For those who misguidedly believe death metal to be a one dimensional form of music I present Norway’s Execration. Their third album, the aptly titled ‘Morbid Dimensions’, blew me away when I received it for review a couple of weeks back. Full of twists, turns and insanity, Execration’s is a brand of death metal which embraces the heritage of the genre yet defiantly rejects any notion of imitation. By adopting this philosophy, the Norwegians are pushing the genre to new levels of greatness. I was lucky enough to fire a few questions the way of drummer Cato Syversrud about the new album, the band and more. Not only has he answered with immaculate English, he also acknowledges the effect that ‘dreaming with the dead’ can have on a band…
AN: First off, I’d like to say cheers for stretching my brain with ‘Morbid Dimensions’!
CS: Thank you.
AN: It’s been out for over a week now, so how have the responses to the new album been, and have any particularly surprised you?
CS: We got a good share of reviews even before release, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People seem to really enjoy the album, and more importantly, seem to recognize it for many of the aspects that we ourselves value. It’s a demanding disc, and it’s rewarding to see people finding time to take it all in.
AN: As indicated in my review of ‘Morbid Dimensions’, I hadn’t had the pleasure of either your debut or ‘Odes of the Occult’ before writing. How do they compare to each other, and what was the thought process going into album number three?
CS: They are three quite different albums, yet they follow a line towards where we are now. When we wrote ‘Odes of the Occult’, we started out with a mission to create something different than ‘Syndicate of Lethargy’, and that time it was a rather drastic change of pace. When we wrote ‘Morbid Dimensions’, we had the same basic idea: to create a new album that can stand on its own, and that has its own distinct identity.
Going into ‘Morbid Dimensions’, we picked up on some aspects that we felt unexplored from the previous album, and some new influences we wanted to integrate. We started out by finding the theme for the album, and we made certain decisions like changing the tuning, which in turn had an impact on what kind of riffs came out. These weren’t really rules or dogmas, but ideas which helped spark the creativity.
AN: The music on ‘Morbid Dimensions’ has a terrifying, haunting quality to it which personally brings to mind classic films like ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ and ‘Nosferatu’. Could you elaborate on the themes of the record, and explain how they come together in the lyrics and music?
CS: The cover aesthetic and album title was the starting point, and has been the backdrop throughout the whole process. The music is the sonic representation of the themes explored on the album: transformation, portals, alteration, upheaval, death.
AN: Although the dust hasn’t yet had a chance to fall – let alone settle – on ‘Morbid Dimensions’, can you foresee the band going still further along this tormented, experimental route in future?
CS: Absolutely. We haven’t written a single riff or made any plans for our next effort, but there will be one, and we will always keep evolving our sound. Stagnation is not our cup of blood.
AN: I drew parallels with your fellow countrymen Obliteration and Sweden’s Morbus Chron. It was remiss of me not to also mention Sweden’s Tribulation when referring to bands who are currently challenging perceptions of death metal. How do you view what these acts are doing, and are they indeed an inspiration on any level for Execration?
CS: Those are all excellent bands, and I’m especially fond of all of their latest albums. Out of the three I would say that Morbus Chron probably is closest to us on a philosophical level. When ‘Sweven’ came out, ‘Morbid Dimensions’ was already recorded, but I remember thinking that this is an album written by people who share many of our ideals, even if they’ve come up with quite a different sound.
I wouldn’t pin these guys as direct inspirations, I think it’s more the case that we all share a lot of common sources of inspiration. Having said that, it’s hard not to get inspired at all by music you really enjoy, and by the accomplishments of these bands.
AN: The press release with ‘Morbid Dimensions’ made very clear the band’s desire to push the boundaries of death metal but also to pay homage to the classics without coming across as “retro”. Who are the old bands that influenced Execration, and how do you view the current state of death metal?
CS: There are so many bands that have influenced us. We’re huge fans of classics like Ripping Corpse, Repulsion, Autopsy, Gorguts, Death, Entombed, Immolation, Sepultura and more. If you go back to our early stuff you’ll also catch us tipping our hat to the likes of Suffocation too. Nowadays we draw more and more inspiration from bands outside the death metal tag, and we also have a wider set of influences, and are less focused on what genre our music fits into than we may have been in the past.
AN: In what ways has Norway’s extreme metal heritage informed the band’s approach, and is it a disadvantage being known as a death rather than black metal band in this neck of the woods?
CS: The days when black metal defined Norway’s metal output are far gone. There’s a pretty varied scene today with lots of new bands, lots of veterans, and a bunch of bands like us – between those two extremes. There’s great death metal bands, there are lots of awesome thrash bands coming out, and we have some really kick ass really young bands doing all kinds of metal.
AN: Are there any other bands from Norway or internationally who you would currently recommend?
CS: Diskord, Reptilian, Spectral Haze, Mion’s Hill, Mabuse, Inculter and probably more which is eluding me right now.
AN: In line with the striking style of music on ‘Morbid Dimensions’ is that obscure, miasmal blue cover art. Would you care to explain what it depicts and how it relates to the album as a whole?
CS: The cover art was ready, at least conceptually, before the music. We had a loose idea for the theme of the album, but we knew that visualising it would make it even clearer. Again, we wanted an image with a certain quirkiness, and that had the right atmosphere to go with the theme of the album. The initial inspiration came from the poster of an old Norwegian horror movie called “De dødes tjern” (Lake of the Dead). The artwork literally is “Morbid Dimensions” incarnate.
AN: On the subject of artwork, I would also like to ask about the excellent cover of your previous album, ‘Odes of the Occult’. What is that one all about, and just what the hell does the figure on it represent?!
CS: I remember being fed up by death metal artwork at the time, there was just too much of the same thing going on. We wished to do something that would reflect the music in other ways than using the typical imagery, style and colouring. We wanted the cover to have an iconic look, something quite simple and focussed, but still with some depth to it. We worked with the idea that it could resemble one thing from a distance, and reveal something else up-close. We didn’t want it to be too obvious though, rather something that worked on the subconscious level. So we ended up with what reminds of a skull from a distance, but as you get closer reveals this obscure sacerdotal figure whose vestment is also a double image, as it resembles two creatures. And then there is some more… But we won’t go into details about the meaning here, listen carefully and you might find some clues.
AN: I see that you have played Inferno Festival and toured outside Norway before. Is it easy for the band to commit to longer tours, and are there any plans to get out on the road in support of ‘Morbid Dimensions’?
CS: Currently we’re not planning any long tours. None of us are full-time musicians, so we’re trying to spend our live time wisely. The goal is to reach more places we’ve not been playing before, and that will be our focus in 2015.
AN: As somewhat of a tangent, have you had any dealings with any of the other bands also called Execration? After getting to grips with ‘Morbid Dimensions’ there is now only one band for me that the name is synonymous with…
CS: Well, that’s good to know. As far as I’m concerned there’s only one other Execration that is currently (or at least was somewhat recently) active, and they started up after we released our first EP.
AN: Thanks a lot for the interview and good luck with dragging many more metal souls into your ‘Cosmic Mausoleum’!
(Interview by Jamie)
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