records. “Other albums and songs we’ve written in the past have been sort of like predictions of how fucked up things are going to be in the future, and to my astonishment, things are even more fucked up than I ever thought they
would be, so that’s sort of where this album is coming from. I congratulate all the human beings on being alive to see the end of the world. That’s what the title track is about. I’m just astonished that the things I’ve written about have come true.� As the record acknowledges the hardships the world has faced during the past 20 years, it’s also a celebration of the remarkably long time the band has been making music. Every member of the band has other bands under their belt, as well as a personal life, but they’ve also dedicated a considerable amount of time to Total Fucking Destruction. “I’ve never taken any lessons, and I don't read music or anything like that, but the lyrics and melodies I write often
18 NEW NOISE
just appear in my head from somewhere,â€? Hoak says. He claims that the album came about organically, from the timely decision to add their “Star Spangled Bannerâ€? cover as an ode to Jimi Hendrix to other songs they had written in advance of the official recording process. They also allowed themselves space to experiment with this recording. “I’m not only interested in writing music that’s extremely fast or extremely heavy. I also like music that is extremely light, extreme in other ways,â€? Hoak adds. “All the songs on the album are extreme in some way, just not necessarily extreme grind.â€? As for the musical arc of the record, it starts off with a congratulations about being alive and the end of the world and ends with a sort of question: Is the star spangled banner still waving? Is any of this still relevant? And even though it may well be the end of the world, the album signs off with a question, a call to action. “Despite the fact that it’s the American national anthem, we want to speak to all those people who are oppressed by their governments. We want them to question that authority, and to question what's going on.â€? đ&#x;’Ł
