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New album out any second now from Thomas’ favourite among the Danish death metal crews! Guitarist and song writer Jakob Batten from ILLDISPOSED answers a few questions in connection with the release of ‘To Those Who Walk Behind Us’. Jakob, describe ’To Those Who Walk Behind Us’. How is it different from ‘The Prestige’? Batten: If the past 3 albums were pieces of a puzzle the new album puts the pieces together. “The Prestige” had a more raw feeling; the new one also has the melodic touch from “1-800 vindication” and even some keyboards now and then. Is it me, or has this album more melodic solos and harmonies than its predecessors? Batten: It definitely has more melodies than the last 2 albums. And this time we were more experimenting with the dynamics in the songs, that’s why you notice the melodies more than before I think. For instance to take out almost all rhythm guitars behind a melody and just let the melody flow instead of having a wall of rhythm crushing it. Who ARE those who walk behind you? Batten: All the trustful fans that followed us throughout the years. We’re not big enough to say “all our decibels” I’m afraid! The song Nu Gik Det Lige Så Godt is entirely in Danish. What is the song about? Batten: It seems to be about a girl – but who it is I don’t know. The lyrics are personal to Bo and he’s not talking much about them. The last time I interviewed you, you complained about the fact the other guys in the band were a bunch of lazy bastards who didn’t contribute to the song writing. Is this still the case or has Franz Hellboss contributed now that he’s more integrated in the band? Batten: Nothing changed. I’m still writing all the music and Bo is writing all the lyrics. But I’m used to it now, to carry the burden. And it’s forcing me to evolve as a songwriter so it’s all good. Your new publishing partner is Warner/Chapell rather than EMI. What will this mean for your? Batten: Nothing you will notice. Publishing is all about administration of your copyrights and getting money for it. The deal is basically the same and Warner is a big company like EMI. So I don’t think we or you will see any difference. ‘1-800 Vindication’ and ‘Burn Me Wicked’, arguably your two strongest releases, will be re-released on Massacre Records on the same day as the release of the new album. I take it the albums must be your best-selling to date since they’re sold out? Batten: Yes that’s exactly how it is. The 30.000 copies are sold out and Roadrunner didn’t want to print more since we’re not with them anymore. I thought it sucked that these two albums should just disappear so I called Henk at the German Roadrunner office and asked if we could cut a deal. He was willing to do that and Massacre bought the rights to re-release them. And they will be released worldwide this time. Roadrunner just released them in Europe and Japan. You have the Danish Headbanger’s Ball tour coming up during September/October. Are there any other touring plans on the back of ‘To Those Who Walk Behind Us’? Batten: For the rest of 2009 we’ll just play weekend shows here and there in Europe for personal reasons. Next year we’ll do a tour but I don’t know any details about it yet. We also got contacted by the A&R manager of Nuclear Blast America who is a big fan of us. He wants to get us over there for a tour but I don’t know yet what will happen about that. What do you listen to at the moment when or if you listen to music? Batten: The new Mastodon which is one of the best albums I heard for years. And the new A-HA, they finally got back to making good pop songs again. Thanks for answering these questions! Any messages for our readers? Batten: Walk behind us!
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