Interview with Bloodspot about the relentless new album “To The Marrow”

First of all, I'm happy that you guys have done another great job with the new album “To The Marrow”. I got goose-bumps in my body to the marrow with full of in-your-face punchy tracks. Why did you give the title for the new album like that?

Howdie: Pete was the one who came up with the idea for the title. The working title said “Seeking Marrow”. But gradually we transformed it into “To The Marrow”, which is a more handy title and finally fits better to the meaning behind it. At least as far as I understood, it's intended to be like an advancement of “By The Horns” at all points. With the last album the band took the mission to metaphorically take the bull by the horns, which meant to grow together again as a band, because of member-changes, as well as to approach individual problems. “To The Marrow” marks the next step, to leave the surface and go deeper to the core. Both, musically and personally. As you could imagine, it isn't always easy to be in complete agreement as a group, consisting of five different characters. Every single member has to learn more and more to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the others. Otherwise it's not possible to grow as a group. During this process it can get very painful to go deeper. But if you are able to get through it, it definitely makes you stronger, personally and collectively. It's the same with the musical development.

Pete: We also wanted to intensify the relation to our fans, too. As you might know, we used X-Rays of our fans for the artwork. We wanted to have them with us in the artwork, as we want them with us, when we are on stage. The idea with the X-Rays came before the title "to the marrow", so it fits even better!

 I feel the album “To The Marrow” stands on the same line with “By The Horns”, straight, solid and aggressive. I feel your total confidence with your music through the established Bloodspot-sound. What do you feel about it?

Howdie: I think you are basically right. “To The Marrow” definitively sounds like Bloodspot and has the typical trademarks to it - Punch, Groove, Aggression and Dirt . But as I mentioned before, a lot changed within the band since “By The Horns”. And I think you can hear it on “To The Marrow”. Already the fact that our songwriting evolved during the process of creation had a lot of effect on "To The Marrow". On the one hand we decided to let more room for the one who comes up with an idea. To make sure that he is possible to play out his personal vision of the song, to leave an individual stamp on it. On the other hand every single band-member was included into the songwriting more deeply this time. It made sure that the songs will come out more colorful. What I want to say is that there's more variety between the songs than on “By The Horns”. We also put more little details into the material. But yeah, it's still brutal as hell for sure ;)

Marius: We couldn't make an album that isn't brutal at all, but like Howdy said, the variety is improved. For example, Björn suggested that he'd like a song with a clean guitar melody, that's how Average white came to life. Pete's Hardcore- background brought us a monster like A Vonder of Vows, as well as Feast of the  Lending Needs stems from Jaros love for Death Metal. You could say there's a solid metallic fundament with different toppings. And we wrote more songs together than in the past - e.g. Pete asked me for a fast thrashy verse in Kein Mensch Ist Illegal, and Björn threw in some ideas for Embrace the end, all of which made the songs better and more varied. But you can always hear that it's Bloodspot- we're very happy with the songs and how they emerged.

 I found an interesting fact that the total running time of “To The Marrow” is almost the same with “By The Hones” and since “To The Marrow” has 10 songs, it sounds more condensed than “By The Horns”. Did it become condensed naturally, or purposely?

Howdie: I would say both. In some way we tried to unmask needless parts and leave them out.
At least I did that fore sure. To speak for myself, I wanted some of my ideas to be as reduced and minimalist as possible this time. “Public Porn” is the best example for that. This song is definitively condensed purposely. But a lot of the other songs came out absolutely naturally, ”Average White” or “To The Marrow” for example are songs that just came out nearly the same as you can hear them on the album now. At this point I have to say a big “thank you!” to Kai from PARASITE INC. and Lukas from THE GREAT COLD, who both helped me to get along with home-recording. Without that some of the songs wouldn't sound like they do now.

 “The Act of Fame” is a relentless opener with the jackrabbit start and killer guitar riffs.
It tells me like ‘Stay sharp!’. Actually, I always get goosebumps with your super shredding guitar riffs. Which is your favorite guitar part of the album?

Howdie: Puh, it's very hard to pic just one. I have to name some more. I absolutely love all the little "vampyric" and "black metalish" guitar-parts, like in the intro-theme of "Public Porn" or the chords in the middle-part of "Feast Of The Leading Needs". I also love all the guitar-parts in two voices, especially those in "A Wonder Of Vows" and "Average White: Running Caverns". When it comes to riffing, "Economic
Eradication" is a manifest of neck-breaking killer-riffs, and the first riff of "Lower The Cut" is my most favorite on the whole album. I just recognize that there is no single song without killer guitar riffs :D

Marius: I love the fast verse- riff of To the marrow, as well as the rhythm guitar- break towards the end of Economic Eradication. The guitar work in Average white and Feast of the leading needs is in an unusual manner for Bloodspot, I like that too. And I have great fun with the guitar-leads of this record.

 I had to grin with the title of the second track “Embrace The End” but there’s no musical similarity between the song and your first full-length “Embrace The End”. Why did you use the title for the new song? It’s not a coincidence, right?

Pete: Most things are no coincidence on this album ;) To me it´s always important to have the feeling that "circles close". Even if there is an end doesn´t mean that you have to leave something or anyone without a reason. The point is to get the best out for yourself within every end you have to face! It might help not hold on too hard on things you´re better off letting them go! In case of the song, the circle closes and starts something new: We wanted to move a little bit more to the songwriting of "embrace the end" to have a mix of "by the horns" and "embrace the end".

Marius: Embrace the end of By the horns ^^ That was one of the first tracks we had finished.
Pete came up with this title, and somehow it felt right. Some parts had a more melodic feel to them, like our older stuff -Answer my fall comes to my mind- and for that it had a connection to that era, like Pete said there was a feeling of "circle-closing".

“To The Marrow”, “Kein Mensch Ist Illegal” and “Public Porn” are my most favorites in the album. Actually, there are many kickass gang-shouts in the album. Did you get conscious about your fans to shout that together at your shows when you recorded those shout parts?

Howdie: Absolutely! For me personally it was very important to get those gang-shout-parts more prominent on “To The Marrow”. Although i also like ambitious arrangements, I have always been a big fan of the simple and straight things. For me the best example from nowadays is Slayers “Relentless”. The Chorus catches you right from the start. “Live fast, on high, relentless, let it ride!”, it's just awesome! You feel instantly forced to lift your fist and yell it as loud as you can together with Tom. I love that!

 Another reason for why I love the song “Kein Mensch Ist Illegal” (No One Is Illegal) is the lyrics. It’s dealing with a universal issue and I really empathize with it. Actually every single song in the album has strong messages. So, I’d love to hear your explanation about each of those lyrics, please?

track1: The Act of Fame

Pete: An important inspiration for me were situations when "business" tried to have too much influence on the band. In common, and that´s the more important point, it is a song about honesty and sincerity. About not running with every stream, being self-conscious and far-sighted to make the right decisions. There are too many people out there that just want to exploit others, it´s about being aware of that without being afraid of them!

track2: Embrace The End

Pete: I told you already about the song. "Death is the position to make it all count" is a central sentence in the song and nails it.

track3: To The Marrow

Pete: There are several songs on "to the marrow" that follow one topic- the imbalance of our world! In all its ugly faces of suppression, racism, economic abuse, exploitation and greed, just to name a few of them.
The lyrics are about the question, what we are willing to leave, to break these cycles of unjust habits and consumption. To go to your own marrow, to see what´s really necessary. "Confess! Avow what you really need!" We are all concerned!

track4: Kein Mensch Ist Illegal

Pete: You said it already, it means "no one is illegal". It´s about the refugee-situation in common and our position is clear with this statement! it´s just sad, that the situation stokes racism and facism so hard.

Marius: Originally the chorus was written in English language, and someday out of a sudden we changed it into German. You know, Refugees, political asylum and everything that comes with it are a very important thing in Germany nowadays, there’s a big movement from the right… often it becomes just nasty, and that was our way to say “fuck you” to all the Nazi-scum. We played the song at Kalkwerkfestival ’16, and there were many persons of many different cultures and countries and subcultures like ska, hip-hop, reggae and so on, and we made them shout altogether “Kein Mensch ist illegal”. That was fucking intense… just listen to the beginning of that song.

track5: Economic Eradication

Marius: One day Pete and I talked about lyrics and topics of songs. I told him how I feel about mighty companies making big money rebuilding countries that were destroyed by war, and that it's quite common practice to give away the award of contract even prior to war.

Pete: I believe that economy is the biggest and most dangerous part of the imbalance. The connection of politics and economy is much stronger than it should be! Politicians have too much economic interests and are steered by the finances of their countries. Society is hypnotized by the offers in the stores. The behavior in consumption of every single person and the methods of the corporations have to be changed. We can not keep this amount of prosperity without suppressing other countries and their economy!

track6: A Wonder of Vows

Pete: ...has the most emotional lyrics on the album. It´s a proclamation to the affluent society, to everyone who cannot see, that goods have a bigger lobby than people! Again economic values seem to have more appreciation than human beings! "every child that starves, is killed" is the strongest sentence of the album.

track7: Public Porn

Pete: The song is about being blinded by media abuse. The text is combined to the influence of commercials and the illusion of needing senseless stuff that keep us calm and relaxed. Focusing on their status people care less about others and more about themselves. fast satisfactions and status symbols instead of thinking about real necessity!

track8: The Feast of The Leading Needs

Pete: This is one of the most abstract lyrics on the record... "the leading needs" are motivations to gain respect from our society. Created by hate, lack of self-value or envy. This culminates in different problems like dog-eat-dog-mentality, greed, fashion and beauty craze. I like the abstract ending of the song "wrath counts praise".

track9: Average White: Running Caverns

Pete: Another title with quite abstract words. It´s about our actual political situation. Due to the refugee-debate we have a strong growth of right parties in Germany again.
They are "one-topic-parties" and have obsolete programs reminding of the Parties from Nazi-Deutschland. Needless to say at this point they have to be stopped.

track10: Lower The Cut

Pete: It matches that "lower the cut" are the last words on the album. It´s the call to cut back, to reduce and to slow down. Don´t follow the stream! Don't say what everyone says! Don't buy senseless shit and use your stuff ´til it´s broken! Don´t support the static growth! Don´t feed the hungry mouth of economy!
"Reduction of abundance. The first step is the one that sates!"

“Public Porn” I mentioned in the previous question is appeared as the first music video from the album, right? Could you tell us about the location, concept and any episode behind the scene during the shooting?

Pete: Yes, it´s the first video. We produced it all for ourselves. We filmed it at Björn´s home. He owns a house together with his brother and I live there too. I did all the technical stuff, filming, light, cutting, post-production... I had several ideas for the episodes each of us is playing in the video. There are also shown some of the X-Rays our fans sent us for the artwork. To me it´s quite funny, that the scenes we play seem to fit our characters a little bit. I just want to sit and be boring, Jaro is our occult preacher, Howdie needs the longest time in the bathroom, Marius is the mad guy and Björn is simply the best in BLOODSPOT! ;)
The video is about all the lyrics of the entire album. It´s not only about "public porn". The lyrics are not always straight focused on one topic. There are some escapes to other related topics, or maybe other songs. AND: I would prefer you make your own interpretation if that´s OK!? There are really plenty of symbols hidden in the video, I don´t want to explain them all at one time. I hope you will have fun to watch it over and over again to find them all...

 Who is responsible for the album art?

Pete: We also did the Artwork together. It took a really long time to satisfy everyone in the band. I made several suggestions and prepared many prototypes. We all had different pictures of what our music sounds like at the moment. This is the reason why the artwork grew from different parts, that i wanted to put together to a homogeneous result. All in all, i think I worked more than 8 month on the artwork...

I need to tell you that you always make killer band shirts! I often wear each of them. Who did work on the newest shirt design?

Pete: Thanks. We try to have different styles. We don´t want our shirts to look all the same.
We created the actual shirt together, too... I created different designs during the recording-sessions. But in the end, we decided for this design, which took about 3 minutes to create :D

 Bloodspot is the total live band, right? Do you have any plan for local or worldwide tour with To The Marrow already?

Howdie: Yeah, you are right. And it's absolutely necessary to get us back on the road again!
We would love to tour worldwide (especially Japan for sure!) with "To The Marrow", but unfortunately it's not that easy to organize a tour at such a big range. All of us need to do regular jobs, so we don't have enough time to book a big tour completely by ourselves. But quite recently we've got a new booking-partner, who will help us to organize shows throughout Germany and also here and there in Europe. Right now we are working very hard together to create a good tour-package.

Marius: You're definitely right about Bloodspot being a live band. As a band we grew up on the road you could say, there we found ourselves, and we found out what we want to do. With the five of us together it almost feels as we were meant to be on stage. It may sound a bit cheesy, but the pure energy that comes up at a gig keeps us going. And it is highly rewarding for all stresses and strains... if you listen to a Bloodspot record, you hear the songs. But the real Bloodspot is to be experienced live on stage. I get the chills just thinking of our upcoming 10th Anniversary Show... There's nothing that comes even close to the feeling when delivering a good show- the adrenaline, the sweat, the euphoria, the energetic exchange with the fans. Every time we want to give our absolut best, and we're enjoying ourselves very much. We're very happy and grateful for having that privilege.

Thank you so much for your time for my interview!

Howdie: Thank you Kumi for your boundless passion and support!

Marius: Yeah thank you, you're amazing!

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BLOODSPOT released a kick-ass live music video – “Death Illusion”

Woot woot woot... My beloved deathrashers released an official live music video "Death Illusion" from the killer second full-length "By The Horns". Check it out!

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Check the first music video from the album "By The Horns"

Bloodspot interviews on kumi666.com

BLOODSPOT interview about the second full-length “By the Horns”

Congrats for the success of the second album “By the Horns” so far! It seems you got a lot of enthusiastic responses about the album already, right? How have you been feeling with those feedbacks since the album had been released?

Marius: Good reviews are always nice for your ego, but critics can offer you a different point of view. It´s difficult to be neutral and objective when it`s all about your own art. We take reviews seriously but we try not to get too excited about them, either they´re good or bad. Right now, we´re definitely on our way, and it feels very good with this lineup.

The new album obviously sounds more straight-forward and mind-blowing with less modern elements than before. Did the member replacement effect for your musical direction for the album? Even now, Howdie and Marius are main songwriters, right?

Marius: Howdie is almost always the one to come up with new ideas and riffs, his style easily defines the “Bloodspot sound”. Most songs are written by him, but whenever a member has an idea we usually try it. Its always nice when an idea works out, and if not, we don’t give a damn. At the moment we´re working on the first ideas of Jaro, and it kicks major ass. Pete’s beautiful voice gives you such a kick that you can´t do anything else than play as hard as you possibly can. Maybe this is his exact influence on the musical direction ;-)

Howdie: In my opinion there are multiple combining factors that made the material on By the Horns sound more straight and relentless than on Embrace the End. Pete, his personality and workflow play an important role, as well as diverse personal changes and their influence on musical creativity. Especially after the debilitating split-up with our old vocalist Dom, it was very important and good to feel like a whole band again, and we became enthusiastic. Besides, it was clear from early on, that the new album is going to be more focused and brutal. And that was a rather conscious decision. Embrace The End was more like a pool of different experiments.

Both of the new band logo and the album art are killer because it’s absolutely powerful and pure fucking metal! How did you come up with the idea? Does the cover art represent more than “horns”?

Pete: I started working on the artwork and the new logo roughly at the same time I started my part for By The Horns itself. This way everything came together and that’s why it feels as made from one for me personally. The different processes while working influenced each other strongly and it gave me a very clear image of how our music would influence the listener. The rough energy and straight-forward songs on the album demanded a cover that shows exactly this musical direction and foreshadows what’s to be expected on the disc. We just want to break down walls with this album. Everyone in the band had to overcome some obstacles during the last year, and By The Horns is, both personally and musically, a big coup for us.
I had the idea for the title long before I joined Bloodspot. And I remember thinking “Yeah, BY THE HORNS… THIS IS METAL” back in the days, although the content to fill it up came somewhat later. In my first year with Bloodspot I was in some problematic situations that made me stray from my path. It was time to change things, take the bull by the horns so to say. The decision to stay with Bloodspot and working on the album gave me a very important impulse and a lot of energy. While talking with the other guys, I noticed that we were all in quite similar circumstances and everyone could connect with the title and artwork easily. That’s why it means a lot to me.

I was so curious if Pete’s low-pitched and bestial vocals could fit with the old songs, and he showed us it works great with the new version of “Far From Innocence” in the new album. Why did you choose the song from the past releases to the new album?

Howdie: We had a very narrow time frame for the work on the album. In the beginning, the plan even was to just release an EP because of the little time we had. When we advanced faster than expected with the new songs, our label proposed to rerecord an old song to have enough material for a full-length. We chose „Far From Innocence“ because we added a part to that song in the meantime, so we recorded it the way we play it live. Naturally, the song is a bit faster than the old version. ;)

So, could you explain each of the songs in the album to the listeners?

…And They Brought Gold

Pete: … is the hardest song on the album, a lot of words in a very fast song. It’s always a challenge, especially when playing on stage. Nevertheless, I love to sing „And they brought gold“, it just emanates so much aggression. The lyrics revolve around exploitation, delusion and oppression. I wrote them very clearly and straight-forward, not as abstract as other songs, to communicate what’s at stake.

The Legend Of Butch Miller

Pete: … is about my connection to a close friend. We had an experience together that will follow us forever and influenced me a lot. I tried to make something like a legend or fable from that happening. But the core of the content is about a strong connection.
„Butch Miller“ is the persona of this friend’s son. His real name is different, but when his wife was pregnant with him, he always searched for stupid names fort he baby. The song could be called „The Legend of Bronco Miller“, but I liked Butch more.

By The Horns

Howdie: This song is about metaphorically taking the bull by the horns. The bull here stands for instilled and routinized behaviour and consumption patterns, which by chance are based on the exploitation and enslavement of other people. To realize that such patterns exist, however, does not mean you can simply abandon them, because yourself have become a part of the machine already. This very conflict is the main topic here. It's the fastest and most punky song on the album!

Burst Black

Howdie: In my opinion, "Burst Black", is a full- fledged Death/Thrash-piece. On top of that, it's the only song featuring blastbeats, which we seldom use as a stylistic device. The text tells about the influence of the media and certain "defining powers" and the pressure they cause.

Death Down There Hold My Approach

Marius: A damn heavy song. I wanted to add a new dimension of heaviness to the Bloodspot music, so it has a very unusual rhythm and some slightly oriental scale-work. The inspiration to this song was our trip with the insane metalheads from turkey. In the beginning I wanted some kind of guitar duel for the solo section, but Howdy was too lazy and didn´t learn his part, so I have to play all three solos. This song also contains my only contribution to the lyrics, when I wrote that song I had one or two lines in mind that made it to the final version. I showed them to Pete and now we perform them together. Basically it´s about mortality and fugacity.

Volcanos

Marius: This is Kunos legacy. The slowest song we ever played, with a smashing groove and some sick psycho chords. I think it really sounds like lava running down slowly but unstoppable into the valley. The title perfectly matches what it sounds like, one of my faves.

Enter The Gray

Howdie: Fast and solid thrash-bludgeoning at high speed, featuring a nice and cozy halftime in between. The lyrics tell you not to think in superficial patterns, not to aspire to black or white, but stick with the middle, the gray.

Death Illusion

Marius: Stamping intro, rifle-fire riffing, catchy chorus and two “Über- thrash-riffs” in the second half. In fact, for these riffs I invented the term “Thriff” (which means “superb thrash riff” ;-) Oh, and Howdie’s very first lead guitar part ever to be released, a very cool bluesy rock solo. I love it.
Once more, death is the main topic. (...)

Far From Innocence ‘13

Pete: … I knew this song long before joining the band and the interaction between my band members while performing impressed me since the „The Demon EP“ days. When I saw them live for the first time, I went totally mad, there are some video recordings that‘ll hopefully stay buried forever. Nowadays I like performing the song myself, its very straightforward and has a lot of groove, that’s why we mostly use this as opener.

Which song in the album do you like most and tell us the reason?

Pete: Very difficult… but all in all it’s „The Legend of Butch Miller“. It has a nice meaning and is important for me, while being a real party blast, which would fit quite well as playback bar or disco track. It’s the most recognizable song on the album in my opinion, and is a ton of fun to play.

Jaro: It’s really hard to decide between „And they brought gold“ and „Volcanos“. Both of them feature the raw and aggressive BLOODSPOT attitude, albeit in very different forms. In the end, I guess I’m sticking to “And they brought gold” – it’s fast, hard and relentless right from the start, and it keeps going like this for the whole song – a killer especially when playing live!

Check the kick-ass music video By The Horns!

The new music video “By the Horns” is fantastic too! Why did you film the video at the location? Who’s idea?

Pete: It’s rather difficult to explain because there were some misunderstandings leading to the creation of the video. The core idea at first was to symbolize indifference of chances in the world, but this was abandoned after some time. We had some problems with communication, it was rather chaotic, but because we know our video producer quite well, we had no problems in just letting it flow and simply started to shoot right away. I think the result is a good mixture from stuff a metal band would love to do on a farm and has a nice portion of self-mockery.
The song „By The Horns“ is about the process of realizing that not every human person on earth has the same chances and possibilities, and a lot of stuff that happens is just fate. Growing up in an ideal world, where we often are reminded in a very far-fetched and cautious way that injustice is real and all around us. But my lyrics are not very straight-forward, there is a lot of detail in the texts, that can be traced to very different experiences.

Howdie: The idea for the video came from our friend Bill Raab, who shot and produced the video completely on his own. In the beginning, we were not really convinced by his „farm life“ idea. Additionally, there was the chaos Pete mentioned earlier, considering the theme of the song and its realization in the video. As we made some really good experiences with Bill while filming “Consumed by Hatred” already, we just let him do his magic. And we had a real blast while shooting the video! All in all, it fits the band quite well: Some primitive country bumpkins that love to play in the dirt! :D

Could you introduce us your new bass player, by the way?

Jaro: Hi, my name is Jaro, and I’m the new bass player for BLOODSPOT. I’ve been around the band for some time before joining, so we basically know each other quite well already. I already played in a band together with Marius and Pete some time ago; in fact I’m also playing with Marius in another project right at the moment. It’s nice to be a member after knowing a band for such a long time ;)

For the album, you signed with Bret Hard Records, right? Has the signing improved your musical environment?

Howdie: We have a broader distribution and more substantial promotion thanks to Bret Hard. Another plus is the very familiar way of working with each other. We have a lot of contact and friendships with some of the labels bands. There is Skum, the band of label founder Chris, and also Five Dollar Crackbitch, Pripjat and Sabiendas.

The previous question leads to the new project New Wave of German Metal you belong to. Could you explain a bit about it?

Howdie: This is a quite good example for friendship/family ties between bands as well. Kai and Benny of Parasite Inc. and Johnny of Soulbound were responsible for developing the idea behind NWOGHM. We shared the stage with both bands already and had quite some fun with them. On top of that, both bands are very hard-working, they do everything for their music and perform on a very high level. When they showed us the project and asked us if we were interested in joining, we didn’t have to think a lot about it.

So, what is your next goal at the moment as a band?

Pete: We want to continue in the same way we did up until now. Last year was quite good! We had a lot of cool live-shows, most critiques for our album were rather favorable, we signed with a label, the personal climate inside the band is fantastic, we feel awesome! All of that makes pretty optimistic considering our future. We want to try to keep this perspective and even improve on it. We are motivated to become even better, to finally kick the last skeptics into the crotch! We are burning!!!

Jaro: Conquering the world of course… just kidding. I’m very happy to have joined the band and I hope for a glorious future full of nice gigs, nice people and some killer future releases! Regarding this topic, we’re slowly picking up the pace again in terms of songwriting… I’m very excited for the results!!!

Howdie: Of course we are looking for advancement. Time will tell how we are going to achieve it. Of course we want to record the best album that Bloodspot can offer. But to avoid unnecessary blockades and keep the music fun for everyone involved, we are going to approach songwriting in a relaxed way. The most important thing is that we are happy with the results ourselves.

Could you leave any message to metal fans in the world?

To grab a bull by it‘s horns is always a good and fuckin‘ manly thing to do... so: BY THE HORNS!!! see you on stage!

 

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BLOODSPOT’s brand-new video “By The Horns” is available!

Hey, extreme metal lovers! Check the brand-new mind-blowing video “By The Horns” by BLOODSPOT - kick-ass thrash death metal guys from Germany!

The second full-length By The Horns will be out on 29th Nov.
Check more details on www.facebook.com/bloodspotmusic

...and one more track from By The Horns!

BLOODSPOT “By The Horns” Cover-art + track list had been revealed!

BLOODSPOT revealed their upcoming second album “By The Horns” cover-art:

The band also announced the whole track list from the album:

 1. And They Brought Gold
 2. The Legend Of Butch Miller
 3. By The Horns
 4. Burst Black
 5. Death Down There Hold My Approach
 6. Volcanos
 7. Enter The Grey
 8. Death Illusion
 9. Far From Innocence '13

The album “By The Horns” will be out on 29th November via Bret Hard Records.
Keep your eyes on the kick-ass death thrashers from Limburg!!!

BLOODSPOT official facebook: www.facebook.com/bloodspotmusic
BLOODSPOT official homepage: www.bloodspot-music.de

Studio Diary Episode3

Studio Diary Episode2

Studio Diary Episode1

BLOODSPOT IS BACK! – Short interview

It has been a long time since we had an interview last time. How have you been?

Howdie: For sure we went through the usual ups and downs you have to deal with when you are in a band. Different opinions on different topics, some absolutely awesome live-shows, some very chaotic live-shows and of course good old everyday insanity. But all in all we have been very good. We are very excited about our upcoming release and the touring afterwards. We can't wait to get back on the road again!

You guys announced the new front-man Pete some months ago. Is everything going well with him so far? Could you introduce him?

Howdie: With Pete everything is going great! Right from the beginning he operated with full capacity! He didn't need much time to fit into the bands' working-habits. He actually brought a lot of fresh creativity into the songwriting. Not to mention his absolutely powerful voice. Apart from that he did a new logo-design and the whole artwork for the upcoming album. In my personal opinion the band is getting a real individual "image" for the first time, like something that makes you sure about "yeah man, THIS is Bloodspot". Last but not least Pete is just a very kind person and I love to hang out with him. His character also fits perfectly into the band. So, as you can see, I'm really in love with this guy. Maybe I should tell some bad things about him, so he doesn't become airborne. But at the moment there's just nothing one could seriously complain about. Pete is definitely the right man in the right place!

I am curious about the future release. You guys have been writing new songs for the upcoming album, right? How is your plan for the new album?

Howdie: Yeah, we wrote some new killer-tracks for you guys and girls. Right now we are working on details until we are absolutely satisfied with every song. In June we will hit the studio for recordings. The release is planned for November. We are currently into communication with a label, so it maybe depends on the results when the album will be released exactly. But apart from that, a new video clip and some other stuff are already in progress. And most important: We will promote the new record with a lot of live shows at the end of the year! So you really have some reasons to be curious! We are as well!

Do you think the new release will have the same direction as Embrace The End?

Howdie: No, I don't think so. There will definitely be a lot of similarities, because we did not change our style completely or something like that. But all in all, the new material will be quite different to what we did on Embrace The End. For sure one big reason for this is the fact that we got a new man at the vocals. He sounds different, his connection to music is different, he is just a different person. The other very important aspect is, that the songs on Embrace The End represent the whole band history from the first song we ever wrote to the latest song we wrote before the release of the album. This period of time is about 5 years. 5 years which I would call in some way the identification process of Bloodspot. In my opinion, we weren't really sure about in which direction we wanted to go during this time. So we just tried out some different things. I think this was a very important process for us. But through the last 2 years, especially with the songwriting for the new album and the fresh influences from Pete, we were getting more focused on what we really want to do. This process is still in full motion. At present there is a whole lot of energy and creativity growing within the band and it doesn't seem to stop. To sum it up: The new songs will be a bunch of shameless brutal motherfuckers, so go fucking prepare yourself!

You guys are a totally live-band, aren’t you? Could you tell me the upcoming live schedule?

Howdie: Yeah, we absolutely love to play live an it is very important for us! As I mentioned before, we will be on the road at the end of the year to promote the new album. In the meanwhile we will play some smaller festivals like "Metallergrillen" or "Kalkwerkfestival". You will find the final dates of all shows for the rest of the year soon on our website and on our facebook-page. Thanks a lot for the interview and for your incredible support! You are just awesome Kumi!

BLOODSPOT facebook: www.facebook.com/bloodspotmusic
BLOODSPOT Online-store: www.facebook.com/bloodspotmusic/app_150178545006427

BLOODSPOT vs SOULBOUND round.II － SOULBOUND interview

Check out the round 1 at first, if you didn’t try it yet. Bloodspot VS. Soulbound Part 1

Me: How have you guys been these weeks?

Mario: Actually pretty well, thanks! We took a little time off to concentrate a little more on playing gigs and getting new songs together, we really needed that. All this organization stuff is getting pretty dull after a while and it’s kinda nice to get your creativity going for a change. Times like these give us new energy and motivation to carry on and to remember ourselves: Fuck yeah, this is awesome!

Me: I had an interview with you guys about the new CD "Towards The Sun" already, so this time I would like to hear about your gigs those past months. How was BAD SANTA RETURNS tour on last Dec? How were the gigs with Bloodspot guys? I heard Bloodspot are the great live band! Is that true?

Mario: The gigs we played just after putting out our new CD were pretty amazing, the first ones we played were all set up for the Bad Santa Returns Tour 2011 with our mates from Bloodspot and Hope Dies First. We had such a fuckin’ amazing time touring with them and we also got to sell a whole bunch of copies from ‘Towards The Sun’! It feels really good to see people who don’t know us appreciate what we do and buy our CD after they saw you on stage.

Me: How do you think about Bloodspot’s new songs?

Mario: Holy f**k, all we can say is: Thrash- /death metal at its finest! Doesn’t matter if you’re listening to their CD or their live performance, it’ll blow you away. Buy this CD; you won’t regret it, cross my heart! They’re such talented guys and they can manage the one thing that very few bands accomplish: They sound even better live than on CD!

Me: Now a bunch of "Towards The Sun" CDs are available in Japan. How do you feel about it?

Mario: First of all, thank you, Kumi, for making this possible! Of course, it’s fuckin’ awesome to know, that a few thousand miles away your own CD is being sold in 3 of the biggest Stores in Tokyo! We just couldn’t believe it until you showed us the picture! (laughs) Right now, we’re pretty curious about how the Japanese people will react to our music; we can’t wait to find out!

Me: As you told me, you guys signed with the record label and "Towards The Sun" will be officially available in Europe on this March, right? Do you have any plans for the official CD release day? Will you guys have a release party or so? Do you guys get any nice reactions about the CD from the listeners already?

Mario: That’s right! We’ll play a few concerts with our friends from All Will Know, great guys, check them out! We’re not planning to do an actual CD release party, the release date is just the date from which you can purchase the CD in digital online stores, like iTunes and so on. Yeah we did get a lot of feedback and we were really surprised about them, since this is our first CD and we were not really sure how people would react but all in all, people who bought our CD were pretty stoked and of course we were, too!

Thanks so much Mario!

Check out Soulbound’s very first CD “Towards The Sun” !
SOLBOUND Facebook: www.facebook.com/MusicSoublound

Soulbound’s professional music video from Towards The Sun – Halloween

References: All live pictures of the band "Soulbound" by Rune Fleiter. www.rune-fleiter.de

BLOODSPOT vs SOULBOUND round.I － BLOODSPOT interview

I had interviews with BLOODSPOT and SOULBOUND on February, wanted to ask them about the tour together on last Dec, wanted to know what they think about each other. Okay, here we go with BLOODSPOT this round!

Me: How have you guys been these weeks?

Howdie: Well, last week we renovated our rehearsal room to make it more soundproof. Until we finished the construction works, we do our rehearsals in another room which is not that comfortable than ours. You have to know that it is very cold in Germany right now, so we are freezing all the time while working and rehearsing.. more or less anyway we are writing songs for the next album right now and as far as I can say, they are getting very brutal until now!

Me: Congrats for your success for Embrace The End tour 2011. You guys played in some other countries, right? How was that?

Howdie: Yeah, the whole tour went very well and besides Germany we played some shows in Slovakia. That was a very amazing experience! Maybe even the greatest experience in our whole band-carrier so far! We just had such a fantastic time together with our Slovakian brothers in Mandragora. They took very good care of us, making us feel comfortable, checking the hostels, getting us to the next club and just being very nice people! You absolutely have to check their music out !!!  (https://www.facebook.com/mandragora.sk) If you want to get some impressions of our time in Slovakia, just check out our YouTube-channel and the "Embrace The End Tour Diaries". BLOODSPOT YouTube channel：https://www.youtube.com/user/BloodspotHatesYou

Me: I also would like to hear about BAD SANTA RETURNS tour on last Dec. How were the gigs with Soulbound guys?

Howdie: Just a month after finishing the Embrace The End Tour we had the possibility to hit the road again and it did simply blow our fucking minds! We met the guys of Soulbound for the first time and after being a bit unsure about what we should think of them in the beginning, it turned out to be a real and familiar friendship! We had a lot of fun together on this tour and we really enjoyed watching those fuckers going crazy on stage! We will definitely stay in contact and share the stage again!

Me: How do you think about Soulbound’s new songs?

Howdie: I'm not quite sure if they played some new stuff, which is not on their new record. But to talk about "Towards The Sun", I think it's a fuckin’ great record! After Felix of Soulbound showed it to me the first time it hit me right away! I listened very much to it after we finished the tour. To be honest, some parts are a bit to soft for my taste... but anyway... they did a really really good job on this. Although there are a lot of different styles in their music, it sounds absolutely uniform! they build up great song-structures and show that they know how to write great songs! besides catchy hook-lines and great melodies you'll find a very heavy and fast riffing to it! On stage they present the songs even more brutal and powerful!

Me: The album “Embrace The End” is the real kick-ass one and it’s one of my top albums in 2011. Did you guys get a lot of positive reactions directly from listeners in the world already? As you know the album is also available in Japan. How do you feel about it?

Howdie: Great to know, that you like the album so much! We got all kinds of different reactions from "newcomer of the year" to "disappointment of the year". But overall the feedback is very positive! Seems like some people out there really like what we are doing. Most of them are from Germany, but we also got reactions from different countries like Austria, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Indonesia, India or USA and it makes us feel really happy and proud. It's the same with Japan, we are absolutely excited about the matter of fact that our album made it into your record-stores! So we want to sent you a big kiss and say THANK YOU for your great passion supporting German underground bands! We are very honored to have the possibility to be a part of all of this!

Thank you so much Howdie!

The kick-ass of kick-ass album “Embrace The End” is available now!

BLOODSPOT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloodspotmusic

An interview with Bloodspot about their new-album “Embrace The End” ( 10th Aug. 2011)

I had an interview with Dom the singer of the hell fucking thrash death metal band Bloodspot about their first full-length album "Embrace The End" on early August.

Q: "The Demon EP" that you guys released in 2009 totally kick-ass! and you almost finished making the first full-length album, right? So, please tell me about the album title and introduce the per track...

Dom: At first we wanna send a huge THANK YOU to you and all you guys out there in Japan for being interested in what we do! It is a great feeling knowing that there are people listening to our stuff on the other side of the world. Yes, just as you mentioned, we are right now in the final phase before publishing our brand new album EMBRACE THE END, which is really going to kick all your asses into the atmosphere...hopefully ^^.

Dom: The idea for the title was born from one of our guitar players after reading through the lyrics of THE DEMON EP. Through this, the album title is closely connected to the EP. I would say, THE DEMON EP was the first drip of water before the storm: EMBRACE THE END. The title itself has many ways to be interpretated. When it comes to the band, every member has another thought of interpretation concerning the title. I associate a certain feeling of maximum calmness, maybe just within the second before you die. You kick back, relax, think the last time about your life and embrace what is coming - to accept the end and BECOME the end. And maybe, just maybe, one can connect this intention into all day life when one realizes, that we are mortal and just a blink of the eye within time.

Dom: Okay, here’s the introduction of the songs:

In Nighttime
I made this piece with a friend of the band, who is very brilliant in creating music on his Mac. If you guys want to check him out, his facebook address is here.
Just check him out! very talented! I wanted to create a post apocalyptic atmosphere, in which the END has already begun. All this in combination with a song from the early 20th century "into each life some rain must fall". I just wanted to give a first dark impression of the album itself.

Breathless
This is actually the first song we ever wrote. It was created within the first practicing sessions back in 2006. We stood there in this really small room, looking at each other and having no idea what to do. So we said "ok lets just play and see what happens". Some hours later the first song BREATHLESS was born. The lyrics are very crypted. At that time I was in a very dark phase of my own life and I just wrote down what came to my mind. On the first sight it might make no sense but if someone filters out some messages or just pictures for himself, that is more that i could wish for. I think it is very obvious that this song has no typical verse-chorus structure. I think this is the result of "just playing what comes to your mind".

Beneath A Burning Sky
We wanted to create a blasting song being made of triplets because of terms of rhythm and brutality combined with fast thrash metal riffs. You have to decide for your own if we managed to reach this goal or not. I think we did. The songwriting is quite simple. This was made by purpose because we didn't want the song to be too complicated so that it might lose its blasting and brutal effect. The lyrics are adding the last ingredient of a apocalyptic atmosphere.

Bullets
This is one of our newer ones. We recorded it with a friend of the band who used to be the leader of a band called PUBLIC EXECUTION which changed their name after a short time into PUBLEX. They were a big influence for us in the beginning and so we decided to include their singer into this song. There are several half-time parts waiting with their boots for your face The lyrics are a combination between a superior being punishing you and social criticism. In fact, this song is very hard for me to perform live, because it is growled very low all the time.

Answer My Fall
This is the most actual song being on the album. Right now my favorite!! This song really kicks ass from beginning to end and rarely gives you a break. Combined to the other songs, this one gives a more complicated impression when it comes to songwriting. The lyrics are dealing with a struggling inner being, which is running at the edge of insanity while accepting the upcoming fall. This person tries to send out a last scream of help with saying "Answer my Fall" while dealing with this situation in some sort of irony and schizophrenia. And last but not least get ready for a real nice guitar solo.

Consumed By Hatred
This is a real neck-breaker! Being fast and limitless from the very beginning, this song only slows down in the chorus and in the end with the intention to build up only more power. The lyrics and the vocals are giving the impression of a dialogue between a fictional person and this feeling, called hate, which tries to sneak into the mind of the person unnoticed and breaking out at the end of the song.

Heart Gore
This is a very personal song. I wrote it in 2008, after a relationship of mine ended very unpleasantly. I had to fight hard every day not to lose my will of living for about 3 months. A long and hard time of pain and tears. For me, this time was HARDCORE, an so I created this wordplay HeartGore. A very slow, hallucinating song with a very hypnotic part in the middle and very honest lyrics. Just check it out!

Rise From Depravity
Everyone who knows THE DEMON EP might be reminded somehow of IN HONESTY. A melodic song which surely gets in the path of Metalcore genre songs. There is a little gimmick just within the first 10 seconds of this song. You will surely hear it - getting back to the old days of metal haha^^. The lyrics are a combination of themes of inner fighting and the call to arms against the depravity we are facing nowadays nearly everywhere.

Unborn
This is also an old one, being #5 in the chronological list. It was born just shortly after Breathless was born and so the lyrics are also relatively dark and crypted. I would say it deals with the missing knowledge of one's place within modern society. The song in general is dark but fast and combines real fast riffs and drumming with slow mosh-parts.

Lifeless Flesh
This is the longest song we have ever written. I think it takes something about 7 1/2 minutes. Normally songs being this long are ballads or hypnotic ones. But this song really could remind you of the old days of Slayer. BRUTAL! FAST! SHOWING NO MERCY! The lyrics are dealing with the kind of decadency a lot of people are showing in modern times. The title itself shall draw the bow back to the album title with giving it a real brutal ending.

Venus
This one is actually written and recorded by myself. I am writing acoustic songs for my own since 2 years. What you hear are 3 acoustic guitars and an e-guitar playing a solo. After having shown it to the rest of the band we had the idea to put it on the album and so I recorded it within the last hours of being in the studio. It shall calm you down and give you this feeling of relaxing I talked about in the beginning.

Dom: In general I have to say, that I normally don't talk a lot about the lyrics of BLOODSPOT. I just want the listener and the follower of lyrics to create their own idea of the pictures and atmosphere created. If the listener is able to draw something out of the songs, which could mean something to him, then I managed to draw the listeners attention and that is more I can wish for.

Q:　Tell me what you are planning for the band this year.
Dom:　We are planning to release EMBRACE THE END in September 2011. Right now we have a little break until September. There will be a gig on a local festival in the beginning of September - just at my birthday!
And after that we are playing 2 weeks of constant touring at the end of November 2011 throughout Germany and some countries within Europe. Going to be a great time! If you want to follow us, just check: https://www.myspace.com/bloodspot
There you all can see tour dates and news stuff!

TASTE OF EXTREME METAL – “Far From Innocence” Bloodspot

Bloodspot ”Far From Innocence” from The Demon EP! Check it out with an introduction of each member by Dom!

Bloodspot “Far From Innocence”
If you want to listen to the song with more greater sound condition, click the link below and play the audio file  Listen to "Far From Innocence" from Bloodspot in HQ

Far from innocence

1, 2, Fuck you!

Stealing from ourselves by just closing eyes
Try to calm the voices in the back of your head
What a fucking great attitude
Stay where you are and watch them die from far away
Witness equal victim
You know which side you‘re on!

We are
Far from Innocence!
The first without sin shall cast a stone!
We are
Far from Innocence!
Once and for all!

Tight hands by a mouth that‘s shut
Not able to see the reality
Of truth; of mankind
There‘s nothing more to say than
this is your only view
Can‘t help with what I‘m saying
Fuck off! Be on top!
Come a bit closer; I‘ll show you what I mean!

We are
Far from Innocence!
The first without sin shall cast a stone!
We are Far from innocence!
Once and for all!

We are
Far away
From what we were meant to be!
We are
Far from Innocence!

Once and for all!

Far from Innocence!

About Daniel “Howdy” Geberzahn
Dom:　 He is our rhythm guitar player. He does a real great job in creating mind blasting fast riffs! Check out his riffs on the album! You'll see what I mean!

About Marius Vent
Dom:　 He is the newest member of the band and our lead guitar player. He has a huge talent when it comes to musical theory and is a huge improvisation talent. He wrote and plays all solos on the album.

About Jürgen “Kuno” Kuhn
Dom:　 He is our bass player. He makes music for, I think, 25 years by now within bands and has a great feeling when it comes to groove and being tight. He is
our centre of relaxation. And believe me, we really
need something like this.

About Björn Grontzki
Dom:　 He is our drummer. He is the one who founded this whole thing back in the days of BLINDFOLD, a former hard rock cover project, from which BLOODSPOT was created. He learned everything from himself. He is a really crazy guy. I know him since the days we were together in the kindergarten and we grew up together. He is a real good friend.

About Dominik “Dom” Jahr
Dom:　 Last but not least: me! I am part of BLOODSPOT since the first day just like Howdy and Björn. I never really tried something like vocal coaching or something like that and to be honest: I give a shit about it. Just try and make your own experiences! Your body will give you signs if you are not doing it right!

How was the song “Far From Innocence” ?

Bloodspot are the one who set fire to our metal spirits with their kick-ass thrash-death-tunes and makes us moshing and banging, huh?

They already finished making their real-kick-ass full-length album “Embrace The End”, I’ve already listened to it all and can say it’s more brutal than the previous EP! Plus, there’s some surprise in it, so, all of you extreme metal fans might have much fun with it!

The moshers who are
enjoying a gig of Bloodspot!