[img]https://upload.metalrage.com/Occult4.jpg[/img]

[b][i]A little while ago Metalrage was given a promo of the new Occult album: Elegy For The Weak. This outstanding piece of work was appreciated by all of our brutal music loving reviewers. When given the option to interview the band, I could not resist. Maurice called me and we spoke about the new record and some older things.[/b][/i]

[i]M-C: In the early days you used to wear corpse paint. You've stopped wearing it after a few years. Why don't you use it anymore? Was it becoming unoriginal?[/i]

Maurice: The reason that I stopped wearing corpse paint was because it was becoming a trend. Everybody who played black metal wore corpse paint. With Occult I wanted to show that we could play decent black/thrash metal without those gimmicks. The use of corpse paint doesn't change the style of music.

[i]M-C: When Rachel left the band, was it difficult to get things moving again?[/i]

Maurice: First of all, Rachel did not leave the band out of free will. Her plan was to play with both Sinister and Occult. But she did not have the 100% motivation for Occult anymore. We talked about it with the band and decided that we would continue without her. It is not something like getting things moving again, we just continued with what we were doing and it wasn't difficult, so to speak.

[i]M-C: Did you change anything of the recording process for Elegy For The Weak?[/i]

Maurice: This is a question that I hear often, but we didn't do anything radically different. Everybody seems to think that we changed our way of recording, but that's not true. We�ve made this album in the same way as our other albums and did not change anything.

[img]https://upload.metalrage.com/Occult1.jpg[/img]

[i]M-C: What has been your inspiration for your lyrics, throughout the years?[/i]

Maurice: That changes, but in general the subjects I use are personal experiences. Those things can vary.

[i]M-C: Have you planned any tours to promote Elegy For The Weak?[/i]

Maurice: Not at all!! Hahaha. The only big thing we did to promote Elegy For The Weak, was a tour with Exodus. We don't have many shows confirmed this year, except for some spare shows in clubs. The only tour we have planned so far is a mini-tour with Dismember. I have my own company and that's really consuming most of my time.

[i]M-C: The last album was released through Karmageddon Media, are there any more releases from you coming through this label?[/i]

Maurice: We have signed for 2 albums, that included Elegy For The Weak. That means we have one album left with them. We are going to start recording that album in October this year and it's going to be released somewhere in April 2005.

[i]M-C: Is there anything you really want to accomplish?[/i]

Maurice: Nah, not really. With Occult we've never had the urge to accomplish big things, and we haven't changed our mind about that. We just want to play music and have fun. In my opinion this is the best way for all, because when you don't have that urge you're more relaxed in writing music and stuff.

[i]M-C: There is a bonus DVD coming our way with Elegy For The Weak, why did you record that?[/i]

Maurice: We have the strange urge to tape every show we possibly can, and by doing that we have created a big pile of video material. We don't have video material from EVERY show but the stuff that we have is huge. With about 100 tapes full of material, we decided to make this DVD so the people could see what Occult was really standing for. It wasn't a big thing to do, because we just filtered the material we already had and put it on DVD.

[i]M-C: My last question, do you feel the need to add anything to this interview?[/i]

Maurice: No. People, just buy our album!

[img]https://upload.metalrage.com/Occult3.jpg[/img]