Last time we talked Construcdead had an uncertain future; they were on their fourth demo and still no record deal. Now Construcdead are back with their full-length debut on Cold Records entitled "Repent". I recently had a chance to chat with their drummer Erik Thyselius and get the latest on the band's blossoming career.

Adam Block


You guys just got back home from the Japanese tour headlined by Soilwork. How did that go?

Time of my life... or the time of our lives. It was great.

How was the crowd response to the music?

Awesome. It's hard to explain because you gotta be there and see it. The Japanese people are awesome. Their responses throughout the gigs and the songs; they were screaming and they were shouting. The girls were going insane and they were crying and I felt like Nick in the Backstreet Boys. It was indescribable. There were girls in the lobbies at the hotels in the morning.

How would you explain the difference between the fans there as opposed to the Europeans?

Yeah definitely, ‘cause the Japanese people have a different social structure, so when bands like us come to Japan I think that they feel that we are a higher class than they are. I think that they see themselves as nobodies and that we are big rock stars but exactly it’s the other way around. There was one time when we were in the record store and we were signing records and there was a girl. She was crying cause I was signing her record.

So you guys are treated like boy bands over there because of your good looks right?

[Laughs] No way... and we were so hung over.

Well that brings me to my next question. How were the parties over there?

Awesome! I actually got free drinks at the bar.

So it's great to be in a band, huh?

Yeah. [Laughs]

Your album, "Repent", is getting very positive reviews so far. How pleased are you guys with the way it came out?

We had lots of ideas of production and it did not turn out the way we wanted but it turned out to be great anyway.

If you could go back and change anything about the disc, then what would it be?

I think the first thing is that we should be a bit more prepared. I mean this is the first record and we didn't know exactly what to expect. Production wise we didn't know what to expect either.

Well I'd say you still did pretty well regardless!

Yeah, but we had more ideas. I am not complaining. It is a great album but on the next record we are going to do it a little bit different I think.

I was a bit surprised when I heard the melodic female vocals on one of the songs. Who supplied the vocals and whose idea was it to have her do it? At first I thought it was a keyboard sample or something.

Actually my sister is an opera singer and the original idea was that she was supposed to come to the studio but she had a couple of gigs in London so she wasn't able to go to the studio. So we had a girl who was going to do it and she was in labor so she was not able to do it either. Then we had to call a friend and she got to the studio at about 11:30 at night or something to do the vocals. It took like two hours or something. It was pretty spontaneous and sporadic.

Most of the music on "Repent" is fairly old demo material, redone of course, but how much of the music was actually written for the album itself?

I think I would say like four songs.

Do you guys already have ideas for new songs?

We have like three songs already for the new album. We want the next album to sound like 'Metamorphosia'. We want to keep that the common line throughout the whole next album. Know what I mean?

So what your saying is that you want to try to make it more straightforward. Then does this mean that you will spend less time focusing on melodies and go for a more ferocious attack?

I think that the album is going to be more dynamic and production-wise it is going to be a whole lot different. We're going to get help from Peter from Soilwork to help with the production and Klas from Darkane and Terror2000.

You also recorded drums for the new Terror2000 record. How difficult was it for you to do two intense recording jobs so close together?

To be honest, it was a bit hectic. I think I recorded the "Repent" album, the Constructed album, in November. Three days after that I went down to Helsingburg and started the Terror2000 recording, so basically what happened was I had a tape recorder and I listened to the song and I recorded right after that. It was a bit hectic and it was a mistake on my part to do the recordings on such a tight schedule.

Are you still happy with your performances?

Yeah, definitely. I can always complain but I am not going to do that. [Laughs]

The album is already out in Japan and Europe. Any news on a license deal for the States yet?

I talked to the label about a week ago and they had some kind of deal going on in the States with an internet company, so hopefully we will have the album out pretty soon in the States too. We have had a lot of response from the USA on our website.

You guys shot a video for the track 'Metamorphosia'. How was it to make your first video?

Confusing! We did it on a low budget and was self produced. No big casting or no big production. We did it by ourselves. I think it turned out pretty well. We had a couple of cold nights when we recorded the live scenes in the warehouse. Hopefully next time we'll have money from the label to do it. The Japanese people love it. As far as I know that is the only country that plays the video. Actually when we went there, we were able to see it on television.

That must have been pretty exciting!

Yeah, it was. It was kind of confusing. I mean it's Japanese television. It felt like we were at home watching it on video. Confusing...

I could not help but see that you were wearing a Soilwork shirt in the video.

Yeah, definitely! I support my homies! Why not? Actually the label was kind of pissed because I had the Soilwork shirt on and I gave them the finger and I said "What the fuck?" I mean they are buddies. They are my best friends.

Do you guys have any upcoming touring plans in the works?

Not really; we are doing material for the next album. We have a small label and they do not have that much contact, unfortunately, to do the tours.

Where do you see Construcdead being in the next couple of years musically?

I know this is far fetched, but we want to have our sound. We don't want to be like At the Gates 2 or The Haunted 2. Hopefully we will have that in a couple of years.

Thanks for the interview. Do you have any words for the fans or maybe some advice to metalheads out there looking for a great thrash record?

Definitely you should check out our "Repent" album and visit our site www.construcdead.com, stop by www.terror2k.cjb.net and check out the new Terror2000 album. It's a killer!

Thanks to their album "Passion" Manipulation appeared on the metal map of Northeastern Poland. They're playing together since 2001, have two demos on their account, two full length materials - "The Future Of Immortality" and "Passion", but it was their EP "Resurrection" that caught my ear. These guys know what they want and are more than able to convey that. Maybe creature named "Passion" does not reveal a new world to us, but their vision of death metal with a huge dose of melody pierced a solid thorn in the side of this Christianity-poisoned country. I am surprised that no label got interested in them yet, but such is the fate of small bands coming from small towns. I encourage everyone to listen to the album, as it is the material to which you want to come back to, but before you do, read what guitarist - Rado.Slav had to say.

Arek

Hey, can you introduce current lineup, I see some changes again?

Hello, it so happens around here that if there are changes it is usually on vocals! It looks as follows, Kriss plays the drums, bass Bysiek, Vulture and I (Rado.Slav) on guitars (the same brigade since 2001), while, at the moment, vocal assistance is provided by Maciek from Empatic (where he takes vocal duties as well).

What was the reason for Stania leaving Manipulation?

You know, I think everyday life decided it for us with all kinds of problems sprouting like mushrooms after the rain, etc. You cannot support yourself playing metal, and while Stania entered the next stage of human existence - wife, child, job - trips and delegations, etc… we had to say our goodbyes. We did it in a very mature atmosphere, we keep in touch with each other, and no one is offended. As a matter of fact, on April 6 Stania will perform with us in Bialystok before Thy Disease. As you can see not too many people can endure with us for a long time, hence these frequent changes on vocal position (laughs).

Come on, don't exaggerate, it can't be so bad (laughs). After the mishap with Legacy Records, Passion was issued once again. What happened there?

Oh, don't even remind me of that clown and his pseudo label. Just after this clown fucked us over, we decided to start "Vulture Records" and released the digipack in the same form as it was going to be. The only difference is that with us you can buy it now for 20 zl, and from him it would cost 12 Euros with the delivery charge.

Browsing through the reviews of your latest release, it seems that you can look to a bright future. Do good grades translate into interest from publishers?

You can look at it with some optimism, but you know how it goes: if it's not the one it is the other. It was fine for a while, but now we have problems with the lead singer for the band, there's always something. Whether good reviews translate into interest of publishers is hard for me to say, we'll see with the next material as we look for a publisher. In October we booked some dates in the studio and we're going to record another album. Time will tell. I hope that this will have a positive factor.

Let's dig around in history a little. What's the story behind recording of the track 'R**k the Vote' for "A Tribute to Carcass"? Can your fans still count on getting something older than "Passion"?

This came as most of the events in our pseudo career that lurks around the corner – by accident. Kuba from MetalRulezProduction wrote me that there is such and such initiative, that it will be released by Metal Centre and that Tolovy will do a cover for it. Devilyn and other bands recorded their cover versions of Carcass, and he asked if we want to participate. So I just said yes. There was already a very little time left so we prepared a piece quickly, we went to Suwalki to the studio, we recorded it in a few hours and it went on an album. As for the older material the matter is as follows: we do not have any of them in a physical form, but mp3 files we do have. You know, we do not wish to invest money in the issuance of the old junk. In time we could simply put it on the web or something. As for the tribute to Carcass I think you can find some copies to buy on Metal Centre – the sales were probably poor (laughs).

Let's talk about musical influences. Some bands get upset when you mention different band names next to theirs. Are you afraid of this topic? There's a reason I mentioned Carcass earlier (latter one), I would add some Dark Tranquillity and I would plant you in that company, what do you think?

People are different, some don't care, some get pissed off. What can you do? I'm not afraid of any topic. As for your pigeonhole, I totally don't know how to relate to it, because I've never listened to Dark Tranquillity (I personally do not know any of their work), and I know Carcass only very little. If we play like gentlemen from DT - I have to listen to it in my free time and then I could tell. If it comes to Carcass, I personally I do not see anything in our music that can relate to what they play. But that's the beauty of music. It means something different to everybody and it conveys different associations, comparisons and emotions. In an interview Peter of Vader said that song "Carnal" was once compared to Marilyn Manson, so you can see how it is with the all this classifying .

Yes, the fact is that every ear has a different opinion, but I encourage you to check out Dark T. still. Do not expect 100% likeness, but rather a style of music and technique (laughs). It is very well known that it's hard to support yourself by playing metal. You have to have a very strong will and undying energy to create music that's been pushed aside into the darkest corner of media in Poland. How do you manage to reconcile the daily life and creating of music, concerts, etc.?

What can I say, it's hard. But if you really love your passion you'll do whatever it takes to play. Very often many things fail – the dates do not match or something other than that and then come moments of doubt and this is when our wings fall downwards. But there are also great moments that give us the wind beneath our wings. We're like a ship that keeps going with the wind - or against it. Manipulation is our life, and the job is an add on that allows us to invest in equipment and the band. A tiring add on, however. An add on that takes most of my free time and most of the energy from each of us.

Can we peak behind the curtain a little? Can you tell us what's going on with Manipulation, is there a successor of "Passion" already?

Yes, we're working intensely on a new album. As previously mentioned, in October we enter the studio and we'll record new material. The other news is that we are preparing to record a second video from the album Passion. I will not tell which song it will be at this point. If everything goes well, we're hoping to manage to record a second video.

Thanks for the interview, go crazy at the end, we won't cut it out.

Thanks for the interview as well. Concerned ones can keep track on our profile on FB. www.facebook.com/manipulation.net I also want to invite everybody to our store at www.manipulation.8merch.com