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Impious has been a known name in the Swedish death metal circuit ever since the early 90's. They just released their new album 'Death Domination' and we took the opportunity to ask a few questions about the new album.
What is in your opinion the biggest musical difference between the new album 'Death Domination' and your last album 'Holy Murder Masquerade'?
Mikael: The differences are huge, I think. Holy Murder Masquerade was also very different. We tried to do simpler songs on that album. And we wanted to slow things down, but still make it sound fast. We wanted to try out new things and we absolutely used our creative right as artists to experiment with our material. It was great to be able to try that out and to walk that road for a while. But when we started to play the songs for Holy Murder Masquerade live we noticed that it didn't feel right to us. We found out how important it was to us to play fast songs and to be somewhat technical. So when it was time to write a new album we all knew that we wanted to go back to the faster and thrashier sound. We were really hungry to make up for the polished sound we created on Holy Murder Masquerade so the songs on Death Domination came out a lot more brutal than expected. I don't know if we kind of overcompensated, but it sure feels like it when you listen to Death Domination, it's more brutal than we've ever been. And we love it.
A lot of people compare the music of the band with The Crown, in my opinion that is true for a part, but I think you are more death metal, what do you have to say to this?
Mikael: I think it is quite obvious that people compare us to The Crown since we are from the same place, know each other, have been in the same bands and have some similar elements in our music. But as you say, our music is definitely more Death Metal. They did always put a lot of focus on the Rock N' Roll-influences in their music, which we don't. And being compared all the time is something you have to get used to in the music business. I reckon that it's mostly the press who does these comparisons. The public in general does not. But it's definitely alright with me. I love the records they've put out and comparing us to them is a compliment to me.
How does Impious write new songs, is there someone who comes with a new idea and automatically the rest of the band is taking part or do you all gather, start jamming and see what comes out?
Mikael: It most often starts with some idea that Valle has recorded at home on his computer. Then we normally take it to the studio where we start playing with it and try to create some kind of feel for it. And when we are close to finish the song we take it to the rehearsal space and just jam it out. This is where we change most parts of the song, try out different arrangements and stuff. A song can sound great in the studio, but very bad in the rehearsal room. So we try to make the song work in both environments. That is usually the best way to do it for us.
Do the songs have a kind of lyrical theme as on the last record, or are they all different stories?
Mikael: There's no lyrical theme this time around. It was definitely a cool way to work when we wrote HMM, but this time we did want it to be simple and straight forward. Many of the lyrics deal with the same subjects but this was not intentional in any way. And we've tried to mix both truthful and honest lyrics with the regular fictional stuff as we've always done. The new thing is that we've tried to write lyrics that just aren't filled with nonsense. We've written about stuff that we are opinionated about, something that represents us as individuals.
I read somewhere that Valle called this record their 'Reign in Blood'. Is 'Death Domination' 'THE' Impious album?
Mikael: I think what Valle meant is that this is album is short, concise and to the point, without any filler - just like 'Reign in Blood'. I wouldn't say that this is 'THE' Impious album, but I would definitely say it's pretty fucking close. Maybe the next one will be the album to sum up our career? I don't know, but I know we have a lot more to give.
A lot of Swedish metal colleagues have a bigger reputation, for example In Flames and Entombed, any idea why?
Mikael: I think bands like Entombed and In Flames have worked very hard for many years to be where they are today. They were both very early in the Swedish Death Metal scene, they've created their own specific sound, they've toured and they've released albums continuously for many years to earn their reputation. In Impious we've been fairly un-productive for pretty extensive periods of time and we haven't toured at all for years. I think this has a lot to do with why there are so many bands having a bigger reputation. However, we are hungrier than ever to get back on the road and start promoting our band and our new album.
Are we going to see Impious on stage in Europe soon, or perhaps on some Summer festivals?
Mikael: We hope to get back on the road within a couple of months. Summer festivals are always a lot of fun and we are hoping for that as well. Denmark would be very cool! We've never been there. Nothing is set in stone just yet but we certainly wish to be back with our European friends very, very soon!
The album-cover is very nice, who made it and what is the idea behind it?
Mikael: The artist who made the cover is a Brazilian artist called Marcelo Vasco. He's a brilliant artist and he's created the design for the cover, booklet and our Myspace design. We basically gave him free hands to create whatever he felt like would go with our music and title. Artists usually create the greatest stuff when they don�t have too many guidelines to hold their creativity back. So this is what we aimed for when we did the cover. And we are really stoked on the outcome. It is without a doubt the greatest cover we've ever had and it fits just perfect with the music.
Any idea what you will be doing (or hope you will be doing) in about 10 years?
Mikael: Wow, 10 years? Hopefully I'll be a lot smarter, a lot more experienced and a better and happier person. I hope that we'll be better and stronger than ever as a band and I wish everyone in and outside the band will be as healthy as they'll ever be.
You are going on a car-trip which takes more than 24 hours with the most boring person you can imagine. Who is that person and which 5 albums would you take with you just to prevent that you have to talk to him/her?
Mikael: Haha, let me see, if the person is boring enough then I'd guess any album in the world would do. But I'd have to say that the worst person to be in a car with for 24 hours must be some nosy, preaching and ignorant grandmother or just someone that I can't relate to and don't have anything in common with. And I'd guess I would bring the first Dark Funeral album, Once Upon The Cross by Deicide, Nocturnal by The Black Dahlia Murder, Litany by Vader and then if that wouldn't shut her up I would bring out some Abruptum album and that would definitely do the job.
Any last news or interesting story you want to share with our readers?
Mikael: Thank you so much for reading this interview! It would mean a lot to us if you'd take the time to check out our Myspace and tell us what you think! We just did a video for 'I Am The King' that we hope to share with you guys before the end of this year, and there's also a shoot for 'Dead Awakening' coming up and we have a few tour plans in the making so it's definitely worth checking our site out once a while! Thank you for your time and keep supporting the scene!
Thanks for answering the questions.
Mikael: Thanks for having us!
Cheers
Interviewed by Reinier de Vries | 
