1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the musical project since the recording of the new album?
Immediately after the recordings, of course, as with every album, the mastering came and immediately afterwards the concept for marketing, advertising, organization and the tuning of a release date.
We, Patrick especially and I, are working really hard to bring the album to a very high level, and the worldwide reviews and ongoing interview requests prove us right. So far we are doing everything right and things are going very well.
2.You have a new album coming out during the beginning of 2019, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
There are nine symphonically arranged Black Metal songs in the usual Suffering Souls style.
The main difference to the previous albums is that this album is going to be much more structured, catchy and towards medium tempo. However, still satanic and inhuman.
3.This is the first release in 10 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time span?
At the end of 2009, after the release of "Sadistic Goat Complex" I started to work on new songs right in the middle of 2010, which I was working on until the end of 2014.
After the pre-production in September 2015, which was created in my studio, I decided to let the almost finished album rest. In November it was time that I went to a longtime companion from Nuremberg in a very familiar studio, where I once again played all the instruments from scratch for months and reorganized the orchestral parts with him.
In the autumn of 2016, I then started with the vocals, but something was missing, right: Vocals are sometimes "clean". Like listening to "In Synergy Obscene" now, I also wanted to try the "normal" vocals, which I think I coped quite well with. I also brought in Joe Jones, a guy from an Irish folk band, to help out, which is on the album now. Writing, arranging and recording the whole album took from January 2010 to autumn 2017. Afterwards, the tracks were mixed and mastered by me for about nine months until mid-2018, in a local studio (Musikomm) in my hometown of Amberg.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore on the new album?
As with all Suffering Souls albums, it's about inhumane themes, satanism, occultism, and the end of the human race throughout. Of course, death and the devil in their most beautiful and abominable form, as the world has earned.
I love it...
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Suffering Souls’?
The name of the band is self-explanatory if you and especially the followers deal with the topic, the lyrics and especially with the music and deal with it intensively.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The artwork was made by the Frenchman Remy C. from Headsplit Design, just like for the 2009 album "Sadistic Goat Complex".
A few ideas of me in a sketch packed, the album title and a "have fun" were sufficient that I had two months later, the first serious drafts on the table.
It has become absolutely fantastic and reflects the complete album in its gloom. Every single song is visually united in this picture. Listen to it intensively and you will understand what I mean.
7.Currently the band is a solo project but had a full line up in the past, are you open to adding other members in the band again or do you prefer to work alone?
Since completion of the second album "Incarnated Perfection" in 2003, I do everything in complete solo. Since I was responsible for most of our riffs from the beginning, that is, since our founding in 1994, it has taken endless years from the first official demos, "In the Moonshadow of Dispair" and "When Silence Cries Eternally" MCD "Cries of Silence" on the first full-length album "Twilight Ripping Souls Apart" to the "Incarnated Perfection" the second longplayer, forced us to be a band. Eternal discussions about riffs, length, structure and type of lyrics have limited me in all too much what I wanted to express with "Suffering Souls". Although "Incarnated Perfection" already came completely from my pen, both musically and lyrically, I needed the then members as extras and means to the end of the album. Ultimately, my own studio and the advances in technology were the logical consequence: "It was not nice with you, Fuck Off, dictator Esgaroth is now sole ruler over the Suffering Souls."
.... and the burden of having to endure other people had also been dealt with.
It will remain so in the future, that I will do everything alone, except it should eventually be a big gig or a long tour pending, then of course I will have to work with some session musicians together.
8.Was there any live shows back when there was a full line up?
Yes, of course, every band wants to play live and that's what happened to us back in 1994 when Suffering Souls was founded. On March 16, 1996, we had our first appearance in a local pub and were absolutely sold out. However, at that time there were only about 110 people. From then on we were unstoppable and until our little European tour in 2000, after the release of "Twilight Ripping Souls Apart", we played permanently live.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of symphonic black metal?
The massive and worldwide response to the new album "In Synergy Obscene" is so overwhelming that it takes Suffering Souls to a new level in Black Metal. Above all, the reactions, ratings and sales figures have skyrocketed in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. Inquiries from interviews and presentations in radio shows have increased so much that I am fully booked with my appointments.
The album teaser that Patrick from Schwarzdorn Production produced has also been a big help.
10.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
Suffering Souls will be the spearhead of German Symphonic Black Metal. Of course I expect a chart placement !!!
... only for this album, not for the next, because I'm back "true". It will always go on ...
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Brahms, Rachmaninow and I, the calm, the loneliness and the bringer of the light, it changes, promised, nothing!
12.How would you describe your views on Satanism?
He is always and everywhere, among us, in us and in every crappy religion.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Stop the Norwegian Incest, long live German Black Metal
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