Metal Mania

Interview by Grigoris, posted on 2006/05/24

his band really plays Heavy Metal music with balls! Two albums, no compromise and tons of adrenaline are the key-ingredients for German metallers Metal Inquisitor. For the old-school Metal fans, this is your band. Blumi (guitars) proves to be a genuine metalhead and I’m pretty proud to have the chance to see this band perform live in a few days. Bang your head, Blumi!

Read the "Doomsday For The Heretic" review

Hi Blumi and hello from Metal-Temple.com magazine!

Hello Greg, thanks for doing the interview with us!

First of all, for those who are not aware of the band’s history, would you give us a brief bio? How many years have you been together as a band?

I started Metal Inquisitor in 1997/98. I found Tormentor of Desaster for the drum parts on the first Demo which I wanted to do just alone with him. Tormentor said that he had found two guys who’d make the band be complete. I was lucky; the right people at the right moment. I don’t think that the Demo would have sounded this way if I would have been alone with Tormentor. On the following single ("Seven Inches For The Second Attack" 7" single , 1999 private issue) the band got more professional in playing together.

In 2000 Tormentor couldn’t stay in the band anymore because of his main band (Desaster), so with Havoc we found the right successor. T.P. on rhythm guitar made the band finally complete, capable of playing better in live shows. But T.P. was much more than just a second guitarist. After getting a deal with Iron Glory Records, we released our first full length album, "The Apparition" (2002). On that album he created together with me the song "Take Revenge". Could be the best song until now.

After we parted was with Iron Glory Records, we searched very hard for another label deal. I guess with Hellion we found the right label for producing our music. The lineup stuck together and we released "Doomsday For The Heretic" (2005) last November. "Pure" and "underground".

I was glad to see you tend to play 100% Metal music, while most bands in Europe tend to follow the ’happy’ Power Metal path or something more in the melodic Death style. This is somehow rare in our days. Did you decide what style you’d follow after the first times you jammed together? Do you like other musical styles?

Indeed!! Nowadays you just can hear that kind of Helloween/Manowar mix on newer releases. As a fan I was always bored of that monotony. I always thought that Metal is a kind of Rock n’ Roll played with hard guitars but worldwide it seems that nobody cares or is even interested in the origin of Heavy Metal.

I of course have nothing against Helloween. Just listen to "R.I.F." in our single. This could be a Helloween track with Kai Hansen. But on "Doomsday For The Heretic" I wanted to give a significant sign to the whole scene that Helloween isn’t everything to be influenced by. So be sure that I’ll always have a kind of Rock n’ Roll in our music!!!

Metal Inquisitor has so far released two full length albums. I find your latest release, "Doomsday For The Heretic" to be way better than the anyway good "The Apparition" album. What similarities and differences do you find when comparing those two releases?

Just as I said, I wanted to make no happy melody album. Judas Priest has never needed this, so why can’t we as well not need it? I was also searching for other influences like Mercyful Fate or Ozzy Osbourne. I don’t like to make it always sound the same, so it was quite sure that the second album would be very different from the first album. I can’t say if there are any similarities. I guess you can tell me?!

Of course when you’ve been playing more years together, you get more mature in everything. I agree that the second album is better than the first. It has not always been that way since Metal existed.

While the first album was issued via the Iron Glory label, you afterwards signed a contract with Hellion Records. How have they been treating you so far? They are known to be more of a mailorder company and less as a label.

Yes, I had the same impression about Hellion. Maybe that’s why Hellion came quite late in my mind to ask for a deal. But this is a label with the same standards like Remedy or Eat Metal . To have such a mailorder/zine is an advantage in comparison to other labels. I can remember making orders at Hellion in the 80’s... (e.n.: me too...) I’m very satisfied with Hellion until now. I guess at a bigger label we wouldn’t have the treatment we get right now.

Both albums were released by (relatively) small labels. Did you try or are you still trying hard to get a ’grand’ record label deal, e.g. with Nuclear Blast or Metal Blade?

We tried to get a bigger deal before we went to Hellion but after all this we got smarter. No chance. Do you really believe that such kind of label(s) which release pure modern bullshit could be ever interested in a deeply retroactive band like us? Yes, but we have to become like Edguy or Hammerfall. No way! By the way, Metal Blade doesn’t like our music and I don’t like Nuclear Blast. So, no good sight for the future.

Are you satisfied from the promotion/sales/reviews so far for "Doomsday For The Heretic"?

With "The Apparition" we had very good reviews but now they are mega good. I mean, for our needs. I guess the promotion was not so big but there was no need to spend a lot of money in commercials. The interest worldwide was so big that the promotion kept on working by itself. In half a year we sold so many copies like we did with Iron Glory in 2 years. So, no complaining...

In terms of music, which bands do you think have influenced Metal Inquisitor? Are you interested in today’s current Metal styles, e.g. Nu Metal (so called) or female-fronted ’atmospheric’ Metal?

What is atmospheric Metal (e.n.: my kinda guy!)? For sure, crap and I’m not interested in getting to know what it’s about. I’m into many styles of music but when it’s about Heavy Metal I’m just into 70’s and 80’s styles. Nothing else! There are so many bands which I could be influenced by. Among many bands, I always like Saxon or Judas Priest. But that’s what our name is all about: inquire! And we inquest Heavy Metal.

The lyrical themes of Metal Inquisitor seem to get along fine with the music! Would you like to tell us a few things about the motive(s) behind the writing of the lyrics?

We often like to describe a cool movie in our lyrics, or better El Rojo (vocals) does. "Logan΄s Run" is a self titled science fiction movie with Peter Ustinov. "Infamia" is more or less about our cover artwork. You better listen to the song and the cover talks. But to get political is always welcome, too. Who could be a better target than George W. Bush?

Really, who composes the music and the lyrics in the band? Do you all participate in the making?

I’m not the best in writing lyrics and I guess El Rojo doesn’t want somebody else writing them. But the music is more or less all made by me. I like to listen for hours to LPs and wait for the right idea in my head. Until an idea becomes a complete song it takes some weeks and after that - in the rehearsal room - every song gets its final ’polish’.

Real life (daily jobs or family obligations for some) is a pain in the ass when you have a band. How tough is it to try and rehearse, record or tour for Metal Inquisitor?

Right now we get proof in this case! We are not 20 years old anymore, so over 30 comes the right girlfriend and after that come the children. It’s always a matter of less time. But we have to deal with it and hope to get over that crisis. Actually, we are too old now to get successful.

What do you expect from the Up The Hammers festival in Athens, Greece in May 2006? Do you have any other touring plans?

Because of the reason I mentioned before, we can’t play as many gigs as we would like to. One gig a month is our quantity. Maybe we can do a small U.S./South America tour in 2007. But it’s not sure yet. That gig in Athens is very important for us. El Rojo has been with Rage (not as a musician) in Greece for 10 years and he said we can expect a hot crowd. I’m so curious to see how the scene is in Greece and talk to Greek fans. I hope we are a worthy headliner.

Blumi, anything you’d like to share with our readers and fans of Metal Inquisitor music in general?

Stay all brutal, underground and keep the beers cold until our coming!