Interview with ATOMWINTER

Hello! Can you tell us about the overall conception and inspiration behind the album “Sakrileg”?
Hey Stanley, it is not a concept album in the real sense, but behind the lyrical and also musical orientation is of course the theme of religion with some negative effects of it. I mean, we do death metal, so it makes the most sense for us to deal with negative things and “shout them out”, and there the subject area offers some content.

Your previous album “Catacombs” was highly acclaimed. How did you approach creating “Sakrileg” with the goal of topping its success?
The songwriting goes back a long time and started at the time CATACOMBS was just released. Benni, our guitarist, always has the whole thing in his ear, or a good idea how the album should turn out in the end. Then the singer change and Corona came in between and delayed the whole thing a bit, but we never start the songwriting with the intention to top the success of the predecessor, we just want to write new songs and evolve a bit.

“Sakrileg” features a new vocalist, F. Bauer. Can you talk about the decision to bring him on and how he influenced the sound and direction of the album?
The old singer Olle and the band just drifted apart and broke up. I knew the guys, we don’t live far from each other, and we just met for a rehearsal and realized that it works. My influence on the lyrics can’t be denied as I wrote about 70% of it, otherwise ATOMWINTER is an established band, the sound is already there. And that albums of a band differ in sound is an indication for further development.

The tracklist includes an intro and a vinyl bonus track. Can you discuss the importance of these tracks in relation to the overall album?
There will always be an intro played on cello on an ATOMWINTER record, that’s a trademark of ours. These intros are always based on songs that is on the album, but I can’t say which one is on SAKRILEG, I’d have to ask Benni.

“Sacred Scum” is a normal track that was created in songwriting. The placement of it as a bonus track on vinyl has to do with the fact that vinyl should represent something special in our eyes and we needed a Bonustrack for that. We are all old hands who grew up with vinyl, even if this had already lost relevance in the early 90s, it has always been something special. An album should always come out on vinyl, it has a special magic and is like a ritual when you put it on.

The album title “Sakrileg” translates to sacrilege in English. How does this concept tie into the album’s themes and lyrics?
The album itself is in the eyes of many devout Christians probably a sacrilege because it shows errors of religion. And the decision to use the German word instead of the English is simply that we think that the German SAKRILEG sounds much harder than the English sacrilege.

The press release mentions that the album is “dripping with hate and scorn”. Can you expand on this and discuss how these emotions played a role in the songwriting process?
We are all not believers in the band. If you then see with open eyes what the Christian church was capable of in the last 2000 years, and is still capable of now. How can you write an album in death metal that is not full of scorn and hate?

While old-school death metal is a key element of your sound, you also incorporated other elements. Can you give examples of these elements and how they were incorporated into the album?
In the musical heart we are all Rock’n’Rollers, so it is clear for us that most of the songs have a classic structure, choruses are very important to us, for example. Furthermore, some riffs are included that one would rather assume in black metal. Here I think that Benni has simply made it instinctively against the background of the anti-religious orientation.

The album artwork is very striking and fits well with the album’s themes. Can you talk about the process of creating the artwork and how it ties into the music?
Our covers are always created by the same artist, he is actually in contact with Benni very early on and gets some insight into the direction of the lyrics and the album title. After that he sits down and paints on a huge canvas a cover what is floating around in his head. Always in the center, our Tankwitch.

ATOMWINTER has been active for several years now. How has the band’s sound and approach to music evolved over time, and how does “Sakrileg” fit into this evolution?
I think ATOMWINTER has simply grown up. After orienting themselves in the early days very strongly on bands like ASPHYX and BOLT THROWER, the band has become its own sound. I think you can hear that very well if you listen to the four albums one after the other. I think SAKRILEG has been a further step.

The album concludes with the track “Until The Loss Ov God”, which also has a lyric video. Can you discuss the decision to release a lyric video for this track and what it represents in the context of the album?
Musically “Until the loss ov god” is just a good cross section over the album. Carrying intro, brutal verses and a very catchy chorus. That was the real reason to release it as the first single, so new listeners can get a good impression of the album.

Thank you for your time!
Thanks for this interview. I hope you give this Old School Death Metal album a spin or two and maybe we’ll see each other at a concert somewhere.