Amidst the flurry of activity, we find Decapitated’s Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka feeling calm and collected, prior to their highly anticipated return to the Ronnie James Dio stage on this Friday afternoon.
OD – Let’s talk about ‘Anitcult’ and your approach to the writing process. What was the main inspiration behind the overall concept?
VOGG – It’s more of less a lyrical continuation of the last album ‘Blood Mantra‘ and in some ways, I feel like it’s also touching on the early Decapitated albums such as ‘Carnival is Forever’ (2011). When it really comes to the lyrical side of things that’s all Rasta’s (vocals) area as he is the author of all the songs. He also comes up with the titles for the albums as it’s so closely associated with the lyrics.It’s always the same kind of inspiration for us when it comes to writing new music. We just look at what is happening around the world in terms of humanity, politics and especially the increased terrorist attacks that have been happening around the world. All of this is food for thought for us and we just try to express ourselves as best we can through our music.
After the Blood Mantra album, nearly all of our inspiration has come from the tragedy of war and the things we have been hearing about heartbreaking things happening in Seria. We are against all of these things and want to talk about it instead of pushing it aside. We really want to try and tell people to think for themselves and to try and do the right thing by one another. It’s the only way we can try to fix this mess to which the world has become.
OD – The new album has been hailed as a masterpiece by critics across the board. Did you know that you were onto something special when you were writing it?
VOGG – No! We knew that we had some good riffs and good songs happening during the early stages of the writing process. I was working closely with Michal (Lysejko – Drums) and we just really took extra special care of every note, every riff and really looked very closely at the structure of the music. We really wanted to make sure that all the arrangements were solid. We wanted to be happy with every moment of the music and not just drop in a few riffs here and there to cover up what we were trying to accomplish.
When we were writing the album, it was like we were in a sort of bubble. We were so connected and involved with every moment of it. It was like being possessed for a short period of time (laughs). There was nothing else on our minds, but ‘Anticult‘.
Basically, we knew that we had a collection of great songs and riffs for the album and really didn’t think about anything else. Especially what the critics or fans would think. We were just so consumed with making it the best album that we could possibly make for this point in our lives.
To be honest, we never expected to get good reviews and we have all been really surprised with the reaction from everybody about the album. Ever since we released the first single off the album the enthusiasm has been fantastic from critics and fans.
OD – There is a noticeable dirty raw sound from ‘Anticult’ can you tell me how you went about achieving that and also what made you make the decision to go with that sound?
VOGG – Not really! I just used my Ibanez Custom guitar and two EVH 50V amps as per usual. We just kept things really simple and tried not to over-complicate things. We had a very simple set-up. Prior to the recording we spoke with Daniel (Bergdstrand) about the mix for “Anticult” and before we recorded the drums he asked us “what kind of sound are you looking for on this album” and we really didn’t know! We decided to just start recording and see what happens along the way with regards to the mix and I have to say that I think it turned out so heavy and raw.
The only thing that we were sure of with this album is that we wanted to capture the true Decapitated sound. We didn’t use any triggers during the recording as we wanted everything to be as live and natural as possible. There are some metal albums out there that sound too digital and “glossy” if you know what I mean. We wanted to stay away from that sound as much as possible and I think we achieved that.
We wanted everything to be simple, we wanted to use our own gear that we tour with and keep everything just like it is when you see Decapitated live. We didn’t really have a big plan as we were too concerned with the structure of the songs and the delivery, so we just let Daniel do his magic and it turned out fantastic.
OD – I know that Michal (Drums) was involved in some of the arrangements for the new material, going forward do you find that this was a really positive aspect for the band as a whole and can you see yourself approaching things differently in the future?
VOGG – It will be cool to involve Hubert (Wiecek – bass) on the next album as he was just a little too fresh for “Anticult” and I’m sure that once he has clocked up his time in the band we can get him involved with the writing and arrangements of the music. Working with Michal was a good experience for me as I was always the one who wrote and arranged the music, but with Michal’s help, it’s made things way easier and given a new sound to the music.
Decapated
OD – Do you think that it took some of the pressure off the writing role in the band?
VOGG – Michal and I have become very good friends and we work together very well. We have similar tastes and have managed to create some excellent productive chemistry between us both which has been a very refreshing experience for me personally when it comes to writing new music.
OD – You have a blistering tour coming up with King Parrot, Venom Prison and Thy Disease. Have you had the pleasure of touring with any of these bands before?
VOGG – Yes, we have actually toured with Thy Disease but have never had the pleasure of touring with King Parrot or Venom Prison, so we’re very much looking forward to getting out there with those guys.
OD – Can we expect any other singles coming off the new album?
VOGG – Yes, you can expect one more video for ‘Kill The Cult‘ which in my opinion is one of the tracks on the album that is a little more kind of like ‘radio-friendly’ if you know what I mean. We have this feeling that this track has a huge potential of being a hit of sorts. We didn’t want to release it as a first or second single which was a decision by not only us but our management and our label (Nuclear Blast). We will be hopefully doing a video for this prior to our European/UK tour starting in October.
Anticult is out now via Nuclear Blast and tickets are now on sale for Decapitated, King Parrot, Venom Prison and Thy Disease in November. Order “Anticult” here.
Oran O’Beirne
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