{"id":23943,"date":"2015-02-16T00:01:31","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T00:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23943"},"modified":"2015-04-01T22:40:34","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T22:40:34","slug":"feature-necrowretch-02-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-necrowretch-02-15\/","title":{"rendered":"NECROWRETCH &#8211; The Bells Of Evil Schism (February 2015) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"title\"><strong>NECROWRETCH &#8211; The Bells Of Evil Schism<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"smalltitle\">Anthony Morgan<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: 8pt\">February 2015<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/necrowretch2014promophoto1.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><em><strong>Necrowretch (l-r): Amphycion, Vlad and Ilmar<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Valence, France-based extreme metal outfit Necrowretch formed during 2008, the brainchild of the mysteriously named Vlad. The man wished to perform extreme fare, much in the vein of the death metal that he had always enjoyed. Consequently, Vlad began to record guitar riffs over a drum machine, via a computer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sent these songs to a drummer (Blastphemator, Necrowretch drummer from 2008 until 2011),\u201d Vlad recalls, vocalist, guitarist and founder of Necrowretch, continuing the story. \u201cI said \u2018Are you capable of playing these songs on the drums?\u2019 He said \u2018Yeah,\u2019 so we got together and started rehearsals. After three rehearsals, we went into the studio to record the first demo (<em>Rising From Purulence<\/em>, recorded in January 2009). Then we contacted a bass player, and the rest is history. We formed to play the music we liked. Things have gone fast, but I don\u2019t know. Maybe things have gone fast, maybe things have gone slow. It depends on which bands you compare us to, but I think it\u2019s gone pretty fast. Three years after the beginning of the band, we were signed to Century Media Records. So yeah, I think it\u2019s been a good start for the band.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The singer christened Necrowretch\u2019s musical style as being \u2018putrid death metal\u2019. \u201cThat\u2019s a tag we have created, to be put apart from all of the old school new trends you have in the metal scene,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be associated with all of those bands who want to play like Dismember and Entombed. Sometimes the music is good, but it isn\u2019t good music just because you\u2019re playing old school. If you\u2019re using the same gear as Dismember and wearing spandex and things like that, it will not make your music cool. We don\u2019t want to be associated with this, so we have created our own tag called putrid death metal to make sure that no-one actually plays this kind of metal. Also, I think is maybe somewhere between black and death metal, but it\u2019s not really our concern. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I write a guitar riff, I don\u2019t ask myself \u2018Does it sound black or death?\u2019 I ask myself \u2018Is this gonna kill or not? Are all the people gonna go crazy when we play this live?\u2019 That\u2019s all of our concern. This thing to know if you\u2019re more black or more death, I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s up to the people; they\u2019ll make their own interpretation of the music of the band. Our influences are bands like Marduk, old Death, old Sepultura, a lot of bands from South America such as Sarc\u00f3fago, Mortem, Hadez, and also bands from Sweden such as Dissection, Nihilist, Repugnant, and bands from all around the world. So yeah, it\u2019s pretty hard to describe the music that we play, but clearly if you like all the bands that I mentioned, you will like Necrowretch (laughs). <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFans of death metal and black metal will like the music or maybe won\u2019t like, but yeah, Necrowretch is somewhere between the two styles. That\u2019s not something that we intended. It\u2019s more something we\u2019ve discovered after recording, like \u2018Oh yeah. Maybe it does sound like that,\u2019 but it\u2019s great to play like this. We have our own identity. I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s really important, as many bands just play the same music. You have thousands of bands playing Carcass and you have thousands of bands playing in an anthemic style, but you only have one Necrowretch, and that is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Necrowretch\u2019s moniker was inspired by the group\u2019s initial set of lyrics. \u201cThe lyrics were talking about a mad priest busted from hell,\u201d Vlad remembers. \u201cSome people said \u2018You have to name this guy,\u2019 so I named him the Necrowretch. A wretch is something miserable, someone preaching about a god but not the biblical version. You put \u2018necro\u2019 before that word, and you have a Satanic version of someone miserable. It\u2019s really good. No-one in France will understand what it means, but it\u2019s a good name (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On February 6th, 2012, it was confirmed that Necrowretch had inked an album contract with Century Media Records. \u201cFormerly we were on Detest Records, a Belgian label,\u201d the axeman backtracks. \u201cCentury Media approached the owner of Detest Records. I think they offered him a job or something like that, and then when he went to work for Century Media, he brought some bands off of his roster to Century Media. Let\u2019s say Century Media were interested in signing many bands off of his roster. I think it was easier to pass through him, instead of contacting us directly. When Century Media approached us for the deal, we had had three years as a band and had done something like maybe 15 shows, two demos (<em>Rising From Purulence<\/em> and January 2010\u2019s <em>Necrocollections<\/em>), and one EP (<em>Putrefactive Infestation<\/em>, July 2011). It was something very fresh. I was 22-years-old, so it was something really big for us. They knew the band as they had the demos \u2013 I don\u2019t know how \u2013 and they had the EP. It was playing in the office. They liked the music, and they saw that we were already playing shows. Not only in France, but also in Denmark, in the Netherlands, and places like that. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey proposed to continue the adventure with us, and we accepted. It was alright, because now we have way more attention about the band while we can still make what we want. There\u2019s a lot of clich\u00e9s about being signed to a big label, but I can clearly tell you that the guys in Century Media are like me. They\u2019re death metal fans, and go to shows. We drink beer together at festivals \u2013 it\u2019s not like them just being guys in Sweden, or anything like that (laughs). It\u2019s really cool to work with them. They\u2019re open to listening to what we have to say, and we listen to what they say, and it all goes well. So yeah, it was a real improvement for the band. It\u2019s like there\u2019s a before and after the signing with Century Media. The day we signed to the label, the band really went to the next step. And yeah, let\u2019s hope it will continue forever (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedleft\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/necrowretchvlad2014promophoto1.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><em><strong>Vlad<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Inaugural full-length outing <a href=\"\/site\/album-review-necrowretch-putrid-death-sorcery\/\"\"><em>Putrid Death Sorcery<\/em><\/a> arrived in January 2013. \u201cThe recording for <em>Putrid Death Sorcery<\/em> was very intense, because we were in Belgium,\u201d Vlad recalls. \u201cWe spent two weeks \u2013 actually ten days \u2013 recording the album, and the studio was in a basement. We were all playing, sleeping, eating, shitting and everything in this fucking basement, and we were only seeing the light of day for half an hour per day like for two weeks. We went really insane during the recording (laughs). That was something good I think, because it really sweated out into the music. It\u2019s not just music; it\u2019s like \u2018Those guys, when they recorded the album they were crazy, like they were in a prison or something.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to make this again, because it was really hard to make. Yeah, that\u2019s my memory of making that album; the fucking basement for two weeks, and no sunlight, and nothing else. We were really cut off from the world; we were in our own world, only focusing on the music. It lasted for two weeks, and after we got back to the world \u2013 to civilisation \u2013 it was something really strange (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Compilation <em>Bestial Rites 2009-2012<\/em> emerged in August 2013. \u201cAll of our previous recordings up to that point \u2013 demos and EPs \u2013 were sold out,\u201d the frontman notes. \u201cWhen we signed to Century Media, we gained a lot of new fans that discovered the band with the first album, but they didn\u2019t know the previous releases by the band. We wanted to make one release with all of the previous material in one format, to put all of the history of Necrowretch on one CD. We chose CD, because CD is the format that everyone can play at home, in the car, on their computer. That was also a way to include some rarities such as the cover of Merciless we did but never released (\u2018Pure Hate\u2019), and also to put some photos of the band, some shows. Everything between 2009 and 2012 is on this compilation; people now have access to what we made before without searching for sold out demos being sold for ridiculous prices on Ebay. You can buy the CD, and have the early history of the band on one CD. That\u2019s great for everyone, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Writing sessions for sophomore full-length affair <a href=\"\/site\/album-review-necrowretch-with-serpents-scourge\/\"\"><em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em><\/a> began during late 2012, concluding in early 2014 \u2013 18 months in all. \u201cUsually, I write everything; all the music, the drums, and things like that,\u201d Vlad shares. \u201cI make let\u2019s say a demo version, a pre-production version. We all listen to it together, and then the drummer and the bassist put ideas into the songs. Everyone practices the parts that he has to play at home, because we live far away from each other. We don\u2019t rehearse so much, like two or three times per year. Everyone works on the parts that he has to play, we take to the studio, and then it\u2019s like we\u2019re on autopilot. You play what you have learnt, and then you put the puzzle together, and then you have the songs. It works like that at the moment, but in the future, we might try something different because I\u2019m not closed to experimentation. For now though, it works fine, and we\u2019re happy with the results of the writing process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em>\u2019s lyrical matter is \u201cmore blasphemous, more about Satanism and things like that,\u201d the composer submits. \u201cIt was clear for us that if the music was going to be more extreme, the lyrics had to follow. We had to write lyrics that were more to the point, more direct, and that\u2019s why the lyrics are more blasphemous than on the previous album. The whole story&#8230; It\u2019s not really a story; it\u2019s not like King Diamond, but the whole background of the lyrics is an alternative version of history. Christianity isn\u2019t the main religion \u2013 it\u2019s falling apart. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis creature called the Necrowretch slowly turns into a god of evil like I said, and all the people start to preach for him and join this new cult. It\u2019s pretty classic stuff that you can find in metal, but was for me definitely a kind of criticism against mankind. Man is really quick to turn away from its god, and choose another one when the time comes. In the end though, if people looked at the lyrics, they will find typical metal lyrics. I like to have something in the way of normal metal lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recording sessions began in July 2014. \u201cThis time, we chose to go back to France, to a studio near Grenoble,\u201d Vlad informs. \u201cThat was the studio which we recorded at many years ago, but the mastering was done in Germany at Temple Of Disharmony studio, which has done mastering for bands like Asphyx, Grave, Dissection \u2013 bands like that. The recording process was really intense. When we were in the studio, we really pushed ourselves to the maximum. We were literally yelling at each other \u2013 like \u2018Go on. You can play this faster. Faster\u2019 \u2013 in order to really deliver the most extreme thing that we were capable of, and it was the same case when I was doing the vocals. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was really searching in my bowels for the most extreme thing that I was capable of doing. Yeah, there was a lot of tension in the studio, because they were really long days \u2013 from eight to eight \u2013 and we were only focusing on the music. I think the listener will definitely hear this in the recording, and not just the music. There is something else in the recording; you can feel that the musicians were really hungry when we recorded this album.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did the mastering by email with Temple Of Disharmony in Germany. Everything turned out really good. We\u2019re pretty happy with the sound, because it sounds extreme, and you can understand what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s not just raw metal with an underground sound; you can clearly hear each instrument playing, but at the same time, it\u2019s still very evil and grotesque and very raw. So yeah, it was a really good experience with these studios both in France and Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The axe-slinger is seemingly nonchalant with respect to guitar equipment. \u201cI\u2019ve used the same guitar for many years,\u201d he muses. \u201cI\u2019m not so aware of guitar gear, or how to modify an amplifier, and things like that. I don\u2019t really pay attention to that. I just put gain to the maximum, and play. I don\u2019t ask myself too many questions, because the more you ask yourself questions, the more your music is drifting away from your primary intention. It\u2019s really important for us to keep focused on the first intentions we had with the band, so the guitar parts, I don\u2019t have much to say about that. I don\u2019t really remember which we used. It was just playing at the maximum volume (laughs). That\u2019s what we did before in the other studio.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/necrowretch_withserpentsscourgelarge.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mixing sessions took place in France, as well. \u201cThe recording and mix was done in France, and the mastering was done in Germany,\u201d Vlad discloses. \u201cWe have our own sound engineer (Xavier Sindt), who works at the studio where we recorded in France \u2013 Microclimat Studio. He\u2019s close to the band. Sometimes he comes out with us live, and is the sound engineer for the band. He really knows the band\u2019s sound and the band\u2019s intention, so it was a real pleasure to work with him for the mix of the album. He\u2019s one of the few guys that has really known the band since the beginning. He knows what we want, and so we don\u2019t lose time explaining things. It all grows very naturally and very quickly with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As was the case with the record\u2019s lyrical content, the aim was to make <em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em>\u2019s musical offerings more extreme than their 2013 predecessor\u2019s. \u201cWhen we got back from the studio after <em>Putrid Death Sorcery<\/em> over two years ago, the intention was immediately to make a more extreme album with more speed and more aggression,\u201d the mainman elaborates. \u201cWe said \u2018Okay, <em>Putrid Death Sorcery<\/em> is a good debut album, but if we\u2019re going to work on a second album, it has to be more extreme.\u2019 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to still shock the listener and create a surprise, so I would say that <em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em> is way more extreme, has more speed. You can use many words to describe the music, but it\u2019s more to the limit \u2013 we pushed the limit of the band on the album. You can feel maybe more hate in the recording, whereas the first album was more cave sounding, intimate maybe. On the new album, we have unleashed a beast that was just growling at first (laughs). I don\u2019t know if you can hear it, but that\u2019s how I feel about the new album.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em> marks the studio debut proper of drummer Ilmar. \u201cThe most important point to make I think is about the drummer,\u201d Vlad enthuses. \u201cHe really put his own way of playing into our music, and it\u2019s really a boost. He plays really, really fast, but at the same time he has a lot of personality and groove in the way he plays, so that really makes a difference. The vocals, because we did many shows after <em>Putrid Death Sorcery<\/em>, live, I\u2019ve discovered how to use my voice. I\u2019ve discovered new vocal tones that I wasn\u2019t aware of before, so when we entered the studio for our second album, I had more control over my voice. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was able to do more powerful screams while not being exhausted \u2013 I had more energy, more breath. I had more breath in my lungs, so I was able to deliver much interesting things on the vocals. The vocals can be compared to some death metal bands, but then you also have high pitch scream vocals that are more related to bands such as Dissection and Marduk. It was more interesting to do these vocal tones, because on the first album there was only one type of vocals. On this, there aren\u2019t just the same type of vocals. Towards the end of the first album, it maybe sounds repetitive, but now there\u2019s more variation in the vocals. It improves the diversity and at the same time, it\u2019s way more extreme than the previous one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ilmar previously stepped behind the drumkit for defunct French extreme metallers Bloody Sign. \u201cThey were an excellent band from France,\u201d the lyricist endorses. \u201cHe has also played drums for many other bands, such as Incantation and bands like that. When our former drummer left the band in 2011 (Blastphemator), he came to us and proposed he join, but at this time we already had a replacement on drums. In 2013 though, the drummer \u2013 Desecrator \u2013 left the band. We got in contact with Ilmar about the drums, and said \u2018Okay, let\u2019s have a trial.\u2019 We had a show together and things turned out successful, so we chose him to be the permanent drummer of the band. Not just a session drummer, but the permanent drummer who does all of the shows, studio work, and things like that. He accepted, and now we\u2019ve done a tour together. We\u2019ve recorded an album together. He\u2019s really a part of the band, and that is really great (laughs). That is very great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to Ilmar\u2019s joining, searching for a permanent drummer was a difficult endeavour. \u201cReally difficult, really difficult,\u201d Vlad stresses. \u201cAt first, you have to find someone who\u2019s able to play at speed \u2013 that\u2019s the first step. Then you have to find someone who\u2019s dedicated to metal, who\u2019s okay to go on tour, who\u2019s okay to play shows a long distance away, and things like that. Then you have to find someone who has a good attitude, where we don\u2019t have to fight after three days in the same car (laughs). There\u2019s many obstacles in finding a good drummer. In France, there are only a few drummers capable of playing this kind of extreme metal, and who like it. So yeah, it was really hard to find a permanent drummer between 2011 and 2013. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor two years, we had one drummer for the studio, and one drummer for live. It was working of course, but it was difficult to put everything together. Now finally, the band is back to being a trio. Now there\u2019s three permanent members of the band, so we can focus on the future and make things happen more quickly. When you change drummers every six months, you have to learn all of the songs again with him. It\u2019s really long, a waste of time. I hope now that everything will stay like this, that we go right away and play a maximum amount of shows together with this line-up. I\u2019m confident about it; everything is going fine, so there\u2019s no reason for it not to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em>\u2019s issue was preceded by the October 2014 release of seven-inch EP \u2018Even Death May Die\u2019. \u201cIt\u2019s a fucking great song,\u201d the vocalist reckons. \u201cI like it; it\u2019s maybe one of my favourite songs from the album. That\u2019s why we chose to put it out as a seven-inch before the album\u2019s release, as a teaser. It\u2019s really made for live. It\u2019s also of course a way to pay tribute to Lovecraftian mythology, as you have noticed. The lyrics change a few things, to make my own interpretation of the Lovecraftian mythology. Yeah, it\u2019s a great song. It\u2019s something fast. I think it\u2019s one song that perfectly describes what you\u2019d find if you came to see us play live; speed, aggression, different kinds of vocals, screams and shouts, and things like that. Yeah, it\u2019s a good introduction for someone who doesn\u2019t know the band.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedleft\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/necrowretch2014promophoto2.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><b><em>Necrowretch (l-r): Amphycion, Vlad and Ilmar<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Performing B-side duties was a cover interpretation of \u2018Black Magic\u2019. Written by Californian thrashers <a href=\"\/site\/slayer-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\">Slayer<\/a>, its original rendition featured on December 1983 debut <a href=\"\/site\/album-review-slayer-show-no-mercy\/\"\"><em>Show No Mercy<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe have always played covers, since the beginning of the band,\u201d Vlad reasons. \u201cWe\u2019ve covered Nihilist (\u2018Supposed To Rot\u2019), we\u2019ve covered Merciless from Sweden, we\u2019ve covered Death (\u2018Zombie Ritual\u2019). It was normal for us to make a new cover, especially as we want to pay homage. For some it\u2019s maybe a cliche, because many bands made a cover or tribute to the former guitarist of Slayer (Jeff Hanneman, who succumbed to liver failure on May 2nd, 2013 at the age of 49), but <em>Show No Mercy<\/em> and <em>Hell Awaits<\/em> (March 1985) are really important recordings \u2013 not only for me, but for the band and every metalhead who\u2019s into this kind of metal. I think without <em>Show No Mercy<\/em> and <em>Hell Awaits<\/em>, the metal scene wouldn\u2019t be the same \u2013 it wouldn\u2019t have the same face as we know it to have. It was important for us to make something to celebrate the memory of someone who really created something that will last forever in extreme metal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, lyrically, \u2018Black Magic\u2019 was closer to Necrowretch imagery \u2013 about spells, Satan, necromancy, and things like that. It was really interesting to make our own version of the song. I think in the future, we\u2019ll continue to make covers. You don\u2019t have to forget your roots. That\u2019s not to say that we\u2019re going to make a covers albums, or anything like that \u2013 that\u2019d be stupid \u2013 but from time to time, at the end of a good show you play a cover. It\u2019s always good; it\u2019s good for people who come to a show, and it\u2019s also good for us on the stage to pay tribute to bands we like. It\u2019s an exercise that we really like, so yeah, it was natural for us to do a cover of Slayer, and I hope that in the future we\u2019ll cover other bands. There are so many great songs that we want to make our own Necrowretch version of; it\u2019s something interesting, and we\u2019ll continue to do this for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cover artwork duties for <em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em> fell to Montenegro-based artist Milovan Novakovic, who Necrowretch has previously worked with. \u201cAll the artwork, the logo of the band, all of the T-shirt designs and all the imagery of the band was made by him,\u201d the guitarist credits. \u201cAt the beginning of the band, we were searching for someone to make a logo. I was in touch with this guy, and he made a logo really quick \u2013 that same day (laughs), some hours later. I said \u2018Okay, we should work together,\u2019 and we\u2019re still working with him. I tell him my ideas, and he really draws the music as I imagine it in artwork. I want to express darkness and evil with the music and he\u2019s able to transcribe this with the art, so it\u2019s something that really completes the band. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis time, for the album we tried something different. He sent me the artwork while the recording process&#8230; The writing process wasn\u2019t over yet. I had only been writing the first song for the album, but he had already sent me the artwork. I said \u2018Okay, this time we\u2019ll try to write the album from the artwork and not the other way around,\u2019 so it was something really interesting to work on \u2013 to work this way, to write the music from the artwork. Yeah, it was like the artwork had been made for this kind of music, that the artwork had been made for Necrowretch and Necrowretch had been made for this artwork. So yeah, he\u2019s a great artist. There\u2019s no reason that we wouldn\u2019t continue to work with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing, a music video hasn\u2019t been filmed to accompany <em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em>\u2019s release. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had much time to think about a video clip for this album,\u201d the Necrowretch founder offers. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a good idea, but between recording, touring, and all these things, we haven\u2019t had time to think about it. To make a video clip, you have to think about it. Shooting the video treatment and things like that takes many months, and we haven\u2019t started thinking of ideas yet. So yeah, it may happen. It\u2019s not a concern for the moment, but we\u2019re definitely interested in making a new video. If we\u2019ve kept a good video of shows, we can make a compilation of good shows with one studio song in the background or something like that. It will maybe happen, but we haven\u2019t thought about it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>With Serpents Scourge<\/em> was released on February 16th, 2015 in Europe and subsequently on the 24th in North America (digital only), all via Century Media Records.<\/p>\n<p><em>Interview published in February 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NECROWRETCH &#8211; The Bells Of Evil Schism Anthony Morgan February 2015 Necrowretch (l-r): Amphycion, Vlad and Ilmar Valence, France-based extreme metal outfit Necrowretch formed during 2008, the brainchild of the mysteriously named Vlad. The man wished to perform extreme fare, much in the vein of the death metal that he had always enjoyed. Consequently, Vlad [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[647],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-necrowretch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23943"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24295,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23943\/revisions\/24295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}