Mark: So far so good. I didn’t read so many reviews so far. But the ones I read were really good. For instance, we were record of the month in the RockHard magazine. And most of the reviews I’ve read are from Germany and we were in almost every top ten list ‘like Metal Hammer’ so the responses were very good.

 

 

Mark: Yeah on the record. But I don’t know if you’ve heard of the split program?

 

Mark: Yes, but there’s just one song on it that has got clean vocals. But that was actually the first time he recorded the clean vocals on an album.

 

Mark: I agree, it is way better than on our last record I believe. It fits way better with our sound. It’s got a different dimension than on ‘The Opposite from Within’. We still like that album of course but I think it is better now.

 

Andy: He’s working very hard. When we were working for ‘The Opposite from Within’ we didn’t even know that he could sing at all. And sometimes we had some problems because the songs from ‘The Opposite from Within’ are not his range of his voice, so he had some problems.

 

Mark: But with the new sound he’s capable of it, also live so it’s better. The songs from the previous record were a lot deeper, that’s not his range but now he could determine it al by himself.

 

Mark: Well, ahm, maybe we’re better musicians now?

 

 

Mark: Yes, definitely. By far.

 

Andy: Music wise, we grew up and learned a lot. I think it’s the normal way, especially for us. We grow, we grow with the music and keep getting better and my voice is getting stronger, although right now it’s a bit weak.

 

Mark: It’s more technical. It’s more difficult to play this stuff than the older stuff. I’m not saying that the old stuff is bad or something but it sure is not as technical as this album.

 

Mark: No, not really, in the beginning we also had some melodic parts and I think on this record we made some really heavy parts, double bass and brutal break downs. But now we mix it more with other things. And on the previous records you can also hear some melodic things but then we didn’t work them out as we did now. For me it’s not a complete new band. Of course it’s different, but not that much. Maybe because of the fact that the production is more clean, it sounds different. If you listen to the old records with the new sound they would seem different or more civilized. You can hear it when we play live; the all the songs have the same sound, old and new and you can hear it’s the same band.

 

 

Mark: In the beginning there was not so much structure in the songs, they were more chaotic

 

Andy: It’s a different kind of metal maybe.

 

Mark: And I can imagine that fans from the beginning will dislike this album a bit. That’s a normal reaction I think and that’s how it always will be. Even a band like In Flames sounds, I wouldn’t say it’s pop metal, but it’s completely different from the beginning. I still like the band though but it’s a matter of taste. Now we have almost complete new fans.

  

 

Andy: A little bit yeah.

 

 

Andy: I don’t know, I think it’s a little bit too short. When I try to write my lyrics, in the end I end up with these kinds of emotions. 

 

Mark: Andy is a sad person

 

Andy: Yeah, but not all the time. When I’m sad or pissed of or whatever then I feel more like putting it into words. It’s not that I’m really down or depressed but it’s just a mood that suits the writing process better. I don’t know why.

 

 

Mark: Well, it’s just like with other bands. Like Biohazerd we just cannot write lyrics like ‘ow, the sun is shining’ or whatever. It just doesn’t fit with the music. And most of the bands think of something pissed to express themselves.

 

Andy: I use writing my lyrics in a way of therapy. I write down my bad moods and stuff like that and on stage I express myself, I scream it out, that’s my kind of therapy. I think that if I would make other music then I wouldn’t write other lyrics. It’s not that I sit down and try to write them, it’s inside me.

 

Andy: Thank you, I’ll think about it.

 

 

Andy: Love, but it always hurts so much. For me that’s always the problem having somebody so close. But I would choose that, because it gives me something to hold on, something strong.

 

Mark: For me it’s the same. But it’s not that difficult for me, because I’ve had long relationships and not so much trouble after the relationship was over. So I would definitely choose love.  

 

 

Mark: I would say it is positive because ewe get a lot of mails that our lyrics are helping people. Somebody said he was in a very bad situation and then he read the lyrics which made him feel good again to work with the day. So I would say in the end it’s positive.

 

Andy: The lyrics are mostly negative, but sometimes there is hope in it, a solution. It makes me happy that people say they get some strength out of it.

 

 

Andy: Yeah, I’m very grateful for that and in that way I should also say it is a positive album. For others but also for myself, the expression I can make by writing music.

 

Mark: Do you mean if we had reached our goals yet?

 

Mark: We didn’t think about that when we started to make music. At the moment, we’re having the best time, we’re more popular than ever at the moment. We play in bigger venues and especially in the states and the Christmas tour, all the big venues were sold out. It seems to be very good, this tour as well. It’s not the goal to play big, but we want to have fun. And we don’t want to be rich but we must be able to eat and stuff like that.

 

Mark: Well, that’s hard, because I still have to eat. If I would have enough money at home I would prefer the emotional stuff but as long as I have to pay bills I’d choose the material thing. But then, it is not as if I have to quit otherwise.

 

Andy: Yes, now we can get both.

 

Mark: We’ll do songs from every album expect for the very very first MCD. We play a pretty long set of seventy minutes even with four other bands. So it will be a nice show tonight.