Could you briefly introduce your band ? Why did you create EXCESSUM ? How did you come with a latin word ?
We started out a few years back and have developed quite a lot since. I guess we started out because we were thinking that we might have something relevant to say (our aim wasn’t as clear back then though). Anyhow, it just happened. The name was taken when things were seriously starting to happen. Latin is a suitable language and the word also has a suitable meaning for us regarding to our lyrical concept.

You wrote me that you were not really interested in answering an int' that will feature on a web site, you preferred real fanzine. Could you explain your feeling toward fanzine and what is your regard on e-zines ? Do you think that e-zines are useless ? What are your favourite fanzines up to now ?
Yes, that is right, I definitely prefer real fanzines since they show that some effort have been put into it. As Franang used to be a good fanzine in printed format I feel that I am willing to support your future work as a webzine as well (thanx man !! –ed). Webzines are, in general, pretty useless, it’s just a faster way to spread the information. Those who are dedicated enough will still seek out the facts through the fanzines. I don’t really have any favourite fanzines… There are a few good around though.

Did you notice there's a Excessum band that comes from Israel and plays a kind of Thrash Death Metal ?
Yes I did but I don’t really care anymore. They are just a bunch of jews playing crappy music. I am a bit bothered by the name mix-up that occurs sometimes though.

Would you agree to say that EXCESSUM is in the same vein than Sorhin, Sacramentum and co., I mean in the melodic side of Dark/Black Metal ?
Yes, I would, and they are both good bands. Sacramentum have actually been quite inspiring for us (as you hear). “Far Away From the Sun” is a masterpiece within that genre.

Your music is not that much easy to describe as it's not typical B.M in the way we're in used to listen to, it's not D.M. There's a dark and untamed side in EXCESSUM that brings originality in your compositions, do you agree with me ?
Some people will probably disagree about this, but yes, I think that we have originality in our compositions. I can hear the similarities that are pointed out in the reviews, but we aren’t very close to the sound of both Dissection and Watain for example (which are popular comparisons).

Could you explain a bit the concept behind "Death Redemption" album ? What do you mean exactly with such a title ? How do you see your own death ?
The album deals with different aspects of death and dying. The redemption with (and salvation through) the very same is the main thing throughout the album. As those lyrics were written quite a while ago (the last ones around two years ago, i.e. 2004), they aren’t fully representive for were we stand today though. I think that you (the reader) should get a hold of the album and try to understand concept yourself, it’s only through your own insights they will ever mean anything to you.
I’m thinking of dying the “rockstar death” at the standard age of 27, haha! (Not saying that I am such a person though). I guess it’s time to really get into the hard drugs then. But of course, only time will tell what happens…

What does death represent to you, do you fear the end of your life? Do you consider life as an experience in which you get wiser every day ? What does disgust you the most in the modern society ?
No, I do not fear death. The reason that I am around is because I feel that I still have things to do here. Getting wiser is definitely one of them, I believe in a high relevance of enlightenment.
The things that disgust me most are probably communists and the other left-winged retards. I am hoping that the social democrats will loose the election this year so that I can have my money for myself instead of giving it all away.

"Death Redemption" has been recorded at Necromorbus's Studio, where so many other orthodox B.M releases come from. How was your work over there ? I feel like there's the same syndrome with this studio there was with Tätgreen studio some years ago. I mean every bands wanted their album to be recorded at the same place, so the result was that all albums sounded alike. Don't you think that it's a bit the same with Necromorbus's Studio ?
That is not correct. “Death Redemption” was recorded by ourselves in our rehearsal-place. However, we felt that we needed to adjust the sound-quality and sent the master-CD to Necromorbus to get this job done (can you imagine that the sound was even worse?). The conclusion is that Mr Stjerna mastered the album and nothing else. I think that the sound that Necromorbus provide is quite different from recording to recording, but I haven’t heard all of his latter work though. It is nothing like all of the Abyss recordings that at least I think sounds the same. I guess there are a lot of bands that want to record with Necromorbus, but that aren’t very weird since he is a very good producer for this genre. That is why we chose to have our album mastered there as well.

There's a huge reverb on the vocals so that I feel like they stand against the other instruments, according to me the vocals are not enough close to the instruments, do you agree with me ?
Not sure exactly what you mean by this. It’s possible. Anyhow, I feel that the vocals could be better… For what it’s worth; everything could be better.

I notice all the lyrics from "Death Redemption" are written by D. Contagion, so isn't Erik interested in lyrics and only focuses on his guitar parts ?
Well, that has just been natural for us all the way since we started. And yes, I believe that he wants to focus on the music instead. I feel that the music speaks as well but in other aspects, at least that is our ambition.

The web site informs about new tunes to come, could you describe them a bit ? Where will you release them and how will they sound ?
I have mostly written new lyrics so we actually don’t have that much music finished yet. As we live pretty far from each other nowadays we don’t have time to rehearse. As a matter of fact, the last time we rehearsed was when we were about to record “Death Redemption” (October 2004). We have a new drummer now, so I hope we can get something creative done soon. I think you will recognise the core in our new works, even though it won’t be exactly like before. We have plans for upcoming releases, but nothing is certain yet.

You were part of Blut, that is a NS B.M band, are you still involved in ? What is your regard on politic in B.M ? Don't you think that Satanism and politics are two different topics that can't match to each other ? Playing B.M music doesn't prevent from politic ideas, but they're far away from common B.M concept…
That is partly right. I don’t think (well, I am the only one that really knows) that Blut ever was a NS-band. It had nothing to do with the future of our white children etc. The lyrics were only dealing with war and extinction and such topics. Blut is dead now, and have been so for a while. In general I don’t think that Black Metal should be political, but I do think that Satanism/religion and politics are two things that can be combined as they don’t, or as long as they don’t, trespass on each others areas.

According to you, which are the bands that represent the best the B.M concept excluding Mayhem and Darkrthone ? Is there an ignored band from Sweden that really deserves support in these days ?
Hmm, hard question. First of all, I think that the band shall be built upon a foundation of a relevant concept. Not many of the “classic” bands were probably really that serious about what they were doing... I think that Sacramentum are one band that is often forgotten, even though they are great in all aspects. They haven’t been very active for approximately 7 years, so I can’t say that they “deserve support in these days”. I don’t have any good answer on this question…

Are you attracted by the exotic Metal scene such as the 80s Brazilian one with bands such as Sex Thrash, Chakal, Vulcano, Mutilator or the 80's Eastern one with Törr, Root, Tudor, Turbo etc….?
Yes! I think that these bands are a lot more “extreme” than most of the bands nowadays. They represent true ugliness and underground devotion. Even though I don’t listen to all of those you mentioned, I like bands with the Black/Death/Thrash sound of the 80’s. I also like a lot of newer bands with the old-school sound e.g. Terrorama from Sweden !

I sometimes feel like the 80's bands were much more evil and mad than in new "most aggressive" bands labels can promote. Slayer, Sodom, Possessed, Venom, early Metallica were much more devastating in their early days than for instance, they were bands only die hard fans knew in opposition to Waitan, Krieg, or Deathspell Omega are today if you see what I mean….
Well, compared to everything else back in the day, I guess they were pretty harsh and brutal. I don’t think all of them had a more underground and die-hard crowd though then the latter bands you mentioned. As you know, at least Metallica and Slayer went pretty big quite fast, a lot bigger than Watain, Krieg and DsO will ever get. I am not sure if I really understood what you meant with this question though, was it even a question ? (ahaha, it's was more a less a question, I meant early bands were eviler than the new B.M scene, and wanted to get your views about that, even though it wasn't a matter of being well known or underground –ed)

Black Metal is supposed to be evil, but what is evilness to you ? Is it about crushing any face you can meet in a street and acting through destructive acts, or just in the attitude in the everyday life ?
The meaning of good and evil is relative and it all depends on what you put into those words. I can support an evil that stands for something far beyond the new world orders illusions of what is good that we have in today’s moral society (and questioning these matters), but I don’t believe in going around and have a meaningless destructive behaviour towards the surroundings. If that is evil, I have no use of being a part of it since that is just plain stupid. I do support “destructiveness”, but this is mostly pointed towards my own ego. Destruction is sometimes indeed creative.
I think that it’s mostly other people, beholding the Black Metal cult from the outside that finds it evil because of the aesthetics that’s commonly used by the bands.

I saw that Messiah Marcollin has yet left Candlemass again, I noticed this band has a very big influence in the Swedish Metal scene and is extremely respected in you country, am I right and how does it come ?
I couldn’t care less about Candlemass as they have never meant anything to me (I find them rather lame). But, you’re right, as far as I’m concerned they had a pretty big impact on the bands rising 15-20 years ago.

Sweden is the land of many Metal combos from the most extreme B.M band to the shittiest Gothenburg melodic crap, there're thousands of Metal bands all over your country in comparison to the number of inhabitant. How do you explain this ? I'm pretty sure there're more bands in Sweden than in Germany for instance….
The most accurate answer is probably concerning the fact that the government is putting a lot of money into public music schools. Most of the kids are starting to play an instrument at the age of 9, most of them probably play guitar, bass or drums… As you can figure, the majority end up in a Metal-band… Sweden is a pretty wealthy country, so we can afford good equipments and stuff as well. There might be a lot of reasons and this might be a part of them I reckon.

Thanks a lot for your time and answers, close this int' as you wish…
Thanks to you for helping us out. Buy our records and merchandise to feed my addictions! Beware of vinyl and cassette versions of “Death Redemption” during ’06, and possibly something else as well!
http://www.excessum.se; info@excessum.se