AUTUMNAL REAPER – Have a blast

"Songs are not created, but they are found…" når du setter dette sammen med Walt som favoritt disneyfigur?? Da får vi det som kommer ut av Autumnal Reaper som bortsett fra et par merkelige svar leverer musikk som faller meg tett inn til hjertet!! Disse gutta viser at Holland har mye å komme med innen god metall, så dersom du har tid og lyst.. sjekk dette bandet, men for all del… les intervjuet først.

Please tell us about the band members and what they do in the band. Could you please give us a brief outline of the history of the band?

Royy: "Well for the last 6/7 years it's been Joost (drums), Vince (guitars), Waltr (guitars, but started as session live second vocalist), Dave (guitars; replaced by Waltr, but did write on the current album), and me (vocals/bass).
Mike Browning is part of our album line-up as well, playing session keys.

"Rise Of The Raging Death" is our third full-length album following up "March Of The Reaper" (2003) and "Of Pure Damnation" (1999) -we've done some EP's in between the gaps of releasing the albums."

The name of the band… tell us about it, how/why did you choose this name?

Waltr: "Originally we were named "Raging Death" this name changed to "Autumnal Reaper" in '93 -a name taken from literature and a strong passion for the season Autumn and the Reaper itself."

The creative process of making the music… tell us a bit about how you create new music?

Waltr: "In my oppinion, songs are not created, they are found. We like to see it as something that's already there, and with the right atmosphere and right state of mind it will flow into you and come out as a song."

Royy: "In The old days we've wrote stuff individually at our homes, yet these days we write all of it together during rehearsals and just see what comes out… It works really well and we enjoy creating it all together."

Everyone wants to put a label on bands, but bands usually do not want to be labeled…What about you? How would you label your music?

Waltr: "I personally, don't like labels on bands and their music. It will narrow your horizon and might give false expectations to the fans."

Royy: "Even though some folks would rather categorize, we just do what comes natural to us, yet we always remain within the realms of the extreme since that's just our way of approaching things."

Where do you draw your influences from, musically and non-musically?

Waltr: "They come from all kinds of real-life experiences…"

Royy: "…and a passion for thinking outside the box."

What if any is the key element(s) in your lyrics?

Royy: "Darkness, Damnation, Insanity, Death. Those four words should sum up most of it added with a healthy dose of  playing tricks with the human mind, making them wonder how "real" their perspectives and points of view really are…"

Could you describe with your own words the latest album " Rise of the Raging Death"?

Royy: "It holds all the elements of what we are; sometimes brutal and straight forward, other times technichally well spoken and thought through; to us it means life through the vision of the only thing you can believe in which is proven to be real; death itsself."

What is your goal with Autumnal Reaper? World domination or local superstardom?

Waltr: "Just have a blast!! That's really number ONE. Next to that, I think it would be great to play on some big festivals. For me I don't give a shit about superstardom or world domination. It's just nice to know that at the end of your life you left mankind something to Remember you by."

Could you please tell us a bit about the Dutch metal scene and compare it to the rest of the world?

Waltr: "The Dutch metal scene is probably one of the most ignored or underestimated scenes in the world. Holland harbors a lot of great bands for whom it's very difficult to breach the borders to the rest of the world. There are some exceptions to that rule luckily but the fact remains that there are a lot of good metal bands in Holland, that won't come close to succes outside our country."

What do you know about the Norwegian metal scene apart from the history of the Black Metal scene here?

Waltr: "To be honest i don't know much about the Norwegian metal scene. But we are friends with the members of Kampfar, with whom i did live shows in 2007 as session guitarist."

Royy: "I suppose you mean the 2^nd & 3^rd wave? Well I know bands/projects such as Antaios, Mock, Carpathian Full Moon, Balvaz, Drone, and from time to time our friend Ask from Kampfar informs us about some other cool stuff from your country as well."

Every band has had a "golden moment", what would you say your finest moment has been so far?

Waltr: "The release of "Rise of the Raging Death""

Royy: "Everything the current line-up has achieved, since we've had to rebuild the band again from scratch and everyone has proven amazing effort as up until the release of our latest album."

Finally… what is your choice of Disney Character(s) ??

Waltr: "That has to be Walt."

Royy: "Our drummer Joost."

Thank you for your time and good luck!! I really enjoyed listening to the album!

Waltr: "Thank you for your time reading this and keep your eyes open for things to come!"

Royy: "Glad to hear you like the album! Thanks for the interview and thanks to everyone who supports us!"

http://www.myspace.com/autumnalreaperband