INTERVIEW WITH VOMITORY (SWD)

Inside Death Metal genre, only a few bands enjoy a high status and prestige, not only within their own scene but also worldwide. I’m referring, of course, to the Swedish band Vomitory.

Formed in the late 80s, their discography includes nine albums, in which Vomitory prove why them are one of the most important names in traditional Death Metal, but with the particular vision of the Swedish School.

I’ve had the immense fortune of enjoying their overwhelming live performance a couple of times in my hometown: in 2009 with Malevolent Creation, and the second time at the third edition of Pentagram Fest in 2013, the same year in which Vomitory decided to leave the stage, seemingly forever.

So, just a few days before starting their Spanish tour and as a dream come true thanks to the Manguales EMU association (https://mangual.es/), I get in touch with Vomitory, who through Tobias Gustafsson, drummer and original member, answers a few questions for my V’N’MATW portal.

Kat: First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to answer the questions for my website VALENCIA’N’METAL AROUND THE WORLD. So, tell me, how are you? Are you excited to start this Spanish tour? It’s been a long time since you’ve been to Spain?

Tobias Gustafsson: I’m doing fine, thank you. The whole band is very excited to finally go back to Spain to play Death Metal and drink all your beers! Last time we played in Spain was at Resurrection Festival in 2022, so it’s about time we come back.

K: Yes, it is a been a while. And after all of your years of experience on the road, what kind of events do you enjoy playing most: club shows, open air festivals or larger ones like Wacken?

Tobias Gustafsson: We enjoy them all, but for different reasons. Open air festivals are always a great party, but can often be very stressful with changeovers on the stage etc. Also, you never get a proper soundcheck at big festivals, which sometimes can be negative for our performance. But we play for bigger crowds on bigger stages, which of course is really nice. Club shows are cool because the atmosphere is usually different from at a festival. It’s closer to the audience so you get a different connection during the show.

K: Yes, it is true. The feeling is different. Vomitory started in 1989. Did the both brothers found it together or did one of you take the initiative and the other join later?

Tobias Gustafsson: It was Urban Gustafsson (guitar) who started the band in October 1989. I joined just a couple of months later.

K: You didn’t waste much time, haha… In the world of Metal, there are quite a few bands where the core members are brothers, like Sepultura, Rotting Christ, Raven, AC/DC, Krisiun, Obituary… Is it easier to work with someone who is completely like you or not?

Tobias Gustafsson: Both yes and no. Even though we are brothers in the same band and we definitely have our similarities and manners, we are very different as persons. But sure, we have that brotherly understanding between each other. Sometimes we don’t need to say this or that out loud because we know what the other one thinks anyway. I think it’s a privilege to have played together with my big brother for so many years without any fighting. Because when we were little kids, we were fighting a lot, haha.

K: Haha, I can imagine that. Well, Vomitory decided to disband in 2013, just two years after the release of their eighth studio album, ‘Opus Mortis VIII’ (2011), for disgusting of many of your fans. Surprisingly, in 2018, coinciding with your thirtieth anniversary, Vomitory returned to the stage. What seemed like a commemorative reunion resulted in the release of your ninth studio album, ‘All Heads Are Gonna Roll’ (2023). What happened to make this seemingly temporary reunion serve as a catalyst for your return to the forefront of Metal scene?

Tobias Gustafsson: The reunion in 2019 was totally supposed to be temporary. We wanted to get together again for a limited time to play live shows and have some fun to highlight the 30th anniversary of the band. The plan was to put Vomitory back into the grave after all the shows in 2019. But we got so many requests so we decided to extend this temporary reunion into 2020 and do some more shows. But then the pandemic hit the world and everything stopped. Shows were either cancelled or postponed and then postponed again. Since we didn’t know when the world was going to open again, we started talking about how weird it would be to play 30th anniversary shows one, two, three years later. So, thanks to the pandemic and lockdown, we decided to start up Vomitory for real again, to become an active band, write and release new music, go on tours etc. So once that was decided, which was in the summer of 2021, we started writing for the comeback album All Heads Are Gonna Roll.

K: A great decision! Let’s see. I’ve always thought that Swedish Death Metal differs considerably from the Tampa School. While its sound is highly aggressive and heavy, it seems to strive for harmony, but without reaching the heights of Melodic Death Metal, of which Sweden is the leading head. Do you agree?

Tobias Gustafsson: Yes, I fully agree on this. Swedish Death Metal always had a certain darkness and melancholy to it, that I don’t think the Tampa School Death Metal had. I think it may have something to do with our long, cold and dark winters up here in the North.

Vomitory: Erik Rundqvist, Christian Fredriksson and Urban & Tobias Gustafsson at the studios preparing their new album ‘In Death Throes’ (photo taken from their official FB)

K: Surely. Last October, Vomitory announced on their Facebook page that their tenth album was finished and ready for mastering. And on February 26th, the first single with the official video “For Gore And Country”, was released. Will you be playing from this new album any new song on this Spanish tour?

Tobias Gustafsson: Yes, we will play at least one new song from the upcoming new album.

K: Wow! It will be a fabulous premiere! And finally, besides this Spanish tour which will take you to five Spanish cities, do Vomitory has any other dates or festivals already confirmed?

Tobias Gustafsson: We have a month-long European tour coming up in April together with Hypocrisy, Abbath and Vreid. Unfortunately it doesn’t stop in Spain, so we are really happy to do this Spanish tour in March at least. Unfortunately we don’t have many festival shows booked to be honest, only two summer festivals are confirmed so far. You can check out all our tour dates at https://www.vomitory.net/tour.php

K: So it is a real treat to have you here exclusively. If you’d like to add anything else, go ahead!

Tobias Gustafsson: Thanks for the chat. We are very much looking forward to playing in Spain again! I hope to see hordes of metalheads at the shows! Support the live scene! Hail Death Metal! Cheers!

K: Cool, Tobias. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Very appreciated. See you on stage!

Vomitory will edit their tenth album entitled ‘In Death Throes’ next April the 10^th via Metal Blade Records and it will be available on LP, CD and Digital.