Grief of Emerald – “I don’t care if it is a big magazine printed worldwide or a local Fanzine that is printed 100 copies, I always answer interviews…”

1998, The year Grief of Emerald surprised the metal-scene with their “Nightspawn”. It took a while but their follow-up is good as well. Rob is kind enough to tell us all about it!

When did it all start?
Sending along a flyer from Listenable …sorry but I’m lazy and I don’t have any good bio… formed from the ashes of Mandatory back in 90, Emerald was given birth by Johnny (ex-Decameron, Oderu) and Anders (ex-Necrofeast, Mastema). It was only in 1996 that they stuck to the name of Grief Of Emerald. A mini-CD, now completely out of print, followed on a Scottish label. In September ’96, the band entered the studio to record their debut ‘Signs from a stormy past’ which, due to some financial problem from the said label, never saw the shadow of the dark. Two years later, the band got hooked up by Listenable and their debut album and they decided to re-record some songs from the previous album and some new shots. Haunting and intricate, Grief Of Emerald’s debut definitely showed a band with potential thanks to their heavily loaded guitars, gun machine like double bass, haunting keys and tortured vocals. This successful ear slaughtering piece came out in October ’98 bearing the title of ‘Nightspawn’. After some fights with the drummer Fredrik (Now ‘Obligatorisk tortyr’) he was replaced by the drummer Jonas Blom (From Runemagick, Deathwitch) they recorded their second full-length album ‘Malformed Seed’. Engineered by band’s keyboard player Robert Bengtsson, the new album benefits from an even more smashing production. It also blows the offering with its added intensity, it’s 7string down tuned guitars and those particular stomping slimy parts that crush the whole place. with massive audio torture like ‘Threshold to fire’ or the unrelenting majestic ‘Wingless’, the wicked ‘Life has lost’, Grief Of Emerald have now found their niche in the overcrowded Black/Death Metal scene and are establishing their own style in a very clever manner. The band have also expanded their lyrical style to bloody topics like in ‘Nightstalker’ dealing with a serial killer, or the huge sounding ‘Beaten beyond recognition’, (no, it doesn’t deal with nice girls as you may suggest) like razor blades, they slice, and slay. The current line-up is: Johnny Lehto : Guitar & Vocals, Anders Tång : Bass, Jimmy Karlsson: Guitar, Jonas Blom: Drums, Robert Bengtsson: Keyboards.

A mini-CD called ‘Signs of a stormy past’ was recorded but never was released. Could you tell us about it and are you still satisfied with the songs?
Actually that was a full-length CD for a Scottish label called Deviation Rec. (they did release our first demo as a mini-CD) but the full CD was never released… I was pretty satisfied with the result back then but nowadays… I’m not. It was recorded in a small studio called Studioljudet (Studiosound) by Alex Losbäck (Decameron, Cardinal Sin) and if I remember right, it is was 10 tracks… I don’t remember the titles but some of them were re-recorded and released on the ‘Nightspawn’ album… we decided to do this because the CD wasn’t representative for us anymore …

In 1998 you released your debut album ‘Nightspawn’, where did you record it, who produced it, and are you still satisfied with this one and how were the reactions?
We recorded it in a semi-pro studio called Fullmoon/Musikhuset studio that is located about 10 meters from our rehearsal room…We are lazy I know ..hahaha. I did the recording, mixing and producing myself. I’m pretty pleased with the result of the CD. I think nowadays the sound is a little bit too weak, but there are some really great songs on that album. The artwork for ‘Nightspawn’ was made by a guy called Chad Michael Ward, Digital apocalypse design… we almost used him for ‘Malformed Seed’ again but we didn’t . The reactions were 98 % great… reviews like: maybe the best release this year… Melodies that are sticking like spikes in your head… can’t wait for next release…etc.

Recently you’ve released your latest piece of art called ‘Malformed Seed’. Are you satisfied with the songs, production and artwork? How were the reactions on this one?
Yes I think so, I was a little bit worried about how the reactions would be towards this album… but most of them have been very positive. I did the recording and producing myself on this one too… I said after the last album that I would never do such thing again as playing and producing myself. But… you know how things are… one day you don’t feel like it and the next day you want it…The artwork was done by Graal from Poland he has also done the Theory in Practice, Mutant and Behemoth ‘Satanica’ covers… I’m pleased with his work especially the layout concept…

Both your albums are released on Listenable Records, how did you get in contact with them? For how many albums have you signed? Are you satisfied with their work and promotion for you?
As I said we did have a contract with Deviation Recs but after been waiting for 1.5-2 years we decided to record 2 new tracks and sent ’em out… Listenable were 1 of many to offer us a deal and because of their fast reply’s , phone calls etc. we thought that he was the right man for us… I think we made a great choice. We have signed for 3 albums and yes I’m very satisfied with ’em.

Who writes the lyrics? Are the lyrics an important aspect of the band or are they just there to guide the music?
I write the most of the lyrics nowadays, but Fredrik (former drummer) did help us out with 2 tracks on ‘Malformed Seed’. On ‘Nightspawn’ he did almost all of the lyrics but… time changes, you’ve got to earn your place in the band and he didn’t… I think the Music is the most important thing… I mean if a song is really shitty it won’t be any better with a great lyric… but if the song is great it could get even greater with a good lyric…

How is the underground in Sweden, is everyone familiar with each other? Are you in contact with other (metal) bands, and bands who play different kinds of music? What’s the band’s opinion of today’s underground- or metal scene?
Is there any??? I don’t know really … in Sweden there isn’t much to talk about, but I don’t care if it is a big magazine printed worldwide or a local Fanzine that is printed 100 copies, I always answer interviews for ’em (at least I try to). Bands that we are in contact with…Well I talk on the phone sometimes with Peter Lake (Theory In Practice) because he will do the next recording. Besides that…Soulreaper, Suicidal winds, Obligatorisk Tortyr …Runemagick etc… I don’t have so much time to spend hanging around with people, you know sometimes you take a glass or two and you meet some of them on the pub…

To what bands do the band members listen to and by what bands is Grief Of Emerald influenced? I hear some Morbid Angel and Samael influences, would you agree?
NO!!!! yes hahaha …we all love Morbid Angel and Samael is a great band (maybe not all but the most) We always try not to take any influences but I think that’s kind of hard …you will always take influences of what you hear even if you like it or not… it’s how you arrange the songs that is important…

Could you give me a top 5 of your favourite albums of all-time and a top 5 of your current favourite records?
Hard… don’t know really but I’ll give it a try… I don’t know about the order but here are some CD’s that I like very much. 1) Morbid Angel – Domination, 2) Samael – Passage, 3) Split-CD – Emperor/Enslaved, 4) Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, 5) Marduk – Those of the unlight.
current: 1) Mutant – The aeonic majesty, 2) Theory In Practice – Armageddon theories, 3) Hollenthon – Domus mundi 4) Immortal – Damned in black, 5) Iron Maiden – Brave new world ( yes I like it …ALOT !!!).

How many times have you played live already and are there plans for a tour as a support for a ‘bigger’ band? Tell some of your experiences playing live. What are your expectations for Grief Of Emerald in the future?
I hope there will be some kind of a tour…we have done a mini-tour in Belgium and Holland + some gigs in Germany, France and Finland. It would be great to go on the road as a warm up for bigger bands.

I know your album has just been released but have you already written any new songs? If so, in what way do they differ from the ‘old’ stuff if they differ at all?
Yes we have some new songs ready, we are always doing songs when we rehearse except when we are close to a gig… It seems like we are going even more Death Metal and blast beats again… More brutal tunes and less melodic stuff… The new songs are really great I think, maybe not so ‘easy’ listening, but still with catchy riffs and some horror theme to the keyboards, you all gonna see…

What do the band members do in order to make a living? Are they studying or do they have a job?
We all work (but I don’t want to, but who wants that) except for Jonas, the poor bastard …

What’s your opinion on Black Metal? Are there bands you like and some you don’t like or do you hate them all, musically, production-wise and band-image?
I try to listen to everything… In metal I mean … Pop shit and stuff can just fuck off!!! I can’t stand a bad sound quality!! The sound can be very rough and stuff like that but if the mix sucks I just turn it of… like when you get tons of guitars and no drums or the vocals cannot be heard. I turn the shit of, sad but true… I always think it’s funny (yes, FUNNY) to read about how very EVIL and TRUE everyone is. When a band proclaims that they are eating babies and sleep in coffins and stuff like that… hahahaha come on… Just look how Mortiis looks… troll ??? Old rag if I would say so haha!!!!!!!!!! Hip hoppers are more evil than that hohohoho. But if the band can play and do good songs I would respect them for their music anyway… Bands: Marduk, kicks ass live !!! Morbid angel rules and I don’t get tired of the Samael – Passage CD, that’s for sure.

What’s your opinion on the Internet? Some say it doesn’t have the underground spirit, other say it’s a great way to have contact with all kind of bands. One problem….If you don’t update it often, it is not worth mentioning!
I think it’s a great way to communicate… e-mails and web sites etc. It’s really good when you want to watch porn hahaha… We will have an official homepage soon I hope… we have one guy working on it right now… I totally agree with you a site that doesn’t get updated regularly is DEAD and doesn’t deserve attention… We will try to have a ‘living ‘ homepage with free giveaways and gig stories with pics and stuff like that…

Bizarre stories…share it with us!
It will be on the homepage… hehehe (and photos of the whole shit) But for the moment, …hmmm it was pretty fun when we had a party at the hotel in Oss, Holland. They had some kind of a Disco bowling… we made it to a metalbowling arena … Boots on such a floor… black marks… The hotel manager came to us 5 o’clock in the morning all red in his face and said ‘-if you don’t go to sleep RIGHT NOW you won’t be even allowed to sleep at the parking lot ‘ hahahaha he was mad! When I woke up that morning a glass of piss was standing on my bedroom table and all chairs and stuff was on the outside on the lawn. All windows and doors where open and I was all naked with a bottle of beer half empty besides me… it was expensive to pay for some damaged lamps and stuff like that… but it was really fun to be a ‘Rockstar ‘ hahahaha.

Thanx for this interview, here’s some space to give your best Jerry Springer final thoughts or whatever you wanna let us know!
OOOohhh Jerry springer !!! Well Mom I’m into animal sex and I have an affair with my dad hahahaha… Thanx as hell for the interview and all fuckers out there …Hope we meet you on the road sometime… In the meantime make sure to check the ‘Malformed Seed out’. Hails