Hail! Corpsemangle started as your solo project back in 2015. What made you start it, and what were you trying to express at that point in your life?
I always wanted to play that kind of music and it was my escape from reality. There weren’t any bands in my city that wanted to play old school death metal, and even the band I was in was more progressive and melodic death metal. I liked progressive, but the spark was not there, it wasn’t what I wanted to play. So that is why I started to write old school riffs and decided some day I was going to release an album, I didn’t know when, but I guess 10 years later was the time.
You came back in 2025 as a two-piece with Martin. Why the change, and how did working with another member shape the way you write and record?
Well, I decided that to be able to play the album live, I will need at least 2 people. I wanted this project to be more than just a studio project. Unfortunately, Martin wasn’t able to contribute too much for the record, since it was already written, he provided some bass lines, but ultimately I recorded everything. Maybe for the second album, there could be more input from him.
Looking back at the old material and comparing it to Eating The Damned, what’s the biggest growth you see in Corpsemangle as a band?
Essentially, Eating The Damned is very close to the original material, I think the differences are mainly in the tempos and the riffs are a little more technical. I think 10 years later my skill as a guitar player has allowed me to record the riffs more efficiently, so in that sense there is growth.
Your music clearly channels the early 90s Florida death metal scene – bands like Death, Obituary, and Deicide. What about that era’s riffs and production still inspires you today?
I think the whole vibe of that scene, those bands and the records from the 90s sound dangerous and aggressive. I think that is the whole point of the genre. They had the attitude and they weren’t trying too hard to make music, they just did what they wanted and tried to be heavy. To me, this is inspiring and that is what Corpsemangle is trying to bring back to death metal.
Beyond paying homage, what makes Corpsemangle sound unique – the riffs, the atmosphere, the vocals, or something else entirely?
I believe the riffs and the atmosphere are unique, they are not exactly like the 90s bands and we can never be exactly like them because we grew up in a different time and a different country. We draw inspiration from so much music today, the modern age is way easier to listen to anything, so in that sense it’s a modern look at the 90s old school death metal.
How did Eating The Damned come together? Were these songs mostly new ideas, or did you dust off older riffs and concepts?
It was mainly riffs from 2015, but there were new songs as well. It’s a mix of new and old, but mostly riffs from 2014, 2015 and so on. One of the songs is not changed at all – Morbid Revelation and you can see it’s heavily inspired by Death, the only thing is the lyrics I came up with in 2025.
The singles released in 2025 – “Instruments of Butchery,” “Hydraulic Press Crusher,” and “Odor of Rot” — were they meant to announce the band’s return, or just the strongest songs you had at the time?
They were to announce the band’s existence. Nothing was released before 2025 from Corspemangle, and nobody but my close friends and family knew of the project.
How did you approach the production? Were you aiming for a raw, 90s-style sound, or did you modernize parts of it while keeping that old-school feel?
The production was aimed to be almost indistinguishable from a 90s album. I did a lot of research to accomplish this and there was a lot of trial and error, but I guess it was a successful attempt. There is nothing modern about this album. Only the drums could be considered as modern since I had to program them, but if we had a drummer we would record them and leave them as raw as possible.
Being a two-piece, how do you make the sound feel full both on record and live without adding extra layers?
I think the bass and guitar together add to the fullness. On the album there are no more layers than 2 guitars panned left and right and the bass in the middle. I think a good blend between them is enough to make the recording full, and a little distortion from the bass helps. Live it’s the same thing, but since there is only 1 guitar, the sound engineer has to be good and know what he is doing. The kick also adds a lot of low end but the only tracks we use live are the drums and the intros of the songs.
How do you split songwriting duties between guitar and bass? Does Martin often bring ideas that take the songs in unexpected directions?
We will have to see for the second record, for now, Martin contributed mainly bass lines that fit the guitars on Eating The Damned. It could be interesting what he could add to the future material.
What’s the plan for performing live? Will you expand the lineup, or keep it stripped-down and raw like on the recordings?
We are currently looking for a drummer to be able to perform as a band, for now we don’t have luck since our music is very niche. We are hopeful and maybe in the future we could add a second guitar player that way we will be able to play some guitar harmonies, but only the future will tell.
Today, brutal death metal is everywhere. How do you keep Corpsemangle feeling dangerous and fresh, and where do you see the band going in the next few years? Thank you for your time!
Maybe Corpsemangle could be considered fresh and dangerous because we don’t try to sound like other contemporary bands, we stand out in a Spotify playlist. We experiment with sounds and production and we are the odd ones out, maybe the fact that we don’t follow the rules could be dangerous. For the next few years we hope we could still release music and play awesome gigs. If we could play festivals like Brutal Assault, Obscene Extreme and Rockstadt will be a dream come true for us, so hopefully this could happen. Thank you so much for your invite, we appreciate it.
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