VICIOUS ART

Torture need

VICIOUS ART is definitely one of the most interesting and strongest death metal bands coming out of Sweden at present. Their debut album "Fire Falls And The Waiting Waters" released four years ago (2004) was definitely a good example for "how to play death metal without losing balls", while its successor entitled "Pick Up This Sick Child" is like a fucking earthquake. No kidding. Be ready for something unpredictably strong. I talked to Jörgen Sandström responsible for bass and additional vocal parts on that amazing album.

-Hi Jörgen! How are you doing? Hope that everything is going well with you...
Hi Darek! I am just fine...

-We've been waiting much too long for you to come up with some new ideas for the second album of VICIOUS ART. It took you actually three long years. Damn, are you so fucking lazy? OK, you are almost 40 (to be more precise- 37, who cares?) and the other guys are also pretty close to retiring age, but that's not an excuse for such a long gap...
I guess it is a both yes and no answer to this, hahaha.. Yes, we can be very lazy but still it wasnt just our fault that it took sometime to get another album out. Our former record label turned their back and didnt wanna do another album so we had to hunt for a new one. In between the two albums we did release an ep on our own though called Weed the Wild. Also we didnt wanna rush the songwriting so we took the time we needed to get the songs as we wanted them..

-The album turned out just great and for me personally „Pick Up This Sick Child” is definitely one of the best death metal albums released in recent years. I don't want to lick your ass saying that but in fact, nowadays very few death metal bands manage to record such great albums. It sounds very good, songs are amazing, vocal parts nearly killed me, there's actually nothing to complain about. Now don't be so humble and tell me, how is to record a masterpiece?
We knew before we entered the studio that the material was really really strong and it felt really good recording all the songs. As usual their were hardly no lyrics written before we entered the studio but as soon as Jocke and Robert who writes all the lyrics, showed us the ideas we were even more certain that this album will be really fucking good!!! The actual recordings went on really smooth and we had a real good time recording it.

-I'm still wondering, what makes this band so damn good, better to 99% bands on this planet. Any clue?
If anything I think the lyrics and the way they are performed is something we do better than most of the bands out there. They are catchy but still very brutal. Who is the last band we have to top then, Darek?

-SLAYER? OK, nevermind... Go more into details concerning your second attack. The album contains 11 songs of pure death metal blasphemy, an amazing mixture of lethal blastbeats and breaknecking mid-tempos. There are also some pieces when you slow down the tempo and crush bones with almost unbelievable riff heaviness. This album is catchy yet brutal all the time and listening to such diverse songs it would be really hard to get bored with them. What is the golden rule, to write a good death metal album? Do you need to be in a pissed-off mood to write a bunch of asskicking songs?
We dont have any rules set up... well, maybe one, and that one is that the shit have to be intense in one way or another. I think that the mid part in Our Family Flesh is just as intense as maybe Chewing Gunpowder.. We wanna write interesting, intense songs, not just a brutal death metal song coz that is not the key for us. Also we have such different backgrounds that involves Punk Rock, Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal and Doom. And with all those influences it is pretty interesting to write songs I think.

-Among my favorite songs on this album there are definitely such sick cuts as "Chewing Gunpowder", "Dancing Münchhausen" and "The Paulina Paw Paintings". The whole album is incredibly aggressive and direct but I enjoy those songs most. What are your highlights of „Pick Up This Sick Child”?
My personal faves are Family Flesh, we re-arranged that song the day before we went to the studio and it turned into my fave song. But I like all songs on the album.


-I would say death metal is quite limited as a genre. It should be fast, brutal and heavy, and that's it. Do you believe that heaviness and unstoppable brutality constitute soul and spirit of death metal art?
Death Metal should contain two things: Brutal music and Violent lyrics. That is it.

-In our previous interview two years ago I described VICIOUS ART style as a European answer to American death metal, bands like early MORBID ANGEL for example. I think this new album will solidify that reputation. How do you respond to this?
Wih no doubt american bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Death, Autopsy etc etc etc etc have influenced us. But they have also influenced bands from your country that we dig alot like, Vader, Lost Soul, Trauma,Behemoth, Decapitated etc etc.. And other european bands like Pestilence, Napalm Death, Dark Throne, Carpathian Forest, Craft, Nifelheim and many many more influence us. We listen to alot of music daily and it is hard not to be influenced by such great acts.