I'm not typical “melodic” DEATH METAL fans, but what WOLF SERMON already done and festering for on their first debut demo totally caught my attention. I'm sure all of you totally dig up the first-two records by AT THE GATES, the grimly-dark melody atmosphere from UNANIMATED or the harmony-maiden guitar styles by DISMEMBER on the last few albums but this is not a comparison about them. WOLF SERMON have something more fresh to be listening and the aggression that the band put on their first demo bring a new landscapes to me how Death Metal can be played in more dark, with more doom laden paced and melodic but total death and filthy enough! I've conducted a little interview with Baron Huge (Bass / Vocal) from this Edinburgh dark-melodic Death/Doom acts, WOLF SERMON and this is the lay out for violent dark arts!
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MIKA ROTTEN - Welcome to DISCARNAGE! It's really good to have you in here Baron and thanks for spare some time with us. How your life goes rotten this recently day? It's would be nice, if you could share to us what kind of life did you head on besides worshipping Death Metal music.
BARON HUGE - Thanks for having us here Mika and hails to the readers. I’m having a good day, even though it’s the last day of my holidays. I have spent the morning walking the dog in the woods (and rain) and am now listening to some records whilst drinking coffee. All members of Wolf Sermon have normal everyday jobs. I myself am a teacher.
MIKA ROTTEN - By the way, any interesting new Death Metal releases recently spin off on your player records?
BARON HUGE - Actually currently on my turntable is Harmony Corruption by Napalm Death, the one with the live record from 1990, so not exactly that recent haha. However we have enjoyed new releases by UK bands Eriskegal, Blasphemer and Memoriam, the new albums by Cemetery Urn, Cut Up, Entrails and the Lie In Eternal Rot demo from Skulls.
MIKA ROTTEN - Without waste the times, and to not exhausted to death, I must say thanks to you for hit me up and introduce the creation of WOLF SERMON to me. Better late than fvcking never I guess, I'm not typical “melodic” DEATH METAL fans, but what WOLF SERMON already done and delivered for totally caught my attention. Please share to us how the tales goes to end complete to create the bands and how all of you meet up.
BARON HUGE - No problem dude, thanks for the kind words. I loved the fanzine the minute I saw it and appreciate the time and effort it must take you to do it. Like the Obituary reference too, I believe that is Amarog’s favourite Obituary album. Myself and Amarog (guitars) have actually known each other from school as we’re from the same area. We had been going to gigs together for years
and had done some bedroom riffing and writing but nothing ever became of it. He and another guitarist (Raf) started writing together around 2012. Greg was asked to drum as he knew Raf through work and Amarog asked me in on bass. I ended up on vocals because no one else would do it. Raf soon left and we continued as a 3 piece for a while, writing riffs while trying to find another guitarist. As Amarog wrote, (and writes), all the music for two guitars we knew we always needed another. Jack joined in 2013, he was actually singing in Greg’s hard rock band Sanity Ward but turns out he’s a bitchin’ guitarist too and preferred that to singing anyway. Wolf Sermon are therefore exactly 50% Scottish and 50% Polish, by birth anyway.
MIKA ROTTEN - I got a chances to listen to you first demo that unleash in 2016. Really loved the melo-death structure and sometime the harmony-guitars styles blew my head to the wall. Could you tell us more, how the recording process atmosphere in the studio that time? And I must give the rotten-credits to the man on the studio that nailed out you real sound!
BARON HUGE - Twin guitars are a big thing for me as I’m a massive fan of classic metal Maiden, Priest, Mercyful Fate etc and I’m glad you picked up on that. Amarog and Jack work very well together and that was always important to the band. The demo was recorded live and took one day with only the guitar solos being overdubbed at a later point. Being in the studio was a great experience for us as a band as it is actually part of our metal community led practice room here in Edinburgh. We literally had to cross the corridor to get to the recording studio. We had access to some great gear for recording and yes, Stu did a great job. We did it quickly but that was intentional. Mixing and mastering didn’t take too long but again it suited us, the control booth being next to our practice room. It was hard work and intense but clearly beneficial and we can’t wait to do it again.
MIKA ROTTEN - “Pagan Skin” just show how heavy the band tortured and swirling the melody on the song. Love the fast-slow tempo and your vocal style. Can you tell our readers, how the stories go in the studio to records this song and did you remember how many minute (maybe hours) did you spend only to records this song?
BARON HUGE - Pagan Skin was recorded first deliberately. It is the longest and has the most parts and we wanted to get the best take possible of what we knew would be an essential song. We knew the song very well as it was an older song we were used to so it was done fairly quickly but I don’t recall how long. I actually got some of the words wrong on the recording as I’d been singing it differently live but we kept it in anyway. It’s only me that knows anyway haha! Jack did a good job on the backing vocal on the slow part I think. He brought a concoction of thick fruit juice, sugary cereal and Polish beer to help us with our vocals!
MIKA ROTTEN - Generally, when talk about influence that embalmed and decaying into your sound, I quickly can spotted some flavor from At The Gates – the thick layer /monstrous voice , UNANIMATED - doomy,dark-grimly melody and DISMEMBER – song compartment and melody-structure. How you described your sounds?
BARON HUGE - Yes, you are indeed on the right lines and clearly have excellent ears. I am a big fan of Tompa’s vocals, both in At the Gates and in his other projects such as Lock Up. David Vincent on the early Morbid Angel releases was also an influence, particularly Altars which is my favourite DM album ever. Necrophobic, Evocation and Gates of Ishtar were some of the primary influences for Wolf Sermon from the beginning. Dismember of course too. But influence doesn’t really come out until a song is at least 2 or 3 riffs in. It is almost like what needs to come out Amarog’s guitar comes out first, then influence creeps in. Song structure is incredibly important as we are interested in writing songs and not just a collection of meaty riffs. We try not to define or describe our sounds and leave that up to others.
MIKA ROTTEN - I know build and create a melody for a song sometimes look easy but it truly is terrible-hard enough! How the process goes for the WOLF SERMON?
BARON HUGE - It is fairly straightforward for us but does take a long time. Amarog writes all the music for Wolf Sermon and is very particular, has a close attention to detail and changes things all the time. But he writes riffs every day and works on 2-3 songs at a time. It takes a while for a song to become fully finished, but that to me is preferable to writing something sub-standard or something that you are unhappy with.
MIKA ROTTEN - Horror topic/subjects and Death Metal music can’t be separated, and it’s also the best ingredients to make this music quite interesting. Maybe some of us think it’s totally expired or even bored to fvck! WOLF SERMON already proved and show how to blend and mix this thing’s perfectly. Generally, did you think we need something “fresh” in Death Metal music?
BARON HUGE - Yeah it’s not called Life Metal for a reason. Like Ozzy said, singing love songs over dark and heavy music would sound pretty stupid, but that’s not to say that it can’t be done, In My Darkest Hour springs to mind. But horror/gore etc will always have a place in death metal, it just fits. Autopsy are still releasing killer albums and I’m looking forward to the new Exhumed record too, but for Wolf Sermon I wasn’t interested in writing these kinds of lyrics only. Our lyrics and themes deal with dark subject matter but tell stories within grander concepts based on interests I have and what fits the song. I think death metal is always developing, look at the influence a bands like Portal have had in the last decade or so. Death metal always delivers whether you prefer old style or newer.
MIKA ROTTEN - And… can we see the “final hell-await” for WOLF SERMON debut full length album unleash through this years or maybe around next years? Did the band already work for that?
BARON HUGE - Yes. A debut album is being written as we speak and that is what we are concentrating on. We have just completed a new song that has some pretty tasty death metal riffs I think you’ll like. The album will be ready sometime next year.
MIKA ROTTEN - I guess WOLF SERMON debut demo already crushing and spread over into the burial ground around this rotting globe. How Metalhead’s and zine’s editor reacted about your first demo’s ? If I give you a chance to going back when you recorded this demo, did you want changed up something from this demo?
BARON HUGE - We were just talking about this the other day and yes, we would have liked to have recorded more guitars, filler riffs etc and maybe spent more time on the vocals. But I believe it a recording is of a band at that particular point in time. It was important to us to get those songs down quickly, released at least digitally and not waste too much time on the details. Three of the songs were quite old, whereas the other was newer. Never Hunt Alone was almost brand new in fact. The reaction we have received over the demo has been nothing but positive and we are very pleased with reviews and opinions from metalheads worldwide on it so far.
MIKA ROTTEN - We’re going to final doom! Some more question before I wrath up this “Death Mental Illness” interview. Any date to be announced about your upcoming gig/show or maybe festival that the bands will festering and rotting decaying on the stage?
BARON HUGE - We have absolutely nothing booked for the immediate future regarding gigs but we hope to remedy this soon. We are concentrating on the creation of new material and not so much the live stuff but we would really like to get out and play live more once our new material is finished.
MIKA ROTTEN - What should Death Metal maniac’s and DISCARNAGE’s ugly reader can expect from WOLF SERMON? Since there are so many good DEATH METAL bands out there nowadays!
BARON HUGE - You’re right there, there are many good band out there right now, in all areas of metal I think. It’s impossible to keep up with but it is always exciting. What I can promise the listener with Wolf Sermon is heavy
riffs, screaming vocals, dark subject matter and doom laden death metal to the bone.
MIKA ROTTEN - Last but not least, once again thanks for your times with us Baron! Before we cut this interview anything I left from this conversation, do you want to add on to cherish all of us? Stay in touch and big hugs from me! Cheers to Death!
BARON HUGE - Eternal Infernal Hails Mika, keep up the good work yourself in promoting the global death metal underground. Rock Hard, Rock Heavy, Rock Animal. Cheers!
MIKA ROTTEN - “Pagan Skin” just show how heavy the band tortured and swirling the melody on the song. Love the fast-slow tempo and your vocal style. Can you tell our readers, how the stories go in the studio to records this song and did you remember how many minute (maybe hours) did you spend only to records this song?
MIKA ROTTEN - Generally, when talk about influence that embalmed and decaying into your sound, I quickly can spotted some flavor from At The Gates – the thick layer /monstrous voice , UNANIMATED - doomy,dark-grimly melody and DISMEMBER – song compartment and melody-structure. How you described your sounds?
BARON HUGE - Yes, you are indeed on the right lines and clearly have excellent ears. I am a big fan of Tompa’s vocals, both in At the Gates and in his other projects such as Lock Up. David Vincent on the early Morbid Angel releases was also an influence, particularly Altars which is my favourite DM album ever. Necrophobic, Evocation and Gates of Ishtar were some of the primary influences for Wolf Sermon from the beginning. Dismember of course too. But influence doesn’t really come out until a song is at least 2 or 3 riffs in. It is almost like what needs to come out Amarog’s guitar comes out first, then influence creeps in. Song structure is incredibly important as we are interested in writing songs and not just a collection of meaty riffs. We try not to define or describe our sounds and leave that up to others.
BARON HUGE - It is fairly straightforward for us but does take a long time. Amarog writes all the music for Wolf Sermon and is very particular, has a close attention to detail and changes things all the time. But he writes riffs every day and works on 2-3 songs at a time. It takes a while for a song to become fully finished, but that to me is preferable to writing something sub-standard or something that you are unhappy with.
MIKA ROTTEN - Horror topic/subjects and Death Metal music can’t be separated, and it’s also the best ingredients to make this music quite interesting. Maybe some of us think it’s totally expired or even bored to fvck! WOLF SERMON already proved and show how to blend and mix this thing’s perfectly. Generally, did you think we need something “fresh” in Death Metal music?
BARON HUGE - Yeah it’s not called Life Metal for a reason. Like Ozzy said, singing love songs over dark and heavy music would sound pretty stupid, but that’s not to say that it can’t be done, In My Darkest Hour springs to mind. But horror/gore etc will always have a place in death metal, it just fits. Autopsy are still releasing killer albums and I’m looking forward to the new Exhumed record too, but for Wolf Sermon I wasn’t interested in writing these kinds of lyrics only. Our lyrics and themes deal with dark subject matter but tell stories within grander concepts based on interests I have and what fits the song. I think death metal is always developing, look at the influence a bands like Portal have had in the last decade or so. Death metal always delivers whether you prefer old style or newer.
BARON HUGE - Yes. A debut album is being written as we speak and that is what we are concentrating on. We have just completed a new song that has some pretty tasty death metal riffs I think you’ll like. The album will be ready sometime next year.
MIKA ROTTEN - I guess WOLF SERMON debut demo already crushing and spread over into the burial ground around this rotting globe. How Metalhead’s and zine’s editor reacted about your first demo’s ? If I give you a chance to going back when you recorded this demo, did you want changed up something from this demo?
BARON HUGE - We were just talking about this the other day and yes, we would have liked to have recorded more guitars, filler riffs etc and maybe spent more time on the vocals. But I believe it a recording is of a band at that particular point in time. It was important to us to get those songs down quickly, released at least digitally and not waste too much time on the details. Three of the songs were quite old, whereas the other was newer. Never Hunt Alone was almost brand new in fact. The reaction we have received over the demo has been nothing but positive and we are very pleased with reviews and opinions from metalheads worldwide on it so far.
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BARON HUGE - We have absolutely nothing booked for the immediate future regarding gigs but we hope to remedy this soon. We are concentrating on the creation of new material and not so much the live stuff but we would really like to get out and play live more once our new material is finished.
MIKA ROTTEN - What should Death Metal maniac’s and DISCARNAGE’s ugly reader can expect from WOLF SERMON? Since there are so many good DEATH METAL bands out there nowadays!
BARON HUGE - You’re right there, there are many good band out there right now, in all areas of metal I think. It’s impossible to keep up with but it is always exciting. What I can promise the listener with Wolf Sermon is heavy
MIKA ROTTEN - Last but not least, once again thanks for your times with us Baron! Before we cut this interview anything I left from this conversation, do you want to add on to cherish all of us? Stay in touch and big hugs from me! Cheers to Death!
BARON HUGE - Eternal Infernal Hails Mika, keep up the good work yourself in promoting the global death metal underground. Rock Hard, Rock Heavy, Rock Animal. Cheers!
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WOLF SERMON debut demo are out in tape cassette by Carvetii Productions. Follow the band on the Facebook and get the latest info, show date or other filthy news. Like I say before, if you like the old tunes of Death/Doom, grimly-dark voices, and rotting riff's melo-death, this one probably the band that you need check for.
